Covid-19 discussion thread

[Lencoboy]

Today's stats are a bit confusing.

The govt figures quote 1441 confirmed cases (the highest for a few weeks now) but just 11 deaths (as per England's new counting system), but the BBC News website have been telling us today that the overall cases are stable, though the cases the BBC have referenced have mostly been from the ONS.

It has also been thought that one of the main factors behind the upturn in cases over the past few weeks might be down to even more people being tested, particularly in the most affected areas of the country, but at the same time there are concerns about the possibility of some people being 'double-tested', which may be causing some of the daily confirmed cases to be over-counted.

I suppose it's a similar thing to the crime stats, with the national crime surveys giving us one set of stats (which is usually regarded as the 'gold standard') and police recorded figures giving us another, with both often being at odds with each other. The former is more like the ONS CV stats, whereas the latter is more like the govt's daily CV stats.

I don't really know what to think about the next stage of lockdown easements that were delayed a fortnight ago finally commencing tomorrow, as to whether we should have waited a little longer due to flare-ups in certain areas over recent weeks, or as to whether we should just bite the bullet and go ahead with it and just wait and see how things eventually pan out, the so-called 'trial-and-error' method. I'm completely undecided.

Scotland has still had zero confirmed deaths today and this week's national R-rate has remained more or less stable.

[dorabella]

The whole thing has been a merry-go-round since it started - so much variation even between the 4 constituent countries of this small island on how stats are compiled, analyzed and reported. Even scientists can't agree on a common policy and politicians and journalists are like headless chickens running amok in the pandemic farmyard. It's impossible even when you drill down the ONS stats to ascertain at any point what the exact state of affairs is.

The questions I would like answered are:

How many have actually recovered vs how many currently known to be infected?

Where exactly are the current infections within UTA and LTA - numbers are just cumulative covering wide regions? And how many of them?

If we had answers to either or both of the above it would be easier to judge what the current state of affairs is.

All we can see is an ever increasing 'rise' of accumulated cases since the beginning of all this back in February - no relief from the doom-mongering and scare tactics -and no attempt to produce any rational analysis of the actual state of affairs.

[Lencoboy]

The whole thing has been a merry-go-round since it started - so much variation even between the 4 constituent countries of this small island on how stats are compiled, analyzed and reported. Even scientists can't agree on a common policy and politicians and journalists are like headless chickens running amok in the pandemic farmyard. It's impossible even when you drill down the ONS stats to ascertain at any point what the exact state of affairs is.

The questions I would like answered are:

How many have actually recovered vs how many currently known to be infected?

Where exactly are the current infections within UTA and LTA - numbers are just cumulative covering wide regions? And how many of them?

If we had answers to either or both of the above it would be easier to judge what the current state of affairs is.

All we can see is an ever increasing 'rise' of accumulated cases since the beginning of all this back in February - no relief from the doom-mongering and scare tactics -and no attempt to produce any rational analysis of the actual state of affairs.

Yes, and not helped one jot by the scaremongering newspapers and CTers.

One of the latest scares is of an outbreak at a sandwich factory in Northants (Northampton was already one of the areas of concern on the national watchlist for local CV flare-ups) that was confirmed yesterday (which may account for a significant percentage of the latest case count), and funnily enough I purchased a cheese sandwich from our local Co-op store first thing yesterday morning to eat at lunch time, which could very well have originated from that particular factory, as the Co-op are one of their major clients, and I purchased and ate said sandwich before the news broke of the CV outbreak at its likely factory, but I'm sure its sell-by date was yesterday (13th August), so it's likely that the sandwich was produced and packed several days or maybe even weeks ahead of the outbreak at the factory.

[fishman65]

Yes, and not helped one jot by the scaremongering newspapers and CTers.

One of the latest scares is of an outbreak at a sandwich factory in Northants (Northampton was already one of the areas of concern on the national watchlist for local CV flare-ups) that was confirmed yesterday (which may account for a significant percentage of the latest case count), and funnily enough I purchased a cheese sandwich from our local Co-op store first thing yesterday morning to eat at lunch time, which could very well have originated from that particular factory, as the Co-op are one of their major clients, and I purchased and ate said sandwich before the news broke of the CV outbreak at its likely factory, but I'm sure its sell-by date was yesterday (13th August), so it's likely that the sandwich was produced and packed several days or maybe even weeks ahead of the outbreak at the factory.

I'm just 17 miles from Northampton town itself and within the county of Northants. IF Northampton gets locked down again I'm assuming that won't include the county, though with Kettering, Wellingborough and Corby all seeing case increases it may as well be the whole county.

[pulisa]

Yes, and not helped one jot by the scaremongering newspapers and CTers.

One of the latest scares is of an outbreak at a sandwich factory in Northants (Northampton was already one of the areas of concern on the national watchlist for local CV flare-ups) that was confirmed yesterday (which may account for a significant percentage of the latest case count), and funnily enough I purchased a cheese sandwich from our local Co-op store first thing yesterday morning to eat at lunch time, which could very well have originated from that particular factory, as the Co-op are one of their major clients, and I purchased and ate said sandwich before the news broke of the CV outbreak at its likely factory, but I'm sure its sell-by date was yesterday (13th August), so it's likely that the sandwich was produced and packed several days or maybe even weeks ahead of the outbreak at the factory.

Lencoboy, can you try to distance yourself from all the statistics and CV news? It can't be good for your mental health? I know the sandwich will be triggering although you've been very rational in your thinking. Look after yourself? It's hard enough with ASD.

[Pamplemousse]

funnily enough I purchased a cheese sandwich from our local Co-op store first thing yesterday morning to eat at lunch time, which could very well have originated from that particular factory, as the Co-op are one of their major clients, and I purchased and ate said sandwich before the news broke of the CV outbreak at its likely factory, but I'm sure its sell-by date was yesterday (13th August), so it's likely that the sandwich was produced and packed several days or maybe even weeks ahead of the outbreak at the factory.

Funnily enough, I bought a sandwich from M&S on Wednesday after visiting the dentist. So far, not (too) troubled by it.

[pulisa]

Funnily enough, I bought a sandwich from M&S on Wednesday after visiting the dentist. So far, not (too) troubled by it.

It's inevitable that SandwichGate will rear its ugly head online but you can both choose to be rational and logical and ignore the scaremongerers.

[Lencoboy]

Lencoboy, can you try to distance yourself from all the statistics and CV news? It can't be good for your mental health? I know the sandwich will be triggering although you've been very rational in your thinking. Look after yourself? It's hard enough with ASD.

Thanks for your kind and understanding comments, Pulisa.

I think it's highly unlikely that I could be infected by the sandwich I ate yesterday, especially owing to its sell-by date also being yesterday, which means (as I already suggested) that the sandwich was very likely produced several days prior to the outbreak at the factory it originated from, and so far I haven't heard of any known cases of persons becoming infected with CV via consumption of food or drink products.

And hardly any news outlets appear to have mentioned anything concerning the Northampton sandwich factory outbreak so far today, including the BBC, so the risks are obviously not considered mega serious as far as the safety of their food products are concerned.

A few weeks back I also felt a bit apprehensive about eating anything made by the Walkers Crisp factory on the outskirts of Leicester, which was also reported to have a CV outbreak amongst its personnel, but Walkers- branded crisp products still remained on sale nevertheless, presumably with no reported issues.

I'm just being cautious of course, but you're right in the sense that I need to chill out a bit more and to not keep getting bogged down with all things COVID-19.

The same probably goes for many others as well.

[MyNameIsTerry]

So is it the environment or pandemic? More people using public transport is not the best thing right now. I thought much of our public transport network was bursting to the seams? Perhaps Corbyn can stage another 'sit in', with mask.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/uk-po...m_source=upday

Let's all cycle to work. Great for your health. But let's not forget the traffic fumes and the accident risks. Maybe this works in places where they are used to it but in other places politicians might find the journey a bit more stressful? And then there is winter

[pulisa]

Thanks for your kind and understanding comments, Pulisa.

I think it's highly unlikely that I could be infected by the sandwich I ate yesterday, especially owing to its sell-by date also being yesterday, which means (as I already suggested) that the sandwich was very likely produced several days prior to the outbreak at the factory it originated from, and so far I haven't heard of any known cases of persons becoming infected with CV via consumption of food or drink products.

And hardly any news outlets appear to have mentioned anything concerning the Northampton sandwich factory outbreak so far today, including the BBC, so the risks are obviously not considered mega serious as far as the safety of their food products are concerned.

A few weeks back I also felt a bit apprehensive about eating anything made by the Walkers Crisp factory on the outskirts of Leicester, which was also reported to have a CV outbreak amongst its personnel, but Walkers- branded crisp products still remained on sale nevertheless, presumably with no reported issues.

I'm just being cautious of course, but you're right in the sense that I need to chill out a bit more and to not keep getting bogged down with all things COVID-19.

The same probably goes for many others as well.

Of course it does..I was just concerned about you in particular because I don't want you to make yourself ill with worry.