SALUTE Cuba, they have allowed an infected ship to visit their island and keep their economy going. This nonsense about a pandemic is a conspiracy from the insurance companies to avoid claims, and capitalist profit making organisation that rely on ignorance of most normal citizens. The stats of Cuba infection rates will be critical in limiting more messing up by panicking politicians, who are protecting themselves by saying their health systems don't have enough ventilators to meet the crisis.
I think it will be nearly finished sometime around Q1 2021, once there's a vaccine in mass production.
Until then the economy will slowly limp back into life as more businesses open again. Public transport will be a problem, as public transport and social distancing doesn't work. It's been estimated that the London tube would have to run at 15% of normal capacity to maintain distancing, and no amount of shift working can achieve that.
Surveys are showing that people want to go to the garden centre, but still want to avoid places like pubs where people gather.
Looks like you are correct Simon. The vaccine may not be ready until next year which is why the government is easing the restrictions and introducing masks on public transport. If the train/tube is empty then it will be safe to remove the mask but if you get within 2 metres of someone, then it must be put back on. This could also apply to people in pubs or cafes maybe later.
Government restrictions at ports/airport seem to be killing the tourist traffic. Maybe they should test everyone arriving in UK and if they have a temperature or prove positive to covid19 test [ possibly conducted on the plane] then customs will instruct them to immediately quarantine and get a written address/Email/phone number so they can be traced and checked up on. We can't wait till next year to normalise the economy.
I suppose it would be possible to have a straw poking out of the bottom a mask to drink your beer. But I would love to see someone trying to eat a burger while wearing a face mask.
Just another thought as we have wrecked our economy and now need the government to fund some major projects to get construction back up to speed and create lots of jobs and keep us fit at the same time as relieving congestion. Should we ask Boris to build some 5 metre wide bikeways along the side of railways so we can get from say Richmond park to Hyde park to Embankment. Overpass stations on RSJ bridges or tunnels. Caption
Thanks for the response Moshe. There will always be the possibility of local outbreaks of the virus which is why everyone must be extra vigilant when nearer than a metre from another person. I went up to London today and the trains from Guildford was almost empty. The carparks were less than 10% full when they used to be overfull. This means that people are not returning to work quickly enough and that is a serious threat to our economy.
People are still too scared to travel and seem to ignore the fact that there is a far greater risk of having an traffic accident than being killed by covid 19 particularly if you are below retirement age.
Look at the facts only 10% of the 43,000 people that have died of the virus; that's just 64 per million people.
This is a deadly virus and downplaying it like Trump and Boris Johnson would not help at all - rather creating more deaths which IET member can not promote!!
Note that lower deaths due to car accidents are because of decades of safety enhancements from stricter driving rules and fines (speeding fines, parking fines, dangerous driving fines, ...) plus safety enhancements in car with crumple zones to absorb impact forces, seat belts, air bags, better brakes, engine going under passenger cubicle on frontal crash, etc. (never mind all the electronic safety warnings).
What is the equivalent for COVID-19? Nothing except wear masks, keep distance and venture out when necessary. Even the big denier Trump has grudgingly accepted on Fox News (!) that wearing masks will be a good idea.
Let us as professionals be prudent. Quote from NYT which you may wish to read. "
Hundreds of thousands of coronavirus patients who survived serious illness and left the hospital are facing a new challenge: recovery. In our close-up look at what to expect after a serious brush with Covid-19, we show that many people are struggling with a range of troubling residual symptoms — physical, neurological, cognitive and emotional. For survivors, problems may persist for months, years or even the rest of their lives.
Thanks for the response Moshe. There will always be the possibility of local outbreaks of the virus which is why everyone must be extra vigilant when nearer than a metre from another person. I went up to London today and the trains from Guildford was almost empty. The carparks were less than 10% full when they used to be overfull. This means that people are not returning to work quickly enough and that is a serious threat to our economy.
People are still too scared to travel and seem to ignore the fact that there is a far greater risk of having an traffic accident than being killed by covid 19 particularly if you are below retirement age.
Look at the facts only 10% of the 43,000 people that have died of the virus; that's just 64 per million people.
Even if your made-up figure that only 10% of deaths were really from the virus, that's still rather more deaths in 6 months that normally happen on the roads in one year.
You are doing nobody any favours by producing bogus statistics to try to show that this virus is nearly harmless.
Plus it all reminds me of the millennium bug discussions "the millennium bug was a myth, you can tell that because nothing happened" - no, the millennium bug didn't cause a problem because a huge number of software engineers fixed a huge number of systems! Same here, the apparent risk has been low because of lockdown, so saying "we can release lockdown because people aren't dying" is really missing the point...
Now, if as a society we decide that opening pubs is more important than not killing people then that's our societal choice. And in the UK and US that does seem to be the choice that has been made. But let's not pretend that we have to do it, or that it's the "right" choice, it's just "a" choice.
" Now, if as a society we decide that opening pubs is more important than not killing people then that's our societal choice. And in the UK and US that does seem to be the choice that has been made. But let's not pretend that we have to do it, or that it's the "right" choice, it's just "a" choice."
And a wrong choice as shown by USA:
(From FT): More than half of the US has reversed or halted reopening bars, restaurants and shops as the coronavirus pandemic rampages through almost every state and knocks the world’s largest economy. Arizona, Florida, Nevada and Georgia, which represent 13 per cent of the population, meet none of the four recommended federal criteria for reopening their economies while seven states — or 16 per cent — meet only one, Goldman Sachs said in a note. Vermont and New Hampshire are the only states to meet all four demands.
