Coronavirus in the UK - news, lockdown and discussion

[emanymton]

I'm not saying it's a bad idea but if I was 20 again and they were giving away 500 nicker to anyone who got Covid I'd be doing my best to get it.

Also people are not just worried about losing income while they isolate they are also worried about losing their job or not getting work after they isolate, or just generally being pressured to keep working. I don't think giving people £500 will make much difference.

 

[wtfftw]

I'd suggest lots of spread is before the positive test result.

 

[LDC]

I'd suggest lots of spread is before the positive test result.

Yeah, anecdotally a load of people seem confused about the bit between having symptoms and before you get a positive test, and think it's OK until that happens to do whatever. The local school has had a problem with kids coming in while waiting test results.

 

[SpookyFrank]

Also people are not just worried about losing income while they isolate they are also worried about losing their job or not getting work after they isolate, or just generally being pressured to keep working. I don't think giving people £500 will make much difference.

Agreed. They're trying to fix a leaking reservoir by pissing in it.

What else is there to do though? Even if they got it through their nasty little skulls that running down secure employment has been a disaster for both working people and the economy, it would take years to even start making meaningful changes. And of course all their ideology, all their thinking, all their financial backing is pulling in exactly the opposite direction.

 

[elbows]

Johnson doing press conference at 5pm. Anyone like to speculate what shite he will spout?

I'll wait for the ONS infection survey to come out before having a guess at todays press conference themes.

 

[emanymton]

Yeah, anecdotally a load of people seem confused about the bit between having symptoms and before you get a positive test, and think it's OK until that happens to do whatever. The local school has had a problem with kids coming in while waiting test results.

Seriously? When I had a cold and had to get tested I still only went out to go to the test centre even though I was 90% sure it was just a cold.

 

[emanymton]

Agreed. They're trying to fix a leaking reservoir by pissing in it.

What else is there to do though? Even if they got it through their nasty little skulls that running down secure employment has been a disaster for both people and the economy, it would take years to even start making meaningful changes. And of course all their ideology, all their thinking, all their financial backing is pulling in exactly the opposite direction.

I don't think it will happen anyway. Remember in the summer when we were all meant to get £500 and we ended up with eat out to help out.

 

[Artaxerxes]

The 500 quid is as close as we’ll get to UBI under this shower of cunts so it’s fine even if it doesn’t fix anything

 

[platinumsage]

Johnson doing press conference at 5pm. Anyone like to speculate what shite he will spout?

R isn't coming down quickly enough because of the new variant
Everyone must keep to the rules so we don't have to introduce new restrictions (new restrictions will be announced on Monday)
Vaccine rollout success, 2 million in the last week, sunlit uplands etc

 

[elbows]

I don't think it will happen anyway. Remember in the summer when we were all meant to get £500 and we ended up with eat out to help out.

Yeah there is this stuff around in the news this morning, after all the newspaper front pages covering the £500 idea:

Government sources have firmly downplayed the idea of a universal £500 Covid payment for people in England required to self-isolate.
It is among the suggestions in a leaked document from the Department of Health.
There are fears the current financial support is not working because low paid workers cannot afford to self-isolate.
But a senior government source cast doubt on the idea, saying it had been drawn up by officials and had not been considered by the prime minister.

Covid-19: No plans for universal £500 self-isolation payment, No 10 says

A £500 payment is already available for those on low incomes who cannot work from home, No 10 says.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[emanymton]

Yeah there is this stuff around in the news this morning, after all the newspaper front pages covering the £500 idea:

Covid-19: No plans for universal £500 self-isolation payment, No 10 says

A £500 payment is already available for those on low incomes who cannot work from home, No 10 says.

www.bbc.co.uk

This is in the Guardian article from yesterday.


A second option is paying the lump sum to those who test positive and cannot work from home, costing up to £244m a week. The third option is paying those earning less than £26,495 a year or on means-tested benefits, at a cost of £122m a week. The fourth proposal is keeping the current system but “significantly” expanding the discretionary funding to councils.

I'll be surprised if we even get option 3.

Ministers consider paying £500 to everyone with Covid in England

Exclusive: universal payment is ‘preferred position’ of DHSC in effort to help people self-isolate

www.theguardian.com

 

[elbows]

I know which version I believe.

FBU responds to “political and biased” HMICFRS report

Inspectorate doing bidding of government and fire chiefs to attack firefighters, FBU says.

www.fbu.org.uk

Also the earlier part of the story of whats happened there is important:

Fire service bosses pull out of Covid-19 agreement

Fire chiefs and employers attempting to water down vital covid-19 safety measures Fire Brigades Union says firefighters and public being put at risk and calls for talks to resume TUC says by turning their backs on agreement

www.fbu.org.uk

Its a complete disgrace that a sensible system of testing was reneged on. I believe that on a local level there are examples of both sides coming to terms, mostly by maintaining the testing system.

Some fire services have reached agreements with local branches of the union instead so that they can volunteer for the vaccination effort.
Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service said it had begun testing its staff twice a week and those giving vaccinations had also received them first.

Covid: Fire Brigades Union safety demands 'unworkable', says report

A report criticises the union after it told its members not to volunteer due to safety concerns.

www.bbc.co.uk

As for that headline, a lot of sensible measures that should have been the bare minimum standard in this pandemic were considered unworkable by the establishment. In plenty of cases this is down to their overriding and narrowly considered priority of maintaining staff numbers by eroding the principal of self-isolation. With positive tests seen as an inconvenience that can be overcome by not doing routine testing. Disgusting.

 

[danny la rouge]

Also the earlier part of the story of whats happened there is important:

Fire service bosses pull out of Covid-19 agreement

Fire chiefs and employers attempting to water down vital covid-19 safety measures Fire Brigades Union says firefighters and public being put at risk and calls for talks to resume TUC says by turning their backs on agreement

www.fbu.org.uk

Its a complete disgrace that a sensible system of testing was reneged on. I believe that on a local level there are examples of both sides coming to terms, mostly by maintaining the testing system.

Covid: Fire Brigades Union safety demands 'unworkable', says report

A report criticises the union after it told its members not to volunteer due to safety concerns.

www.bbc.co.uk

As for that headline, a lot of sensible measures that should have been the bare minimum standard in this pandemic were considered unworkable by the establishment. In plenty of cases this is down to their overriding and narrowly considered priority of maintaining staff numbers by eroding the principal of self-isolation. With positive tests seen as an inconvenience that can be overcome by not doing routine testing. Disgusting.

I deeply hate the fucking Guardian.

 

[elbows]

Various news articles about the ONS infection survey are appearing but to start with I'll just pluck a few quotes and graphs out of the report.

I dont think the falls are good enough and they give clues about what level of death we may get stuck with for ages. But I'm also aware that things like ZOE show a more impressive decline in some areas so as usual I'll be left waiting for subsequent weeks reports before forming firmer conclusions.

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Infection Survey, UK - Office for National Statistics

Percentage of people testing positive for coronavirus (COVID-19) in private residential households in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland, including regional and age breakdowns. This survey is being delivered in partnership with University of Oxford, University of Manchester, UK Health...

www.ons.gov.uk

• In England, the percentage of people testing positive for the coronavirus (COVID-19) remained high but decreased slightly in the week ending 16 January 2021; we estimate that 1,023,700 people (95% credible interval: 978,900 to 1,070,000) within the community population in England had COVID-19, equating to around 1 in 55 people (95% credible interval: 1 in 55 to 1 in 50).
• During the week ending 16 January 2021, London had the highest percentage of people testing positive; we estimate that 2.89% of people in London had COVID-19 (95% credible interval: 2.68% to 3.11%), equating to around 1 in 35 people (95% credible interval: 1 in 35 to 1 in 30).

I am especially unimpressed by the South East not declining much. I'm starting to graph deaths by region and last time I looked the South East was contributing massively to that, with peak levels similar to those seen in the London region int he first wave. But my graphs on that arent ready to share yet.

 

[William of Walworth]

I deeply hate the fucking Guardian.

I deeply hate that Guardian article -- agreed, it was shit.

I'm glad you posted the FBU article though -- superb and clear explanations.

 

[killer b]

the guardian defender has logged on

 

[elbows]

Provisional graph to go with my comment in previous post about levels of death in the South East (pink line on this graph) resembling levels seen by this measure at the peak of the first wave in London. Covid-19 deaths per English region, by date of death where a positive test happened within 28 days of the death. Smoothed by using 7 day averages. The most recent data is woefully incomplete so I chopped that part off the graph altogether. And some of the more recent figures that are still visible in the graph are subject to possible further increases in future, so any recent decreases should not be treated as resembling the actual reality yet.

 

[mauvais]

#notallgraunarticles

 

[Monkeygrinder's Organ]

Speaking of Graun articles have we had this yet: Foreign NHS workers could be denied Covid vaccine in England

Absolutely gross if true (yet again), not to mention fucking stupid given the transmission risks involved (again yet again).

 

[SpookyFrank]

I'm not saying it's a bad idea but if I was 20 again and they were giving away 500 nicker to anyone who got Covid I'd be doing my best to get it.

A lot of people are in a position where they've no work either way and 500 quid would mean the difference between survival and ruin. At the very least there would be people getting their covid-positive mate to send off a test with their name on it.

And who could really blame them? 500 quid is half what some Deloitte consultant pulls down in a single day 'working' on a project which has failed so spectacularly that a whole-number percentage of the population is currently infected with covid and a huge chunk of them are wondering how they're going to pay rent and feed their kids.

 

[platinumsage]

Speaking of Graun articles have we had this yet: Foreign NHS workers could be denied Covid vaccine in England

Absolutely gross if true (yet again), not to mention fucking stupid given the transmission risks involved (again yet again).

Reading the entire article it sounds like an admin fuckup in one hospital, in violation of NHS and Government policy and guidance. Probably worth reporting on but the headline is a massive stretch.

 

[platinumsage]

Peston saying Johnson's 5pm press conference today will mention the new strain possibly being slightly more lethal (x1.3):

 

[elbows]

The first 22 mins of this weeks indie SAGE video should be helpful for anyone who is confused by some detail regarding differences between the rate of drop of cases we've seen in daily testing data, compared to less impressive decreases seen in some ONS infection survey, REACT-1 interim round 8 reporting etc. They use percentage positivity data to show another side of the daily testing regime, and how that actually lines up reasonably well by whats been shown in the latest ONS study.

As well as various data in regards to how strong lockdown is this time. And an update on hospital admissions etc.

 

[cupid_stunt]

Today's reported figures:

New cases - 40,261, back over 40k & highest so far this week, but not by a lot.

News deaths - 1,401, up by 121 from last Friday's 1,280. This adds around 17 to the 7-day average daily figure, taking it from 1,224 yesterday to 1,231 today.

A record 409,855 first dose of vaccine given yesterday.

 

[elbows]

Peston saying Johnson's 5pm press conference today will mention the new strain possibly being slightly more lethal (x1.3):

Shall I use this to get my hopes up that they might think of tightening this lockdown, which appears to be too loose to bring the numbers down sharply enough for my liking? Maybe, but the track record of this government squandering such opportunities is too hideous for me to suddenly find much faith. But I'll go as far as maybe.

 

[elbows]

My usual colour-coded graph of UK deaths by date of death, within 28 days of a positive test. I badly need to take a few days off from doing this graph as its getting to me, but since Sunday and Mondays figures will be low for the usual weekend reporting reasons, I will simply take that opportunity to not do it for a few days. Whether I bother to do one tomorrow depends on whether tomorrows data changes our impression of it starting to look like a plateau etc.

 

[TopCat]

I'm not saying it's a bad idea but if I was 20 again and they were giving away 500 nicker to anyone who got Covid I'd be doing my best to get it.

Just get a test and swab a positive mate.

 

[Edie]

I deeply hate the fucking Guardian.

what do you read out of interest? I 50:50 guardian and bbcnews.

 

[brogdale]

Anyone with any direct experience (giving/receiving) of the vaccine able to respond to this sort of stuff being seen on SM?

Have to say I'd have expected there was some sort of leaflet for the oldies getting jabbed.

 

[maomao]

Just get a test and swab a positive mate.

Nah. Catch covid, test positive and spend a couple of days charging twenty quid a swab.