Coronavirus: Isolation For Over- 70s 'Within Weeks'

[appalachiablue]

Source: BBC News

(16 mins. ago) Every Briton over the age of 70 will be told "within the coming weeks" to stay at home for an extended period to shield them from coronavirus, Health Secretary Matt Hancock says.

He told the BBC the advice will not come into force just yet but when it does it will last "a very long time". The government has faced pressure to do more to tackle the epidemic after the UK death toll rose to 21 on Saturday.

All deaths so far have been of people over 60 or with underlying conditions. Over-70s - and younger people with certain health conditions - will be told they must remain at home and have groceries and vital medication delivered.

The health secretary said people without symptoms would be able to visit older relatives and friends as long as they stayed two metres - or six feet - apart from them. He confirmed the NHS did not have enough ventilator machines to treat the numbers of people likely to become critically ill with the virus and said the government was urging a wartime-like response from manufacturers to produce them...


Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-51895873

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Car manufacturers, weapon makers and army suppliers will be asked to change to making ventilators.

The UK national heath service will stop non-urgent surgery and start a huge program to retrain medics from other specialties to treat people who become seriously ill with the Covid-19 disease.

Hotels could be used to increase hospital bed space with retired doctors and nursing staff asked to go back to work.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock recently likend the coronavirus crisis to World War Two. He wrote that, despite the Blitz, the UK "pulled together in one gigantic national effort" and that the same must happen once more.

It came as the government's strategy was criticized by some scientists, who wrote to ministers urging them to introduce tougher measures to tackle the spread of Covid-19.

The total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the UK has reached 1,140, while 37,746 people have been tested.

Only patients in the hospital are currently being tested for the virus.

Plea for ventilators- Prime Minister Boris Johnson is to urge British companies to join a wartime-like effort to produce more ventilators and other medical equipment "at speed" to help the NHS deal with the coronavirus outbreak.
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* SEE MORE- Chaos at US airports, LIVE: UK self -isolation for 'over -70s' a 'big lift' - Videos.

https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-51895276

[dewsgirl]

1. I wonder if this will happen here?

[EarthFirst]

2. Only when they can work it into the best interests of the private sector...

...only then.

[Scarsdale]

3. If tRump hotels are used,

you can bet there will be a payoff to the tRump grifters.

[appalachiablue]

4. From all I've read it looks like a possiblity. The UK Health Secy. said

this isolation could last 'up to 4 months' during a TV interview (video).

[dewsgirl]

6. My son is in Qatar, they had an emergency meeting Friday

after Trump announced the ban, they told them if the ban was still in effect when they are due to come home, it will likely affect them. WTF, surely some kind of exception can be made.
The thing is they just got there in mid Jan., they aren't due home until July.😳

[appalachiablue]

7. Sounds fubar, authorities will have to adjust that. Best to you & your son,

esp. at this grave time. Stay well.

[dewsgirl]

8. Thank you. I am hoping they are just covering all the bases.

[paleotn]

12. Should but won't until it's too late.

[LudwigPastorius]

16. NBC reported that, on March 6th...

"The CDC wanted to recommend that anyone over 60 remain inside their homes whenever possible, but was told not to say that by Trump administration officials"

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/mismanagement-missed-opportunities-how-white-house-bungled-coronavirus-response-n1158746


So, that should have been ordered over a week ago.

[totodeinhere]

17. I don't know if it will happen here or not but I am already doing it voluntarily.

I just ordered some groceries to be delivered tomorrow. Many supermarket chains offer grocery delivery.

[dewsgirl]

20. I wish more people were like you, I am now seeing

many people are idiots, regardless of age.

[totodeinhere]

22. Correct. Too many people are not taking this seriously yet. n/t

[Grasswire2]

27. remember to wipe down things that are delivered...

....with some kind of anti-bacterial spray or mild bleach water. Do this outside before you bring it in.

And spritz the doorknob. And then wash your hands.

Brave new world!

[Steelrolled]

28. I believe it is already is happening

When schools, churches, office, restaurants, and bars close, people take notice. Especially for the 70+. some of whom don't get out a lot to begin with.

[bucolic_frolic]

5. I doubt we can meet this challenge in the US

Isolating people is hard. It's a gentrified suburbs thing. It won't happen in cities because they can't afford home delivery. Home delivery is best for the delivery people and the retail stockers/pickers. A delivery every 10 days would tide people over with what they've already bought. Can it happen? No. Who will pay for it. Who will do the work. Republican government would turn to churches for fulfillment. That will mean starve the sinners.

We have no plan. It's every man for himself. Slash your diet sooner rather than later. Stretch. Think weeks and months, not days.

[JudyM]

9. "Weeks" would be a dream.

[appalachiablue]

15. Health Secy. Hancock said 'up ot 4 months' of isolation

when pressed by the host in a BBC interview (video in link above).

[paleotn]

14. Americans will not self isolate....

Even those who know better like the character we had up here who works at Dartmouth Hitchcock medical center. Far too many Americans are selfish assholes for anything but mandatory isolation to work. In Taiwan, those who didn't isolate as they were told were subject to huge fines and arrest. Taiwan has been a shining example of how we SHOULD respond to this disease. The US is a classic case of FUBAR in this situation.

[LudwigPastorius]

18. Right you are.

Whether it's the ideal of "rugged American individualism" or just an entitled fuck-everybody-but-me attitude, many people aren't going to do the right thing.

There is very little sense of "we're all in this together" in the country right now, and that orange toad squatting in the White House doesn't have a clue how to rally people to start thinking that way. That's because any glimmer of a concern for others has never occurred to him in his entire life.

[Steelrolled]

30. Some won't isolate, but I think quite a few will.

It will never be perfect, and people involved in critical industries cannot isolate. And the list of "critical" industries is much longer than it used to be.

[totodeinhere]

19. The store I ordered home delivery from offers their first delivery for fee.

After that, it's a $5 charge for orders under $100 and free for orders over $100. It's a good option for seniors.

[chowder66]

23. Plenty of people in my neighborhood in Los Angeles are offering help in various ways.

Some are offering rubber gloves, masks and tips on what they are doing to stay safe.
Some are offering special runs to the store for multiple elderly neighbors and sharing of items.
Lots of good people everywhere. It won't solve every need but we are part of the system and we should be part of the solution.

[beachbumbob]

10. I thought Boris wants all britons to be infected??

[iluvtennis]

11. "Car manufacturers, weapon makers and army suppliers will be asked to change to making ventilators."

Wish that could happen here in US.

[bucolic_frolic]

21. Flexible manufacturing

makes it theoretically possible. Getting the parties up and running quickly ...

But we should already have done this 3 weeks ago, the first shipments would be arriving this week.

You take the parts manufacturers and create 2nd and 3rd shifts. You scavenge the electronics from other uses. You incentivize contracts just like wartime.

But we have no such response that I've heard of. The government is needed to facilitate, but we have belief in the free market only. Invisible hand.

The population may be more than 1% lighter by the end of the year, partly because of ideology, dithering, passing the buck.

[iluvtennis]

24. thanks for that elaboration regarding flexible manufacturing. nt

[bucolic_frolic]

25. lol it was a subject lightly touched on in a business course

just-in-time was going to empower businesses to change quickly. But I think the Chinese do it better in their small companies.

[Kali]

13. meanwhile we have a day of prayer

[TDale313]

26. Newsom just announced this for Californians over 65.

Self-isolation, but could be enforceable later if need be.

[Grasswire2]

29. I am very happy to stay home. I have books and projects enough for years and years.

But a younger family member lives with me. A mildly disabled family member who likes to go to the store every single day on public transportation, and for whom routine is very important. Can't quarantine from each other in 700 sq ft apartment!

[Lulu KC]

31. What are they waiting for?

Stay home now!