Covid-19 Virus

Of course this is all correct but we do have to acknowledge that Covid is contagious - very contagious. There’s no simple trade off between (say) diabetes and Covid for that reason.

TBF to the government it has just launched an obesity strategy which won’t yield any immediate results or votes either.

As for the hyping up of the second wave - I’d suggest that is as much driven by the government as the media in order to keep the public in line.

 

I actually do have some sympathy for the government. Many of the issues are pulling them in different directions.

The obesity strategy does make a lot of sense. It is a big killer and a major burden on the NHS in its own right. Covid-19 has just shown how being obese makes you much more likely to die if you did get a serious illness.

But at the same time they need people to consume to reignite the economy. Giving people half price, high calorie, restaurant and pub meals 3 times a week is great for the economy but is not going to help with the obesity crisis.

 

Noticeable that the scheme deliberately excluded takeaways though....

 

That is true but I believe takeaways have been doing pretty well out of the lockdown. It may have been a health consideration but I suspect it was more about helping businesses that don't do takeaways or at least where takeaways are not their primary business.

 

Yes, that was a bit tongue in cheek. Applying it to restaurants/cafes keeps more people in work. Mrs Keighley and I ate out in a pub on Monday and it was noticeable how many staff were milling around.

I see the contradiction but these sorts of apparent conflicts are inherent in public health. Without this scheme, more pubs/restaurants/cafes might go under, causing economic hardship - and it’s well established that that leads to long term physical and mental health problems, as well as other, non-health, consequences for both workers and the broader community.

As you say, there are pressures on government in different directions and keeping this limited to three days a week for four weeks seems a reasonable compromise to me.

 

Yes, I think both policies are very sensible but their contradictions are symptomatic of the difficult path the government is attempting to navigate.

The Sydney clan have been out on three meals in the last two weeks. All were very well organised and it has given us confidence to eat out more....which I guess is another intention of the policy.

 

Of course all you said is correct but a counter argument is that flu in its different strains every year is also very contagious and kills many people (mainly with, but also without underlying health (respiratory) conditions, just like Covid ) - yet the govt response is far more muted in controlling this known serious killer than it has been with Covid.

We accept death by flu because it’s been around for years but it kills many more people than Covid.
And flu has more serious health effects in young children than Covid. I don’t hear much about that from the govt, for example.

And yes the govt are also hyping up a ‘second wave’ (a misnomer) I agree, but it’s to try to get people to conform to social distancing and face mask precautions (which I agree with btw).
Much of the media are WAY OTT with panic headlines and stories to sell more copies/space.

And yes, I know we are still learning about Covid.
An interesting comparison of flu and Covid:

https://www.cdc.gov/flu/symptoms/flu-vs-covid19.htm

But although it’s a different animal the govt SHOULD take diabetes 2 more seriously.. it can also be prevented with the right precautions and helped by the right govt intervention. It’s already costing us £billions and due to lack of action it’s like a slow motion car crash for the nation..

 

Regarding Netherlands being added to the quarantine list, they've been significantly increasing the amount of tests being done since end of July, and surprise surprise number of cases has also gone up. Meanwhile, deaths remain basically non-existent.

Same as the UK in recent weeks.

Maybe cases resulting in deaths might increase again a bit once winter comes around again, and governments are just trying to keep populations vigilant now in preparation for that, but aside from that caveat it seems the worst has definitely passed and the whole thing seems a bit of a storm in a teacup currently.



https://www.statista.com/statistics/1129018/coronavirus-tests-in-netherlands-weekly/

 

As I said last night I was in Devon last week and in Dorset this week, the Eat Out to Help Out scheme will help cafes and restaurants, however in holiday destinations it makes it near impossible to find somewhere to eat without having booked first. On Wednesday last week I struggled to find anywhere in Torquay and Newton Abbot but we finally managed to find a pub in the middle of nowhere. The hotel I stayed in wasn't part of the scheme.
As a result of that experience for Monday to wednesday this week I booked tables last week and availablity was low already. Still I managed to get a decent meal in Poole on Monday and Tuesday, then in Corfe Castle on Wednesday.
Some of these venues would have preferred the scheme to have been available in September instead of August as there were enough tourists anyway but of course restaurants in non-tourist areas need a boost.

 

Yes, that's a good point.

Mrs Keighley and I are on holiday in September so that would have suited us!

 

While I agree that increased testing has certainly resulted in an increase in the discovery of cases, I take issue with those who look at the figures and take the binary view: deaths=bad, non-deaths=all fine. Most people who get the virus don't die and some don't even have symptoms, but many spend weeks and even months in intensive care and are severely debilitated afterwards, perhaps for ever. Minimising these effects and the need for this care is what we are trying to achieve, not just the number of deaths. I have a jab each year to try and avoid flu and, until there is an equivalent for Covid we cannot treat it as a "storm in a teacup".

Meanwhile the only sure way to quantify the mortality aspect of the pandemic is to compare the normal level of deaths with the level this year. The difference is undoubtedly due, directly or indirectly, to Covid.

 

Heard this morning from a source I'd rather keep to myself that Covid 19 is going to be officially announced as an airborne virus very soon.

 

Someone who read this presumably?

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/worl...that-covid-19-can-remain-airborne/ar-BB17SRLj

 

My island has now joined the shame list and been removed from the safe travel places.

It was an accident waiting to happen and sadly the Maltese authorities have made a total mess of things.

A few weeks ago we had only 3 active cases on the islands. We went eight consecutive days without a new case. So the Government got complacent. They re-opened everything, including the airport. No problem with that, but then they decided to run before they could walk. Crazily they started organising mass events such as big party weekends and arranged for several British DJs and bands to headline them. The Tourist Authority marketed these events to clubbers in the UK, Italy and other places with the tagline ‘Malta saves your summer’. The first event, a pool party weekend takeover of a big hotel, took place. Some foreign language students attended and tested positive. Then we had a spike at a nightclub. Then a spike in a village following a church band march. Result..we now have over 500 current cases, including some football teams and some of the film crew in Malta shooting the latest Jurassic World movie. Because the Government refused to cancel mass events, local doctors have gone on strike in protest. It’s all a mess and the UK removing Malta from the safe list came as no surprise. Something that could have been done slowly and one step at a time was hurried and not thought through. The Prime Minister even announced in July that Malta was cured of the virus and the only waves you’d see from now on would be in the sea. Now they've lost their most lucrative overseas market. A lesson in how not to do things. Crazy.

 

More likely his wife did as she's in the profession, but thanks for the link! It's not official yet though but when it happens, (which I was told would happen), then returning to the office is likely to be a long way off.

 

The trade-off in trashing the economy is too much when it gets to the point where you're doing it just to avoid some people pretty much getting as ill as if they have the flu. It's just not worth the destruction any more given basically no one is dying from it and so few people are getting seriously ill. The risk just isn't high enough.

And all-cause deaths in the UK have for the last 7 weeks been below the five-year rolling average, so what's your point?

 

The point is that if you open everything up too quickly you will have many, many more cases because the virus is so easily transmitted and there is no vaccine yet to slow it. It wouldn't just be the (relatively) few people "ill as if they have the flu" we have at the moment. Look at what's just happened in Malta.

This was just an observation that, in the end, the comparison with the norm is the only meaningful one when it comes to deaths across the whole period of the pandemic.

 

What has just happened in Malta?

This is France, where the UK govt has imposed the new quarantine alongside Netherlands (previously shown) and Malta:



Things have already started opening up across the last month or two and there does not appear to have been any corresponding upticks in hospitalisations and deaths.

That is why all the scaremongering stats being published now are focusing on cases.

 

Read my previous post and you will see what’s happened in Malta.

 

You've had a spike in cases; what about hospitalisations and deaths?

 

I get what you are asking but considering our delayed response at the beginning led to the highest death rate in Europe, as infection rates are rising again mainly driven by young adults we have to be cautious in preventing unchecked reintroduction of more outbreaks and find ourselves back at square one by October.

 

Given the virus would have already taken many of the vulnerable, others will have developed some degree of immunity, and knowledge has since been developed on how best to treat it (e.g. dexamethasone), there's no chance of it going back to "square one".

 

Most of the recent cases in Malta have been people aged under 35. This actually seems to be the trend in a lot of countries that have recently experienced a rise. I guess in general younger people are socialising more and more likely to do activities such as clubbing or going to larger gatherings.

To answer Lower Rous’s question, Malta currently has 505 active cases (which includes some migrants who arrived on boats from Africa). There’s been some debate in Malta about whether to include migrants in the figures because they are all tested and quarantined on arrival so there is very little chance of community transmission. 42 of the active cases have been treated in hospital. 3 are in ITU. In total 9 people have sadly lost their lives, although none in the recent spike.

Malta can be seen as a good case study for how to relax or not relax restrictions because the island has gone from the lowest number of active cases in Europe to now having 11 countries remove it from their safe list. Namely don’t run before you can walk. Don’t promote the island as a party venue while Covid still remains a huge problem all around us. There are a lot of very responsible people in Malta but they feel let down by their leaders. Tourism accounts for 35% of GDP and is hugely important but the lesson has surely been to unlock slowly and surely, not wake up one day and proclaim the virus has been defeated and then encourage 10,000 party goers to fly in for massive weekend events where alcohol is aplenty and social distancing not so.

 

For what it's worth, I am sitting in Maidstone Services getting fuel, supposedly quarantining, having just driven off the Eurotunnel, with literally no-one checking anything between leaving the train and hitting the M20.

We were supposed to fill in a questionnaire (we have) but there is absolutely no enforcement or policing.

Laughable lip service. Countries added to red list to distract from A-Levels shambles.

Joke government.

 

You’ll think different when you find the rozzers waiting for you outside GOBE Towers.

 

It was the same at Birmingham airport yesterday. Despite all the warnings in advance about having to fill the form out and having to have it ready for inspection on your phone, there was no one checking. It wasn’t requested by the border officer checking passports and I couldn’t see anywhere else it would have been. Compare that to Turkey on the way in, who collected and inspected their version of the locator form and also had overt thermal cameras checking as you walked past.

 

So 3 people in intensive care and zero recent deaths in a population of 500,000? Doesn't sound like very much at all that.

 

Just got back from Prague after a 5 day break there, (can't recommend it highly enough, especially the beer).

I know their numbers are low but for how long. Social distancing simply didn't exist. At first it was a shock but you soon get a false sense of security and unless you stay alert it's very easy to slip into. Apparently from September 1st the Czechs have to wear face masks again. WTF?

Today travelling back was another eye opener. People on the flight, (packed out), wearing masks but not covering their noses until the flight attendants came close. I so badly wanted to speak out but Mrs D said no. Passport control was a free for all with all incoming flights merging together. When the elctronic gates went down it was literally a free for all. Kids on the baggage claim touching every bag that went past with parents not caring. This was Heathrow T5.

Our stupidity and arrogance is our downfall.

 

Masks worn below the nose is a pet peeve of mine.

I don't judge people who don't wear masks. They may have a valid reason for not doing so.

But those that obviously can wear a mask but just don't wear it properly are ******* annoying idiots imo.

 

Just seen that STA travel UK have this evening ceased trading. Very sad news and another big blow to the travel industry.

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I just got a 6 page document today from WBGS explaining how the school will operate when my son goes back to school in a couple of weeks.

 

What about their tutors?