Coronavirus and football

Hesitated for a long time about opening a thread on this, but it's probably in the back of all our minds at the moment. The authorities in Germany have finally acted and brought in strict regulations regarding public gatherings of people and it looks increasingly likely that the Bundesliga will be playing to empty stadiums until the end of the season - this is definite for NRW, the state where I live. Germany has upwards of 1,100 cases and 515 are here in NRW (292 in Heinsberg - nr. Mönchengladbach). We know about the situation in Italy. The rate of reproduction of this virus is also now larger in France and Spain than in Germany - which throws the Champions League into question - PSG v Borussia Dortmund is scheduled to be in an empty stadium, and travelling fans from Madrid to Liverpool could be a problem. Could we be moving to a scenario where Liverpool win the league in an empty stadium ? Personally I think that 70,000 + fans (as was expected at Borussia Dortmund v Schalke 04) all looking for somewhere else to watch the match could be just as problematic as being in the stadium itself - or maybe there should be no live coverage whatsoever.

There are a whole range of opinions going around - some saying the whole thing is overblown, others that we are on the edge of a major catastrophe. I think I stand somewhere in the middle - I am not waiting for Godot - some fairy with a magic wand to save us with a vaccine, or for the weather to make it disappear. The infection rate is only 1:2.5, meaning that every sufferer infects, on average 2.5 other people (a bout of Measles would be 1:5) which means all we have to do is reduce the infection rate by 60%. Apparently the only countries which have successfully slowed down the infection rate are China and South Korea (the former by radical means, not possible for a democracy) - so maybe we should be looking at their example. There are times when sealing off whole areas is necessary, even in a democracy.

 

They are thinking of just banning over 70s from games but it's true this virus could be picked up in a bar, on the trains etc and other public areas.

Cannot really be some places closed but not others?

 

I was also thinking about a thread along these lines as it did seem that what we currently have doesn't seem the right place for the discussion. What seems odd to me currently is that every country has its own medical experts advising governments, and as expected they have different advise to hand out. Yes things will be different from one country to another, but we are not islands and this is a worldwide problem. The WHO exists to try and pull together a coordinated response to such a crisis, but I suspect that they are not equipped to deal with a crisis of this scale. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control seems better placed to deal with advice for the UK and from what they are issuing to be taking the line that large gatherings should be avoided as we see in Italy. From what was being said in the UK yesterday the country is waiting for the summer in the hope that the warmer weather will kill it off, while the ECDPC suggests more aggressive measures.
Although we talk a lot about the Champions league and the Premier league there are many small clubs that are not protected by TV deals and are relying on fans to turn up on the day to pay the wages. At a meeting of sports officials yesterday they hoped to get advice on the best course of action, but said that little clarity was offered by officials when they were asked how or when the government might order sport to go behind closed doors, as we have seen in increasing numbers of other countries. A number of high level sports such as football, F1, tennis and cricket have maybe ceased to fulfill their roles of being a pastime, and have become industries that support thousands of people, so this takes it onto a whole new level.

 

I fear for all the lower league clubs who depend on revenues on a weekly basis to survive....

I am also thinking very hard about alll the matches I have booked to see in the next few weeks...... and that also means public transport for most etc etc...

 

I hope you're not a regular church goer...
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/09/us/dc-church-rector-coronavirus/index.html

Aside from football - my wife, son and I, along with a few friends were planning to attend the 700th anniversary celebrations of the signing of the Declaration of Arbroath, in Arbroath unsurprisingly. We're now thinking twice...

 

yikes.........

Meanwhile sad news ...

The latest death, on Monday evening, was a man with underlying health conditions who was being looked after at Watford General Hospital, the West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust said.

He caught the virus in the UK and officials are trying to trace who he was in contact with, the country's chief medical adviser Prof Chris Whitty said.

 

Sad news - guess the worry is if people start getting it from others who have not been abroad etc.

 

Next to the Vic - wouldn't surprise me if that means Saturday's game is postponed.

 

I am supposedly going down on the train for the game... . and if so will probably wear a mask........I am in the underlying condition and getting old grouping...... and had flu a couple of years back which put me in bed for 19 days......

 

I've just heard from my son who is teaching in Madrid - all the schools there bar one have been closed - the one he works in. He doesn't know whether to laugh or cry - if the school stays open, he gets paid, if it closes, he's stuck there without an income.

 

Austria has closed their border with Italy to all Italians. If this sort of action continues how long will it be before the France UK border gets shut? That would create great problems for the UK as every day a lot of food crosses the Channel.

 

Forest owner suffering from virus.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/51814887

 

This is the situation for many TEFL teachers here in Germany BB - those teaching in private language schools. Nearly all of them are freelance. The German government has said that freelancers and self employed people here will be reimbursed according to their monthly earnings from the previous year's tax returns. For me this is less of a problem because of being able to work from home - I have a mountain of text translation work to do. It is at times like this that governments should be considering the possibility of an unconditional basic income for every citizen - it would be possible to make a trial of this for any area which was placed in quarantine.

 

This was one of the strongest policies offered recently.

 

Ireland has announced that anyone, employed, freelance, self employed will be able to claim €305 per week if they are off work. Bit different to the £89 sick pay on offer in England.

 

The death levels in Italy, Spain and France are most concerning. Those countries seem to be well ahead in the cycle.

 

I expect there will be an enormous amount of dodgy claims presented to the governments, impossible to monitor and control fairly.

 

Thankfully there is very little demand for fresh fruit & vegetables north of Birmingham.

 

I expect that there will be dodgy claims, but this is hardly the time to allow the DWP to get involved. Governments are charged with looking after the health and well being of the population. Allowing people to starve doesn't quite fit into that responsibility. There will probably be football clubs that cannot pay their players and the Football league will have to look at their rules on such things.

 

I was surprised and appalled that at least 20 scumbags were found guilty of stealing over £750,000 from the Grenfell Tower fund by using false claims. We should bring back the stocks before these vermin are put inside for a brief holiday.