Covid-19 discussion thread

[Pamplemousse]

Prime Minister: "please be responsible."

Pub landlords: "let's open at midnight."

[MyNameIsTerry]

Might be a stampede at Debenhams too as they try to get rid of everything.

[Lencoboy]

Prime Minister: "please be responsible."

Pub landlords: "let's open at midnight."

And there were literally people turning up to some of those reopened pubs at midnight last night.

Like I said upthread, it's really funny what lengths certain punters are going to right now. Most ironic considering for ages pre-pandemic many pubs struggled to convince people to even set foot in them, and now people suddenly can't get enough of them!

Ditto for many high street stores.

[Lencoboy]

Today's dashboard case stats seem out of kilter with the ZOE case stats once again.

Whilst the dashboard stats mysteriously seem to have leapt up to 3.5k today after dropping to 1.7k yesterday, the corresponding ZOE case stats have so far today remained more or less stable at around 1.7k.

Once again, whilst I know both counts are only approximations and neither is ever likely to be 100 per cent smack on, I find the now-sizeable divergence between the two counts rather baffling, especially as in the not-too-distant past the ZOE daily case stats were generally higher than the corresponding dashboard stats, but now the situation, as I said the other day, seems to have been reversed, and many have often considered the ZOE stats to be the more accurate of the two counts.

I don't really know which one to go by anymore.

ETA, I also read on the dashboard site that SAGE are considering ditching publication of the weekly R-rates.

[dorabella]

Today's dashboard case stats seem out of kilter with the ZOE case stats once again.

Whilst the dashboard stats mysteriously seem to have leapt up to 3.5k today after dropping to 1.7k yesterday, the corresponding ZOE case stats have so far today remained more or less stable at around 1.7k.

Once again, whilst I know both counts are only approximations and neither is ever likely to be 100 per cent smack on, I find the now-sizeable divergence between the two counts rather baffling, especially as in the not-too-distant past the ZOE daily case stats were generally higher than the corresponding dashboard stats, but now the situation, as I said the other day, seems to have been reversed, and many have often considered the ZOE stats to be the more accurate of the two counts.

I don't really know which one to go by anymore.

ETA, I also read on the dashboard site that SAGE are considering ditching publication of the weekly R-rates.

From what I have seen the Zoe stats seems generally to have been the more accurate and/or reliable, but it does seem to me that it really is about time that the government, SAGE and the PHE stop the daily drilling of numbers and associated confusion of how these dictate what we may or may not do or behave. As a lot of scientists have said, the virus has now become endemic and at low transmission level. It isn't going to go to zero-transmission level so we should put that to the back of our minds and get on with life. According to UCL science, we have now breached the herd immunity threshold ... which was what everyone was banging on about last year, and should ensure that this 'pandemic' is truly on the wane.

[Lencoboy]

From what I have seen the Zoe stats seems generally to have been the more accurate and/or reliable, but it does seem to me that it really is about time that the government, SAGE and the PHE stop the daily drilling of numbers and associated confusion of how these dictate what we may or may not do or behave. As a lot of scientists have said, the virus has now become endemic and at low transmission level. It isn't going to go to zero-transmission level so we should put that to the back of our minds and get on with life. According to UCL science, we have now breached the herd immunity threshold ... which was what everyone was banging on about last year, and should ensure that this 'pandemic' is truly on the wane.

Well Dorabella, I don't really know what to say or think about that, but you do have some rather interesting points there.

Trouble is, it's all still very much in the lap of the gods and a 'wait and see' situation.

Although I'm mostly on the fence right now, my dad still believes that the latest easements today are still a bit premature in his opinion and the govt should have waited a bit longer. He's also convinced that the UK will inevitably end up in a third wave and they'll probably end up being a fourth full-on national lockdown in about a month or two, despite more than half the UK population now having been jabbed, as he's also convinced that people will start blowing it en masse from now on.

Again, I don't know who or what to believe or side with right now, I'm between a rock and a hard place.

After all, the govt don't have a dedicated dashboard site publishing daily confirmed crime stats.

[Lencoboy]

Today's dashboard case stats seem out of kilter with the ZOE case stats once again.

Whilst the dashboard stats mysteriously seem to have leapt up to 3.5k today after dropping to 1.7k yesterday, the corresponding ZOE case stats have so far today remained more or less stable at around 1.7k.

Once again, whilst I know both counts are only approximations and neither is ever likely to be 100 per cent smack on, I find the now-sizeable divergence between the two counts rather baffling, especially as in the not-too-distant past the ZOE daily case stats were generally higher than the corresponding dashboard stats, but now the situation, as I said the other day, seems to have been reversed, and many have often considered the ZOE stats to be the more accurate of the two counts.

I don't really know which one to go by anymore.

ETA, I also read on the dashboard site that SAGE are considering ditching publication of the weekly R-rates.

Just looked at the dashboard site again paying greater attention to detail, and one plausible explanation for today's case count on there suddenly jumping back above 3k once again could very well be that the community testing count over the latest 24-hour period is back up again to about 1.2k after seemingly falling off a cliff during the most part of last week, which likely means that today's case stats are both a kind of catch-up and possibly under-recorded last week, probably at least partly for that very reason.

[pulisa]

Surge testing in Lambeth and Wandsworth due to South African variant case.

[Lencoboy]

Surge testing in Lambeth and Wandsworth due to South African variant case.

Blimey, that's the first for about 2-3 weeks following a bit of a lull!

Must have already come about prior to today's easement of restrictions.

ETA, Apparently, there had already been further cases of the SA variant within the UK over the aforementioned 3-week period that seemed like a 'lull'.

There were reported cases in Bolton and Smethwick (West Mids), plus a couple of other areas, but all seemed to be kept fairly low-key by the media.

Re the cluster of SA variant infections in Lambeth/Wandsworth, it could very well be a plausible explanation for the national rate of community testing going back up above 1k again over the past 24-hour period, and inadvertently finding more cases of existing (and still far more widespread) variants at the same time, in addition to the SA variant.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Prime Minister: "please be responsible."

Pub landlords: "let's open at midnight."

Yep, and here is the result:

https://www.itv.com/news/2021-04-12/...edium=referral

Am I surprised by reports of the police doing nothing? Nope. Dick is back to her previous strategy of not wanting to upset the apple cart.

Sounds like a carnival. We just need some pics of dancing coppers now.