shurlock

It goes without saying that it’s not quite the same as shooting up bleach or detergent...

Are you sure about that pal?

Given the UK has done significantly fewer tests than Germany, I suspect it has far more cases than reported -and by extension deaths.

Whatever next? Benji points for a lock of Alexander Ostlund or Kamil Kosowski’s hair?

Some masks do; some don’t. It depends what type of mask healthcare workers are kitted out with. Clearly those who are coming into close contact with covid patients will be wearing masks that protect them against infection i.e. NOT surgical masks. By contrast the masks that are recommended for the public (and general medical practice) are aimed at preventing the mask-wearer from infecting others in which case everyone needs to wear a mask for them to be truly effective.

Yep it seems that way. Doubtless someone will harp on about cross-country differences in reporting and data collection. But the numbers we’re seeing are simply too big for that to be the only explanation.

It’s both. Bog standard surgical masks help prevent healthcare workers infecting patients. Stronger N95 or N99 masks also give healthcare workers protection from infected patients. As you say, given the way surgical masks work, everyone needs to be wearing them to be effective. The community response is only as good as the weakest link.

I see Panorama painted a pretty damning picture of the government's PPE stockpiling efforts.

David Connolly

The CDC recommends them, that’s good enough for me.

Don’t want to f**k around in China without a mask. https://mobile.twitter.com/fduyuyture65/status/1250224764154601472

Many basic masks I’ve worn in Asia have a strip that can be moulded around the nose to provide a better seal. Also makes it easy to tell which side is which.

Got a number of masks from living and working in Asia. My medical friends out there don’t understand why they’re not worn more widely over here. As for the fiddling, it just requires a bit of practice and adaptation and as they point out, provided it’s just fiddling with the edges or the straps (obviously to be avoided), it isn’t going to make much difference. Bigger issue is supply and demand and needs of the medical community (in Asian countries, they’re centrally rationed and distributed and substitutable with decent home-made masks) and the risks of complacency (i.e. people ignore social distancing rules and handwashing because they think they’re safe in much the same some may drive faster because they’re wearing seatbelts). But again it’s not a universal thing: for me, making the effort to wear a mask, makes me more attentive or alert to not being a dickh**d outdoors.

I don’t think they banned all foreign travellers coming to Taiwan (bar certain categories) till March 19, though they adopted other travel measures (re. travel to China and HK) before then. Yes they definitely learnt something from SARS and were naturally sceptical of the horse**** coming out of China. They were the first to warn the WHO about the possibility of human-to-human transmission.

Quite possibly and it may coincide with the flu season. But the hope is that the transmission rate is now at low enough levels to contain with contact tracing, testing, quarantines and social distancing (including masks). We may have another outbreak but the hope is that it will be local and contained quickly. People slate the government for not introducing a lockdown early enough (which has an element of truth) but it also misses a great deal. The bigger failing is that we lost control of containment early on which required more extreme measures as a corrective further down the line. Places like Taiwan have avoided a lockdown altogether because they invested heavily in containment. Recall Taiwan -population ~24million- was predicted to be the second worst affected country after China; yet has experienced only 6 deaths to date. Needless to say, it will be a holding pattern until an effective antiviral or vaccine is found but policy can be done more or less smartly in the meantime (hence the different stats around the world after controlling for population, demographics etc) without succumbing to the fatalism that we should just let the virus rip.

I saw it -and anyone with the slightest understanding of US politics knows politicians from both sides of the political divide appeal to voters in Spanish. Marco Rubio made it a central pillar of his presidential primary campaign in 2016, especially in attacking fellow Republican frontrunner Ted Cruz. Even Jeb Bush was flouting his Spanish skills.

It’s incredibly simple. But hey you don’t want to answer the question. Fair enough.

So you haven’t answered my question. Running with your little flight of fancy and he’s going to be a vegetable, why would he pushed around by leftist loons? Why not centrists given thats the wing of the party he’s unashamedly and unapologetically from.

Speaking Spanish

Its an incredibly simple question: in the forthcoming presidential elections, would you prefer a Biden presidency or a Trump presidency. Millions of people will be voting and have that simple binary choice.

Jesus wept.

Who’s pushing Biden around? Leftist loonies? I guess that’s why the ‘leftist loonies’ can’t stand him

But Biden and Trump are not equally as bad, right?

For all Biden’s faults, there is absolutely no comparison between Trump and Biden. False equivalence at its finest.

Awful.