Wuhan virus.

[Workingman]

And so the silliness continues.

One firm with 25 or so staff in a digital office has an egg timer to remind staff to wash their hands. Why? If the first thing they do when they go to work is wash their hands, as per instructions, and nobody else enters the work space what will continuously washing their hands achieve?

Another was an economist on Sky with Andrew Bolton who avowed that "working from home would be a solution". Well of course it would! All of those in the NHS; construction; manufacturing; transport, freight and logistics; energy production and supply; food production; hospitality, leisure and tourism; various sectors in retail and of course, the emergency services, can all work from home - can't they. Even what appear to be good candidate industries for home working such as banking, insurance and legal have hundreds of thousands of workers in offices on company intranets isolated from the outside world. Working from home is for the very few not the many.

I am all for not panicking, but let's be practical, eh?. Instead of elbow bumping rather than shaking hands why not smile, say "Hello" and nod your head?

[cromwell]

The Daily Telegraph has on the front page a story pointing out that planes are being allowed to fly in from Milan and the passengers allowed to disembark with no checks.
Checking these passengers would be a lot more use than telling people not to shake hands, imo.

[medsec222]

I've just bought a new jacket and I am looking forward to getting plenty of wear out of it

[cromwell]

Have I missed something?
I read just the other day that the peak of coronavirus was going to be in about two weeks? Now I have heard that it is going to be in the summer?
I honestly don't know how to cope with more bad news atm. We've had three bloody years of brexit, we've had a toxic parliament for years, we've had an awful winter with storms every other weekend and now we have this poxy flu bug.
More months of panic buying, gloom ridden news bulletins, crap weather? Give me strength, because I'm going to bloody well need it.

[Kaz]

Crommers, I'm beginning to feel the same!

[JoM]

Crommers, I'm beginning to feel the same!

Me too!

[Workingman]

Do cheer up, chums. Things could be worse, a lot worse - you could be French!

<coat>

[TheOstrich]

I don't know about you, but I remain unconvinced by the UK Government's overall approach to the coronavirus.

It is all very well saying they are following "the science", but every scientist I've heard seems to be promoting a different message. I can't see any point in pretending that they can "delay" this virus for two or three months because it's obviously out there and spreading fast, and by delaying it, you are not going to cure it, you are just going to create more worry and more uncertainty in the population for a longer period. Boris Johnson's remark that we are all going to have to face "the loss of loved ones before their time" was absolutely negative, hardly reassuring and completely the wrong thing to say, IMO.

Overall, it seems to me that today's statement was a classic case of "kicking the can down the road". They should have taken much more positive action, like Italy, Ireland, and the USA.

[Osc]

Things stepped up a bit in Ireland today. Schools, colleges, child care facilities, museums and other cultural sites closed from this evening until 29th March. Social events indoors for more than 100 people and outdoors for more than 500 cancelled. A huge country music festival due to happen over three days of this weekend, cancelled. It is absolute insanity to me that Cheltenham was allowed go ahead.....if it had been equine flu, they would have cancelled it! Ossie, I am not one bit convinced by the actions taken (or rather, not taken) in the USA, they mostly come across as pretty clueless with so-called experts so busy licking Trump’s rear end that Americans are being told very little truth.

[TheOstrich]

It is absolute insanity to me that Cheltenham was allowed go ahead.....if it had been equine flu, they would have cancelled it!

You're not the only one to think it was a stupid decision, Osc. The trouble is that "money always talks" …...