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Coronavirus


Bjornebye

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38 minutes ago, Section_31 said:

People can stay in the house if they want, but then can't complain when the economy collapses and  they've got no job to go back to, or they can keep their kid off school for years, but can't complain when they can't spell and develop mental health issues. 

 

The 'NHS collapse' thing is confusing. 

Build a handful of the 40 hospitals they promised, that would help.

 

But more so, let's have a proper understanding of this disease.  We've had enough time to study it now, there are some things that we're just not having relayed to us in a way that we trust.  The Tories built this mistrust in experts problem, and now it's a real problem for the country believing anything said by anyone on anything. 

 

Going back to basics, taking a group of 100 people in different cohorts, how many of each would get ill, get hospitalised, get ventilated, die? 

Kids with no underlying conditions.

Fat kids.

Kids with asthma.

Kids with ....  list each here.

 

Then onto teenagers, same split.

 

Then onto 20-30 group.

 

Etc.

 

I want that picture given to us.  I want your odds of survival spelled out in black and white.  YOU then make your choice about what exposure to it you want.  Go back to work, open the nightclubs, get the stadiums open again, no problem, but at least they're full of people who have no excuses NOT knowing the risk to them and those they live with.

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29 minutes ago, Colonel Bumcunt said:

Nice one.  I fucking hate St Agnes.  Rocky piece of shit. 

 

By the way, classic IOS summer weather today.  Low level cloud and fog banks.  While the rest of the country bathes in sunshine I've actually got my fucking lights on in the lounge because it's so gloomy.  Does my head in days like this. 

I think on balance you do OK for sunshine over there. At least there will be no flights today to disturb the gloom. Had plenty of cancellations over the years and a few trips on the Falcon to get back . Get the Scillonian these .

 

 Agnes is great , sorry. 

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9 minutes ago, Colonel Bumcunt said:

The 'NHS collapse' thing is confusing. 

Build a handful of the 40 hospitals they promised, that would help.

 

But more so, let's have a proper understanding of this disease.  We've had enough time to study it now, there are some things that we're just not having relayed to us in a way that we trust.  The Tories built this mistrust in experts problem, and now it's a real problem for the country believing anything said by anyone on anything. 

 

Going back to basics, taking a group of 100 people in different cohorts, how many of each would get ill, get hospitalised, get ventilated, die? 

Kids with no underlying conditions.

Fat kids.

Kids with asthma.

Kids with ....  list each here.

 

Then onto teenagers, same split.

 

Then onto 20-30 group.

 

Etc.

 

I want that picture given to us.  I want your odds of survival spelled out in black and white.  YOU then make your choice about what exposure to it you want.  Go back to work, open the nightclubs, get the stadiums open again, no problem, but at least they're full of people who have no excuses NOT knowing the risk to them and those they live with.

Chris Whitty seemed pretty clued up at the beginning of all this but you saw as the days/weeks went on that he was shifting opinion based on the tory narrative. 

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37 minutes ago, Spy Bee said:

Why can't people just make their point without resorting to sarcasm and being a general arsehole?

 

The link you posted doesn't explain in any way how they are factoring in the rise in other respiratory conditions with similar symptoms.

In the app, you're asked to report each day whether you've had a test or not, and if you're feeling unwell. If you say you're unwell, you're then given a list of about 20 questions about your symptoms- fever, chills, your temperature, persistent cough, unusual fatigue, headache, nausea/ vomiting, dizziness, shortness of breath, sore throat, loss of smell or taste, unusual hoarseness, chest pains or tightness, diarrhoea, muscle aches or pains, skin welts or face/ lip swelling, sores or blisters, confusion/ disorientation/ drowsiness, photo sensitivity, loss of appetite, and a general 'other symptoms' box.

 

You'd have to contact them for specifics, but I'd imagine symptoms reported for positive cases are given greater weighting than others when it comes to estimating the current number of cases- as indicated on their 'About' page- https://covid.joinzoe.com/about. It isn't a simplistic symptom sorter. You can certainly quibble about the exact number of figures, but all the way through this, the trend reported via the app has mirrored the trend reported through testing. There's no reason to suspect it to be any different now.

 

In any case, the Tweets @Sugar Ape linked to yesterday show a significant rise in admissions, people aren't getting hospitalised due to colds.

 

 

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The 'admissions' are including people who have acquired the virus in hospital, as well as those that are admitted for other reasons, but happen to test positive for Covid. We expect numbers to go up, but hopefully not by too many.

 

Scotland have changed their definition of Covid patients in hospital to bring it in line with England rather than just anyone who ever tested positive. This bring the number down from 269 to 46.

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1 minute ago, Spy Bee said:

 

 

 

i had this issue on sunday. then my mate told me it is a bug in the mobile version of the site, to try the full version, which i did on my laptop. while the closest drive through was in deeside, i managed to get walkthrough in bootle 1st time. i think the website is fucking shite. 

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7 minutes ago, Barrington Womble said:

i had this issue on sunday. then my mate told me it is a bug in the mobile version of the site, to try the full version, which i did on my laptop. while the closest drive through was in deeside, i managed to get walkthrough in bootle 1st time. i think the website is fucking shite. 

I wonder if some of it is on purpose as they can't process the amount of tests coming through. I saw a tweet earlier and there is a massive lag in positives coming back.

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My eldest's school has its second case. 

 

The school has had to send a reminder for parents to wear masks at the school gates cos they're all stood round chatting shite. It's about 50/50 wearing masks. I had mine on this morning and actually felt quite awkward there were so many without. Fucking BELL ENDS. Just stick a fucking mask on for 5 minutes! 

 

The worst thing is seeing someone with a mask pull it down to talk to someone. They can still hear you with your mask on it's not made of lead! 

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14 minutes ago, johnsusername said:

My eldest's school has its second case. 

 

The school has had to send a reminder for parents to wear masks at the school gates cos they're all stood round chatting shite. It's about 50/50 wearing masks. I had mine on this morning and actually felt quite awkward there were so many without. Fucking BELL ENDS. Just stick a fucking mask on for 5 minutes! 

 

The worst thing is seeing someone with a mask pull it down to talk to someone. They can still hear you with your mask on it's not made of lead! 

Are the school gates indoors? If not, what a load of hysterical shite. We've had protests, riots, football celebrations, congas on VE Day. None of it lead to even a slight peak in infections.

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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/15/private-labs-unable-to-process-all-covid-tests-nhs-email-reveals

 

Why on earth we contract out testing and processing to Serco and Deloitte, fuck only knows.

 



Private labs unable to process all Covid tests, NHS email reveals
Exclusive: Lighthouse labs sought help from NHS England to analyse community swabs

Boris Johnson visiting a Lighthouse lab in Milton Keynes. The first such labs were set up by the accountancy firm Deloitte, bypassing the NHS and public health network. Photograph: Andrew Parsons/10 Downing Street/AFP/Getty Images
Laboratories that analyse swabs from people in the community, including care homes, were stretched to capacity even in late August, unable to process all the Covid test samples coming in and seeking help from the NHS, the Guardian can reveal.

On 24 August, all NHS labs, which process hospital Covid tests, were sent an email from NHS England “regarding the urgent call for support from the pillar 2 team” – the Lighthouse labs analysing the community swabs.

“This is due to a surge in current capacity and is a short term call for support potentially for the next 2-3 weeks,” said the email from Amanda Parsons, the national strategic improvement programme delivery lead.

“Please may I ask for any labs who have not yet responded (and many thanks to those who have and offered support, you will have heard from me recently) to make contact if they are able to offer an additional 500 or more tests per day.”
The appeal was so urgent that labs were asked to respond within 24 hours.

The first private sector Lighthouse labs were set up in April by a project run by the accountancy firm Deloitte, bypassing the NHS and the public health network. They have operated separately from the NHS labs and use different kit. This was potentially a problem for NHS labs willing to help.

The email said people from one NHS lab that had taken on some of the Lighthouse workload on a pilot basis was available to talk though potential issues, including logistics, supplies and IT.

The email, seen by the Guardian, was sent three weeks ago but the testing situation has not improved. There were accusations on Monday that it had deteriorated into a “shambles”, with people in 10 of the worst-hit coronavirus hotspots unable to get tests.


Prof Alan McNally, of the Institute of Microbiology and Infection at Birmingham University, who helped set up the first Lighthouse lab in Milton Keynes, said it was hard to know why tests were unavailable. “It is the most closely guarded secret in the UK right now,” he told BBC Radio 4’s PM programme on Monday.

“It’s definitely not a staffing issue. My understanding is the labs are still churning out the same number of tests they have been since May and June.

“I wish that there would have been some clarity and honesty and open communication. If this was Public Heath England or the NHS that was running this testing system, there would be full transparency and public disclosure of what the issues were.”

It was fairly clear, he said, that the private labs were intended to be a long-term replacement for the public health network. “Infectious disease diagnostics were going down a privatised route.”

Allan Wilson, the president of the Institute of Biomedical Science, the professional body for lab scientists, said more openness from the private sector labs was essential. They had not disclosed how many tests they were able to carry out, he said, and may now be overwhelmed because their capacity was insufficient.

“We are calling for transparency. We need someone to lift the lid on the Lighthouse labs and say what is the capacity,” he said.

On the government’s coronavirus website, testing capacity is given as a total of pillars 1 (NHS) and 2 (Lighthouse labs). This week it totalled 243,817. But Wilson said the NHS labs were doing a fairly steady 100,000 to 120,000 tests, and taking over some care home testing. That left the Lighthouse on not much more, with high and rising demand from the community.

He said the secrecy was frustrating. “We really want the NHS labs and Lighthouse labs to work together in a single stream so we can pull together and maximise capacity. Some of the Lighthouse labs are quite close to NHS labs, but we don’t communicate meaningfully at all and we are constantly rebuffed.”

Wilson said he didn’t think the Lighthouse labs ever reached the capacity that was hoped. “That’s been exposed because there is a bulge in demand.” He said there was a cold virus circulating, causing symptoms which resemble those of coronavirus, and schools had returned, which always led to viruses being passed around in non-Covid times.

He said the two pillars – NHS and community – should be merged and samples taken and processed locally.

He said it was not just people being sent miles for a test; the samples were then dispatched long distances to labs. He had heard of somebody whose test was done in Derby and sent to Glasgow for processing.

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McNally said processing delays risked the samples deteriorating to the point where they were no longer useful and should be repeated. “If you’re struggling with demand on a daily basis, as they start to accumulate and you get days behind, all those tests are essentially spoiled – even tests that contain lots of virus,” he said.

The Department of Health and Social Care said capacity was the highest it had ever been, but there was “significant demand” for tests. It estimated about 25% of people booking tests were not eligible because they did not have symptoms and were not part of an at-risk group.

“New booking slots and home testing kits are made available daily for people with symptoms and we are targeting testing capacity at the areas that need it most,” a spokesman said.

“Our laboratories are processing more than a million tests a week and we recently announced new facilities and technology to process results even faster. If you do not have symptoms and are not eligible to get a test you can continue to protect yourself if you wash your hands, wear a face covering and follow social distancing rules.”

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33 minutes ago, Spy Bee said:

Are the school gates indoors? If not, what a load of hysterical shite. We've had protests, riots, football celebrations, congas on VE Day. None of it lead to even a slight peak in infections.

The first few days were bedlam. The parents aren't sticking to social distancing. They're all just standing round talking to each other.

 

Liverpool Council now saying all parents must wear masks at all school gates.

 

Whether masks work outdoors or not, if grown adults can't stand 2m from each other then when are the authorities supposed to do? At least if people are wearing masks then it's a reminder. 

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37 minutes ago, Dave D said:

Just been chatting with a chap from Bolton. He was telling me his wife works on the ICU ward in Bolton Hospital and she tells him its practically empty despite the high volume of cases in the area. 

 

All very confusing

 

        

I would think that's because the people driving the case rates at the moment are predominantly the under 30's, so the severity of disease in that cohort is not very high. It's when those infections start rising up the age groups that the hospitilisations/deaths may start to climb.

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2 hours ago, Dave D said:

Just been chatting with a chap from Bolton. He was telling me his wife works on the ICU ward in Bolton Hospital and she tells him its practically empty despite the high volume of cases in the area. 

 

All very confusing

 

        


https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/bolton-sees-rise-covid-hospital-18937074

 

Article says it’s now spreading more to older people from the younger people inItially affected. Probably a lag but more hospital admissions will eventually translate to more people on the ICU wards I’d imagine. 

 

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