It's not you Jabbo (you're lucky to still have hair by the way) but I'll leave it to people to make their own minds up who it might be.
It looks at your previous month's wage, as I understand. And it doesn't just cover the wage itself. It covers all your employer's direct costs of employing you, eg employer national insurance and employer pension contribution. But of course with the £2,500 monthly cap, where applicable.
Chilcs, I never said that no one was immune to the virus and I understand how it can be spread, we are treating this virus in a way that you will die from it, if infected. This is not the case. There are hundreds of thousands of people world wide that have had the virus and recovered. Their immune system can now fight the disease, there are people who have had the virus and never even knew they had the virus. We reacted to this pandemic rightfully so at first with lack of knowledge, fear and apprehension. Now we need to be smart and start looking to ways to get parts of the work force working again. I am in my early sixties and I know I am at risk, my wife and I have been isolated for two weeks. But If we lived in Spain, we would not be able to go outside and walk together, would not be able to take our dog for a walk together, sail our boat together, you can do all these things and keep social distancing. We have closed our colleges and sent all the young people home with their parents, the one set of people who are less likely to die from this virus. There are smarter people than me who are trying to figure out a way to do this, do not call them mental as the OP said. My fear is that in a few more weeks of lock down, we will have serious social unrest to deal with both in Europe and the USA. Stay safe and healthy, I pray for my 86 year old mother who lives in Hedge End that she can avoid the virus.
I agree we have to look forward, but the only certain way what you suggest can happen is testing just about everyone, and with the IgG antibody test which shows if you have had the virus in the recent past. To me, that is the single most important way to get through this, as once you know who has had the virus you can contact-trace who you have been close to.
To get to a point where you can return to something approaching normalcy, you have to have it contained first. It's utterly uncontained in the US right now, and it will take far longer than Easter (which is Trump's target date) for that to happen. Six weeks if they went to an Italy-style lockdown ASAP would be a good result. Two weeks is utter wishful thinking.
To cut Trump some slack (I really don't know why....), I think he is trying to give hope to the economy so it doesn't tank completely. It would be counter intuitive to say hey guys, we're screwed for a year. However, the danger is no one takes it seriously. By the way, felt dirty cutting him some slack.
It is not that You who may not die from Covid-19. It is that you could transfer the virus to people with weaker immune systems, who could. People with weaker immune systems won't transfer the virus. They will possibly/probably be end carriers. That is, the virus will die with them. The dual point of keeping people isolated to their homes is to protect the health services, by slowing down the infection rate, and to protect as many people as possible, as a consequence. Or we could go the USA route [see environmental thread for the USA Covid-19 business stimulus #516], which to all intents and purposes, appears to be treading a path where they let the people with weaker immune systems die [after all, they're just a burden on society anyway, aren't they?], so that the country remains more open and that business can continue to function [and the stock market can stay relatively high, by that circumstance, and the rich don't lose too much money]. The subsidies are all headed towards fossil fuels and the Clean Energy brigade, who can and inevitably will generate far more jobs, get nothing. And, the data is getting silly now that there is an absolute direct relationship with pollution and people's health [including their immune systems]. Sorry, my cynicism came to the fore there for an instant. Incidentally, I appear to be an essential worker. We had a meeting today, and there is little or no danger of my company being closed down by law. The order books are full and growing, even though all our office based staff are working from home and the rest of us are in face masks, latex gloves and sanitary sprays and wipes. And even if I'd like a few days off, I can't even generate a sniffle, while several of my colleagues are in the middle of 7-14 days bye-byes.
I know how you feel. I have emailed my MP, Royston Smith, asking him where I stand with regards to the 80% government funding, given that I work in the food supply chain. I hope there is some leeway built in allowing the primary carer of a vulnerable person to self isolate, in order to protect that vulnerable person, without being hammered financially.
I went shopping today (full mask, gloves and wore sunglasses to stop me touching my eyes). The place was quiet (Sainsbury's in Alder Hill, Poole), but so were the shelves. Got the essentials I was missing (fresh veg) and went to the wine aisle. There were bottles and bottles of £15+ wines, but the rest of the shelves were totally bare except for 4 Shiraz for £6 each. I use 'smart shop' so tried to add them all, but was only allowed 3. I hope that last Shiraz found a deserving home.
It's going to tank anyway. We just have to accept that this is going to be as ugly a three-month period as the world economy has every seen, and be prepared to pick up the pieces thereafter. He just gets a couple good market days on the way down at the cost of a lot of lives.
Trying to stay positive during this is quite hard when there are so many reports of rank stupidity and ignorance by idiots of all ages, and Donald Trump is behaving like a complete moron. I truly dread what kind of nightmare is going to unfold in the USA if they don't contain this virus, and it is looking increasingly like they won't. With that said, there is also such kindness and selflessness that I am amazed at the courage of some people. Some folk behave with such generosity and love towards others that it brings me to tears. This is just one incredible instance of that ..... An Italian priest who gave a respirator to a younger coronavirus patient he did not know has died of the disease. Father Giuseppe Berardelli, 72, died in hospital in Lovere, Bergamo - one of the worst hit cities in Italy. He was the main priest in the town of Casnigo. According to the hospital, he refused to use a respirator that his parishioners had bought for him - choosing to give it to a younger patient, instead. Unfortunately Guiseppe died but the young person who was given the respirator has survived. Residents of Casnigo were reported to have applauded from their windows and balconies as the coffin was taken for burial. There was no funeral.
I do normally shop there - we have one that is 5 mins walk from me. However, the shape of the store is long and thin and I really worried about my social distancing. I am hooked on their Torro Loco for £3.89...sounds yuk as it is so cheap and a cheap name, but it is such a drinkable wine. Before the Italian shortage, they had Aimione which is a Amarone rip off for £4.99 - absolutely stunning wine. Out of stock now though
I am no longer religious and am what I would call a 'Catholic Atheist' now. However on the long shot that there is a god and heaven, he will be fast tracked to the top table. Lovely man. RIP.
I echo all you say, [Toro Loco, Aimone, etc..] although the social distancing bit was funny, as you were wearing a face mask. The two metre distance is for sneezing people without face masks. With one, you can move past people provide they don't cough or sneeze directly in your face. Face masks won't stop you getting Covid, but will hugely hinder you passing it on. Which effectively amounts to the same thing. Regards the vino, I've even got a couple of Grapevine Merlot's in the cupboard at £3.69 each. They just need to be allowed to breathe and come up to room temperature, and then they turn into a genuinely full-bodied multi-flavoured red wine.
Yep and my theory on wine is that a slightly less 'cultured' red wine is drinkable if it can breathe and reach room temperature. A ropey white just kills me on the other hand
Day one of working from home complete. This is gonna be ****ing horrific, I feel like drinking already.