Quote from: Nigel on April 15, 2020, 10:46:37 pmQuote from: mrjonathanr on April 15, 2020, 10:00:20 pmThanks for this Nigel. So that is what a public information briefing looks like in Korea. wow.I know! Its like they get loads of information about Covid-19, and then make it public. Not convinced it will take off in the UK mind... still, its nice to see our daily graph of traffic levels.As I'm being flippant already, found out today that Matt Hancock's degree is in, wait for it.....PPE. The irony.Korea is the most advanced country in the world for information communication technology. Allied to a big brother surveillance tracking network using mobile phones, 'smart' city/town infrastructure and cctv. South Korea has the highest proportion of cashless transactions in the world. SK has the highest proportion of mobile phone use in the world and the whole country is covered by 4G or 5G - and everyone has to register their real name and address so that it's possible to for the government (should they need) to track the location of every citizen by their mobile device. South Korea had to deal with the MERS epidemic in 2015, and the SARS epidemic in 2003.They also have the highest education level of any OECD country.They've only recently learned how to react well during epidemics, MERS in 2015 was handled poorly. From the link below: QuoteAfter the WHO excoriated Korea’s response, the country overhauled their response to respiratory infections, fast-tracking the production of test kits and equipping hospitals with infection control units and negative pressure rooms.The Korean population, shaken by the incident, are also more likely to wash their hands, stay at home and get tested if requested to. “Testing like this has been very successful with dealing with HIV, for example, to prevent its spread and onward transmission,” says Mina. “There were large campaigns to test people to see if they know their status, and then to act appropriately.”It's good to have high aspirations Nige but I think comparing ourselves to Korea is always setting us up for disappointment. Maybe aim for N.Korea to start with It seem one thing we excel at is thinking we're shit at everything Info from here: https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-south-koreas-success-in-controlling-disease-is-due-to-its-acceptance-of-surveillance-134068Finally - and maybe most essentially: South Korea sits at around number 50 in 'happiness' leagues with an average rating of 5.9 out of 10. UK is around number 15 with an average of 7.1. (Gallup World Poll 2016- 2018).Before looking to other countries approaches as a panacea, worth asking yourself do you actually want to be like South Korea? Personally I don't - they work themselves like hamsters in wheels and their lives seem heavily controlled. It seems like a democratic version of China. But it works well in once in one hundred year disasters so that's nice.That's not to say we shouldn't cherry pick the best parts of SK's approach, and hopefully retain some semblance of liberty.edit: Stu, it's more than just 'not ramping up testing'. We aren't S.Korea in lots of ways that just doing a lot more testing wouldn't change.
Quote from: mrjonathanr on April 15, 2020, 10:00:20 pmThanks for this Nigel. So that is what a public information briefing looks like in Korea. wow.I know! Its like they get loads of information about Covid-19, and then make it public. Not convinced it will take off in the UK mind... still, its nice to see our daily graph of traffic levels.As I'm being flippant already, found out today that Matt Hancock's degree is in, wait for it.....PPE. The irony.
Thanks for this Nigel. So that is what a public information briefing looks like in Korea. wow.
After the WHO excoriated Korea’s response, the country overhauled their response to respiratory infections, fast-tracking the production of test kits and equipping hospitals with infection control units and negative pressure rooms.The Korean population, shaken by the incident, are also more likely to wash their hands, stay at home and get tested if requested to. “Testing like this has been very successful with dealing with HIV, for example, to prevent its spread and onward transmission,” says Mina. “There were large campaigns to test people to see if they know their status, and then to act appropriately.”
There can be no return to normal, because normal was the problem in the first place
Pete - I’ll definitely download the app when it turns up, providing it’s based on the Apple/Android implementation which looks excellent and as private as possible.I’ll be encouraging as many others to do the same as well since the success of such an app will depend on widespread adoption.
I have never heard of a fatal viral illness for which a vaccine has not been found.
Quote from: tim palmer on April 16, 2020, 12:16:36 pmI have never heard of a fatal viral illness for which a vaccine has not been found. Aids?
Summary - problem: lack of gowns (necessary PPE as per guidance). Solution - change guidance.