Daily figures delayed until 19:30…

[Youngatheart00]

…I remember earlier in the pandemic where delayed days were ones where numbers were enormous.

250,000? What do we think? I’ve got a real feeling of doom

Yes in England

@RocioMartinez

Two positive tests in our house today. Still waiting for three more. Have heard of a few people that aren’t even bothering to follow up positive LFTs with a PCR - they’re just isolating regardless.

I heard someone on the radio earlier saying that if you have cold symptoms right now then there’s a 50% to 75% chance you have Omicron. The infection numbers will be an underestimate whatever they are.

Not everyone can get a PCR though. Teacher DD had tested positive and can't book a PCR

I tend to look at the 7 day trend and graphs. Looking at those, cases are up 45% on previous 7 days, hospitalisations are up 32%.

test volumes are down 7% so less tests being done but more positives.

On a good note deaths are down 11% which hopefully goes to supporting that vaccines are reducing severity or variant is less deadly. Obviously there's some hesitancy over that as sheer volumes of cases could see an increase in deaths by volume even if percentage is reduced.

@Marmite27

You are a sample of one.

So am I.

One household of neighbours - they are my nearest who I have most interaction with - have just recovered from Covid. Due to one of their jobs they have to test daily which is why they didn't infect anyone who lives near them.

One friend of ours recovered two days before Christmas. He caught it at work.

Another friend's granddaughter tested positive on Christmas Eve after being at a family celebration with them the day before. Again caught at work.

The worse thing for me is I have family members and a few other people I know who live in an area which is a notorious black spot. Some of them have been pingled as close contacts but have not tested positive.

@Tabbacus

My sister has just finished her shift in children's A&E and she was shocked by how many kids with covid they have seen today - every child who came in feeling unwell was swabbed and found they had covid. Schools next week are going to be very interesting

Every child who presented in A&E? Well that's good isn't it, suggests that as there's no way every single child was there for covid related symptoms, that many had it and were asymptomatic, good news :)

Ugh these posts remind me of the WhatsApp forwarded voice notes at the beginning of the pandemic, all from people who knew someone with the 'inside info'

[quote JanglyBeads]@BruceAndNosh the dashboard says this

Cases definition
COVID-19 cases are identified by taking specimens from people and testing them for the SARS-CoV-2 virus. If the test is positive this is referred to as a case. Some positive rapid lateral flow test results are confirmed with lab-based polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests taken within 72 hours. If the PCR test results are negative, these are no longer reported as confirmed cases. If a person has more than one positive test, they are only counted as one case for all nations with the exception of Wales. Cases data includes all positive lab-confirmed polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test results plus, in England, positive rapid lateral flow tests that are not followed by a negative PCR test taken within 72 hours.[/quote]
This to me reads as if some results are being counted twice. The lateral flow tests that are not followed by a negative pcr, and also ALL positive pcr results.

That can't be right, surely?

Someone on the news just a minute ago confirmed the positive results are not counted twice.

they are only counted as one case for all nations with the exception of Wales.

I think wales are allowing reinfection to be counted but nobody else is yet. I can’t remember exactly where I read that so I might not be right.

@BambinaJAS

The real concern is the positivity rate while case counts keep rising (using 7-day moving average as data can be lumpy).

This has been creeping up over the last week: From 6% UK wide to closer to 6-9%. Scotland, Wales, and NI are specially bad (15-20%). This means we are not able to keep up with the infections with our existing testing infrastructure.

This indicates that the reported daily cases (221k and 190k) are a poor representation of the "true" daily cases happening in the UK (about 250k to 350k or so at present).

Perhaps Dido Harding will pay back some of the billions we have given her for Test and Trace.

Think we need a few days to get a truer picture
The longer we wait for this 'truer picture' the higher the stakes are if the picture is bad.

Where’s the positivity data to be found? It’s temporarily hiding from me.

Lots of people are not recording a positive lft because many wfh and can carry on without having to go out.
Many don't drive or can 't get a pcr testing place safely , so just managing at home
I'm sure a few have tested positive and just carrying on working etc ( not all employers are that bothered about pcr tests etc )
It's probs a mixture of things , if someone has covid but it's so mild they just need a day or two they probably don't see the point of all the rigmarole and can't afford lots of time off work either plus many are at home anyway as it's the holidays.
Next week may be a different story , or it might just be manageable.

@HotPenguin

The data on hospital admissions doesn't seem to have been updated.

Nope, not since the 24th.

It genuinely feels like some people are actually salivating over the data.

Do you know when the hospitalisation data is going to be updated @kittensinthekitchen?

Ugh these posts remind me of the WhatsApp forwarded voice notes at the beginning of the pandemic, all from people who knew someone with the 'inside info'

Yeah... although unfortunately it is reality. Not surprising really, given the huge number of cases being reported daily. Kids are coming in feeling unwell (lethargic, upset tummy et ) and they are testing positive for covid... They have however been surprised by the numbers testing positive today.

@Fritilleries

It genuinely feels like some people are actually salivating over the data.

People are interested. No need for the face.

The data is important. Unfortunately covid has a big impact on my work and my family's lives.

More good news is that the need for ventilation seems to be much less with omicron - numbers currently a fifth of the initial alpha wave. So hopefully that means omicron is more responsive to treatment.

@Ginlovingmumof4

One of my mum's sayings was

Never trouble trouble 'til trouble troubles you
You'll only double trouble and trouble others too.

Seems quite apt sometimes

@rrhuth

Do you know when the hospitalisation data is going to be updated *@kittensinthekitchen*?

If you look at this page, it seems to show individual figures for each day, they just haven't updated the dashboard for some reason

coronavirus.data.gov.uk/details/healthcare?areaType=overview&areaName=United%20Kingdom

I’d be interested to know how many of those on ventilators were vaccinated. Is it the vaccine alone which is causing the milder form of the virus or the progress of the virus as it evolves into something which is less likely to kill its host.

@rrhuth

Meant to say, if you click on the 'data' tab under each section, you get the information in a table.

[quote kittensinthekitchen]@rrhuth

Meant to say, if you click on the 'data' tab under each section, you get the information in a table.[/quote]
Thank you!

In other news we’ve had no bin collections this week due to covid isolations so the street is a right mess - peoples rubbish has blown all over it

Isolations? Really? Just as likely to be because of illness.