CORONAVIRUS 2020: RHYTHM OF THE DEATH III

[Fambo Number Mive]

Worth remembering when they talk about a public sector pay freeze, we could have saved £10bn if the government had ensured stocks of PPE were adequate in 2019:

Had the government been able to pay 2019 prices, it would have spent £2.5bn on PPE in 2020.

In reality, it had spent £12.5bn, including hundreds of millions on "unsuitable" items that could not be used.

Some had "passed its expiry date or did not meet current safety standards", the watchdog said, with "insufficient checks" meaning Public Health England...

Meanwhile, the flu stockpile, as well as having shortages of some key items, did not include any gowns or visors despite the fact they had been "recommended for inclusion in June 2019 by the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (Nervtag)"...

But the NAO heard feedback from care workers, doctors and nurses that showed "significant numbers of them considered that they were not adequately protected during the height of the first wave of the pandemic".

Employers have reported 126 deaths among health and care workers linked to exposure at work.

And there were concerns about training and whether the equipment was appropriately fitted, particularly from women and people belonging to ethnic minorities.

In a Royal College of Nursing survey of 5,000 NHS staff, 49% of respondents belonging to ethnic minorities said they had been adequately "fit tested" for a respirator, compared with 74% of white nurses...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-55061183

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Public sector procurement is enough of a disaster area before you introduce the urgent requirements of a pandemic, from then on it becomes the floppy ginger haired guy from The Thick Of It being introduced to the darkweb for the first time.

[bgmnts]

I officially have to start logging down my work searching for universal credit now so I think that means we're getting back to normal pretty soon. Haven't had to do that since March.

[jobotic]

Tier 3, who's with me!

Meet you down the shops/gym/church/school.

[phes]

tory scum

still, hairdressers eh lads

[El Unicornio, mang]

Tier 3, who's with me!

Me! It's fine though, I had no plans to do anything outside the house until April anyway aside from travel abroad but that's off the cards. Actually overjoyed that I won't have to endure the horror of UK pubs/clubs at Xmas.

[imitationleather]

Hoping the Newcastle area will be hosting plenty of illegal raves during his tough period. <Mr Spliffy>

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

"We cannot ease off now"

*eases off now*

[BlodwynPig]

"We cannot ease off now"

*eases off now*

It's staggering isn't it.

[jobotic]

Gonna meet all my mates down Primark, take a few cans. Maybe vape shop after.

[Mr Banlon]

British coalfields


English Covid tiers map

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Yes, the largest settlements of the UK and densest conurbations grew as a result of industry.

[Jasha]

Quiet funny seeing tory mps complaining that they shouldn't be put into tier 3 because of high numbers in neighbouring boroughs

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Quiet funny seeing tory mps complaining that they shouldn't be put into tier 3 because of high numbers in neighbouring boroughs

Yes. Though much as I'd love any opportunity to stick the boot in, the parochialism and exceptionalism doesn't stop there.

Has been interesting seeing members of the socialist campaign group in Labour gradually trying to mollify their position (which is pro-lockdown until a vaccine with massive financial support for those concerned and a tax on the corporations profiting from unfair trading conditions). Zarah Sultana's post yesterday read uneasily, as though she knew any outward support for increased restrictions would be extremely unpopular.

[Fambo Number Mive]

Reuters special report on how badly the UK has done with the second wave of coronanvirus:

https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/health-coronavirus-britain-newwave/

Much better than that disgraceful Bloomberg article which tried to claim the UK government was doing very well.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Why didn't we make this month lockdown stricter? We've made everyone's lives moderately more miserable without a dramatic suppressing of cases, and while I understand reduction of deaths take longer to feed through, the 7 day average for deaths is still climbing, not falling. The tier system announcement seems a tacit admission of failure (as well as having some arbitrary and totally unfair distinctions)

Seems like the real plan until the vaccine program is delivering is to just doddle along in this purgatory state pleasing no-one, either those with a focus on public health or the people who literally don't give a shit who lives or dies so long as they can do what they want (until it happens to someone they know).

[Alberon]

As I've said before, for me Lockdown 2 didn't happen. Nothing in my life changed because of it.

Still gone to work five days a week, shopped in the same shops, got the same takeaways. Going by the traffic on the road each morning that was true for a lot of people.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Yes it has been nose to tail outside my apartment at 5pm every day.

A pretty weak impression of a 'lockdown' and they could have fucked up here because it will make the population much less willing to go back into a true one if they have to.

[jobotic]

Same here, except that my daughter has to isolate and not leave the house because like so many schools round here there is a case in her year.

In one of the worst areas at the moment and the schools seem to be the problem. Total waste of time. and next week all the shops open as usual but with Xmas bundles.

[imitationleather]

Edit glitch.

[George Oscar Bluth II]

As I've said before, for me Lockdown 2 didn't happen. Nothing in my life changed because of it.

Still gone to work five days a week, shopped in the same shops, got the same takeaways. Going by the traffic on the road each morning that was true for a lot of people.

Same here. The only things I couldn't do anymore were things I wasn't doing anymore anyway, like going to the pub, cos of the infection risk.

[Fambo Number Mive]

Hancock claiming "we have got this virus back under control"

Over 12,000 cases today. That's not under control.

Spitting Image just depicts Hancock as a man who hides behind a plant rather than actively going into just how petulant, venal and shitty he really is.

[Dr Rock]

Is there a country with similar demographics to us, who've done pretty much the same half-assed job, with the exception that they didn't keep the schools open?

[bgmnts]

Death rate shoots up from 60k to 75 in a few weeks according to the Guardian waddafack?

[Alberon]

The official figures with the 28 day restriction have risen about 10,000 in the last month (it's up 603 today to a total of 59,051) so it seems right that the number based on those death certificates that mention Covid-19 should jump 15,000.

What's the excess deaths as a whole on now for this year?

[Alberon]

And we've just passed 60,000 dead even by the official totals. So that's about a quarter of the total dead in the second wave so far.

According to the BBC we're the first European country to pass 60K so we're the leaders in that at least.

[JamesTC]

According to the BBC we're the first European country to pass 60K so we're the leaders in that at least.

This would not have been possible without Brexit.

[Fambo Number Mive]

@grantshapps
New Business Traveller exemption: From 4am on Sat 5th Dec high-value business travellers [briefcase emoji] will no longer need to self-isolate when returning to ENGLAND from a country NOT in a travel corridor, allowing more travel to support the economy and jobs. Conditions apply.

https://twitter.com/grantshapps/status/1334543848333332482

[JamesTC]

[cuntface emoji]

[Menu]

https://twitter.com/grantshapps/status/1334543848333332482

It's almost like they want to lose.