New coronavirus in/from China

[Little John]

We don't even have any ppe other than disposable wrist gloves where I work. In other words, no different than it was before Covid-19.

If Covid-19 gets in, all the residents in the house where I work die and probably one or two of us care workers as well. The age demographic of the care workers is not conducive to a mild form of the illness.

[Mean Mr Mustard II]

We don't even have any ppe other than disposable wrist gloves where I work. In other words, no different than it was before Covid-19.

If Covid-19 gets in, all the residents in the house where I work die and probably one or two of us care workers as well. The age demographic of the care workers is not conducive to a mild form of the illness.

Is it normal to have workers operating across several sites?

[adam2]

The WHO guide to local hand sanitiser production if anyone wants to have a go at making it for friends and family.

https://www.who.int/gpsc/5may/Guide_to_ ... uction.pdf

Yes, I have already made a quantity according to that formulation, or a closely similar one. Supplied to various neighbours and friends.
Isopropyl alcohol is now almost unobtainable, fortunately I had some.
Ethanol fuel has more than doubled in price, but is still readily available.

Meths 7 parts
Water 3 parts

Kitchen spritzer bottle

Simple

That should work, but is non optimal in several ways.
Firstly, for regular use, a little glycerine should be added to the mixture. Otherwise regular use leaves the skin hard and dry and perhaps damaged and thereby at greater risk of infection.
Also the WHO recommend replacing a small part of the water with hydrogen peroxide solution. The peroxide plays no direct part in sanitising of the hands. It is added to kill any spores or bugs that might be in the bottle or other ingredients.
I would avoid any form of spray bottle. The product is rather flammable and dispersing as a fine spray seems unwise. Better in my view to use a bottle with a pump action dispenser but no spray.

[kenneal - lagger]

....................TL;DR our own government, having failed to provide sufficient PPE or testing, is now sending people into care homes who have worked in other care homes where people have already died, without notifying them that they've been exposed to the virus.

This is not our national government it is local government, a different matter altogether although your personal political persuasion would want to put all the blame on the Tory national government. I don't see that a Labour Government, or even a LibDem one would have done anything very much different as they would all have received the same advise from the same civil servants.

Her local authority are being negligent by promoting unsafe working practices so perhaps a call to the HSE would be in order. It is not safe to be moving staff between different care homes without proper PPE in place or without a period of quarantine between different homes and especially when the virus is known to be present in at least one of the homes.

[Vortex2]

Armband colours?

What armband colours do you fancy?

I suggest:

* Bright green = immune

* Yellow and black squares + a skull and crossbones on the chest = infected

* Bright red + a star on the chest = not immune

* Dayglo orange + a star on the chest = not immune, at risk

[Vortex2]

Third world countries

I can imagine that the virus could run riot in some poor counties.

This would mean:

* Their society will be back to normal quite quickly
* Many/most of their ill/weak population will be gone
* The survivors will be mostly immune and probably young.

Meanwhile most of the western population will be hiding under their eiderdowns for years with inactive wrecked economies.

I'm sure that this combination could lead to some interesting results.

[adam2]

Do many of the western population possess eiderdowns under which to hide ? They are VERY last century you know.
Duvets are quite the thing nowadays.

[vtsnowedin]

Third world countries

I can imagine that the virus could run riot in some poor counties.

This would mean:

* Their society will be back to normal quite quickly
* Many/most of their ill/weak population will be gone
* The survivors will be mostly immune and probably young.

Meanwhile most of the western population will be hiding under their eiderdowns for years with inactive wrecked economies.

I'm sure that this combination could lead to some interesting results.

Those poor countries don't have anywhere near the nursing home and frail population we in the Western world do. Heart stents and bypasses along with replacement knees and hips or dental implanted teeth are all pretty rare. That will give them a different CFR then we have but quality and quantity of health care would move it up and the the younger age average would move it down. I can't guess which will be the greater factor.
One thing I do know is their lack of enough money to afford extended lockdowns will mean they get through all the waves well before we do.

[adam2]

On a more serious note, it would appear that HMG are trying to reign in some of worst cases of police "gold plating" the emergency regulations.

In particular, HMG have confirmed that anything sold by shops that remain open may be purchased. So no more searches or threats to search peoples shopping for non essential items.

They also state that private gardens may be used as normal. So no more police giving "words of advice" if children are seen playing in garden.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-52245937

[Vortex2]

Could the UK survive 4 million people needing a hospital bed?

Assuming 30% of our 67 million population get infected, and 20% need a hospital bed then we need 4 million beds and maybe 1 million ventilators ... and rather a lot of medical staff.

Clearly an impossible situation.

Could society survive a 'hands off' no-lockdown approach which resulted in this situation?

[kenneal - lagger]

.......
One thing I do know is their lack of enough money to afford extended lockdowns will mean they get through all the waves well before we do.

Those poor countries have their own currency and central bank so they can print as much money as they need just as rich countries are doing. Whether or not they distribute that money to the people who need it or dish it out to their already rich friends like the Donald is doing is another matter.

[kenneal - lagger]

.....
They also state that private gardens may be used as normal. So no more police giving "words of advice" if children are seen playing in gardens

Is that back gardens only or does it include open plan front gardens?

[Vortex2]

.....
They also state that private gardens may be used as normal. So no more police giving "words of advice" if children are seen playing in gardens

Is that back gardens only or does it include open plan front gardens?

Nope.

The police are being equipped with 'gun trucks' fitted with quad machine guns to ensure that front gardens are kept nice and tidy.

[Catweazle]

The WHO guide to local hand sanitiser production if anyone wants to have a go at making it for friends and family.

https://www.who.int/gpsc/5may/Guide_to_ ... uction.pdf

Yes, I have already made a quantity according to that formulation, or a closely similar one. Supplied to various neighbours and friends.
Isopropyl alcohol is now almost unobtainable, fortunately I had some.
Ethanol fuel has more than doubled in price, but is still readily available.

Be careful with the ethanol fuel, some contains methanol which can be absorbed through the skin and is unpleasant.

[vtsnowedin]

.......
One thing I do know is their lack of enough money to afford extended lockdowns will mean they get through all the waves well before we do.

Those poor countries have their own currency and central bank so they can print as much money as they need just as rich countries are doing. Whether or not they distribute that money to the people who need it or dish it out to their already rich friends like the Donald is doing is another matter.

As Zimbabwe has shown a poor country can print all the money it wants to but can't give it any value or make other countries accept it for payment of imported goods.