Nursing knows but I think there's been a few professions that have been surprised to discover that they are 'key workers' during this crises.

Key workers who are being paid like the very opposite.

'Who are you and how did you get in here? I'm a locksmith. And, I'm a locksmith.' (Leslie Nielsen)

Yep, hence the people still somehow not taking the lockdown seriously and people pushing ‘herd immunity’ when the amount of people requiring hospital treatment simultaneously would burst the system apart at the seams. It’s a horrible illness, that spreads rapidly and easily. Keeping people as far apart as possible is the only sensible thing to do and should have been in place sooner.

Tom - hope your friend recovers fully. Nurses are incredible and hopefully after all this is over they will get the big pay rise they have deserved for years, along with other key workers still out there on the front line.

That would be nice for my wife! BF haven't had a decent pay rise for many years, unfortunately BF get very little public support due to the nature of their work. I personally have not heard them ever mentioned when the media talk about key workers having to continue to work. The only saving grace at the moment is that, due to lack of flights, they are not having to attend as much.

Apologies reading back your response I did misinterpret what you had written. Certainly no snipe on your part, ironically more on mine...

The lockdown stems from obviously firstly a desire to mitigate deaths but from my understanding the aim is in reducing cases overall. Every case and transfer increases the likelihood of virus mutation. With a virus as contagious as this without a vaccine the worry is that it mutates to something more deadly / resilient. Keeping chances of spread and therefore mutation as low as possible is obviously an aim.

Plus the fact that we have a vaccine for flu already means the elderly / vulnerable can be immunised every year and we can all catch seasonal flu and recover without issue. Unfortunately without that facility left unchecked this virus would run rampant through society.

Ha, indeed we do Stirling! On a different note, theres something about priti patel don"t you think, very handsom lady, got a great top half to, but the process went awol on the bottom, still, although she"s at it(ask the Israelis. , maybe better not),but she is definately eye candy!

Seasonal flu vaccine are almost always a year out of date. They are based on previous strains plus an assessment element of how the previous strain may mutate. But what about the strains of viruses that don't allow for immunity like chicken pox? If you catch the virus it will always remain in the body, but can re emerge years later as shingles (a variant). Same with the viruses that cause pericarditis and encephamialitis. Until the true nature of this beast is thoroughly understood there will not be anything truly effective against it.

Edited by becky (11 Apr 2020 4.58pm)

A stairway to Heaven and a Highway to Hell give some indication of expected traffic numbers