Coronavirus (Covid19) Corner

[plaques]

Johnson's approach to covid is the same as his to Brexit, (get Brexit done) Week after week even after the official break date 31st Dec 2020, there are endless of problems coming out of the woodwork that people were predicting 5 years ago. Now its 'Get Covid Done' but with no adjustment period. It would seem that Johnson's idea of 'done' is actually "its nothing to do with me from now on". He is no more than a buffoon on steroids. The sooner we have 'done' with him the better.

[Big Kev]

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[Stanley]

"He is no more than a buffoon on steroids. The sooner we have 'done' with him the better."
Right on Ken.... You've got him exactly right.

[Whyperion]

Better note this BBC reporting

Prof Semple tells BBC Breakfast the country is currently in a third wave of the pandemic and he expects a “miserable winter”.

He says many of those being treated in hospital for Covid at the moment are between the ages of 20 and 50, and unvaccinated.

“What’s surprising is that although they are not dying they are suffering quite a lot of injuries, so kidney injuries and lung injuries.

My concern now is not so much about death, although every death is a tragedy, my concern now is about otherwise healthy people who would otherwise be economically important working and going about their daily lives and they are going to get damaged and get lung scarring and kidney disease.”

So begins the Boris legacy for the next 60 years.

[chinatyke]

So begins the Boris legacy for the next 60 years.

First it was the Chinese who were to blame, now it is Boris!

[Big Kev]

So begins the Boris legacy for the next 60 years.

First it was the Chinese who were to blame, now it is Boris!

[Whyperion]

Money Well Spent ?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-57812242
"Covid-19: Leamington Spa 'mega lab' opens to speed up testing"
A warehouse, basically. Of course if we were controlling Covid would not a measure of success be a smaller facility ?

I assume it may be used for finding other coronaviruses and flus ? Will it remove though other research centres expertise ?

Maybe its just got a bingo machine and a random number generator in it as we know the UK numbers of Covid are going to be, well, high.

[Stanley]

Actually the evil genius behind the relaxation is Little Rishi.......

[plaques]

Vox Pop thinks that masks should be worn on public transport. Buffoon department thinks otherwise. The argument is we can't let covid get in the way of the economy and yet the logic is that not wearing them could do exactly that. A bus load catching covid could put that load out of action. Where's the sense in that? Then on a personal level. Having plucked up courage to go shopping in Skipton / Burnley a bus arrives full of people not wearing masks. Do you climb aboard or turn round and go home? Has your decision affected the economy?

[Tizer]

All the crew had been vaccinated twice - it shows that covid-19 can still be spread among vaccinated people...
`HMS Queen Elizabeth: Covid outbreak on Navy flagship' LINK

[Stanley]

I agree Peter. If you can't keep a capital ship at sea free from Covid, what chance of doing it in real life?
Remember what it was like on the cruise liners at the start of the pandemic?
Look at the number of cities which have ignored the Johnson relaxations and made some precautions mandatory, for instance on transport and indoors in crowds. (LINK)

[PanBiker]

I received a news article on my phone yesterday that listed 8 countries that had lifted all restrictions at once. Five of them had to do complete U turns within three weeks. "Irreversible" Boris says, don't talk bloody daft. We are already in the grip of wave three.

[plaques]

The latest from our buffoon.

"If we are careful and if we continue to respect this disease and its continuing menace then it is highly probable - almost all the scientists are agreed on this - the worst of the pandemic is behind us," the PM said.

Does anybody seriously believe him?

[Stanley]

Has anyone heard anyone warning or making plans for the pandemic after this one? Surely they don't think this is the last one?

[chinatyke]

The truth is that the UK is making a terrible job at managing their part in this pandemic. It is an island nation, it should have been easy to control borders. Not just the UK, the whole world hasn't made a good job of this global crisis. The few countries who have strictly managed the crisis, like New Zealand, Australia and China, have shown what must be done. There isn't any easy solution. Swallow the bitter pill.

[Tizer]

You're lucky China, you don't have Boris Johnson in charge!

The newspaper front pages today are full of `pingdemic' puns related to the high numbers of isolations due to the NHS alerts and their affect on companies etc due to employees needlessly isolating. All this could be avoided by using a rapid and accurate test - and one is there, developed in several forms by scientists (the so-called LAMP tests) but still waiting for support from regulators, the government and manufacturers. The latest episode of Inside Science discusses one of these tests... Radio 4

Listen to the first two parts where Julian Peto and then Kevin Fong are interviewed...
`Epidemiologist Julian Peto is advocating mass testing as the key part of a plan to stop the virus spreading. Studies where everyone has been tested have picked up asymptomatic cases. With the addition of isolation and contact tracing this method of testing has been able to massively reduce the spread of the virus. The hope is such a coordinated scheme implemented nationally could help bring the numbers down.'

`There’s a question over which type of test is best to use for mass testing. At the moment many of us do lateral flow tests at home. Although they give instant results their accuracy has been shown to be strongly linked to how well the tests are conducted - hence the need to back up any positive findings with the more accurate PCR test. PCR takes longer and needs sophisticated lab equipment. However a compromise could be to use RT Lamp tests, they are accurate, give results in around 20 minutes, do require a very basic lab, but without the expensive equipment of PCR. A number of RT lamp tests have now been developed for SARS-Cov2. Kevin Fong has been to see the developers of one of them, the OxLAMP test.'

[PanBiker]

The truth is that the UK is making a terrible job at managing their part in this pandemic. It is an island nation, it should have been easy to control borders.

No argument there Graham. The problem is we haven't really had what I would call a proper lock down. The main thrust of this useless government has been to suggest, urge or encourage folk to do the right thing. Very little mandatory regulations in the vast scale of things. Leave folk to make their own mind up and you have a perpetual problem. No real leadership, but I would say that of course being on the opposite side (by a long way) of the political divide. They screwed Brexit up as well.

They should have dissolved parliament and reformed under a cross party coalition for both Brexit and kept if for the following pandemic. Both should have been treated more like being on a war footing.

[Big Kev]

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[Stanley]

"They should have dissolved parliament and reformed under a cross party coalition for both Brexit and kept if for the following pandemic. Both should have been treated more like being on a war footing."

How often and how long have we been saying that?
Kev, noticeable that some shelves were empty in the supermarket yesterday. Caused by staff having to stay at home and self isolate?

[Whyperion]

The latest from our buffoon.

"If we are careful and if we continue to respect this disease and its continuing menace then it is highly probable - almost all the scientists are agreed on this - the worst of the pandemic is behind us," the PM said.

Does anybody seriously believe him?

Jeremy Hunt, as Chair of the Parliamentary Medical Committee is apparently suggesting that come September there will be a need to re-introduce some controls.
An interesting take on Boris's Irreversible Freedom Day.


Back in the Science world has anyone got specifics on Covid and the Blood Clots and Internal Organ Damage - how much is Immune system responses, and how much protein loads in the Virus interacting with neccessary protein functions in (Human ?) Cells, and how much, straighforwardly, is as a result of the virus using ( efficiently or badly ) , the human cell replication factory destroying cells in the process ? And what, can be left out of the vaccines and still make them work.


Vaccinations - first doses, it does seem from some London soundbites that ' I work in hospitality, I decided I had better have the vaccine due to opening up on Monday'. do people thing that the immunity works from Day 1 ? And why did this 20 year old wait when walk-ins have been avalible for a fortnight ?

In response to China, it appears the entire British economy / profits are driven by alcohol (with no thought to any 'externality' costs of social disruption - police, health service long term and short), or entertainment and spectator sport. It is imperitive that as many people as possible are in every venue to maximise hourly revenues and pay all the rent, suppliers, staff , pensions, taxes.

Empty shelves - brexit - nobody picking, packing distributing and mechandising, and a lot not even getting to the present supply chain.

[plaques]

Some of the quoted 'science' is sailing very close to the edge of peoples understanding of words.

Buffoon... the worst of the pandemic is behind us," the PM said. = if the number of deaths was 15000. and the projected is 14999. the peak is behind us. Are we really showing an improvement?

A Chris Whitty quote being mis-used. If the majority wear masks they are of little us. True meaning= if 90% wear them then you're reasonably safe if 51% (majority) you're not safe.

Why do they do it?

[Stanley]

The sense I am getting from the most useful sources is that Johnson has cocked up and is running the danger of having to reverse the irreversible. Even J Hunt says so!

[plaques]

Against my better judgement we took a couple of flyby trips to source some cheapo chairs for the garden. Didn't get any chairs but here's the summary on the mask situation. B&M generally good but with the odd family without masks. ASDA. good only one young lady without. B&Q, poor mainly macho men with big tattoos. I've always considered Colne to be a safe area, and still do, but the farther away you go the standards appear to slip.
No more out of town shopping after 'freedom' day.

[Big Kev]

Sadly there are a lot of people who only consider themselves. There are, however, still some who are using common sense. Barnoldswick butcher Stuart Brown's daughter Lucy has put a poll on the Barnoldswick Talk Facebook page asking who will still wear a mask in local shops from tomorrow, when I last looked the 'no' votes were in the minority. 49 yes and 15 no. I'll check it again later and see how it is once the great unwashed are out of bed.

[Tripps]

I make a few notes in a 'plague diary' when I think something significant has happened. Here's today's entry - so far. . . .

Sun 18 July 2021

Peak chaos and total shambles day.

Remember that tomorrow Mon 19 July 2021 is the great unlocking when all restrictions are lifted. (or was while I was writing this.)

Yetserday Sajid Javid the new "Health" Secretary declares he has tested positive for Covid and will isolate himself as per the current instructions. He has had two doses of the vaccine..

Much speculation as to who he has had contact with in the last few days. He went to a care home last Tuesday which I would guess is the most likley source, but significant that he had meetings with Boris etc on Friday.

The world beating test and trace system pings Boris and Rishi Sunak, who by rights should now isolate.

9.00 am Sunday 18th
But wait -they say they have been 'randomly chosen' to take part in a trial - the one that got Gove off the hook when he went to Portugal. They would therefore not have to isolate but just take a daily test, and carry on unless of course it was positive.

Robert Jenrick goes on TV to endorse this action, and denies that the sensitivity of the tracking app will be reduced as the number of pings is causing major problems. Tube trains cancelled due to no drivers, suoermarket shelves bare due to no drivers etc.

Later reported that PM and Chancellor, rather than being randomly selected, have in fact 'joined the trial'.
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11.00 am Sun 18th July
Rishi, then Boris, say they will not take part in the trial but will isolate like all the rest of the peasants. Must have realised this is a blag too far - on a par with Barnard Castle and Dominic Cummings.

You couldn't make it up. We have 54.000 new cases per day, and rising,and all restrictions will be lifted tomorrow. The vaccine which was the main plank of the policy seems not to give protection against infection as well as it was predicted. The 93% figure seems to be against serious illness and death. and a figure of 50% has been mentioned a couple of times, for infections.

Only lunchtime now - I think there will be more developments over the rest of the day.
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Watch this space. . .