Mutating Corona Virus

[honeybee13]

This is the article Richard North was talking about.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/20/no-one-had-any-idea-contact-tracers-lack-knowledge-about-covid-19-job

 

How come there are suddently 25,000 contract tracers coming, when they set out to recruit 18k? Even sadder though, is the situation with local authority public health services who are  already trained and could deal with this on the ground, if they had the resources.

[honeybee13]

Gee, Maroon - what lockdown? I can't imagine how it will be once it stats lifting.

[honeybee13]

I think I read that they've asked local public health teams to organise testing for care homes. Someone we know works in a care home and they've been tested once since the epidemic began, about three weeks ago.

[honeybee13]

That's unbelievable, CB. Wait for the second wave of cases...

[honeybee13]

I agree. But you'd hope that social distancing would mean that fewer people catch the virus in the first place.

 

The point of lockdown as I understand it was to get the country ready with measures like social distancing at work and in public places and to introduce tracking and tracing.

[honeybee13]

I didn't mean the app, BN, I meant humans.

[honeybee13]

Even the Telegraph are saying that an earlier lockdown would have prevented many deaths and led to a shorter overall lockdown.

 

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/05/20/earlier-lockdown-could-have-prevented-three-quarters-uk-coronavirus/

[honeybee13]

More on testing. Greater Manchester is using local public sector testing and the government's tests. The public sector tests are giving them the information they need on cases quickly while the government system hasn't sent any results through since early May. Not helpful for infection control.

 

https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/greater-manchester-still-doesnt-know-18288943

 

Elsewhere, there's talk on Twitter that around 350,000 tests nationally have been double-counted, as nasal and throat swabs are being counted separately in some cases.

[honeybee13]

I hope she feels better soon, London.

 

Do they send the results to you or your GP maybe?

 

HB

[honeybee13]

So Neil Ferguson was forced to resign from Sage after his girlfriend visited him twice.

 

Demonic Cummings travels from London to Durham, while showing Covid symptoms, to stay with his parents and seems to think that's different?

[honeybee13]

As someone pointed out in the press yesterday, the government is putting the cart before the horse. Get systems in place to protect people, like social distancing measures, testing and tracking and then start opening up the country.

 

Once again, it seems they haven't used the time bought by lockdown to advance things.

[honeybee13]

One early excuse today was childcare, first his parents helping and then his sister and nieces as the story developed. How could that work safely?

[honeybee13]

I don't think I've ever seen anything like this. Cummings' gang said earlier that the police didn't visit him in Durham.

 

Durham police have felt it necessary to issue a statement.

 

https://www.durham-pcc.gov.uk/News-and-Events/News-Archive/2020/April-June/Statement-Visit-to-Durham-by-Dominic-Cummings-during-lockdown.aspx

[honeybee13]

Dual standards is exactly it.

 

The police and crime commissioner for Durham is writing to the chief constable to ask for an investigation into Demonic's movements. Does that mean they can look at his sat nav record?

 

ETA link.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/may/25/durham-police-chief-calls-for-investigation-into-dominic-cummings

[honeybee13]

Cummings is going to speak at 4pm today, ahead of the daily press conference. Several commentators have said this is against the government code for Spads.

 

I don't foresee any kind of apology or humility.

[honeybee13]

Is it politics though? Someone who advises the PM put himself on the SAGE group to become involved with deciding policy then deemed fit to not follow the very rules he'd helped to design.

 

 

[honeybee13]

We'll see in a couple of minutes, but even the Mail isn't happy which is interesting.

[honeybee13]

He says he's never considered resigning.

 

My gobstruck moment so far is that Demonic drove 30 miles to Barnard Castle and 30 miles back to test his eyesight?

[honeybee13]

Medieval?

[honeybee13]

5 minutes ago, tobyjugg2 said:

 

and what are the police going to do if everyone says they are testing their eyesight after being locked indoors apart from brief occasional trips to a supermarket queue for weeks?

 

Quite so, it makes it much harder for them.

 

Also 'I was just following my instincts, officer'.

[honeybee13]

Have Durham police said they were aware, hightail? I haven't seen it but I could have missed something.

[honeybee13]

The actuaries have released this week's report. This is pretty close to the latest figure from Chris Giles of the Financial Times.

 

https://www.actuaries.org.uk/news-and-insights/news/cmi-says-ve-day-timing-masks-downward-trend-excess-weekly-deaths

[honeybee13]

David Allen Green, legal man at the FT, has done what he calls a guided tour of Demonic's statement on Monday [no paywall]. I think it's very clearly explained and Mr Green thinks that the document is written like a legal witness statement. Very interesting if you want a deeper explanation.

 

https://www.ft.com/video/e82b5a00-3ad5-4d2c-9703-ff14942aa5b1

[honeybee13]

The FT have done an international comparison of Covid deaths. The UK doesn't come out well.

 

https://www.ft.com/content/6b4c784e-c259-4ca4-9a82-648ffde71bf0

[honeybee13]

You're right about people's possible responses to these phone calls, BN.

 

I may have read that they're considering penalties to stop people behaving like Demonic. I suppose it never occurred to them that the little people would take matters into their own hands and it seems to have come as a shock to be losing control.

 

Also, how do you know it's a genuine call and what's to stop malicious calls by people naming someone they don't like?