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Coronavirus in the UK - news, lockdown and discussion

Those z scores don’t look good, I agree. The cause will be multi factorial, and clearly some of the factors contributing to the variation will have been modifiable by Government decisions.
The signals of primary, secondary and tertiary COVID-19 related deaths are clear to see in the data.
 
Those z scores don’t look good, I agree. The cause will be multi factorial, and clearly some of the factors contributing to the variation will have been modifiable by Government decisions.

And ftr I don’t doubt that the right-wing position on the economy-mortality sliding scale tilts towards the ‘herd-immunity and back at work’ end. I’m just not convinced the far left ‘absolutely everyone stay at home until there’s no covid or a vaccine’ stance is any more sensible.

The idea that anything whatsoever can be funded by scrapping trident or taxing billionaires is a comforting lie (and useful in an argument n all ;) ).
It's not a lie. It won't happen cos cunts. But it's not a lie.

fwiw I don't think everyone stay home till there's no covid at all. But not forcing people back to work before you've got it under control (and the UK still doesn't really have it under control) is rather sensible, no? Some kind of planning, perhaps, for the return to work? 'Go to work but don't use public transport if possible, and best of British!' doesn't really constitute a plan.
 
Are people actually saying that though? I think it's ok for stuff to open again provided it's safe but I'm not convinced that for many workplaces it will be, and the government help has been woefully inadequate so far so I don't blame people for going back.
 
Are people actually saying that though? I think it's ok for stuff to open again provided it's safe but I'm not convinced that for many workplaces it will be, and the government help has been woefully inadequate so far so I don't blame people for going back.
I don't blame people for going back to work at all. And in effect, my guess is that this won't actually change very much. But this is all about reducing the furlough money. And they've left people to work out how to cope with that for themselves.
 
ONS have released their report into covid related deaths by occupation:

ONS

Only includes deaths up to 20th April, but some entirely predictable conclusions are drawn.
That’s interesting with respect to the PPE debate:
  • Healthcare workers, including those with jobs such as doctors and nurses, were not found to have higher rates of death involving COVID-19 when compared with the rate among those whose death involved COVID-19 of the same age and sex in the general population.
Maybe hospital PPE such as it is now really is sufficient, and the excess deaths among care workers in the community needs to be urgently addressed by giving them the same protection.

It’s also an argument for the safe use of public transport if adequate protection was available maybe?
 
Are people actually saying that though? I think it's ok for stuff to open again provided it's safe but I'm not convinced that for many workplaces it will be, and the government help has been woefully inadequate so far so I don't blame people for going back.

Given they'll all inevitably contain pinch-points where people won't be able to keep 2m apart, and touch-points which are hotspots for transmission, I don't think any workplaces will be 'safe' whilst the virus is circulating; rather, some will be more or less risky. That risk can be mitigated to some extent, but, ultimately it comes down to an appetite to accept that risk. This government is willing to accept the risk to workers' lives, to protect the interests of those it truly represents i.e. the owners of capital. The idea that we need to do this for 'the economy' is bullshit; we are the economy - all value had been created by workers. If we can't generate more at present, then how about we user some if that which is stored in wealth?!
 
That’s interesting with respect to the PPE debate:
  • Healthcare workers, including those with jobs such as doctors and nurses, were not found to have higher rates of death involving COVID-19 when compared with the rate among those whose death involved COVID-19 of the same age and sex in the general population.
Maybe hospital PPE such as it is now really is sufficient, and the excess deaths among care workers in the community needs to be urgently addressed by giving them the same protection.

It’s also an argument for the safe use of public transport if adequate protection was available maybe?

Not all healthcare workers will be treating Covid patients.
 
That’s interesting with respect to the PPE debate:
  • Healthcare workers, including those with jobs such as doctors and nurses, were not found to have higher rates of death involving COVID-19 when compared with the rate among those whose death involved COVID-19 of the same age and sex in the general population.
Maybe hospital PPE such as it is now really is sufficient, and the excess deaths among care workers in the community needs to be urgently addressed by giving them the same protection.

It’s also an argument for the safe use of public transport if adequate protection was available maybe?

The fact that they're 'only' dying at the same rate as others the government has failed to protect is hardly something positive.
 
Given they'll all inevitably contain pinch-points where people won't be able to keep 2m apart, and touch-points which are hotspots for transmission, I don't think any workplaces will be 'safe whilst the virus is circulating'; rather, some will be more or less risky.
A lot of manufacturers continued in the lockdown. Many doubled their shifts with the same workforce spread over the extra hours which halved the numbers at work at any one point in time. This allowed them to achieve social distancing.

That risk can be mitigated to some extent, but, ultimately it comes down to an appetite to accept that risk. This government is willing to accept the risk to workers' lives, to protect the interests of those it truly represents i.e. the owners of capital. The idea that we need to do this for 'the economy' is bullshit; we are the economy - all value had been created by workers. If we can't generate more at present, then how about we user some if that which is stored in wealth?!
 
Richard Burge, Chief Executive of the London Chamber of Commerce, on Sky News has said their members have been advised not to re-open, as there's not enough guidelines, and also what's the point in re-opening if there's no business to do.

That's embarrassing for the government.

All entirely predictable. Businesses, especially retailers, will be able to do the maths of vastly reduced footfall + risk of PR disaster + normal running costs = bad idea to reopen. Even if they can get their staff to show up.
 
Guy I play football with is seemingly off to play cricket this morning. Am I being stupid or is that... really stupid?

He also took a photo of himself sitting at the wheel of his mate's car, with his mate in the passenger seat.

I just... :facepalm:
 
I’m just not convinced the far left ‘absolutely everyone stay at home until there’s no covid or a vaccine’ stance is any more sensible.
I don't think that is the far left stance tbh. I think if the infection rate was low enough for contact tracing etc to be effective (and a contact tracing system actually up and running), if there was sufficient PPE available, if if was possible to travel to and from work safely, there'd be a lot less opposition. As it is, reopening now, loosening restrictions now, makes the suspicion many people have had all along - that the government policy remains herd immunity, with the controls being used only to make sure the NHS isn't overwhelmed - look like it's true.
 
A lot of manufacturers continued in the lockdown. Many doubled their shifts with the same workforce spread over the extra hours which halved the numbers at work at any one point in time. This allowed them to achieve social distancing.

I bet not everyone was 2m apart all the time, and I'm certain they were touching surfaces without cleaning in between e.g. door handles.
 
Guy I play football with is seemingly off to play cricket this morning. Am I being stupid or is that... really stupid?

He also took a photo of himself sitting at the wheel of his mate's car, with his mate in the passenger seat.

I just... :facepalm:

Yep. Stupid... Him, I mean.
 
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He appears to have watched an online tutorial in 'how to speech'...not one 'er', clenched fists, combed barnet and he even remembered (rather lately) to drop his tone level to insinuate personal concern.
However, subject wise it was embarrassing. It didn't need to happen yesterday and shouldn't have until it had some actual content. If clarity is on the agenda today, he should have held fire on the speech. It should have been live and it should have been followed by a Press q and a.
 
No briefing today apparently. He's doing a Q&A with the public instead (looks like straightforward questions directed to Number 10 today, so presumably just cherry picked ones, too). Not clear whether this will be the new thing.
 

Wow. That's way busier than I would have imagined.

That's where we have an information vacuum. How many people caught c19 pre-lockdown on busy public transport. How do we avoid that happening again? How many are catching it now? How dangerous are different kinds of transport - buses/trains/tube? Which mitigation methods are the most effective? These are the kinds of things we need to understand before we return to this kind of picture.
 
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