Has the Penny dropped?...

flusurvey's weekly questionnaire is now available - plus an additional Covid-19 survey.
Do your bit. Add to the data.
Even if you have no symptoms your results count.
http://flusurvey.net

[Website is a bit slow at 13.00hrs - must be a lot of traffic.]

Roger

Spain is the next Italy

About 1800 I think, or somewhere around that figure. 

That's why we sensibly imported a large sample of Madrilenos last night in order to gain a better understanding. Our approach is science driven.

SPITALY!

Yes and Liverpool FC sensibly deciding to self isolate from the competition by losing...

Brian - Our Italian relations wrote today that they are only allowed out to go to the pharmacy or get supplies, and must have a written note of explanation with them to show if stopped. They send a message: "We hope the UK learns from Italy's mistakes and takes some action now."

Roger

Can't vouch for the authenticity of this, but someone I work with has been speaking with someone with senior links to the Govt.

They said that next week there will be emergency legislation passed through Parliament to close schools from next Friday, along with some other draconian measures. They are trying to downplay the chances of taking such extreme action in order to delay panic amongst the population. They figure that by next Friday, there'll be just 2 weeks until the Easter Hols, so minimising disruption whilst having a 4-week period of no schools and curtailed public events.

I can see the logic in this.

4 weeks with my kids, now I’m panicking 

Whats the point, it will be holidays soon anyway

They should be closed now, not another week of children acting as superspreaders, infecting the old

Agreed, but they need to officially advise anyone who can work from home to do it now.

Not everyone has been obsessing about Covid-19, as you can tell from random conversations with people. 

It is akin to people back in June 2016 asking what the referendum was all about.

There is zero evidence that kids are superspreaders - quite the opposite actually

Unless you only care about the economy

Delaying till next Friday would be madness and death sentence for thousands. Whitty and Vallance seem to have been hand picked by Cummings to do as they are told, whilst most other experts are saying we should have acted last week

You don't need emergency legislation to close schools. 

Go on then...

EXCLUSIVE: Boris Johnson's government has lost a second top civil servant in two weeks

Clare Moriarty — one of Britain's most senior mandarins — has decided to quit Whitehallhttps://t.co/aTrOEPPFSW

— Alex Wickham (@alexwickham) March 12, 2020

Government #coronavirus science advisor Dr David Halpern tells me of plans to ‘cocoon’ vulnerable groups. pic.twitter.com/dhECJNbmnI

— Mark Easton (@BBCMarkEaston) March 11, 2020

There will he an urgent ministerial statement on #coronavirus at Holyrood at 4.45pm

— Glenn Campbell (@GlennBBC) March 12, 2020

The announcement by our government to close schools has caused a bit of a stir here. Popped up to our local supermarket a little earlier. No pasta and few potatoes left while a shop assistant was busy restocking shelves to replenish toilet roll stocks. The queues at the chek outs were similar to what you see a day or two before Christmas.

I don't get why people are in a panic about toilet roll. After all, if it's as bad as all that, we'll run out of food too, so no need to worry about toilet roll.  

Confirmed by my son-in-law - not official yet however.

Meanwhile:

Slovakia is closing its borders to non-residents and shutting down international airports to prevent travel to and from the country, Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini has announced.