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

Interesting fact from the Slovakia, we’ve had mass covid testing (with antigene test) over the weekend and we’ve tested over 3mil out of 5.5mil people. Around 1% tested positive.

Just in via a work channel... and truly, this is what I think the UK should be doing. If we can't do it nationally then figure out how to do a region at a time and do this on a constant rotation... a monthly check of an entire region.

Yeah I mean it's an absolute joke to think that Shanghai (population 25 million, 40% over the age of 60, terrible public hospitals, poor hygiene (no soap in public bathrooms cos old people steal it), very little general understanding of how diseases work, etc etc) had 13 cases.

Shanghai hosted the League of Legends world championships last week - all the foreigners participating had to spend 2 weeks in government quarantine on arrival, then another 2 weeks in another hotel as a secondary quarantine, then during the event they were not allowed to go anywhere unattended and had to take a covid test EVERY DAY. Guess how many tests the chinese participants had to take...

It just seem so obvious that very fast, early lockdowns mean shorter lockdown, less economic impact and fewer deaths.

Instead of squashing these waves, we've been bloody surfing them.

This. But everything is now so broken that people (in very broad generalisation) only accept measures when things are demonstrably bad enough. We/they don't believe projections from experts. Locking down until there were 10's of cases so that we could properly test and trace would have caused uproar.
See also Farage opportunistically launching an anti-lockdown party so he can profit from and stir up more confusion and dissent.

Iain Duncan Smith accuses PM of ‘giving in to scientific advisers’

The truth is dead. Long live the 'truth'.

"Just as the economy was picking up, even giving cause for optimism, we are now to impersonate the Grand Old Duke of York – giving in to the scientific advisers and marching England back into another nationwide lockdown."

In other news, man complains that house is now 'all wet' after being saved from burning down by fire brigade.

Cross-posting in the hopes it will be useful to people who don’t want to touch the mask thread with a barge pole https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02801-8 .

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-54772028

Stats on covid in NI schools. 50% of schools had cases.

Most schools though have just 1 case, with some 2-5 and far fewer more than 5. Now any close contact cases means everybody self isolates, my son's school is on the ball there and so far we just missed it (same age group, different class) for ours.

Nobody moves between classes anymore (IT/tech only exceptions), staggered breaks, no canteen meals, breaks are spread by age group instead of everybody running around mixing, no lockers in use, no afterschool activities etc. etc. so it is not "school as usual".

So to me it doesn't look like schools are an major Covid spreader environment.

Which is not really expected as being in a closed room with no ventilation is sorta ideal for the virus to spread...though you aren't allowed to speak and spread particles, unless you fancy detention ;)

But perhaps the T&T is not good enough to detect where the virus spreads. Anyhoo schools are open again here, unis are NOT (distance learning only) so in 2 weeks we will see if cases stop dropping as much as they do now/are going up again.

Test and trace is only ever as good as the information obtained from the people contacted.

There was a great deal made, by the GF academy, to protect the kids so online lessons had to have a second teacher watching.

The issue is not just having a device to connect but to have internet access also.

So they got laptops and how did they connect to the internet?

Test and trace is only ever as good as the information obtained from the people contacted.

There are also numerous stories (who knows of the truth behind them) of how bad they are even when given the information.

Someone on yacf was mentioning that their local rowing club gave T&T all of the contact details of people (over a number of days) who'd had significant contact with someone at the club who had tested positive and not a single person was contacted by T&T.

Then again there's the story of the family that received 60+ calls from T&T as they followed the script to inform each family member that one of the other family members has tested positive, etc.

Then again there's the story of the family that received 60+ calls from T&T as they followed the script to inform each family member that one of the other family members has tested positive, etc.

The George Monbiot article this weekend was particularly shocking with regards to the operators of the tracing system. Spoiler: (through no fault of the operators) they're under qualified, under experienced, underpaid and highly stressed out by the work

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/oct/28/england-coronavirus-covid-test-and-trace-teenagers

No fault of the operators....really?

If the children can't afford a computer, how can the parents afford to have access to internet?

Northern Irish T&T is government ran.

But, it does have capacity problems atm and any T&T system you get wrong phone numbers, addresses and mistakes/people you can't reach.

https://www.publichealth.hscni.net/covid-19-coronavirus/testing-and-tracing-covid-19/contact-tracing-service-management-information

500odd about of 6000odd did not get completed T&T

I keep reading the rules and maybe someone makes more sense of it than me. I'm in my office due to mental health impacting my ability to work form home. I'll be bicycling in so no tube use. Am I understating correctly that I can still come into the office as they said if you can work effectively at home my work have been really good about at the situation and has kept the office open for a few of us due to this reason.

TL/DR - Can I still come go to the office?

Yes

Sure to leave a bitter taste

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/nov/02/t-cell-covid-immunity-present-in-adults-six-months-after-first-infection

Someone needs to tell the chair and vice chair of the 1922 committee that the removal of certain civil liberties for public health reasons relating to communicable diseases has been government policy since ohhh about 1875

I imagine that would be about as effective as cold hard logical explanations usually are with toddlers throwing their toys out of the pram shouting 'Don't wanna wanna'.

Test and trace is only ever as good as the information obtained from the people contacted.

There are also numerous stories (who knows of the truth behind them) of how bad they are even when given the information.

Someone on yacf was mentioning that their local rowing club gave T&T all of the contact details of people (over a number of days) who'd had significant contact with someone at the club who had tested positive and not a single person was contacted by T&T.

Then again there's the story of the family that received 60+ calls from T&T as they followed the script to inform each family member that one of the other family members has tested positive, etc.

So pubs and clubs closing, you think that someone would have checked how many infection spreads there have been in those locations. If it is a rife as we are led to believe you would think that T and T would have a hotline to the pub groups.

It does not seem to be the case though, so where are they getting the evidence from?

Figures for 22,500 venues and at least 268m customer visits suggest just 104 cases have been pursued since summer

That's more about how shit the T&T system was at picking up on the venue check in data.

Most of the T&T work is focused on the primary contacts that the person would have spent significant time with face to face.

But, of course, T&T is proving to be shit and doing even that.

is this good news?