Well so much for social isolation, had dinner with 200 colleagues from work yesterday! Spoiler Dinner With Work Mates by BA_13 posted 22 Mar 2020 at 08:33
I've got to go do some shopping today - groceries and some paint etc to do my bathroom ceiling (it's starting to flake). I hope the hordes are sated for the moment .
I read loss of smell and taste. Anyway, I'll be back at work on Monday, preparing like mad for the psychological support for hospital staff and talking down distressed patients by phone... Spent the last week pulling 12-hour days hammering out a crisis plan for psychological support based on research evidence, while working out containment plans for patient caseloads, talking with a quickly formed national working party of psychologists, having emergency team meetings (much teleconferencing) and coordinating efforts between mental health and hospital Trusts. Feeling tired, heavy legged and jet lagged are currently not unambiguous symptoms for me...
Trouble is we've been a bit slow implementing this current approach and a lot of things are just 'advisory' still. But that comes from Cummings changing his mind and late on switching to a lockdown approach. Although we're still not really on lockdown. The reality is our infection and death rate is currently steeper than Italy's was.
Yup. Actually I reckon that this thing is going to rumble on for 2 years, with the first wave cresting around June/July, and a second, smaller wave hitting early March 2021. There will be food supply issues around June/July also as the Mediterranean food production slump ripples into food supply chains, and then another in September, as UK food production difficulties hit the supply chains.
Also symptoms of stress? I have taken my temperature once a day if I'm about to leave the house. But so far OK despite feeling knackered from trying to deal with the situation.
Wouldn't be surprised if the peak is in the earlier part of your suggestion tbh going by how we've been reactionary and advisory for so long. Hell, having a steeper curve and peaking in May wouldn't surprise me at this point.
Quite possible. Oh, and don't forget to add the impact of a no-deal Brexit in December. All those bare shelves in supermarkets? That's what happens when every family decides to add a few extra tins of food, packets of pasta or toilet roll to their weekly shop, in a finely calibrated just-in-time supply chain. It has been established to have caused a modest 10% increase in demand overall. And that is without actual shortage of those products. Now imagine what will happen when there is a shortage because of disrupted imports, combined with a COVID-19 induced disruption of food production. Welcome to Brexit: the Famine to COVID-19's Pestilence and Death.
"May you live in interesting times" said Confucius 2500 years ago, well, some days, I would have liked to be born centuries ago , I try to keep hope and positive thoughts but the actual situation is depressing and worries me to hell, are we going to get away from this ? I am wondering about this famous chloroquine, supposed to cure covid as some claim, when others deny it, but who can be trusted, whereas so many economic stakes are involved...
So nobody wants to discuss about it? surprising ... "For instance, a study in France published on March 20 in the International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents described the treatment of 42 patients hospitalized with COVID-19, 26 of whom received a version of chloroquine called hydroxychloroquine and 16 of whom received routine care. Of the 20 patients who took the antimalarial and completed the study, six also received azithromycin, an antibiotic. All six of these patients were free of SARS-CoV-2 by the fifth day post-treatment, while seven of 14 patients who took hydroxychloroquine alone were negative for the virus, and two of 16 control patients were no longer infected. Small-scale experiments in which chloroquine has been given to COVID-19 patients in China and Australia have also shown encouraging results as far as shortening the course of the disease." source: https://www.the-scientist.com/news-...a-potential-covid-19-therapy-justified--67301
I'm not holding my breath to be honest. Vaccines are a long way off, i'm not working on them so not much I can do or contribute about that. I'm fully aware that I will probably get it or have had it. A few weeks ago I had an unusual cough, was unusually out of breath for a couple of days and had extreme fatigue. I felt a bit like death. It was early on in the whole furore over it but luckily it was during a time I had little contact and was then away in an isolated cottage. I've always washed my hands well before my government told me to So yeah, most of us will get it or have had it. I hope the vulnerable are protected in the meantime and a vaccine comes along before the next wave will/may hit.
Yes, you're right, it is too early to rejoice about a cure, I'm just trying to take a bit of confort, because I am worrying so much, and until now this is the only thing that looks like a lead for a vaccin, I might sound too much enthusiastic, I reckon
Don't get me wrong, starting with small scale trials is perfectly reasonable, but a sub 50 sample size is "encouragement to keep working on it" territory rather than "open the champagne". In brighter news, rationing in supermarkets seems to be working, at least according to what I've just seen in my local Asda.
