Coronavirus - will we survive?

wanderlust wrote:There's a flight to Portugal tonight if you're worried.

I'm not.

And why would anybody be so stupid or know it all enough to fly from an area where there is practically zero infection to a country that was on the cusp of being banned for their outbreak - see Wales and Scotland's reaction to Portugal at the time!

Well worth a 14 day self isolation period on return no doubt.

Oh wait, didn't you do exactly that!

Seems 1 in 5 openly admit to not self isolating even when told to do so.

This is what the government is up against - is it really all their fault that people clearly don't give a fuck about the rules???

I think this suns it up nicely -

Across the UK, normally law-abiding people are harbouring a guilty secret.

They are the Covid holiday quarantine-breakers.





In July, Alice, a 20-something office worker from Surrey, was fed up with not having got away on holiday. For the good of her own mental wellbeing, she says, she broke the rules. Sitting in her garden, she confessed her crime to me.

She'd booked a trip to Majorca with a friend. Then, days before she had been due to fly out, the UK slapped quarantine rules on Spain.

"We were basically told by the holiday company that we wouldn't get our money back. I didn't want to lose another holiday and any money. So just decided to go anyway."

When Alice got to Majorca, she decided the self-isolation she'd face on return to the UK would be a nonsense. The hotel was largely empty and reassuringly clean.

"There wasn't really a time, other than when you were eating, on a sunbed, or in your hotel room that you weren't wearing a mask," she says. "It just felt really safe." Alice believed that the virus transmission rate was very low. She was probably safer in Majorca than England, she thought. In fact, the coronavirus infection rate in Majorca had been climbing rapidly during her stay - meaning her risk of catching it had been growing by the day.

So what happened when Alice returned home?

While her job allowed her to work from home, she wondered about the rest of her life.

"So..." she begins, hesitantly, "I isolated for a couple of days. And then I just thought, you know what, I'm fine."

In the fortnight that followed, the critical period of potential transmission, Alice visited family (although not elderly relatives), went on shopping trips and met up with friends in their homes, or a local park.

"I just thought, if I'm going to catch it anywhere [it will be] in England... people aren't following all the rules all the time."

And you were one of them, I point out.

"Yeah," she replies nervously.



Back in her sunny garden in Surrey, Alice, too, didn't think it would happen to her.

"It probably was really selfish of me, and I probably won't do it again," she says, sheepishly. "But at the time, I guess you just think of yourself and you want that holiday - but then you don't want to quarantine. No one wants to quarantine.

"And I don't regret it."

More here -

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-54346001

For Bonce - Keep safe mate!

BREAKING
New restrictions confirmed for parts of England
Health Secretary Matt Hancock is now delivering his coronavirus statement in the Commons.

He says in parts of Teesside and the north-west of England cases are continuing to rise fast.

Working with council leaders, he says he's extending restrictions introduced to north-east England this week to the Liverpool City Region, Warrington, Hartlepool and Middlesborough.

Those restrictions include a ban on mixing between households in any indoor setting, such as pubs and restaurants.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-54362119

Bugger. Luckily, mum lives very close by, so we can keep an eye on her, but this is disappointing news.
Suppose we've got to keep doing what it takes to keep ourselves and others safe.
Thanks for the info Sluffy, appreciated.

Just beggars belief really???

First



Second

Jeremy Corbyn issues grovelling apology after breaking coronavirus ‘rule of 6’ at dinner party for nine



https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/politics/12813325/corbyn-breaks-rule-of-six-at-dinner-party/

Third

PM's father Stanley Johnson pictured in shop without face covering



https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-54369002


Shouldn't Caesar's wife not be above suspicion?

Cos this lot certainly aren't!

This from the site of the actors / actresses

Business secretary Alok Sharma has been heavily criticised for suggesting workers in sectors that are currently unable to open - such as theatre - should be helped into “better jobs”


The thing is, the rules do apply to all. The tories are going to be really hated by them

If anyone hasnt read, there have been lots of protests from the Theatre and actors people. Tory MP`s were invited to attend and they all declined.

Something 'odd' happening with the daily information today?

It's usually put out around 4.00pm but it was hours late today and when the totals finally came they reported 12,872 positives (yesterdays for comparison was 6,968 and when we had lockdown the totals were under 6,000).

Also this was also posted on the site -

"Due to a technical issue, which has now been resolved, there has been a delay in publishing a number of COVID-19 cases to the dashboard in England. This means the total reported over the coming days will include some additional cases from the period between 24 September and 1 October, increasing the number of cases reported".

So I guess something big went wrong somewhere?

Wonder what tomorrows totals will show?

Of the 10,806 newly reported cases in England today

38 were from tests taken yesterday
3,654 Thurs (34%)
1,313 Wed (12%)
558 Tues (5%)
618 Mon
1,263 Sun
794 last Sat
550 last Fri
724 last Thurs
721 last Wed
153 last Tues
69 last Mon
257 last Sun

94 from prior

Avg of 5.2 days pic.twitter.com/b5rF2IOQDh

— andrew (@avds) October 3, 2020

The good news as such is that the totals of people in hospital is still remarkably low in comparison to daily positive cases - although the totals have not been updated for four days???

Hope they haven't been under reported too?

No daily total again yet and this tweet from Peston (who I think was brilliant when the banks had to be bailed out /sub-prime debacle but an absolute tit over Covid - but here it is non the less) -

the new data fundamentally changes the perception of how fast infected numbers have been rising and prevalence of the virus in the community. And presumably we will learn why so many of these positive tests vanished temporarily and weren't included in published data.

— Robert Peston (@Peston) October 4, 2020

Number just in for positives cases - 22.961

This explanation given -

An issue was identified overnight on Friday 2 October in the automated process that transfers positive cases data to PHE. It has now been resolved.

The cases by publish date for 3 and 4 October include 15,841 additional cases with specimen dates between 25 September and 2 October — they are therefore artificially high for England and the UK.

So yesterdays figure was 13,000 and todays of 23,000 gives a total of 36,000 subtract the 16,000 previously under recorded we are left with 20,000 for two days or an average of around 10,000 per day.

This may not be as bad as it seems as loads of cases have been reported at university's recently (nearly at 800 on one day at Newcastle alone).

The key thing though is for now people in hospital are still relatively very low - 2,329 for England shown as of todays date.

Visited my local Tesco earlier - people still walking around not wearing masks - they still don't give a fuck!

Is it any surprise cases are rising throughout the country?

It is what it is though, so just keep save everybody.

This isn't going away anytime soon.

Sluffy wrote:
Visited my local Tesco earlier - people still walking around not wearing masks - they still don't give a fuck!

Is it any surprise cases are rising throughout the country?

It is what it is though, so just keep save everybody.

This isn't going away anytime soon.

Surprised Tesco are not enforcing their policy. Everyone wears a mask in my local Tesco and if, heaven forfend someone tried to sneak in without one they'd be pounced on by angry pensioners brandishing fruit and threatening legal action even if it's explained to them that the act doesn't amount to attempted murder.

What I can't understand - and I'm seeing it fairly regular now - is a group of people, many clearly in family groups, where all but one will be wearing a mask or just one out of them all is wearing a mask???

What's that all about?

I would have thought if someone is concerned enough to wear a mask they would be telling all the others to do so too?

It has made me wonder at times if people who knowingly are positive are going out with their family and are wearing a mask (as a precaution) and the other family members are thinking 'we feel fine so we don't have it, and we don't wear masks at home and we live with the positive person'?

I certainly wouldn't put it pass folk in my neck of the woods.

Some figures for today Bolton +240, Manchester +1,054, Leeds +968, Liverpool +899, Nottingham +652, Sheffield +639, Newcastle +625, so I'm guessing some big university cases in there but for comparison Oxford +52, Cambridge +16.

However County Durham is +446.

I guess the kids at Oxford and Cambridge are the ones with the brains and the kids at Manchester, Leeds etc, the ones with the parties!!!

Seems that not only had those 16,000 positive cases been missed off the daily totals but non of the details got sent to Test and Trace, so no follow up on any of these cases some going back over a week now!!!



At a time when the testing system has come under intense scrutiny after reports of delays and a system struggling to keep up with demand, the latest revelation could not have come at a more awkward moment for the government at Westminster.

Because the nearly 16,000 extra positive test results had been not entered into the test and trace system, their recent contacts were not immediately followed up.

Experts advise that ideally contacts should be tracked down within 48 hours.

Officials say the technical problem, thought to be IT related, has been resolved, with all the new cases added into totals reported over the weekend.

But all this will hardly improve public confidence in the testing system in England.

And it muddies the waters for policy makers and officials trying to track the spread of the virus at what the prime minister has called a "critical moment".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-54412581

To quote Randy Newman, they're rednecks who don't really know their ass from a hole in the ground

Yesterday Boris urged the public to start going to the cinema again. Today Cineworld closed it's 127 UK cinemas. 
I don't know whether to berate the man for attempting to kill off even more Brits or simply sit back and marvel at his timing.

Sluffy wrote:Seems that not only had those 16,000 positive cases been missed off the daily totals but non of the details got sent to Test and Trace, so no follow up on any of these cases some going back over a week now!!!



At a time when the testing system has come under intense scrutiny after reports of delays and a system struggling to keep up with demand, the latest revelation could not have come at a more awkward moment for the government at Westminster.

Because the nearly 16,000 extra positive test results had been not entered into the test and trace system, their recent contacts were not immediately followed up.

Experts advise that ideally contacts should be tracked down within 48 hours.

Officials say the technical problem, thought to be IT related, has been resolved, with all the new cases added into totals reported over the weekend.

But all this will hardly improve public confidence in the testing system in England.

And it muddies the waters for policy makers and officials trying to track the spread of the virus at what the prime minister has called a "critical moment".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-54412581

I find it hard to believe but the "IT related" problem turns out to be.....this.

How the f*** can this government spend £35 MILLION on a "world class" test and trace system that is run on an Excel spreadsheet?

And the reason why the cases weren't entered is because although Excel can handle up to a million rows, it can only support 16 thousand columns - and they put a case in each column FFS - so obviously when they reached 16k cases there was no room for the extra.

Read the initial comments if you want to laugh or cry about how shite the system is - we'll have to wait to see what people's thoughts on where the £35 million has gone to - although Rupert Soames is the obvious connection to the Tory party.

I'm absolutely fed up with this Tory government ripping off the public to give fat contracts to their backers.

But to be fair Serco did sponsor an event at this year's Tory party conference.
And it is a "world-beating" spreadsheet 

I suspect a lot of this Covid lockdown stuff is aimed at putting good businesses out of business so that the rich can snap up bargains. Hostile take-overs and all sorts. The Tories do this kind of thing to help their mates everytime they get in.

wanderlust wrote:Yesterday Boris urged the public to start going to the cinema again. Today Cineworld closed it's 127 UK cinemas. 
I don't know whether to berate the man for attempting to kill off even more Brits or simply sit back and marvel at his timing.

Been reading social media again by any chance?

It was the other way around.

Cineworld announced it's closure yesterday -

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-54407213

...and I assume Boris was asked a question today about cinemas and answered giving his support to the ones who are still surviving for now - what else could he say?

"On Monday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged people to return to cinemas. He said would "encourage people to go out to the cinema, enjoy themselves and support" movie theatres."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-54387856

Don't let the facts get in your way about having a pop at him and the government though!

I am frightened of posting in here at the moment. Is there something happening? It is eerie. May I post? Its like one of those three-tier lockdowns that Bojo is on about again that I dont understand. I am a Northener, I only understand Pies and Cups of Tea.
Is there a battle going on in here? Is it a hostile take-over?

Its just the usual Lusty vs Sluffy battle Sunlight, don't be alarmed 

sunlight wrote:I am frightened of posting in here at the moment. Is there something happening? It is eerie. May I post? Its like one of those three-tier lockdowns that Bojo is on about again that I dont understand. I am a Northener, I only understand Pies and Cups of Tea.
Is there a battle going on in here? Is it a hostile take-over?

It's war. We Brillo's are being challenged by the soap filled pads.

The Brillo's will prevail, leaving the soap filled pads cowering behind the taps with the used tea bags. 

Blockheads indeed! Be warned Bob. I tire of your persiflage.