[tomtom]

Still trying to figure it out, in particular for travel to and from the country (not that we're planning any travel, but I hope it means travel to and from will be very tightly restricted and seriously monitored). All schools/universities, non essential government work, and cultural institutions closed. All private enterprises strongly encouraged to move to distance working where possible. Total lockdown is probably too strong a term. But I am very concerned given my wife's very comprised health currently. I think I will be the only one leaving the apartment for the time being and then only to ensure we have food.

TBH I think thats pretty sensible (the Danish govt response - and yourself!)... and now I wish our Govt would bite the bullet and do the same. They'll have to in the next week or two...

[andy popp]

I think the attitude here has generally been a little complacent, but the government has suddenly moved very decisively, which I'm glad of.

[tomtom]

This is an excellent article - for me the best bit was how the Chinese data can be used to show how many undiagnosed cases there are at the moment (he estimates 25000-140000 in France 😱).

https://medium.com/@tomaspueyo/coronavirus-act-today-or-people-will-die-f4d3d9cd99ca

[Oldmanmatt]

This is an excellent article - for me the best bit was how the Chinese data can be used to show how many undiagnosed cases there are at the moment (he estimates 25000-140000 in France 😱).

https://medium.com/@tomaspueyo/coronavirus-act-today-or-people-will-die-f4d3d9cd99ca

I linked that article a few posts earlier.

[tomtom]

Soz OMM. Didn’t know.

[Oldmanmatt]

Soz OMM. Didn’t know.

At least, unlike Trump, you’re not pinning the blame for the US situation (in the article, indicated to be currently, vastly, underestimated); on Europe.

Apparently, the US outbreak is entirely down to European travellers entering the US.

I really do hope that most of Trumps wealth is in hotels and resorts...

[nik at work]

This is an excellent article - for me the best bit was how the Chinese data can be used to show how many undiagnosed cases there are at the moment (he estimates 25000-140000 in France 😱).

https://medium.com/@tomaspueyo/coronavirus-act-today-or-people-will-die-f4d3d9cd99ca

I linked that article a few posts earlier.

And JB linked it 3 pages ago 

[TobyD]

The US's travel restrictions seem crazy, UK exempt citizens exempt but screened? On holiday with a group of Americans, all trying to get home before it starts now...  Seems like it'll just start a travel panic, and do little to realistically prevent transmission

[tomtom]

Surely the first thing to ban to prevent spread across the USA would be internal flights??

No chance.

[sdm]

The US's travel restrictions seem crazy, UK exempt citizens exempt but screened? On holiday with a group of Americans, all trying to get home before it starts now...  Seems like it'll just start a travel panic, and do little to realistically prevent transmission

This happened in Italy where news of the impending lockdown was leaked the day before, leading to lots of people traveling across the country while they still could to be at home/with family.

[sdm]

Wasnt the lockdown in China a proper one with no movement at all. As far as i am aware you can still do most things in Italy just not large gatherings, School closures and your asked to keep a bit of personal space.

Good interview here with a guy from WHO who's been to see the Chinese measures. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/04/health/coronavirus-china-aylward.html

FFS paywalls... any chance you can copy and paste a couple of choice bits (or the lot if its not too long?)?

Tip for getting past news site paywalls: search for the headline on Google news. You should find that accessing the link via Google news bypasses the paywall.

Hopefully you should be able to see the full article at this link:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2020/03/04/health/coronavirus-china-aylward.amp.html

[M1V0]

Macron is giving a national address tonight at 1900 GMT (2000 in France) concerning CV-19. Hopefully not restricting travel.

[SA Chris]

Irish Schools and Colleges now closed.

I predict Boris will make the same announcement after lunch. Schools closed from now until Easter holidays.

[sxrxg]

Macron is giving a national address tonight at 1900 GMT (2000 in France) concerning CV-19. Hopefully not restricting travel.

Not meaning to be a dick but surely a font Easter trip (I assume that is why you don't want travel restricted) is not that important in the grand scheme of things during the current outbreak... The rocks will still be there for a long time after this pandemic. I just hope that peoples older/high risk relatives and friends are also around for a long time as well.

[Bradders]

Irish Schools and Colleges now closed.

I predict Boris will make the same announcement after lunch. Schools closed from now until Easter holidays.

Yeah, if it's not today then tomorrow or over the weekend surely.

[SA Chris]

I reckon as of Monday. Hope so, got a day off to ski tomorrow!

[BrutusTheBear]

Easter Hols are two weeks away down here... I think they’re early compared to other parts of the country.  Teachers have been asked to prepare home learning packs by this weekend.

I run a small unit for pupils with Autism/ Communication and interaction difficulties attached to a mainstream school, I have 4 members of staff.  At the start of this week I had one member of staff off with concussion, one member of staff had a fever over the weekend but felt OK to return to work on Monday.  During the week me, one more member of staff and a pupil have become ill - sore throat, headache, fever, runny nose.  We were advised to contact 111 whom in turn referred back to our local GPs.  GP advice was that, as there are no confirmed cases in our area that it is just a cold/flu virus and unlikely to be COVID.  No requests for isolation, no testing nothing..  They did ask the question, have you had contact with a confirmed case?  (How would we know if they’re not testing?)

The three of us (me, member of staff and pupil) are at home at present but could return on Monday or even tomorrow if feeling better. 

It all seems a bit lax to me..    Not sure what I have, how would I? I wonder how soon this kind of thing will be taken far more seriously?!

Given that the primary way the virus is spread is through airborne transmission you can see why schools are ideal places for transmission.  I sat in an assembly with 250+ pupils together in close proximity last week, thinking you could all have perfectly clean hands but if the person next to you coughs or sneezes you’re very likely to breath in whatever they have expelled.... 

I am currently organising a video link with my one year 11 pupil so I can take him through his remaining GCSE course work from home!

Personally, I have gone from thinking this is bollocks designed to distract to oh shit this is serious and we need action now, it’s not too f**king early in the space of a week!

[gme]

Big sporting event happening at the works this weekend i think. I bet there hoping the announcement that is looking more and more likely is held off until Monday.

Its got virus spread written all over it.

[Will Hunt]

Big sporting event happening at the works this weekend i think. I bet there hoping the announcement that is looking more and more likely is held off until Monday.

Its got virus spread written all over it.

https://www.ukclimbing.com/news/2020/03/cwif_restricted_to_competitors-only_event_-_watch_via_livestreams-72226

[Johnny Brown]

We were advised to contact 111 whom in turn referred back to our local GPs.  GP advice was that, as there are no confirmed cases in our area that it is just a cold/flu virus and unlikely to be COVID.  No requests for isolation, no testing nothing..

Yeah, a colleague went to A&E on Monday for an eye injury - they had a COVID Isolation pod set up which turned out to be a portakabin in the car park with a phone in it direct to 111.

Having said that we do seem to have tested a lot with a low rate of positives, not seen any good stats on how that compares to elsewhere though.

[M1V0]

Macron is giving a national address tonight at 1900 GMT (2000 in France) concerning CV-19. Hopefully not restricting travel.

Not meaning to be a dick but surely a font Easter trip (I assume that is why you don't want travel restricted) is not that important in the grand scheme of things during the current outbreak... The rocks will still be there for a long time after this pandemic. I just hope that peoples older/high risk relatives and friends are also around for a long time as well.

Of course contextually my concern for a pleasant trip pales in comparison, foolish for me to think a climbing-related comment on a climbing-related forum was appropriate though. Will refrain in the future.

[abarro81]

Yeah. I will be considerable more upset if my parents, step-parents or inlaws die from COVID-19 than if my trip to Tarn gets cancelled. But that doesn't mean that I wont be pissed off and comfort eat 10 cookies if my trip gets cancelled.

[Ru]

Having said that we do seem to have tested a lot with a low rate of positives, not seen any good stats on how that compares to elsewhere though.

I read an article with these stats this morning and now I can't find it again. From what I remember, we have tested a higher percentage of potential cases than most other countries, with the notable exception of South Korea, hence the low positive/test ratio.

[highrepute]

This is an excellent article - for me the best bit was how the Chinese data can be used to show how many undiagnosed cases there are at the moment (he estimates 25000-140000 in France 😱).

https://medium.com/@tomaspueyo/coronavirus-act-today-or-people-will-die-f4d3d9cd99ca

I read that article with increasing terror. Certainly paints a dark picture.

One difference that seems obvious to me between here and Hubai is that they shut down when they had 44 cases because I guess they knew they likely had many more. Here, however, it seems like we have been strongly testing since before we even had 1 case. The article shows a table that shows our testing rate to be quite high internationally. So we can we be more confident that we have contained the early cases which in Hubai they had no forewarning of. And we have better data because we have been testing from the very start. Thoughts?

I see Ireland have closed school based on 60ish cases.

[JamieG]

Hi James,

It certainly is a worrying read. Unfortunately whilst we do seem to have done quite a bit of testing. There are quite a few reports of people waiting days and days to hear about a test and getting no response. Despite having been to high risk areas and having the symptoms too.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/mar/11/uk-coronavirus-cases-jump-to-456-and-eighth-briton-dies

The article describes the following situation:

"Phillip Meyer, a businessman from Kent, said he and his son had been waiting nine days for a coronavirus test after getting a cough following a trip to northern Italy.

He said: “We are testing between 1,000 and 2,000 people a day in the UK, so clearly there is a bottleneck. If in South Korea they test 15,000 a day, why can’t we do that here?”

A retired intensive care doctor told the Guardian that the increase has come “way too late” after he and his friends were repeatedly refused tests despite falling ill following a skiing trip, to Ischgl in Austria. The 55-year-old doctor from Chichester, who has his name only as Andrew said: “They may be upping the testing but they haven’t put Ischgl on a high risk list, despite knowing about this for days. Six of us have been back in Chichester going about their daily life. I suspect we’ll find a big cluster in Chichester two weeks.”


Quite worrying.