Coronavirus worries?

[Lencoboy]

It's already happening. Production on EastEnders and other continuing dramas like Holby ceased on the 18th March and EastEnders has now gone to two days a week of transmission - Neighbours (Aussie, but nonetheless) is doing the same from tomorrow: production has also stopped on their ITV equivalents.

'Closedown' is unnecessary these days when pre-recorded programming is automatically played out from servers.

I agree, they will probably just air repeats and whatever of 'archive' material and no doubt more news-related stuff during the 'quieter' times of day during the lockdown.

Still, the soaps and flagship TV dramas will hopefully benefit from the 'less is more' and 'quality over quantity' as the year wears on.

[Lencoboy]

Doubt it, Lencoboy: the Mail today also has the vile Iain Duncan Smith attacking China today, attacking over-zealous policing and Dan Hodges and Peter Hitchens bemoaning attacks on our liberty. It's not Johnson setting the Mail up to do this, but they are getting their "two minute hate" of foreigners in to divert blame for when the economy starts to tank and gets worse when a "no deal" Brexit happens at the end of the year. A recession was pretty much on the cards globally even before this all happened; it will now be much worse.

I can see the lockdown tightening soon, not loosening. Round my way the police are already stopping cars and asking drivers if they are out with 'good reason'.

Good grief, some just have no shame, do they.

And I don't know why they are having to 'shoehorn' pro-Brexit and related stuff, plus rabid anti-police rhetoric into this current CV chaos. We would have most certainly ended up in an even bigger mess with all of this CV stuff had we still been carrying on the way we were just over three weeks ago. Just seems as if IDS and the others you mentioned are just trying to 'deflect' in order to justify their own beliefs and agendas.

Still, just my own personal guess though.

[Lencoboy]

So if my understanding is correct, Britain is likely going to be in for a few weeks of very distressing news headlines - in regard to us accelerating "up the curve" of this pandemic.

I'm honestly not sure whether to try to stop watching the news, or if it would be foolish to be uninformed right now.

My anxiety stems mostly from the reports of over-stretched health services and the fear of people not being able to get help if they need it, and I have a feeling that is what we will be seeing more of very shortly.

Out of interest, have any UK based members here signed up to volunteer for the NHS?

Also, remember from next week onwards, there will be temporary 'makeshift' hospitals set up in major cities such as London, Birmingham and Manchester, in order to cope with the CV epidemic. As to whether it may be 'too little, too late' is anyone's guess, but at least it's still a damn sight better than simply having to rely on existing overstretched facilities.

[FrankT]

Nevertheless, I am now really starting to look forward to a possible 'brave new world' after all of this comes to an end.

Yeah - under a dictatorship!

[Lencoboy]

Yeah - under a dictatorship!

Not quite sure about that, mate.

Anyway, our count of newly confirmed cases here in the UK has actually been declining (albeit by a relatively small amount) during the past two days. And the number of new fatalities has also dropped a little today, though I am not being complacent in any way as, of course, we are still far from out of the woods as yet.

Also, it's worth bearing in mind that we went through a brief downward trend last Tuesday and Wednesday (IIRC) then from last Thursday onwards (26th March) the way the stats count
was upgraded from a 12-hour period to cover a full 24-hour period in order to make the stats a bit more representative (albeit still far from total accuracy), which no doubt accounts for the sudden jump in the CV figures on Thursday and Friday, counting both newly confirmed cases and fatalities.

[FrankT]

Not quite sure about that, mate.

Well, I am. Remember the Star Wars prequels? How the Emperor was given emergency powers and then refused to give them up? It's happening now! You think any of them will give it up?

[Kirbear]

So if my understanding is correct, Britain is likely going to be in for a few weeks of very distressing news headlines - in regard to us accelerating "up the curve" of this pandemic.

I'm honestly not sure whether to try to stop watching the news, or if it would be foolish to be uninformed right now.

My anxiety stems mostly from the reports of over-stretched health services and the fear of people not being able to get help if they need it, and I have a feeling that is what we will be seeing more of very shortly.

My fears exactly

[ckelley116]

A 21-year-old woman who was reported as having died from coronavirus may not have had it after all.

The death of 21-year-old Chloe Middleton was given widespread media coverage earlier this week when she was reported to be the youngest British victim of Covid-19 with no known underlying health issues.

But it has since emerged that Miss Middleton may not have had coronavirus and that she may in fact have died of a heart attack.

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/03/28/doubts-cast-on-tragic-tale-of-britains-youngest-coronavirus-victim/

Breitbart, unfortunately, is exactly the kind of hard-right news source that will jump at any opportunity to downplay this whole thing as a hoax. They can’t be trusted, even a little bit.

[dorabella]

I think that all media outlets, internet and newspapers are equally to blame, regardless of the politics of their editors. Everyone - MPs, journalists and other assorted bods just want their Andy Warhol moment in the spotlight. The hysteria whipped up by these people is unforgivable - sic 'a tsumani heading for London' and other similar apocalyptic headlines has scared the sh#t out of people. Why don't they just give it a rest?? We can all see what is going on since it is being rammed down our throats 24 hours a day, and they have a now captive audience since we are for the most part locked in our homes. State dictatorship?? I don't think so ... more like uber-nanny state!! And now Boris Johnson is writing to everyone in the country ... to say what exactly ... apart from the bloody obvious. Shocking waste of money in the current situation and completely unnecessary. A Roosevelt-style fireside chat from No. 11 would have sufficed. Always worst-case scenario for these lot because, as other have pointed out, disaster sells....

Nevertheless, the common sense messages from Deputy Chief Medical Officer Jenny Harries suggest a little hope and ask people to hang in there for a couple more weeks and give social distancing time to have some effect on the daily stats.

Numbers of reported cases have taken a slight dip over the last couple of days ... we are approaching the peak. Lets see what happens

[FrankT]

Down with the media!