Under 30k cases today

[TheVampiresWife]

And infections falling for the sixth consecutive day.

Excellent news!

The 1m a day tests seems to include roughly 600k LFT which could be self registered but not actually taken unless I am misunderstanding.

BUT the number of PCR tests being done is actually increasing. That's good news. PCRs up but cases down.

However the positivity rate is very high. WHO says it should ideally be under 5% of tests done but in some parts of England it's over 30%

[quote ConfusedFox]It's not all it seems... the govt have changed how they measure the no of cases... they now don't measure reinfection

twitter.com/Peston/status/1419233632993095689?s=19[/quote]
This has been debunked now by a few people as the numbers are reported and are minuscule.

@TheVampiresWife

Also, it's funny how the statistics are 'meaningless' when they show cases decreasing, and are absolutely 100% to be believed when they're rocketing

This is absolutely correct!!! The second they start to rise there is uproar, the second they start to drop we must justify why and insist that they will soon be back on the up again

@Tonkerbea

Well thank you OP, this has cheered me up a bit! I'll take the merest whiff of a sign that things might improve.

Me too @Tonkerbea however small!!

You are either glass half full or glass half empty.
I’m happy that we are seeing the downturn, just hope that it doesn’t result in vaccine complacency in the tail end of unvaccinated adults.

@Covidforever

If you go onto the gov.uk covid bit and type in your postcode, it gives you a breakdown for your local area

I wish i hadn't - increased by 60% over last week, area next to me +88% :(

The map weirdly is only up to the 20th so still shows rises. My area on the map shows a 40% rise

Whereas if you go to coronavirus.data.gov.uk/ scroll down to search another location it gives you to yesterday

Where my area shows a 40% decrease on that

and the case rate has dropped per 100k from 513 to 502

So check that one out

It's weird how cases decreasing can be attributed to lower testing but increasing cases are never ever the result of higher testing

It’s bloody brilliantly news.
I’ll admit I was steeling myself for cases to keep rising for a bit.
There also very good stats on those double vaccinated in today’s ST.

I expect its everyone being more careful so they don't have to isolate for their holidays!

My local hospitalisation numbers are noticeably down, which is good news, albeit on a pretty small sample.

@YouthfulIndiscretion

My local hospitalisation numbers are noticeably down, which is good news, albeit on a pretty small sample.

Can you tell me where to find info on local hospitalisations, please?

@Wellbythebloodyhell

It's weird how cases decreasing can be attributed to lower testing but increasing cases are never ever the result of higher testing

Exactly! Also the rate of decrease is higher than the rate of drop in testing but this all gets glossed over too.

@Wellbythebloodyhell

It's weird how cases decreasing can be attributed to lower testing but increasing cases are never ever the result of higher testing

Which is why the positivity rate is so important.

Go to this page and add your post code. Or change the blue United Kingdom to your town name.

coronavirus.data.gov.uk/?_ga=2.166709626.518885298.1600022508-371783317.1600022508

That's great news. Schools broke up this week where I am, but lots broke up earlier in other areas. Some of the change is probably due to less testing for kids that broke up earlier, some due to people not testing as don't want to ruin holidays etc. However, even if this is the case, I'm cautiously optimistic and hoping things are starting to plateau and maybe drop. My local area has hospitalisations increasing a lot, but case numbers not increasing as much as recent weeks. Really hope things are starting to settle.

I know this is only a small sample size, but around me, I personally know lots of people in their teens and 20's who caught Covid at Euros parties and matches. This includes a group of boys who went to the fun outside Wembley stadium and all tested positive within the next three days.

They spread it to their households, and school mates (and work colleagues, including me!).

Everyone isolated, and the second lot of isolations are just ending now.

No one caught it from the second mini wave...

So, a colleague caught it at a party. I caught it from her. We both isolated and no one caught it after me.

I've seen it time and time again around me, so I'm not surprised the cases are dropping.

@Choux

Go to this page and add your post code. Or change the blue United Kingdom to your town name.

coronavirus.data.gov.uk/?_ga=2.166709626.518885298.1600022508-371783317.1600022508

Thank you

@Angrymum22

You are either glass half full or glass half empty. I’m happy that we are seeing the downturn, just hope that it doesn’t result in vaccine complacency in the tail end of unvaccinated adults.

Or you hope for the best... but prepare for the worst. (Which isn't achieved by sticking head in the sand).

It's as pp said. Reduced testing with children on holiday and people turning off or deleting the app.

It's not good news if it's fake good news.

Like I said on another thread. Experts around the world (including but not only those at the WHO) are right. The way to do it is not the Westminster government anti science approach. It's about sensible calm balance. Cautious opening up - but with simple and easy mitigation measures such as masks and good ventilation.

Them - the numbers don’t lie.
Also them - the numbers lie.

DD 13 has never tested. It's up to her.

I noticed that.

Ours have dropped massively the last 5 days and considering most transmission was secondary aged pupils and many schools were down to online learning by least week it makes sense!

Cases declining quite sharply this week in my LA despite the majority of schools on Wednesday (so only 4 days ago).

Anyone know why they would be declining?

That should have said closed on Wednesday.

@Choux

The 1m a day tests seems to include roughly 600k LFT which could be self registered but not actually taken unless I am misunderstanding.

BUT the number of PCR tests being done is actually increasing. That's good news. PCRs up but cases down.

However the positivity rate is very high. WHO says it should ideally be under 5% of tests done but in some parts of England it's over 30%

The positivity rate could be affected by the number of lateral flows now done though.

People will now take a lateral flow before going for a pcr in a significant number of cases.

In this situation if you have a significant enough number of people only going for a pcr after testing positive on a lateral flow that wouldn't be comparible with the situation 12 months ago, nor would it mean that WHOs 5% marker was still relevant.

People who tested negative on laterals may simply be not going forward to have pcrs.

My point being that a positivity rate as high as 30% may not be as problematic as it was in September / October last year because lateral flows are picking up those infected to a greater degree and we are missing less assymptomatic and symptoms cases across the board because our ability to detect them is better.

Reduced testing with children on holiday

School holidays started on Thursday/Friday here. Cases have been consistently falling for well over a week.