which is pretty simple, they just encode small conversion variants

Forget B&Q, breweries deliver.

Secrecy about possibly having Covid-19 is a very counter productive trait to exhibit right now. Informal contact tracing is something we should all see as our responsibility.

VENT mode activatated.

**** hell you would think mrs anagallis was being tested for syphillis

If that was the case you would have every right to vent – and lay a new patio…

Marina delivers her weekly demolition

Matt Hancock, could you honestly think of no one better to run test and trace?

Many African countries are far better at disease control than we are.

True.

I worked in West Africa when ebola was going on. Nobody was moaning about the rules or protesting their rights.

@binners – depressingly accurate as usual

I once met Marina after an event at Byline a couple of years ago and shook her hand. It was only since covid that I’ve washed it…

Just to roll back a bit, are we not listening to Tired?   Now, normally glass half empty I’m now (bizarrely for me) err-ing on the side of logic.  And I think I’ve been told by people on here:

a) No of cases in March vs Today because its a case of “Admissions” (little or nor testing) being counted in March, and “Positive Tests” being counted now is not a comparable number despite what’s being shown on charts

If we took that view, thats 3000 admissions approx per day in March at its worst vs 183 admissions September 16th, so 6%?  If this is correct, we are nowhere near the first spike.  Notwithstanding we don’t want to be there and even a single death from C19 is terrible, plus I bet it’ll be hard to find a home in Britain that isn’t using preventative measures such as masks & sanitiser, are we not in a media panic frenzy right now?

Apologies for my cut and paste quote error up there ^^^^

Oh for a quote button/function.

Anyway… the following has left me utterly confused…

Hospitals have been banned from doing their own coronavirus testing for staff and patients who have symptoms. Leaked NHS documents show the DHSC has capped funding for testing, even though the lack of tests has left key workers forced to stay at home https://t.co/a1thvkiEbX

— liane gomersall (@ligomersall) September 19, 2020

Depending how you look at the data, we are doubling every 1-2 weeks (I tend towards the upper end, but am concerned that it could be speeding up towards the quicker rate). While it’s still not as desperate as March, it is still rapid enough to be genuinely problematic. Deaths are now showing signs of a rise and the disease is spreading to the older population.

Talk of a new lockdown in mid-Oct seems unrealistically complacent to me. That is a long way off and the numbers could be very high by then (4 doublings = 16x higher). If we are going to have cycles of tighter and looser restrictions, better to do this with a low level of disease than a high one.

we are nowhere near the first spike

Correct. But you have to act in advance to prevent the spike, not wait ‘till the numbers say we are nearly there, it’s far too late then. Read back through this thread as regards the lag in indicators. Just read TiRed’s posts about this if you want to save time.

I wrote this two months ago. Nothing has changed my mind. I don’t see doom and gloom, as we know that control measures do restrict transmission. I don’t do the economics bit 😉

Summary
An Autumn/Winter SRS-COV2 epidemic will follow the first epidemic wave, with doubling time >1 week (rather than 2-3 days). There will be added influenza mortality but reduced overall transmission due to school precautions (including lockdown/closure), reduced commuting and office working, use of public barrier precautions, testing and isolation of the elderly and healthcare workers, testing and tracing of cases. Regional lockdowns will be necessary but are unlikely to prevent overall spread. Excess mortality of up to 30000 deaths (half the first wave) should be anticipated, again predominantly in the elderly. Any reductions in 2020-21 influenza mortality due to reduced contacts and increased vaccination will be offset by COVID19 mortality. There will be no effective vaccine or new treatments available, however earlier treatment of mild/moderate cases may mitigate mortality.

Talk of a new lockdown in mid-Oct seems unrealistically complacent to me

Linked to education of course. Half-term is a natural time to consider. But yes, it’s 2-4 doubling times from now, so potential for serious trouble. We are currently seeing about 200 hospital admissions per day and about 10-20 deaths per day. By late October, I predict perhaps 1000-3000 admissions/day (range is wide but that’s the nature of the game), with 100 deaths/day (range 30-300). The top of that admissions rate is the April peak.

Theres a lot of assumptions in that post Tired. Like track and trace and testing functioning. Like schools being covid safe (for want of a better word)

Also… timing. When all those measures occur will effect where we end up.

I would not disagree. But one has to take a slightly longer view than last week’s headlines. Timing is important. But just like infection immunity, lockdown immunity wanes too – just ask any student who’s gone to uni. People will tire of controls.

People will tire of controls.

I’m bored already and only 12hrs into a potential 2 week isolation!!

TT starts at 14:00 😉 get on the turbo.

We are currently seeing about 200 hospital admissions per day

That doesn’t make sense when the media were reporting a total of 8-900 beds in hospital in England occupied with C19 patients this week. NHS data showed approximately 450 on September 9th, so an increase of about 400.

Presumably the vast bulk of those admissions are discharged very quickly?

We have only just hit 200, it was fewer on previous days in the period you’re looking at, and very low at the start of it.

New hospital admissions for England: the increase is real and serious. Doubling time: 8 days. pic.twitter.com/mXnX29CCsP

— richard horton (@richardhorton1) September 18, 2020

https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/healthcare

Median stay is about five days – very roughly the number in hospital/admission rate. Sadly you can’t see the data on those plots on a log-scale to track growth rate.

Naga Munchetty actually had to step in while he was mid-waffle because he was giving the impression that there was not much for people to be worried about.

I didn’t look at that as nothing to worry about more there were some fairly strong indicators the rapid rise in numbers around now could be inferred / identified and planned for in terms of testing capacity.

How can Boris be telling us we’re entering a second wave when just a few short weeks ago it was safe to return to work?

If you take a step back from the constant political angle we all keep putting on it, the two aren’t mutually exclusive.

It was “safe” to start to go back to work* – with controls and distancing – a few weeks ago. We are now getting the second wave that everyone, including TiRed, was expecting. Mixed government messages and failures to stick to controls are making it worse than it could have been.

*Much as I hate to sound like I’m supporting the dangerously incompetent oaf, if you read beyond the headlines, he never said it was safe for everyone to go back to work, full time, all together, like we did before. Even his dictats to the civil service haven’t said that said. Which is handy, as all departments I’ve got contacts in are basically ignoring it and carrying on WFH!

How can Boris be telling us we’re entering a second wave when just a few short weeks ago it was safe to return to work?

He meant the plebs, it safe for them to go back to work, eveyone else can work from home

I thought it was only a month so back that Boris, ok maybe team Boris, was openly talking about the removal or all restrictions before Christmas. Being cynical, it feels ramping up on Wave 2 would fit with Cumming’s Drive it like you stole it approach. Move rapidly away from pesky questions about coming up short again and get it round to wave 2 as this unexpected overwhelming event that no one knows how to deal with. It’s their first second time round.

I agree.
First wave caught us and we could only flatten the peak by pushing it back with big restrictions on activity and economy.
Second wave coming so Team Boris take this opportunity to flatten the peak by pulling it forward the other way, by opening up activity and economy, and get a few through hospital before demand surges. Of course, that doesn’t seem well with bereaved relatives so it’s easier to pretend it’s caught them out again.

Morbid thought, but if we now have a couple of “treatments” that may reduce deaths, will those patients fill up beds and thus put the NHS under strain even quicker – Nightingale hospitals in use this time, if the staffing fairy can rustle up some trained staff from, er, somewhere?

One of the endpoints from the treatment trials is length of hospitalisation. Whilst few have moved the needle on mortality, some, including remdesivir, have reduced hospital stay (from 11 to 8 days). Small steps at the moment. Bigger improvements will come.

We (the UK) have been well into the second spike since the end of July/early August.

https://gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6

That our politicians are only now talking about it as if it’s something that’s happened in the last week or two says it all really.

Why is everything based around reacting to the spread of the disease?

Why isn’t there any foresight?

(I know that’s Conservatism/incompetence to a tee but this issue is greater than just the economy. I.e you can’t have a functioning economy without a healthy/terrified population.)

if you read beyond the headlines, he never said it was safe for everyone to go back to work, full time, all together, like we did before.

I seem to remember him telling people to return to the workplace to support the high street and local businesses. I know he didn’t say it was safe, but nevertheless…

We (the UK) have been well into the second spike since the end of July/early August.

That’s not even vaguely true, is it?

Why isn’t there any foresight?

Such as thinking in March/April…assume a vaccine will be 2 years away at best, there is no treatment (yet), best to assume this won’t just disappear, if it’s still around in autumn/winter that co-incides with flu and other seasonal infections, we have finite NHS capacity both physical and staff.
Must starting planning – now.

It’s not as if any of this is with the benefit of hindsight.
I have little doubt this was raised by ‘experts’ but dismissed by johnson-gove-cummings; the rest of the clown circus were too scared of losing their jobs to say anything.

Why isn’t there any foresight?

Optimism to the point of being delusional from Boris. How many times have we seen him immediately contradict caution by prattling on about world class jam tomorrow as no body does it better.

And yet again the Tories are Ignoring all actual evidence and defaulting to their idealogical positions.

There’s clearly a massive problem with track and trace delivered in such a woeful fashion by Serco and other private companies. Should we hand it over to regional health authorities who have been considerably more successful?

Of course not. That would be the rational, logical thing to do.

Instead… Troubled test-and-trace system drafts in management consultants

You just couldn’t make this shit up

Optimism to the point of being delusional

VOTE LEAVE

Whitty said in the original daily briefings earlier in the year that these things always have a second – and more – waves.     And of note Sturgeon calling for Cobra meetings, others baying for prompt action yet Boris has gone into hiding again.   Out Grouse shooting no doubt.

After several days of trying to book a test I finally had one this afternoon; response time for results is now 72 hours.

Why is everything based around reacting to the spread of the disease?

Why isn’t there any foresight?

(I know that’s Conservatism/incompetence to a tee

Not just the UK/conservatives though, Spain and France seem to be in the same boat, just further downstream.

Anyone know if the government is actually ignoring the experts, or has decided to only listen to experts that they like the sound of, or are both the government and the experts not able to see the blindingly obvious without a dataset to back it up?

That’s not even vaguely true, is it?

Cases have been increasing since the 2nd week of July onwards. Therefore R has been greater than 1 for 2 months+. They should have been tweaking the restrictions months ago to get R<1 to get infection levels down before Schools/Unis went back.

Genius. How to dampen down demand for the testing you have failed to deliver… new fines, up to £10,000 for risking spreading the virus to others, if you’ve taken a test. So… if you think you have it, and you consider yourself to be at low risk of being effected by it seriously yourself… don’t get a test, and don’t risk the large fines.