Coronavirus in the UK - news, lockdown and discussion

[elbows]

By the way my focus on Nuneaton is largely due to it being the place I am most likely to see local news about. When I look at all the other hospital death graphs I would expect to see these sorts of stories in a whole bunch of other places across a number of regions. But as I keep saying, my info is limited when it comes to local stuff.

 

[Mation]

Covid secure, Hancock style



edit - oops I should have checked the Hancock thread.

And even then they get it wrong. They're supposed to go through the middle, avoiding the taped-off areas close to the seats.

 

[teqniq]

You really could not make this shit up:

 

[Teaboy]

This has been known for a few weeks now. When they said "we're following the science" they were in the strictest sense telling the truth. The full truth is though that the scientists had told them the country has no capacity to achieve an effective track and trace system and there is a very limited ability to test so what testing can be done should be reserved for front line NHS workers.

So while the government was sorta telling the truth a more complete statement should have been 'We're hiding behind the scientists'.

 

[teqniq]

It was the notes being mistakenly forwarded to the NYT I was referring to, and threats to local leaders. Incompetence upon incompetence with a garnish of nastiness.

 

[Cerv]

England’s ‘World Beating’ System to Track the Virus Is Anything But (Published 2020)

Like a lot of the country’s pandemic response, contact tracing has been hampered by inconsistency, with much promised but little delivered.

www.nytimes.com

always interesting to read foreign press about your own country. little things stand out like noticing they state as fact Cummings broke the lockdown restrictions, where the UK press apart from Private Eye are largely sticking to "accused of".

 

[Buddy Bradley]

So while the government was sorta telling the truth a more complete statement should have been 'We're hiding behind the scientists'.

The "scientists" bit has always been a red herring. The public hear "we're following the advice from scientists" and imagine that means exclusively infectious disease and epidemic experts, when in fact it means behavioural and economic scientists as well.

 

[Roadkill]

Incompetence upon incompetence with a garnish of nastiness.

With a large side order of dishonesty. That's the Johnson government all over.

 

[Supine]

The "scientists" bit has always been a red herring. The public hear "we're following the advice from scientists" and imagine that means exclusively infectious disease and epidemic experts, when in fact it means behavioural and economic scientists as well.

plus it’s not ‘the science’ when scientists tell them they don’t have the resources due to years of austerity.

 

[Mation]

You really could not make this shit up:

View attachment 218179

I think there's a post somewhere on this thread linking to someone working in an NHS lab who says that there was loads of unused testing capacity in the NHS, but that they weren't approached; the government favouring private labs instead. (I've searched, but can't find it.)

If I'm not misremembering, and if they're saying they didn't have the test capacity, would that be including NHS labs or did they just not even attempt to consider that?

Lots of ifs - sorry. (I also can't see the NYT article behind the paywall.)

 

[Lurdan]

Once upon a time there was a Magic App which was to play a crucial role undepinnining the 'Test and Trace' system. First it was going to be ready in April. Then in May. And then it was going to be ready at the end of June.

Yesterday Lord Bethell told the Science and Technology Committee :

"We're seeking to get something going for the winter, but it isn't the priority for us."

When committee member Graham Stringer, MP for Blackley and Broughton, suggested the response sounded like an argument not to introduce the app at all, Lord Bethell said: "It was an expectations-management answer."

Winter is coming, and with it the UK's COVID-19 contact-tracing app – though health minister says it's not a priority - The Register


To confirm just how far away the not-so-magic app is from delivery, today the BBC are reporting

In a major U-turn, the UK is ditching the way its current coronavirus-tracing app works and shifting to a model based on technology provided by Apple and Google. The move comes the day after the BBC revealed that a former Apple executive, Simon Thompson, was taking charge of the late-running project.

The Apple-Google design has been promoted as being more privacy-focused. However, it means epidemiologists will have access to less data. And questions remain about whether any smartphone-based system reliant on Bluetooth signals will be accurate enough to be useful.

UK virus-tracing app switches to Google-Apple model - BBC News


Lord Bethell had

added that call centre-based contract tracing, where medical experts quiz those testing positive for COVID-19 about their recent contacts, was the focus of the department's efforts.

So how's that going ? Here's this week's Private Eye columns about it.

Spoiler: Private Eye

(And here's a link to an archived version of that NYT story :
England’s ‘World Beating’ System to Track Coronavirus Is Anything But - The New York Times)

 

[William of Walworth]

Despite living in Wales, I have no idea whether the contact processing process here (or in Scotland) is going any better than the shambles in England.

Other nations within the United Kingdom, including Wales and Scotland, which are in charge of their own contact tracing, appointed public health officials to run their programs.

(I do know that some people within Swansea Council have been seconded to contact-tracing phone work, but all I know, anecdotally, is that they got off to a slow start a couple of weeks or so ago).

 

[Numbers]

Just been reading this on the BBC.

Coronavirus: Almost 100 staff at food factories test positive

The staff work at two different companies which supply food to hospitals, shops and restaurants.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[planetgeli]

All non-essential retail businesses to open in Wales from Monday.

 

[Petcha]

So the app doesnt work on Apple devices. Brilliant foresight guys

Honestly. I don't know how the cretins could fuck this whole shitstorm up any more.

 

[nagapie]

Can someone summarise the current situation in England please. We seem to be moving towards normalcy while there are new outbreaks popping up in various places. Forgive me if I've got that wrong, I get my news from skim reading this thread.

 

[Petcha]

Basically nobody in government, be they politicians or 'scientists' know what the fuck they're doing. Hope that helps

 

[Monkeygrinder's Organ]

Just been reading this on the BBC.

Coronavirus: Almost 100 staff at food factories test positive

The staff work at two different companies which supply food to hospitals, shops and restaurants.

www.bbc.co.uk

Obviously that's not a good thing, in a way though that's the sort of thing we should be seeing isn't it - it's an identified outbreak and they're following up on contacts etc. I mean they might well be fucking it up totally but in itself that's not the worst thing to read. It's better than 'x people were admitted to hospital of which y later died' with no more info.

 

[philosophical]

I watched the briefing today, and it is generally accepted that Matthew Handcock is a world beating cunt of the first order, but he stands alongside the Dido person who appears to be an even bigger cunt.
How do they have the brass neck to stand there and spout this chite?
One of which was Handcock saying that as he was from Newmarket so he was wise enough to back both horses.

 

[nagapie]

Basically nobody in government, be they politicians or 'scientists' know what the fuck they're doing. Hope that helps

That's not what I asked. I already know that I'm asking if we have high numbers again.

 

[Teaboy]

Can someone summarise the current situation in England please. We seem to be moving towards normalcy while there are new outbreaks popping up in various places. Forgive me if I've got that wrong, I get my news from skim reading this thread.

The general trend in all key indicators is down, so in the right direction. The trend line is certainly not as steep as it was but you would expect that after a significant peak and fall off. To me (and it is just my take) the trend lines seem to be flattening out to a background level which was kind of expected and I guess, aimed for. What it might mean is that (and increasingly we're all having to come to terms with this) we're reaching a level where the virus will be in the background for the foreseeable. The phase when people talk about learning to live along side it. Its worth remembering that one the key government 'tests' is not to avoid another peak but to avoid another peak that overwhelms the NHS. Of course ideally they'd be no second peak etc but it's an important distinction and we have to be realistic with the outlook.

This being said Hancock was very upbeat today about vaccines and they are already manufacturing 'The Oxford Vaccine' on the basis that IF it does prove to work they will be in a strong position for immediate roll out. This is clearly good planning but there's a bloody big 'IF' in that.

 

[Orang Utan]

I watched the briefing today, and it is generally accepted that Matthew Handcock is a world beating cunt of the first order, but he stands alongside the Dido person who appears to be an even bigger cunt.
How do they have the brass neck to stand there and spout this chite?
One of which was Handcock saying that as he was from Newmarket so he was wise enough to back both horses.

Hancock, not Handcock

 

[philosophical]

Bastard predictive texts huh.

 

[cupid_stunt]

Hancock, not Handcock

Dickhead not Hancock.

 

[elbows]

The general trend in all key indicators is down, so in the right direction. The trend line is certainly not as steep as it was but you would expect that after a significant peak and fall off. To me (and it is just my take) the trend lines seem to be flattening out to a background level which was kind of expected and I guess, aimed for. What it might mean is that (and increasingly we're all having to come to terms with this) we're reaching a level where the virus will be in the background for the foreseeable. The phase when people talk about learning to live along side it. Its worth remembering that one the key government 'tests' is not to avoid another peak but to avoid another peak that overwhelms the NHS. Of course ideally they'd be no second peak etc but it's an important distinction and we have to be realistic with the outlook.

As deaths dwindle to these levels, its an opportunity for not just nerds like me to zoom in, but also for various health authorities to do the same. Because some areas in particular will stick out in the ongoing death stats.

I would expect them to focus increasingly on hospitals like my local one where the deaths persist, and find out whether it is community transmission driving those ongoing cases, or whether people are catching it within the hospital itself. Usually whilst being rather mealy mouthed about it, and not giving us enough data to fully judge for ourselves. Weston hospital was probably the most obvious example so far because they went so far as to close their A&E for quite some time in order to deal with matters but I expect there are other stories all over the place and its rather variable as to whether we get to hear much about them.

The painfully slow revelations about the actual situation here with the George Eliot hospital has now reached the stage where they will at least mention that hospital acquired cases are one of the things they are looking at. But I am also reminded of the sometimes sloppy nature of journalism because in this latest article they use the word rise, which was not used in the previous article where the quote was actually given as 'The safety of our patients and staff is our priority so that’s why we are concerned to see a consistent, significant number of patients with Covid-19 in our hospital. In partnership with colleagues in Public Health England and NHS England/Improvement we are investigating the factors that could be behind this.'. There is a big difference between a consistent number of patients and a consistent rise, so which is it?

Details of investigation into hospital's 'significant' number of Covid-19 cases

Bosses at the George Eliot Hospital have revealed details of the ongoing investigation launched into the 'significant' number of patients with coronavirus there.

www.coventrytelegraph.net

A spokesman for the Eliot said they are trying to get to the root cause of the "significant and consistent" rise, which DaljitAthewal, director of nursing, said was a concern.

It is looking into whether people had come into the hospital with the virus or whether they caught it while being treated at the hospital.

They are also exploring the huge area that the hospital serves to see if this is a factor.

While based in Nuneaton, the hospital serves patients from Nuneaton, Bedworth and North Warwickshire as well as South West Leicestershire.

The chicken factory outbreak mentioned earlier today in this thread is a good example of a non-hospital version of what I'm going on about. Frankly I expected to hear much more about more specific outbreak locations by now, many local stories have not been told properly or at all so far I suspect, and there is more chance some of them will be told in this phase where such outbreaks should stick out a lot more and there are hopefully some resources to tackle them directly.

 

[maomao]

Hancock, not Handcock

Or just 'cock' for short.

 

[elbows]

And more news that fits with the previously mentioned 'zoom in' theme of mine. Perhaps I should start watching the press conferences again but I just cant face it, especially as I would rather have solid local data about these outbreaks rather than them just casually making reference to them.

Leicester and Cleckheaton see coronavirus 'outbreak'

Leicester sees hundreds of confirmed cases in two weeks, while an outbreak in Yorkshire is reported.

www.bbc.co.uk

At the Downing Street briefing, Mr Hancock said there was an "outbreak right now in parts of Leicester" and that officials were working hard to track those affected.

He also mentioned a further clutch of cases in Kirklees, West Yorkshire.

Huddersfield Labour MP Barry Sheerman said the cases were apparently associated with a meat processing plant in Cleckheaton.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Abbatoirs and food handling places do seem particularly vulnerable. A few cases in Germany recently. But I agree with the point that hearing of this kind of outbreak is a sign of progress really. We've moved beyond the 'It's fucking everywhere' stage but we should still expect more small eruptions.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Worth thinking about why these places are so vulnerable as well. Not the nicest of places to work or the best paid or cared for workers. More stuff that needs to change for essential workers.

 

[William of Walworth]

Worth thinking about why these places are so vulnerable as well. Not the nicest of places to work or the best paid or cared for workers. More stuff that needs to change for essential workers.

So many stories of this kind are coming out during this pandemic -- and definitely not just in the UK.

But lets remember the broader picture too

These places are 'vulnerable' to shit conditions, shit wages, questionable hygeine (sometimes, at least), and very much not least, industrial-scale slaughter of animals


(I won't go further -- there's other threads for it -- sorry)