Topic: Corona Virus Panic/Discussion Thread

Anyone know why the NHS is being celebrated with paintings of rainbows and stuff? Last time I checked, the NHS rainbow lapel badge was being worn to show support for the LGBT+ community so seeing certain people using the rainbow is ironic to say the least.

@nessisonett dunno. Keeps the kids busy for 15 minutes I guess.

@nessisonett it was set up on Facebook.

Be good to hear from our American contingent right now, over 70,000 dead when the stars roll in later! Crazy.

@nessisonett As @kyleforrester87 said, using chalk to chalk a massive rainbow on the outside of my house took a whole afternoon and they let me continue with work so this is the main aim.

It is just another way to people feel like they are 'in this together'. Not sure I agree but boy did I appreciate that whole afternoon. Plus people keep walking past and shouting how nice it looks and I am craving human contact of any kind that isn't my wife or kids so I get to say 'awww' and 'yeah they had so much fun'.

Interesting headline from the BBC, “Virus deaths pass 250000 as countries lift curbs”. It all feels a bit premature and I’m very much expecting next week’s to be “Virus deaths pass 500000 as countries reimpose curbs”.

@nessisonett I don't think it's premature, in the UK at least. We need to get back to work, while being sensible about it. If you can get to work and work while maintaining social distancing, do it. If you can work from home, do it. I'm back in the office for a few hours a day from this week, on my own, but I'm just so fed up working from home. I come in on my bike and I can work on my own from a separate room, so this is me for the next 6 months or more as required.

@kyleforrester87 I agree - in a way the real fight against this virus is to return to a functioning economy and keep transmission levels down. We need to start working soon but that transition and how we all deal with it is very important. This is going to mean big changes in the way we work and operate.

I just hope it is done sensibly. I can see too many managers insisting everyone has to be in when this time has shown they probably don’t need to be there. Public transport crowding will be an issue and further exacerbate discrepancies in personal income and the virus.

I find it utterly abhorrent that the US are looking to give companies legal immunity from prosecution if their workers become infected while doing their job.

While we can't just stay shut down forever, opening back up too quickly is going to sacrifice the month or so of lost economic activity and lead to another big round of shutdowns anyway. At that point, it would have been better to take the Swedish approach to dealing with this.

The issue is that problems of this magnitude demand strong and intelligent leadership, and that is sorely lacking in many countries.

@nessisonett Nah. It'll take a week or two for new infection clusters to pop up, and then another week or two for symptoms to start really kicking in.

The huge delay between initial infection and the actual fun stuff is one of the big reasons this disease is so hard to contain.

I will say America seem to be taking a pretty cavalier approach to getting back to work.

@Thrillho Companies will (have) to be understanding, we are talking reduced working hours/staggered starts/allowing work from home/week on and week off alternations, etc.

I think companies are likely to be unable to afford to keep as many staff once the government support packages subside and we'll see a lot of redundancies toward the end of the year. The quicker we can responsibly get back to work, while accepting that some risk is inevitable, the better. We've been taught to be very afraid of this virus over the past 2 months, and that's been necessary to keep us all indoors.

In terms of our anticipated return to work in my organisation and my part in the planning, we are taking it slow and steady and I know a lot of other firms are planning on doing the same. Having WFH rotas where possible, making sure vulnerable staff are supported, better cleaning, spreadin out desks, locking down communal areas, propping doors open, staggered arrival and departure times.

I think that people will take it seriously here in the UK personally. Some companies will find it harder to manage and will not make the effort however we need to remember that this virus exists and will go through the population. All we are doing is to work to keep that transmission level to a minimum to prevent a seismic rate of hospitalisations and to look after the vulnerable. In my opinion, the aim of lockdown was to protect those vulnerable groups and attempt to get the infection level (where the spread was unknown because of the lateness of our lockdown and lack of testing) to a trackable and manageable level. We'll all be responsible for that in how we behave.

@kyleforrester87 @Rudy_Manchego @Ralizah @Thrillho it's all going to get very real, very soon.

Sunak is playing round with the idea of dropping furlough to 60%. Understandable with the take up but an absolute ton of people will be in short term financial dire straights.

Combined with a brief conversation with our company owners, only x people are coming back initially, the other staff could never return. Furlough could be a poisoned chalice post May. Demand won't decline so bad in my line of work, even then the ownership is rightfully fretting.

Boris is front facing on Sunday, buckle up everyone! (if we do go back in my opinion it's a week too early, that could be key in rolling out track and trace).

On a similar note I am concerned about certain school children not going back, huge pushback here. I understand the worry from teachers. No one wants to be in harms way.

But if 50 and 60 year old adults with a bigger target on their backs have to go back to work, then a school sorting out a plan for the least at risk group of people has to be considered. I've found it eye opening that representatives won't even consider operating at 40% capacity. Year 12 kids are potentially about to enter the work force of course they can socially distance!

@themcnoisy If it drops to 60% I’ll be homeless in a couple of months, no two ways about it. The only alternative is if I go off to a strawberry farm picking fruit and sending money back to keep my family afloat.

Yeah, with the relaxation of the isolation restrictions and stay at home initiatives, there is a quickly spreading cavalier attitude toward this pandemic. Hold on tight for round two in a couple months. If schools open up in August / September then we’ll see another surge of COVID on top of seasonal Influenza. That is, unless maybe all this has motivated the average citizen to get their flu shots this Fall. Watch — there will be flu shot shortages and we’ll have riots in the streets for flu shots.

@themcnoisy Here is the issue with the furlough scheme is that it can only be withdrawn when you can be certain the demand is back up for it to work. We have furloughed workers but we can't guarantee they'll have work to come back to when the furlough scheme ends. Indeed, this is the only thing keeping the wheels running. Everyone needs everyone to be back to full capacity - put it this way, one of our customers main income is reliant on tourism. We will be asked to go back but they will carry on with furlough, therefore they won't be spending money so we will struggle.

As and when the furlough grants come to an end some people might have to get their heads around the idea that they need to go out and work however they can... that could well be stocking shelves or picking veg for a few months! (I just read demand for sheep shearers is way up... could be fun 😬)

@kyleforrester87 Sheep shearers?! Do they make those PPE masks out of wool? I had no idea. Cupboard is gonna have to be pretty bare for me to apply to shear sheep, but it beats cleaning toilets.

@kyleforrester87 probably. But I will be honest, if I was moved from my current role and HAD to take a job for 18k a year picking fruit I would be both frustrated and skint.

It's also easy to say that when you are in a safe job.

@themcnoisy of course, but if the priority is reliable money coming in it’s potentially better than sitting on furlough watching it reduce month on month knowing you’ll likely be made redundant at the end of it all. I’d rather jump before I was pushed I think.

My job is more secure at face value, but a lot of our tenants are struggling so that could easily have a knock on effect to me. Everyone should be optimistic I think but I don’t take my position for granted.

Edit: that said, if they are opening certain industries it makes sense to keep hospitality etc on 80% for longer to me.