Coronavirus (Covid19) Corner

[Big Kev]

I see the government are wasting money building 8 regional Nightingale 'hubs'. I'll be interested to see who is going to staff them...

Not seen anything about that, information would be interesting.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-59823652

[Whyperion]

BBC further reports

"Whiff of infected breath enough to catch Omicron
from Professor Peter Openshaw, who says someone only needs to be exposed to "a whiff of infected breath" to catch the highly transmissible Omicron variant of coronavirus.

"Omicron is so infectious. We're lucky really that it wasn't this infectious when it first moved into human-to-human transmission," he told BBC Breakfast.

"We've had several iterations of this virus going through different stages of its evolution.

"It has ended up being so infectious that it almost needs just a whiff of infected breath and you could get infected."

He says the UK is in a relatively good position compared with many parts of the world where the vaccination rates are only about 5% and the population has very little protection from Omicron."


I always said when I travelled on the London Tube the amount of colds I got nearly matched those I got at school (and always at Christmas/New Year) my last heavy cold was early Jan 2020, probably from a 6hrs overnight Megabus to ot from Manchester

[Whyperion]

I see the government are wasting money building 8 regional Nightingale 'hubs'. I'll be interested to see who is going to staff them...

Not seen anything about that, information would be interesting.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-59823652

Chris Hopson, the head of NHS Providers, which represents health trusts, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that "Nightingale capacity hubs" being set up at hospitals could only be staffed by asking recently retired health workers and experienced volunteers to help out.

(dont know if that matches with the idea that the 100 bed units are for the isolated improving persons). Noted that hospital admissions now up to about 2000 a day, and that 1 in 30 ( 1 in 15 in London) have some form of covid (that seems a high number given the number of houses nearby to mum , seems a little improbable). Vaccines 58percent eligible have had booster ,which after two weeks is 88percent effective against hospitalisation. Hospitals in Sheffield and Rotherham have banned most visitors saying it is visitors that a spreading present infections.

[Stanley]

See politics corner for the latest problems arising from the surge in infections due to the Omicron variant. The scale of absences seems to have caught the experts by surprise.
Later... News that the more rabid Tory MPs are accusing the government of 'giving in to the unions' on the matter of mask wearing in class. What planet are these people living on?

[plaques]

The scale of absences seems to have caught the experts by surprise.

.
What a bunch of thickies we've got. Their own study 10 years ago predicted that the first major effect would be a reduction in care staff followed by similar reductions across industry. Back in November at the start of the Omicron variant I posted that there would be a massive effect on the workforce. On the other hand perhaps these 'experts' are the ones working for the right-wing press who fall under the heading .. expert = as been drip.

[PanBiker]

Indeed, they are contemplating making mask wearing in class mandatory again when the schools go back! Another U turn - stable, horse comes to mind.

[Stanley]

I have found out this morning that Omicron is responsible for my Jarndyce v. Jarndyce situation. The hold-up now is that one of the London solicitors involved is not responding to any correspondence. It is feared that Omicron is the reason. My trustee, Pip, tells me that the London legal profession is paralysed at the moment. Who'd 'ave thowt it!
She said she saw this coming and pushed hard, almost getting a result but the virus and the holidays beat her in the end....

[Whyperion]

The scale of absences seems to have caught the experts by surprise.

.
What a bunch of thickies we've got. Their own study 10 years ago predicted that the first major effect would be a reduction in care staff followed by similar reductions across industry. Back in November at the start of the Omicron variant I posted that there would be a massive effect on the workforce. On the other hand perhaps these 'experts' are the ones working for the right-wing press who fall under the heading .. expert = as been drip.

Omicron appears to be working like a common cold, a pain, annoyance , and sometimes throwing up severities and leading to worse infections in some people. It of itself does not seem to be fatal, and we might just be passing the worse within a couple of weeks. The vaccines taken earlier have helped in keeping well, just not in avoiding the infection bit and feeling groggy/hit by a bus please can I go to bed for three days phase.

[Whyperion]

Indeed, they are contemplating making mask wearing in class mandatory again when the schools go back! Another U turn - stable, horse comes to mind.

I think it is being advisory in Secondary schools for pupils. Schools have also been promised another 7000 ventilation units (why were these not in place in September ?) Sunday Telegraph headline reports Secondary School pupils being forced to wear masks - like it is some kind of Taliban enforcement of the hijab wearing. Personally I am not sure masks are going to make a significant difference in the long term indoor (and mask off for eating) setting, might delay and protect teachers in schools - have any reliable science investigations actually compared the effect of (N95) masks in a 5 hr indoor setting five days a week ?

[Stanley]

I saw that it was feared that wearing masks would affect the children's mental health.... I can't help thinking that kids are stronger mentally than some people think. How about what we had to put up with in the war? Were we mentally disabled? (Some might say yes! )

[Tizer]

I looked up the covid infection figures for Taunton's local area this morning and did a calculation. It works out at just less than 1% of the population infected.

[Stanley]

So how come we keep hearing figures like 1 in 30 infected and even lower?
Later, A WHO spokes person says that it is futile for the world to try to boost its way out of the pandemic. The only way this can be done is by vaccinating the under developed nations of the world.

[Tizer]

So how come we keep hearing figures like 1 in 30 infected and even lower?

The news media like to express the data that way because 1 in 30 sounds more frightening than 3%. Pendle data show 0.3% of the population were infected in the latest week's results ( LINK ). Obviously there will be other people still infected who caught it in earlier weeks but Omicron hasn't been around for long and people are getting over it faster than they did with Delta. For the equivalent period Omicron is about 1.8% in London and 1.5% for England as a whole.

[Big Kev]

The wording of the headlines can make a difference too. 'In excess of 12,000 in hospital' sounds far worse than 'Less than 12,000 in hospital'. The other one I saw is 'highest number in hospital with covid since February'. I'm sure the number was around 38,000 in February, as the number is now around 12,000 it's just more media sensationalism. The real headline is 'we've decimated the NHS and now it can't cope'.

[Big Kev]

After my views on the BBC's scaremongering headlines I may have to take some of it back, this story is almost positive https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-59862568

[Stanley]

"The real headline is 'we've decimated the NHS and now it can't cope'."
Absolutely right Kev and the more we remind people about that the better.

[Tizer]

Kev, there's another positive fact hidden in a BBC report today. A few posts back I wrote how the latest `per week' totals for infections were really quite low. I mentioned how it was reported as 0.3% for Pendle and 1.5% for England as a whole. I qualified that by saying that the total people infected would be higher due to those already infected before the week in question. I see this now in the BBC article: `Around 4% of people [in England] are currently infected with coronavirus, according to the Office for National Statistics'. It could have been a lot worse than that!

[Big Kev]

Kev, there's another positive fact hidden in a BBC report today. A few posts back I wrote how the latest `per week' totals for infections were really quite low. I mentioned how it was reported as 0.3% for Pendle and 1.5% for England as a whole. I qualified that by saying that the total people infected would be higher due to those already infected before the week in question. I see this now in the BBC article: `Around 4% of people [in England] are currently infected with coronavirus, according to the Office for National Statistics'. It could have been a lot worse than that!

Indeed, 4% is not a lot in the grand scheme of things. I wonder what percentage of that 4% are symptomatic.

[Stanley]

See THIS BBC report on the revocation of the visa given to Novak Djokovic to enable him to play in Australia. He is being held in quarantine and is going to court to appeal but why should he get preferential treatment? If he's not qualified under the visa rules he should be deported.
As Scott Morrison says, "Rules are rules".

[Big Kev]

Screenshot_20220106-133038_Facebook.jpg

[Tizer]

I wonder what percentage of that 4% are symptomatic.

As far as most people are concerned it's an unknown unknown.

[Whyperion]

Well numbers in hospital are increasing at quite a rate, and deaths above 200 again (but that might be Scottish NY holidays bumping up numbers.

[Tizer]

I feel sorry for this man but he did make things worse for himself by playing into the hands of the abusers: ..he tried to joke about it on his Instagram bio, sarcastically describing himself as a "1x Academy Award Winning Crisis Actor". That started a second round of abuse.
`'Crisis actor' conspiracy theory: How anti-vax activists targeted a Covid patient' LINK

[Tripps]

Whoops - Consultant not 'on message'.

I won't be taking the jab

This will surely be a massive story over the weekend. A Consultant who is an 'anti vaxxer'.

"I have not had a vaccination, I do not want to have a vaccination. The vaccines are reducing transmission only for about eight weeks for Delta, with Omicron it's probably less. "And for that, I would be dismissed if I don't have a vaccine? The science isn't strong enough."

[Whyperion]

If the idea that the present vaccines are not very good at preventing transmissions from symptoms, that does seem to have some correctness to it.

Meanwhile back in reality, 70percent of older persons having covid and being admitted to hospital have not had (full dose) vaccine. - In part some of them have conditions which meant it was not known to be suitable to have a vaccine (one lady reported as having brain anyerism while the main vaccine roll out in progress for example). Of hospital admissions it is reported about a third of those coming in with covid actually are being admitted for some other health maintenance and repair reasons. The increase in covid numbers in London appears to be flattening out - despite the lower percentages of population with boosters - either a lot of londoners have holed up, or gone elsewhere - or the stats are wrong - or maybe the younger kids with 2nd vaccinations are resilient enough. I wonder how many of the increases in cases elsewhere are from infections caught queing for the vaccines a couple of weeks ago ? Overall a cautious thought that the rises in admissions and cases are close to a peak, and should allow the NHS to recover a bit in February.