CoronaVirus COVID-19 Help and Tips

CoronaVirus COVID-19 Index

• The rising unemployment rate and jobs.
  
  
• Pfizer / Biontech conclude phase 3 vaccine study + UK approval
  
  
• Coronavirus vaccines
  
  
• Managing the infection rate
  
  
• Face-masks and gloves update
  
  
• South Korea controlled its coronavirus outbreak in just 20 days!
  
  
• Why are most of our Governments still not taking this seriously?
  
  
• Trump stops funding the WHO claiming they failed to respond but...
  
  
• The official statistics we are seeing are only a fraction of the truth for the CoronaVirus COVID-19
  
  
• Most Governments are being slow to react to the CoronaVirus COVID-19
  
  
• A few benefits of being isolated
  
  
• Using Your Lockdown period productively
  
  
• Face-masks, Gloves and Eye protection for the Public
  
  
• Food safety
  
  
• General notes and advice
  
  
• Adding your help, advice and comments

06/DEC/2020 The rising unemployment rate and jobs.

We have all seen the businesses that have closed and the rising unemployment rates. While some businesses have benefited many more have stopped trading or are likely to stop trading shortly. It is evident that many businesses that are temporarily closed will never reopen. This is despite some Government aid packages that have been provided in some countries. While the in-action of some of the Governments have made the effects of the Corona-19 Virus much worse money alone will not fix their blunders. The number of people who have died or will suffer from long Covid as a direct result of in action cannon be fixed. The damage they have made to their economies will also take years to recover from.

The jobs market has changed and it is evident that many people will need to look at updating their skill sets and possibly looking at becoming self employed. There is a major benefit in being self employed because you can generate a number of income streams so that you are not as dependent on a single income stream as many staff are.

Many paid staff are just one pay cheque away from bankruptcy

If you were made redundant today would you be able to still enjoy a good life. If not you need to consider adding an additional income stream so that you are not as vulnerable.

Click here to visit the Lifestyle guide and see how you can start your own Joint Venture business for less than $10.00.

06/DEC/2020 Pfizer / Biontech conclude phase 3 vaccine study + UK approval

With the approval in the UK of the Pfizer / Biontech vaccine there is growing hope that the roll-out will start soon.

It will however take time before a significant proportion of the population will be vaccinated. Until a significant proportion of the population has been vaccinated the risk of catching Covid-19 will still be significant.

Click here to read the press release

There are a number of factors that will affect the vaccination process from any of the competing companies including:-

• Vaccine production capabilities
• Distribution issues
• Political issues
• Public acceptance (the percentage of people who want to be vaccinated).
• Pricing issues
• Storage issues
• Longevity
• Success percentage
• Staff training and availability
• Vaccination facilities / locations
• etc.

To provide Global Herd immunity in today´s connected World we need to vaccinate a large percentage of the global population. If this is not done people moving from one area to another will just continue to spread the virus. Like other viruses until it is under control it will continue to spread.

24/NOV/2020 Coronavirus vaccines

With a few Coronavirus vaccines now waiting approval, there is some hope that we maybe on the path to a more normal life but it is going to take some time.

During the next few weeks / months we can expect a few of the vaccine options to get approval based on the currently publicised results. Following approval, the vaccination process will be able to get started. Some countries will control their vaccination process based on strategic and / or the most vulnerable first but this will probably be a political descision so may not be logical or based on common sence or science.

So how long will it take until we can get back a pre-covid World. The truth is probably never, but we can expect that we will get back to a newer new normal where we are safer than we currently are and can socialize again. Some businesses affected may be able to start rebuilding but we can expect a lot of businesses to never recover. Some changes will never fully revert to what they were Pre-covid-19. An example of this is online shopping. While the growth in online shopping was happening before Covid-19 started, the growth radically acceletated when shops were closed and the only way to get the products we needed or wanted was to order online and have them delivered.

Corona-19 has had, and will continue to have a huge economic impact throughout the World. While a some have benefited, there are millions of people who have lost their jobs, businesses that have closed or are in serious difficulty. This will probably take years to recover from.

So how long will it take?

Before being able to answer this we need to look at the problem. Like other illnesses we have had to deal with it takes time. We have never had to vaccinate 7 Billion plus people and until the majority of the World is vaccinated with an effective vaccine we will not be Covid-19 free. To complicate this we currently have no idea if the current vaccines will protect us for life or only for a period. If we look at the flu situation, which has been around for decades, we still do not have a vaccine that protects us for life. To complicate the situation it keeps mutating. We now know that the Corona virus has different strains; how this will affect our future is a big unknown.

The logistics of producing vaccines, distributing the vaccines, training the administrators and doing the vaccinations will obviously take time. Until a large proportion of the World is effectively protected, we will still be vulnerable. A complication is, even if we do have an effective vaccine some people will not want to be vaccinated for various reasons. As long as the number of people who are not vaccinated is reletively low there will be sufficient herd immunity.

So how long will it take? While that is a good question, the fact is we cannot currently predict how long it will take at the moment.

• We have decisions being made by politicians who often do not make sensible decisions, ignore science / logic and take too long to take action.
  
  
• We need an effective vaccine. When we refer to an effective vaccine we need one that has a high success rate works and that provids long term protection.
  
  
• The production time
  
  
• The distribution time
  
  
• Training of people in the administration process
  
  
• Administering the vaccinations
  
  

Why has the Corona-19 Virus been so bad

We see people, including some World leaders who have failed to take the actions required to stop the virus from spreading. Some politicians have been totally incompetent and have made a bad situation much worse. If they had managed the outbreaks when they occoured, things would not have been as bad. As for not enforcing the use of Face-masks from the beginning, all that can be said is that anyone who was involved in this is grossly incompetent. We knew from the early stages, that Covid-19 was spread in the air and not enforcing the use Face-masks was just stupid. We still see people either not using Face-masks when around others or NOT wearing them properly covering the nose and mouth. They have added to the death toll.

While some people have abided with restrictions others have ignored them; had parties, social get togethers and other functions such as sports events, demonstrations and even political rallies. Some of these have been called super spreaders for good reason. With a virus like Corona-19, just families or friends meeting up is a risk especially as the number of infected people increases. Many people have contracted the Covid-19 virus and become seriously ill or died as a result of everyone not being careful.

This has resulted in:-

• Country wide lockdowns. Which in some cases could have been avoided with better management and containment of the Covid-19 virus
  
  
• More businesses that have partly or fully closed. There are many that can be expected to still close.
  
  
• Destroying the economy. While the Covid-19 virus has been devasting, the mismanagement by politicians has made things a lot worse.
  
  
• Job losses. The number of job losses has been significantly higher than it should have been.
  
  
• Hospitals have been overloaded. Some of our politicians have stated that the Hospitals have managed. Not true, they have stopped thousands of life saving treatments and operations. Now with a back log of over one million operations in the UK alone, you cannot say Hospitals have coped.
  
  
• Deaths. In the UK we know that the deaths from Covid-19 have been under reported. In some cases this was because no test was done to check if someone who died had Covid-19, so it was not reported as a Covid-19 related death. In other cases if someone did not die within 28 days of being tested they were not recorded as a Covid-19 related death. It is evedent that tens of thousands of people of additional people have died that are not recorded as a Covid-19 related deaths. This can be verified by looking at the Excess deaths which shows the scale of the under reporting.
  
  
• Poor support. We have seen support for some businesses and people with loans, grants and furlow payments however these have not helped everyone who has been affected by the Covid-19 virus. Many small businesses and sole traders have not received anything, which is grossly unfair to many hard working people. While some inititives such as the UK´s Eat out to help out (where the Goverment paid half the food bill up to a £10.00 limit) have helped restaurants, others have received nothing.
  
  

04/MAY/2020 Managing the infection rate

Until we have an effective vaccine and protected the majority of global population against the Coronavirus we need to do everything required to stop the spread of the virus.

With the exemption of South Korea who initiated contact tracing at a very early stage other countries have needed to initiate a lockdown and social distancing rules to reduce the rampant spread of Coronavirus.

While the lockdown and social distancing have made a significant reduction in the rate of spread of the Coronavirus it has not been able to stop it. These measures have only slowed the rate of spread.

Getting the R number (Effective reproduction number) down is vital however even at 1 it is still far too high. At a value of 1 if 100,000 people are infected, spread this to another 100,000 who then spread it to another 100,000 etc. it will still continue at an unacceptably high rate. While R values less than 1 cause a decay in the transmission numbers the total number of people who will be infected will still be significant based on the current number of infected people in the World.

The lockdowns in effect are having significant / devastating ramifications both on individuals, businesses and the economies of the World.

Social distancing is not always possible when in public, for example when shopping, in public transport and in most businesses.

The problem for most countries is now more difficult than South Korea, primarily because they have been too slow to react when the virus started to spread. The principal of isolating anyone who is infected from anyone else is still the only way to significantly reduce the spread and save lives.

There is obviously a balance to be made between a full lockdown and further spreading the virus.

Using a combination of Face-masks, gloves, eye protection, contact tracing, washing, cleaning, testing for everyone who has been possibly exposed and full isolation for anyone is contagious will all help.

However these need to be done properly, for example it is no good wearing a face-mask if it is not correctly worn sealing over the mouth and nose or is not made from a suitable material to stop contagious droplets from passing through the material. Also Face-masks need to seal correctly around the face. Many do not seal around the nose correctly so when breathing in or out a proportion of the air bypasses the mask reducing its effectiveness. In addition it is necessary to ensure that enough information / advice is available on how correctly to use items.

Reducing the transmission of the Coronavirus is the only option we currently have. Some simple steps such as enforcing everyone uses PPE (Personal Protection Equipment) when in enclosed public spaces and using a 2 meter Social distancing when in open spaces looks generally sufficient at the moment. There is a strong argument that the use of gloves should be used at all times when in public places as just touching a door handle, hand rail, a product in a shop etc. could transfer the virus in either direction.

Using contact tracing to notify people when they have been at a potential high risk, is not in today´s world difficult. If South Korea could effectively do this within a few weeks of the start of the outbreak; there is no good reason why this could not have been done by many of the other major countries in the World.

The main problem with many countries has been procrastination and a lack of action by the politicians. While it is true that some action has been taken by many, it is also true that some basic steps have not been taken. They have also ignored basic scientific facts and advice.

One of the most important issues has been the Fake News provided by many politicians and leaders that the wearing of Face-masks only protects other people and not the wearer. If this was true front line medical staff would not require to use Face-masks unless they were currently infected, we know that this is NOT true. The problem is that anyone who is moving around in public, especially in enclosed places like food shops, public transport or at work is also at a higher risk of being infected.

By reducing the spread of the infection, we will have less infected people, less people who will die, less people at risk in the front line in the hospitals. Also there will be less people who suffer as "Collateral damage" because they cannot get the treatment they require for other ailments as the hospitals are overrun or not able to attend to them and manage the Coronavirus patients.

There are also a growing number of people who are being adversely affected by the lockdown, including stress, domestic abuse, depression, loss of their jobs, starvation and relationship issues to name a few.

It is obvious that we need to move away from a state where everyone is locked down who is not classified as a front line / essential worker and get to a state where only infected people are isolated. In this way we can reduce the number of jobs lost, and the people who are suffering by being isolated.

Testing is obviously required but this needs to be ramped up to include not only all essential workers but also probably millions of others as everyone who is identified by contact tracing will also need to be tested. This will probably require hundreds of thousands of tests per day. The UK currently has a target of 100,000 per day but so far this has not been reached as completed tests per day. This target is obviously too low as the NHS require about 125,000 tests per day according to stated requirements.

To rebuild our economy and the World´s economy we need to get the world back to work ASAP but just removing lockdown restrictions without effectively controlling the spread of the virus will just result in more infections and deaths (so called second wave).

29/APR/2020 Face-masks and gloves update.

Most of the Governments in the World are still not insisting on the use of Face-masks or even Face Coverings and Gloves; in public areas or shops. It is inevitable that this means that more people will be infected and die. Using suitable Face-masks and gloves only costs a little and can save lives.

Obviously anyone who needs to go out in public areas for work, food, medications or exercise will be at higher risk then when isolated. Not only are we personally at higher risk but anyone else who breaths in air that is contaminated with the virus.

As the virus has spread, more and more of the people who are out are infected. This means that there is now a higher chance of catching the Corona Virus than when there were only a few infected people.

UK politicians are still using the argument that there is only marginal evidence for not wearing Face-masks in public however numerous experts including scientists, health workers and a University study report state that Face-masks do help prevent the spread of the Coronavirus.

I know who I would listen to and that does not include anyone who has a political agenda rather than the truth.

While any protection is better than none and even a so called face covering such as a cloth will help; these generally will not seal around the nose as well as a properly fitting mask. Unless all the air inhaled and exhaled goes through the material they will not be fully effective.

One, in my opinion stupid idea is the argument that wearing a mask is only of benefit to others and not the wearer is stupid. Even Doctors are stating that masks protect the wearer. If wearing PPE (Personal Protection Equipment) does not help the wearer why do heath workers use masks to protect themselves from infection when the patients have masks anyway.

Obviously, like anything else Face-masks and gloves need to be used correctly. They need to properly seal around the mouth and nose. In addition they need to be put on and taken off correctly and disposed of correctly. This is a simple training process and is not Rocket Science.

Going back to basics, we were told that you could only be infected via your mouth, nose and eyes. I have not heard of anything to the contrary to this so we need to ensure that we do not catch the virus by protecting outselves.

As we all know self-isolation is not good for individuals, businesses or the economy and we need to get back to a less restricted way of life. Until a long term solution is found for protecting the global population we are going to need to manage the spread of the virus. Social distancing is showing some benefits but it is not a complete solution and the infection rate is still unacceptable as is the death rate. Enforcing the use of Face-masks, gloves and eye protection in all public places particularly in confined spaces needs to be done.

We cannot wait for our Governments to take action, let us face it this is not something they are good at however that does not mean we should not post them into taking action.

We are hearing more and more businesses that are closing including some big companies. Even companies who are not currently closing many are now laying staff off. This is making millions unemployed and the longer this continues the worse it will get.

You can help by sharing this page and other information that will help get us out of the current situation as soon as possible

21/APR/2020 South Korea controlled its coronavirus outbreak in just 20 days.

They did a few things including very rapid testing, isolating infected people, the quick identification of people who may have been infected by close contact with infected people. As a result they have avoided a full lockdown period.

The speed at which they did it puts many other countries to shame.

Having been too slow to react has made the spread in many countries so rapid that it is now much more difficult to control and has resulted in a high infection rate and high death rates.

The death rate per million of the population in South Korea is currently only 2.057% of that in the UK. This is very impressive and had we (the UK) just followed their example we could have saved 16,169 deaths in the UK. You can see the latest figures at the following website.

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

Here is a link to some of the information about what South Korea did.

Read more about how South Korea did it

21/APR/2020 Why are most of our Governments still not taking this seriously?

The issue of wearing Face-masks and gloves by the public when in public has now been around for months now and while a few Governments have now taken action and insist on Face-masks in public most are just procratinating and have not.

Face-masks and gloves are recommended in many environments and when using many products to help protect the wearer. It is totally illogical not to use these to help protect ourselves when we are at risk from this deadly virus. As the Coronavirus is now wide spread we are at a much higher risk when we are out in public. This includes when we are out doing essential shopping or providing essential services or working outside our homes.

If we think about it, if masks and gloves were of no benefit why are the health and care workers so insistent on using them to protect themselves. If there is no evidence that they work why is this such an important issue.

If using masks and gloves can help them, they can also help the public. Obviously it is necessary to use these items correctly to be effective.

One of the arguments used in the UK´s media is that there is not enough proof that they work but without enough testing you cannot get enough definitive proof. How many people must get infected and how many must die before using masks and gloves properly when in public will be enforced in all countries. Sometimes you need to take action, even if our Governments cannot make a decision, we the public should take the initiative and start wearing at least Face-masks and gloves while in public.

A second argument is that if the Public were to use masks this would take these resources away from the health workers. No, all this is, is an excuse. There are hundreds of millions of people who have sewing machines who are currently at home and not working who could help make masks. There was also a video on how to make a mask from a piece of cloth and some elastic or even a piece of string. Where there is a will there is a way.

While our Governments and leaders are sending out mixed messages, not listening to the scientists or even simple logic we will not easily fight this virus. Our best hope is for the Public and that includes You, Me, Our families, Our Friends and the World to start taking action. We can only hope that the people in power who have failed to act up to date will start acting before many more die.

Many of us are having serious financial issues and the World economy is in serious decline. The sooner we can all rebuild our lives and the Worlds economy the better for everyone.

If wearing a face-mask and gloves would help us get back to the way we were sooner we should all do it.

If we can further reduce the rate of spread of this virus by wearing Face-masks and gloves, we will reduce the number of people being infected and therefore the number admitted to hospital which will reduce the resources required and the number of deaths. Is this not worth a spending a few Dollars on Personal Protection Equipment for the Public?

The UK announced that it has cost £44 Billion over the last few weeks! What is it costing the World? With no end in site what will the final bill be?

There is currently a lot of pressure to get people back to work, children back to school and the Worlds economy back into some semblance of working order however this may just cause a new peak of infections and deaths unless we do something that will effectively help reduce the spread of the virus. Social distancing will not do this as anyone will realise if they just think back a few months. The biggest problems will be in our cities, towns, workplaces, public transport, lifts, airplanes, schools public spaces to name a few. It is just NOT possible with our dense populations to maintain social distancing.

There is also the issue of trying to control the spread of the virus in third World countries and under developed areas. Some people know controlling the spread of Aids was seen by some tribal leaders as a way to limit their population growth and not to save lives.

We all know that it is likely to take at least 18 months before any vaccine is available and the 7 Billion people in the World are immunised against this virus.

How much could we save if we use masks and gloves, if this helped us get back to NORMAL what ever this will be in the future post virus world.

20/APR/2020 Trump stops funding the WHO claiming they failed to respond but...

David Furnish provided the following history lesson.

18 April at 19:20

REPOST

For those complaining about Trump being blamed for the coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic numbers in America: a little history lesson for everyone on both sides of the political divide. I think it´s important that we understand the truth, especially come November when it´s time to vote. Forgive the length, but it´s really important to understand all the facts.

In December 2013, an 18-month-old boy in Guinea was bitten by a bat and died a brutal death a day later. After that, there were five more fatal cases. When Ebola spread out of the Guinea borders into neighboring Liberia and Sierra Leone in July 2014, President Obama activated the Emergency Operations Center at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta. The CDC immediately deployed CDC personnel to West Africa to coordinate a response that included vector tracing, testing, education, logistics, and communication.

Altogether, the CDC, under President Obama, trained 24,655 medical workers in West Africa, educating them on how to prevent and control the disease before a single case left Africa or reached the U.S.

Working with the U.N. and the World Health Organization President Obama ordered the re-routing of travelers heading to the U.S. through certain specific airports equipped to handle mass testing.

Back home in America, more than 6,500 people were trained through mock outbreaks and practice scenarios. That was done before a single case hit America.

Three months after President Obama activated this unprecedented response, on September 30, 2014, we detected our first case in the U.S.A. A man had traveled from West Africa to Dallas and somehow slipped through the testing protocol. He was immediately detected and isolated. He died a week later. Two nurses who tended to him contracted Ebola but later recovered. All the protocols had worked. It was contained.

The Ebola epidemic could have easily become a pandemic, but thanks to the actions of our government under President Obama, it never did. Those THREE EBOLA CONFIRMED CASES were the ONLY cases of Ebola in the U.S.A. because Obama did what needed to be done THREE MONTHS PRIOR TO THE FIRST CASE.

Ebola is even more contagious than COVID-19. Had Obama not acted swiftly, millions of Americans would have died horrible, painful, deaths like something out of a horror movie (if you´ve never seen how Ebola kills, it´s horrific).

It is ironic because since President Obama acted decisively we forget about his actions since the disease never reached our shores.

Now the story of COVID-19 and Trump´s response that we know about thus far:

Before anyone even knew about the disease (even in China) Trump disbanded the pandemic response team that Obama had put in place. He cut funding to the CDC, and he cut our contribution to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Trump fired Rear Admiral Timothy Ziemer, the person on the National Security Council in charge of stopping the spread of infectious diseases before they reach our country - a position created by the Obama administration.

When the outbreak started in China, Trump assumed it was China´s problem and sent no research, supplies or help of any kind. We were in a trade war, why should he help them?

In January he received a briefing from our intelligence organizations that the outbreak was much worse than China was admitting and that it would definitely hit our country if something wasn´t done to prevent it. He ignored the report, not trusting our own intelligence.

When the disease spread to Europe, the World Health Organization offered a plethora of tests to the United States. Trump turned them down, saying private companies here would make the tests "better" if we needed them. However, he never ordered U.S. companies to make tests and they had no profit motive to do so on their own.

According to scientists at Yale and several public university medical schools, when they asked for permission to start working on our own testing protocol and potential treatments or vaccines, they were denied by Trump´s FDA.

When Trump knew about the first case in the United States he did nothing. It was just one case and the patient was isolated. When doctors and scientists started screaming in the media that this was a mistake, Trump claimed it was a "liberal hoax" conjured up to try to make him "look bad after impeachment failed."

The next time Trump spoke of COVID-19, we had SIXTY-FOUR CONFIRMED CASES but Trump went before microphones and told the American public that we only had FIFTEEN cases "and pretty soon that number will be close to zero." All while the disease was spreading, he took no action to get more tests.

What Trump did was to stop flights from China from coming here. This was too late and accomplished nothing according to scientists and doctors. By then the disease was worldwide and was already spreading exponentially in the U.S. by Americans, not Chinese people as Trump would like you to believe.

As of the moment, I am posting this, the evening of April 17, 2020, we have 706,309 COVID-19 CONFIRMED CASES and 37,000 COVID-19 DEATHS in the U.S.A. The actual number is undoubtedly more than triple that amount given ongoing limited availability of testing.

If you are as outraged as I am by all of this, the most important thing my friends in America can do is get out and vote in November.

I did not write this original but please copy and repost to the public if you feel worthy of sharing.

14/APR/2020 The official statistics we are seeing are only a fraction of the truth for the CoronaVirus COVID-19

The official statistics the UK and many other countries are providing are not the whole truth.

For example in the UK only the deaths that are confirmed as CoronaVirus COVID-19 in hospitals are being included in the figures quoted. We know that there are specific problems in care homes where the infection rates and deaths are not currently being included in the official figures.

To get a true figure of the infections and deaths related to the CoronaVirus COVID-19 we need to have more extensive testing for the public and not just some of the hospital patients. I understand that not all deaths in or arriving in the UK hospitals are reported as CoronaVirus COVID-19 because they are not even tested.

What is unknown is the true scale of the problem as we do not know the true number of infections of deaths. We do not even have an estimation of the figures.

What we do know is that it is continuing to increase. While the number of infections and deaths is increasing we are not wining. A number of Governments are stating that the figures are starting to stabilise (flatten out) but in many cases this is not true when the infections and deaths are still increasing. The rate of increase may be reducing due to the isolation of many people but until everyone takes the spread of this virus more seriously it will still, based on the current data, continue to increase.

Using masks, gloves and eye protection, by everyone, would be a small price to pay when compared to the huge economic losses we are having to our economies. There are some cheap things we can all do such as wearing a scarf if a proper face-mask is not available.

While there appears to be an increase in Face-masks used by the public, it is still not done by a significant proportion of the public in many countries including the UK. If the World wants to stop the spread of this virus we need to do everything to stop the transmission. While the Governments in the World should all be united in the efforts to control the spread or the viruus, many are ignoring the seriousness of the problem or are failing to make a decision (too bureaucratic?). While a few are now making it a requirement to wear a face-mask in public not all are. We the public need to take the initiative and wear Face-masks, gloves and eye protection, especially as more infected people are now out in public. Currently the risks of just shopping for food are increasing all the time as the infection rate increases.

One important issue is that unless everyone uses PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) when in public or when in close proximity to anyone who could be infected including in our own homes or other locations this CoronaVirus COVID-19 will continue to spread.

It is also important for any PPE to be correctly used. It is no good if a face-mask does not seal around the mouth and nose correctly. With gloves ensure that you do not transfer the virus to other surfaces that you may later touch. Assume everything you touch outside a known virus free area is contaminated. While door handles, light switches, hand rails and other such items are prime areas the food you get from the shops is also a potential. Wash all your shopping before storing or using it.

I hope that the seriousness of this virus is going to be recognised and everyone will do what is required to stop it.

It is like shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted if you only react when a Government eventually makes it a rule / law.

12/APR/2020 Most Governments are being slow to react to the CoronaVirus COVID-19

While a number of scientific advisors are advising the use of Face-masks when in public; most of the Governments still have not enforced this yet. It was good to here that some are now taking this virus seriously and looking at ways to better control the spread. This ironic thing is that this virus is costing them a fortune and they could easily supply mask masks and gloves for free either through the mail or at all food shops. There are some shops that are doing this but they are very few and it is a global problem that Governments should be doing. The reason that I think this should be a free supply rrom the Governments around the World is that everyone is at risk including and probably most importantly those who cannot afford these items.

While testing is important more effort needs to be done to stop the spread of the virus. From the statistics being provided clearly indicate that the largest problem is the spread of the virus. While keeping people isolated is good there is in my mind a major problem with people who need to move around in public areas. Obviously there are a number of reasons why people are moving around in public and what people can do is different in different countries.

• Going shopping
• Collecting medications
• Essential services
• Exercise

Initially the News reported that the use of Face-masks was not of benefit to the public. How stupid was the spreading of this fake news by the Worlds news broadcasters. If this was true, why are the medical and care institutions making such a fuss about getting PPE (Personal Protection Equipment)? The simple reason is that without these items there would be a much higher rate of infection in the health workers, care workers and other essential workers.

So what is the solution? The first thing is for the public to start listening to the scientists and taking actions that will protect ourselves, our families our friends and the rest of the World. We cannot rely on politicians to take actions in time.

It is interesting that Bill Gates warned the World five years ago about a possible pandemic but very little was done. We are now unprepared for this pandemic. Countries have spent billions on preparing for war, and while some of this is required to protect ourselves, protecting ourselves against a pandemic that has brought the entire World to its knees has had relatively no investment. The money countries spend on protecting it´s citizens from a pandemic is like a drop in a ocean compared to that spent on war.

Let us have a look at the problem in simple terms.

My background is in Electro-Mechanical Engineering and Software Development and have for decades looked at problem solving. We should have had scientists and problem solvers resolving this problem not politicians who ignore the science.

Let us for a few seconds look at an example that we should all be able to relate to.

If we have a production line, it could be anything baking cakes in your kitchen or producing something in a factory such as bottles of milk. If we find there is contamination in the final product, yes we can count how many contaminated products we have but this does not solve the problem. What is required is to find out what is causing the contamination and resolve this and not just know we have 10000 contaminated items per day (or per second). Yes we need to know that there is a problem and the magnitude of the problem but the major effort needs to be to stop it from happening in the first place.

So how do we solve the Coronavirus COVID-19 problem.

The first step should be to work back to find out how the infection is being spread. Current thinking it is being spread via a number of different methods, starting with an infected person either coughing or sneezing. What is not known is if this can also be from someone who is infected just exhaling. Currently until enough is known we should consider this as a real possibility. Even if exhaling is not a cause of spreading the virus we should assume that the air we breath in could contain the virus. If you have seen anyone´s (and I am sure we all have) breath out on a cold day or seen a smoker or vaper breath out, you will have seen the amount and distance this covers. Now for a moment, the thing of going shopping and even if you were able to keep a 2 meter (six feet) distance between everyone which we know is not possible you will be passing through the air someone has exhaled. In addition their exhaled air will be landing on products you pick up.

So we the public need to take actions to protect us and others and it will require us all to take additional steps. Before we look at that we need to remember that Governments will always be too slow, it is not in their nature to take action quickly. We know that we now have a number of people in different areas of the World who are looking at a vaccine to protect us against the virus. This is going to take time to develop and even after it is developed and even if we reduce the testing period and get the Governments to approve its use, there is still the issue of creating enough for 7 Billion people and then administering it to the World. This is not going to happen in the next few months.

Until we have a working vaccine administered to the majority of the World our best bet is to take whatever steps are required to slow down the spread. We know that Hospitals will never be able to cope with mass infections.

Why is it so important that we take extra precautions to protect ourselves now, this second. Well the simple fact is that more people are now infected as there were last week, last month and the rate is still climbing at a significant rate. Some of the media are showing graphs with logarithmic scales and while people who are more into science and maths will understand these the truth is that the general public do not. We here the politicians saying things are levelling off but the infection rate is still increasing and so is the death rate. It is true that self isolation is helping but when the infection rate is still doubling every few days the virus is still rampant. Only when we see the number of infections and deaths decreasing will we be able to say that we are starting to win.

When we go outside to do necessary shopping, exercising or for necessary work we are at a much higher risk of getting and spreading the virus than when isolated at home. For this reason we should all wear Face-masks (or some other form of item such as a scarf) but it needs to seal properly so that when we breathe and exhale everything is filtered. It is no good having the mask around your neck or just over your mouth. Using suitable gloves is also very important. If you go out and touch anything including while shopping you can be touching something that is infected. As more and more infected people are out in public as the virus spreads we will be more at risk until we are protected and as we all know this is months away and most probably at best over a year.

We need to treat everything we receive and everything anyone in our home receives as a potential infection source including mail and foods. These all come from a long and largely uncontrolled supply chain. So wash / wipe everything down and all points of contact.

Use antiseptic spray everywhere including your gloves.

If you talk to anyone who has been involved with bacterial contamination they will tell you how easily things spread and can be contaminated. We need to use their expertise to help us appreciate how infections spread and how to resolve it.

I would also suggest anyone going out in public also wears some eye protection as the eyes together with the mouth and nose have been identified as places where you can catch the virus.

Here are some links I suggest you look at:

Transcript: Bill Gates speaks

or

Few countries will get 'A-grade' for coronavirus response

07/APR/2020 There are a few benefits resulting from being isolated because of the CoronaVirus COVID-19

The benefits of isolation, the first benefit

Obviously, the first benefit is protecting us from the virus and the more isolated we are the lower the chances we have of being infected.

However many of us do need to go out for various reasons including getting food, getting medication or to work in essential services and we should take any actions that can help us protect ourselves. Many of our Governments are not responding to scientific advice or common sense in a timely manner. It is therefore up to us to take the initiative and use some common sense.

We have seen some countries where the use of Face-masks and gloves are now common place. If the health organisations consider the use of Face-masks and gloves are important Personal Protection Equipment then so should we.

Many of us do need to go out for various reasons including getting food, getting medication or to work in essential services and we should take any actions that we can help us protect ourselves.

So here are a few of my top tips.

• Wear a face-mask whenever you are outside your home or if anyone in your household has any symptoms. If you do not have a face-mask use a scarf. One of the most important things is to ensure that it seals completely over the mouth and nose so that any air breathed in has to go through the mask or scarf.
• Use gloves to protect yourself from viruses that may be on any surfaces that you may touch. While there are some things that are high risk such as door handles, doors, light switches, handrails, keyboards and in kitchens. Not everyone considers the products in shops that in many cases are being handled by staff who may carry the virus or have viruses on them from other shoppers who handle them or from air born contamination.
• Use a suitable spray that will kill the virus on your gloves.
• Do not touch your face.
• Avoid touching anything that is NOT necessary
• After, shopping wash all your shopping. Wipe down the packaging, produce and your bags with a suitable product that will kill any virus before using or storing produce / items.

Many people think that they are NOT at risk but as the infection rate soars and the death rate increases, this is far from true. While so called social distancing is inevitably helping this is far from a 100% solution as the continued infection rate indicates.

A positive from being in isolation, is that many of us now have more time with the people we live with.

Anyone in isolation, even if they are now working from home will typically have a few hours of additional time available per day to do things they want.

A large proportion of people who had a commute of 2 to 3 hours per day will only now require a few seconds. Travelling to meetings is now just a matter or connecting via the Internet.

Spending more time with our loved ones Spending more time with our partners, our live at home children and others we are in isolation with can be a major benefit to these relationships.
In our hectic lives, a lot of relationships have been under a lot of pressure and many relationships could be improved. Spending more time together provides an opportunity to improve your relationships.

For our children, we can spend time helping them with school work, which while in some cases this may be a challenge it will inevitably help with understanding their educational development. Playing with our children will also help build the bond.

For our partners there in additional time to spend on our relationships. Doing things together such as spending more intimate time will help relationships that could do with some improvement.

How about giving your partner a massage. Visit:-

Click here for a simple guide to Romantic massage for lovers of all ages

Learning something new

Using your time productively can be the one of the best things you can do with your extra time. The Coronavirus COVID-19 has changed the World and the realisation of how vulnerable our Jobs are. There is a realisation of how important it is to have multiple sources of income. Now that we cannot visit many physical shops has made a major shift to online sales and Internet marketing. We have provided a number of business opportunities that can be done by anyone in most places in the World with just a computing device linked to the Internet.

One of the easiest ways is to use the FREE Joint Venture Program

This does not require any special skills (just copy and paste), no start up capital or monthly fees.

There are others who need help at this time

If you know someone who needs help, you could offer to help. This could be something like being a friend to talk to or helping with shopping etc. We should never forget helping others is a very good thing to do.

Our mental health

It is difficult to live in isolation and some of us handle this better than others. However there are a number of organisations and groups that exist or have been recently created to help vulnerable people. If you are vulnerable and have the Internet try doing a search for organisations and groups that can help. If you do not have the Internet try contacting someone you know to help you do this. Just talking to someone else can be of benefit to you and the person(s) you talk to. Apart from just talking there are applications like Skype that can be used to chat to others in most places in the World. Just do it. If you just help a couple of others and they help just a couple of others we could collectively help millions.

Creating something

Boredom can be a major problem when you are in isolation. One thing you can do is to make a list of all the things you would like to do. This could be some DIY (just painting a room) or writing about something you know (we could even help you to sell it if it is How To related) or you could create a video (most modern smart phones can now create acceptable quality videos). There are obviously thousands of things you can do. You can even research a subject on the Internet; combine all the information in your own words or video and sell it. While there is a lot of online information, packaging information together can be profitable. I know someone who has made £80 million by doing just that.

Keeping fit

Keeping fit is important especially in these times of isolation. There are a lot of fitness videos on line that you can watch. The most important thing to do is to keep motivated and do it. Set a time in the day to do some exercises and make it a routine. I do just 30 minutes of exercise every day. In my case I get up have some breakfast and a coffee then 30 minutes on the running machine. If you have a medical issue contact someone who can give you some advice such as a trainer. If you have not done any exercise recently build your exercise up as you build up your fitness. If you are reasonably fit and not sweating when you finish you need to step it up.

It is very easy to just do nothing and put lots of weight on by not doing enough exercise; so make it a part of your daily routine.

As the end of the "Lockdown" you could have lost pounds and be a lot healthier.

Healthy eating

With many restaurants and takeaways closed and more time, it is now a good time to start cooking healthy food. Many people are getting serious health issues by living off unhealthy foods. After you have started eating a more healthy diet and start looking and feeling better you will probably stop eating junk food forever.

A word of caution

There are criminals who are taking advantage of people so be cautious with people you do not know. I heard that some people were visiting vulnerable people and offering to do their shopping. They then asked for their credit card and pin number and just emptied out of their bank account. I hope they get locked up forever.

02/APR/2020 Using Your Lockdown period productively

Using your "Lockdown" period productively can make the difference in how well you and your family can recover

Many of us now have additional time as a result of the "Coronavirus (COVID-19)".

In some cases this is because of being laid off or are not going to work. Even people who are working from home are saving on the commute time to and from work that is typically 2 to 3 hours per day.

When the CoronaVirus COVID-19 is over, the World will need to rebuild the Global Economy as quickly as possible. Some examples of what you can do to help include:-

• 1) Helping businesses (or your business) advertise effectively on social media to increase orders
• 2) Creating marketing material for companies
• 3) Providing a consulting service to help businesses identify areas of improvements.
• 4) Help businesses find new markets.
• 5) Help businesses develop new products.
• 6) And more...

In some cases this will require you to learn how to do this and there are online courses you can use to learn about this. The skills you learn will also allow you to start marketing products as an Internet Marketer. We also have a Joint Venture Program that you can join for FREE and market a range of information products. For more information Click here

02/APR/2020 Food safety

As many of us are now keeping isolated most of the time; the times when we do need to go out is when we need to be very careful and getting food is one of the most high risk times for many of us.

While most food shops in my area are trying to do some things like social distancing (six feet or 2 meters) this is not always possible in practice.

There are a number of reasons for this and some things the shops can do to reduce the problems. Making as many of the aisles as possible one way would help.

Currently the shops I have been in, the workers are not wearing Face-masks and gloves and sanitising gel where available is not always being used.

This provides a major concern to the virus being spread. If the people stacking the shelves are not using protective equipment and frequently using sanitisers, it would only take one infected person to infect hundreds or thousands of others.

Of course if the public are not wearing masks and gloves and using sanitisers correctly they can pick up or move an item, contaminate it and then it can be spread to others. We all need to be more aware of how items we are in contact with can be contaminated and take actions to avoid us being contaminated.

So what can we do to reduce getting and spreading CoronaVirus COVID-19. The first step is to assume everything you touch can be contaminated. This includes all the food in the shops. The packaging can be contaminated at so many places in the supply chain even before it gets to the shop but also in the shops. Obviously by contaminated people stacking the shelves and the public touching items as they shop. We have all seen the breath from people who smoke, vape or in cold weather. While we do not see people´s breath in normal conditions it is there and that breath will come into contact with products in the shops and surfaces. There is no evidence that I know of that states with any certainty that this is not an issue and I would assume at the moment that all products in the shops are potentially contaminated.

What I do is to take all my shopping and wash it when I get it home. For products that are packaged but could be contaminated inside the packaging, assume that they are contaminated and cook or wash thoroughly. When eating raw foods try to be ultra careful.

02/APR/2020 Face-masks, Gloves and Eye protection for the Public

This was originally just emailed to the BBC and ITV news channels. I am sharing it so it is more generally available to the world.

We see from the news how extensively Face-masks were used in China and a number of other countries and I am sure that this has helped them with the control of the virus.

The fact that there is such a large push to provide these with other items such as glasses/face shields and gloves to the UK´s NHS, would not I believe be done unless this was considered an important control method.

The issue I have is that Face-masks and other protective materials are not readily available in the UK and I am sure in many places in the World. The shops and even hardware outlets do not have stocks. I believe this is contributing to the spread of the virus in the World.

I needed to go to the shops for food yesterday and the number of people using masks and gloves is still very low. I do not know if this is because the importance of this is not being stressed enough in the media or that it is a lack of supply or complacency by the UK public . Most probably a combination of these.

I have two key points:- 1) The Governments throughout the World should urgently ensure that personal protection equipment is freely available to their ctizens. It would be nice if this was posted to all households and readily available in all shops. 2) To make it a condition for anyone moving outside their own home to wear at least a mask but I would like to see this include gloves and some form of eye protection even it is just glasses.

The best way and cheapest way to stop this virus from spreading is to stop the spread and we should all be doing what we can including the Governments. We need to take this seriously and for the Governments to supply or ensure the supply of personal protection equipment to the public and enforce its use in public NOW.

We need to stop this virus and get our economy restarted as soon as possible.

We have heard the UK Chancellor will provide some financial aid to people and some businesses which is going to cost Billions but not anything towards personal protection equipment for the public. If we could reduce the spread it would be a very wise investment in both personal and economic terms.

An update to this is that now the WHO is now considering the use of Face-masks and hopefully this will help force Governments to take action however we all need to take action for ourselves, our family, friends and the World.

01/MAR/2020 General notes and advice

We all know know the CoronaVirus (COVID-19) has changed our world. There are obviously a lot of negative things about this but there have also some positives.

There are businesses that have and will still close as a result of the CoronaVirus but there are also businesses that are benefiting from the changes and some have been hiring new staff. Some businesses have adapted and changed their offerings and have not only survived but some have even grown. We however can not avoid the fact that even in countries where workers have been supported by government backed furlough schemes; the amont of support is going to be reduced. This will inevitably result in more job losses and business closures.

The news has been reporting the huge job losses over the last few months and more are coming. There are however new jobs that are being created in some fields. Some of new jobs that have been created are related to online shopping and delivery services and online education.

There are lots of things that will change, too many to cover here is a few lines.

One relalisation is how dependent millions of us are on our saleries.

Having multiple streams of income is now more important than ever to protect lifestyles. Here at HowTo.A2zIdx.com we are looking for people to work with us as Joint Venture Partners part time or full time. In addition many of us know that we individually have knowledge or experience that can be of value to others. If this is something you have please let us know and we will see how we can work together to earn you more money. You can do this on a part time basis or make it into a full time income.

Many of us now have more free time with no commute which has been a benefit. Doing something can also help to stop depression and lonlyness.

For more information on how to become a Joint Venture Partner for FREE click here.

Click here for tips and information on how to improve your life style using our questionnaire and solutions lifestyle wizard.

02/APR/2020 Adding your help, advice and comments

If you can provide any additional help or constructive comments please use the Contact us form so we can post up your advice or feedback.