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Will Coronavirus lead to the cancellation of Glastonbury?


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What's your best guess?   

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  1. 1. Will it be cancelled?

    • I'm pretty confident/100% sure it will be cancelled
      118
    • I'm not sure, but I think it will probably be cancelled
      180
    • It could go either way, I've no idea
      242
    • I'm not sure, but I think it will probably go ahead
      288
    • I'm pretty confident/100% sure it will go ahead
      184


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1 hour ago, northernringo said:

Today's update:

More of the same really with a few worrying countries but nothing massively out of the ordinary (except maybe Qatar).

...

In the Middle East, Qatar saw a massive jump after a few days of steady growth. Quite worrying, as they went from 24 to 262. Iran also increased by over 650 (5,687) and there were further less dramatic increases throughout the region. UAE did manage to drop its case numbers by 5 though (57). Iraq is also quite worrying, their high death rate might be an indication of a lot more cases than they are reporting.

Interesting about the jump in cases in Qatar. I've just returned from there and they were using thermal cameras at the airport to check body temps of those as they came through Immigration, and there were plenty of bottles of hand sanitiser for use. Also the place was largely a ghost town. Quietest (major) airport I've ever seen.

Contrast that with the return to Heathrow - no scanning, no info (aside from a solitary poster on a side wall about northern Italy), no checking where you'd been, no hand sanitiser anywhere, and tremendously busy with arrivals from all over the world.

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1 minute ago, jparx said:

The trouble is, if the economy utterly tanks for the next few years that might end up having a huge long term effect on even more people than the coronavirus.

This is a point I’ve tried to make several times. How well will the NHS be funded in a recession? What impact will that have on lives longer term?

And all because of the Chinese obsession of eating animals they shouldn’t 

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50 minutes ago, steviewevie said:

word on street/twitter is that govt will not ban mass events or close school yet, just tell people to stay home if ill and wash hands a lot etc.

Apparently this is advised from experts....probably a spreadsheet with how many deaths acceptable.

The streets are not the NHS who are coming under increasing pressure as this virus takes hold. 

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A lot of fixating on how this might pan out  in the States (with no small amount of 'stupid Americans' snobbery) ignores some of the advantages they have:

  • It is way, way less densely populated than here, both in terms of its geographical spread of cities, and the way those cities function.  Cities are less dense so less daily close contact is likely, hotspots of infection will be easier to isolate, less use of public transport etc
  • This feeds into admittedly just an assumption on my part, but I'd imagine that populations move less fluidly and quickly around the country than in the highly integrated, interconnected European continent. Less fluid interfaces with nearby countries means they are also better placed to 'control' the response. 
  • States have an enormous amount of power to react, allowing for more localised response appropriate to the needs of each state, as opposed to one-size fits all solutions that can be counter productive and generate unnecessary panic. In fact, the federalised system is not dissimilar to Germany's in many respects, and federal German government is only 'advising' its regions to follow certain advice.  States that have been affected are acting decisively thus far
  • For those with insurance, the quality of healthcare is generally very high. As I understand it, America has many, many more ICU beds per head. This does matter, no matter how fucked up and inequitable their system is, and how dangerous it is for those on the poorer end of the spectrum 
  • The virus simply hasn't taken nearly as much of a hold across the Atlantic yet. This disease is new to everyone and so they are better placed to learn from emerging evidence
  • Simply put, their economy is in much better shape than the European one right now and their rely less on exports/imports. They are better placed to weather the storm as it were.

By all means, the idea of a Trump government leading the response is terrifying, but people on here keep insisting that America is particularly fucked, when I see them as simply having a different range of advantages and disadvantages to over here. After all, Italy has fantastic socialised healthcare and look how much good that has done in stopping the spread.

Edited by amishsexpistol
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1 minute ago, jparx said:

The trouble is, if the economy utterly tanks for the next few years that might end up having a huge long term effect on even more people than the coronavirus.

Yep - I think this is now unavoidable, and we’re probably heading to 2008 levels (or likely even worse). 

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Just now, MoilyX said:

Interesting about the jump in cases in Qatar. I've just returned from there and they were using thermal cameras at the airport to check body temps of those as they came through Immigration, and there were plenty of bottles of hand sanitiser for use. Also the place was largely a ghost town. Quietest (major) airport I've ever seen.

Contrast that with the return to Heathrow - no scanning, no info (aside from a solitary poster on a side wall about northern Italy), no checking where you'd been, no hand sanitiser anywhere, and tremendously busy with arrivals from all over the world.

I haven't actually looked in to the jump but I wouldn't be surprised if when they initially got some cases they didn't have much in terms of testing resource. It could be that they are only starting wider spread testing now.

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1 minute ago, amishsexpistol said:

A lot of fixating on how this might pan out  in the States (with no small amount of 'stupid Americans' snobbery) ignores some of the advantages they have:

  • It is way, way less densely populated than here, both in terms of its geographical spread of cities, and the way those cities function.  Cities are less dense so less daily close contact is likely, hotspots of infection will be easier to isolate, less use of public transport etc
  • This feeds into admittedly just an assumption on my part, but I'd imagine that populations move less fluidly and quickly around the country than in the highly integrated, interconnected European continent
  • States have an enormous amount of power to react, allowing for more localised response appropriate to the needs of each state, as opposed to one-size fits all solutions that can be counter productive and generate unnecessary panic. In fact, the federalised system is not dissimilar to Germany's in many respects, and federal German government is only 'advising' its regions to follow certain advice.  States that have been affected are acting decisively thus far
  • For those with insurance, the quality of healthcare is generally very high. As I understand it, America has many, many more ICU beds per head. This does matter, no matter how fucked up and inequitable their system is, and how dangerous it is for those on the poorer end of the spectrum 
  • The virus simply hasn't taken nearly as much of a hold across the Atlantic yet. This disease is new to everyone and so they are better placed to learn from emerging evidence

By all means, the idea of a Trump government leading the response is terrifying, but people on here keep insisting that America is particularly fucked, when I see them as simply having a different range of advantages and disadvantages to over here. After all, Italy has fantastic socialised healthcare and look how much good that has done in stopping the spread.

With regards to the bold bit, it probably has though in a very big way. If you don’t test anybody it will look like it hasn’t taken off 

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4 minutes ago, steviewevie said:

stiff upper lip and all that...or just them willing to let a bunch of old people die for the sake of the economy,

If the economy fails, domestic or global, it has the potential to harm many more people than the virus.  The 'for the sake of the economy' argument doesn't hold up then.

 

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9 minutes ago, jparx said:

The trouble is, if the economy utterly tanks for the next few years that might end up having a huge long term effect on even more people than the coronavirus.

What a perfect time for a hard brexit!🤕

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10 minutes ago, st dan said:

Appreciate it isn’t the main concern right now and people’s health is obviously far more important, but the impact on the worlds economy this is going to have is quite frightening. 

Probably complete fantasy land but if this affects every country to similar levels, you'd hope deals can be made to mitigate it afterwards. If everyone is in the same boat surely there could be ways around it, especially as they're essentially all going to owe the same banks money 

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Just now, stuie said:

If the economy fails, domestic or global, it has the potential to harm many more people than the virus.  The 'for the sake of the economy' argument doesn't hold up then.

I would be shocked if this conversation hasn't taken place at a very high level with the decision to prioritise the health of the economy over the health of the nation.

5 minutes ago, st dan said:

Yep - I think this is now unavoidable, and we’re probably heading to 2008 levels (or likely even worse).

More than likely.  Most industries are taking massive hits right now (Aside from toilet paper and hand gel manufacturers)

 

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The Tory maligned civil service will have some pretty detailed cost benefit analysis for the likely scenarios that could take place. In terms of  mitigating economic impact, the government has acted fairly swiftly on announcing measures and the Bank of England have effectively resorted to 2008 type measures. 

The impact on the financial system is a massive worry to me. Italy was pretty much the worst country in Europe to get hit worse and first, their banking sector has never stopped  being a mess and there's the potential for an enormous domino effect. Not to mention the ticket time bombs of Chinese regional government debt and their huge housing bubble...

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18 minutes ago, jparx said:

The trouble is, if the economy utterly tanks for the next few years that might end up having a huge long term effect on even more people than the coronavirus.

If the economy tanks, it will just be for a few months at most. To say if might tank for several years is ludicrous.

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A lot of comments are missing the critical point which is timing. It costs tens of millions to put Glasto on and all that has to be spent in advance and the work starts months ahead. They will lose all that if they then subsequently cancel. So the Festival will have to give a go / no-go decision very soon. They cant wait and see. I am afraid its not looking good.

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2 minutes ago, Ommadawn said:

If the economy tanks, it will just be for a few months at most. To say if might tank for several years is ludicrous.

With comments like that, I’m not so sure that you’re well versed on how the global economy actually operates. 

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Just now, st dan said:

With comments like that, I’m not so sure that you’re well versed on how the global economy actually operates. 

Pretty well actually :) and I'd be surprised if it tanks for more than a few months - certainly not for years.

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