Covid outbreak of nearly 300 at m&s sandwich factory

[SistemaAddict]

Coronavirus: Greencore staff self-isolate after outbreak www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-northamptonshire-53762233

This has shocked me today that so many have tested positive at one place.

I feel like this will never end but I'm having a crap day today and feel pessimistic in general.

@mrshoho

299 tested positive out of a total workforce of 2100! It is good that the company were proactive and tested all their staff due to rising levels in the local area. It shows how quickly the infection rate can get out of hand. I'm sure Ocado and amazon are regularly testing their workforce and hopefully more employers will follow.

This is good, but also worrying, as I immediately thought - what if they hadn't chosen to?

It's all too lax and piecemeal.

And yes to worrying about schools.

The incubation period for flu is between 1 and 4 days, usually 2.

www.verywellhealth.com/flu-incubation-period-770308

@Badoukas Yes all those will be a contributing factor. The ethos has to come from the top down of the importance of all the covid measures. Back in March/April there were many outbreaks in factories in NW London.Our localboroughs had v high infections and eventually deaths. There was video recordings of staff meetings where little SD was in place and middle managers berating staff for staying home due to symptoms. He was actually shouting and threatening that those off sick would be first in line for redundancies. Most employees were BAME living in crowded housing. I would have hoped that given what the country has been through these attitudes would have changed but I don't know. I know nothing about this company but wouldn't be surprised if a culture of work before health comes first. The company spokesperson was clear in thinking that it was a result of behaviour outside the workplace hmmm

"This is good, but also worrying, as I immediately thought - what if they hadn't chosen to?"

Yes indeed. Our daily increase in cases has run at up to 1200/ day, but ONS estimates the real figures may be 3,700 new cases daily. The less we know about where these are, the less able we are to manage the community risk, obviously.

The cited figure of 1 in 1900 community prevalence depends, I understand, on the cases with a positive test, so presumably the real prevalence is in the order of 3 times as high. As far as we know.

I wonder if they will start to do regular testing at schools, particularly at Secondaries with staff and sample of students

Infections are rising but numbers of people either in hospital or badly ill seem very very low. So what’s going on.

@ineedaholidaynow

I wonder if they will start to do regular testing at schools, particularly at Secondaries with staff and sample of students

They've ruled this out. They can't test the kids anyway, as in who can administer the test?

@Noextremes2017

Infections are rising but numbers of people either in hospital or badly ill seem very very low. So what’s going on.

Younger people getting it, less likely to need hospitalisation.

@TinyMetalBirds

Not Covid specific but a virus can have a mutation that means it invades one person's immune system and not another. These mutations have been 'mapped' for influenza which gives a guide to why some people are affected and others not or to much less a degree

A research article explains

elifesciences.org/articles/49324

I'm guessing but maybe Covid-19 has mutated to a less severe strain so people are infected but no so severe and lower death rate. This is purely speculation of course, although there will be research teams looking at all these questions.

I dont understand this. When I looked at the local rate in my area via the bbc app it said 6 cases/100000 population, and the average in the uk was 5/100000....? But if at least 1 in 7 in a factory are infected it must be loads higher. Also if it is spread by droplets and someone is asymptomatic is that simply by breathing or talking rather than coughing or sneezing?

@MoreListeningLessChatting

I'm guessing but maybe Covid-19 has mutated to a less severe strain so people are infected but no so severe and lower death rate. This is purely speculation of course, although there will be research teams looking at all these questions.

It hasn't mutated. Younger people are less likely to need hospitalisation is all. It is being caught in pubs and at work, rather than in care homes etc.

Also if it is spread by droplets and someone is asymptomatic is that simply by breathing or talking rather than coughing or sneezing?

Yes presumably, especially if too close together, or also by touching an object the infected person touched, then touching face.

I live close to this. A lot of this could be due to the large numbers of staff that get on buses at the end of their shifts. Face coverings on public transport in northampton are very hit and miss.

The company spokesperson was clear in thinking that it was a result of behaviour outside the workplace hmmm

Actually it was the public health spokesperson who said that.

@MyPersona

The company spokesperson was clear in thinking that it was a result of behaviour outside the workplace hmmm

Actually it was the public health spokesperson who said that.

Hmm indeed, not like they want us to think work is safe is it!

Studies of other clusters have concluded that some places are particularly conducive to Covid spreading as they have noisy environments where people get close together to talk and raise their voices to be heard, thus expelling their breath more forcefully.

This is why we are not allowed to get together to sing. Also one of the issues in care homes where many of the residents are hard of hearing.

Of course, it's one thing to know this and another altogether to deal with it as people are resistant to wearing masks and unlikely to spend all of their working day in silence, which may not be practical in many workplaces and certainly not in care homes.

Noooooo! Does that mean a delay in getting their Best Ever Prawn Mayo

Infections are rising but numbers of people either in hospital or badly ill seem very very low. So what’s going on.

Back in Feb/March/April and possibly earlier the UK was hardly testing any of us so thousands of people were going about getting infected an recovering. The numbers quickly escalated. We are at a much lower number now and the vulnerable are better protected. Just have to hope that our track and trace will cope with rising levels as schools and more workplaces are open. This is not a surprise knowing how highly infectious the disease is.

Just have to hope that our track and trace will cope with rising levels hahahaha

@latticechaos

It is mutating - albeit slowly.

Below just one article in Science magazine which looks at this slow mutation. On average, the coronavirus accumulates about two changes per month in its genome. Sequencing SARS-CoV-2 genomes helps researchers follow how the virus spreads. Most of the changes don’t affect how the virus behaves, but a few may change the disease’s transmissibility or severity.

www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/07/pandemic-virus-slowly-mutating-it-getting-more-dangerous

[quote MoreListeningLessChatting]@latticechaos

It is mutating - albeit slowly.

Below just one article in Science magazine which looks at this slow mutation. On average, the coronavirus accumulates about two changes per month in its genome. Sequencing SARS-CoV-2 genomes helps researchers follow how the virus spreads. Most of the changes don’t affect how the virus behaves, but a few may change the disease’s transmissibility or severity.

www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/07/pandemic-virus-slowly-mutating-it-getting-more-dangerous[/quote]
Thank you will.read - but I read in layperson's press that it isn't mutating away which often seems to be a hope on threads - that the virus is somehow different now than back in March.

Hmmm I fear schools are the ‘sandwich factories’ of tomorrow. Guess we will find out.

@Givemeabreakpls

I gather the daily infection figures won’t be released today owing to ‘technical difficulties’. I image they’d make for uncomfortable viewing if this 292 were part of today’s totals ☹️

I read that only 70 odd were tested under nhs and the factory paid for private tests for the rest of the staff

@nothh

Noooooo! Does that mean a delay in getting their Best Ever Prawn Mayo

If someone with coronavirus has breathed on it, sneezed on it or shouted at their colleague while making it, you probably wouldn't fancy it much anyway!