I reckon the 100k a day number came from looking at Germany's testing capacity at that time which was about that.
Isn't it about organising the car parks for testing now ?
We have 533 constituencies in England. One large car park per constituency broadly with a couple of hundred swabs. Some of the London constituencies can be amalgamated, perhaps other inner city ones too with some large constituencies having a couple of small sites (Cumbria ?) but that gives a rough starter for ten. Have a nurse doing the tests and a small number of squaddies at each one to police it all, then at the end of each shift drive the samples back to the labs which are obviously more spread out. It's not going to be quite that simple but I'd expect that to be a rough basis..
Yes. I can't get my head around that. How hard can it be for a few civil servants to get on Google Maps and find some car parks, ring the owners and say we are having it, and send the army to tape them off and put down a hut.
That really shouldn't take weeks.
Ring the councils and ask them to find a site, or do it per Trust. And maybe therein lies the problem. Involving external departments. That's what happens when no-one is in charge.
Dare I say it, this is also what happens with WFH. You miss the corridor chats or just popping your head round the door for cross-channel communications.
Mr. Eagles, you're about the age of Hannibal in his prime. Half the age of Antigonus Monopthalmus at his zenith. A decade and a half younger than Julius Caesar's peak.
Of course, none of them had such appalling fashion sense.
Yes, why on earth did Hancock offer a personal guarantee of 100k tests by end of April?
I thought it was just a target? Hancock seems to subscribe to the school of management that says all you need to do is think of a stretch goal and write it in big letters.
He framed it as a commitment. That's how I heard it anyway. We WILL be doing 100k tests a day by the end of the month. I found his language quite surprising at the time. Still, it's only the 22nd. 30 days in April.
It does seem like they are finally getting significant lab capacity onboard (although apparently one big issue is most of this has to be done manually, as we don't have many automated robotic machines).
The bottleneck seems to be having only 26 drive through centres. 26....and they say they will get to 50 by the end of the month. That just isn't enough. You need several 100.
These things aren't complex like having PCR machinery. Its a car park and some basic training on how to stick a swab into somebodies nose.
Yes, testing = resource + logistics.
I expect Hancock will on the 30th announce that YES, our capacity is 100k. We have hit the target.
However actual tests will be lower because the facilities will not be well matched to the location of the relevant punters. This can be presented as -
"We have the capacity, as promised, but demand has not yet caught up."
I’ve kinda given on seeing a gig this year, I’m really gutted as I was so looking forward to seeing Scooter next month and New Order in October.
Scooter are still touring? Bring your whistles!
New Order, definitely a band everyone needs to see live at least once.
Scooter are still touring, I had my whistles and glo sticks ready.
Seen New Order a few times but they have been great every time I’ve seen them.
I was going to see New Order in 2015 for my birthday. In the end, my other half got the flu so we couldn't go.
A couple of weeks later I had a medical. A young male nurse was taking my details and noticed I'd just had my birthday. "What did you do for your birthday?" he asked.
I explained that I'd been going to see New Order but hadn't been able to go.
"Who are New Order?"
They were a big 80s band, most famous for Blue Monday, you must have heard it.
"Sorry, I don't know that one."
It was the biggest-selling 12" of all time.
"What's a 12"?"
I work with someone born after the start of the second Iraq war.
It is quite an experience then not knowing things that I experienced in my late 20s/early 30s given I only entered my 40s 18 months ago.
I did use to work with someone who couldn’t believe I lived in a country with only four tv channels that aired between 9am and 11pm.
Wait until you get to Big G's and my age! I can recall the arrival on the scene of Elvis Presley! And dancing in the cinema to Rock around the Clock!
I can remember getting home from school to be embarrassed by my mother's excitement at Elvis's pelvis!
I look at some key groups. 1. How are major European countries doing? Growth rate slowing. Italy, Spain and Germany doing better than UK and France. 2. How is Sweden doing with its more lax policy? It's doing OK. Growth rate slightly less than UK and France. 3. How is US doing? Similar to UK but much larger of course. 4. How is Russia doing? Badly. 5. How are developing countries doing? Brazil, India, Nigeria? Growing a bit faster than the UK but still surprising small in view of their large populations. Not a disaster (yet?)
Wouldn't it be more appropriate to compare Sweden with its Scandinavian neighbours?
I reckon the 100k a day number came from looking at Germany's testing capacity at that time which was about that.
Isn't it about organising the car parks for testing now ?
We have 533 constituencies in England. One large car park per constituency broadly with a couple of hundred swabs. Some of the London constituencies can be amalgamated, perhaps other inner city ones too with some large constituencies having a couple of small sites (Cumbria ?) but that gives a rough starter for ten. Have a nurse doing the tests and a small number of squaddies at each one to police it all, then at the end of each shift drive the samples back to the labs which are obviously more spread out. It's not going to be quite that simple but I'd expect that to be a rough basis..
Yes. I can't get my head around that. How hard can it be for a few civil servants to get on Google Maps and find some car parks, ring the owners and say we are having it, and send the army to tape them off and put down a hut.
That really shouldn't take weeks.
Ring the councils and ask them to find a site, or do it per Trust. And maybe therein lies the problem. Involving external departments. That's what happens when no-one is in charge.
I’ve kinda given on seeing a gig this year, I’m really gutted as I was so looking forward to seeing Scooter next month and New Order in October.
Scooter are still touring? Bring your whistles!
New Order, definitely a band everyone needs to see live at least once.
Scooter are still touring, I had my whistles and glo sticks ready.
Seen New Order a few times but they have been great every time I’ve seen them.
I was going to see New Order in 2015 for my birthday. In the end, my other half got the flu so we couldn't go.
A couple of weeks later I had a medical. A young male nurse was taking my details and noticed I'd just had my birthday. "What did you do for your birthday?" he asked.
I explained that I'd been going to see New Order but hadn't been able to go.
"Who are New Order?"
They were a big 80s band, most famous for Blue Monday, you must have heard it.
"Sorry, I don't know that one."
It was the biggest-selling 12" of all time.
"What's a 12"?"
But if you played it I bet he'd know it. There are quite a few "tunes" like that.
I had a conversation like that with my daughter.
"Bit like a USB drive" - "What's one of those?" "Well, it replaced.....
I was mildly surprised by the USB drive - but welcome to the Cloud generation, I suppose.
The word "drive" here is for IT reasons. Sshe might well know what a "USB Stick" is. And if you mean an external hard drive, well they were never very widely used except for backing up files, so I'm not surprised that a youngster does not know what that is.
I look at some key groups. 1. How are major European countries doing? Growth rate slowing. Italy, Spain and Germany doing better than UK and France. 2. How is Sweden doing with its more lax policy? It's doing OK. Growth rate slightly less than UK and France. 3. How is US doing? Similar to UK but much larger of course. 4. How is Russia doing? Badly. 5. How are developing countries doing? Brazil, India, Nigeria? Growing a bit faster than the UK but still surprising small in view of their large populations. Not a disaster (yet?)
The low percentage of over 80s in developing countries is key to the low death rate from Covid 19 in Brazil, India and Nigeria
I’ve kinda given on seeing a gig this year, I’m really gutted as I was so looking forward to seeing Scooter next month and New Order in October.
Scooter are still touring? Bring your whistles!
New Order, definitely a band everyone needs to see live at least once.
Scooter are still touring, I had my whistles and glo sticks ready.
Seen New Order a few times but they have been great every time I’ve seen them.
I was going to see New Order in 2015 for my birthday. In the end, my other half got the flu so we couldn't go.
A couple of weeks later I had a medical. A young male nurse was taking my details and noticed I'd just had my birthday. "What did you do for your birthday?" he asked.
I explained that I'd been going to see New Order but hadn't been able to go.
"Who are New Order?"
They were a big 80s band, most famous for Blue Monday, you must have heard it.
"Sorry, I don't know that one."
It was the biggest-selling 12" of all time.
"What's a 12"?"
But if you played it I bet he'd know it. There are quite a few "tunes" like that.
I had a conversation like that with my daughter.
"Bit like a USB drive" - "What's one of those?" "Well, it replaced.....
I was mildly surprised by the USB drive - but welcome to the Cloud generation, I suppose.
It's dizzying. To me, a USB is still very high tech. So much better than a floppy, once you get used to it. Looking back I don't know how I managed for so long with a floppy.
On the stories EU procurement is a red herring. On ventilators we have more than we will ever need. The focus on a local supplier Penlon made a lot of sense.
Lock down was slow by a few days. Cheltenham was a mistake looking back.
Testing has been a disaster from start to finish. PHE arrogance and controlling nature has totally failed. Politicians should have taken direct control much earlier. Still not sure Hancock is fully in charge. The UK has one of the best science bases in the world. Like a English World Cup campaign, good individual players but poor leadership.
PPE is another mess but harder to blame on existing politicians. Hard for everyone globally and we had outsourced our supply chain under Labour to foreigners.
The winners so far have been the front line NHS staff who have continued working under huge personal risk. Just been speaking to a contact in Kent who is in the red zone with a good mask and a plastic apron only today. He is scared but not leaving. The public who followed lock down rigorously so that the R0 is well below 1. The army who have as always just got on with it.
We need a clear plan to move on quickly or people will die not from COVID but everything else and the economy will crater. How do we take people back in hospital when it is clear there is a huge risk they get infected? What risk is related to each activity. I personally think schools should reopen as I don't think children are super spreaders. However the kids need to get there themselves, no pick up at the gates. Will the Government start leading?
The question regarding the degree to which children can spread the disease is one that needs to be addressed urgently. If it turns out that they are not effective spreaders, then reopening the schools will ease social pressures considerably.
I’ve kinda given on seeing a gig this year, I’m really gutted as I was so looking forward to seeing Scooter next month and New Order in October.
Scooter are still touring? Bring your whistles!
New Order, definitely a band everyone needs to see live at least once.
Scooter are still touring, I had my whistles and glo sticks ready.
Seen New Order a few times but they have been great every time I’ve seen them.
I was going to see New Order in 2015 for my birthday. In the end, my other half got the flu so we couldn't go.
A couple of weeks later I had a medical. A young male nurse was taking my details and noticed I'd just had my birthday. "What did you do for your birthday?" he asked.
I explained that I'd been going to see New Order but hadn't been able to go.
"Who are New Order?"
They were a big 80s band, most famous for Blue Monday, you must have heard it.
"Sorry, I don't know that one."
It was the biggest-selling 12" of all time.
"What's a 12"?"
I work with someone born after the start of the second Iraq war.
It is quite an experience then not knowing things that I experienced in my late 20s/early 30s given I only entered my 40s 18 months ago.
I did use to work with someone who couldn’t believe I lived in a country with only four tv channels that aired between 9am and 11pm.
Wait until you get to Big G's and my age! I can recall the arrival on the scene of Elvis Presley! And dancing in the cinema to Rock around the Clock!
I remember a small black and white tv in our lounge with blackout curtains to watch the Queen's coronation and all the street coming in to watch the event
I’ve kinda given on seeing a gig this year, I’m really gutted as I was so looking forward to seeing Scooter next month and New Order in October.
Scooter are still touring? Bring your whistles!
New Order, definitely a band everyone needs to see live at least once.
Scooter are still touring, I had my whistles and glo sticks ready.
Seen New Order a few times but they have been great every time I’ve seen them.
I was going to see New Order in 2015 for my birthday. In the end, my other half got the flu so we couldn't go.
A couple of weeks later I had a medical. A young male nurse was taking my details and noticed I'd just had my birthday. "What did you do for your birthday?" he asked.
I explained that I'd been going to see New Order but hadn't been able to go.
"Who are New Order?"
They were a big 80s band, most famous for Blue Monday, you must have heard it.
"Sorry, I don't know that one."
It was the biggest-selling 12" of all time.
"What's a 12"?"
But if you played it I bet he'd know it. There are quite a few "tunes" like that.
I had a conversation like that with my daughter.
"Bit like a USB drive" - "What's one of those?" "Well, it replaced.....
I was mildly surprised by the USB drive - but welcome to the Cloud generation, I suppose.
It's dizzying. To me, a USB is still very high tech. So much better than a floppy, once you get used to it. Looking back I don't know how I managed for so long with a floppy.
Mag tape on a reel is *proper* storage. None of your fancy spinning rust.
I look at some key groups. 1. How are major European countries doing? Growth rate slowing. Italy, Spain and Germany doing better than UK and France. 2. How is Sweden doing with its more lax policy? It's doing OK. Growth rate slightly less than UK and France. 3. How is US doing? Similar to UK but much larger of course. 4. How is Russia doing? Badly. 5. How are developing countries doing? Brazil, India, Nigeria? Growing a bit faster than the UK but still surprising small in view of their large populations. Not a disaster (yet?)
The low percentage of over 80s in developing countries is key to the low death rate from Covid 19 in Brazil, India and Nigeria
Under reporting too, I would have thought. Possibly on quite a scale.
I look at some key groups. 1. How are major European countries doing? Growth rate slowing. Italy, Spain and Germany doing better than UK and France. 2. How is Sweden doing with its more lax policy? It's doing OK. Growth rate slightly less than UK and France. 3. How is US doing? Similar to UK but much larger of course. 4. How is Russia doing? Badly. 5. How are developing countries doing? Brazil, India, Nigeria? Growing a bit faster than the UK but still surprising small in view of their large populations. Not a disaster (yet?)
The low percentage of over 80s in developing countries is key to the low death rate from Covid 19 in Brazil, India and Nigeria
Under reporting too, I would have thought. Possibly on quite a scale.
I reckon the 100k a day number came from looking at Germany's testing capacity at that time which was about that.
Isn't it about organising the car parks for testing now ?
We have 533 constituencies in England. One large car park per constituency broadly with a couple of hundred swabs. Some of the London constituencies can be amalgamated, perhaps other inner city ones too with some large constituencies having a couple of small sites (Cumbria ?) but that gives a rough starter for ten. Have a nurse doing the tests and a small number of squaddies at each one to police it all, then at the end of each shift drive the samples back to the labs which are obviously more spread out. It's not going to be quite that simple but I'd expect that to be a rough basis..
Yes. I can't get my head around that. How hard can it be for a few civil servants to get on Google Maps and find some car parks, ring the owners and say we are having it, and send the army to tape them off and put down a hut.
That really shouldn't take weeks.
Ring the councils and ask them to find a site, or do it per Trust. And maybe therein lies the problem. Involving external departments. That's what happens when no-one is in charge.
I thought Matt Hancock was in charge ?
Dominic Raab was supposed to be acting PM. The point is that if Matt Hancock's testing would be facilitated by help from other departments, it would be more likely to get it if someone like, say, the Prime Minister were about, or had set up cross departmental committees, or a test tsar or some such.
I’ve kinda given on seeing a gig this year, I’m really gutted as I was so looking forward to seeing Scooter next month and New Order in October.
Scooter are still touring? Bring your whistles!
New Order, definitely a band everyone needs to see live at least once.
Scooter are still touring, I had my whistles and glo sticks ready.
Seen New Order a few times but they have been great every time I’ve seen them.
I was going to see New Order in 2015 for my birthday. In the end, my other half got the flu so we couldn't go.
A couple of weeks later I had a medical. A young male nurse was taking my details and noticed I'd just had my birthday. "What did you do for your birthday?" he asked.
I explained that I'd been going to see New Order but hadn't been able to go.
"Who are New Order?"
They were a big 80s band, most famous for Blue Monday, you must have heard it.
"Sorry, I don't know that one."
It was the biggest-selling 12" of all time.
"What's a 12"?"
But if you played it I bet he'd know it. There are quite a few "tunes" like that.
I had a conversation like that with my daughter.
"Bit like a USB drive" - "What's one of those?" "Well, it replaced.....
I was mildly surprised by the USB drive - but welcome to the Cloud generation, I suppose.
The word "drive" here is for IT reasons. Sshe might well know what a "USB Stick" is. And if you mean an external hard drive, well they were never very widely used except for backing up files, so I'm not surprised that a youngster does not know what that is.
I was actually holding the USB *device* in my hand at the time - she'd never seen one before*. I then pulled out a CD, a 3.5 floppy and even my ancient collection of mag tapes and floppies. It was like the content of the Egyptian gallery at the British Museum to her.
Shades of "Marooned in Realtime" - a chap who was living just before the Singularity reminisces about his small time, hickville energy startup company. That was manufacturing anti-matter at 1000s of tons per second.
* She'd quite possibly seen me using one, but not actually registered it as anything to bother remembering.
I did tell a young ‘un that they haven’t lived until they watched a football match on Ceefax.
I had to explain to them what Ceefax was.
Like the internet on your telly.
I remember the big update of Ceefax that took place in 1996. After that you could get a "newsflash" for different topics: 150 was the general news newsflash, 250 was the business newsflash, 350 was the sport newsflash, and so on.
I look at some key groups. 1. How are major European countries doing? Growth rate slowing. Italy, Spain and Germany doing better than UK and France. 2. How is Sweden doing with its more lax policy? It's doing OK. Growth rate slightly less than UK and France. 3. How is US doing? Similar to UK but much larger of course. 4. How is Russia doing? Badly. 5. How are developing countries doing? Brazil, India, Nigeria? Growing a bit faster than the UK but still surprising small in view of their large populations. Not a disaster (yet?)
The low percentage of over 80s in developing countries is key to the low death rate from Covid 19 in Brazil, India and Nigeria
Under reporting too, I would have thought. Possibly on quite a scale.
Even if so that would apply to other diseases too, Covid 19 is primarily a rich countries disease, it hits hardest countries with an average life expectancy of around 80+ as over 80s have the highest death rate from it
I love telling my friends kids about the days of dial up internet. They think I am telling a story akin to coming across a unicorn in the woods.
I was using dial up for about 10 years from 1995 to 2005 IIRC.
1995 was very early to be on the internet.
A lot of universities were using it from 1992, 1993. We had a Macintosh Performa 630 at the time: it had the same basic operating system that's used on Apple laptops today like the Macbook Air.
Kids these days have never known the joy of going for a wee during a three minute add break knowing if you spend too long you will miss the only chance to watch this show.
I look at some key groups. 1. How are major European countries doing? Growth rate slowing. Italy, Spain and Germany doing better than UK and France. 2. How is Sweden doing with its more lax policy? It's doing OK. Growth rate slightly less than UK and France. 3. How is US doing? Similar to UK but much larger of course. 4. How is Russia doing? Badly. 5. How are developing countries doing? Brazil, India, Nigeria? Growing a bit faster than the UK but still surprising small in view of their large populations. Not a disaster (yet?)
The low percentage of over 80s in developing countries is key to the low death rate from Covid 19 in Brazil, India and Nigeria
Under reporting too, I would have thought. Possibly on quite a scale.
How has Vietnam all but avoided Covid-19?
Avoiding testing has worked quite well* for some African countries.
*In the sense of not disrupting the country over some minor thing with poor people dying in heaps**. The wife's shopping in Europe has been disrupted, sadly.
**The poor people are probably dying in heaps. But no one cares.
What's wrong with a 45 minute drive to get tested?
Its not ideal. But if I thought I had the plague and I could get a test (and definitely if I could infect other people), I would be in that car in a shot.
Kids these days have never known the joy of going for a wee during a three minute add break knowing if you spend too long you will miss the only chance to watch this show.
What's wrong with a 45 minute drive to get tested?
Its not ideal. But if I thought I had the plague and I could get a test (and definitely if I could infect other people), I would be in that car in a shot.
Almost like it takes time to roll out capacity and testing sites.
I love telling my friends kids about the days of dial up internet. They think I am telling a story akin to coming across a unicorn in the woods.
I was using dial up for about 10 years from 1995 to 2005 IIRC.
1995 was very early to be on the internet.
A lot of universities were using it from 1992, 1993. We had a Macintosh Performa 630 at the time: it had the same basic operating system that's used on Apple laptops today like the Macbook Air.
my company had a website in 1995 with a horrifyingly massive picture of me that took about 2 minutes to load - people were still angry that the web was being used by businesses and selling stuff via it was a betrayal of its purpose.
If you want to feel really old post the details of your first mobile contract.
I signed up to Cellnet in August 1997 and for £40 a month all I got was 100 minutes to landlines and other Cellnet mobiles, no inclusive texts or data.
Calling someone on another network was 50p a minute.
What a refreshing change - Starmer giving Raab a deservedly hard time - asking simple factual questions and following up. Raab just said 69 NHS deaths....which seems low. We've got an effective LotO - hurrah!
If you want to feel really old post the details of your first mobile contract.
I signed up to Cellnet in August 1997 and for £40 a month all I got was 100 minutes to landlines and other Cellnet mobiles, no inclusive texts or data.
Calling someone on another network was 50p a minute.
Oh god, yes I remember when you had to pay per text. Always checking you hadn't exceeded the number of characters for a single text, so you didn't get charged for 2, because you had been too verbose.
Suppose you can tell the kids, it was like twitter, but they charged you per tweet....in fact, that's a great idea.
On the stories EU procurement is a red herring. On ventilators we have more than we will ever need. The focus on a local supplier Penlon made a lot of sense.
Lock down was slow by a few days. Cheltenham was a mistake looking back.
Testing has been a disaster from start to finish. PHE arrogance and controlling nature has totally failed. Politicians should have taken direct control much earlier. Still not sure Hancock is fully in charge. The UK has one of the best science bases in the world. Like a English World Cup campaign, good individual players but poor leadership.
PPE is another mess but harder to blame on existing politicians. Hard for everyone globally and we had outsourced our supply chain under Labour to foreigners.
The winners so far have been the front line NHS staff who have continued working under huge personal risk. Just been speaking to a contact in Kent who is in the red zone with a good mask and a plastic apron only today. He is scared but not leaving. The public who followed lock down rigorously so that the R0 is well below 1. The army who have as always just got on with it.
We need a clear plan to move on quickly or people will die not from COVID but everything else and the economy will crater. How do we take people back in hospital when it is clear there is a huge risk they get infected? What risk is related to each activity. I personally think schools should reopen as I don't think children are super spreaders. However the kids need to get there themselves, no pick up at the gates. Will the Government start leading?
The question regarding the degree to which children can spread the disease is one that needs to be addressed urgently. If it turns out that they are not effective spreaders, then reopening the schools will ease social pressures considerably.
my daughter started school again today - watching the Danish numbers over the next 3 weeks will be a clue to that
What a refreshing change - Starmer giving Raab a deservedly hard time - asking simple factual questions and following up. Raab just said 69 NHS deaths....which seems low. We've got an effective LotO - hurrah!
Yes, without being loud, aggressive or vicious in the way Corbyn (or indeed Miliband and Cameron) often could be, he's probing very effectively and he's winning this exchange easily so far. Perhaps the atmosphere is different, but his calmness and focus both come across well.
Raab is also keeping calm but he's also stammering and waffling in response.
I love telling my friends kids about the days of dial up internet. They think I am telling a story akin to coming across a unicorn in the woods.
I was using dial up for about 10 years from 1995 to 2005 IIRC.
1995 was very early to be on the internet.
A lot of universities were using it from 1992, 1993. We had a Macintosh Performa 630 at the time: it had the same basic operating system that's used on Apple laptops today like the Macbook Air.
my company had a website in 1995 with a horrifyingly massive picture of me that took about 2 minutes to load - people were still angry that the web was being used by businesses and selling stuff via it was a betrayal of its purpose.
I did my undergrad at Imperial between 1994-97, and we had a "Communication Skills in Science" module during season '95-'96, where we got to learn how to use the internet and make simple code in HTML
Starmer is very good - and frankly Raab does not give confidence
Looks like BigG could vote Labour again for the first time since Blair
At times you are just plain silly.
I support HMG but I am not sycophant and will credit responsible opposition, and right now it is needed and is a refreshing change from the Corbyn toxic year
I reckon the 100k a day number came from looking at Germany's testing capacity at that time which was about that.
Isn't it about organising the car parks for testing now ?
We have 533 constituencies in England. One large car park per constituency broadly with a couple of hundred swabs. Some of the London constituencies can be amalgamated, perhaps other inner city ones too with some large constituencies having a couple of small sites (Cumbria ?) but that gives a rough starter for ten. Have a nurse doing the tests and a small number of squaddies at each one to police it all, then at the end of each shift drive the samples back to the labs which are obviously more spread out. It's not going to be quite that simple but I'd expect that to be a rough basis..
Yes. I can't get my head around that. How hard can it be for a few civil servants to get on Google Maps and find some car parks, ring the owners and say we are having it, and send the army to tape them off and put down a hut.
That really shouldn't take weeks.
The track and trace and logistics of sample management are more complex though
I look at some key groups. 1. How are major European countries doing? Growth rate slowing. Italy, Spain and Germany doing better than UK and France. 2. How is Sweden doing with its more lax policy? It's doing OK. Growth rate slightly less than UK and France. 3. How is US doing? Similar to UK but much larger of course. 4. How is Russia doing? Badly. 5. How are developing countries doing? Brazil, India, Nigeria? Growing a bit faster than the UK but still surprising small in view of their large populations. Not a disaster (yet?)
The low percentage of over 80s in developing countries is key to the low death rate from Covid 19 in Brazil, India and Nigeria
You're at it again. It is too early to know if the high risk in the over 80's group is due to actual age or due to the health condition of over 80's. If it is the latter than the poor health in the over 65s in India etc. will mean that they are in a high risk group.
I reckon the 100k a day number came from looking at Germany's testing capacity at that time which was about that.
Isn't it about organising the car parks for testing now ?
We have 533 constituencies in England. One large car park per constituency broadly with a couple of hundred swabs. Some of the London constituencies can be amalgamated, perhaps other inner city ones too with some large constituencies having a couple of small sites (Cumbria ?) but that gives a rough starter for ten. Have a nurse doing the tests and a small number of squaddies at each one to police it all, then at the end of each shift drive the samples back to the labs which are obviously more spread out. It's not going to be quite that simple but I'd expect that to be a rough basis..
Yes. I can't get my head around that. How hard can it be for a few civil servants to get on Google Maps and find some car parks, ring the owners and say we are having it, and send the army to tape them off and put down a hut.
That really shouldn't take weeks.
The track and trace and logistics of sample management are more complex though
Hello, is that Amazon...yes, I hear you are really good at track / trace and logistics. Can you give us a hand....maybe...now about that tax bill..oh you are free now.
Which according to an email I got yesterday, they are finally now starting to help the government.
I love telling my friends kids about the days of dial up internet. They think I am telling a story akin to coming across a unicorn in the woods.
I was using dial up for about 10 years from 1995 to 2005 IIRC.
1995 was very early to be on the internet.
A lot of universities were using it from 1992, 1993. We had a Macintosh Performa 630 at the time: it had the same basic operating system that's used on Apple laptops today like the Macbook Air.
my company had a website in 1995 with a horrifyingly massive picture of me that took about 2 minutes to load - people were still angry that the web was being used by businesses and selling stuff via it was a betrayal of its purpose.
I did my undergrad at Imperial between 1994-97, and we had a "Communication Skills in Science" module during season '95-'96, where we got to learn how to use the internet and make simple code in HTML
In 91, I looked at participating in a research project about using hypertext protocols over the internet...
I reckon the 100k a day number came from looking at Germany's testing capacity at that time which was about that.
Possibly. I recall Johnson at an early presser riffing around and tossing out both a 100k and a 250k number. Perhaps that was the origin. Loose talk from the boss feeds down to mega stress on subordinates and - ultimately - poor outcomes. A phenomenon I have certainly encountered many times. Bet we all have.
No the 250k was to do with antibody tests. Boris claim was they would get to 25k antigen tests and the rest antibody. And we now know the government had 9 different antibody test kits evaluated and all were busts.
And this is really where the issue have come from. The scientists were really sold on these antibody test kits and the government went along with it, with no real plan B. If it had worked out, nobody would be saying anything now.
The issue is that nobody in the world has a reliable large scale antibody test kit that can be done in the community, and now the UK stuck scrambling to try and devise a widespread antigen testing system on the fly.
The hope around mass antibody testing. Yes, I remember that. Given the problems I wonder if this will be rather subsumed now by the efforts for a vaccine?
Whatever your political persuasion, we all win if there is a competent opposition because it forces the government to up its game. We have got so used to there not being one I suspect many of us have forgotten this simple truth. But it's back and the government will need to respond. That is good news for the country.
But my facebook feed is full with "proof" of this.
I wonder how widely this will be shared by those lefty places that were pushing the dodgy conspiracy in the first place.
To be fair, this article just says that O'Connell claims to have evidence but hasn't shared it yet, meaning that Full Fact can't verify the claims. So there's nothing there to contradict the idea that the "proof" on FU's is correct- maybe somebody else has independently investigated what O'Connell said and found evidence.
That's not to say that is the case- but it's misleading to imply that this article refutes anybody claiming to have evidence.
Starmer is very good - and frankly Raab does not give confidence
Looks like BigG could vote Labour again for the first time since Blair
At times you are just plain silly.
I support HMG but I am not sycophant and will credit responsible opposition, and right now it is needed and is a refreshing change from the Corbyn toxic year
I am not voting labour
HYUFD doesn't wany sky blue Tories in his Conservative Party.
I look at some key groups. 1. How are major European countries doing? Growth rate slowing. Italy, Spain and Germany doing better than UK and France. 2. How is Sweden doing with its more lax policy? It's doing OK. Growth rate slightly less than UK and France. 3. How is US doing? Similar to UK but much larger of course. 4. How is Russia doing? Badly. 5. How are developing countries doing? Brazil, India, Nigeria? Growing a bit faster than the UK but still surprising small in view of their large populations. Not a disaster (yet?)
The low percentage of over 80s in developing countries is key to the low death rate from Covid 19 in Brazil, India and Nigeria
Under reporting too, I would have thought. Possibly on quite a scale.
If a country has a political reason to doctor the figures and
What a refreshing change - Starmer giving Raab a deservedly hard time - asking simple factual questions and following up. Raab just said 69 NHS deaths....which seems low. We've got an effective LotO - hurrah!
Yes, without being loud, aggressive or vicious in the way Corbyn (or indeed Miliband and Cameron) often could be, he's probing very effectively and he's winning this exchange easily so far. Perhaps the atmosphere is different, but his calmness and focus both come across well.
Raab is also keeping calm but he's also stammering and waffling in response.
Does the microphone switch to *one* MP shouting "Hear Hear" after every answer?
But my facebook feed is full with "proof" of this.
I wonder how widely this will be shared by those lefty places that were pushing the dodgy conspiracy in the first place.
To be fair, this article just says that O'Connell claims to have evidence but hasn't shared it yet, meaning that Full Fact can't verify the claims. So there's nothing there to contradict the idea that the "proof" on FU's is correct- maybe somebody else has independently investigated what O'Connell said and found evidence.
That's not to say that is the case- but it's misleading to imply that this article refutes anybody claiming to have evidence.
His excuse for not sharing it is complete bullshit though. It's one of those "if I say something that sounds complicated then people will eventually forget and stop asking" excuses I've heard a lot from subordinates.
But my facebook feed is full with "proof" of this.
I wonder how widely this will be shared by those lefty places that were pushing the dodgy conspiracy in the first place.
To be fair, this article just says that O'Connell claims to have evidence but hasn't shared it yet, meaning that Full Fact can't verify the claims. So there's nothing there to contradict the idea that the "proof" on FU's is correct- maybe somebody else has independently investigated what O'Connell said and found evidence.
That's not to say that is the case- but it's misleading to imply that this article refutes anybody claiming to have evidence.
Come off it. If the claim is that these are fake accounts where is the evidence?
Whatever your political persuasion, we all win if there is a competent opposition because it forces the government to up its game. We have got so used to there not being one I suspect many of us have forgotten this simple truth. But it's back and the government will need to respond. That is good news for the country.
Whilst I think it is good that Labour has someone sensible leading them, I've always thought the notion that a good opposition makes the government up its game as being utterly ludicrous.
I reckon the 100k a day number came from looking at Germany's testing capacity at that time which was about that.
Possibly. I recall Johnson at an early presser riffing around and tossing out both a 100k and a 250k number. Perhaps that was the origin. Loose talk from the boss feeds down to mega stress on subordinates and - ultimately - poor outcomes. A phenomenon I have certainly encountered many times. Bet we all have.
No the 250k was to do with antibody tests. Boris claim was they would get to 25k antigen tests and the rest antibody. And we now know the government had 9 different antibody test kits evaluated and all were busts.
And this is really where the issue have come from. The scientists were really sold on these antibody test kits and the government went along with it, with no real plan B. If it had worked out, nobody would be saying anything now.
The issue is that nobody in the world has a reliable large scale antibody test kit that can be done in the community, and now the UK stuck scrambling to try and devise a widespread antigen testing system on the fly.
The hope around mass antibody testing. Yes, I remember that. Given the problems I wonder if this will be rather subsumed now by the efforts for a vaccine?
Well other countries are doing it, but it is by sending samples back to a lab. The UK are, but again not at the scale of Germany. Nobody has the community kits that are accurate.
However, it does seem like the focus has shifted away from identifying those who have had it, so they can be released back into the world. Rather scientists wanting to see this data as a very important piece of the overall puzzle.
The UK again shouldn't be too slow, otherwise we will still be guessing about level of immunity, for when a second wave comes.
If you want to feel really old post the details of your first mobile contract.
I signed up to Cellnet in August 1997 and for £40 a month all I got was 100 minutes to landlines and other Cellnet mobiles, no inclusive texts or data.
Calling someone on another network was 50p a minute.
Oh god, yes I remember when you had to pay per text. Always checking you hadn't exceeded the number of characters for a single text, so you didn't get charged for 2, because you had been too verbose.
Suppose you can tell the kids, it was like twitter, but they charged you per tweet....in fact, that's a great idea.
I reckon the 100k a day number came from looking at Germany's testing capacity at that time which was about that.
Possibly. I recall Johnson at an early presser riffing around and tossing out both a 100k and a 250k number. Perhaps that was the origin. Loose talk from the boss feeds down to mega stress on subordinates and - ultimately - poor outcomes. A phenomenon I have certainly encountered many times. Bet we all have.
The 250k number was a future goal for when then antibody tests come online, IIRC.
I think YDRC. It was one of the last bits of sunny, puppyish "Boris" we got before he was felled.
If you want to feel really old post the details of your first mobile contract.
I signed up to Cellnet in August 1997 and for £40 a month all I got was 100 minutes to landlines and other Cellnet mobiles, no inclusive texts or data.
Calling someone on another network was 50p a minute.
I was an early Orange customer in 1998. £30 a month that included I think 60 minutes to landlines or Orange. SMS 10p each. Mobile data had to wait until I think 2003
If you want to feel really old post the details of your first mobile contract.
I signed up to Cellnet in August 1997 and for £40 a month all I got was 100 minutes to landlines and other Cellnet mobiles, no inclusive texts or data.
Calling someone on another network was 50p a minute.
Oh god, yes I remember when you had to pay per text. Always checking you hadn't exceeded the number of characters for a single text, so you didn't get charged for 2, because you had been too verbose.
Suppose you can tell the kids, it was like twitter, but they charged you per tweet....in fact, that's a great idea.
Comments
Of course, none of them had such appalling fashion sense.
I expect Hancock will on the 30th announce that YES, our capacity is 100k. We have hit the target.
However actual tests will be lower because the facilities will not be well matched to the location of the relevant punters. This can be presented as -
"We have the capacity, as promised, but demand has not yet caught up."
https://fullfact.org/online/evidence-network-fake-nhs-tweets/
But my facebook feed is full with "proof" of this.
{instantiate x Yorkshireman}
https://twitter.com/Jack_Blanchard_/status/1252665229168775170?s=20
Shades of "Marooned in Realtime" - a chap who was living just before the Singularity reminisces about his small time, hickville energy startup company. That was manufacturing anti-matter at 1000s of tons per second.
* She'd quite possibly seen me using one, but not actually registered it as anything to bother remembering.
Vast improvement on Corbyn. He would be waffling on by now.
I'll get my dinner jacket.
Kids these days have never known the joy of going for a wee during a three minute add break knowing if you spend too long you will miss the only chance to watch this show.
*In the sense of not disrupting the country over some minor thing with poor people dying in heaps**. The wife's shopping in Europe has been disrupted, sadly.
**The poor people are probably dying in heaps. But no one cares.
Usually getting bollocked by mother to free up the landline.
But he appointed this idiot as his deputy.
I signed up to Cellnet in August 1997 and for £40 a month all I got was 100 minutes to landlines and other Cellnet mobiles, no inclusive texts or data.
Calling someone on another network was 50p a minute.
Suppose you can tell the kids, it was like twitter, but they charged you per tweet....in fact, that's a great idea.
This of course is entirely practical for 100k tests a day.
Raab is also keeping calm but he's also stammering and waffling in response.
At that age my only focus was getting good grades, football, cricket, F1, and rugby union.
Porn or girls really weren’t on my radar, at that age I was a really good Muslim boy.
I support HMG but I am not sycophant and will credit responsible opposition, and right now it is needed and is a refreshing change from the Corbyn toxic year
I am not voting labour
Which according to an email I got yesterday, they are finally now starting to help the government.
That call should have been weeks / months ago.
That's not to say that is the case- but it's misleading to imply that this article refutes anybody claiming to have evidence.
Raab - 'we must make sure it gets to frontline workers.'
Heckler - 'or not.'
Blackford reminding us of what Corbyn used to be like.
However, it does seem like the focus has shifted away from identifying those who have had it, so they can be released back into the world. Rather scientists wanting to see this data as a very important piece of the overall puzzle.
The UK again shouldn't be too slow, otherwise we will still be guessing about level of immunity, for when a second wave comes.
Which is better, potentially substandard PPE or none at all?