Coronavirus outbreak

[mjr]

So the sats are down but not really in a rush to go down so we've not nailed this yet. The R rate is the same as it's been for weeks.
But the threat level has been lowered and it's odd's on to formerly forget social distancing. New cases are rising in some areas including schools. How long before the penny drops and they slow things down before things really speed up?

Looks slightly lower to me than 2 weeks ago, although the latest is the ZOE+KCL estimate for 17th June based on lax-security smartphone users, and not the U.Cambridge one which hasn't been published in 2 weeks (and the CMMID one based on NHS Pathways data is even older). I guess the R value estimates that gov.uk are using aren't changing.

 

[Rusty Nails]

This is one of the worst briefings yet. A no mark with no professional back up. Did not even attempt to answer the questions from the public. Who voted these balloons in?

I have not been a great fan of Mark Drakeford in the past, but I must admit he has done a better job of the Welsh briefings than the UK government. He doesn't rely on/hide behind expert props, takes more questions and gives more thorough answers than the Tories.

 

[tom73]

Oh look the app now's hit another problem....
Yesterday it was all down to Apple the distance-measuring did not work said Hancock.
"We've agreed to join forces with Google and Apple, to bring the best bits of both systems together," Mr Hancock said.
Downing Street said the government had "worked closely with Apple and Google"
It's news to Apple they've not even asked or told of a problem.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-53105642

 

[mjr]

Absolutely the worst briefing.

Chancers. F'in chancers.

School "bubbles" will now be whole-class, which means each case in a school will mean about 30 households isolating, taking about 50 working-age adults out of circulation, based on
about 22% of households with dependent children being lone-parent, rounding down to allow for a few older parents and ignoring working-age siblings in the hope they cancel some other error out

Apparently COVID DEFCON 3 (medium spicy) means that social distancing can be relaxed. Was that ever said before or have they just made that up?

Over in Switzerland, they've just reduced social distancing from 2m to 1.5m like many of their neighbours (except France which uses 1m).

 

[Salty seadog]

School "bubbles" will now be whole-class, which means each case in a school will mean about 30 households isolating, taking about 50 working-age adults out of circulation, based on
about 22% of households with dependent children being lone-parent, rounding down to allow for a few older parents and ignoring working-age siblings in the hope they cancel some other error out

Apparently COVID DEFCON 3 (medium spicy) means that social distancing can be relaxed. Was that ever said before or have they just made that up?

Over in Switzerland, they've just reduced social distancing from 2m to 1.5m like many of their neighbours (except France which uses 1m).

Is all going to wind down to suit the economy.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

Is all going to wind down to suit the economy.

An economy that will splutter on inefficiently like an engine needing a complete rebuild. The higher end of R estimates give over 1 for London, and the South West, which indicate that outbreaks will continue to hit business' ability to function well.

 

[marinyork]

From the Guardian
Italy: Covid-19 was present in two big cities two months before first case was detected
The coronavirus was present in two large Italian cities in December, more than two months before the first case was detected, a national health institute study of waste water has found.
That suggests the virus appeared in Italy around the same time it was first reported in China.
Researchers discovered genetic traces of Sars-CoV-2 - as the virus is officially known - in samples of waste water collected in Milan and Turin at the end of last year, and Bologna in January, the ISS institute said in a statement seen by AFP on Friday.
Italy’s first known native case was discovered mid-February.
The results “help to understand the start of the circulation of the virus in Italy,” the ISS said.
They also “confirm the by-now consolidated international evidence” as to the strategic function of sewer samples as an early detection tool, it added.
The results feed into an effort by scientists around the world to trace the virus’s family tree

 

[Ming the Merciless]

It's happening.

One lectern again. I'm taking my trousers off. .

They are following the science as Boris just managed to say through smirking lips.

You misheard they are following the sceance

 

[mjr]

Sweary:
View: https://mobile.twitter.com/Trump_ton/status/1273946349185249281

BBC Radio 4 just reported people in Liverpool booking tests were being directed to a park by mistake.

 

[tom73]

Now the the death figures look to be out including 22 consecutive days of over 1000 that no-one told us about.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...k-ministers-accused-downplaying-covid-19-peak

 

[Tanis8472]

Now the the death figures look to be out including 22 consecutive days of over 1000 that no-one told us about.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...k-ministers-accused-downplaying-covid-19-peak

Absolute daffodils

 

[srw]

Now the the death figures look to be out including 22 consecutive days of over 1000 that no-one told us about.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...k-ministers-accused-downplaying-covid-19-peak

I'd be surprised if ministers even know how bad the figures ever were, or understand the point.

What that article underplays, I think, is the sheer difficulty of getting decent real-time data. It also, frustratingly, looks at deaths specifically linked to Covid19 rather than all cause mortality - which would make the numbers even higher. The Guardian has access to numerate journalists, so it's annoying that they haven't been commissioned.

 

[tom73]

Move over facecoverings the "Tube Tube" is here.

View: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/business-53106644/coronavirus-designer-develops-mobile-plastic-shield

The guy behind it said he feel's self-conscious wearing a mask but not with this
Can see a whole new paper coming for the prof @Brompton Bruce

 

[Julia9054]

Move over facecoverings the "Tube Tube" is here.

View: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/business-53106644/coronavirus-designer-develops-mobile-plastic-shield

The guy behind it said he feel's self-conscious wearing a mask but not with this
Can see a whole new paper coming for the prof @Brompton Bruce

I have an urge to pour a bucket of water in the top

 

[tom73]

I have an urge to pour a bucket of water in the top

Or a the odd plastic spider or two.
Maybe wrong but at 95 quid can't see it flying off the shelves.