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Coronavirus in the UK - news, lockdown and discussion

If it goes 'on the list' it will probably be on a ward/post code basis, rather than the entire city. Worst hit at the moment are Sharrow, Highfields & Lowfields, Park Hill & Wybourn and Fir Vale. Then it will be no household mixing at all, only your support bubble can be in contact.
Oh dear. I live with a landlady but she'll be going to university soon and I'll be on my own.
 
I know nothing about this person but I've had a few people send it to me so could someone give me a bit of a heads up how accurate/credible this is?

 
Is that a bad number? What would have been a good number? Also how many of those were acquired in school? I know the first bunch found in Scotland were not acquired in school. Same in England/Wales?
I don't know whether that's a good or bad figure, but even if those cases were infections predominantly away from the school, the fact the schools are back provides an extra means for the virus to shift from one community setting to another. As do colleges and universities, the latter with the extra dimension of travel throughout the country.
 
I know nothing about this person but I've had a few people send it to me so could someone give me a bit of a heads up how accurate/credible this is?


I'm not going to watch that, I have pressing washing up issues, but I do wonder if the analysis would be different if it ran on up to 12th September?
 
Is that a bad number? What would have been a good number? Also how many of those were acquired in school? I know the first bunch found in Scotland were not acquired in school. Same in England/Wales?

This is irritating me - it's not a philosphical question.
Do you think it's a bad number? Or a good one?
It's a number of cases, found in newly opened settings, as cases are rising and testing has gone to pot.
I think it's relevant to highlight those numbers, at the very least, without turning over the purpose of doing so.
I'm pretty uncomfortable around my return to work and my daughter's return to school and numbers is all we have, without digging over what it's realistic (?) to expect now, as opposed to the next few weeks.
 
This is irritating me - it's not a philosphical question.
Do you think it's a bad number? Or a good one?
It's a number of cases, found in newly opened settings, as cases are rising and testing has gone to pot.
I think it's relevant to highlight those numbers, at the very least, without turning over the purpose of doing so.
I'm pretty uncomfortable around my return to work and my daughter's return to school and numbers is all we have, without digging over what it's realistic (?) to expect now, as opposed to the next few weeks.
I think it's fearmongering to go 'xx cases, schools are unsafe' as if there had ever been the chance that there wouldn't be cases found in schools when they reopened. Especially when that comes from a link explicitly calling the return to school unsafe and using this number with no context as some kind of proof of that. It's meaningless to put up a number like that up without context or analysis and use it to support a particular position, such as 'schools are unsafe'. And that irritates me. So there we go. We're both irritated.

But I can give you some more context. 18 cases found in Scottish schools in their first week back, none transmitted at school. Multiply that by about 11 for the rest of the country going back and the equivalent figure for England/Wales last week would be 200. Add in those cases found in schools in Scotland since its first week, and it would appear that England/Wales have not been so different from Scotland so far.
 
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Wales allowing larger outdoor gatherings does make a lot more sense. The transmission rates outdoors seem to be very low.

That comparison looks even less favourable for Sweden when one factors area/population density in. Only Denmark appears to struggle and that is a country around one tenth the size of its nearest Nordic neighbours with a much higher population density.

The population density thing is a bit of a red herring in Sweden. Very large parts of it is mountainous, with hardly any residents; most people live in cities. Denmark is tiny by comparison. The population density of Copenhagen and Stockholm is almost identical - 11,926 vs 11,802.
 
How would you describe Norway and Finland (swap mountains for lakes and forests)?

Pretty much the same as Sweden, which makes Sweden look even worse, but a specific comparison was being made between Denmark and Sweden. Also it was a more general point about national population density not necessarily being a valuable metric.
 
I think it's fearmongering to go 'xx cases, schools are unsafe' as if there had ever been the chance that there wouldn't be cases found in schools when they reopened. Especially when that comes from a link explicitly calling the return to school unsafe and using this number with no context as some kind of proof of that. It's meaningless to put up a number like that up without context or analysis and use it to support a particular position, such as 'schools are unsafe'. And that irritates me. So there we go. We're both irritated.

But I can give you some more context. 18 cases found in Scottish schools in their first week back, none transmitted at school. Multiply that by about 11 for the rest of the country going back and the equivalent figure for England/Wales last week would be 200. Add in those cases found in schools in Scotland since its first week, and it would appear that England/Wales have not been so different from Scotland so far.

The post didn't contain anything other than the number? And a link to a site that shows where the current cases are (I get - which happen to be in schools - that it's not illustrative of spread within schools).
But y'know what - my bezzer has worked throughout in a primary school which has been very stressful but has now significantly changed again (she's a SEN TA and has spent her entire first week back taking kids to the toilet and cleaning, missing breaks etc). And I work in a large secondary kitchen/canteen and am also finding it pretty fucking stressful - and I have to tell you that the mood within schools is that it WILL change and that what we do this week will not be the same as next etc - but obvs we're still doing it.
From my pov, it's not scaremongering to continue to be watching numbers, it's common sense.
I have a child back at school, too, who is feeling exactly the same - it's good to be back, when being at home is the only other option, but it's not working like it's supposed to, because there's not the space or the time or the money to make it work as it should - so maybe you should hear all of that, to start with? I don't know why you think there's any position being pushed - just the current experience of staff and kids and parents back in educational settings.

It's way more patronising to have someone dictating how any recent data should be read (or not) than to just acknowledge it, in it's bare bones, as we're all having to do atm.
There's no surprises yet but it doesn't mean it's wrong to anticipate later rises and also, to feel a little fearful about that, when you're literally mixing with hundreds of people for the first time in months (and honestly, I don't feel like this at work - it's just lovely to see them all back - but you have no idea how different it is and also how easy it is to reflect back on so MUCH mixing/the lack of SD, after the day is done).
 
My friend's dad lives in Copenhagen, her brother in Stockholm. Apparently when Covid started, they brought in restrictions on travel between Sweden and the other Nordic countries because of how Sweden was dealing with things. An unusual thing because these countries are allegedly generally as one on things. (Her dad's quite frail and while she desperately wants to go and visit, she thinks that would be a v bad idea right now.
 
Why is MSM not all over this? How to put people off being tested.


I'm no lawyer, but I don't think that bit of legislation does what you, or that twitter person, thinks it does.

I don't think it's got anything to do at all with "harvesting data" as part of covid testing. I don't think it's got anything to do with testing at all. It's do do with an extension of the time that DNA and fingerprint evidence (from other already existing sources) is allowed to be retained.


Have you actually read it, or just taken the word of some nutter off twitter?
 
I'm no lawyer, but I don't think that bit of legislation does what you, or that twitter person, thinks it does.

I don't think it's got anything to do at all with "harvesting data" as part of covid testing. I don't think it's got anything to do with testing at all. It's do do with an extension of the time that DNA and fingerprint evidence (from other already existing sources) is allowed to be retained.


Have you actually read it, or just taken the word of some nutter off twitter?
No I have not read it in full but also am not a lawyer & not familiar with the act(s) it refers to but

These Regulations apply only to fingerprints or DNA profiles that would (ignoring the effect of these Regulations) fall to be destroyed in the period that starts with 1st October 2020 and ends with 24th March 2021. The period ends with 24th March 2021 in order to satisfy the condition found in section 24(5) of the Coronavirus Act 2020.

It seems to say to me that the data is being held for 6 months longer than would normally be the case. As for harvesting the data I will come back to you on the deal Twat Hancock has signed.
 
This is worrying, infections in care homes are raising, although mainly amongst staff ATM, but as is inedible some more recent cases show residents also becoming infected. :(

Coronavirus cases in UK care homes have quadrupled in a month, a leaked government document shows.

A Department of Health report said that the rate of coronavirus recorded through satellite tests - which are mainly used in care homes - had quadrupled since the start of the month.

According to The Sunday Times, Health Secretary Matt Hancock took an emergency update on Wednesday saying that outbreaks had been detected in 43 care homes.

 
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Interesting article about how it's unfolding in Spain.

But second time around, says López Codina, things are panning out quite differently. In March and April, about 50% of diagnosed cases ended up in hospital.

“Now, because we’re diagnosing a lot of mild or asymptomatic cases, it’s about 5%,” he says, adding that admissions to hospital and deaths are “more objective tools” – especially given the massive increase in testing since the previous peak.

For the time being at least, the numbers in hospital are nowhere near where they were in the spring, when many Spanish intensive care units – especially in Madrid – came perilously close to collapse.

The proportion of hospital beds occupied by Covid patients currently stands at 7.5% nationally, although the figure in Madrid is almost three times that, at 18%.

At the moment, says García, things are stable at the hospital, with Covid admissions mirroring daily discharges. “That’s actually pretty good in a pandemic situation, because it means we’re not overwhelmed,” he says. But medical staff are still tired from their efforts in the spring and dread the prospect of another onslaught.


 
Why is MSM not all over this? How to put people off being tested.

Tess Summers on Twitter said:
Some incorrect stuff about DNA sample collection and coronavirus testing

The only people putting people off being tested with this are Tess Summers and anyone who promulgates this particular conspiracy theory - this statutory instrument is nothing to do with coronavirus testing, it is a 6 month extension (the second one in fact) to the statutory time limit some DNA samples and fingerprints can held before they have to be destroyed.

It applies only to a certain subset of DNA and fingerprints - those collected and held under a few certain largely anti-terrorism acts (not, to be clear, collected via coronavirus testing). Samples of this type whose time limits would be expiring in the next 6 months have been given a 6 month extension. This is explained as being because the disruption caused by the crisis is potentially damaging the security services ability to properly assess the importance of the samples, and they don’t want to destroy any they haven’t assessed as non-relevant yet.

E2A: I see I’m late to this particular debunking.[/QUOTE]
 
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Things on my mind (among many others):

Will city centre bars close during Freshers Week? (When is that? Students are arriving already as they have staggered move in dates.)

Will there be socially distanced bonfire night events, or will they all be banned?
 
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