Thanks for all the comments, its been really interesting to read what everyone thinks. Long post follows.....
I don’t believe we should only be getting the good news or that the media should be downplaying any risks. But what they choose to report is skewed, and they create a constant feeling that only negative things are happening. For instance, a couple of weeks ago all we heard about was the dire situation in Melbourne and how cases were “surging” (a good scary word). I had to look hard today to find a report that said the measures are working and that cases are falling again. Its lazy journalism because good news doesn’t earn clicks.
And as for the fabled R number, neither craftyone nor anybody else needs to be scared right now by the figure being above 1, because the relatively small number of cases we currently have means that any localised outbreaks have a disproportionate impact on the R number. The press has seized on the R number as something simple that they think they understand, that they can ask questions about. But unfortunately, numeracy and scientific understanding doesn’t seem to be high amongst our journalists.
I live in Scotland where we still get daily briefings from the FM. I always watch so that I can get the information from the horse’s mouth, before the press put their slant on it. Just today a Scottish newspaper had to delete a tweet after is was pointed out that it completely mis-represented what the FM had said about the Coupar Angus outbreak.
Of course another benefit of being in Scotland is not having to worry about PHE, Serco, or what Dido is going to do to the NHS……