Covid - coming out of Lockdown 3 - no politics, less opinion and more facts and information.

[Hobby]

I see the moles can't even be bothered digging tunnels! 

[rocor]

17 hours ago, hayfield said:

 

Can I remember a railway company call The North British ?

 

 

That could depend on how many years prior to 1923 that you were born.

[boxbrownie]

1 hour ago, gordon s said:

Waited months to hear restrictions being eased and this happens....

 

Beggars belief.....

 

https://www.itv.com/news/anglia/2021-03-29/vandalism-means-golf-club-cant-reopen

Only played golf once when I was about 17.........lost my ball, then my mates Dad who we were playing with found it in the hole........yes indeed......first ever game a hole in one......I then quit while ahead 

 

I cannot believe that vandalism, what nobs......we have stayed at the hall a few times, a very nice place indeed, great pool and nice restaurants, what a great shame.

[adb968008]

1 hour ago, hayfield said:

 

I was replying to another thread so continued to use the high number

 

The R numbers quoted firstly are a range between 2 numbers and are for a stated period. For some time now whilst most areas are in decline other show increases

 

Certainly locally there has been a levelling off of infections and the odd increase, however over a longer period the infection is in remission

 

Is not the R number reviewed every few weeks rather than more frequently ?

R number is a guide.

What not captured by the R number is testing.

 

Sure infections levelled off when schools reopened, suggesting a plateau and a sustained R number.. but testing has nearly doubled in the same period.

 

Were testing a c1million a day since March began... at Christmas we celebrated testing at half that number.

 

if only a few hundred extra daily cases are picked up by doubling the testing.. then it is really a decline. Presumably week 7th March was testing teenagers, week 14th would be testing their now quarantined families.. if everyone was doing their bit.. it should decline again.

[Oldddudders]

Did I not read that some school-testing was undertaken at home? Given that many children are asymptomatic, it is not unlikely that a % of positive tests will have been ignored, because the parents want to carry on earning not quarantining, and so the result never makes it to the statistics, and the virus may be carried on further.

 

Is that possible?

[durham light infantry]

4 hours ago, Oldddudders said:

Did I not read that some school-testing was undertaken at home? Given that many children are asymptomatic, it is not unlikely that a % of positive tests will have been ignored, because the parents want to carry on earning not quarantining, and so the result never makes it to the statistics, and the virus may be carried on further.

 

Is that possible?

 

That all depends on how the reporting is done. We ( care home staff) have to do 2 lateral flow tests a week, logging the results to a Gov.uk website. We then get a confirmation email back which we HAVE to forward to our homes administrator, failure to do so means being taken off the rota immediately. This is in addition to a weekly NHS swab test.

 

I would hope home school testing follows a similar reporting structure, with non compliance resulting in non attendance.

[hayfield]

5 hours ago, gordon s said:

Waited months to hear restrictions being eased and this happens....

 

Beggars belief.....

 

https://www.itv.com/news/anglia/2021-03-29/vandalism-means-golf-club-cant-reopen

 

A similar thing happened on the 4th and 10th greens at Bushey Hall golf club one night, thankfully far less damage and the greens were back in play, with a bit of GUR for a period. The good thing is greenstaff are the best at repairing turf and it is the spring growth season

 

I even found a local scout group setting up a cricket pitch on the 7th fairway . They soon moved when I shouted FOUR and prepared to tee off.

 

Some in our society has no respect of others property

[hayfield]

5 hours ago, rocor said:

 

That could depend on how many years prior to 1923 that you were born.

 

I sold some old Railway modeller plans, the more obscure the company the better they sold !!

[hayfield]

4 hours ago, adb968008 said:

R number is a guide.

What not captured by the R number is testing.

 

Sure infections levelled off when schools reopened, suggesting a plateau and a sustained R number.. but testing has nearly doubled in the same period.

 

Were testing a c1million a day since March began... at Christmas we celebrated testing at half that number.

 

if only a few hundred extra daily cases are picked up by doubling the testing.. then it is really a decline. Presumably week 7th March was testing teenagers, week 14th would be testing their now quarantined families.. if everyone was doing their bit.. it should decline again.

 

Do they use the national testing data or the data from the random tests that happen each month. but as you say when the numbers are lower a small increase will have a bigger effect

Also the R number is just one of the guides/tests the government are using to make decisions  

[adb968008]

24 minutes ago, durham light infantry said:

 

That all depends on how the reporting is done. We ( care home staff) have to do 2 lateral flow tests a week, logging the results to a Gov.uk website. We then get a confirmation email back which we HAVE to forward to our homes administrator, failure to do so means being taken off the rota immediately. This is in addition to a weekly NHS swab test.

 

I would hope home school testing follows a similar reporting structure, with non compliance resulting in non attendance.

Our school is not doing any testing of anyone.

nothing, no communication.

 

its entirely voluntary, if we want to goto the local council offices car park 5 miles away and do a test there, we can. But at 8-9am in the morning the “lockdown” traffic jam is so big that i’d imagine it takes too long for anyone to be bothered to go there, test, return to school before 8.30.

to me at least, this in school testing is all propaganda... theres 1200 kids between 4-16 at this school, no one is talking about testing, theres not much social distancing either, though some do wear masks.

 

Edited March 29, 2021 by adb968008

[Reorte]

20 minutes ago, hayfield said:

 

The good thing is greenstaff are the best at repairing turf and it is the spring growth season

 

Noticing the spring growth season, I'll need to trim the moss with the odd blade of grass hidden in it soon.

[StuAllen]

21 minutes ago, adb968008 said:

Our school is not doing any testing of anyone.

nothing, no communication.

 

its entirely voluntary, if we want to goto the local council offices car park 5 miles away and do a test there, we can. But at 8-9am in the morning the “lockdown” traffic jam is so big that i’d imagine it takes too long for anyone to be bothered to go there, test, return to school before 8.30.

to me at least, this in school testing is all propaganda... theres 1200 kids between 4-16 at this school, no one is talking about testing, theres not much social distancing either, though some do wear masks.

 

According to this link https://www.gov.uk/guidance/rapid-lateral-flow-testing-for-households-and-bubbles-of-school-pupils-and-staff they are only testing  secondary schools. My son was given enough tests for 2/3 weeks, but you can also order test kits through the link as well. It is still voluntary though, there isn’t any process to check we’re testing. When recording results you do need to include the school name so may be tracking it that way but I would count on it.

[EddieB]

5 hours ago, Oldddudders said:

Did I not read that some school-testing was undertaken at home? Given that many children are asymptomatic, it is not unlikely that a % of positive tests will have been ignored, because the parents want to carry on earning not quarantining, and so the result never makes it to the statistics, and the virus may be carried on further.

 

Is that possible?

32 minutes ago, adb968008 said:

Our school is not doing any testing of anyone.

nothing, no communication.

 

its entirely voluntary, if we want to goto the local council offices car park 5 miles away and do a test there, we can. But at 8-9am in the morning the “lockdown” traffic jam is so big that i’d imagine it takes too long for anyone to be bothered to go there, test, return to school before 8.30.

to me at least, this in school testing is all propaganda... theres 1200 kids between 4-16 at this school, no one is talking about testing, theres not much social distancing either, though some do wear masks.

 

The situation is that when secondary school pupils returned earlier this month, they were encouraged to take lateral-flow tests twice weekly.  The tests were first carried out at their schools, under supervision, but have since been given the kits to self-test and report from home.  They are expected to continue testing during the Easter holidays and after they go back next month.

 

Testing is optional.  The schools can neither enforce the testing regime, nor deny attendance to pupils who (or whose parents) do not consent to their being tested.  Take up varies by school, probably with around 50% of children consenting on average, but with wide variation.

 

If any school is not participating, I would ask why not.  It's bad enough when pupils opt out, but when it's the head-teacher, school governors and local authority ducking responsibility, that's pretty shameful.  Even then, parents can access the testing kits (freely ordered from a Government website), so they can still participate - if they are socially responsible.

 

While there was a lot of mixing of "known positives" in the community early on, I'm hoping that lessons have been learned and any child testing positive will be reported and appropriate action taken (visit to a test centre to confirm result and isolation).  Mandatory isolation was cut from fourteen days to ten last December.

[adb968008]

7 minutes ago, EddieB said:

 

If any school is not participating, I would ask why not.  It's bad enough when pupils opt out, but when it's the head-teacher, school governors and local authority ducking responsibility, that's pretty shameful.  Even then, parents can access the testing kits (freely ordered from a Government website), so they can still participate - if they are socially responsible.

 

Based on past performance of the school, my opinion is its probably ignorance or “just cant be bothered”. Theyve done a few basic minimums.. put up barriers to which parents cannot pass, cleaning (as its outsourced they can enforce what they like), and other things such as zoom for assembly, split lunch times etc..

But testing definitely seems to have passed them by... though they did close streets around the school to encourage walking from further away, different age groups go through different doors... also Wednesday afternoons now seem to be a half day... I guess the virus is more dangerous on wednesday afternoons.

Edited March 29, 2021 by adb968008

[john new]

1 hour ago, Reorte said:

 

Noticing the spring growth season, I'll need to trim the moss with the odd blade of grass hidden in it soon.

Already done three cuts this year. IIRC it grows on days the temp is over 40F so here on the south coast that includes a fair bit of the winter.

[PaulCheffus]

3 hours ago, durham light infantry said:

 

That all depends on how the reporting is done. We ( care home staff) have to do 2 lateral flow tests a week, logging the results to a Gov.uk website. We then get a confirmation email back which we HAVE to forward to our homes administrator, failure to do so means being taken off the rota immediately. This is in addition to a weekly NHS swab test.

 

I would hope home school testing follows a similar reporting structure, with non compliance resulting in non attendance.

Hi

 

My wife's testing follows the same pattern but she also has to upload her results to the school as well as the government website.

 

My wife works in a primary school.

 

Cheers

 

Paul

Edited March 29, 2021 by PaulCheffus

[Reorte]

Missed call from the surgery yesterday (they could've left a message, I only tried looking up the number to see who it was because it was a local one). Called them back this morning and it turned out that it was for an invite to get a jab, so that's happening on Tuesday. Pretty good going since I'm not quite half way through my 40s.

[hayfield]

Despite a few concerns about the Oxford AZ vaccine, which seemingly involves younger women who perhaps are on the contraceptive pill, all the main regulatory bodies keep assuring us  that the vaccine is safe and incidences to date are within what is expected in the general population

 

However the science coming out of the UK on antibodies in the general population is very encouraging. Infection rates are starting to decline again after Platoing /increasing very slightly, thankfully death rates are still reducing as are hospitalisation.

 

The actions the government have taken with schools this time, seems to be working. Lets hope with the latest easing of restrictions follows the same pattern

 

The one dark cloud (or is it ?) is the lack of many who have covid symptoms to either get a test or isolate themselves, even some carers seemingly disregarding the rules. No wonder the track and trace is not more effective, many are falsely blaming the T&T system when infact large numbers are knowingly disobeying the instructions to take a test and isolate if necessary. Still if we have got this far then the system in total is working. The weather at the weekend may curb quite a bit of socialising which may reduce some infections

 

Is it not next week that lorry drivers from Europe must have/take an up to date covid test, perhaps a bit late but again strengthening our national defences.   

 

 

[admiles]

2 hours ago, hayfield said:

 

The one dark cloud (or is it ?) is the lack of many who have covid symptoms to either get a test or isolate themselves, even some carers seemingly disregarding the rules. No wonder the track and trace is not more effective, many are falsely blaming the T&T system when infact large numbers are knowingly disobeying the instructions to take a test and isolate if necessary. Still if we have got this far then the system in total is working. The weather at the weekend may curb quite a bit of socialising which may reduce some infections

 

 

 

The recent Panorama program showed some interesting undercover footage of one of the testing labs set up for Covid testing.  That to me certainly calls into question the accuracy of the testing regime.  Hopefully limited to that one lab but it does make me wonder. 

[hayfield]

34 minutes ago, admiles said:

 

The recent Panorama program showed some interesting undercover footage of one of the testing labs set up for Covid testing.  That to me certainly calls into question the accuracy of the testing regime.  Hopefully limited to that one lab but it does make me wonder. 

 

Hardly the testing regimes fault other than lack of oversight, more down to the company and its processes. Anything is as good as its weakest link !!

 

 The World Health Organization (WHO) has criticised the rollout of coronavirus vaccines in Europe as being "unacceptably slow".

WHO director for Europe Hans Kluge said in a statement.

"We must speed up the process by ramping up manufacturing, reducing barriers to administering vaccines, and using every single vial we have in stock, now," he added.

 

Is he right or is it just the case it takes time to get up to the volumes required ?

[Pete the Elaner]

3 hours ago, hayfield said:

Despite a few concerns about the Oxford AZ vaccine, which seemingly involves younger women who perhaps are on the contraceptive pill, all the main regulatory bodies keep assuring us  that the vaccine is safe and incidences to date are within what is expected in the general population

 

However the science coming out of the UK on antibodies in the general population is very encouraging. Infection rates are starting to decline again after Platoing /increasing very slightly, thankfully death rates are still reducing as are hospitalisation.

 

The actions the government have taken with schools this time, seems to be working. Lets hope with the latest easing of restrictions follows the same pattern

 

The one dark cloud (or is it ?) is the lack of many who have covid symptoms to either get a test or isolate themselves, even some carers seemingly disregarding the rules. No wonder the track and trace is not more effective, many are falsely blaming the T&T system when infact large numbers are knowingly disobeying the instructions to take a test and isolate if necessary. Still if we have got this far then the system in total is working. The weather at the weekend may curb quite a bit of socialising which may reduce some infections

 

Is it not next week that lorry drivers from Europe must have/take an up to date covid test, perhaps a bit late but again strengthening our national defences.   

 

 

 

Infection rate is interesting, but the vaccine's primary task is to stop the virus causing serious health issues, which it seems to be doing very well. If the vaccines were 100% effective & 100% deployed (& I am not suggesting they are either), then they would make the infection a benign one.

 

Regarding inbound lorry drivers requiring a test; yes it may have been better earlier, but it is not too late. Now the problem is being fought effectively in the UK, it is more important than ever to prevent a new invasion.

 

As for some EU countries (Germany in particular, but will others follow?) putting the Oxford/AZ vaccine on hold again for under 70s due to suspected blood clots - which has already been disproved - I can't help but think this is a diversionary policy because they have a shortage.

[hayfield]

29 minutes ago, Pete the Elaner said:

 

Infection rate is interesting, but the vaccine's primary task is to stop the virus causing serious health issues, which it seems to be doing very well. If the vaccines were 100% effective & 100% deployed (& I am not suggesting they are either), then they would make the infection a benign one.

 

Regarding inbound lorry drivers requiring a test; yes it may have been better earlier, but it is not too late. Now the problem is being fought effectively in the UK, it is more important than ever to prevent a new invasion.

 

As for some EU countries (Germany in particular, but will others follow?) putting the Oxford/AZ vaccine on hold again for under 70s due to suspected blood clots - which has already been disproved - I can't help but think this is a diversionary policy because they have a shortage.

 

I think Germany and the others like Canada may have hit on something, as I said some reports its linked to younger women, possibly using contraception. But it could be they were already infected with corvid as it affects platelets or the number affected is what you would expect from normal events

 

Edit

 

But who else are doing better, Russia and China have vaccinated fewer people, yet are pushing their own vaccines, Israel is a small country and a special research base for Pfizer and of course the US who as you would expect always see's a business opportunity

 

The UK has focused on older people, so if it is an issue with younger women using contraception it may not show up here yet. Apparently very few medicines are 100% safe, we need to wait for the experts to analyse more data

Edited April 1, 2021 by hayfield

[lapford34102]

2 hours ago, hayfield said:

I think Germany and the others like Canada may have hit on something, as I said some reports its linked to younger women, possibly using contraception. But it could be they were already infected with corvid as it affects platelets or the number affected is what you would expect from normal events

Sadly think you may be right. Whether there is an issue or not it needs to resolved as soon as they can. But we have the Moderna vaccine nearly here and maybe they'll use that for the potentially at risk groups. Aware No. 2 daughter is keeping an eye on things.

On upside complete surprise that SWMBO and I both got texts a couple of hours ago inviting us to book second jab. Appointment sorted and that'll be 8 weeks after the first.

Stu

[admiles]

2 hours ago, hayfield said:

 

Hardly the testing regimes fault other than lack of oversight, more down to the company and its processes. Anything is as good as its weakest link !!

 

 The World Health Organization (WHO) has criticised the rollout of coronavirus vaccines in Europe as being "unacceptably slow".

WHO director for Europe Hans Kluge said in a statement.

"We must speed up the process by ramping up manufacturing, reducing barriers to administering vaccines, and using every single vial we have in stock, now," he added.

 

Is he right or is it just the case it takes time to get up to the volumes required ?

 

Well in this case the weakest link is rendering the results of the testing highly inaccurate to the point of being useless.  Worth finding the program on catch-up if you haven't seen it.

[boxbrownie]

2 minutes ago, admiles said:

 

Well in this case the weakest link is rendering the results of the testing highly inaccurate to the point of being useless.  Worth finding the program on catch-up if you haven't seen it.

It wasn’t the whole process though surely, just one particular testing lab?