Coronavirus in the UK - news, lockdown and discussion

[xenon]

Yes, that Wrexham factory (CP Pharmaceuticals/Wockhardt) is for the vital "fill and finish" part of the process, that article reminds me.

It did make me wonder at one point whether Wales would get slightly preferential distribution of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, but there's no logic to that thought at all , and I've heard nothing to that effect anyway .....

it’s an Indian owned company, that one in Wrexham apparently. So yeah you think if anyone had first go on it, India.
Complex supply chains look bad because, why doesn’t someone take hold of this all sorted. In other context it would be talked about as robust modular survivability.

 

[elbows]

Some much needed focus on employers again. Becoming quite the theme very recently.

'My boss made me come to work and I caught Covid'

Despite the risks, people say they are being asked to work on site when they could do it from home.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Miss-Shelf]

Some much needed focus on employers again. Becoming quite the theme very recently.

'My boss made me come to work and I caught Covid'

Despite the risks, people say they are being asked to work on site when they could do it from home.

www.bbc.co.uk

I needed to make a care related visit today and went on the overground to Dalston. Coming back about 5 30pm I was part of the home going commute. So many people on there obviously work in construction of some sort - is that essential at this time?

 

[quimcunx]

Some much needed focus on employers again. Becoming quite the theme very recently.

'My boss made me come to work and I caught Covid'

Despite the risks, people say they are being asked to work on site when they could do it from home.

www.bbc.co.uk

I dont watch much of the government briefings but from what I have seen johnson says if you can wfh you should, addressing the worker, not if your staff can wfh you must not have them attend the workplace.

 

[keithy]

I needed to make a care related visit today and went on the overground to Dalston. Coming back about 5 30pm I was part of the home going commute. So many people on there obviously work in construction of some sort - is that essential at this time?

It's apparently essential to the economy which relies on property.

This lockdownis a joke. Barely any of the jobs I'm seeing advertised are remote, roles that should be.

 

[kabbes]

I dont watch much of the government briefings but from what I have seen johnson says if you can wfh you should, addressing the worker, not if your staff can wfh you must not have them attend the workplace.

Also, the law has moved away from using “shall” (i.e. the future tense of “should”) because it is ambiguous. Documents and legislation are now supposed to be drafted using the word “must” if it is compulsory (or otherwise to be clear it is a recommendation). So this is the highest level of the legislature failing to obey the rules for drafting legislation.

 

[brogdale]

#WorldBeating

 

[extra dry]

Covid misinformation takes its toll on British doctors, teachers (nbcnews.com)

view from America...kettle and all that

 

[Artaxerxes]

#WorldBeating

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I read that in the Jeremy Clarkson voice

 

[MrSki]

So happy to bang on about comparisons when it comes to the vaccine not so happy when talking about death rates. Brandon Lewis having difficulty bullshitting out of this one.

 

[brogdale]

So happy to bang on about comparisons when it comes to the vaccine not so happy when talking about death rates. Brandon Lewis having difficulty bullshitting out of this one.

thick lying cunt.

 

[Chilli.s]

Every country in the world is dealing with the same virus, so you certainly can make comparisons and it is entirely reasonable to do that. Usual bluster and denial of failure.

 

[StoneRoad]

#WorldBeating

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NO !

Not according to Worldometers .

Coronavirus Update (Live): 96,086,625 Cases and 2,051,579 Deaths from COVID-19 Virus Pandemic - Worldometer (worldometers.info)
That is San Marino. followed by Belgium ...

The UK is currently 8th by deaths per million population. (and the usa is 12th)

[this had already been de-bunked]

Whatever the actual relative positions, the tally is still dreadful.

 

[frogwoman]

Isn't it new deaths per capita in the last week rather than overall?

 

[Fruitloop]

yep

 

[killer b]

NO !

Not according to Worldometers .

Coronavirus Update (Live): 96,086,625 Cases and 2,051,579 Deaths from COVID-19 Virus Pandemic - Worldometer (worldometers.info)
That is San Marino. followed by Belgium ...

The UK is currently 8th by deaths per million population. (and the usa is 12th)

[this had already been de-bunked]

Whatever the actual relative positions, the tally is still dreadful.

Worst death rate right now, not over the course of the pandemic.

 

[cupid_stunt]

Isn't it new deaths per capita in the last week rather than overall?

Yep, the headline of 'UK now has the highest covid death rate in the world' is somewhat misleading.

 

[brogdale]

NO !

Not according to Worldometers .

Coronavirus Update (Live): 96,086,625 Cases and 2,051,579 Deaths from COVID-19 Virus Pandemic - Worldometer (worldometers.info)
That is San Marino. followed by Belgium ...

The UK is currently 8th by deaths per million population. (and the usa is 12th)

[this had already been de-bunked]

Whatever the actual relative positions, the tally is still dreadful.

YES !

 

[killer b]

(I'm not sure if it means very much though - we're at or near the peak of our current wave, which isn't happening in unison with any other country's wave. A different country will be number 1 next week)

 

[platinumsage]

Worst death rate right now, not over the course of the pandemic.

To be expected due to the spread of the Kent variant in December.

 

[brogdale]

Yep, the headline of 'UK now has the highest covid death rate in the world' is somewhat misleading.

tbf, they could have said in the Universe

 

[Spandex]

So happy to bang on about comparisons when it comes to the vaccine not so happy when talking about death rates. Brandon Lewis having difficulty bullshitting out of this one.

Answers you'd never hear, part 17,436:

"Well Piers, of course there's a number of factors that have lead to the UK having the higest death rate in the world over the last week. Firstly there's the new strain of the virus, which spread across the country unchecked.

But it's important for the government, of which I'm a part, to recognise where things could have been done better. We didn't get test and trace working last summer when numbers were low enough for it to have made a difference. We opened too many things too quickly in August and September. The Universities shouldn't have reopened when they did. We didn't attempt the circuit breaker lockdown in September when numbers were rising and SAGE told us to. We put off the second lockdown until too late and ended it too soon. The tier system was a total failure at controlling the spread of the virus, but because we wanted to reopen the shops in the run up to Christmas we tried it a second time, even though it had already failed. We were determined to allow people to enjoy Christmas with their families even when all the evidence suggested this would lead to a huge increase in the spread of the virus. We introduced the third lockdown too late.

But we also have to recognise that not only the government I serve has, but also previous Labour governments, have created a situation with poor quality overcrowded housing, precarious work situations for millions and structural inequality that has all undermined attempts to control the spread of the virus.

But of course, Piers, all that is in the past now and the vaccine roll out is going fantastically. Have I mentioned that over 4 million people have been vaccinated so far and the situation will be much better in the spring?"

 

[elbows]

To be expected due to the spread of the Kent variant in December.

To be expected due to failure to use circuit breaker, then weak national measures in November, then a laughable tier system at the start of December.

The new variant is in my thoughts, mostly because its now been two weeks since we had any data on the regional spread. The latest resport that should have contained such data was cancelled last Friday, and I am currently unaware of when this data might emerge.

 

[LDC]

BMJ article on the strategy of elimination of Covid....

Elimination could be the optimal response strategy for covid-19 and other emerging pandemic diseases

Michael Baker and colleagues argue that aiming for elimination of community transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus could offer important advantages over a suppression or mitigation strategy with ongoing transmission The covid-19 pandemic might be remembered for the astonishingly rapid development...

www.bmj.com

 

[Brainaddict]

What's bugging me atm about the vaccine-as-saviour narrative is that the proper thing to do is wait until a very high percentange of the population has the vaccine before opening up, and even when most people have the vaccine they should test, trace, quarantine as much as possible until the virus is (almost) eliminated. They will do neither of these things because they're a pack of careless cunts, and the press will let them get away with it. And so a lot of people will continue getting sick, many of them with long term conditions.

 

[brogdale]

Dumbfuck Gideon doesn't even know that he would have still had to self-isolate under current rules.

Another grade A cunt...

 

[two sheds]

"leading the response to the pandemic"

 

[teuchter]

(I'm not sure if it means very much though - we're at or near the peak of our current wave, which isn't happening in unison with any other country's wave. A different country will be number 1 next week)

If we are nearly at the peak of this wave, and hopefully we are, then it will not be as bad a one as various Eastern European countries saw about two months ago.



However... compared to other western European countries, including the other "bad" ones, we are now doing substantially worse.

It's quite notable that comparing to Italy, Spain and France, with whom we'd previously been sharing vaguely similar trajectories, we've now gone in a quite different direction. UK was doing a bit better in the early stages of the second wave, then two or three weeks ago we lost control. So did Ireland but their numbers not yet as bad.

 

[elbows]

Care homes have come up recently and I threw various data around. Now we can add a worsening death picture to that:

In amongst those figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) today comes data showing deaths of care home residents in England involving Covid-19 have almost doubled in a fortnight.

There were 1,260 deaths involving the virus in care homes notified to the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in the week ending 15 January, a 45% rise from the 864 deaths notified during the previous week.

It is almost double the 661 deaths notified to the regulator in the week ending 1 January.

There were also 422 CQC-notified deaths of care home residents in hospitals involving Covid-19 in the week ending January 15, and 24 occurred elsewhere or in a location not stated.

Above is from BBC live updates page 11:48 entry https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-55715793

And here are some regional figures from a new weekly set of data: Care home resident deaths registered in England and Wales, provisional - Office for National Statistics

Figures wont align perfectly with CQC figures mentioned above due to differences in reporting periods, date of deaths vs date of reporting etc.

 

[brogdale]

Care homes have come up recently and I threw various data around. Now we can add a worsening death picture to that:



Above is from BBC live updates page 11:48 entry https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-55715793

And here are some regional figures from a new weekly set of data: Care home resident deaths registered in England and Wales, provisional - Office for National Statistics

Figures wont align perfectly with CQC figures mentioned above due to differences in reporting periods, date of deaths vs date of reporting etc.

View attachment 250024

Guardian running with one individual case: