Coronavirus

[Chillidoggy]

That explains the early imbibing. You’ve chainsawed the yard arm.

[pete]

so glad i am not an employer as now the health and safety brigade have got involved with people returning to work and an employer could be sued if an employee catches the virus and all" safeguards" havent been put in place .

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/career/unlocking-the-office-could-have-legal-implications-for-employers/ar-BB14RgqH?li=BBx1bGE&ocid=mailsignout

[slewthy]

On 29/05/2020 at 22:27, LotusLeftLotusRight said:

According to someone whose daughter is a nurse there, there were only 4 people in Swansea Hospital ICU Dept LAST weekend. The staff were twiddling their thumbs. 

This is our experience in the north midlands too.

We are desperate to return to treating other conditions as we were before lockdown and shift of resources to frontline hospitals. Our local frontline hospitals are not overrun and dont look like they will be, barring a second wave bigger than the first which seems unlikely. Trouble is, we (busiest elective orthopaedic hospital in the UK) sent most of our ventilators/anaesthetic machines to them in preparation, just keeping enough back to treat all the trauma cases they would usually deal with so as to reduce potential pressures.

So now, we are 'busy' with trauma, they are not but they are reluctant to take back the work they would usually do. I half understand this but there are now reams of people stuck in their homes fairly incapacitated with musculoskeletal pain. Wont kill them of course but most wont be getting their planned surgery until next year at best. 

And this is only my experience - plenty of other surgical specialities out their with their hands tied. I recently heard that pathology services were processing just 10% of biopsies (for things like cancer) than they would usually do. This will be from a combination of reasons - unable to do the work, people unable or not wanting to get to their GP or hospital.

I think the second death toll wont be the virus, it will be other neglected conditions and that secondary kill wont become apparent until the statisticians start counting the data. It could even turn out that these will be the XS deaths, not the virus at all. Doctors learn very early on to avoid the cure that is worse than the disease. I hope this wont be the case here.

 

[esprit22]

So pubs open on 4th July then..

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

Can you really believe that people will keep 2 metres apart in pubs? It won’t be worth them opening. My bet is that they might go through the motions on opening night and then revert to normal conditions by the very next day to keep the beer flowing out and the money flowing in.

[pete]

On 28/04/2020 at 21:02, Sparky said:

Yes, I suspect this will be the end of Worldwide (and maybe Euro and Gatwick) Fleet, so BA will be able to dump all that expensive experience  in favour of paying peanuts to a Mixed Fleet workforce that recently had a turnover of almost 50% annually.  Last I looked they did indeed have about £9bn reserves. 

Looks like BA want to sack all and the employ on different terms,even making some redundant and then outsourcing.

BBC News - Coronavirus: Row over BA staff future deepens
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52897418 see

[tom kilner]

I can't imagine demand for flying reaching much over 50% by the end of the year - this is going to be the same for many businesses especially hospitality. These companies are likely to be looking at radical downsizing in order to survive. Its going to be very ugly.

The long term picture isn't looking that good either,  so it might not just be a case of weathering the storm ☹

Of course the management will be looking at ways of protecting shareholder investment first and foremost.

All those companies saying" our top priority is the health and safety of our staff and customers" when in fact their top priority is making money,  and the health and safety might be the second...🤔

Only the nhs can say their top priority is the health and safety of their staff and customers🙂

[C8RKH]

10 hours ago, pete said:

Looks like BA want to sack all and the employ on different terms,even making some redundant and then outsourcing.

BBC News - Coronavirus: Row over BA staff future deepens
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52897418 see

This has been BA's approach and objective from the outset Pete. They haven't changed it. It's a disaster for the staff and BA are just being vicious about it. Nasty bunch at the top unfortunately.

[PaulCP]

@C8RKH more likely Willy Walsh’s aim from the outset. A particularly nasty piece of work😠

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

Did any of you watch the Channel 4 Despatches documentary last night? It was called “Coronavirus. Did the Government get it wrong?” and looks back on the 8 weeks prior to lockdown. I know the horse has bolted, but it makes some interesting observations, as to why our infection rate and death toll is ending up so high in comparison to other countries, despite the advantage of having been a few weeks behind them time-wise.

It’s available on the All 4 player for a month, if you’ve got 50 minutes to spare.

[PaulCP]

Didn’t watch it but no doubt they applied the exact science of “hindsight”

[mayevora]

[slewthy]

Antibody test has just become available at our hospital.

Results though still poorly understood.

Also, there are reports from the BMA that members who have had a test / are positive for either antigen or antibody test ARE BEING REFUSED MORTGAGES AND LIFE INSURANCES AND INCOME PROTECTION!!!!!  Seems to be for a period of 3 months but even so its a massive kick in the teeth.

 

 

[march]

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

Just a thought. Certainly in my household, none of us have caught any colds etc. during lockdown. Having kids of school age, this is quite unusual for our family. Now that we’re spending so much extra time distanced from other people, are we also gradually wiping out other less dangerous viruses? Or on the flip side, will we all be more prone to catching something as and when things get back to nearer normal, with closer interaction?

[RichardC]

17 hours ago, slewthy said:

Antibody test has just become available at our hospital.

Results though still poorly understood.

Also, there are reports from the BMA that members who have had a test / are positive for either antigen or antibody test ARE BEING REFUSED MORTGAGES AND LIFE INSURANCES AND INCOME PROTECTION!!!!!  Seems to be for a period of 3 months but even so its a massive kick in the teeth.

 

 

Why doesn't that surprise me? Looks like the financial services industry has dusted off the manual from the 1980s when HIV/AIDS first came on the scene. Merely having had a test made you a leper as far as they were concerned.

I was offered a Covid antibody test yesterday and I'm glad that I politely declined.

[Chillidoggy]

5 hours ago, LotusLeftLotusRight said:

Just a thought. Certainly in my household, none of us have caught any colds etc. during lockdown. Having kids of school age, this is quite unusual for our family. Now that we’re spending so much extra time distanced from other people, are we also gradually wiping out other less dangerous viruses? Or on the flip side, will we all be more prone to catching something as and when things get back to nearer normal, with closer interaction?

By the time the kids get back to school, we’ll all have been so sanitised that the human race will probably be wiped out by the common cold!

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

Some good economic news at last. Despite the vast majority of people working from home or not at all and not travelling anywhere and only buying essentials and businesses being closed etc we still managed to retain 80% of our GDP in April. Things should really be on the up now then.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-53019360

[pete]

bbc don`t see it that way ,focusing on the 20% rather than the 80%

[Chillidoggy]

I think he was being ironic, Pete.

[Bibs]

A guy in one of my drone groups made this... Thought our Danish members might enjoy it. 

 

[Bravo73]

Fox News? Wow, you’re really scraping the barrel now, Buddsy. 

[march]

[Bibs]

Excellent news...

https://inews.co.uk/news/business/coronavirus-uk-latest-rishi-sunak-hmrc-draconian-powers-covid-19-support-claims-444690

I was amazed that companies like IAG were getting our tax pounds to pay wages when they're a company with £8.5bn in cash reserves. I always thought they should have said any company with enough cash to cover 6 or 12 months of costs or a limit of £10m in cash would have been an easier way to see who should or should not have been able to use the furlough scheme. I believe that you can't claim benefits if you've got savings, how was this any different?

 

[mdw]

I guess the govenment was scared they would lay off staff if they didnt let them.