Covid-19

[jackmiggins]

Zero positive tests in London?? Do me a favour. Wonder why Cambridge Uni have made their decision?

[TVC15]

I don't recall seeing that the government's target of 100,000 excluded tests done for research. You aren't suggesting that research is a bad thing, are you? Are you suggesting that other countries don't do research? Are you suggesting that research doesn't help fight coronavirus so the tests don't count?

Perhaps you could go back and find anything relevant whereby the government made it clear that research testing didn't count as testing; then you might have a case. I don't think it occurred to anyone else that research and statistical testing was so irrelevant that it shouldn't be counted.

Nobody is saying that testing for research is irrelevant and you well know that.

Are you saying that you knew that the 100k target included tests done for research ?
Do you think that’s what the general public thought too ? Do you think the media knew that ?

No need to answer - it’s a no for all of the above.

I for one am very surprised at this given the context of the many questions and responses on this was always about getting these tests to key workers, frontline staff etc.

What I am not surprised at though is that the figures have been fudged by the government. At a time when Hancock was under immense pressure to hit the 100k at the end of April with some parts of the media even saying his job was under the threat he was always going to say they had reached this target....and now we seem to be finding out how.

[CombatClaret]

I don't recall seeing that the government's target of 100,000 excluded tests done for research. You aren't suggesting that research is a bad thing, are you? Are you suggesting that other countries don't do research? Are you suggesting that research doesn't help fight coronavirus so the tests don't count?

I'm suggesting the government deliberately does not highlight the distinction to give the impression that it is testing a larger proportion of the public.

This government pores over every word and sentence to try to try to lead people to conclusions that are better than the reality. Just one example was when they said in early April "The first of thousands of ventilators are being delivered this weekend..." when only 30 were delivered with the thousands more months away.
This is a PR firm government, it's the only thing they know how to do.

[dsr]

Nobody is saying that testing for research is irrelevant and you well know that.

Are you saying that you knew that the 100k target included tests done for research ?
Do you think that’s what the general public thought too ? Do you think the media knew that ?

No need to answer - it’s a no for all of the above.

I for one am very surprised at this given the context of the many questions and responses on this was always about getting these tests to key workers, frontline staff etc.

Well done you. It never occurred to me to think that 100,000 tests was meant to exclude research and statistical testing.

Our testing has been frequently compared with German testing rates. For comparison, can you tell me how many of the German tests were for one specific patient and how many for research and statistics? I've never seen any suggestion that German testing numbers are split between the categories - do they exclude all "research" tests, or do you accuse Angela Merkel of standing with Boris Johnson in fudging the figures?

[martin_p]

If your whinge about the testing has as much validity as your whinge about gloves, then it can be safely ignored. Medical gloves are always counted singly and you want to save your complaints to medical professionals generally, not for the government.

I don't recall seeing that the government's target of 100,000 excluded tests done for research. You aren't suggesting that research is a bad thing, are you? Are you suggesting that other countries don't do research? Are you suggesting that research doesn't help fight coronavirus so the tests don't count?

Perhaps you could go back and find anything relevant whereby the government made it clear that research testing didn't count as testing; then you might have a case. I don't think it occurred to anyone else that research and statistical testing was so irrelevant that it shouldn't be counted.

Well perhaps we should include all blood tests, driving tests and the eleven plus, after all Hancock didn’t actually specify Covid-19 tests when he made his famous promise.

But no, that would be ridiculous, in the same way it would be ridiculous not to expect those 100,000 tests to actually be diagnosing Covid-19 rather than research as that was what the clamour for testing was about.

You don’t half do some wriggling to avoid admitting you or the government are wrong. Have to worked out how the government’s announcement yesterday about physical checks on agri/food products to NI means there won’t be any checks as the government claimed and you were so keen to believe?

[dsr]

Well perhaps we should include all blood tests, driving tests and the eleven plus, after all Hancock didn’t actually specify Covid-19 tests when he made his famous promise.

But no, that would be ridiculous, in the same way it would be ridiculous not to expect those 100,000 tests to actually be diagnosing Covid-19 rather than research as that was what the clamour for testing was about.

You don’t half do some wriggling to avoid admitting you or the government are wrong. Have to worked out how the government’s announcement yesterday about physical checks on agri/food products to NI means there won’t be any checks as the government claimed and you were so keen to believe?

Ridiculous? Well, let's start with "Hancock didn’t actually specify Covid-19 tests when he made his famous promise".

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/ ... ests-a-day

The first line of that article says "The health secretary, Matt Hancock, has set the government a new target of carrying out 100,000 Covid-19 tests a day in England by the end of April as he sought to defend the government’s approach." How you understand that to mean that he did not mean covid-19 tests is beyond me, unless it's to say that the BBC website is lying.

It's unequivocal. It is beyond me how it could be misinterpreted. That's not wriggling to say that the government is wrong. It's outright lying. (Or possibly complete failure of memory and refusal to check.)

[martin_p]

Ridiculous? Well, let's start with "Hancock didn’t actually specify Covid-19 tests when he made his famous promise".

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/ ... ests-a-day

The first line of that article says "The health secretary, Matt Hancock, has set the government a new target of carrying out 100,000 Covid-19 tests a day in England by the end of April as he sought to defend the government’s approach." How you understand that to mean that he did not mean covid-19 tests is beyond me, unless it's to say that the BBC website is lying.

By looking at what he actually said rather than the newspaper filling in the gaps, which is in the same article you link (which isn’t the BBC website)

‘Speaking at the end of his seven days of quarantine after testing positive for the virus, he said: “I’m now setting the goal of 100,000 tests per day by the end of this month. That is the goal and I’m determined we’ll get there.”’

I’ve said it’s ridiculous to assume that he didn’t mean Covid tests just because he didn’t actually say Covid tests, just the same as it’s ridiculous to assume that he didn’t mean those test to be for diagnosis rather than research just because he didn’t actually say it.

[dsr]

I’ve said it’s ridiculous to assume that he didn’t mean Covid tests just because he didn’t actually say Covid tests ...

You said it was ridiculous to include the 11 plus because Hancock didn't specify covi-19.

So what proportion of the reported German testing is fudged by the Germans? Or do they exclude research testing from their stats?

[martin_p]

You said it was ridiculous to include the 11 plus because Hancock didn't specify covi-19.

So what proportion of the reported German testing is fudged by the Germans? Or do they exclude research testing from their stats?

Blimey, talk about pedantic! I used the eleven plus and driving test as examples of tests that aren’t for Covid-19!

I don’t know and i don’t care about Germany because that’s not what we’re talking about.

[TVC15]

Well done you. It never occurred to me to think that 100,000 tests was meant to exclude research and statistical testing.

Our testing has been frequently compared with German testing rates. For comparison, can you tell me how many of the German tests were for one specific patient and how many for research and statistics? I've never seen any suggestion that German testing numbers are split between the categories - do they exclude all "research" tests, or do you accuse Angela Merkel of standing with Boris Johnson in fudging the figures?

That was not what I asked you.
It didn’t occur to me to think that the tests excluded selling 90% of tests to Americans either - but if they would have done I think there would have been a few people upset and surprised.

This is about what everybody thought the tests were for - and it did not seem to me like anybody thought it included this element.
Why is it you think they did not make this clear ? Do you think it would have been ok if it had emerged that all the tests on the 30th April were for research purposes ?

We are not talking about Germany - how do you know they were not transparent about the make up of their tests ? What does it matter when they started testing at scale much sooner than the UK and it clearly worked in limiting cases and deaths ? The point is that the timing and scale of tests on people in Germany worked. In the UK it didn’t.

And now what emerges is that the government’s main priority was to hit a meaningless number and hide from the public the truth behind the numbers.

[aggi]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000j949
Good bit of testing from 12:30 on testing

Govt includes in it's numbers test by ONS and Universities for research purposes, over 30k a day currently. These are being used for statistical & research purposes but they are not being used to diagnose cases.
The numbers do not count these as 'People' being tested but are counted as tests 'Carried Out' and are key to allowing the govt to claim they're hitting the 100k target.

Remove the postal kits (as we don't know when or even if they are used) and remove the above research tests then on May 15th we go from the headline figure of 136k to 69k test carried out for actual diagnostic purposes. Applying this criteria to all days and the 100k target has never been met.

Of these the 69k test on May 15th they were done on 43k people. This can be to double testing of a single person but also when a saliva sample and throat swab are taken at a testing center they are often counted as two separate tests. A bit like a pair of gloves being counted as 2 pieces of PPE.

The actual number of tests has always been a bit of a red herring though. Promising a target was a stupid thing for Hancock to do (although I doubt it was just down to him) and the spin in how that target was hit was another small victory for spin over substance but ultimately it wasn't that important.

Testing in isolation, as we are doing at the moment, has some use in terms of getting front line workers back into work, ad-hoc isolation, etc but it's all firefighting rather than progression. The main reason for boosting testing capacity is to implement a proper test and trace routine and allow outbreaks to be snuffed out quickly.

Hopefully we're on the path to that but it's still sounding somewhat chaotic. Bringing in private sector favourites like Serco and G4S hasn't always been that succesful but we shall see. Add to that the continued issues with the app which will make it very difficult to loosen restrictions on things like shopping, hospitality, public transport, etc and it clearly isn't going to be "world-beating". Hopefully we may get something that works in the end though.

[android]

Nobody is saying that testing for research is irrelevant and you well know that.

Are you saying that you knew that the 100k target included tests done for research ?
Do you think that’s what the general public thought too ? Do you think the media knew that ?

No need to answer - it’s a no for all of the above.

I for one am very surprised at this given the context of the many questions and responses on this was always about getting these tests to key workers, frontline staff etc.

What I am not surprised at though is that the figures have been fudged by the government. At a time when Hancock was under immense pressure to hit the 100k at the end of April with some parts of the media even saying his job was under the threat he was always going to say they had reached this target....and now we seem to be finding out how.

Sorry to disappoint you TVC15, Combat and Martin but what you have said is completely false.

Hancock set out the 100,000 tests per day target in a detailed paper dated 4th April (google it).

His paper is crystal clear that the target of 100,000 included all 5 Pillars of tests, which includes the surveillance / research tests. I also remember him making this clear at the press conference when he announced the target.

[martin_p]

Sorry to disappoint you TVC15, Combat and Martin but what you have said is completely false.

Hancock set out the 100,000 tests per day target in a detailed paper dated 4th April (google it).

His paper is crystal clear that the target of 100,000 included all 5 Pillars of tests, which includes the surveillance / research tests. I also remember him making this clear at the press conference when he announced the target.

Ok, that’s a better comeback, thanks for the info. Although pillars three and four depend on antibody tests and I didn’t think we had one of those at the end of April. But yes, the 100,000 figure does cover more than the Covid diagnosis tests.

But it does pose another question about the messages we’ve been fed. Looking at the paper it seems the real target for diagnosis purposes is just 25,000. I wonder how much of the population understood that.

[Devils_Advocate]

This is the govt press release sent out regarding the test plan and the 5 pillars at the start of April

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/heal ... ests-a-day

[cblantfanclub]

Swab tests - to check if people already have the virus - in labs run by Public Health England
Using commercial partners such as universities and private businesses like Amazon and Boots to do more swab testing
Introducing antibody blood tests to check whether people have had the virus
Surveillance to determine the rate of infection and how it is spreading across the country
Building a British diagnostics industry, with help from pharmaceutical giants

No mention of research tests and surveillance is as vague as you can get.

[dsr]

That was not what I asked you.
It didn’t occur to me to think that the tests excluded selling 90% of tests to Americans either - but if they would have done I think there would have been a few people upset and surprised.

"The good news is - you don't have coronavirus. The bad news is - your test was done in America."

I doubt anyone would be too bothered.

[TVC15]

Sorry to disappoint you TVC15, Combat and Martin but what you have said is completely false.

Hancock set out the 100,000 tests per day target in a detailed paper dated 4th April (google it).

His paper is crystal clear that the target of 100,000 included all 5 Pillars of tests, which includes the surveillance / research tests. I also remember him making this clear at the press conference when he announced the target.

Thanks for this - was not aware of this so happy to be corrected.
I do still think that the real debate was about getting front line workers and their families tested so you do have to wonder why the 100k number became the big issue when in reality it was a different number that was utter most in the publics mind...

This also distracts from the real issue that the testing capacity was built too late - as concluded by the TSC in their findings and as is being reinforced by them this week. They are still unsure as to why the government took the decision they did to go against the evidence of the South Korea strategy in building capacity and testing at scale early.

[aggi]

"The good news is - you don't have coronavirus. The bad news is - your test was done in America."

I doubt anyone would be too bothered.

I think it was more the widely reported issue that they took a week to process them.

[CombatClaret]

Sorry to disappoint you TVC15, Combat and Martin but what you have said is completely false.

Hancock set out the 100,000 tests per day target in a detailed paper dated 4th April (google it).

I never made any claims, I simply repeated what was said on a BBC radio program. I still believe the general public would be surprised by how many of the tests, their numbers given daily without a breakdown, are not being used to actually diagnose people.
Once again it's a *read the small print, promise.

[martin_p]

I never made any claims, I simply repeated what was said on a BBC radio program. I still believe the general public would be surprised by how many of the tests, their numbers given daily without a breakdown, are not being used to actually diagnose people.
Once again it's a *read the small print, promise.

It also means that a higher proportion of people taking the diagnostic test are testing positive than most people thought. It’s a lot worse if 3,000 people have tested positive out of 25,000 diagnostic tests than what seems to be, that 3,000 people have tested positive out of over 70,000 tests.

[FactualFrank]

I've just been to the post office - 4 people waiting; 2 of them thought a metre was the same length as a foot - their foot!

Walking back from post office - I stepped out as two elderly ladies were walking towards me. Driver 1 put his indicator on and moves into the middle to allow me to walk past, driver 2 nearly drove over my left leg.

Today: 50% of people are as thick as a workhouse sandwich.

[bfcjg]

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/21/coronav ... ccine.html
This sort of money isnt invested in duds.

[martin_p]

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/21/coronav ... ccine.html
This sort of money isnt invested in duds.

It’s looks promising, but it’s not over the line yet. Hopefully that level of investment means they’re fairly confident it’ll fly through the remaining tests.

[CombatClaret]

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/21/coronav ... ccine.html
This sort of money isnt invested in duds.

Half what it cost the US to build and maintain a single B2 Stealth Bomber. They'll be hedging a lot of bets to be first in the queue I imagine.

[tiger76]

In the UK, 338 people with coronavirus died on Wednesday, according to the Department for Health.

That takes the UK's total to 36,042 deaths.

The true figure for total deaths is likely to be higher as not everyone is tested.

Meanwhile, 128,340 tests were carried out on Wednesday, taking the total number of tests up to 3,090,566.

Figures are dropping more steadily since the peak.

[tiger76]

This thread needs some good news so i'll post this.

Children discover hidden treasure in lockdown boredom

Lockdown is tough but it can sometimes bring unexpected benefits to people stuck at home. Two children in Vendôme, north-western France, were probably luckier than most: they discovered hidden treasure in their grandparents' house.

In search of material to build a den, they asked their father what they could use.

"He advised them to take their grandmother's sheets, in an unused room. But instead of finding sprigs of lavender between the sheets, as people used to do, two fairly heavy objects fell out," auctioneer Philippe Rouillac told French TV channel BFM.

The kids put the objects back without another thought, but a few hours later told their father about the discovery. He asked them to go and get them, but initially thought they were knife holders.

Later, he contacted an auction house to get an estimate and was told he had found two gold bars weighing 1kg (2.2lb) each. Their worth? More than €50,000 (£45,000) per bar.

"The children said to their father: 'We're going to be able to have a swimming pool'," the amused auctioneer recalled.

[tiger76]

Couple stage DIY wedding in their flat

A couple whose dream wedding was put on hold due to the UK lockdown took matters into their own hands with a DIY ceremony at home.

Beth Davis and Pete Duncan transformed the lounge of their two-bed Manchester flat into a wedding venue.

The bride wore a homemade dress made from a queen-sized fitted bed sheet, and the couple exchanged vows before a somewhat unusual-looking "priest" made from empty beer boxes.

Beth and Pete hope to do it all again next year - this time with 175 guests.

"It was supposed to be one of the best days of our lives and it was going to be really sad," Pete, 31, told the BBC.

"We didn't want that so having a wedding at home turned it into one of the best days ever."

[tiger76]

Fans flock to Sydney's drive-in concert

We reported earlier on the drive-in concert taking place in Sydney, Australia, an event that could provide a glimpse into what live entertainment might look like in the coming months.

With traditional venues likely to remain closed for some time, performers believe allowing audiences to watch events from their cars could help to keep the creative industries alive.

Singer Casey Donovan performed live in heavy rain to an audience sitting in their vehicles in a sports centre car park. The audience could listen by tuning in on their radios, or rolling down their windows.

Cars were required to park two metres apart because of social-distancing regulations.

At the end of songs, or to show their appreciation for the music, they could use their horns or windscreen wipers. Old-fashioned clapping was of course also allowed.

Drive-in shows featuring comedy, ballet and opera are planned for other Australian towns and cities.

[tiger76]

Australia's Northern Territory eliminates virus

Australia's least-populated territory has declared itself free of the virus after officials said its last known case had recovered.

The remote northern region had recorded the smallest number of cases - just 29 - and was the first to kick off lockdown exit at the start of May. Its restaurants, nail salons, parks and gyms are now all open with distancing restrictions.

"It’s been six and a half weeks since we have had a locally diagnosed case but we mustn’t become complacent," said the NT's health minister this morning.

The territory still has its borders closed to the rest of Australia, and has maintained a ban on non-essential travel to remote Aboriginal communities in the outback.

There are currently just over 600 active cases across the country, which is swiftly moving out of lockdown.

[Devils_Advocate]

Fans flock to Sydney's drive-in concert

We reported earlier on the drive-in concert taking place in Sydney, Australia, an event that could provide a glimpse into what live entertainment might look like in the coming months.

With traditional venues likely to remain closed for some time, performers believe allowing audiences to watch events from their cars could help to keep the creative industries alive.

Singer Casey Donovan performed live in heavy rain to an audience sitting in their vehicles in a sports centre car park. The audience could listen by tuning in on their radios, or rolling down their windows.

Cars were required to park two metres apart because of social-distancing regulations.

At the end of songs, or to show their appreciation for the music, they could use their horns or windscreen wipers. Old-fashioned clapping was of course also allowed.

Drive-in shows featuring comedy, ballet and opera are planned for other Australian towns and cities.

I saw an article about Denmark doing a drive in concert about a month ago but more aimed at a traditional rock band event

Whilst I can appreciate it might be a good alternative for things like stage shows, ballet or more 'rattle your jewellery' kind music events I couldn't think of anything worse as an alternative to proper live singer/band styled gigs/event (and that includes them just being cancelled)

I was due to be hitting Hampden Park in July to see Gerry Cinnamon and the idea of sitting in a car beeping our horns whilst he played makes me cringe just thinking about it

Still fair play for anyone trying to be creative and find positive ways to get round things

[tiger76]

Finally the government have seen sense,mind you with a back bench rebellion threatened they didn't have much choice.

BREAKING
Fee for overseas NHS staff to be scrapped
The charge paid by overseas workers to use the NHS will be scrapped for health and care workers, the UK government has said.

The health immigration surcharge on non-EU migrants is £400 per year and set to rise to £624 in October.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson had been under pressure from some of his own MPs to scrap the charge for NHS workers.

Full details will be announced in the coming days.

[tiger76]

Relatively upbeat news briefing today.

Hancock: Three million tests in UK

Matt Hancock says the number of coronavirus tests carried out in the UK has now passed three million.

'Real progress' in coronavirus fight

Matt Hancock says the Covid Alert Level is still at Level 4, but the country is "in a position" to start moving to Level 3 - which is less dangerous. "Real progress" is being made, he says.

Hancock: Fast test being trialled

Matt Hancock says a faster form of swab testing - telling people if they currently have coronavirus - is being trialled from today.

It could give a result in just 20 minutes.

Hancock promises 10 million antibody tests

Matt Hancock says antibody tests - which let people know if they've had the virus - will be "crucial" in understanding how the body reacts to it.

The results of a government study suggest around 17% of people in London and 5% in the rest of the country have tested positive for coronavirus antibodies.

The government has signed a contract to supply more than 10 million tests over the next few months, Mr Hancock adds.

Whitty: R infection number remains below one

Prof Chris Whitty, chief medical officer for England, unveils some new data from an infection survey using swab tests.

He says the survey estimated 137,000 in England had Covid-19 between 14 May and 17 May, or 0.25% of the population.

He adds that whilst there has been an increase in car use, "almost everyone" is sticking to lockdown rules.

The R infection rate remains below the level of one, he says - meaning the virus is still declining rather than growing.

The number of coronavirus tests carried out in the UK is now more than three million.

And the number of confirmed cases has passed the 250,000 mark.

Excess deaths in care homes have peaked - Whitty

Chris Whitty says the decline in the number of deaths continues.

He also has a few words about the "excess deaths" data - the number of extra deaths above what might normally be expected.

He says "all-cause mortality" has come down from a peak and is now in line with the rates that would expected during a standard winter.

He says excess all-cause care home deaths "have peaked" and have come down "a long way" from earlier in the year.

Hancock gives details of food support

Asked what is being done to help people struggling to pay for food, Matt Hancock says all 2.2m people with health conditions who are shielding have been offered help.

He says more than a million food parcels have been delivered to people in this group.

He says this support, offered via local councils, has been an "incredibly important" part of the government's response.

[evensteadiereddie]

Even better, the government have u-turned over ripping off foreign NHS workers. A step too far, apparently.

[CombatClaret]

This thread needs some good news so i'll post this.

Tiger I admire the sentiment but this isn't the BBC Live News feed. Breaks up the discussion a bit.

[Spijed]

With regards to what Matt Hancock said it just sounds like we are just catching up with other countries in getting on top of things.

A very sad state of affairs!

[CombatClaret]

Even better, the government have u-turned over ripping off foreign NHS workers. A step too far, apparently.

Another sign of the PR Firm Government, any other day they'd defend the policy but now it's too much like bad optics.

[CombatClaret]

Hancock says the antibody tests suggest that 17% of people in London may have had coronavirus. In the rest of the country the figure is 5%.

That rings true with numbers that came out of Spain & France, means there's large potential for fresh outbreaks if not very careful.

[joey13]

Did he mention the protective ring around care homes again
It amazes me why people still believes a word he says

[tiger76]

Zero positive tests in London?? Do me a favour. Wonder why Cambridge Uni have made their decision?

It would appear your correct there was confirmed cases on Monday.https://uk.yahoo.com/news/london-corona ... 2010.html

[Paul Waine]

[/list]420 time=1590059915 user_id=1324]
Swab tests - to check if people already have the virus - in labs run by Public Health England
Using commercial partners such as universities and private businesses like Amazon and Boots to do more swab testing
Introducing antibody blood tests to check whether people have had the virus
Surveillance to determine the rate of infection and how it is spreading across the country
Building a British diagnostics industry, with help from pharmaceutical giants

No mention of research tests and surveillance is as vague as you can get.

What the Gov't press release on 2nd April said was:

The new 5-pillar plan outlines the ambitions to:

• Scale up swab testing in PHE labs and NHS hospitals for those with a medical need and the most critical workers to 25,000 a day in England by mid to late April, with the aligned testing strategies of the NHS in the Devolved Administrations benefiting from PHE’s partnership with Roche through a central UK allocation mechanism;

Deliver increased commercial swab testing for critical key workers in the NHS across the UK, before then expanding to key workers in other sectors;

• Develop blood testing to help know if people across the UK have the right antibodies and so have high levels of immunity to coronavirus;

• Conduct UK-wide surveillance testing to learn more about the spread of the disease and help develop new tests and treatments; and

• Create a new National Effort for testing, to build a mass-testing capacity for the UK at a completely new scale.

Once widespread testing is available, we will prioritise repeated testing of critical key workers, to keep them safe and make sure that they do not spread the virus.

"Conduct UK-wide surveillance testing to learn more about the spread of the disease and help develop new tests and treatments" means "research testing." Pretty specific from most people's point of view, I would expect - not least that this was 2 April, let's say less than 3 months from coronavirus was first heard of outside China.

I guess the media got everyone so fixated on 100,000 tests, they'd forgotten that the target was for only 25,000 for "those with a medical need and the most critical workers....

[FactualFrank]

Breaks up the discussion a bit.

Good!

Each to their own, but I'm sure I'm not alone in preferring these types of posts.

[NottsClaret]

Whitty: R infection number remains below one

Chris Whitty says the decline in the number of deaths continues.

He says "all-cause mortality" has come down from a peak and is now in line with the rates that would expected during a standard winter.

Surprising isn't it, after all the hand wringers on social media were insistent that the VE day celebrations and the horrendous sight of families using parks meant a huge spike was certain round about now. But nope, it's still on its way out, decreasing even faster.

[Swizzlestick]

People surprised at neighbourhoods doing the ******* conga while they haven’t been allowed to see their parents at home for nine weeks - handwringers, apparently.

[AndrewJB]

NHS bosses say government needs to move quickly to implement track and trace. Should be up and running already.

[CombatClaret]

Did he mention the protective ring around care homes again
It amazes me why people still believes a word he says

I think there's a distinction between meaningless rhetoric like 'Protective ring' and presenting statistics from other sources. Obviously it's always best to look deeper at numbers , the testing being a fine example.
But if he says 17% of people in London may have had coronavirus and 5% of the country has, which is based on a PHE study that's not the sort of thing where I'm immediately looking for the lie despite it coming out of his mouth.

The PR is cringe worthy, phrases that sound good but mean nothing, often reflecting the opposite of the reality eg: Protective Ring. The other one I 'd at was at the UK being 'Global Champion' testing.

[CombatClaret]

Surprising isn't it, after all the hand wringers on social media were insistent that the VE day celebrations and the horrendous sight of families using parks meant a huge spike was certain round about now. But nope, it's still on its way out, decreasing even faster.

Not gotten the full picture yet and small outbreaks will be hard to discover early on.

Weekend of May 9/10th Bradford Royal Infirmary had three cases of Covid-19, by the 14th it had 30.
That's 6 days after VE day, the average period between infection & symptoms is 5-7 days.

[Steve-Harpers-perm]

Camila Tominey of the Daily Telegraph has just argued on Question Time if lockdown had been brought in 3 weeks prior to when it was people wouldn’t have been psychologically ready for it or obeyed it.

[Devils_Advocate]

Camila Tominey of the Daily Telegraph has just argued on Question Time if lockdown had been brought in 3 weeks prior to when it was people wouldn’t have been psychologically ready for it or obeyed it.

I think she argued we wouldn't have obeyed it if it was a week earlier citing Cheltenham. The ex Danish PM has been great so far and it makes you sad with the sham we have running the show in this country

[Steve-Harpers-perm]

Yep a bizarre argument from her given how well lockdown went for the first few weeks. Agree about the ex Danish PM. Unfortunately our lot have become totally obsessed with spin.

[ksrclaret]

The Tory Justice Minister is appalling.

Shame that the government is made up of ministers who are only there because they agreed not to oppose a no deal brexit and are seen as malleable enough by no 10, rather than being in their positions on merit. There are far more capable Tory MPs on the back benches.