Actions that Exposed Manor Devotees to Virus BY: CAITANYA DAS

[PADA: There are some devotees sending me links to various conspiracy sites claiming that the virus pandemic is "fake news" and we all need to simply go about business as usual. Are these guys experts on these topics?

Another devotee said the virus is caused by 5g phone networks, such as are found in South Korea. OK but South Korea has one of the lowest transmission and death rates? Apparently they are being saved by 5g? 

All right, its the same general problem, a lot of devotees don't think these things through. Another devotee told me of being stressed out, cannot sleep, and I need to watch a 2.5 hour long David Icke video they sent a link to. OK but you already said you cannot sleep being stressed out by watching all these conspiracy videos? 

Anyway, our opinion is, there is a serious pandemic going on. We have a few nurse friends and they tell me about the big problems they are having with patients who have this illness, so it does not appear to be "fake news." 

Another devotee sent me a link to a doctor who says he has a cure, ok maybe, but if he does, maybe he should save some people and then he would automatically be recognized? So anyway our recommendation is, to follow the government guidelines and reduce social distancing as much as possible because there is some illness going around. And it seems unsound not to recognize that. 

In any case, the UK devotees did not follow the social distancing idea and they seem to have suffered quite a reaction as a result. Meanwhile some people are putting together a lawsuit to sue a "conservative" news station here for downplaying the virus problem, resulting in some of their family members taking the station's bad advice and suffering as a result. 

So we should be careful about giving bad advice on this virus topic ourselves because it might harm others. There have been many pandemics and epidemics and plagues in the past, and the general recommendation is to avoid contact with others, and we think that is possibly the best advice under the present circumstances. Wishing all of you and your family well in any event. ys pd]      

angel108b@yahoo.com

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Actions that Exposed Manor Devotees
to Coronavirus

BY: CAITANYA DAS

The British government's early advice on Coronavirus was heavily criticised by many in Europe. They were late in recommending smaller crowds, social distancing and lock Downs. They even gave up testing. But now its understood by intelligent thinkers that they made mistakes, and this is practically admitted by UK government.

Why did Bhaktivedanta Manor managers, with the approval of the UK GBC, go ahead with not only a public funeral, and worse (something Progosh das the GBC is reluctant to admit or speak about) – a memorial service a day or so later and continued 5-day kirtans, bringing again vast numbers of the congregation together along with initiated devotees. One wonders how seriously managers took the Coronavirus? Maybe they are among the numerous Hare Krishna fanatics who fall for every conspiracy theory under the sun.

Certainly their actions brought risks to devotees lives, and rather than listening to a heavily criticised British government, it would have been sensible to take a broader opinion on the matter. Everyone knew the risks. Pragosh Prabhu should admit to the mistakes made and the fact that he allowed not only the funeral, but a memorial service and continued kirtans. He may say hindsight is a wonderful thing, but I say no, common sense is superior.

Coronavirus Outbreak

Coronavirus: UK action plan poised for 'social distancing' phase

Cobra meeting expected to rubber-stamp 'delay' measures, raising prospect of school closures and home working

Heather Stewart, Matthew Weaver, Denis Campbell
Wed 11 Mar 2020 18.30 EDT

"Boris Johnson is poised to move Britain to a critical new phase of the coronavirus action plan on Thursday, paving the way for social distancing. The measures come the day after the UK recorded the biggest single-day increase in virus cases, and the number of associated deaths rose to eight.

The prime minister will chair a meeting of the Cobra emergency committee at lunchtime, and is expected to rubber-stamp a decision to move to from the "contain" phase to "delay".

WHO declares coronavirus pandemic

The change raises the prospect of measures such as home working, school closures, limits on gatherings, and a scaling back of non-urgent hospital, police and fire service.

This is what was public knowledge on the 11th of March.

Mass gatherings

"The government believes that banning large gatherings is one of the least effective measures a country can take, reducing the peak of the coronavirus by less than 5%. The virus is just as likely to spread within a smaller group such as those watching football in the pub as it would in a large crowd. Scotland has taken a different decision, banning events of more than 500 people from Monday to free up emergency services."

This was the bad advice the government was giving on the 13th of March. Many scientists were highly critical, and it soon changed. We can see from Sruti Dharma prabhu's funeral service at the Manor and the memorial two days later, what bad advice that was, considering the deaths that took place and the number of persons who contracted the virus, some still in hospital.

The government strategies were based at the time on economic factors and balancing the health of a population and the health of the economy, which at that time took priority. But in our case, the health of the devotees should have been the absolute priority.