To think these are the stats noone talks about

[TMIincoming]

Just that really. Deaths aren't really any higher than usual and hospital beds are less occupied than usual. Or are people going to say these figures aren't accurate

[Terralee]

Where are these stats from ie what is the source.

[RaspberryCoulis]

I give it 5 posts before someone says "covidiot" "murdering grannies" or "long Covid"

But yanbu Op

[midnightstar66]

Even if they are correct they are the same despite us living in varying degrees of restrictions for the best part of 9 months and many are now well in to another lockdown. Were we living a normal life would they be far higher? Most likely!

[RaspberryCoulis]

It quite clearly gives references along the foot of the graphics...

[NoIDontWatchLoveIsland]

Yanbu. The government are only carrying all this shit on a) to save face and b) because if it turns out it wasnt really necessary to do all these lockdowns, they have totally bankrupted us for nothing. So no, they will never ever present these stats.

[Legoandloldolls]

Beds arent fuller because people with cancer arent being treated?

[TMIincoming]

@midnightstar66

Even if they are correct they are the same despite us living in varying degrees of restrictions for the best part of 9 months and many are now well in to another lockdown. Were we living a normal life would they be far higher? Most likely!

If we were living a normal life would the virus have peaked and things be pretty much back to normal by now? Most likely!

[GreyishDays]

Deaths source is ONS.

The bed one might be a bit misleading, haven’t we increased our critical care beds in preparation for this? So reporting the proportion filled isn’t comparing like with like.

[BlueDaysTillChristmas]

People as a whole aren’t going out as much. Old people aren’t falling over, people aren’t drinking and driving, fewer drunk fights, fewer sports being played etc etc etc.

[firstevernamechange]

I absolutely agree, PP. I'm very cynical about this lockdown, it's aims and timings (announced after a week of stagnating new infections).
It's difficult to have this kind of discussion online (#killinggrannies), but my work means lots of in depth 1-1 conversation with a broad spectrum of society and people are a lot more honest in that setting people tend to be a little more open.

[Summerhillsquare]

The Spectator?!

[Facelikearustytractor]

One of the other stats other people ignore is the fact that national debt has got significantly worse than 2010 and has risen steadily since then, yet we are having to go back into austerity measures because of COVID 19. We were in the shit long before then, and what makes it worse is that austerity clearly didn't work the first time round and apparently it is going to save us all again. I'm sure MP's and their friends will not be subject to any austerity measures though.

[yoyo1234]

As PP said, what would the graphs look like without the various restrictions? With the critical care bed occupancy it is a % full. Lots of hospitals have increased the number of these beds eg by 3 to 4 fold.

[TMIincoming]

@yoyo1234

As PP said, what would the graphs look like without the various restrictions? With the critical care bed occupancy it is a % full. Lots of hospitals have increased the number of these beds eg by 3 to 4 fold.

You got a source for a 3 to 4 fold increase in critic care beds available? Where did they magic all these extra trained icu nurses up from?

[FatGirlShrinking]

It must in fact be the case that every government around the globe have conspired to create the same narrative about a deadly and easily transmitted virus.

They have done this for some reason as yet unknown to us because they want to destroy the economy worldwide and restrict the movement of the entire global populace.

There could be no possibility where it actually is beneficial to restrict transmission and conserve hospital capacity to allow treatment of those who are badly affected by the virus and other urgent medical issues.

[yoyo1234]

Eg hospital where family works they were told to aim for 4 fold increase ( managed circa 3 fold).

[Bouledeneige]

I agree OP.

The reason that beds are less occupied is that many many patients have had their treatment deferred and there are now record waiting times and waiting lists across the board for many other illnesses.

[catchabreak2020]

They didn’t magic up extra trained nurses they redeployed nurses from other areas, lots are doing extra shifts and there are those who have come back into service. Not to mention utilising student nurses

[Legoandloldolls]

OP do try and watch the BBC series on ICU.

They didnt magic up extra ICU staff in Wales, the moved day surgery andother clinical staff onto ICU like specialist surgeons. Some of them had no idea how ICU worked.

You didnt need say facial surgeons in their normal role when the hospital was emergency only. So they also moved into recovery and cardio wards.

Not everything is black and white I'm afraid. The BBC documentary was filmed by the ICU staff on their own phones.

[TMIincoming]

@FatGirlShrinking

It must in fact be the case that every government around the globe have conspired to create the same narrative about a deadly and easily transmitted virus.

They have done this for some reason as yet unknown to us because they want to destroy the economy worldwide and restrict the movement of the entire global populace.

There could be no possibility where it actually is beneficial to restrict transmission and conserve hospital capacity to allow treatment of those who are badly affected by the virus and other urgent medical issues.

Noone said that. What is being said is that if you actually look at historic figures (especially 17/18) the figures being thrown about to justify the huge financial and mental harm being done don't come close to justifying the extreme measures being taken.

[Legoandloldolls]

It was the last in this series.

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000h64s

[GreyishDays]

Here’s the reference for Scottish critical care beds being x3 or x4.

www.gov.scot/news/intensive-care-units-show-resilience-during-covid-19/

[PastMyBestBeforeDate]

I think ICU staffing ratios were also changed so that members of staff were responsible for more patients than they were previously.

[TMIincoming]

You know that doesn't mean that current capacity has increased three to four fold? It means they could, if they needed to. Not that they have, which is a pretty relevant fact when looking at the stats above compared to other years.

"Boards now have the capability to provide 585 ICU beds, increased from 173, and continue to plan towards being able to quadruple capacity to more than 700 beds if required."

[Sparklfairy]

I never understand this. Months ago people were saying we need to go into lockdown to keep beds free, deaths down and not overwhelm the NHS.

We went into lockdown, beds are free, deaths are lower than predicted, NHS isn't overwhelmed...

Yet this is somehow proof that lockdown doesn't work