Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms does anyone understand the covid rules?

That really is the best laugh we’ve had in ages, I loved those broadcasts back then, thanks for posting.

Not so.This is medicine not hard science like physics or engineering. Whatever your views are you can find an "expert" to agree with you. This Irish expert takes a different view to the experts in SAGE. My gut feel is that I prefer what SAGE says for one simple reason - the rest of the world is following the SAGE approach. Or to put it another way, there appear to be far more "experts" supporting the government approach than supporting what this Irish "expert" says. Doesnt mean that he is wrong but it does make it far more likely that he is wrong.

Man made global warming is a similar situation. There are numbers of experts who say it doesnt exist. There are way more experts who say it does. People chose to believe the expert who tells them what they want to hear, as you are doing right now.

The problem is that he makes a few statements that are not actually correct as far as I am concerned and backs them up with his own very loose interpretation of statistics. Like all good stories there is an element of truth in his.

Personally I have already booked my flu shots with our doctor (who is also a friend and was here for dinner last night) and since I am in the vulnerable age group I will continue to take reasonable precautions. The curve in Italy is slowly but surely swinging up again and we have not yet hit the cold and flu season. Schools reopen tomorrow and they have provided space between students but many of them will travel to and from school on crowded public transport. Basically most young people don't give a damn anyway because they feel it doesn't affect them.

We have far too many foreigners who have travelled to Italy for the summer holidays and many Italians are coming back from other countries and have been found to be infected. IMHO they should never have opened the borders.

It probably won't be so bad this winter because, as he pointed out, are large number of vulnerable people are already dead, but I don't believe it is over yet.

That the shape of the infection curve is much like that of any other flu / coronavirus is hardly surprising and proves nothing much. What is far more questionable is whether the curve would have been much higher had not every country taken precautions to some degree. And then of course, his implied approach is to regard the deaths as normal and take no action against the epidemic, but is this a moral approach when you believe that with some social changes such as lockdown you can reduce the death count? And how bad has the economic effect really been? We will never know in the UK because of Brexit and elsewhere there is a recession looming. But unlike people, economies can and do come back from the dead.

The real question here is whether the disease could have been better fought by seperating the population into two groups - the over 60s where the death rate is high and the under 60s where the rate is low. The former could have been seriously locked down, the latter could have gone to work as normal and let the virus infect them with little more than a bad cold. To some degree this has happened because the old and cranky like me have fled indoors in fear of the bug whilst youngesters have ignored the rules on the basis, as one put it, of "the old have had their lives and the virus wont kill me". But it could have happend in a better organised way.

The real issue for us golden oldies is how we live what is left of our lives. There is no reason to think that a vaccine will come riding over the horizon any time soon ( I believe the record shortest development time is 4 years ) so the bug isnt going to go away any time soon and will ramp up between now and next May. So if you cant socialise with other than tiny groups, either by common sense or government orders, and you cant sensibly go on holidays etc, just what do you do with your retirement?

With the second wave, at least we have a straightforward and simple strategy that we can follow with a pretty good chance of success:

1. Which other countries tackled the first wave in a way that resulted in significantly fewer excess deaths per 100k than the UK? (Answer - practically everyone)
2. Which of these countries are most like the UK in terms of economy, population density, and health service provision? (Answer - probably Germany)
3. Therefore hw should we tackle the 2nd wave? (Answer - copy Germany)

Will we do this? Of course not, we are cursed by British exceptionalism to be convinced that it wouldn't work here for all sorts of spurious and nonsensical reasons.

As to how do we cope with retirement if you can't meet with loads of people or go on holiday?

Answer: Change your lifestyle to focus on the things you can do rather than worrying about stuff you can't.

Learn new things, including how to socialise remotely and use technology effectively. I'm currently making music by emailing tracks back and forth with pals and sharing via SoundCloud.

Take on new hobbies that you can do from home: Cooking, Music, Engineering, Gardening, Astronomy, Reading, Writing, Philosophy, Art, Poetry, Photography, Cycling, Running, Walking, the list is endless. Join online groups to discuss your new-found interests and learn from others.

Or just join Reddit or Twitter and have endless arguments with idiots about stuff.

Our gas mans nephew was 48 and a brickie.

He spent the day on site. Came home, shower, and had his meal.

Soon after started with a nosebleed which went on for 90 minutes.

After some ringing round and buck passing, ambulance arrived. His temp was off the scale. They suited up and took him in.

Twelve weeks on a ventilator and he's dead.

There's no magic under 60. People are gambling with their lives.

Like Peter said, borders should be closed. NZ has the right approach.

Oh PS. The building site was closed. 9 tested positive. Two are still in hospital.

I agree, it has not gone away. I was shocked about the utter lack of airport testing (I thought the self quarantine approach was a total smoke screen and farce.) and opening of the borders.

I do believe in free choice but the impact on others is just too serious if you were to have an accident.

We have an NHS GP living next to us. Her mother lives in France. She goes to France with the kids during the summer holiday every year. This year as the travel ban was lifted she took them out, her husband joining them a week later. They had been out three days when the France quarantine was re-applied.
They came home the previous weekend. My understanding of the fast altering rules means two weeks quarantine?
They have been out shopping twice already (in the late evening).
They have had the parents around for one of the boys birthday.
They went out again as a family this weekend,

I made a joke about how they were bearing up with the quarantine and two young lads and she said they were not worried about it.

It will be interesting to see when she returns to work. I would only hope that they have been tested.

I'd be back at football tomorrow if it was allowed and with having weekends free as it isn't I'll be flying out for a few breaks away. Life's a risk anyway.

I agree Alistair. All we hear is "You've got to get your life back", and a seemingly reckless disregard for the obvious. We're quite happy at home. We can see our small family, and sure a holiday would be good, but until the masses change behaviour, this will continue world wide.

It's a permanent change, and the sooner people come to terms with it, the sooner it will be controlled better. 3,000plus a day now testing positive.

I'm currently spending most of my time in a confined space with 30+ kids and one or two other adults. Every hour or so, that changes and I get a new set of 30 and different adults.

Most kids go home on a crowded bus, often standing room only, and back to their families. I have no idea what the situation is with regards to their COVID hygiene. As some seem unable to pop a shirt in the washing machine, I'm not hopeful.

Most of us have given up any pretence of COVID prevention and are just waiting to get it, and hoping for a good result.