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

There's a delay though isn't there, and that is concerning, between cases being discovered and them going to hospital.

The relationship can be tested with a delay taken into consideration. The latest (delta) wave has been going on long enough to find analogues in the October and December waves. More data will allow us to be more confident, of course. You can pull the raw data from data.gov.uk, pull out as many days as you can/want with a two-week lag, and just model the relationship for equivalent periods at different times. It's still a very, very, strong statistical relationship, but the impact this time compared to previously is (so far) weaker.

(there are, of course, probably much better ways of modelling this. I'm no epidemiologist. But I'm sure regression is one of their tools).

I'm still concerned about the harm (long term) caused by lockdown and also the harm (long term) caused by getting covid and surviving.

Me too.

And none of this is coming across in any communication from the government. It feels very much like sticking it to the kids repeatedly. As in, "it's your fault you're all down the pub" "ah you don't need vaccinating yet" and finally "ah, get on with it".

Totes. They're fucking useless. And pricks.

There's also the impact this is having on kids who have now lost two years of education.