CoronaVirus

[GfK]

Know what pisses me off?  Everything, really. 

But for the context of this discussion, people who think "ooh I know, I'll fuck off on holiday in the middle of a global pandemic, COS THAT'LL BE FINE!".

Then while they're away the government goes, "Benidorm is a Covid hotspot.  From Monday, everyone returning from their shitty £9.50 holiday out of The Sun newspaper, has to quarantine for 14 days".

And what happens, they all rush back so they don't have to quarantine.  But you know what?  If you'd have Covid on Monday, you've probably already fucking got it you idiots!  All you're doing is side-stepping the system and infecting other people.

What the government SHOULD do, is say "Benidorm is a Covid hotspot.  Anyone returning from there has to quarantine, as of RIGHT NOW".

If it was public knowledge that that's how these so-called "air-corridors" would be shut off at the drop of a hat, and you're not happy with it, then don't go on holiday in the midst of a pandemic.  You know, like people with a brain wouldn't.

[chalky]

I have to agree with every word of that. I've never understood why "new" safety measures always take effect 'from <insert random day in the future here>' instead of immediately. Some say it's to allow people/businesses to prepare - but surely by now they've had more than enough time to do that?

[Steve Elliott]

"Unmasked anti-lockdown crowds descend on central London"...That says it all.  Morons.

[GfK]

People be dumb as shit.  Coronavirus, in a nutshell.

Ppl: OMG there's a pandemic!  Close my workplace!

Govt: OK, work from home if you can.

Ppl: Close the schools! CLOSE THE SCHOOLS!

Govt: OK, schools are closed.

Ppl: OMG WHAT ABOUT LITTLE JIMMY'S EXAMS YOU BASTARDS?!

Govt: But you said....

Ppl: End the lockdown!

Govt: OK, we're easing restrictions.

Ppl: WTF IT'S TOO SOON!!

Govt: Eh?!  Didn't you just ask for... *sigh* OK, everyone wear face coverings and stay a guitar length apart.

Ppl: FGS I CAN'T BREATHE IN THIS.  I'M GOING TO SAY I'M EXEMPT.

Govt: Coronavirus is back.  Everyone in lockdown again.

Ppl: FUCK THIS GOVERNMENT THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!!

[Steve Elliott]

Yes some are, but the Government have also been a bunch of useless bastards.  They saw the virus coming and did nothing.  They simply wanted lots to die in the name of herd immunity!

[Xerra]

Yes some are, but the Government have also been a bunch of useless bastards.  They saw the virus coming and did nothing.  They simply wanted lots to die in the name of herd immunity!

I agree with this. It's a bit hypocritical on my part because I can't really say what I would do if I were in charge and could make the decisions.

However, that floppy-haired buffoon in charge is probably the biggest imbecile I think I've ever had the misfortune of having to listen too. He has all the advisors available to him yet still seems to be making complete dipshit decisions without even thinking of the ramifications and also seems to be more interested in keeping power and wealth for him and his buddies than actually solving this crisis. His strategy when all this started actually did seem to be the herd mentality where we should all just band together and develop immunity from exposure. Let's just let the old people and the seriously ill die of it - they don't pay taxes anyway.

Honestly, I said to the missus a couple of years ago, before he became PM, that his strategy for attempting to get public favour is to watch large groups of people shouting for any kind of issue and then running in front of them shouting that he believes in what they're saying and they should follow him.

How can you make a decision that everyone needs to wear face masks in and out of shops yet not put in place some kind of enforcement for it. People just ignore it and, as much as I hate to say it, there's also a huge element of people not wanting to say anything for fear of human rights being screamed at them, or religious reasons being spouted as excuses.

I was sitting on a bus a couple of weeks back and a woman took off her mask in the seat right behind me. I asked her to put it back on and she proceeded to tell me that she was wearing it as she got on but doesn't need to any more. She actually believed this !!!

As a species, humans are fucking idiots. Probably why we've been put so far away from any other intelligent species in the universe. We'd have been wiped out otherwise.

[Steve Elliott]

Well said.

[GfK]

Probably why we've been put so far away from any other intelligent species in the universe. We'd have been wiped out otherwise.

Here's a quote, with more than a ring of truth to it:

We're not gonna make it, are we?  People I mean.

It's in your nature to destroy yourselves.

[grindalf]

We're not gonna make it, are we?  People I mean.

It's in your nature to destroy yourselves.

Oooh quoting my favorite movie there

[Madjack]

Yes some are, but the Government have also been a bunch of useless bastards.  They saw the virus coming and did nothing.  They simply wanted lots to die in the name of herd immunity!

I don't ascribe to the idea that the Government 'wanted lots to die in the name of herd immunity!'.

I think what has happened is that this is a crisis that cuts right across decades of neo-liberal thinking. For a long time now the message has been that government is the problem and the free market is best. Governments are saturated with this thinking - even supposedly left leaning political parties. As a result, government run services such as healthcare are always under threat, underfunded and privatized by stealth.

Then along comes a pandemic and what happens?

The public turns to the government en-masse and expects it to act effectively, even though lobbyists have been working for decades to reduce the role of government to just maintaining the status quo for business interests - the financial sector in particular. As such many (western) governments couldn't even acknowledge the danger until it became impossible to ignore. It was a case of cognitive dissonance, which is still going on.

(On an individual level, notice Boris's somewhat amazed reaction to the public healthcare he received that was effective in (probably) saving his life. It seems he can't quite believe it).

Medical supplies that should have been stockpiled, weren't. Why? Because it's not profitable in the free market to do so. And there was an expectation that the market would be able to provide should such a need arise.

But much of the world's manufacturing had been offloaded to China because of the lure of cheap labor. It's also where the virus originated (and SARS and Asian Swine Flu and even possibly the 1917 flu epidemic), and pretty much overnight, Chinese production shut down. Even here in New Zealand we had reports of Chinese buying up all the medical supplies they could and shipping them back to China.

So bingo, western governments froze and there was a lack of medical supplies and now the virus is deeply embedded in first world populations.

Complete stuff-up of the first order, but I think there's a complex web of political, medical and ideological factors that have been at play here.

[bsisko]

Wow,

this thread is still getting hits. how many months has it been now,  4, 6 or higher.  I actually beleived in the pandemic, but I didn't know it would be this big.

[iWasAdam]

well... not to put a downer on things. 
the previous pandemic (1918) lasted for 2.5 years with 3 distinct waves. and the trajectory is sorta keeping in line with it. which means we are just at the start of the second one!

[GfK]

It happened during World War I, though.  Not the sort of event that encourages minimal travel and social isolation.

[Matty]

I'd say I'm doing pretty well despite these stats:

Although the lockdown has only been a few months it is now 808 days since I've had more than a single visit to my home by a friend.

It is also 73 days since I have had a face to face conversation with anyone that goes more than 30 seconds, not counting 3am chats with petrol station attendants.

Not bad huh?

[Kryzon]

I've been thinking, atheists should find a way to have people congregate and chat, just like it happens in churches. Maybe have some singing too. 

A friend of mine, and I'm sure many of yours, had met his wife while at a church. I think religion still plays a big part in socialization, which is unfortunate -- "so you're not religious? Well, good luck trying to find a group of people that happens to have lots of single women the same age as yours!"