Good evening all. We need all the positive posts we can get in these difficult times so first an apology because this is not really a positive thread. My question though is this. Why in tonight's bulletin were we we told that it would be a good outcome for the uk if death figures for Coronavirus were kept below 20000. The whole world's death rate on the world update site is approx. 29000 so why are we as one relatively small area of the world projecting a death rate of 20000. Maybe this is managing expectations, giving us a worst case scenario number of death cases so that if it rises to say 15000 we will consider that our government has done well. The death rate in Germany is far lower per million of population than here. They say this is because of more organised testing which means those who display no symtoms but who have the disease are quickly isolated. I have no idea but 20000 projected deaths here when the world amount at the moment is about 29000 seems very frightening. Stay in and keep safe everyone
Yes, it’s early days yet. I also think we’ll get a better picture as the weeks go by. Even next week will give us a better picture. It certainly appears to me that twenty thousand is more realistic than five thousand. What horrible news this is.
Grannie I posted earlier that the author of the figures reported in the Times has changed his mind and now says they are too low.Thats not to say of course that 20000 is the alternative - we’ll have a better idea in 2-3 weeks.
The Times figure looks more realistic than 20,000+.
At the moment, they're trying to keep people indoors and it doesn't seem to be working so well in too many cases. So are they putting the frighteners on?
They've also got to find a way to justify extending the lockdown.
TB: some people develop lasting immunity others don't (not a virus I know)
They don't KNOW that healthworkers are okay to come back when "immune". Some viruses and infections weaken you, especially respiratory ones, and make you more susceptable to reinfection or other infections.
janeainsworth from this afternoon's press briefing, I understood them to say because it is a new virus, it's unclear how long immunity takes to develop or lasts. Once fever has subsided they are thought not to be infectious though the cough can last some weeks. Even someone who is immune can pick up viral load on their hands for example and infect someone else. As far as hospital staff are concerned, because they wear protective gear and use barrier nursing techniques they will be okay as long as they have been deemed fit to be at work.
For example with some viruses, a pregnant mothers immunity doesnt necessarily protect their unborn from virus damage. It depends on how/when the body recognises the virus
Notanan do you mean that people who’ve had the virus could be re-infected themselves, or that they could still have the virus and infect others, or both? And where does that leave hospital staff who are tested and given the green light to go back to work? Just to be clear, I’m not having a go or anything (having recently been accused of such behaviour on another thread), I’m genuinely wondering.
Germany are now "signing off" people as immune when we dont know enough about cv19 immunity yet. So if those people catch pneumonia, they wont necessarily be retested.
Some other common viruses only give you days/weeks of immunity after catching them before the immunity wears off. So certifying people as immune is premature. And will further deflate their numbers