Coronavirus outbreak

[mjr]

Fark, that's not good. It's the death's jumping up again.

No-one seems to have told the death toll that the rising case numbers over the last few weeks "are nothing more than scaremongering nonsense drawn up by number crunching geeks"...

 

[mjr]

Contact tracers are having a lot of their calls blocked on mobile phone and test and trace know this. It's unclear what proportion of this is the people who are getting rung multiple times a day by different contact tracers and other people just blocking it.

I answered a call from 0300 013 5000 (which is NHS Trace's advertised number) this morning. It was an automated message telling me I need to press 2 to speak to an operator about renewing my vehicle's extended warranty (I don't have one).

If I didn't know enough to search the web for that number before pressing "block", I wouldn't know it's used by NHS Trace. I guess the scammer/spammers are using it because they feel people are more likely to pick up than "Private number".

 

[marinyork]

I answered a call from 0300 013 5000 (which is NHS Trace's advertised number) this morning. It was an automated message telling me I need to press 2 to speak to an operator about renewing my vehicle's extended warranty (I don't have one).

If I didn't know enough to search the web for that number before pressing "block", I wouldn't know it's used by NHS Trace. I guess the scammer/spammers are using it because they feel people are more likely to pick up than "Private number".

There was a piece in student halls about people getting rung 4-5 times a day by contact tracers giving them different dates to self isolate.

The contact tracer I know has now had enough and is no longer doing overtime even at 13 quid an hour and just doing their normal hours. Their team are having a lot of 'grumpy' people saying they've been rung up multiple times and please leave them alone they've already been isolating for x days already. And blocked numbers.

There are a lot of other scams going around at the moment.

 

[mjr]

Janice says she couldn't say no because she felt bad to insist [...]

Then I'm sorry but as well as "Ellie" and her mum being stupid, "Janice" made her choice too: she could have said no but put "Ellie"'s feelings above her own life.

We've got to get over this fear of hurting people's feelings by telling them to stop being farking stupid and taking chances with this virus and our lives — but maybe that's easier for me to say because I've always been blunt so my family would probably expect it.

 

[Rusty Nails]

The rule of six just means, rather like Whitty and others indirectly commented on the last few days that substantial mixing is still going on in households, outdoors in close proximity and indoors in private venues. It's just the numbers are down from lots of 10s/12s to 6 or pretending to be 6. Outdoors there are still loads of activities going on with people in 15s/18s etc not keeping any distance. I see them all the time. All of that means R above 1 and the situation we're in with about 15,000+ cases per day.

You missed the bit where I said: "The younger generations are no more or less sensible or responsible than they have ever been, and are capable of cocking things up without any help from the old."

I thought that most confirmed cases were among the younger age groups at the moment. That said, all age groups bear a level of responsibility for spreading the virus.

 

[marinyork]

I thought that most confirmed cases were among the younger age groups at the moment. That said, all age groups bear a level of responsibility for spreading the virus.

Sadly very little difference in infection rates between someone who is 30 and someone who is 59 in the bad areas here - North West, North East and Yorkshire and Humberside. The 10-19 and 20-29 infection rates are quite a lot higher. Scarily in the north East the infections in 80+s isn't that different to 30-59. This was in The Whitty's presentation. Until about 25th September the rates for 'young' age groups weren't that different. It's very bad in all age groups except under 10s and very, very, very bad 10-29.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

There was a piece in student halls about people getting rung 4-5 times a day by contact tracers giving them different dates to self isolate.

The contact tracer I know has now had enough and is no longer doing overtime even at 13 quid an hour and just doing their normal hours. Their team are having a lot of 'grumpy' people saying they've been rung up multiple times and please leave them alone they've already been isolating for x days already. And blocked numbers.

There are a lot of other scams going around at the moment.

But how can that be? They have a master spreadsheet to record who has been called.😉

 

[marinyork]

But how can that be? They have a master spreadsheet to record who has been called.😉

I believe it is happening to some people. If it continues, I'm sure someone will get to the bottom of the why because it is wasting a lot of time now and the calls have massively ramped up.

 

[tom73]

Anyone who still believes all this mask wearing is pointless.
Explain this one even with all measures in place this happens. It’s only possible if it’s airborne transmission.
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/10/13/world/spinco-canada-covid-19-outbreak-trnd/index.html
one case leading to 61.

 

[mjr]

Anyone who still believes all this mask wearing is pointless.
Explain this one even with all measures in place this happens. It’s only possible if it’s airborne transmission.
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/10/13/world/spinco-canada-covid-19-outbreak-trnd/index.html
one case leading to 61.

I don't think it's "only possible" for sure, as maybe everyone was sweatily touching the same door handles or lockers, or maybe their laundry screwed up and cross-contaminated towels instead of cleaning them, but airborne transmission in an enclosed space certainly seems the most likely.

I also doubt mask-wearing would have prevented that completely, either. 61 cases from one suggests it was a pretty virulent breeding ground and cloth masks aren't completely effective. It might only have reduced it.

It's a difficult question: must some gyms (and probably other businesses) be closed and either bailed out or bankrupted in order to control the virus?

 

[glasgowcyclist]

I’m reposting my earlier question as I fear it may have been considered rhetorical but I really would like to know the answer...

Does immunity from the effects of Covid also confer immunity from being a vector of transmission?

 

[mjr]

Does immunity from the effects of Covid also confer immunity from being a vector of transmission?

Not if by "immunity from the effects" you mean they display no symptoms — strictly speaking, you could argue that being a vector of transmission is one of the effects.

For examples, see the gym case above where "patient zero displayed no symptoms", or maybe the asymptomatic riders at the Vuelta although time may tell on that.

Asymptomatic spreaders may be less effective spreaders because they're not coughing virus particles out over such a wide area.

 

[Oldhippy]

I'm trying to avoid going on this thread but as with others on it I am gobsmacked that some people are under the delusion that the government can somehow in king Canute fashion, hold the virus at bay with some policy or other! It is a viral infection and does not abide by our rules. It's a gene pool thing, it is established that it is contagious and crosses all ages. It hasn't been around long enough to make long term predictions as yet. It is incredibly unfortunate that businesses and jobs are in danger but this one virus has the potential to change social structure as we currently know it. If we don't adapt we suffer more and these di*ks that go on binges or just carry on as normal before the next shutdown are merely providing fuel for the next round. Lunacy. We ain't that smart as a species and just need to think differently, adapt and adapt again. Easy to say and hard to do but if we don't we could be screwed in so many ways all because we wanted dinner out or went to bloody sports games because we have a right.

 

[classic33]

Contact tracers are having a lot of their calls blocked on mobile phone and test and trace know this. It's unclear what proportion of this is the people who are getting rung multiple times a day by different contact tracers and other people just blocking it.

Or they're using an 0843/0844 number, both of which are currently in use by scam callers.

There's a scam going round where your phone rings briefly, leaving a missed call from a number unknown to you. To check who called costs between £5 & £15 per minute, or part there of.

 

[tom73]

I’m reposting my earlier question as I fear it may have been considered rhetorical but I really would like to know the answer...

Yes is the simple answer diseases we know about it can happen.