The UK response - Part II - read OP

Seth Brundle

I hope it works out but with over half the population not having received any vaccine and the vaccine supply possibly becoming more limited they're introducing a large element of risk into their covid exit strategy

Seth Brundle

Seth Brundle wrote: »

I hope it works out but with over half the population not having received any vaccine and the vaccine supply possibly becoming more limited they're introducing a large element of risk into their covid exit strategy

Two weeks between each phase, obscene amounts of general testing, school kids getting tested twice a week, two new vaccines expected to come online over the next month.....,,,

There is always a risk, it’s how you mitigate those risks that matters.

JP Liz V1

https://twitter.com/BBCNews/status/1376453000349294592

S.M.B.

I've had many issues with how the government has handled this entire pandemic but I don't have issues with continuing to slowly remove restrictions.

I'd expect to see an increase in positive test rates but not to see any major increase in the hospital admissions and deaths figures.

From what I remember the figures coming out of Israel were comforting and they seem to be one step further along the UK's path.

robinph

Carefree88 wrote: »

England opening up today and on April 12th going to our level 3 with indoor dining, pubs with food, gyms open.Over 30 million vaccinated with 1st dose in UK

How do ye think they will get on?

Will it be a successful opening, cases and hospilisation countinue to decline or at manageable levels?

Will they be back in lockdown like Chile after a few weeks of rising cases and hospilisations?

What do ye think will happen?

I hope it's a massive success and vaccines worked, we need the hope

If it doesn't work then the whole world is screwed for at least another year. Everything shows the vaccines are working at least as well as expected. They have just shy of 60% of the adult population with at least one dose so far and whilst it's not yet clear how many more will get first doses in the next month they have the stock to do the second doses in hand. They have been jabbing close to 1% if the adult population per day and with the next few weeks of schools shut at different places around the country any transmission there if its happening will be reduced.

If the UK numbers start spiking up again as they were in the previous wave then the whole world needs to have a quick rethink on how to do this.

beggars_bush

I suppose NI will follow in what England has done?
They usually do

afatbollix

I said up thread that some experts said we should see the results of the vaccines by Easter.

https://app.powerbi.com/view?r=eyJrIjoiYmUwNmFhMjYtNGZhYS00NDk2LWFlMTAtOTg0OGNhNmFiNGM0IiwidCI6ImVlNGUxNDk5LTRhMzUtNGIyZS1hZDQ3LTVmM2NmOWRlODY2NiIsImMiOjh9

Not sure if that link works but for the whole of March there were less excess deaths than normal for each week of March!

They had 7 deaths yesterday (Its never going to be 0)

On one of the days last week, There was 0 deaths in London, The south east or west of England and only 2 people over the age of 85
https://uk.sports.yahoo.com/news/three-areas-england-report-zero-covid-deaths-180524101.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAMvSVLaoHWyQHag4a70p5p4S2sbdQJzWuTvusZdOrRvomh_uAgn26QdXYxnRVdj8t1yvSgR9fbd040k1OHijLRKoopY_BdWQ5kfKpNth0_wuizxEkpmB0IepjSF_LmmRGj0QJDL8tx1l3-N91ZR759-79b0tFuGC9TPbfsUqJLT5

It's looking good on the numbers front. This will be good for us as it shows that once we vaccinate the vulnerable and over 50s we should be able to get a bit back to normal. I think we're about 3 to 4 weeks behind as they have only concentrated on the first jab whereas here they are doing 2nd jabs closer together. It's all going to finish pretty close.

robinph

Couldn't get a table for the pub this evening so have to wait until next Monday for a pint.





I'm sure I could get a pint somewhere else if really bothered, but takes organising to get multiple people with the same evening off from other duties, and Monday is my designated day. Think I can handle another week and celebrate the kid being back in school again after Easter next week.

Eric Cartman

Are the pubs open in the north or did they not go with that ?

funnydoggy

robinph wrote: »

Couldn't get a table for the pub this evening so have to wait until next Monday for a pint.





I'm sure I could get a pint somewhere else if really bothered, but takes organising to get multiple people with the same evening off from other duties, and Monday is my designated day. Think I can handle another week and celebrate the kid being back in school again after Easter next week.

Whereabouts are you in the UK robinph?

Seth Brundle

https://twitter.com/BBCTech/status/1381539884398174213

An update to England and Wales's contact tracing app has been blocked for breaking the terms of an agreement made with Apple and Google.

The plan had been to ask users to upload logs of venue check-ins - carried out via poster barcode scans - if they tested positive for the virus. This could be used to warn others.

The update had been timed to coincide with the relaxation of lockdown rules.

But the two firms had explicitly banned such a function from the start.

Under the terms that all health authorities signed up to in order to use Apple and Google's privacy-centric contact-tracing tech, they had to agree not to collect any location data via the software.

funnydoggy

Seth Brundle wrote: »

https://twitter.com/BBCTech/status/1381539884398174213

Google:

"You can't trace people's locations... only we can do that" :pac:

Donald Trump

Did he say the alleged quote do you think?

https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uk-denies-report-that-pm-johnson-said-let-bodies-pile-high-2021-04-26/

Donald Trump

Donald Trump wrote: »

Did he say the alleged quote do you think?

https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uk-denies-report-that-pm-johnson-said-let-bodies-pile-high-2021-04-26/

it all depends on what you want to believe and who you believe more. Boris Johnson or Dominic Cummings.

robinph

Aegir wrote: »

it all depends on what you want to believe and who you believe more. Boris Johnson or Dominic Cummings.

Neither of them are in anyway whatsoever believable.

Donald Trump

There is a recording of him from some party meeting in the past joking about Libya just needing to clear the dead bodies away

El Vino

Boris definitely said it, just most people in the UK don’t care. Genuinely if you haven’t lost someone from Covid you are happy that the clear road map he gave for opening up is all happening on time, cases all seem to be still going down, deaths also. Sun is shining, pubs have heated marquees in the garden and apps for ordering your beer. In many ways the pub is more pleasant than it was pre Covid.

Don’t get me wrong, UK got everything wrong about Covid until vaccinations started but they then got a couple of things right, procurement and the 12 week gap. That is how people feel right now and Boris would win a GE in the morning with a bigger majority. The only danger to him is his own party.

brickster69

El Vino wrote: »

Don’t get me wrong, UK got everything wrong about Covid until vaccinations started but they then got a couple of things right, procurement and the 12 week gap.

Don't forget about starting vaccinating those most likely to die and then work the way down through the ages.

Not rocket technology really was it ?

Peregrinus

Aegir wrote: »

it all depends on what you want to believe and who you believe more. Boris Johnson or Dominic Cummings.

I don't think Cummings is the source for this particular story.

And, if he is, he's certainly not the only source. The BBC, ITV and the Guardian are all saying that they have multiple sources confirming it.

Ollie Cromwell

robinph wrote: »

Neither of them are in anyway whatsoever believable.

The thing is does anyone in the UK really care ?
Watching the TV news and reading the newspapers you would think so.
But the reality is the Tories have just had their 60th successive opinion poll leading Labour, this time by double digits and with polling taken this week.
Polling has also shown a majority of people do not hold Boris personally responsible for the Covid death toll - possibly because it is often forgotten that the devolved administrations in Scotland,Wales and Northern Ireland were responsible for their own pandemic response and followed virtually the same scientific advice that Boris did in England.
The pubs are open, the economy is roaring back with Goldman's predicting 7.8% growth this year, even higher than the USA and the predicted meltdown post-Brexit simply hasn't materialized.
Social media isn't real life and the reality is people don't mind the bumbling and slightly shifty Boris who gets into scrapes and has the occasional bit on the side but loves his country and its flag because they think he's pretty much like them.
They might even think Boris stayed loyal to Cummings over his Barnard Castle fiasco and has been repaid with treachery.
What they don't like is constant negativity and being told they're racist and uncaring.
Public figures taking the knee as a show of solidarity against the death of a black man in the States might also be considered a bit gimmicky and un-British.
Which is why Sir Kneel-a-lot hasn't a hope of beating Boris any time soon unless the Tory toff is caught with his hand in the till.
But of course the reasons why Boris remains popular are Brexit and vaccines.
He bet the house on both and his gambles have paid off.
Politics is a cruel game but it loves a winner.

robinph

I think that people do care about the various shenanigans of Johnson, but government policy for anything negative is a nervous laugh, ruffle your hair a bit, hide in a fridge, send or various ministers each day to say that it's not part of their department and they don't know anything about it... Then once you've worked your way through the whole cabinet saying nothing they bank on people having either got bored by that point, or if not then just invent a new scandal of some description and start the process again.

Edit: this morning they must have run out of the normal range of ministers and have sent out the pensions minister. Not had her on the morning media rounds before. It's all just to distract us. They rarely let Priti Patel out to speak/sneer at people and she's one of top ministers.

Ollie Cromwell

robinph wrote: »

I think that people do care about the various shenanigans of Johnson, but government policy for anything negative is a nervous laugh, ruffle your hair a bit, hide in a fridge, send or various ministers each day to say that it's not part of their department and they don't know anything about it... Then once you've worked your way through the whole cabinet saying nothing they bank on people having either got bored by that point, or if not then just invent a new scandal of some description and start the process again.

Edit: this morning they must have run out of the normal range of ministers and have sent out the pensions minister. Not had her on the morning media rounds before. It's all just to distract us. They rarely let Priti Patel out to speak/sneer at people and she's one of top ministers.

On the other hand and unlike the Irish government they held daily press briefings on live TV where they and the scientific and medical advisers guiding them were questioned by journalists throughout the pandemic.
Here in Ireland we learned the news second-hand and through the prism of George Lee's spin.
The British public is less enamoured with the media's persistent attempts at gotcha questions than you'd think.
They want facts and the uncomfortable truth no matter how painful - such as the 100,000 deaths total where Boris fronted up.
It's why they back Boris's cautious roadmap by quite a big majority in polling and not the hysteria of the media demanding more haste.

Ollie Cromwell

El Vino wrote: »

Don’t get me wrong, UK got everything wrong about Covid until vaccinations started

The UK issued stay-at-home orders for the first lockdown before Ireland.
It shared Ireland's difficulties in sourcing PPE.
The pandemic ripped through nursing homes just like here.
Just like Ireland it opened up for Christmas as the unforseen but deadly Kent variant was taking hold and just like Ireland it suffered a third of its fatalities since January as a result.
There are few other countries in Europe where exactly the same mistakes weren't made.
In fact in terms of death rates per million of population the UK is pretty much mid-table in the European Covid League.

Christy42

Ollie Cromwell wrote: »

The UK issued stay-at-home orders for the first lockdown before Ireland.
It shared Ireland's difficulties in sourcing PPE.
The pandemic ripped through nursing homes just like here.
Just like Ireland it opened up for Christmas as the unforseen but deadly Kent variant was taking hold and just like Ireland it suffered a third of its fatalities since January as a result.
There are few other countries in Europe where exactly the same mistakes weren't made.
In fact in terms of death rates per million of population the UK is pretty much mid-table in the European Covid League.

Their death rate is nearly double Ireland's. A quick glance on worldometer shows them as 13th out of 47 for death rate. A few either side are smaller countries that should be excluded but you get the point.

The issue was at the beginning death rates seem to have been higher (I guess we learned to treat it better). The UK was the one encouraging people to shake hands and talking about herd immunity saving the day. They were the main mistakes made. You talk about the deadly Kent variant but their death rate has been consistently higher than our own.

Europe has not dealt with this perfectly. A lot of Eastern European countries, especially Hungary were ill equipped for it. Italy never had a shot imo, it got hit too early. I have no idea what went wrong in Belgium.

Christy42

Christy42 wrote: »

Their death rate is nearly double Ireland's. A quick glance on worldometer shows them as 13th out of 47 for death rate. A few either side are smaller countries that should be excluded but you get the point.

The issue was at the beginning death rates seem to have been higher (I guess we learned to treat it better). The UK was the one encouraging people to shake hands and talking about herd immunity saving the day. They were the main mistakes made. You talk about the deadly Kent variant but their death rate has been consistently higher than our own.

Europe has not dealt with this perfectly. A lot of Eastern European countries, especially Hungary were ill equipped for it. Italy never had a shot imo, it got hit too early. I have no idea what went wrong in Belgium.

Eastern Europe, or specifically the Visegrad countries, were the poster boys of how to handle this in the first wave. Slovakia for example only had something like a few hundred deaths by September. They now have over 11,000.

When you add in reporting discrepancies, like Spanish regions under reporting to avoid lockdowns and Russia basically only counting 20% of deaths as COVID related, the picture looks very different.

FlubberJones

My son, based in North Wales, has his appointment to get his first vaccine on Sunday this week, he's 25 so they really belting along there

S.M.B.

Not sure how they're getting through the bands so quickly n Wales as they are only opening up to 42+ here in England now.

robinph

S.M.B. wrote: »

Not sure how they're getting through the bands so quickly n Wales as they are only opening up to 42+ here in England now.

Each region is getting the same ratio of vaccines based on population numbers, but each region doesn't have the same spread of people in different age groups, so some get to the younger age groups sooner than others.

Different parts within England will already be doing younger age groups as well, but as a whole they have only opened up for 42+ as of today.

PommieBast

S.M.B. wrote: »

Not sure how they're getting through the bands so quickly n Wales as they are only opening up to 42+ here in England now.

From memory I think they decided to roll out Moderna in Wales first.

robinph

PommieBast wrote: »

From memory I think they decided to roll out Moderna in Wales first.

Think that was just a case of spreading the headlines around the nations and letting Wales have a turn at putting a nurse getting their arm jabbed on the breakfast news as being the "first". It was being used in England at the same time and still being used at one of my local mass vaccination centre for new jabs.

Seems that people are getting a strong effect in their jabbed arms from Moderna and various friends who have had it in the last couple of weeks have suggested not to try driving the day after or doing any operations on cats/ dogs as their arms hurt a lot for a bit.