Media reports vs reality

[Snog]

I think the media is really underplaying how many more deaths are expected and quite how much the NHS is already unable to cope.

Why would we be opening up thousands more beds in temporary hospitals unless we expect the death toll to rise massively?

We still have huge issues with accessing PPE and the basic ingredients for testing kits. These issues are just not being solved and the government plans aren't delivering anytime soon eg ventilators built in the uk are still weeks always from becoming available if they ever come to fruition at all.

NHS staff have been gagged so that they will be fired if they speak the truth about what is going on in hospitals right now.

I don't think the media have been underplaying it all - everyone expects many more deaths and no one has said otherwise?

How many deaths are you expecting?

I think if you work in the nhs or no people who do, especially in hard hit areas, it does feel like it’s being underplayed.
A lot of people are not getting the message or are not thinking it’s that serious.

I work in the nhs and I'm under no illusions how bad this is/will be - I just don't see the media underplaying it.

The emergency hospitals are needed because of the length of time required for people needing treatment. If a patient has serious complications and requires a ventilator, the stay is an average of 16 days.

The opposite to be honest. I think certain elements of the media are sensationalising as many stories as they possibly can.

Why would we be opening up thousands more beds in temporary hospitals unless we expect the death toll to rise massively?

You are conflating two different outcomes. The excess beds are for the excess patients needing ventilation, and therefore, hopefully, reducing deaths.

Every day on the press conference they say we haven't reached the peak yet, I don't think it's being underplayed but we won't know until it's over.

The emergency hospitals are also needed to try to keep covid patients away from non-covid patients so some "normal" health treatment can restart.

NHS staff have been gagged so that they will be fired if they speak the truth about what is going on in hospitals right now

What's new. You wouldn't think there was whistleblowing legislation in this country.

How are the media underplaying it? NHS field hospitals have been built. The Prime Minister wrote to everyone. The Health Secretary explained in detail in his briefing what the challenges are. Dominic Raab could not have been clearer in his update yesterday to stay at home and local Police are taking affirmative action. No one has been gagged in the NHS, many doctors spoke out about lack of PPE already.

At the risk of sounding callous, have you ever spent a long period of time on a hospital ward as a patient? I have and I can assure you it would not bring any benefit to show detailed videos of the traumas patients are facing because unless it is happening to you people dissociate from it and sadly you very quickly become numb to it. Leave it the police to police.

i guess one could say, what's the alternative.
of course everyone needs to understand how serious the situation is, so that they will observe the regulations, and not try to get round them.
but mass panic might ensue if the bald facts were laid bare altogether, and what good would that do. even more people would die, from civil unrest, disorder, looting, violence, mob rule, chaos.
we need to keep things going as well as possible. and pray for better days.

I think the Chief Scientific Adviser said we'd be hoping to keep the death toll under 20,000. That was in mid March with non-regulatory social distancing measures in place. The lockdown subsequently came into effect. I hope that means we will still have no more deaths than that, awful though it is.

@Baaaahhhhh my understanding is that for every two people on a ventilator one will die so I don't think that is conflating things.

@thatgingergirl this what I mean.
If the daily death figures are going to increase for the next 14 days before we peak that means another 14,000 or so deaths plus the 8,000 so far plus all the deaths outside of hospital plus all the deaths once the daily number starts to come down plus any second/third/fourth wave deaths.

So WAY more than 20,000.

Snog No, that statistic is for "in-tubated" patients in ICU, fully mechanically ventilated. There are many hundreds of people on standard oxygen "ventilation", for whom the prognosis is much, much, better.

I think people are mainly underplaying the risk of catching it after lifting the lockdown

I don't think people understand how overwhelmed the nhs will be, with or without lockdown. The stats on that are truly horrifying. But of course this will be

media managed (nhs gagging clauses are just part of this, many many many deaths will occur at home or in care homes)

So you don't expect deaths to exceed 20k?

My understanding is that in reality the NHS is already overwhelmed and not coping and this is absolutely not what the government are saying

As far as I was aware, its been said that 20k deaths would be a good result, as in that’s a fairly low estimate.

I don’t think it’s being underplayed at all. If people are choosing to ignore the seriousness of the situation then that’s another matter

I have not heard the government admit that people are dying alone with no chance for family to say a last goodbye in hospital other than by phone/video call.

Where is the information coming from that the NHS is overwhelmed? Anecdotally I have doctor friends working in London hospitals who say it is very busy but they are coping ok at the moment. The critical care graph at the daily briefing seems to suggest that the figures requiring critical care are levelling off which is hopefully good news with respect to the ability of the NHS to cope going forwards.

I'm talking about friends and family who have been on hospital and who work in the NHS

To be fair, the annual death toll from normal flu was 28,000 a few years ago. It normally sits around 20,000. We need to keep a bit of perspective.