Chat about Novel Coronavirus - 2019-nCoV - COVID-19

How many people do the government-that wonderful agency of rapid change and adaptation-need to hire in a matter of days to do the contact tracing/testing leg work throughout the UK?

Or are we just in another G4S Olympic games situation where we'll pay through the nose for a Tory donor to fail to deliver via the private sector then the army will be asked to step in?

https://twitter.com/NeilMaybin/status/1257839985190993922?s=19

Re the herd immunity chat: In care homes the virus has been spreading like wildfire for various reasons.

It's the only, not perfect, data set there is. So perhaps there can be conclusions drawn from it, aside from, this is NOT the group you want to get ill.

Serco are apparently in pole position to win the contract.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/may/04/uk-government-using-crisis-to-transfer-nhs-duties-to-private-sector

conspiracy theory for dr neil pantsdown

as it was all the tory backing papers that got the exclusive for his little lockdown breaking activities i wonder whether the dark forces in the tory party wanted rid of him for not supporting their ideas or criticising them, maybe cummings on the sage group was not supported by him

wonder if anything went on behind the scenes to get him fired, apart from his own silly behaviour

Same thing happened in Scotland with the CMO because she visited her second home... Story broken by the Sun who'd sent someone to pap her with a telephoto lens.

Where there is cheap political points to be scored I don't see the Tories turning their backs on them, pandemic or no.

Christ. Another glorious victory for the private sector...

I hate to reason that this makes sense on some level, but it does to me. Serco have huge call centres & call handling staff geared up for quickly taking on new contracts. Imagine trying to establish this from scratch via a new company, or within the NHS itself, at this point in time.

Agreed - but if so why no rise in Pneumonia deaths ahead of the covid curve we see now?

A few factors can somewhat explain this; the degree to which vulnerable people are naturally, relatively sheltered from infection, and the case mortality rate.

trump starts to wind down his coronavirus task force

Some people are arguing councils have call centres and could do this work in a distributed way: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/may/05/private-covid-19-tracing-disaster-councils

trump starts to wind down his coronavirus task force

Announced to a soundtrack of Guns n'Roses 'Live and let Die'. The guy doing the music must have been having a right laff.

https://twitter.com/Chris_Dignam/status/1257801094195003399?s=20

🤦‍♂️

starmer vs johnson at pmq's today

should be interesting, lets hope he plays hardball a bit more than corbyn did

Jesus. GMB rolling out Toby Young to opine on whether scientists 'can be trusted' anymore because Neil Ferguson wanted to get his end wet during lockdown.

Quality level of stones from whoever put that on. They should never need to buy a drink again.

yeah, i seem to remember Axle Rose having beef with Trump using his music for rallies already too tho so also possible that it's just him being trolled by the orange oracle again. Seems a bit too self-aware though?

it spiked at approx. 100k on the day the tories said they would do 100k tests, but all subsequent days have been ( well ) under 100k

To the already converted this just proves how Boris is the strong man we need to have in charge and that every subsequent day with lower test Numbers is just public sector laziness and obstinance.

should be interesting, lets hope he plays hardball a bit more than corbyn did

He kills with kindness. It's way more effective than Corbyn ever was and I think he's getting the balance just right between being seen to be supportive during a time of national crisis while also pointing out the Government's many failings. He looks incredibly competent compared to Johnson's bluster and the lack of attack dog tactics just make him seem more like a proper grown up IMO.

I just watched this and Boris just said using public transport while maintaining social distancing won't be possible so there will be a new golden age of cycling.

"In a statement, Prof Ferguson said: "I accept I made an error of judgement and took the wrong course of action.

"I have therefore stepped back from my involvement in Sage (Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies).

"I acted in the belief that I was immune, having tested positive for coronavirus and completely isolated myself for almost two weeks after developing symptoms."

OK so yes he should not have had a visit, in his position you just cannot do those things.

But a bit of a bitter irony that the "we don't need to lockdown, let's try herd immunity" policy was changed partially thanks to his work, and when he is actually sorta claiming the "immunity" defense it is no good.

Hah yeah he looks like a bit of a dickhead now. Weird.

I just watched this and Boris just said using public transport while maintaining social distancing won't be possible

Could be as damaging as Dr Beeching? Ensures motor vehicle use over cycling without significant investment in provision.

Do all these council depts have slack to pick up the volume though? Can't assume all their previous work as mentioned has vanished leaving them idle?

Dickhead may be very appropriate here :p

He does what they wanted us to do originally and here we are...

Not sure if it's government hypocrisy or whatever but he tested positive so he wasn't being utterly careless assuming immunity is acquired in all cases.

Still dumb thing to do but the flesh is weak or so they say ;)

I dunno... He was getting his rocks off... So what.

If hes been tested, He was positive, he should be ok.

But it does create an elitest group of tested people being able to do what they want. But still... He got it, he was tested, he is immune.

The lockdown is to reduce strain on the NHS... Not to discredit herd immunity theory. They are not the same thing. In fact, even down this path, we are still in the process of developing herd immunity but much slower. Its about allowing the NHS to cope less so that there are less overall deaths.