Westminstenders: All bets are off

[RedToothBrush]

We are seeking an extension. Apparently. No prizes for guessing why.

There is no news but COVID news. And that's all there will be for a long time.

Enjoy your stockpile and your sunny uplands it brought.

Keep safe.

11 Friday 13th
21 Saturday 14th
35 Sunday 15th
55 Monday 16th
71 Tuesday 17th
104 wed 18th
144 Thur 19 th
177 Friday 20th
233 Saturday 21st
281 Sunday 22nd
335 Monday 23rd
424 Tuesday 24th
465 Wednesday 25th
Figures so far it was almost doubling every 2-3 days.

It's 465 too many imo.

The UK figures being released at different times of day makes it even more difficult to track the trend

Department of Health and Social Care@DHSCgovuk

UPDATE on coronavirus (#COVID19) testing in the UK:

As of 9am on 25 March, a total of 97,019 have been tested:

87,490 negative.
9,529 positive.

463 patients who tested positive for coronavirus have sadly died.

Please note these figures do not cover a full 24 hour period.

@ListeningQuietly - you are assuming that this virus is only killing people who would die anyway (i.e. the old, the sick).

Why are you assuming this? If your answer is Imperial Collge modeling, please rethink.

That was in regard to your comment "irreparable harm is being done to society to slow down deaths which would have largely happened anyway".

The Scottish Government publish figures every day at 2pm https://www.gov.scot/coronavirus-covid-19/

Wales updates its figures at 12 noon daily.

It would seem that England is the one that doesn't produce its figures at a consistent time - although I'm not sure about NI (but its relative size would make very little difference to any trends)

There was one bit of Chris Whitty's comments at BJ's press conference that disturbed me: he said something like, "The modelling we did assumed that most people would have to continue to work" ...it wasn't quite those words but it jarred as it appeared that the modelling had had assumptions in it that weren't far off Trump's "America needs to work so we'll get everyone back by Easter" delusion assertion.

So it turns out that "Brexit, Do or Die," was accurate.

Didn't they used to chuck Plague victims into ditches?

Here's hoping...

@LouiseCollins28, it's possible to respect the office without having any respect whatsoever for the current incumbent.

www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/26/men-are-much-more-likely-to-die-from-coronavirus-but-why

It snowed in Provence yesterday and was -1 this evening. V bad for fruit and veg, as it was 20° last week and trees were in blossom, etc.

Bon courage to all.

prettybird

I noticed that too. I thought it was extremely interesting that Whitty rowed back from a number of things very pointedly. And as you rightly say, it jarred.

'we have been led by the science' = thé blame game has begun already.

Donald J Trump @realdonaldtrump
The LameStream Media is the dominant force in trying to get me to keep our Country closed as long as possible in the hope that it will be detrimental to my election success. The real people want to get back to work ASAP. We will be stronger than ever before!

11hrs ago

Meanwhile in NYC

George Takei @georgetakei
They reported 199 total deaths in NYC at 10am. By 6pm, it was 280 deaths. That's 81 deaths in 8 hours, or a death every 6 minutes.

Mount Sinai Health System @mountsinainyc
We are deeply saddened by the passing of a beloved member of our nursing staff. Today, we lost another hero - a compassionate colleague, friend and selfless caregiver.

Eric Feigl-Ding @drericding
My god - New York is surpassing every other epicenter hotspot - now on track to double up every day. Slowing it down to doubling every 2 days would be actually improvement right now. #COVID19

Disturbing, stubborn adherence to Brexit dogma if true

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/coronavirus-boris-johnson-medical-equipment-eu-brexit-a9424631.html

Math I keep posting on umpteen threads that most who died were NOT going to die within the next year.

Too many people keep leaping on the fact that most of the under 60s dead had underlying conditions;

it's just "othering" the dead,
sometimes out of fear, sometimes because of financial suffering and a desperate wish to restart the economy.

But it sometimes verges on eugenics

People normally live for decades with T2, raised blood pressure, asthma, BMI over 40 ...

• all now being seized on to write off people dying early

Most people survive for several years more serious diseases like cancer, CVD

Older people who worked all their lives could also normally expect to enjoy retirement for 2-3 decades
In a developed country, we don't think people who die at 70 "have had their innings, move on"

• 70 would normally be regarded as a premature death

BCF - I find it very jarring that the news , announces a death "an 55 year old with underlining conditions" , as if to minimise the fact that it is this virus that killed them...... it's almost like blaming them for having a health condition......

NYC #Coronavirus has been horrifying for the last couple of weeks

It is looking like a world hotspot all on its own

That rocketing death rate in one of the most advanced cities in the world

The number of cases in a particular country or area is so dependent on how much testing the authorities can / want to do,
but death rates are a more reliable indicator of trends.

It seems that previous decades of building / cutting public services and healthcare are a major factor in why some areas have such high death rates and others such low ones,
in addition to culture and demographics, of course

But there are still some mysteries

prettybird that is utterly alarming.

pretty I posted this Guardian story on 17 March about the UK being invited to join EU purchasing - because I was worried that the UK was staying ominously silent about joing:

https://www.theguardian.com/business/live/2020/mar/17/markets-covid-19-ftse-government-rescue-packages-airlines-pubs-compass-airbus-business-live

the UK has been told it is eligible to take part in a European Union wide-scheme on buying ventilators and other medical equipment needed in the coronavirus crisis.

A European commission spokesperson confirmed the UK was “eligible to participate in these joint procedures” despite leaving the EU on 31 January.

Under David Cameron, the British government in 2014 signed a voluntary “joint procurement agreement”,
which was drawn up after the H1N1 pandemic of 2009 showed some countries found it difficult to get medical supplies on the open market.

The agreement allows EU countries to band together to use their combined purchasing power to get a good deal on vaccines and other medical supplies.

The EU executive is currently organising joint procurement of protective clothing for medics, including masks, as well as ventilators.

The commission spokesperson said “a very big majority of member states [were] interested” in taking part in the joint procurement on ventilators.

The British government has not revealed whether it intends to take part in any of the procurement schemes.

The EU Commission then was all but yelling at BJ to join in

I remember you posting that BigChoc - the Independent article was horrific confirmation that they refused to accept the offer and that they'd still prefer to put dogma ahead of people's lives

One of my keyworker parents went to New York just before travel was closed down, to take advantage of the lower prices. I’m so worried for that family.

I’m really worried for ourselves, too. It may be selfish, but I have my own children here and not much information about how to keep us safe. I’m hearing that teaching staff and NHS are being told to change clothes and shower when they get home from work.
We’ve just been told to wash everyone’s hands more often and practise our usual good cleaning routines. Only deep clean if we have a diagnosed case. I have a horrible feeling that information is well out of date now.

Does anyone have any information that might help us? I have frontline NHS workers’ children here.

"I’m hearing that teaching staff and NHS are being told to change clothes and shower when they get home from work."

I've been doing that after my daily walk outside for the last 2 weeks

• thorough shower and hair wash (Germany lockdown started earlier and I've stayed indoors except for the walk)

Noticeably doing more laundry than usual

Interesting article here about how Singapore learnt the lessons from SARS and prepared - which is why they haven't been as badly hit

https://theprint.in/world/why-singapore-isnt-in-a-coronavirus-lockdown-as-told-by-a-doctor-of-the-country/384784/

Re: British government's refusal to join with EU in scheme to quickly procure much needed medical equipment - it's all right, because that well-known British company, Dyson, will be manufacturing their own newly-designed ones in Singapore, some time.
www.ft.com/content/4cc667f2-6ee2-11ea-89df-41bea055720b

Trump furiously criticising the press for harming his reelection chances whilst someone dies every two minutes in NYC in the US and Johnson refusing to act on the EU joint procurement agreement here in the U.K. despite rising need perfectly expose their 'it's all about me' attitude.

It beggars belief that we should be asked to respect their narcissistic compulsion to gain and hold the highest public office to our detriment. This is cognitive dissonance at its finest.