I've made a list of which of my neighbours look the tastiest, should it come to that.

Batman:

 

the Joe Regan podcast on youtube with the infectious disease expert was talking for 1.5 hrs. he said there is no evidence for handwashing in stopping spread of sars-cov-2. he said the reason handwashing is advised is just so the public have something to do.

 

I watched some of that, and I'd challenge that in two ways:

One - you've probably quoted it out of context.

Two - absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

Wash your hands - it's a no brainer, covered many times already in this forum that it's a standard recommendation by all authorities, and despite absence of evidence, the mechanism of transmission and the mechanism of how soap and water "works" to inactivate the virus is so well explained that it's inconceivable that it won't have an impact on transmission - even if we'll need to do far more than just that to stop it.

Preparation? Nothing out of the ordinary. The usual grocery shops and buying stuff as needed. We have our usual survival kit which has everything we need if it comes to it.

In NZ we have had 5 confirmed cases so far and have been effectively managed, including one very close to where I live. It will be interesting to see how that number changes over the next few weeks.

But this is different to being prepared for natural disasters where you won’t have access to everything. If you’re locked at home for 14 days, then you won’t need a car or fuel as you won’t be going anywhere! Power will still flow, water and waste will be provided, the internet will still work.

Potentially power may not work or water if there is an event and staff can’t get out to fix it as in isolation. The power cut for example in Wellington today power was out for over 2 hours it impacted the water supply and we were even told not to flush toilets .The water supply in Wellington is in deep Pooh . It was fixed quickly but  a good reminder to be prepared   it caused chaos in a non event imagine the impacts if there was one. Food supply will be an issue if regions are locked down in NZ it’s amazing how many kiwi foods are actually made in au or Thailand (griffins biscuits) , toilet paper is made is the south or the Waikato we will be pretty screwed in Wellington. I think it’s best to be prepared. Italy only had 4 cases on feb the 20th we should be learning from other countries experiences 

43:00-45:00 to paraphrase - "you are being lied to re handwashing"

I'm not here to challenge science, I am putting it matter of factly, as there are lots of scientists here, you can make up your mind.

Pick one evidence (or lack of) and then use that, but hey not that evidence (or lack of) - i don't like the sound of that let's not pick that.

that's what I'm objectively seeing, but it's possible i need glasses.

I like this response plan:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DQVJBQHhZ2R_YTPef1edxyn0qN-ia_arlIVFM0z9OVU/edit

This is also a good read:

https://sciblogs.co.nz/infectious-thoughts/2020/03/09/the-three-phases-of-covid-19-and-how-we-can-make-it-manageable/

David Clark is being overconfident. "We have seen that by acting early and decisively in terms of border restrictions, by being thorough in our contact tracing, we have had the effect we hoped to have and been able to keep COVID-19 at bay." Five days of no new cases doesn't mean anything when a disease has an incubation period of 14 days and people may have a mild form and not realise they are spreading it. Italy had 2-3 cases for three weeks, now look at where they are at

zenourn:

 

I like this response plan:

 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DQVJBQHhZ2R_YTPef1edxyn0qN-ia_arlIVFM0z9OVU/edit

 

This is also a good read:

 

https://sciblogs.co.nz/infectious-thoughts/2020/03/09/the-three-phases-of-covid-19-and-how-we-can-make-it-manageable/

 

David Clark is being overconfident. "We have seen that by acting early and decisively in terms of border restrictions, by being thorough in our contact tracing, we have had the effect we hoped to have and been able to keep COVID-19 at bay." Five days of no new cases doesn't mean anything when a disease has an incubation period of 14 days and people may have a mild form and not realise they are spreading it. Italy had 2-3 cases for three weeks, now look at where they are at:

 

 

 

 

 

not being disrespectful, but i don't think math is his strong suit.

Scott3:

surfisup1000:

Why would you close schools? Youth don't appear to be at risk. 

However, close down the school and medical professionals need to take time off work to look after their school-less children. 

In short, contagion.

While the survival rate of school aged children for COVID-19 appears to exceed 99.8%, they are quite capable of catching it and spreading it.

Kids going to school (particually at the big city high schools) is like holding 2000 people conferences with high levels of interpersonal mingling. They could then all carry COVID-19 home without symptoms and their infect parents & grandparents.