Coronavirus discussion thread

136 watchers

Non-runner Jan 2021 10:48am, 29 Jan 2021 921 posts	0 Non-runner From BBC, I must admit I have never bothered too much about the supermarket risk as they are like barns, or anything outdoors and this seems to confirm that closed indoor spaces are the main danger, whether home or office: “Offices have had more clusters of cases of Covid-19 than other workplaces, a BBC investigation has found. Public Health England figures, obtained via a Freedom of Information request, reveal there were more than 60 suspected clusters of cases in offices in the first two weeks of the current lockdown in England. The government has urged firms to help employees work from home. The data also shows there were more than 500 outbreaks, or suspected outbreaks, in offices in the second half of 2020 - more than in supermarkets, construction sites, warehouses, restaurants and cafes combined. It is prompting calls for curbs on employers bringing non-essential staff into offices as well as demands from unions for tougher safety rules.”
EvilPixie Jan 2021 10:53am, 29 Jan 2021 22,757 posts	0 EvilPixie def more people back in offices if the roads are anything to go by companies should be WFH unless essential I thought
HappyG(rrr) Jan 2021 11:04am, 29 Jan 2021 37,364 posts	0 HappyG(rrr) NR, that is very telling. What about meat processing factories? They seem to have been a disproportionately high number of outbreaks, in Germany and here in UK? Is there something about the close proximity, the temperature, the meat itself? We don't hear same about car factories or paper factories or (struggling to think of factories now...?!) :-)G
Cheg Jan 2021 11:08am, 29 Jan 2021 2,407 posts	0 Cheg We are probably making a lot more meat processing than cars at the minute. But also the meat processing plant is a lot more close quarters.
Ocelot Spleens Jan 2021 11:11am, 29 Jan 2021 30,018 posts	0 Ocelot Spleens There was a massive outbreak at a Herefordshire fruit and veg farm in August (for balance) remember that? I do, just looked it up, 134 cases on ONE farm. I think it can happen anywhere there's close proximity. Car factories, huge warehouses, remember robots, they don't get Covid, robots are the future .
rf_fozzy Jan 2021 11:11am, 29 Jan 2021 12,932 posts	0 rf_fozzy Unless their is a cluster of cases/outbreak in a particular workplace, its practically impossible to tell where someone caught it now that the disease is endemic It was discussed on more or less on Wednesday. With the particular reference to the erroneous use of the statistic that 20% of a subset of people with covid had been to a supermarket. This does not mean (obviously) that 20% of people who go to the supermarket get covid as had been claimed
icemaiden Jan 2021 11:15am, 29 Jan 2021 5,091 posts	0 icemaiden If you've seen any of the programmes about food manufacturing plants there are very few people in most of them, it's all run by machine. If there's any hand finishing or making then there are people close together. Meat, and any chilled food production, (sandwiches, yogurt - where there have been outbreaks) is probably a bigger risk because the areas that people go in are kept cold and viruses seems to survive better in cold areas, and the people are closer together to keep the amount of chilled space to a minimum.
EvilPixie Jan 2021 11:15am, 29 Jan 2021 22,758 posts	0 EvilPixie meat factories - reasons given cold damp noisy so raised voices
icemaiden Jan 2021 11:16am, 29 Jan 2021 5,092 posts	0 icemaiden Fruit and veg farms - people living together in cramped conditions, not the working conditions per se.
Ocelot Spleens Jan 2021 11:16am, 29 Jan 2021 30,020 posts	0 Ocelot Spleens close proximity, number 1