Funny how no one seems to give a feck about Extinction Rebellion anymore.

Now people are hoping climate change means it warms up significantly in April and we can stretch our legs again.

This toilet roll thing is also weird....almost as if people were previously permanently on one or two toilet rolls. God forbid we get a new strain of global diarrhea.. ....Andrex would have to go into public ownership.

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

Yeah, it's almost as though people are so used to social liberalism that they are willing to let it kill them.

Kind of ironic.

I hate to say it, but when it comes to this stuff, I think the Chinese have the right approach.....You have to be illiberal if you are going to save a lot more people in the long run.

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

Check your temperature. Without being alarmist, you should self isolate for 7 days. Watch a couple of series' and read a few books. I recommend Silk Roads by Frankopan. That will definitely take you more than a week.

Red and Blue Army!

I hear that the government seem to be modifying the advice today and suggesting that the over 70s won't need to "stay indoors" but to be sensible and avoid close contact with others. Which makes perfect sense. With warmer weather around the corner and knowing that fresh air and exercise will keep you healthy going for a walk must be good for you, and no danger to others, so long as you keep the recommended 2 metres distance. My dogs will be happy to know this too!

Building up "herd immunity" also seems sensible. If those young and fit enough to survive this get it, and then develop immunity, the numbers able to spread it reduce proportionately and so will the number infected at any one time. Thus the NHS can handle it over a longer time frame. If they get overwhelmed by a huge peak then the death rate will be higher. Unless I am missing something!

I am wondering if China will see a resurgence once they fully release the brakes because there is no "herd immunity" there and no vaccine yet.

I also wonder whether the global lockdowns we are seeing actually makes much sense. It's beginning to feel like shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted. If your country already has infections what's the point of stopping travel from another that has them, at the same or a similar level? Surely it's the internal systems to slow the spread and manage the way your health systems cope that really counts. I realise that many people won't want to travel at the moment unless they have to but blanket bans seem to be window dressing rather than of any practical effect.

The idea that globalisation has any responsibility for this, as made by another poster, is really quite ludicrous. Unless every country completely and permanently closed their borders such things as this virus are bound to spread. They might spread faster these days, but spread they always have. Knowing who is here won't stop that.

For the avoidance of doubt any comments in response to a previous post are directed to its ideas and not at any, or all, posters personally.

Sorry but isolating is not about saving lives. It is all about spreading out the deaths so that come the winter, less people die of the second wave.

The lack of a basic level of understanding about how viruses work is staggering. Nobody has a natural immunity to Covid-19. Therefore the only way to stop it is to prevent the spread is having 60% of the population to have had it and got better.

If anything those of us who are not in the at-risk groups should be deliberately infected with it. We should be socialising more, in optimum conditions for it to spread.

I would happily be infected today so that within 10 days I can get on with normal life.

OK, perhaps I am a bit of a lunatic but seriously, the only effective action is to ensure that most of us get it but spread out over the months to come. Not hide away from it now so that it can come back and bite us on the arse in November with a long winter ahead.

Catch Covid-19 now if you are under 70 and are not already having to visit the Doctor once a month.

Edited by Matov (16 Mar 2020 12.14pm)

"The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command." - 1984 - George Orwell.

By the end of summer 2021, the amount of body bags will tell us who is right.

And that is the issue. This is a long term problem. Johnson is luckier than most politicians in that he is perhaps the most secure Western leader at the moment. 80 majority and a fixed-term Parliament act. He can afford to take the hit by not pandering to the hysteria.

Banking on a vaccine by November is irresponsible in the extreme. This wretched virus will kill. Nothing can prevent that as things stand. Better to take the wider term hit now as we go into the warmer months, with the NHS better able to cope, than delay it until the winter.

Yes, it seems heartless but emotions have to be taken out of this. We are essentially at war with this virus and I do not use that term lightly. This is an invader that wants to kill as many of us as possible. And it will, to a certain extent, succeed.

Now is the right time to fight it. To take it on the chin. Because if we don't then it comes back in November and the carnage will be even greater.

"The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command." - 1984 - George Orwell.