Your opinion on reporting of the pandemic

Alegrias I disagree with you that the R number doesn't matter. Admittedly, a few cases can distort the figure if you're starting from a low base, but if it persists there will exponential growth and we'll be back where we were in March/April.

Apparently, Scotland's average R rate is estimated to be 1.3

I don't know how many active cases there are in Scotland, bur even if it's as low as 10, this is how the number of cases could grow if nothing is done about it.

Day 1 10 cases
Day 7 48 cases
Day 14 302 cases
Day 21 1900 cases
Day 28 11,925 cases

Some of those cases would die, some would have long-term complications and almost all would have their lives disrupted.

We just cannot afford to let our guard down. We need efficient testing and tracing with enforced isolation of those infected. If necessary those infected must be given support, so they don't need to go to work or cover up their symptoms.

craftyone Those figures were arrived at by old fashioned maths, not by media manipulation.

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. There is a lot of sense in doing that Alegrias. My husband misses the daily briefings here in England. Coming from an accounting background he used to get so angry when the journalists asked their questions. All I could hear from the living room was him saying in exasperation, "but that's not what the experts meant".

Don't get me wrong growstuff, I'm not suggesting we ignore it. Left unchecked we would be back where we started. But we've had efficient tracking and tracing of the Aberdeen outbreak and now we're doing the same for Coupar Angus. The former is almost under control, and I hope the same is soon true of the latter. The people in CA are being offered food deliveries and isolation accommodation if required.

What I'm saying is that we shouldn't think that R > 1 is cause for panic, which is what the press imply.

Thanks Ellianne

I do wonder if the media scaremongering was a deliberate policy to ensure compliance of the lockdown.

I have read on several occasions that the government was completely astonished at the level of compliance.

The fact that the police were given powers to send people home if they weren’t out legitimately, shows I think that the government expected a certain amount of resistance to being cooped up.

What better way to keep the masses indoors than to have the tv news night after night filming in Intensive Care wards and reporting on the daily death toll.

Occasionally there was a mention of the fact that the vast majority of people who catch the virus have very mild symptoms and make a full recovery but the doom and gloom news was the dominant story.

Alegrias That sounds as it should be. Sadly, it's not always happening in England. My daughter lives in Greater Manchester and had all sorts of problems when she wanted a test. She's an HR Manager and some of the employees in her company haven't been offered support when they tested positive. Although they were paid sick pay (which some employees aren't), they struggled with getting basic chores done and one of them at least didn't stick to self-isolation rules. It's easy to understand how it can get out if control.

if = of

Ggggrrr! I need a new keyboard. Most of the letters have worn off this one and I have to touch type. Unfortunately, my skills aren't always up to scratch.

It doesn't help when people talk about being "cooped up". Isolation was/is needed to protect people, not to imprison them.

Get yourself an iPad growstuff it’s quick and easy to use.

Such an interesting thread. I can see both sides so will sit on the fence but definitely thought provoking...

reporting of all news from the media.. concentrates on BAD News

hence the Bible and the Gospel, that is the Good News

IMO the media has acted disgracefully throughout the pandemic, just to produce headlines every day. The BBC seems to be the worst of all, distorting facts to give a good story. Also, the ‘official facts’ will, I believe, be questioned in retrospect. In a year or two, there will be a painful ‘post mortem’ on all of it and (some) heads will roll (not least because we live in a blame culture). All statistics can be manipulated and that is what is happening now. Yes, to answer your question, I think we do deserve better. Unfortunately, their coverage has worked beautifully as most of us are too full of fear to question anything.

This is crazy. Just take yourself back to when almost a thousand people were dead each day due to COVID. I can't think why anyone would choose to believe this is not extremely serious. The whole world has been in lock down and that is why figures are better now. If the R rate keeps climbing and selfish people do as they want, we are in for a very bad time,

There are lies, damned lies and statistics!!!!
It depends on the slant you put on the figures, and the way you process them and present them!
Having deaths reported as covid deaths, that are, when looked at individually, clearly not, muddies the water even further.
As a statistition, I am deeply upset by the statistics.

Hospital were able to claim extra cash for covid deaths.Lot of people didn't die of covid but it was a contributing factor so they put cause covid on death certificate and claimed the cash

Newspapers sell by their headlines and the more terrifying and doom-laden they are, the more papers they will sell! Yes, the number of infections are going up. Obviously this is mainly younger people who are going out more and aren’t too worried about Covid. I know older, more vulnerable people who still won’t leave the house. They won’t catch it. In addition, hospitals are coping much better with the disease and can offer more treatments. Yes, there will be isololated outbreaks requiring lockdown but overall death rates are going down rapidly. As another poster pointed out, it is a shame that recovery rates are not being announced. They used to be. I do wish the Press Briefings had continued - even just once or twice a week. And I wish Johnson had sacked Cummings. But that’s not going to happen, is it?

I agree totally GrannyGravy13, the death figure yesterday was 2. I know that for the families of those 2 it is terrible news, but how many people die or are seriously injured on the roads in a day, or from other illnesses?

I've always thought the BBC actually enjoy imparting bad news!

I think the pandemic reporting needs to be negative to make people realise it is a serious illness. I know 2 people who are still very ill having recovered from it and one who died.
Others were not badly affected. This wasn't like seasonal flu or a bad cold.
It could have been devastating without the media constantly showing us the negative side and scaring us into taking care and reinforcing the lockdown . There is quite a strong possibility of a second wave in the winter. As can be seen from the lockdown easing, some people take enormous risks, thinking its all over. Tbe media showing "positives" would make this worse.
.The reality is we are going to have a deep recession, large increases in unemployment, the economy is going to suffer, the high Street especially. Our lives are going to change.
Some countries are really suffering from this nasty virus, India and South Africa for example.
I don't think its the media's job to gloss over the news, giving it a positive spin. It is depressing to watch, I agree, so the thing to do is not to watch it, give yourself a break until you feel better able to deal with it. I don't think it's the job of news reporters to look for the positive news in the time of a global pandemic.
I live directly across the road from a major hospital, which has an intensive Covid care unit, and knowing so many people have been dying there has really brought it home to me.

The death figure is 2 because they’ve changed the way they count up who’s died, to put it basically. If you look, the numbers suddenly and drastically dropped...and that’s aside from the stuff about did they die with it or from it,,, You can manipulate all the figures if you try hard enough....and the media manipulate them for their own good so that we’ll read what they’ve written. You could argue that the government sources manipulate them as a way of controlling the population. I believe they stopped the press conferences for this reason. There would be public pressure to be more accountable, and then that might have lead to unrest....which might have lead to people not following the advice etc etc.

After so much seemingly contradictory and alarming Covid “news” I decided to limit my intake to a once a day catch-up. Most irritating to me was the use of “probably/maybe/forecast/estimated” etc in both TV and newspaper reporting This isnt news. Its supposition and hypotheses presented as “news” Some of which has turned out wide of the mark. So what to believe? To me this is one of the scariest outcomes of the pandemic. You dont know who or what to believe when everything you read/see is so subjective. Maybe say nothing at all until you have clear empirical “facts”. But that wont fill news bulletins or copy space......

I feel there is too much news on Covid and most is negative. We do need to be made aware when lockdowns are in place to avoid travel to places etc. I have given up watching daily bulletins (I did watch the Scottish FM too and nearly fave up the will to live, found her "let me be clear" almost dictatorial). The UK is made up of very differing populations. Some English cities have populations bigger than the whole of N.Ireland, Wales and Scotland. To deal with a concentrated population of 60 million compared to a widespread 5 million must be harder to manage and control and different approaches may be needed. At times I wonder why there appears to be discord from the virologists, epidemiologists, pandemic experts we seem to have in the UK. Why did the experts not lead all the media bulletins and not politicians? After all the politicians constantly remind us they only act on the expert advice and recommendations given to them on how to manage Covid-19. R number up or down; this doesn't
mean a thing if you are the one who catches the virus and have to cope with the horrible debilitating after effects. We need short, precise bulletins, info on any lock downs and travel restrictions. And of course a lighthearted item to end the bulletin on eg Pop star helping with Uni fees!

To be honest I’ve got better things to be doing than scouring every news reel. I did in the beginning and it was mind blowing how at odds they all were. The media love to stir it all up, so until I’m told to stay at home again I’ll carry on as I am,abiding by the present guidelines.

varian, you left out India. Huge statistics there. In a population such as theirs, where many very poor people live in cramped unhygeinic conditions, it is difficult to keep to social distancing and hand washing. We in Britain can social distance and wash hands so it is difficult to see why we are the fourth worst country in the world as regards covid deaths.