Wuhan coronavirus

[JF 694]

44 minutes ago, TeemuVanBasten said:

Oh, so sorry for trying to participate in a public conversation by adding some interesting insight into a major domestic business. 

Here’s the thing. I couldn’t care less if your bank was going to close, I honestly at this moment in time don’t give a toss about the economy. Right now at this moment in time all I care about is the people that are closest to me, and myself still being here when this is all over. You saying “this is how serious it is” about a bank closing has no relevance to the many, many lives that this is going to take. The severity will be gauged on the numbers of the dead. Then we can worry about the economy.

Edit: Don’t take this as a pop at you or your post. There is going to be a lot of families losing parents, Grand parents and even younger healthy people with just minor underlying health issues lose their lives over the next year. For me that is far more serious than the economy. I appreciate others may feel differently. Apologies for my harsh reply, I’m just incredibly concerned 

 

Edited March 12, 2020 by JF

[hogesar 9,658]

39 minutes ago, TeemuVanBasten said:

I work for a bank. We have 9000 employees. 

We only have 1200 employees with company laptops. 

Even if we could magically source more instantly and install all required software (takes 3 hours minimum per machine, we've got like 3 IT guys per 500 employees, impossible).... Our existing security framework only has capacity for 2000 systems being logged in remotely at once. 

In the event that the government demands a total lockdown tomorrow... That bank wouldn't be able to function on Monday.

That's how serious this is.  

Being in the IT industry I'm aware, but i'm sure those who aren't are probably quite surprised just how many businesses aren't prepared for a 'working from home situation' despite all the technology being available.

Yours is an extreme example but just round the offices local to ours we were (free of charge) advising on how to set up routers with VPN connectivity and helping with file-shares etc. 

I imagine during and after Coronavirus the picture will look a little different and businesses will have invested some time / money into this sort of thing.

[ricardo 7,385]

45 minutes ago, PurpleCanary said:

At least then there is some good news🌝The only sport🏀 I played I was bored🙄 playing. Cue howls of outrage😡 from fans of  the most trdious sporting activity ever invented...

Fully agree, its a ludicrous you score, I score game for those whose body size makes them unfitted for any sensible game.

[Rock The Boat 1,330]

2 hours ago, JF said:

Very sensible decision. Everyone who can do their jobs from home now need to be doing so. The company my wife works for has over 400 people in the office, and she can do her job from home. The company insists its business as usual and everyone must come in. If one person gets it in that environment it will go through it like wildfire,  and they will then have nobody in! The government need to enforce the working from home if people can.  and not leave it up to employers who will put money before health.

At the start of this outbreak my company recommended working from home and many took up that offer. They then found the remote network system was working at over capacity and so issued an instruction to end all working from home and a return to the office. Doh!

[PurpleCanary 5,557]

As a historical aside, when the bubonic plague came to the Derbyshire village of Eyam in the 17th century the inhabitants decided to quarantine (how voluntarily is a question) themselves off from the outside world to stop the disease spreading. Many died - perhaps  half the population of 800. How much good it did is stopping the plague from reaching other villages is the subject of debate.

[TeemuVanBasten 3,327]

1 hour ago, JF said:

Here’s the thing. I couldn’t care less if your bank was going to close, I honestly at this moment in time don’t give a toss about the economy. Right now at this moment in time all I care about is the people that are closest to me, and myself still being here when this is all over. You saying “this is how serious it is” about a bank closing has no relevance to the many, many lives that this is going to take. The severity will be gauged on the numbers of the dead. Then we can worry about the economy.

Edit: Don’t take this as a pop at you or your post. There is going to be a lot of families losing parents, Grand parents and even younger healthy people with just minor underlying health issues lose their lives over the next year. For me that is far more serious than the economy. I appreciate others may feel differently. Apologies for my harsh reply, I’m just incredibly concerned 

Firstly, you are talking to somebody who stockpiled 3 weeks ago. We're on the same page.

Secondly, I've just told you a major bank may not be able to function. Evidently they went massively over your head, because I'm sure many more will die if they can't make online purchases or withdraw their pensions/benefits/wages. A lot of people live week to week.

Can't you understand the seriousness and relevance of banks not being able to function to this impending crisis? Greece? Bank run? Not being able to obtain cash to purchase food? Means nothing to you?

I'm sure with a bit of reflection you'll understand the gravity of what I've posted.   

Edited March 12, 2020 by TeemuVanBasten

[Van wink 2,994]

37 minutes ago, PurpleCanary said:

As a historical aside, when the bubonic plague came to the Derbyshire village of Eyam in the 17th century the inhabitants decided to quarantine (how voluntarily is a question) themselves off from the outside world to stop the disease spreading. Many died - perhaps  half the population of 800. How much good it did is stopping the plague from reaching other villages is the subject of debate.

Question is did they quarantine the rats?

[JF 694]

2 minutes ago, TeemuVanBasten said:

Firstly, you are talking about somebody who stockpiled 3 weeks ago. We're on the same page.

Secondly, I've just told you a major bank may not be able to function. Evidently they went massively over your head, because I'm sure many more will die if they can't make online purchases or withdraw their pensions/benefits/wages. A lot of people live week to week.

Can't you understand the seriousness and relevance of banks not being able to function to this impending crisis? Greece? Bank run? Not being able to obtain cash to purchase food? Means nothing to you?

I'm sure with a bit of reflection you'll understand the gravity of what I've posted.   

Agreed. As I said apologies for my harsh reply.  

[keelansgrandad 6,679]

Rather than people saying lets bite the pillow and get on with it, they are throwing up instances where normal everyday life will be affected.

We all will be affected. Whether its the market or someone wanting homecare. We will get through it if we accept that for two weeks, we will find life different and difficult.

But although I understand the worries, I wish people would stop throwing up arguments that we should virtually ignore this. There are too many experts, scientists, politicians saying that it is serious for there to be any doubt we need to take dramatic steps.

[ricardo 7,385]

This is where they start hiding the numbers to stop panic.

Sweden with 65 new cases announces it will cease testing unless you are hospitalised or belong to one of the high risk groups. Even if you report symptoms.

A neat way to get the numbers down.

[Barbe bleu 823]

1 hour ago, TeemuVanBasten said:

 

Secondly, I've just told you a major bank may not be able to function. Evidently they went massively over your head, because I'm sure many more will die if they can't make online purchases or withdraw their pensions/benefits/wages. A lot of people live week to 

This is quite alarming.   

I had presumed that banks could function on a tiny proportion of their staff for a few days (like at Easter or Christmas ) and that at least 50% of staff could  be absent for a week or two without effecting day to day operations.

Is there a serious concern that a bank that sends 50% of its staff home for 2 -3 weeks could cease functioning?

[Herman 9,756]

21 minutes ago, ricardo said:

This is where they start hiding the numbers to stop panic.

Sweden with 65 new cases announces it will cease testing unless you are hospitalised or belong to one of the high risk groups. Even if you report symptoms.

A neat way to get the numbers down.

Probably more to do with logistics rather than anything sinister. 

[Herman 9,756]

At least I can now class my miserable, anti social ways as self isolation. 

[ricardo 7,385]

5 minutes ago, Herman said:

At least I can now class my miserable, anti social ways as self isolation. 

There's always a silver lining if you look hard enough😷😉

[ron obvious 1,502]

54 minutes ago, keelansgrandad said:

Rather than people saying lets bite the pillow and get on with it, they are throwing up instances where normal everyday life will be affected.

We all will be affected. Whether its the market or someone wanting homecare. We will get through it if we accept that for two weeks, we will find life different and difficult.

But although I understand the worries, I wish people would stop throwing up arguments that we should virtually ignore this. There are too many experts, scientists, politicians saying that it is serious for there to be any doubt we need to take dramatic steps.

But what steps exactly?

You talk as if damaging the economy has no effect on mortality rates. It does.

A balance has to be struck, & it's a very difficult one to do. It is essential that we gather as much information as possible about all aspects of the virus as quickly as possible in order to make that judgement.

 

[Van wink 2,994]

2 minutes ago, ron obvious said:

But what steps exactly?

You talk as if damaging the economy has no effect on mortality rates. It does.

A balance has to be struck, & it's a very difficult one to do. It is essential that we gather as much information as possible about all aspects of the virus as quickly as possible in order to make that judgement.

 

That’s very true Ron, but when you look into the crystal ball and see Italy you probably have all the info you need to start ramping things up.

[ricardo 7,385]

3 minutes ago, ron obvious said:

But what steps exactly?

You talk as if damaging the economy has no effect on mortality rates. It does.

A balance has to be struck, & it's a very difficult one to do. It is essential that we gather as much information as possible about all aspects of the virus as quickly as possible in order to make that judgement.

 

Its not difficult to see that the draconian methods in Hubei have succeeded in stopping the spread to the rest of China. They have managed to almost halt the spread at 80k cases and a markedly declining death rate.

[ron obvious 1,502]

Just now, Van wink said:

That’s very true Ron, but when you look into the crystal ball and see Italy you probably have all the info you need to start ramping things up.

There's something very odd about the way the virus has progressed so rapidly in Italy; it almost looks worse than China, on a per capita basis.. It doesn't seem representative of the rest of the world.

Which only muddies the waters even further. It's a hell of a problem.

[TeemuVanBasten 3,327]

1 hour ago, Barbe bleu said:

This is quite alarming.   

I had presumed that banks could function on a tiny proportion of their staff for a few days (like at Easter or Christmas ) and that at least 50% of staff could  be absent for a week or two without effecting day to day operations.

Is there a serious concern that a bank that sends 50% of its staff home for 2 -3 weeks could cease functioning?

Well we haven't heard of a bank run in Italy yet, and their banks have been in mess for a while, but if things got to Wuhan levels in a European country who knows! 

[TeemuVanBasten 3,327]

41 minutes ago, ron obvious said:

There's something very odd about the way the virus has progressed so rapidly in Italy; it almost looks worse than China, on a per capita basis.. It doesn't seem representative of the rest of the world.

Which only muddies the waters even further. It's a hell of a problem.

It is worse in Italy than in China per 100,000 capita. About five times worse. 

[keelansgrandad 6,679]

But what steps exactly?

You talk as if damaging the economy has no effect on mortality rates. It does.

A balance has to be struck, & it's a very difficult one to do. It is essential that we gather as much information as possible about all aspects of the virus as quickly as possible in order to make that judgement.

The steps probably are finish it now before it gets worse or mutates.

[Surfer 1,547]

7 hours ago, Herman said:

Does he know Heathrow is a hub airport? Will the US be checking interconnecting flights? 

What I gathered from the follow up was that as UK and Ireland are outside Schengen agreement  travelers transiting via London would be known (or could be known) as they would be on a connecting flight itinerary, or passing through immigration they would have a physical or electronic “stamp” for their passport. That is what can be tracked in theory. The politically loaded phrase used was “countries with open borders” which is the same language used for justifying the Mexico / US border wall and all the associated BS about drugs and diseases and invasions. Probably because Steven Miller was reported to be the speechwriter and he’s like Cummings - the xenophobe behind the throne. 

[PurpleCanary 5,557]

The Daily Mail is rapidly losing patience with Johnson's supposed strategy. Not a good sign for a Tory PM.

[Yellow Fever 3,772]

17 minutes ago, PurpleCanary said:

The Daily Mail is rapidly losing patience with Johnson's supposed strategy. Not a good sign for a Tory PM.

Pound crashing (Brexit destroyed it's reserve or safe currency status), FTSE crashing, country collapsing.

Zero Leadership just sound bites and waffle.

Welcome to the Boris and Trump populist dystopian reality. Project 'fear' didn't even scratch the surface. 

 

[sonyc 5,516]

4 hours ago, PurpleCanary said:

As a historical aside, when the bubonic plague came to the Derbyshire village of Eyam in the 17th century the inhabitants decided to quarantine (how voluntarily is a question) themselves off from the outside world to stop the disease spreading. Many died - perhaps  half the population of 800. How much good it did is stopping the plague from reaching other villages is the subject of debate.

It was a heart breaking action that saved millions of lives. We no longer live in such feudal times (well maybe there are tiny corners of the land who do!)

[sonyc 5,516]

1 hour ago, TeemuVanBasten said:

Well we haven't heard of a bank run in Italy yet, and their banks have been in mess for a while, but if things got to Wuhan levels in a European country who knows! 

Haven't banks been building up their reserves massively since 2008/9 precisely to build a greater capital buffer?

[T 190]

The daily mail has a relatively elderly readership so not surprising that they will reflect the concerns of their more elderly readership. They are in the business of selling media and not in the business of promoting science analysis. 

[Yellow Fever 3,772]

1 minute ago, T said:

The daily mail has a relatively elderly readership so not surprising that they will reflect the concerns of their more elderly readership. They are in the business of selling media and not in the business of promoting science analysis. 

Hell will have no fury like the blue rinse red top brigade looking for somebody (else) to blame (It won't be themselves).

Now who's the PM ?

[sonyc 5,516]

I see a second Tory MP Andrew Bridgen is being tested and is currently self-isolating. As I might expect he is critical of the decision not to restrict parliament activity once the Dorries was announced (he sat next to her last week). 

[sonyc 5,516]

https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/coronavirus-uk-doctor-nhs-hospital-symptoms-italy-china-a9397736.html

View from the frontline just published.