SARS CoV-2 coronavirus / Covid-19 (No tin foil hat silliness please)

And yet as soon as someone questions them such as Piers Morgan, the gammon come out in force saying it’s being negative. It’s pathetic how they have got away with this.

Piers Morgan is an opportunistic parasite who should eat shit and die.

Let’s not pretend he’s a force for good. He’s a cnut. He should be a distant memory. Not on breakfast tv.
 
To be honest, I always thought that Paxman was just plain rude and arrogant rather than an exemplary and uncompromising interviewer.

Yeah its a fine line, Mishal Husain on bbc radio 4 I think does it perfectly in terms of probing with facts but always manages to cover many areas in a way that is insightful
 
I agree but he's totally ruined his good work by conducting himself with the class and morals of an alleycat. The govt haven't boycotted GMB because he asks "tough questions" they did it because he never lets anyone (who doesn't submit to his party lines) answer properly and he just shouts over them like a toddler.

Imagine if someone saw one of his sensational headlines and gave up hope?

Imagine if Tory MPs answered a simple question rather than Cummings fed soundbites.
 
While I agree he may have picked on stories which didn’t need it and he is just a knob, he has done a great job at holding this Government to account. Yet his criticism gets buried due to his character.

No. He hasn’t. He’s a garbage human being and a rampant profiteer based on misery.

He asked some questions. Most of the people that post here would have done better.
 
To be honest, I always thought that Paxman was just plain rude and arrogant rather than an exemplary and uncompromising interviewer.

Stern doesn’t equal intelligence. He’s impish but forgiving. The questions are softer than his delivery suggests.
 
Imagine if Tory MPs answered a simple question rather than Cummings fed soundbites.
It's not just with "Tory MPs" he's like this, he has done this on GMB for years, any snippet of something he doesn't like he screams like a banshee.

If he thinks the response was unacceptable after his question has been answered fully then yes fair enough get tough (like what Starmer does in the HOC), but this constant interrupting of people early to mid answer is juvenile, a lot of the time an initial answer sounds a lot different once context is fully applied but time and time again he doesn't let it get to that point.

His attitude has given the Tories a get out of jail free card, if he was conducting himself and his interviews properly they wouldn't have a leg to stand on if they decided to boycott the programme, now they can point to Piers's behaviour, he's handed their excuse to them gift-wrapped.
 
Even my poor level of satire has snuffed it.
 
It's not just with "Tory MPs" he's like this, he has done this on GMB for years, any snippet of something he doesn't like he screams like a banshee.

If he thinks the response was unacceptable after his question has been answered fully then yes fair enough get tough (like what Starmer does in the HOC), but this constant interrupting of people early to mid answer is juvenile, a lot of the time an initial answer sounds a lot different once context is fully applied but time and time again he doesn't let it get to that point.

His attitude has given the Tories a get out of jail free card, if he was conducting himself and his interviews properly they wouldn't have a leg to stand on if they decided to boycott the programme, now they can point to Piers's behaviour, he's handed their excuse to them gift-wrapped.

I'm sure you believe that. I think most other people know exactly why the Tories don't show up and why the Tory base are fine with that.
 
Reality destroyed your satire a day before it happened!



Seeing as the NYT has been getting both barrels from lefty twitter for the last few weeks it wouldn’t surprise me if he’s being deliberately misrepresented. I’d be interested to read the article. I suspect it’s a hell of a lot more nuanced than a headline screen grab allows.

I only very briefly worked in US healthcare and was aghast at how many tests and interventions are done on people who are essentially well. Insane amounts of blood work and follow up appointments for no good reason other than making money for the healthcare provider. If that’s his point then it’s a good one.
 
Seeing as the NYT has been getting both barrels from lefty twitter for the last few weeks it wouldn’t surprise me if he’s being deliberately misrepresented. I’d be interested to read the article. I suspect it’s a hell of a lot more nuanced than a headline screen grab allows.

I only very briefly worked in US healthcare and was aghast at how many tests and interventions are done on people who are essentially well. Insane amounts of blood work and follow up appointments for no good reason other than making money for the healthcare provider. If that’s his point then it’s a good one.

yes, people with insurance will be taken for more tests than usual since it's a circular feeding chain. which is probably what is being argued in that article.
and that is still remarkably tone-deaf in a country (and newspaper!) where this is a parallel reality -
 
Posted this clip on my NFL teams message board with the caption "just wear a mask ffs"

This was the reply

"If I wore a mask I’d be committing a felony
https://www.ncleg.net/EnactedLegisla...S_14-12.7.html

(You can’t conceal your identity and carry a firearm at the same time)

So I’ll pass on the mask thank you"
Does he know that he could, just maybe, leave the gun at home?

What goes through these people's minds when they go out for groceries? "Got my wallet, got my coupons, got my bag for life... Shit, forgotten the Uzi!"
 
If, for some bizarre reason, anybody needs further proof of this government's heartlessness and disinterest, look no further than Johnson's "guts" remark & Harries' insulting and patronising casting of shielding people as terrified cowards hiding away in a cobwebbed attic.
 
Seeing as the NYT has been getting both barrels from lefty twitter for the last few weeks it wouldn’t surprise me if he’s being deliberately misrepresented. I’d be interested to read the article. I suspect it’s a hell of a lot more nuanced than a headline screen grab allows.

I only very briefly worked in US healthcare and was aghast at how many tests and interventions are done on people who are essentially well. Insane amounts of blood work and follow up appointments for no good reason other than making money for the healthcare provider. If that’s his point then it’s a good one.

His point is exactly that
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/22/opinion/coronavirus-reopen-hospitals.html

Its free to make a NYT account to read it. He's being attacked mainly by "chronic lyme disease" twitter who probably haven't read the article
Talks about lack of evidence base for a lot of surgical procedures, mostly unindicated investigations like MRI for lower back pain etc.

It is well recognized that a substantial amount of health care in America is wasteful, accounting for hundreds of billions of dollars of the total health care budget. Wasteful care is driven by many forces: “defensive” medicine by doctors trying to avoid lawsuits; a reluctance on the part of doctors and patients to accept diagnostic uncertainty (which leads to more tests); the exorbitant prices that American doctors and hospitals charge, at least compared to what is charged in other countries; a lack of consensus about which treatments are effective; and the pervasive belief that newer, more expensive technology is always better.
 
As an aside least surprising thing in the world is 10 Pakistani cricket players testing positive for covid (that's just over one-third of the travelling team for England test series)

Friends and family paint a grim picture there. Government not having any sort of plan. My doctor friends can't get their own family members or loved ones a hospital bed. Blood plasma being sold on the black market. Doctors who wanted PPE attacked by police. Doctors attacked by irate family members. Vulnerable people in society being abandoned.

Horrible but widely accepted and unchallenged conspiracy theories around with rumours include allegations such as hospitals are being paid for each dead body, the whole disease is a foreign conspiracy, or anyone going to hospital gets a poison injection ("zeher ka tika") with mass organ harvesting, preachers saying its the wrath of God etc. I know these things aren't unique to Pakistan but the amalgamation of shitty things regarding covid there is truly heart breaking.
 
Does he know that he could, just maybe, leave the gun at home?

What goes through these people's minds when they go out for groceries? "Got my wallet, got my coupons, got my bag for life... Shit, forgotten the Uzi!"
I didn't even bother replying.

Im considered left wing there and right wing here
 
Apparently the average age for new Covid cases in Florida is 37 y/o. This is in a state that is literally a repository for senior citizens. That number is shocking.
 
Apparently the average age for new Covid cases in Florida is 37 y/o. This is in a state that is literally a repository for senior citizens. That number is shocking.
Median is probably lower too? Do you have the full specs?

Also what happened in USA post initial mass BLM protests? Has there been a consistent spike across major protest locations?
 
Median is probably lower too? Do you have the full specs?

Also what happened in USA post initial mass BLM protests? Has there been a consistent spike across major protest locations?
It’s not correlating with the protests: it is consistently, as consistent as data that you can get from the states goes, tracking states that didn’t get hit hard early and thus opened up early (and are too macho to wear masks).

Also many of these states spiking are hitting ~35degC daily temps, so if you’re hoping to live a mostly normal life until the ‘second wave’ comes in the winter I’ve got bad news for you.
 
As an aside least surprising thing in the world is 10 Pakistani cricket players testing positive for covid (that's just over one-third of the travelling team for England test series)

Friends and family paint a grim picture there. Government not having any sort of plan. My doctor friends can't get their own family members or loved ones a hospital bed. Blood plasma being sold on the black market. Doctors who wanted PPE attacked by police. Doctors attacked by irate family members. Vulnerable people in society being abandoned.

Horrible but widely accepted and unchallenged conspiracy theories around with rumours include allegations such as hospitals are being paid for each dead body, the whole disease is a foreign conspiracy, or anyone going to hospital gets a poison injection ("zeher ka tika") with mass organ harvesting, preachers saying its the wrath of God etc. I know these things aren't unique to Pakistan but the amalgamation of shitty things regarding covid there is truly heart breaking.
Jesus. Looks like gullibility is a worldwide problem, but it makes you question who is putting these conspiracy theories out there and what they could possibly gain from them. As if the reality of the situation isn't bad enough.
 
One other shitty thing happened yesterday, I've always wanted more medics asking questions in daily briefings. Regretted that yesterday. Yesterday though we had (according to what GP groups online tell me) Prof Suzanne Mason, A&E Consultant from Sheffield who used her one question to bash GPs :rolleyes:



Truth is that face-to-face consultations are happening at GP practices if needed after telephone triage. Research has shown that up to 60% of primary care problems can be handled via telephone triage and good patient satisfaction has been reported for telephone consultations too. GPs also are seeing covid patients in primary care at "hot hubs" but allowing an open door policy without triage would honestly mean entire surgeries closing down and the last thing we want is for GP practices with large patient cohorts to turn into Broad Street cholera pumps. And A&Es are hardly inundated either, unfortunately we are seeing severe lung clots in patients post-covid that simply attending GP would not make a huge difference, they need investigations in hospital if history suggestive.

To make it clear to anybody in here who wants a GP appointment, post-covid face-to-face consultations are 25% of all consults for GPs (pre-covid it was around 70%) but vast majority of your ailments can be sorted and appropriately safety netted after a good history taking from a clinician so if you need clinical advice your GP surgeries will be open, and will see you face-to-face if needed.
 
While I agree he may have picked on stories which didn’t need it and he is just a knob, he has done a great job at holding this Government to account. Yet his criticism gets buried due to his character.

He just changes his tune based on what will get him the most attention and make him look good. I don't see him holding anyone to account because he doesn't have the credibility himself to do that. He also does it in such an obnoxious way that even when you agree with what he says you have to consider changing your opinion.
 
Apparently over 800,000 people are waiting a cancer diagnostic test (around half for more than six weeks).

That's terrifying numbers, the death toll from delayed cancer diagnosis/treatment alone could be eclipsing the numbers for the virus.
 
Apparently over 800,000 people are waiting a cancer diagnostic test (around half for more than six weeks).

That's terrifying numbers, the death toll from delayed cancer diagnosis/treatment alone could be eclipsing the numbers for the virus.

That could be a build up to a big problem if a substantial amount is getting delayed. Interestingly my experience is the opposite where a member of my family got moved up the list and had a hopefully benign lump removed last week. Previously it was "in the next few months" as the doctors did not think it was anything serious.

From talking to the nurses there it seems that they are trying to get some of the non-complex surgery done as they have some capacity at the moment due to less ad-hoc visits.

Maybe it's area related or based on the type of operation / treatment?
 
Apparently over 800,000 people are waiting a cancer diagnostic test (around half for more than six weeks).

That's terrifying numbers, the death toll from delayed cancer diagnosis/treatment alone could be eclipsing the numbers for the virus.

Its a disaster waiting to happen for sure but something GPs are raising with secondary care colleagues
Main issue has been pause in screening (in total something like over 2 million according to cancer research could be affect when screening, diagnostic tests and treatments are taken into account)

Two big issues are cervical smear tests paused for some patients, "routine" endoscopy service also affected. A significant portion of our cancer patient cohort are picked up through the services that have been delayed

The problem isn't GPs referring less, its fewer people coming to GPs with symptoms due to covid fears, fewer patients going to hospital for diagnostic tests for covid fears, secondary care (radiology and subspecialities) tightening up referral criteria, rejecting referrals sometimes against national clinical standards (all of which is being challenged at local levels).

Its about getting the messaging out, if you get symptoms contact your GP and its safe to go into hospital for your blood tests and your chest X-rays. Deep cleans are done, people who are shielding or extremely clinical vulnerable get seen early in the morning to minimise infection risk.
 
Apparently over 800,000 people are waiting a cancer diagnostic test (around half for more than six weeks).

That's terrifying numbers, the death toll from delayed cancer diagnosis/treatment alone could be eclipsing the numbers for the virus.

Its a disaster waiting to happen for sure but something GPs are raising with secondary care colleagues
Main issue has been pause in screening (in total something like over 2 million according to cancer research could be affect when screening, diagnostic tests and treatments are taken into account)

Two big issues are cervical smear tests paused for some patients, "routine" endoscopy service also affected. A significant portion of our cancer patient cohort are picked up through the services that have been delayed

The problem isn't GPs referring less, its fewer people coming to GPs with symptoms due to covid fears, fewer patients going to hospital for diagnostic tests for covid fears, secondary care (radiology and subspecialities) tightening up referral criteria, rejecting referrals sometimes against national clinical standards (all of which is being challenged at local levels).

Its about getting the messaging out, if you get symptoms contact your GP and its safe to go into hospital for your blood tests and your chest X-rays. Deep cleans are done, people who are shielding or extremely clinical vulnerable get seen early in the morning to minimise infection risk.

Yeah this has been getting flagged as a potential issue from the start. Only problem is it's going to be very difficult to convince some people that it is safe to visit a hospital when you've spent months telling them it isn't even safe to go outside. There is a higher risk visiting an obvious virus hot spot than staying at home, regardless of how many precautions are taken.

Really think they could have avoided a lot of this by presenting information better rather than relying on vagueness and fear tactics, then just telling people "yeah it's safe now"

It's hard to take advice seriously when we're supposed to believe the virus is a threat at less than 2 metres but then magically goes to 1 metre because it knows when it's in a pub and has to behave itself. A lot of people only go by what the official line is rather than researching it for themselves, and the official advice hasn't even really broken down what age groups are more/less at risk, etc...basic stuff that's very helpful in evaluating your own level of risk to a situation. We're even inventing new units of measure now. 1m+...this isn't a thing. No one knows what it is.
 
Deaths in Wales rise for the second consecutive day...and that's with a far more strict and patient approach to lockdown-easing than in England.
 
29 June - Most non-essential shops, many indoor workplaces, visitor attractions including zoos, outdoor sports courts and playgrounds

3 July - Five mile travel distance relaxed, most self-catering holiday homes and second homes can be used

6 July - Outdoor hospitality such as beer gardens can reopen

10 July - People can meet in extended groups outdoors and with two other households indoors

13 July - Shopping centres can reopen, organised outdoor contact sports for children can resume, dentists can reopen for most routine care

15 July - Pubs, restaurants and all holiday accommodation can reopen, as can hairdressers, barbers, museums, cinemas, libraries and childcare

Scotland going to start opening up too assuming things stay the same and there aren't 'fresh outbreaks'. Will finally be able to see my partner for the first time since February, can't wait.
 
As expected R rate in Germany is back below one. When cases are generally low the R rate is redundant so even a small rise will see a big rise in R, Whitty and co should have explained this at the last daily briefing because now any local cluster is going incite unnecessary panic.
 
As expected R rate in Germany is back below one. When cases are generally low the R rate is redundant so even a small rise will see a big rise in R, Whitty and co should have explained this at the last daily briefing because now any local cluster is going incite unnecessary panic.

If correct, thanks for the explanation.
 
As expected R rate in Germany is back below one. When cases are generally low the R rate is redundant so even a small rise will see a big rise in R, Whitty and co should have explained this at the last daily briefing because now any local cluster is going incite unnecessary panic.
But it makes the papers happy to be able to crow about Germany’s rate spiking.
 
As expected R rate in Germany is back below one. When cases are generally low the R rate is redundant so even a small rise will see a big rise in R, Whitty and co should have explained this at the last daily briefing because now any local cluster is going incite unnecessary panic.

You’ve got a real bee in your bonnet about “unnecessary panic”. What do you imagine happens when the press report on an increase in R? People take to the streets, waving their hands in the air?
 
You’ve got a real bee in your bonnet about “unnecessary panic”. What do you imagine happens when the press report on an increase in R? People take to the streets, waving their hands in the air?
So if/when a region has (roughly) 1 case on one day then 5 the next you think no one will shit themselves when the media run with "(insert region here) R rate skyrockets to FIVE"?