And then there were 48...

[Arkadia]

Yesterday there were about 250 people still in hospital with Covid. Now the new revised figure is 48.
Hadn't the SG been called out on this, we would have happily carried on with the inflated figure.
So, we are making decision on public health based on a test that we know gives out a high number of false positives when the true positives are low, and based on numbers of hospital admissions that up until yesterday nobody knew.
In the meantime, whatever happened to the "zeroCovid" policy? It hasn't been mentioned for a while. We spent the summer locked up for what, then? I daresay, no reason whatsoever. Just because someone was chasing unicorns and decided that we all ought to.

To be fair, the 250 whatever number was always a pile of crap. It was people in hospital with Covid, not people in hospital because of Covid. Lots of people with very long standing medical conditions who would have been in hospital anyway. Completely, and utterly meaningless.

But the reason nobody's challenging them is because there's no-one to do it. Nobody in the SNP is allowed to. Labour have all but disappeared. The conservatives aren't speaking up. Plus there is this general feeling that if you DARE criticise the approach, you are a covid denier, a covidiot or want to murder everyone's granny.

And then you chuck in a few anecdotal stories about scammers pretending to be track and tracers and the media are all over that as it's more newsworthy.

One of the most frustrating things about the handling of the pandemic for me has been the extremely poor standard of data handling. I’m talking about both the U.K. and Scottish governments here - the Oxford group are doing a stirling job of exposing the inflated deaths and hospitalisations numbers which presumably would never have come to light otherwise, but we still have fairly substantial data lags, non compatible data collection across the regions/nations and the issue of the RT PCR test giving significant numbers of false positives at low disease prevalence. Given that this data is (presumably) the basis for restrictions that themselves cause a lot of harm, this is worrying to say the least.

Indeed.
Had it not be for Heneghan who wrote an article in the Spectator we would still be none the wiser. OK, we are not really any the wiser now either, but at least we can see how the hospitalisations change.
And the bloody masks... They were introduced why, exactly? About two months on, they have made no difference, so what is the point exactly? Yesterday someone showed me a video of whatshername (the English adviser... Can't remember het name, but she is often on TV), admitting candidly in front of BJ that the evidence for masks is weak and we wear them to "reassure". That was the end of August, so I don't expect "the science" to have moved on that much.

I failed my Higher Maths and I can interpret graphs better than a lot of politicians and journalists. And in quickly seeing why there may be issues with the figures, and comparing data now with data in march.

Most of the comparisons are totally meaningless. Because there is no one standard definition of what counts as a covid patient or covid death and every country is counting differently. And of course back in March, nobody was counting at all unless you were ill enough to be admitted.

he English adviser... Can't remember her name, but she is often on TV),

Jenny Harries? She looks very head-mistressy. Someone on another thread coined the term "performance hygiene" and that's exactly what it is.

And we still have lots of people scared to leave their homes.

I'd like to know things such as whether the expected drop off in virility of the virus has happened? i'e. are the lack of hospital cases due to a milder infection, actual low numbers of cases, the more vulnerable continuing to shield or what?

@SockYarn, yes, that's the one.
The clip is here:
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8676535/Jenny-Harries-says-face-coverings-evidence-not-strong.html
(Can't link just the video).

@WaxOnFeckOff,
WHO KNOWS!
The virus might have gone altogether for what we know.
Maybe some Viagra will revive it...

And it's pretty bad that in a year where we've had the worst health crisis any of us have lived through, we've all relied on a guy with a travel blog and a penchant for graphs to collate the info and give us the figures.

Well done Travelling Tabby but come on, it's shite that you've had to do this.

@SockYarn, I have donate too ;)

I’m already questioning why the ‘honesty’ now? Is it a precursor to introducing some sustain model in for school October holidays- ‘oh look at our incredibly low figures, let me be clear, thank you for following my plan, see it’s worked, now please don’t travel to England over the October break...keep wearing your masks and snitching on your neighbours and you’ll be able to enjoy Christmas’
Sorry, blah, I just don’t trust any of them.

From blogs.gov.scot/statistics/2020/09/15/counting-people-in-hospital-with-covid-19/?fbclid=IwAR1weRBvc-yRdakmkPcWBrzX98jf8CzQ0o6GftIK-vbAgdGyRgJrKRtwnbQ

Audit findings

The audit of inpatients identified 384 patients in hospital at 1am on 26 August across Scotland who had previously tested positive for COVID-19.

The majority of these patients (87%) were in hospital for a condition unrelated to COVID-19:

45% were hospital onset cases who were no longer being isolated or treated for COVID-19;
25% had recovered from COVID-19, been discharged and then readmitted for an unrelated condition;
9% had a previous positive COVID-19 test in the community, and were admitted for an unrelated reason
8% had been admitted for COVID-19, had recovered but were still in hospital for other reasons.
The audit showed that 8% of patients were either receiving treatment for COVID-19, were in rehabilitation after their treatment for COVID-19 was completed, or were in hospital for COVID-19 related complications. (5% of patients could not be classified into the above categories.)

(In other words, on Aug 26th there were 33 people in hospital due to Covid-19)

I think this is really positive news- despite cases rising for 6-8 weeks, deaths the number in hospital have not risen.

This is also a trend that has been recorded in Germany and Spain. Hopefully it will continue so that the ridiculous 2 household rule will be removed.

Banning walks with 2 friends and D.C. playing with friends in the park is not a proportionate response to 48 cases in hospital!

But @Arkadia - protect the NHS! Wear a mask!

Already have a holiday booked to export my east Dunbartonshire germs to england.

Yes and the 8 cases in the last 7 days in my area really makes me appreciate the necessity of not going walking with my two friends...

Rural Perthshire here. My elderly aunt (who emigrated lifetimes ago) chastised me for ranting against the rules. Changed her mind when I explained I was no longer “allowed” to climb a mountain with a few friends.

Drive past the village play park yesterday. I hadn’t known previously, but we appear to be a community filled with criminal masterminds. There were children playing and at LEAST 5 parents.

Naturally I stopped the car and dialled 101 to report my concerns.

@InsaneInTheViralMembrane, good for you! We need to take a stand against these covidiots!!

I’ve just spent about 40 mins watching Ivor Cummins latest YouTube and it’s very illuminating; following the science behind Sweden not locking down, excess deaths, second waves, face masks, seasonal effects with references and further readings.
I think our politicians in Scotland have failed us if this is right.

Well that was very interesting, thank you for the link Jodri. No doubt the excess deaths over the coming winter due to the measures taken over the summer will be blamed on folk not washing hands enough, not doing what they are told in terms of lockdown and not washing masks properly...

No doubt the excess deaths over the coming winter due to the measures taken over the summer will be blamed on folk not washing hands enough, not doing what they are told in terms of lockdown and not washing masks properly

Even the people who are dying from all manner of other things who have been firmly told to stay the fuck away from the GP, and whose treatable problems have now developed into non-treatable problems.

The whole thing is just a joke at this stage. New hospital admissions are tiny. Comparisons with March when nobody was getting tested are meaningless.

Totally fucked off with it all now.

Yep, I hear you @SockYarn, thoroughly hacked off at the damage done when it's not only been no use, it's actually made things worse. BiL has terminal cancer - earlier action when he didn't want to bother the GP may or may not have made a difference :(

I know. I’ve been reconsidering my compliant attitude, thinking I was doing my social responsibility by down loading the app, wearing face mask etc.

I didn't download the app as I don't really go anywhere...

I'm working at home which I don't mind, doing click and collect shopping and collecting in the car park and was going for nice walks with two friends but that's not allowed (but still went on Monday - rebel me).

I went for a few meals but nothing on cards at the moment.

I've not agreed with half of it but stuck to the "rules" , missed out on visits with my BiL and the annual meal with my large family and missed 6 monthly catch up nights out with scattered friends. And I've not protected anyone. And I've already had it (but couldn't get a test as it was in March).

waxonfeckoff sounds we’ve similar lifestyles. I couldn’t believe the hysteria on the Scottish women’s walking group.

I’m still doing my outdoor group activity. It’s not organised... was just a mighty coincidence we all turned up at the same time. 😂

Gonna throw a saddle in the boot and claim I’m hunting.

Insane as we didn't want to skulk in the woods, we took turns of one of us walking a bit in front as if we were coincidentally walking in the same direction...

Now I'm thinking fuck that.