Coronavirus.

Bantamzen · 10 Mar 2020

So following the decision of the Italian government to allow some mortgage holders to defer payments, RBS have just announced they too will allow deferrals of up to three months. If a few more follow suit, its a good indication that they have been briefed by the government of impending restrictions.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-51817947

Taxpayer-owned bank RBS will allow people affected by the coronavirus outbreak to defer mortgage and loan repayments for up to three months.

The bank, which runs the RBS, NatWest, and Ulster Bank brands, also said savers could close fixed-term savings accounts early with no charge.

This is designed to allow people to access cash if they need it as the impact of the virus is felt.

RBS announced extra support for businesses on Monday.

Other support for individuals facing financial difficulties owing to the virus includes:

Refunds on credit card cash advance fees

The option of applying for an temporarily increased credit card borrowing limit

Asking for an increased cash withdrawal limit of up to £500

A spokesman for RBS said: "We are monitoring the potential impact of coronavirus across all our customers to ensure we can support them appropriately through any period of disruption."

UK Finance, which represents the major banks, said that all banks would consider increasing overdrafts or allowing repayment relief for loan or mortgage repayments for those affected by the virus.

"We would encourage customers who think they may be affected to contact their provider as soon as possible to discuss the support available to them," said its chief executive, Stephen Jones.

Changes to mortgage agreements in some way mirror the situation in Italy, one of the areas most affected by the outbreak.

With significant restrictions on the population in place, Laura Castelli, Italy's deputy economy minister, said mortgage payments would be suspended across Italy.

RBS said on Monday that it was offering more flexibility over loans to businesses.

Other banks are following suit. Barclays said it was offering 12-month capital repayment holidays on existing loans over £25,000, and would also offer extended or new overdraft facilities to business customers.

"Our network of relationship managers has been reaching out to SMEs across the UK to see if they require additional support during this time, as we do regularly when we see any events which may have an impact on our clients," said Ian Rand, chief executive of Barclays Business Banking.

"Barclays is ready to help, whether that's with managing cash-flow or any other support, and we encourage any customer who needs guidance to call us or contact their relationship manager.

I'm off now to panic buy anything left in the supermarkets....

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Howardh · 10 Mar 2020

Bantamzen said:
So following the decision of the Italian government to allow some mortgage holders to defer payments, RBS have just announced they too will allow deferrals of up to three months. If a few more follow suit, its a good indication that they have been briefed by the government of impending restrictions.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-51817947

I'm off now to panic buy anything left in the supermarkets....

I've panic bought a NowTV sport pass for £25 which gives me a month's sport if I'm in lockdown.
Oh, hang on, I've just heard another sporting event has been cancelled....

Actually; the pass is mainly for the F1 (Australia/Bahrain/Vietnam), the Cricket in Sri Lanka and a couple of footy internationals, notably The Big Game, Liechtenstein vs Gibraltar; and I can see them being called off - the Bahrain GP is already no spectators.

miami · 10 Mar 2020

Howardh said:
the important thing is to keep those away from the vulnerable

Yet I haven't seen any official advice saying that the vulnerable (especially over 60s) stay at home, which you'd think would be the most obvious thing to do.

Bantamzen · 10 Mar 2020

Howardh said:
I've panic bought a NowTV sport pass for £25 which gives me a month's sport if I'm in lockdown.
Oh, hang on, I've just heard another sporting event has been cancelled....

Actually; the pass is mainly for the F1 (Australia/Bahrain/Vietnam), the Cricket in Sri Lanka and a couple of footy internationals, notably The Big Game, Liechtenstein vs Gibraltar; and I can see them being called off - the Bahrain GP is already no spectators.

I was panic buying before it became all cool & covid-19, I even panic bought a zombie apocalypse game on the PS4 to get ahead of the curve...

Journeyman · 10 Mar 2020

nlogax said:
As a kid I read 'Empty World' by John Christopher. It did a good job of describing that sort of situation and left a lasting impression on me.

https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Empty-World/John-Christopher/9781481420006

"Soon, a devastating illness, the Calcutta Plague, begins making the headlines. After killing thousands of people in India in just a few months, the disease begins to spread much farther, quickly sweeping across the world and eventually settling in the same village where Neil (the protagonist) resides."

Fantastic book. Somewhat slow-paced and not particularly eventful, but the descriptions in it are absolutely superb, and really haunting.

Howardh · 10 Mar 2020

miami said:
Yet I haven't seen any official advice saying that the vulnerable (especially over 60s) stay at home, which you'd think would be the most obvious thing to do.

It was mentioned at the PM's press conference that many elderly staying at home without nearby friends/family may not have access to the internet to have food delivered. That may or may not be an issue, but could the situation arise where they self-isolate, don't tell anyone (especially their doctor) and their condition deteriorates and there's no-one to check up on them? I obviously don't know how bad it gets and how quickly, but watching mum deteriorate with sepsis/pneumonia demonstrated that at 11am one may be in a position to call 999, but an hour later completely unable and only semi-conscious. I was on hand to get help; however if a person is alone and has no-one to watch them??
Dammed if you do/don't - if they go to hospital that could make their situation worse and they could easily pass the virus on to other individuals. So I'm asking for all those over, say, 70 who self-isolate to have an absolute right to a twice-daily district nurse (or similar) visit.
But what happens if there's a shortage of DN's??

Meerkat · 10 Mar 2020

Howardh said:
But what happens if there's a shortage of DN's??

If? Have you tried getting a DN round recently!

miami · 10 Mar 2020

Howardh said:
It was mentioned at the PM's press conference that many elderly staying at home without nearby friends/family may not have access to the internet to have food delivered

Stubborn people who refused to learn to use modern technology for the last 20 years. Actions have consequences.

I've bought food deliveries for my nan before, you don't need to be close to do that thanks to the internet.

Howardh said:
but could the situation arise where they self-isolate, don't tell anyone (especially their doctor) and their condition deteriorates

How would this change if they do go outside when they are well, but then catch something, then don't go out?

83A · 10 Mar 2020

miami said:
Stubborn people who refused to learn to use modern technology for the last 20 years. Actions have consequences.

My mum is 84, has a laptop, tablet and smart phone, she is on Facebook and Whatsapp. I would say she is not that tech savvy so good on her. Most of the time she copes OK, although I have teamviewer on her laptop to remote in if I have to.

Thankfully she is not on Tinder

Bantamzen · 10 Mar 2020

83A said:
My mum is 84, has a laptop, tablet and smart phone, she is on Facebook and Whatsapp. I would say she is not that tech savvy so good on her. Most of the time she copes OK, although I have teamviewer on her laptop to remote in if I have to.

Thankfully she is not on Tinder

Ah yes TeamViewer, the essential tool for supporting the less tech-savy family members!

Peter Mugridge · 10 Mar 2020

Have we stopped to consider the effects on the TOCs from the loss of discretionary travel?

Below is a quote of a post I made last night in the QE2 forum. I can't link to it because it's in the members only off topics section, and it summarises my observations yesterday of passenger numbers.

Now, while season ticket revenue is unlikely to be affected much, the discretionary revenue certainly will be. So would the treasure cover the lost revenue or would it instruct the DfT to enforce the contract terms? Enforcement would almost certainly see every single TOC fail, especially if the country gets shut down for four weeks like Italy has been.

I went up to Norwich today and I have the following observations:

The 08.45 from Epsom to London Bridge was only carrying about 20% of the normal passenger load.

So was the Thameslink I connected into at London Bridge for Farringdon.

The Underground from Farringdon to Liverpool street seemed to be about 50% the normal passenger load, but that could have simply been because the trains had got bunched up and were literally only one minute apart compared to the normal 2 - 3 minutes for the time of day.

Liverpool Street main line station appeared to be roughly 40% as busy as usual.

The train to Norwich was much quieter than normal, as was the train back.

In the evening peak, the Underground back to Farringdon was about 75% the normal loading.

The Thameslink back from Farringdon to Sutton I would say was also 75% the normal loading.

The connecting service from Sutton to Epsom, however, was as busy as normal.

Overall, quieter but a very mixed picture with no consistency to it.

Howardh · 10 Mar 2020

Meerkat said:
If? Have you tried getting a DN round recently!

Yes, for mum, but very luckily we were prioritised. But on the day of her death they didn't show up for two hours to give her painkilling injections

Howardh · 10 Mar 2020

83A said:
My mum is 84, has a laptop, tablet and smart phone, she is on Facebook and Whatsapp. I would say she is not that tech savvy so good on her. Most of the time she copes OK, although I have teamviewer on her laptop to remote in if I have to.

Thankfully she is not on Tinder

The worry for me would have been my elderly parents being able to work the internet BUT be vunerable to scammers*. Probably a case of a little knowledge is worse than no knowledge. On the plus side, with me being around I was able to download loads of youtube war and planes videos for dad to watch; and if he ever wanted detail on something I was able to look it up and print it off. To be honest if he's been able to work the web that's all he would be interested in (and the weather) - sport, gossip, politics, twitface would be no-go areas!!

*When they were alive we got tons of scam calls which they thought were genuine but ALWAYS told the caller to speak to me....in the end I disengaged one of the phones (the closest to where dad sat) and had a four-rings then answerphone on the remaining central phone, so they couldn't get to that phone in time (or I got there first) before the AP kicked in and put the spammers off the scent.

Busaholic · 10 Mar 2020

Howardh said:
The worry for me would have been my elderly parents being able to work the internet BUT be vunerable to scammers*. Probably a case of a little knowledge is worse than no knowledge. On the plus side, with me being around I was able to download loads of youtube war and planes videos for dad to watch; and if he ever wanted detail on something I was able to look it up and print it off. To be honest if he's been able to work the web that's all he would be interested in (and the weather) - sport, gossip, politics, twitface would be no-go areas!!

*When they were alive we got tons of scam calls which they thought were genuine but ALWAYS told the caller to speak to me....in the end I disengaged one of the phones (the closest to where dad sat) and had a four-rings then answerphone on the remaining central phone, so they couldn't get to that phone in time (or I got there first) before the AP kicked in and put the spammers off the scent.

Best reply to scammers imo is always 'what's the internet/Microsoft/ a private pension/shares etc?' said in my best Corporal Jones voice. They never bother for more than a few seconds after that and your number doesn't get put on a 'mugs' list: actually, it's been about two years since I last received such a call. Either that, or say 'putting you on hold' and they get the message after about a minute!

Busaholic · 10 Mar 2020

Just heard at end of a news bulletin on the radio that Nadine Dorries, MP and junior minister, has tested positive for it.

bramling · 10 Mar 2020

Busaholic said:
Just heard at end of a news bulletin on the radio that Nadine Dorries, MP and junior minister, has tested positive for it.

Definitely a downturn in transport use this week. My trains from and to work (off peak) have all been utterly dead this week, as was King’s Cross this evening.

Bletchleyite · 10 Mar 2020

bramling said:
Definitely a downturn in transport use this week. My trains from and to work (off peak) have all been utterly dead this week, as was King’s Cross this evening.

I reckon that's a combination of:
- Most commuters are office workers
- Most commuters don't like commuting
- Most office workers can work from home (their employer may not like them doing but are effectively having their hand forced).

I think this genie won't go back in the bottle once the virus is either gone or just "going round". This could save the railway a lot of money on peak capacity.

miami · 10 Mar 2020

Train to London on Monday far busier than normal - nearly as busy as during half term (it's the first north-wales off peak train, although it starts from Chester)

I've had room upgrades in both Holiday Inn hotels I've stayed in this week, which isn't a given. Test for me will be on the flight to Cyprus on Sunday - fair number of seats were allocated when I booked over a week out.

Looking at my Washington flight the week after, outbound there are 15/32 blocked seats. I've had many flights with far fewer people in the cabin than that. I remember one time when there were only 3 people sat across in 40 seats just after the olympics. On the way back 15/35 are filled (I did manage to get a miles upgrade to business, which only happens about 1/2 the time from Baltimore)

Pakenhamtrain · 11 Mar 2020

Howardh said:
I've panic bought a NowTV sport pass for £25 which gives me a month's sport if I'm in lockdown.
Oh, hang on, I've just heard another sporting event has been cancelled....

Actually; the pass is mainly for the F1 (Australia/Bahrain/Vietnam), the Cricket in Sri Lanka and a couple of footy internationals, notably The Big Game, Liechtenstein vs Gibraltar; and I can see them being called off - the Bahrain GP is already no spectators.

The Australian GP is going ahead.

Ianno87 · 11 Mar 2020

Got my semi-regular CrossCountry service from Cambridge-Birmingham yesterday. Arriving New Street 0938, back 1522.

Can't say the loading was noticeably different. Maybe slightly lighter on the way out (though it always varies a little), being a Leicester commuter train / late Brum commuter train. About the usual loading on the way back (which usually has a slightly more "off peak" passenger mix with some 'flexible' commuters)

fairysdad · 12 Mar 2020

Busaholic said:
Paracetamol of the basic kind (i.e. not with a brand name and costing £s) have been in short supply in supermarkets in my part of Cornwall since before Christmas, even in Poundland which continues to sell three boxes for £1, three boxes having been the limit applied everywhere until a year or two ago. Poundland have them again, I bought my three last week, which last me for about two and a half weeks.

How are you getting through three boxes of paracetamol in two and a half weeks?!

Bletchleyite · 12 Mar 2020

fairysdad said:
How are you getting through three boxes of paracetamol in two and a half weeks?!

Some people get a lot of headaches.

Bantamzen · 12 Mar 2020

Lots of speculation last night, this morning that the cabinet / COBRA will be meeting today to move the UK in the 'Delay' stage of the government's planning, which could see requests for more home work, limiting public events etc.

83A · 12 Mar 2020

I work in the broadcast business and the big trade show (NAB) at Las Vegas which was happening in April has just been cancelled.

This is unprecedented stuff. I was not actually attending myself (they try not to let engineers near customers before they purchase!) but its sent a bit of a shockwave around the industry.

ainsworth74 · 12 Mar 2020

Donny Trump has acted decisively to protect American lives by banning travel from the 26 Shengen countries to the US. Which I'm sure will do much to prevent the further spread within the US:

US President Donald Trump has announced sweeping new travel restrictions on Europe in a bid to combat the spread of the coronavirus.

But he said the "strong but necessary" restrictions would not apply to the UK, which has 460 cases of the virus.

A presidential proclamation issued later specified that only travellers from the 26 countries in the Schengen border-free travel area were barred.

This leaves a number of other European countries including Ireland unaffected.

"To keep new cases from entering our shores, we will be suspending all travel from Europe," Mr Trump said from the Oval Office on Wednesday evening.

"The new rules will go into effect Friday at midnight," he added. The travel order does not apply to US citizens.

There are 1,135 confirmed cases of the virus across the US, with 38 deaths so far.

...

Link

Bantamzen · 12 Mar 2020

ainsworth74 said:
Donny Trump has acted decisively to protect American lives by banning travel from the 26 Shengen countries to the US. Which I'm sure will do much to prevent the further spread within the US:

Link

It probably won't, especially as Trump's administration have not been keen to get a lot of testing done in case they upset him with unfavourable figures. The virus is already there, and it's spread won't be greatly diminished because he's stopping travel from the Schengen area. This is more political, hence the reason why the UK & Ireland are not included in the ban, even though UK citizens are widely travelled across Europe.

robbeech · 12 Mar 2020

I’ve had a brief scan through this thread and have a question.
Does anyone on the forum have this virus or personally know anyone that does?
I know a lot of people all over the world, many of them are big travellers and work at large events so are exposed. As yet I don’t know anyone that has it, nor do I know anyone that knows anyone that has it.
I think this can sometimes bias people’s views on these types of things and their reactions can differ. People sometimes change their opinions when their mate gets it, or to a. Lesser extent their mate says someone they work with has it.

Bantamzen · 12 Mar 2020

I don't know of anyone that has it, although that's not surprising given the relatively low numbers of cases.

But the stock markets do seem to have a nasty case of it, all are tanking further following the Schengen travel ban to the US. What's the betting he blames Obama & the Democrats before back-peddling?

notlob.divad · 12 Mar 2020

Bantamzen said:
I don't know of anyone that has it, although that's not surprising given the relatively low numbers of cases.

Saying 456 in a population of 60 million is a low number is correct. However may I point out that Hubai province where Wuhan is located also has around 60million people, and it initiated it's lockdown at 400 cases. What happened there? they had to build 2 new hospitals in 6 days and nurses were making their own masks from scrap material. This is because 456 confirmed cases will be a fraction of the actual cases. People are likely to have been spreading the virus for days before they even feel the need to get tested, and all the people they have spread it to will also walk around and continue spreading it without knowing.

In my opinion, anywhere that has over 400 cases and hasn't already introduced an Italian style lockdown is going to have their medical system overloaded in the same way Lombardy and Wuhan have. That includes the UK and most of Western Europe. The stock markets are reacting as they see fit the politicians are the ones whoing themselves wofully underprepared.

Bletchleyite · 12 Mar 2020

Bantamzen said:
I don't know of anyone that has it, although that's not surprising given the relatively low numbers of cases.

I know one of the original 12 who was on the cruise ship. However, I've not been near him since he caught it

Coronavirus.

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