Covid-19 discussion thread

[Lencoboy]

Yes, probably closer the 'truer' number of cases all along right now.

The overall number of actual daily cases this time last year was probably way higher than right now, as only a handful of people were being tested, and the majority of those were allegedly the most extreme cases, unlike now where more than one million people per day on average are being tested, especially in educational settings where both asymptomatic cases and even false positives are accounting for the daily stats, and possibly even exaggerating them in some instances, especially in the latter case.

I'm sure I read somewhere yesterday (possibly on Digital Spy) that Wales added further cases to their daily stats for yesterday possibly due to undercounting/'missed' cases back in January, which has obviously caused an increase in Wales's cases, and inadvertently the UK-wide cases, albeit still only 200-odd.

Although that post on Digital Spy could well have been BS of course, but nevertheless interesting, if true.

As an addendum to my previous post, I thought I would mention that I have just read in the live Covid rolling page on the BBC website that Covid outbreaks in large institutions such as prisons can unduly skew the case figures in the areas concerned, which taken at face value, might look like a sudden large spike, but actually artificial.

[MyNameIsTerry]

It's getting to the point where a small burst causes a mini spike. Staffs Moorlands still shows an increase in trend but it's very slight. The numbers are small though so is it a front page panic as the Metro had it? No, it's manageable stuff.

The question may now be one of tolerances.

Vaccination will lower the flattened curve further but what we are currently seeing might just be the maximum effect of a lockdown.

If vaccination is working the hospital admissions and mortality numbers shoukd continue to decrease to fund their normal levels. That will be very interesting for them to manage future years.

[Lencoboy]

It's getting to the point where a small burst causes a mini spike. Staffs Moorlands still shows an increase in trend but it's very slight. The numbers are small though so is it a front page panic as the Metro had it? No, it's manageable stuff.

The question may now be one of tolerances.

Vaccination will lower the flattened curve further but what we are currently seeing might just be the maximum effect of a lockdown.

If vaccination is working the hospital admissions and mortality numbers shoukd continue to decrease to fund their normal levels. That will be very interesting for them to manage future years.

IMO, publications like the Metro having kittens over areas with small bursts such as the Moorlands is just as ludicrous as doing the polar opposite and playing down the genuine threats of Covid.

Hardly amounts to a full-on third wave in the UK as yet, which I bet certain publications are yearning for (£s)!!

[MyNameIsTerry]

Given the possibility of wet markets starting all this some if us might believe this petition needs some government attention:

https://www.change.org/p/uk-parliame...redirect=false

Ban the import of fois gras.

[Lencoboy]

Does anyone think that today's anti-lockdown protest in central London has been a waste of time?

Especially as restrictions in England are steadily being eased over the coming weeks.

[Carys]

Yes.

[pulisa]

It's a case of lockdown boredom and protest for protesting sake.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Well, I think the mess they made of the previous protests just opened the door to all this. When their lawyer challenged the Met decision he was using the right of protest as his argument, the human right. I read that and thought it would just bring us the same problems Germany immediately experienced the minute one of their judges ruled it valid.

Now we have MP's arguing protest should be exempt from lockdown rules.

Something which always bothers me about protests is this tunnel-vision people have about them. They seem to think these people opened the doors of their houses and stepped straight into the protest area. No one ever seems to talk about how 10 came from Cardiff, 20 from Birmingham, 50 from Manchester, etc. It seems to be assumed they are all from London. But even then, where across London? All this travel brings exposure risks from them and to them. There is part of me that thinks "as long as it's way down there" but I know these people are coming from all over too and that's not fair on Londoners either.

Anti lock down or anti Covid? How many are serial protesters just out for a ruck? How many are anti the current government? Anti police, etc? The recent protests sucked in people who weren't there for that poor woman or any other woman. Some of the placards showed they were just hijacking it just as some did with Grenfell.

None of what I've just said is related to Patel's Bill, that's a separate issue. However, some of the protesters are there for that rather than Everard or anything else.

[Lencoboy]

Well, I think the mess they made of the previous protests just opened the door to all this. When their lawyer challenged the Met decision he was using the right of protest as his argument, the human right. I read that and thought it would just bring us the same problems Germany immediately experienced the minute one of their judges ruled it valid.

Now we have MP's arguing protest should be exempt from lockdown rules.

Something which always bothers me about protests is this tunnel-vision people have about them. They seem to think these people opened the doors of their houses and stepped straight into the protest area. No one ever seems to talk about how 10 came from Cardiff, 20 from Birmingham, 50 from Manchester, etc. It seems to be assumed they are all from London. But even then, where across London? All this travel brings exposure risks from them and to them. There is part of me that thinks "as long as it's way down there" but I know these people are coming from all over too and that's not fair on Londoners either.

Anti lock down or anti Covid? How many are serial protesters just out for a ruck? How many are anti the current government? Anti police, etc? The recent protests sucked in people who weren't there for that poor woman or any other woman. Some of the placards showed they were just hijacking it just as some did with Grenfell.

None of what I've just said is related to Patel's Bill, that's a separate issue. However, some of the protesters are there for that rather than Everard or anything else.

I think you're probably right in the sense that many just protested today just for the sake of it.

They probably just wanted a day out in London, and a ruck at the same time.

Yes they could have more easily done their protest things in Birmingham, Cardiff, Manchester, etc, but central London obviously makes for the most exciting, for both the protesters themselves and as always, the media.

As far as I'm concerned, many of these tit-for-tat protests are becoming increasingly meaningless.

The protests during the miners' strike, the Cold War (CND marches), marches for jobs, Poll Tax riots, etc, all crapped over today's pathetic effort, and last weekend's protests outside Scotland Yard over the Sarah Everard case, both of which were a drop in the ocean compared to a lot of the epic protests and demos of the past!

[Pamplemousse]

The New York Times on where it thinks Europe went wrong;

Where Europe Went Wrong in Its Vaccine Rollout, and Why https://nyti.ms/3c3BB9d