Off Topic Coronavirus and NOTHING to do with football thread

Oh dear - these 2 will remember their wedding day for the wrong reasons!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-52183152

 

Maybe but he is still a human being not very well - shouldn't wish death or nasty things to happen to him as a person.

Might be a wake up call for others in the Government prehaps

 

I don't think that andy did wish ill on him, in fact he made it clear that he didn't. My feeling is that if he had taken more notice of what was happening earlier, then we could have been in a better place.

 

Fair enough - sorry for the confusion.

I just think as a person ill we ought to show respect (as for everyone) but still criticise the Government for their job.

 

Fool. If your tunnel vision means you cannot see that he and his ilk are responsible for the state of the NHS and its unpreparedness for such a pandemic has resulted in the deaths of many, many of our citizens, then you are a bigger fool than I thought. And that was pretty f^^^ing big. Nonetheless, I wished him a full recovery. I don’t think you would have done that if the (jack)boot were on the other foot.

 

Another inflammatory poster against people on here.. Shame on You for the way you have abused some of us...

 

Can we move away please from winding each other up in her ...
People are dying for goodness sake.. And as i said before we are better than that...

 

Your are a piece of dogs hit

 

Another 30 day ban is in place for SH on this thread.

 

Shame he didn’t read what I wrote. I genuinely hope everyone recovers from the effects of this terrible virus. Even Tories.

I extend well-wishes to BoZo also with Raab in such a position as he is, I’m reminded of this Private Eye cover:

 

There’s a massive big hole in all this octal distancing stay home , only essential journeys ~~~ the construction industry is carrying on in many places , workers coerced to work , govt totally silent on this ,big donors to tory party are .........construction firms. along with dyson and jcb who’ve been awarded contracts despite no record in ventilator manufacture .......the money factor stilloverides people’s live s, sorry if this comes across as a broken record , but they are hypocritical in there actions or lack of ..........

 

No we don't know for sure that the church was crowded - but can surmise that it was from the way she spoke.

Church attendance may well serve as a societal roll call - and it may well be a source of community support, but that applies to other organisations too - nearly all of which have been 'outlawed' for the duration. Admittedly, as an atheist I may be showing bias, but what a church can provide for a community , so can pensioners clubs, so can Women's Institutes, so can knitting clubs, men's sheds, sports clubs, gymnasiums etc etc. Even though the village I live in only has a small population - 1700 - we have a thriving political party branch of 175 members, all of whom engaged in helping others in the community. To help those in need, we hold fund raising activities such as coffee mornings, quiz nights, ceilidhs, wine tasting events, gin tasting events. We've just had to cancel a planned whisky tasting, which can easily be resurrected at short notice, but also an Easter Egg Hunt - all of the eggs and prizes have had to be donated to the local old folks home. Each and every one of those activities is as important , if not more so, to a community than church attendance, but all have been stopped - and quite rightly too. Very few of them can be done at home in isolation - unlike religious observance.

 

It's difficult to have a 'one size fits all' ruling BB. Generally speaking religious groups have pre empted government rulings and had previously brought in restrictions on meetings for worship - in most cases they have brought in other kinds of communication such as online services, or telephone or TV. This is easier in some cases than others - particularly for those sects which have rejected such technologies such as the Jehovah's Witnesses. Other groups such as the Amish community in Pennsylvania have so few points of contact with the World outside that they can. probably, be left alone to do their own thing in this case. For Quakers it is essential to not hold face to face meetings because their role implies going out and helping communities in need and so a precondition of that is to avoid being infected and thus spreading the disease to those they are trying to help. What I am saying is that religious groups should have a certain freedom to order their own affairs - in most cases this is going to be the same as the government line. The Cathedral in Cologne can only be closed for services at the behest of the Cardinal - but in practice he is not going to go into confrontation with the city authorities (although he has the power to do so because the interior of the cathedral does not belong to state jurisdiction). There have been quite a few challenges to the state government here on questions like the giving of asylum recently, where the state has backed off, and so, in order to maintain an equilibrium the church has backed off on this one. Where I live all the churches will be ringing their bells at 7.30 in the evening throughout Easter - and there have been many information brochures on how to worship from home, which will still give the feeling of belonging to a community.

 

Crazy eh

 

It seems to me that the lack of sufficient and suitable PPE is still understated. (One element of which is deciding that wholly unsuitable PPE was in fact adequate. Doh ! ) Medical staff have died as a direct result of this lack of suitable equipment. The cause is - like it or not- the choices made by the health authorities, using the funds they have been given. The funds are provided by govt - CHOOSING where to spend the (arbitrary) amount of money they see fit to allocate. Thus, the deaths of the medical staff are the direct responsibility of the govt. I would agree that this amounts to 'blood on their hands'. If this is deemed inflammatory, I'm sorry. As I have a son on the front line, I feel , unsurprisingly, very intensely furious about the PPE fiasco.
I could add that guidance down the chain has been very inconsistent, often incomplete and occasionally downright dangerous. considering a trial was carried out on 2016, simulating an epidemic like this, and the report ignored, the culpability just increases.
I accept that everything looks easier with hindsight. But to be in this situation, 'HAVING ACTUALLY SEEN WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN' removes that excuse. Ultimately, the govt, chose, and they chose wrong, inexcusably so, seeing what they knew.
I hope this is seen as constructive debate , even if pointed and , arguably, one-sided. But what else can I think ?

 

To be honest, I don't see how any of that is relevant to the issue of this particular woman, in this particular church, in this particular instance. Yes, many churches have adapted to what may be termed as more modern methods of worship - but this one hasn't. If it had chosen to conduct services via TV, via Skype or via Zoom or via whatever, I wouldn't have an issue with it - but it hasn't. It and it's parishioners have elected to continue on in the old-fashioned way, completely blind to the fact that there is an epidemic sweeping the world - sweeping their own country even - and that conventional wisdom is that it spreads via both actual and close contact - and that woman in particular thinks she and the rest of them are immune because they are "covered in Jesus's blood". To me, that is both the height of irresponsibility and stupidity, nothing more, nothing less.

 

I've seen the video BB and she appears to be a bit of a nutter - but whether this can be taken as typical of all religious groups trying to meet in these difficult times is another matter. Maybe a more intelligent member could have presented their case a little differently. One of the problems in the USA is the fact that the state does not rush to help the people at need, be they unemployed or whatever, - into this void the church springs. I also don't know which church she is a member of and so can't comment in that respect. Some religious sects in the USA have so little contact with outsiders that the threat of infection hardly arises, though I don't think that is her case. Basically I just think she's a nutter - if all the other members are the same then heaven help us, but I have no proof from this short clip that they are.

 

I have to add that the USA is completely different from the UK in this respect BB. There are minority sects in the USA which have very few points of contact with the outside World, and which are, more or less, self sufficient - such as the Amish people or the Shakers. Can the state ban all religious gatherings and make these smaller groups exempt from such a ruling ? What would you do in the case of a monastery ? Could you stop the monks from attending all religious services ? And would there be any point if they are secluded from the outside World ? Here the state would be overstepping their powers. I agree that if people are going into a crowded church and then, subsequently, going to the supermarket and mixing with non members believing they are 'protected by Christ's blood', then it is a problem. But how do you attack them without also attacking other religious groups which have regulated the situation for themselves ?

 

Nah, sadly in my experience of visiting Texas on several occasions and being Best Man at a Southern Baptist Church she is, alas, quite typical. They're not reasonable and not logical. Granted, they're not all as bat **** crazy as the fellas in the video I posted earlier but far too many lean that way for comfort.