So now on a Friday afternoon the government blows planned wedding receptions for tomorrow out of the water. How much more s**t and clueless can they behave?
They even released guidance this very morning that wedding were allowed in the north west!
Weddings are allowed.
This morning the govt published new guidance stating weddings of up to 30 were specifically fine in the NW despite the high rates. By half twelve they are not allowed in the rest of the country with lower rates.
And many people will have booked an August 2020 wedding before the virus even existed.
Where are those PBers who said the virus would burn out and disappear?
I didn't say it would burn out, but I did think the Oxford model might be right and we have some natural immunity/dark matter. Still think it is early days on that front.
Where are those PBers who said the virus would burn out and disappear?
I didn't say it would burn out, but I did think the Oxford model might be right and we have some natural immunity/dark matter. Still think it is early days on that front.
The hospital admission evidence is that it might be weakening
So now on a Friday afternoon the government blows planned wedding receptions for tomorrow out of the water. How much more s**t and clueless can they behave?
They even released guidance this very morning that wedding were allowed in the north west!
Weddings are allowed.
This morning the govt published new guidance stating weddings of up to 30 were specifically fine in the NW despite the high rates. By half twelve they are not allowed in the rest of the country with lower rates.
And many people will have booked an August 2020 wedding before the virus even existed.
Yeah, weddings are allowed. It's the planned relaxation of rules relating to receptions that is being stopped.
Got to be honest lads, I've not played a blinder on the veepstakes. I don't hate my book, but it's certainly not as good as my Lab/LD/Con leaderships ones, or the primaries/general winners.
This idea the the government should be negotiating things with self-appointed community leaders is absolutely for the birds.
As an Asian person if some trumped up "community leader" tried to tell me how to live my life I'd tell them to get fucked. Government advice is what matters, not what any idiot community leader thinks. It's frankly patronising to assume that "community leaders" actually speak for anyone other than themselves, the government is best to act as if they don't exist and speaking directly to the community, not via some idiot pushing whatever agenda they have.
I dont think theres an issue in communicating to community groups, every little helps, but as you say it seems awfully patronising to try to develop things so closely with 'community leaders' (as a white man do I have a community leader? Cllrs are supposed to be that) as if they are much more influential than they probably are .
Notification, yes. But more than that? Probably unnecessary.
Chris Whitty is man with enormous power over our lives, unscrutised, unaccountable and it seems, not replaceable. I'm not even sure how qualified he is to make these decisions given he is a medic and not and epidemiologist. He even hinted today he wants to constrain the people pf Britain further
I’m so frustrated that my Government seems to finally to be intent on taking some unpopular but hopefully timely measures in the interest of public health - but blew all its political/social capital to do so on #saveDom.
As I said at the time it was never about making the Government look weak - it was about ensuring it could remain strong and credible.
A new test powered by artificial intelligence (AI) could be capable of identifying coronavirus within one hour, according to new research. Its developers say it can rapidly screen people arriving at hospitals for Covid-19 and accurately predict whether or not they have the disease, the Press Association reports. The Curial AI test has been developed by a team at the University of Oxford and assesses data typically gathered from patients within the first hour of arriving in an emergency department - such as blood tests and vital signs - to determine the chance of a patient testing positive for Covid-19. Testing for the virus currently involves the molecular analysis of a nose and throat swab, with results having a typical turnaround time of between 12 and 48 hours.
It is, but I wish they'd report more than just 'accuracy'. At current infection rates I could easily produce an algorithm with (likely) 90% or greater accuracy:
print("Prediction: Patient does not have COVID-19")
I'm sure theirs is actually quite good, but to judge that you need sensitivity and specificity (or similar).
I used to work in a related area (predicting in hospital adverse events such as death, ICU admission, cardiac arrest) and it's scary how predictive simple vital signs could be. Add in some blood tests results and it was like seeing the future, even with something simple like logistic regression.
Chris Whitty is man with enormous power over our lives, unscrutised, unaccountable and it seems, not replaceable. I'm not even sure how qualified he is to make these decisions given he is a medic and not and epidemiologist. He even hinted today he wants to constrain the people pf Britain further
This cannot be right. It cannot.
This isn;t medicine. It is tyranny.
For starters didn't he recently appear before a select committee of Parliament?
Chris Whitty is man with enormous power over our lives, unscrutised, unaccountable and it seems, not replaceable. I'm not even sure how qualified he is to make these decisions given he is a medic and not and epidemiologist. He even hinted today he wants to constrain the people pf Britain further
This idea the the government should be negotiating things with self-appointed community leaders is absolutely for the birds.
As an Asian person if some trumped up "community leader" tried to tell me how to live my life I'd tell them to get fucked. Government advice is what matters, not what any idiot community leader thinks. It's frankly patronising to assume that "community leaders" actually speak for anyone other than themselves, the government is best to act as if they don't exist and speaking directly to the community, not via some idiot pushing whatever agenda they have.
I dont think theres an issue in communicating to community groups, every little helps, but as you say it seems awfully patronising to try to develop things so closely with 'community leaders' (as a white man do I have a community leader? Cllrs are supposed to be that) as if they are much more influential than they probably are .
Notification, yes. But more than that? Probably unnecessary.
Could get the Boyos out in NI - anyone gets within a sledgehammer handle length of anyone else, gets their kneecaps smashed.
If, hypothetically, you were a government minister who has made a decision late in the evening which you wanted to disseminate to the public extremely fast, could you think of a better way of doing it than using Twitter, which every journalist in the country would soon pick up, either directly or through re-tweets, and report?
Oh for Heavens sake...
If the govt PR team phoned up the Beeb and Sky and said "We are sending over a minister / spokesperson to make a major announcement" do you think the response would be "Sorry No.10 but we are all in bed having our cocoa"?
It would be on screen and live about 10 seconds after No.10 put the phone down. "We interrupt this programme...."
It was on screen and live immediately. Of course not everyone watches the TV nowadays.
What on earth is the problem? I know lots of people hate this government - I'm not exactly a fan myself - but laying into them for using modern means of rapid communication to get an urgent announcement out is one of the most bizarre criticisms I've ever heard.
If that was all they did that's be something. If the criticism is of too short notice thats worth assessing as well (and certainly that's part of it). But when it strays into the methodology I think things are on shakier ground, particularly as the principal complaint.
No, I've seen the data that the government is using and how they map out the local viral growth rates. To some degree this is an overreaction to save face for Asian people, but really it is necessary. There is real data backing the new lockdown decisions. @Malmesbury posts the per 100k positive test rates everyday, it's quite similar to what the government uses to make decisions and we're all quite lucky on PB to have that level of insight.
Adam Parsons, Sky Europe correspondence, has just said a cluster of EU countries with big increases in cases of covid are worrying many in Europe, with cracks showing in EU unity, and the EU are worrying that a full national lockdown across some EU countries, even across the whole of the EU may come about
Lucky we have no problems of our own to concern us.
The evidence covid is increasing both here and across Europe is very worrying for everyone
Not entirely unexpected of course, but we're all panicking as much as the first time.
Chris Whitty is man with enormous power over our lives, unscrutised, unaccountable and it seems, not replaceable. I'm not even sure how qualified he is to make these decisions given he is a medic and not and epidemiologist. He even hinted today he wants to constrain the people pf Britain further
This cannot be right. It cannot.
This isn;t medicine. It is tyranny.
Chris Whitty is a very distinguished epidemiologist.
His Gresham College lectures on the subject are excellent:
There's no virus where I live and in the vast, vast majority of the country. There are about 7-9 problem areas where the R is well above 1.
There is virus everywhere the difference is that is yet to be discovered apart about to be imported from elsewhere. We went for 10 weeks in our town in Spain with no cases then four pop up out of the blue!
Adam Parsons, Sky Europe correspondence, has just said a cluster of EU countries with big increases in cases of covid are worrying many in Europe, with cracks showing in EU unity, and the EU are worrying that a full national lockdown across some EU countries, even across the whole of the EU may come about
Lucky we have no problems of our own to concern us.
The evidence covid is increasing both here and across Europe is very worrying for everyone
Not entirely unexpected of course, but we're all panicking as much as the first time.
i am not panicking but am concerned
I believe Boris has contacted Starmer and Starmer is on board with the changes
Adam Parsons, Sky Europe correspondence, has just said a cluster of EU countries with big increases in cases of covid are worrying many in Europe, with cracks showing in EU unity, and the EU are worrying that a full national lockdown across some EU countries, even across the whole of the EU may come about
'Cracks in EU unity' is a slow news day headline. Not that there are never cracks, frankly its be worrying if there wasnt, but it's something EU officials pull out at every event to emphasise importance of working together. It was never just Brexiteers who overdid talk of EU disunity.
There's no virus where I live and in the vast, vast majority of the country. There are about 7-9 problem areas where the R is well above 1.
There is virus everywhere the difference is that is yet to be discovered apart about to be imported from elsewhere. We went for 10 weeks in our town in Spain with no cases then four pop up out of the blue!
I would say that the virus has been suppressed to a very low level. This means that transmission can become invisible - asymptomatic. This has been seen around the world.
There's no virus where I live and in the vast, vast majority of the country. There are about 7-9 problem areas where the R is well above 1.
There is virus everywhere the difference is that is yet to be discovered apart about to be imported from elsewhere. We went for 10 weeks in our town in Spain with no cases then four pop up out of the blue!
No, there's a lot of testing in the UK. If there was a huge number of unknown cases then it would have shown up already.
So now on a Friday afternoon the government blows planned wedding receptions for tomorrow out of the water. How much more s**t and clueless can they behave?
Who planned their wedding reception on the first day after the planned (not confirmed) date of allowing them again?
At a guess, people with already planned weddings for 1 August who were told by the government a few weeks back that they could hold a reception as well.
There's no virus where I live and in the vast, vast majority of the country. There are about 7-9 problem areas where the R is well above 1.
There is virus everywhere the difference is that is yet to be discovered apart about to be imported from elsewhere. We went for 10 weeks in our town in Spain with no cases then four pop up out of the blue!
No, there's a lot of testing in the UK. If there was a huge number of unknown cases then it would have shown up already.
But are they mass testing in Devon? Genuine question.
There seem to be quite a lot of occasional 1s in most of the country, in my charts..
I’m so frustrated that my Government seems to finally to be intent on taking some unpopular but hopefully timely measures in the interest of public health - but blew all its political/social capital to do so on #saveDom.
As I said at the time it was never about making the Government look weak - it was about ensuring it could remain strong and credible.
Yep. It is not PC to say that Johnson's craven mishandling of that episode cost and will continue to cost many lives and livelihoods - and of course one cannot quantify the impact - but it almost certainly did.
This idea the the government should be negotiating things with self-appointed community leaders is absolutely for the birds.
As an Asian person if some trumped up "community leader" tried to tell me how to live my life I'd tell them to get fucked. Government advice is what matters, not what any idiot community leader thinks. It's frankly patronising to assume that "community leaders" actually speak for anyone other than themselves, the government is best to act as if they don't exist and speaking directly to the community, not via some idiot pushing whatever agenda they have.
Yes, the whole concept of 'community leaders' is patronising, verging on racist. No-one talks about 'community leaders' in respect of the white population of, say, Winchester.
Don't they?
Is the Archbishop of Canterbury not a community leader?
I've never heard him referred to that way. I'd be fascinated by analysis of use of the term.
Chris Whitty is man with enormous power over our lives, unscrutised, unaccountable and it seems, not replaceable. I'm not even sure how qualified he is to make these decisions given he is a medic and not and epidemiologist. He even hinted today he wants to constrain the people pf Britain further
This cannot be right. It cannot.
This isn;t medicine. It is tyranny.
Yes, it is a worry. We've put men who hitherto, by the very nature of their professions, were somewhat obscure, introverted, socially awkward and monomaniacal into positions of immense and unchallenged power. We can all see the psychological dangers of such a collision. Not a healthy mix.
So now on a Friday afternoon the government blows planned wedding receptions for tomorrow out of the water. How much more s**t and clueless can they behave?
It's a rapidly evolving situation. The overall situation shows the country has done badly and the government will carry the can on that, but I find it difficult to condemn things as clueless or shambolic simply because they are sometimes urgent and short notice. In itself that's not proof of cluelessness - you have a plan, then you react as into changes.
This starting to border on madness. Get the schools open like Sweden.
In August?
No, September, but already sounds like noises being made that that may not happen.
If the choice is bowling alleys and cinemas, or schools, then I choose schools!
Of course the schools should open. There seems to have been very little spreading happening at schools. More harm will be done to children not going to school. If it's really "schools or pubs" then only an idiot could describe that as a dilemma.
If Mr Whittaker has evidence for that then he should provide it, if he hasn't then he should lose the whip. What a disgraceful thing to say.
He's right. I've been looking at the data, it's very, very obvious that Asians are not taking the virus seriously at all. I've seen it first hand with invites to large family gatherings, 30-40 people in someone's front room all talking over each other. The NW London area has had worse infection rates than N or W London and Northwick park hospital was a disaster zone for a very long time. Asians have had a poor virus period.
I think it's also because in South Asian culture there's no such thing as personal space. It's not as bad in the UK but it's still not great.
Plus the ones in Yorkshire surely have grandparents coming out with “when I were a lad back in Pakistan.....” tales of horror.
Chris Whitty is man with enormous power over our lives, unscrutised, unaccountable and it seems, not replaceable. I'm not even sure how qualified he is to make these decisions given he is a medic and not and epidemiologist. He even hinted today he wants to constrain the people pf Britain further
This cannot be right. It cannot.
This isn;t medicine. It is tyranny.
Yes, it is a worry. We've put men who hitherto, by the very nature of their professions, were somewhat obscure, introverted, socially awkward and monomaniacal into positions of immense and unchallenged power. We can all see the psychological dangers of such a collision. Not a healthy mix.
I'm increasingly worried where this is all heading as we seem to be going towards the position that the NHS must be protected from dealing with more than a handful of cases at all costs including finally destroying our economy, sending 1000s to an early death because the NHS is shut for anything else and removing ancient rights of liberty.
Maybe the heat is getting to me and I am over reacting, but this is getting worrying.
Difficult to reduce the complex question of ethnicity to a simple matter of skin colour. However, I wouldn't have chosen that third picture - and probably not the second either - if I was trying to contradict Whittaker's contention about the BAME community.
Persistent fatigue following SARS-CoV-2 infection is common and independent of severity of initial infection https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.07.29.20164293v1 Fatigue is a common symptom in those presenting with symptomatic COVID-19 infection. However, it is unknown if COVID-19 results in persistent fatigue in those recovered from acute infection. We examined the prevalence of fatigue in individuals recovered from the acute phase of COVID-19 illness using the Chalder Fatigue Score (CFQ-11). We further examined potential predictors of fatigue following COVID-19 infection, evaluating indicators of COVID-19 severity, markers of peripheral immune activation and circulating pro-inflammatory cytokines. Of 128 participants (49.5 ± 15 years; 54% female), more than half reported persistent fatigue (52.3%; 45/128) at 10 weeks (median) after initial COVID-19 symptoms. There was no association between COVID-19 severity (need for inpatient admission, supplemental oxygen or critical care) and fatigue following COVID-19. Additionally, there was no association between routine laboratory markers of inflammation and cell turnover (leukocyte, neutrophil or lymphocyte counts, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, lactate dehydrogenase, C-reactive protein) or pro-inflammatory molecules (IL-6 or sCD25) and fatigue post COVID-19. Female gender and those with a pre-existing diagnosis of depression/anxiety were over-represented in those with fatigue. Our findings demonstrate a significant burden of post-viral fatigue in individuals with previous SARS-CoV-2 infection after the acute phase of COVID-19 illness. This study highlights the importance of assessing those recovering from COVID-19 for symptoms of severe fatigue, irrespective of severity of initial illness, and may identify a group worthy of further study and early intervention.
This idea the the government should be negotiating things with self-appointed community leaders is absolutely for the birds.
As an Asian person if some trumped up "community leader" tried to tell me how to live my life I'd tell them to get fucked. Government advice is what matters, not what any idiot community leader thinks. It's frankly patronising to assume that "community leaders" actually speak for anyone other than themselves, the government is best to act as if they don't exist and speaking directly to the community, not via some idiot pushing whatever agenda they have.
Yes, the whole concept of 'community leaders' is patronising, verging on racist. No-one talks about 'community leaders' in respect of the white population of, say, Winchester.
So, if they were cancelling Xmas instead of Eid, you would think it wrong if the Bishop of Winchester was asked to help soften the blow?
Is he in charge of eating, drinking, shopping and television?
So now on a Friday afternoon the government blows planned wedding receptions for tomorrow out of the water. How much more s**t and clueless can they behave?
Who planned their wedding reception on the first day after the planned (not confirmed) date of allowing them again?
At a guess, people with already planned weddings for 1 August who were told by the government a few weeks back that they could hold a reception as well.
But why would they have planned it on the first day that restrictions were only planned to be relaxed, not confirmed? It's the same story as people jetting off to Spain.
Chris Whitty is man with enormous power over our lives, unscrutised, unaccountable and it seems, not replaceable. I'm not even sure how qualified he is to make these decisions given he is a medic and not and epidemiologist. He even hinted today he wants to constrain the people pf Britain further
This cannot be right. It cannot.
This isn;t medicine. It is tyranny.
You're hysterical. Its certainly right that whether these and other measures are the right course should be vigorously debated, but Whitty is answerable to government who are answerable to parliament. That you may think neither are doing a good job doesnt make Whitty a tyrant.
He cannot do anything if the government doesnt act on what he says, so your 'this cannot be right' stuff is totally right - as it's not what is happening.
The questions about his suitability, whether his advice is the right course? Totally fine. Whinging that hes unaccountable and this is tyranny? Nonsense
Adam Parsons, Sky Europe correspondence, has just said a cluster of EU countries with big increases in cases of covid are worrying many in Europe, with cracks showing in EU unity, and the EU are worrying that a full national lockdown across some EU countries, even across the whole of the EU may come about
Lucky we have no problems of our own to concern us.
The evidence covid is increasing both here and across Europe is very worrying for everyone
Not entirely unexpected of course, but we're all panicking as much as the first time.
i am not panicking but am concerned
I believe Boris has contacted Starmer and Starmer is on board with the changes
Good to see unity
Is it? Who is going to question the wisdom of the current strategy?
So now on a Friday afternoon the government blows planned wedding receptions for tomorrow out of the water. How much more s**t and clueless can they behave?
Who planned their wedding reception on the first day after the planned (not confirmed) date of allowing them again?
At a guess, people with already planned weddings for 1 August who were told by the government a few weeks back that they could hold a reception as well.
But why would they have planned it on the first day that restrictions were only planned to be relaxed, not confirmed? It's the same story as people jetting off to Spain.
My friend’s wedding is next Saturday.
Been the date since 2018, she was told if the government allowed weddings on that date then she couldn’t cancel it and get her money back.
I guess people whose weddings were tomorrow were in a similar boat.
Meanwhile, Germany seems to have more than its fair share of nutters:
Under the umbrella title ‘End of the pandemic – the Day of Freedom’ diverse groups from the extreme left and right, including anti-vaxers, Holocaust deniers, and conspiracy theorists who believe the virus has been imposed by an elite in order to gain power, are due to hold dozens of individual protests across the German capital. .. Among the demonstrators, one group has suggested ‘storming the Reichstag’, the German parliament building. Others have rejected the idea, arguing it could bring the entire demonstration into disrepute. Over 1500 police are expected to be on duty, with around 22,000 protesters due to take part from across Germany, according to Berlin’s interior ministry. ... [The demonstrations are] drawing in a range of interest groups, including followers of the elusive US group QAnon - an online conspiracy theory cult focused on the idea of a “deep state” dominance, one of whose heroes is US president Donald Trump, or the alliance ‘Querdenken’ (‘lateral thinking’) whose followers sport tin foil pendants and are against a coronavirus vaccine.
They sound like those bizarre groups roaming around Europe during the Black Death.
Adam Parsons, Sky Europe correspondence, has just said a cluster of EU countries with big increases in cases of covid are worrying many in Europe, with cracks showing in EU unity, and the EU are worrying that a full national lockdown across some EU countries, even across the whole of the EU may come about
Lucky we have no problems of our own to concern us.
The evidence covid is increasing both here and across Europe is very worrying for everyone
Not entirely unexpected of course, but we're all panicking as much as the first time.
i am not panicking but am concerned
I believe Boris has contacted Starmer and Starmer is on board with the changes
Good to see unity
I was referring to the public as a whole. I think we are collectively in a state of panic and hysteria and dont see that changing.
So now on a Friday afternoon the government blows planned wedding receptions for tomorrow out of the water. How much more s**t and clueless can they behave?
Who planned their wedding reception on the first day after the planned (not confirmed) date of allowing them again?
At a guess, people with already planned weddings for 1 August who were told by the government a few weeks back that they could hold a reception as well.
But why would they have planned it on the first day that restrictions were only planned to be relaxed, not confirmed? It's the same story as people jetting off to Spain.
My friend’s wedding is next Saturday.
Been the date since 2018, she was told if the government allowed weddings on that date then she couldn’t cancel it and get her money back.
I guess people whose weddings were tomorrow were in a similar boat.
That's a fair point about it not being refunded. At least the wedding can go ahead, and the reception can be refunded (since those are legally prohibited)?
Meanwhile, Germany seems to have more than its fair share of nutters:
Under the umbrella title ‘End of the pandemic – the Day of Freedom’ diverse groups from the extreme left and right, including anti-vaxers, Holocaust deniers, and conspiracy theorists who believe the virus has been imposed by an elite in order to gain power, are due to hold dozens of individual protests across the German capital. .. Among the demonstrators, one group has suggested ‘storming the Reichstag’, the German parliament building. Others have rejected the idea, arguing it could bring the entire demonstration into disrepute. Over 1500 police are expected to be on duty, with around 22,000 protesters due to take part from across Germany, according to Berlin’s interior ministry. ... [The demonstrations are] drawing in a range of interest groups, including followers of the elusive US group QAnon - an online conspiracy theory cult focused on the idea of a “deep state” dominance, one of whose heroes is US president Donald Trump, or the alliance ‘Querdenken’ (‘lateral thinking’) whose followers sport tin foil pendants and are against a coronavirus vaccine.
They sound like those bizarre groups roaming around Europe during the Black Death.
Dont you love it when the far left and far right agree on things? Ome day they'll realise how much they have in common.
Chris Whitty is man with enormous power over our lives, unscrutised, unaccountable and it seems, not replaceable. I'm not even sure how qualified he is to make these decisions given he is a medic and not and epidemiologist. He even hinted today he wants to constrain the people pf Britain further
This cannot be right. It cannot.
This isn;t medicine. It is tyranny.
Yes, it is a worry. We've put men who hitherto, by the very nature of their professions, were somewhat obscure, introverted, socially awkward and monomaniacal into positions of immense and unchallenged power. We can all see the psychological dangers of such a collision. Not a healthy mix.
I'm increasingly worried where this is all heading as we seem to be going towards the position that the NHS must be protected from dealing with more than a handful of cases at all costs including finally destroying our economy, sending 1000s to an early death because the NHS is shut for anything else and removing ancient rights of liberty.
Maybe the heat is getting to me and I am over reacting, but this is getting worrying.
At last somebody else gets it. This precisely where we are heading. And with the full compliance of the government and MPs.
Why? because governing is so much easier this way than the proper way, the democratic way. and our leaders have got a taste for it.
I;ve never before welcomed an economic collapse, but I think to be honest it is the only thing that can save us from this awful , awful state of affairs in the short term because people will wake up to the truth.
I guess at some juncture we will have an election but to be honest I am not even sure about that.
The Prime Minister literally just started his press conference quoting the infection numbers that led to this decision.
As Foxy was saying earlier, there isn’t much sign (in Leicester at least) of a surge going on hospitalisation statitistics.
Indeed but hospitalisation statistics are a lagging indicator. Deaths are even more lagging.
The pattern seems to be that without action the virus spreads in increasing numbers within the healthy young, who pass it on to the more vulnerable, some of whon go to hospital, some of whom die. Rapid testing is being done that has caught the first step and the attempt is to break the chain of transmission before it reaches the last step.
A new test powered by artificial intelligence (AI) could be capable of identifying coronavirus within one hour, according to new research. Its developers say it can rapidly screen people arriving at hospitals for Covid-19 and accurately predict whether or not they have the disease, the Press Association reports. The Curial AI test has been developed by a team at the University of Oxford and assesses data typically gathered from patients within the first hour of arriving in an emergency department - such as blood tests and vital signs - to determine the chance of a patient testing positive for Covid-19. Testing for the virus currently involves the molecular analysis of a nose and throat swab, with results having a typical turnaround time of between 12 and 48 hours.
I feel compelled to offer this 27-minute podcast all about the firmness and colour of dog poo. Not for the faint-hearted. But it makes interesting background listening while you catch up on the latest PB comments:
Adam Parsons, Sky Europe correspondence, has just said a cluster of EU countries with big increases in cases of covid are worrying many in Europe, with cracks showing in EU unity, and the EU are worrying that a full national lockdown across some EU countries, even across the whole of the EU may come about
Lucky we have no problems of our own to concern us.
The evidence covid is increasing both here and across Europe is very worrying for everyone
Not entirely unexpected of course, but we're all panicking as much as the first time.
i am not panicking but am concerned
I believe Boris has contacted Starmer and Starmer is on board with the changes
Good to see unity
Is it? Who is going to question the wisdom of the current strategy?
Many will. Backbenchers, media figures, public figures. Nature abhors a vacuum and if an opposition leader does not oppose (for what they presumably think is a good reason) someone fills in. That wont be as notable, but if the opposition dont oppose it's usually a good sign (not always yes).
There may well be plenty of social distancing going on on the beach shot (Less so the other two) - the 'length' of that photo is around a mile iirc.
While it was wrong for Whittaker to say that in my view, the images that keep getting posted such as the beach and the VE Day conga did not lead to a rise of infections, while it's clear that household gatherings are doing so.
Chris Whitty is man with enormous power over our lives, unscrutised, unaccountable and it seems, not replaceable. I'm not even sure how qualified he is to make these decisions given he is a medic and not and epidemiologist. He even hinted today he wants to constrain the people pf Britain further
This cannot be right. It cannot.
This isn;t medicine. It is tyranny.
To whom should politicians listen during a pandemic if not to epidemiologists? You're obviously a fan of the US Republicans - and I can also find something to admire in their general ruthlessness - but they're following the exact strategy you recommend and it's leading them to electoral oblivion. Is the doctrinal purity of refusing to take measures to control the pandemic worth losing America to the left? Because that's what those idiots are currently on course to achieve.
Just had a thought - is it too much to hope that we won't have to see the family over Christmas?
That is the great prize. The carrot helping so many people through this harrowing year. However Sod's law - which is as iron as any of Newton's offerings - says that holidays in Cornwall in Aug/Sep will have to be cancelled but things will be relaxed again just in time for Christmas.
Chris Whitty is man with enormous power over our lives, unscrutised, unaccountable and it seems, not replaceable. I'm not even sure how qualified he is to make these decisions given he is a medic and not and epidemiologist. He even hinted today he wants to constrain the people pf Britain further
This cannot be right. It cannot.
This isn;t medicine. It is tyranny.
The Prime Minister and the Government are in charge. If you don't like them taking (or not taking) those recommendations the buck stops with them.
I feel compelled to offer this 27-minute podcast all about the firmness and colour of dog poo. Not for the faint-hearted. But it makes interesting background listening while you catch up on the latest PB comments:
Sorry but the measures today are farcical. You just cannot impose measures like this at short notice - businesses and people have a right to plan ahead and everybody will now start to give up. Cinemas will surely lock up for good after this announcement. Its not as if the government (or any other) can control this virus in a King Canute way that they seem to pretend they can (because it makes them and the scientists seem jolly important and in control). Herd immunity is the only way out of this and the NHS needs to step up and not rest on its hero worship devotees opinion of it .It should surely be able to handle a few cases of this and still function to save life normally
Meanwhile, Germany seems to have more than its fair share of nutters:
diverse groups from the extreme left and right, including anti-vaxers, Holocaust deniers, and conspiracy theorists who believe the virus has been imposed by an elite in order to gain power
On that description, I don't think PB should be casting the first stone.
Evidence is pretty clear, in Asia at least, that face touching was reduced at the same time as mask wearing increased. More evidence required from Europe for definite conclusions.
Chris Whitty is man with enormous power over our lives, unscrutised, unaccountable and it seems, not replaceable. I'm not even sure how qualified he is to make these decisions given he is a medic and not and epidemiologist. He even hinted today he wants to constrain the people pf Britain further
This cannot be right. It cannot.
This isn;t medicine. It is tyranny.
Yes, it is a worry. We've put men who hitherto, by the very nature of their professions, were somewhat obscure, introverted, socially awkward and monomaniacal into positions of immense and unchallenged power. We can all see the psychological dangers of such a collision. Not a healthy mix.
I'm increasingly worried where this is all heading as we seem to be going towards the position that the NHS must be protected from dealing with more than a handful of cases at all costs including finally destroying our economy, sending 1000s to an early death because the NHS is shut for anything else and removing ancient rights of liberty.
Maybe the heat is getting to me and I am over reacting, but this is getting worrying.
Certainly the medical people I've been involved with since lockdown have included several almost angry at the idea a non Covid issue should come up, I'd not be surprised if the protect the nhs policy was a bit too effective.
Life has to go on even during pandemics, we cannot constantly be stopping things for fear of capacity issues.
And to read as recommended earlier in lockdown, The Naked Sun, about a world with no physical contact.
Chris Whitty is man with enormous power over our lives, unscrutised, unaccountable and it seems, not replaceable. I'm not even sure how qualified he is to make these decisions given he is a medic and not and epidemiologist. He even hinted today he wants to constrain the people pf Britain further
This cannot be right. It cannot.
This isn;t medicine. It is tyranny.
To whom should politicians listen during a pandemic if not to epidemiologists? You're obviously a fan of the US Republicans - and I can also find something to admire in their general ruthlessness - but they're following the exact strategy you recommend and it's leading them to electoral oblivion. Is the doctrinal purity of refusing to take measures to control the pandemic worth losing America to the left? Because that's what those idiots are currently on course to achieve.
The Radical "Do Nothing" Democrats are hardly anything to frighten the horses.
I know this is from zerohedge, but Trump is going to be so jealous
What he needs is a national security law in Republican states cancelling the election and decreeing that their electoral college votes must be assigned to the incumbent.
Sorry but the measures today are farcical. You just cannot impose measures like this at short notice - businesses and people have a right to plan ahead and everybody will now start to give up. Cinemas will surely lock up for good after this announcement. Its not as if the government (or any other) can control this virus in a King Canute way that they seem to pretend they can (because it makes them and the scientists seem jolly important and in control). Herd immunity is the only way out of this and the NHS needs to step up and not rest on its hero worship devotees opinion of it .It should surely be able to handle a few cases of this and still function to save life normally
Herd immunity yes, but the way to get herd immunity is a either letting it sweep through everyone which will see millions dead . . . or a vaccine.
When we have vaccines in Phase III trials, 250 million vaccine doses on order and the first delivery of the first vaccine being scheduled for September at the earliest why the heck would we not control the virus until a vaccine is ready?
Saw that coming. Even if the situation were not increasing itd be a good excuse for the security law to bed in, exclude more candidates and intimidate people.
After the disastrous (for Beijing) local elections Covid 19 has been a godsend for them.
"face coverings will be compulsory in more indoor settings where people are likely to come into contact with people they do not know"
So do you have to now wear a mask in the gym? In fact, how can gyms still be allowed to be open, but not bowling alleys or attending an outdoor sporting event?
Comments
And many people will have booked an August 2020 wedding before the virus even existed.
None is the answer I strongly suspect.
Panic. Blind panic.
Notification, yes. But more than that? Probably unnecessary.
This cannot be right. It cannot.
This isn;t medicine. It is tyranny.
As I said at the time it was never about making the Government look weak - it was about ensuring it could remain strong and credible.
print("Prediction: Patient does not have COVID-19")
I'm sure theirs is actually quite good, but to judge that you need sensitivity and specificity (or similar).
I used to work in a related area (predicting in hospital adverse events such as death, ICU admission, cardiac arrest) and it's scary how predictive simple vital signs could be. Add in some blood tests results and it was like seeing the future, even with something simple like logistic regression.
Community policing at its finest....
His Gresham College lectures on the subject are excellent:
https://www.gresham.ac.uk/series/infectious-diseases/
I believe Boris has contacted Starmer and Starmer is on board with the changes
Good to see unity
There seem to be quite a lot of occasional 1s in most of the country, in my charts..
Maybe the heat is getting to me and I am over reacting, but this is getting worrying.
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.07.29.20164293v1
Fatigue is a common symptom in those presenting with symptomatic COVID-19 infection. However, it is unknown if COVID-19 results in persistent fatigue in those recovered from acute infection. We examined the prevalence of fatigue in individuals recovered from the acute phase of COVID-19 illness using the Chalder Fatigue Score (CFQ-11). We further examined potential predictors of fatigue following COVID-19 infection, evaluating indicators of COVID-19 severity, markers of peripheral immune activation and circulating pro-inflammatory cytokines. Of 128 participants (49.5 ± 15 years; 54% female), more than half reported persistent fatigue (52.3%; 45/128) at 10 weeks (median) after initial COVID-19 symptoms. There was no association between COVID-19 severity (need for inpatient admission, supplemental oxygen or critical care) and fatigue following COVID-19. Additionally, there was no association between routine laboratory markers of inflammation and cell turnover (leukocyte, neutrophil or lymphocyte counts, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, lactate dehydrogenase, C-reactive protein) or pro-inflammatory molecules (IL-6 or sCD25) and fatigue post COVID-19. Female gender and those with a pre-existing diagnosis of depression/anxiety were over-represented in those with fatigue. Our findings demonstrate a significant burden of post-viral fatigue in individuals with previous SARS-CoV-2 infection after the acute phase of COVID-19 illness. This study highlights the importance of assessing those recovering from COVID-19 for symptoms of severe fatigue, irrespective of severity of initial illness, and may identify a group worthy of further study and early intervention.
He cannot do anything if the government doesnt act on what he says, so your 'this cannot be right' stuff is totally right - as it's not what is happening.
The questions about his suitability, whether his advice is the right course? Totally fine. Whinging that hes unaccountable and this is tyranny? Nonsense
Been the date since 2018, she was told if the government allowed weddings on that date then she couldn’t cancel it and get her money back.
I guess people whose weddings were tomorrow were in a similar boat.
Under the umbrella title ‘End of the pandemic – the Day of Freedom’ diverse groups from the extreme left and right, including anti-vaxers, Holocaust deniers, and conspiracy theorists who believe the virus has been imposed by an elite in order to gain power, are due to hold dozens of individual protests across the German capital.
..
Among the demonstrators, one group has suggested ‘storming the Reichstag’, the German parliament building. Others have rejected the idea, arguing it could bring the entire demonstration into disrepute. Over 1500 police are expected to be on duty, with around 22,000 protesters due to take part from across Germany, according to Berlin’s interior ministry.
...
[The demonstrations are] drawing in a range of interest groups, including followers of the elusive US group QAnon - an online conspiracy theory cult focused on the idea of a “deep state” dominance, one of whose heroes is US president Donald Trump, or the alliance ‘Querdenken’ (‘lateral thinking’) whose followers sport tin foil pendants and are against a coronavirus vaccine.
They sound like those bizarre groups roaming around Europe during the Black Death.
Why? because governing is so much easier this way than the proper way, the democratic way. and our leaders have got a taste for it.
I;ve never before welcomed an economic collapse, but I think to be honest it is the only thing that can save us from this awful , awful state of affairs in the short term because people will wake up to the truth.
I guess at some juncture we will have an election but to be honest I am not even sure about that.
The pattern seems to be that without action the virus spreads in increasing numbers within the healthy young, who pass it on to the more vulnerable, some of whon go to hospital, some of whom die. Rapid testing is being done that has caught the first step and the attempt is to break the chain of transmission before it reaches the last step.
*Reverse Transcription Loop-mediated Isothermal Amplification
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverse_Transcription_Loop-mediated_Isothermal_Amplification
https://www.bellaandduke.com/podcast/is-your-dogs-stool-healthy-secrets-revealed-podcast-82/?utm_campaign=397617_To customers Podcast 82 - Is Your Dogs Poo Healthy? We Reveal All&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Bella & Duke Limited&dm_i=5BSK,8ISX,2M6J80,XQRL,1
You're apparently not as smart as Donald Trump
https://twitter.com/Tim_Burgess/status/1288962912833417217
Talk about short notice!
https://twitter.com/zerohedge/status/1289162731308961792
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2768767
Evidence is pretty clear, in Asia at least, that face touching was reduced at the same time as mask wearing increased.
More evidence required from Europe for definite conclusions.
Life has to go on even during pandemics, we cannot constantly be stopping things for fear of capacity issues.
And to read as recommended earlier in lockdown, The Naked Sun, about a world with no physical contact.
How can they be if they will be doing nothing?
When we have vaccines in Phase III trials, 250 million vaccine doses on order and the first delivery of the first vaccine being scheduled for September at the earliest why the heck would we not control the virus until a vaccine is ready?
After the disastrous (for Beijing) local elections Covid 19 has been a godsend for them.
So do you have to now wear a mask in the gym? In fact, how can gyms still be allowed to be open, but not bowling alleys or attending an outdoor sporting event?