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Corona please read very important

Discussion in 'The Bar' started by dougs, Mar 15, 2020.

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  1. BREWSTERS United Kingdom

    BREWSTERS Well-Known Member

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    upload_2020-4-1_16-53-5.png

    Since last Thursday when the Gov announced it was changing the way it counted deaths, the numbers have gone up sharply.

    As of just now, 163 cases are reported as serious or critical...so should see a markedly lower number of deaths tomorrow. But I bet we don't!

    What is strange is the extremely low number of recovered (135 as above or 179 according to Johns Hopkins Uni) which is at odds with many other countries. Belgium have roughly half the number of cases as the UK, roughly a third the number of deaths, but 12 times the number recovered.

    Doesn't make sense unless using different criteria to record events. Which is entirely possible, especially when reading things such as this on the JHU* site "Confirmed cases include presumptive positive cases." When did presumption equal confirmed? It's nonsense.

    Sweden - no lockdown - extrapolate the cases and deaths to equal the UK population size and they have more cases than UK (32650 to 29841) yet two-thirds the number of deaths....with no lockdown.
     
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  2. Domain Forum

    Acorn Domains Elite Member

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    IWA Meetup
     
  3. Murray

    Murray Well-Known Member

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    I saw they were going to start counting people who die at home suspected of it, without even being tested.. which seems a bit iffy

    Are they now including that in daily numbers or is it still just NHS confirmed cases?
     
  4. newguy United Kingdom

    newguy Well-Known Member

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    It's a tricky balance as due to how busy the NHS is, they tell a lot of people to stay at home if they have mild symptoms. No doubt sometimes these situations develop fast and the person dies before they can receive hospital treatment. I appreciate that possibly there's room for some people being misdiagnosed, but it does seem clear that the numbers are rising, just as we see in just about every other country. It pays not to always go with the government line, but at the same time, it's clear that this situation is happening and is troubling, not a conspiracy or conjured out of nothing.
     
  5. Edwin

    Edwin Well-Known Member

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    The official numbers coming out of the Department of Health and Social Care daily are deaths in hospital only.

    The wider community figure will be supplied once a week in arrears (by the ONS, I believe).
     
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  6. bonusmedia

    bonusmedia Well-Known Member

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    The number reported serious/critical for the UK at worldometers has been wrong from the beginning, it's been pointed out here before.

    Different countries and systems are using different criteria, there isn't a universal standard. The deputy CMO has pointed this out in daily briefings and warned about the problems with making direct comparisons.

    There is a lag of 2+ weeks between any measure taken and seeing the effect on infections and deaths.
    Deaths are the more reliable figure, owing to big differences in testing numbers.

    In the UK, there has been criticism of the lag in reporting deaths. There will be criticism if they announce deaths too early. Whatever they do, there will be people criticising.

    JHU's 'presumptive positive' does not mean what you think it means:

    From the CDC:
    "To assist our partners, CDC has developed a form that provides a standardized approach to reporting PUIs, presumptive positive cases (individuals with at least one respiratory specimen that tested positive for the virus that causes COVID-19 at a state or local laboratory) and laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases (individuals with at least one respiratory specimen that tested positive for the virus that causes COVID-19 at a CDC laboratory). These data are needed to track the impact of the outbreak and inform public health response".

    I'd suggest watching the daily briefings, they've covered a lot of this.
     
  7. BREWSTERS United Kingdom

    BREWSTERS Well-Known Member

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    Has it been wrong, or are the death figures wrong? People are dying, and those deaths are being attributed to CV, when it isn't the cause of death. That would explain the difference.

    Why hasn't a standardised system been implemented? It's ridiculous that a so-called global pandemic that has shut down half the world has so much ambiguity surrounding it. One way to cause confusion and fear is to carry on the ambiguity.

    Oh I think it does. What does that paragraph mean to you?

    When I read this:
    (individuals with at least one respiratory specimen that tested positive for the virus that causes COVID-19 at a state or local laboratory)

    That says to me: Individuals with at least one respiratory specimen that tested positive for the virus that CAUSES covid-19 at a state or local laboratory.

    Causes covid-19? That would be coronavirus then would it? Of which there are many. And anyone who's got, had, or getting a cold will test positive for coronavirus.

    Apart from that...(probably because of the high number of false positives from the test) aren't there 4 tests done to confirm covid-19? So one positive test, is only a fraction of the way to an actual positive test. I'd say that a 'presumptive positive' is exactly what it sounds like. I don't see how you could interpret what you posted any differently.

    And these presumptive cases, are counted as confirmed cases - if that makes sense to you...jeez. That's like getting 2 numbers on the lottery and saying you won the jackpot. It's total BS and the only possible reason for it is to cause fear. End of.
     
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  8. LCHappy United Kingdom

    LCHappy Active Member

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    There must be an easy way to settle this, has the number of deaths gone up or down compared to last year and the year before?
     
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  9. bonusmedia

    bonusmedia Well-Known Member

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    Tell you what, why don't you devise a standardized system that's practical to implement immediately in 195 different countries and get them all to agree. Problem solved.

    "And anyone who's got, had, or getting a cold will test positive for coronavirus."
    I would ask you for evidence if I thought there was any chance whatsoever you'd have any.
     
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  10. bonusmedia

    bonusmedia Well-Known Member

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  11. Murray

    Murray Well-Known Member

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    https://www.acorndomains.co.uk/threads/corona-please-read-very-important.166956/page-28#post-628167

    The numbers this month probably wont show much

    The numbers next month might

    But the numbers for the total year or next two years might balance out to looking more ordinary if* the majority of people passing away are those who older in bad health to begin with
     
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  12. LCHappy United Kingdom

    LCHappy Active Member

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    I found some weekly ones

    https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopula...landandwalesprovisional/weekending20march2020

    Only up until March the 20th, but yes you are 100% right. Probably won't show anything for a few weeks at least.

    But wouldn't that be what people are saying, why are we closing down the economy if these people were likely to go anyway? Take away the media and few would know any difference. Crazy random deaths of reasonably healthy people has always happened.

    If the numbers stay reasonably the same, we have to open it all back up asap. I'd rather take my chances with the virus than be 100% sure of starving to death.
     
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  13. BREWSTERS United Kingdom

    BREWSTERS Well-Known Member

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    A directive from the WHO. Done.
     
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  14. LCHappy United Kingdom

    LCHappy Active Member

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    How many can argue with the data on this site? I don't believe a site with this much evidence being displayed is lying.

    https://swprs.org/a-swiss-doctor-on-covid-19/

    I think we (UK Gov) have it all wrong. Looking more and more like a complete over reaction.

    "A politician from northern Italy asks, for example, „how is it possible that Covid patients from Brescia are transported to Germany, while in the nearby Verona two thirds of intensive care beds are empty?"

    If that is true, this isn't a misunderstanding, it has to be being done to deliberately mislead people.
     
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  15. BREWSTERS United Kingdom

    BREWSTERS Well-Known Member

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    It's a good site that...gets updated throughout the day.

    One very telling thing that they point out is when the Italian media said '50 doctors have died with CV' and published a list...when people started pulling them up for it because many of these are old retired doctors (up to about 96yo in one case), and including peadiactric doctors and psychiatrists...the media removed the ages of those doctors from the article. Sensationalism.
     
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  16. Edwin

    Edwin Well-Known Member

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    Unfortunately, the UK government doesn't pay nearly enough attention to what the WHO says. To all our costs!

    The FT have done a fantastic job of compiling detailed stats (including the below). The map shows how different countries around the world have implemented lockdown. Keep an eye on the blue of the UK, that lingers... and lingers... and lingers...

    (If all you see below is a static image then you'll need to visit the FT site at https://www.ft.com/coronavirus-latest to view the animated graphic.)

    [​IMG]

    PS There's a whole bunch of other data available at the above link too.
     
  17. Murray

    Murray Well-Known Member

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    Isn't what mattered the amount of cases and spread? in terms of timing

    We could have put the country on lockdown very early, had very few cases, then when everyone comes out of lockdown it would have exploded

    I've lost track of dates, meant March numbers probably wont look anything too bad but Aprils could
     
  18. Edwin

    Edwin Well-Known Member

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    Why? I mean that as a genuine question, not argumentatively.

    We live on an island. Suddenly that's a big plus. If everyone is locked down - I mean a draconian lockdown, much tighter than now - then within a couple of weeks or so the virus will die out here because it has literally nowhere to go.

    Then you test everyone entering the country by every route, while people already in the UK can resume their on-hold lives. Maybe even clamp down on tourism in some way that makes it extremely unattractive to visit the UK for a few months while the rest of the world weathers the worst of the pandemic. In parallel, support the heck out of businesses connected to tourism so that they will be there for the future.

    (Of course you'd have to curtail outbound tourism too, but needs must.)

    There's no reason for the virus to flare up again in a big way with the above steps.

    It still wouldn't be "life as normal" but it would be much much closer than the current situation, and safer too.
     
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  19. Murray

    Murray Well-Known Member

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    Well if that's possible certainly,

    I'm thinking from the perspective that we can slow it down but not stop it

    We could test people on arrival but what about their baggage if it can live on certain surfaces for days; could test clear but then get it from handling belongings they just bought for their trip

    I suppose we could quarantine people for two weeks after they arrive but how feasible is that? would we need to do that until a vaccine is produced

    Just seems like a wildfire that can be managed but not prevented
     
  20. diablo

    diablo Well-Known Member

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    Something along these lines would work, at least in theory.
     
  21. Edwin

    Edwin Well-Known Member

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    There are no good paths forward.

    But it's worth considering what the cost of near zero tourism (inbound/outbound) would be compared to the cost of the current course of action (in terms of level of bailout required, jobs lost, and indeed lives lost too).

    As I say, the virus can't survive forever if it's starved of places to go. Sure, it can survive days on surfaces and 2-3 weeks inside people. But after that, it dies. So if there's no new input of virus, there's nothing to spread.

    BTW, some countries are quarantining people for 2 weeks on arrival. But they're doing that after cutting down virtually all flights. So it's mainly their citizens overseas being brought home. Passengers are put in airport hotels or similar, and not allowed to leave until they've been free of symptoms for a "safe" period of time.

    Meanwhile, we are still not doing anything (as far as I'm aware) with inbound passengers, bar asking them nicely to self-isolate if they show coronavirus symptoms.
     
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