Ann: Update on COVID-19 - earnings guidance withdrawn, page-11

No problem. Add handwashing/wipes. The key thing is that we mustn't make the cure worse than the disease.

Now I do NOT believe that our respective leaders are a bunch of idiots. Jacinda and ScoMo (and Boris and Donald etc) didn't get there by being dumb (in spite of the attraction of that idea to many). I am quite certain that they and their advisers are chewing over a lot more ideas than they reveal in public.The Donald has dropped some momentous statements (his opponents think they are gaffes) showing a more open attitude. I think he's right. The fundamental basis of all govt thinking must not be "how do we stop everyone getting WuFlu?", it has to be "how do we ensure that WuFlu spreads through the population at a manageable pace?". The reason that preventing WuFlu altogether is a bad plan is that if no-one gets WuFlu then a single future case will create the same conditions as now all over again.

A parallel thought of course must be "how do we keep the economy going?". Greta has said something like "how dare you talk about money in a crisis!", but she and her ilk have absolutely no idea what life was like before money. Civilisation has many threads, and money is one of them. If civilisation unravels, WuFlu will be the very least of our concerns.