200000 Covid Deaths - ONS Data

Took the dog to the Vets for her vaccination booster today. Was empty when I got there but it was packed out when I left. I was the only person wearing a mask and I felt like I did earlier in the pandemic when masks weren’t mandatory but I wore one. It’s no wonder the infection rate is so high.

M0nica

growstuff what we did or didn't know about the virus is irrelevant. The article discusses similarities between the Po Valley in Italy and the Wuhan area, and why one specific place in Italy had a problem dealing with an excess of deaths over a very short period of time.

No matter how you look at it, it is not and never has been remotely related to any conspiracy theory - and that was youe specific complaint.

At the beginning of the pandemic, there was much speculation and umpteen theories. It's accepted that it started in Wuhan and I expect if there had been outbreaks in other places apart from the Po Valley that correlations could have been found. That's not claiming that the Italian researchers were wrong. I'm not doubting the data. At the very beginning, there were even people who thought it was a problem which wouldn't reach the UK. Like Ebola and Zika, some thought it was only an issue in far-flung places.

To jump from that and claiming that this was an attempt to frighten people is ridiculous. The initial Italian theory hasn't even been confirmed. There is much still to learn about Coronavirus, but getting side-tracked by superceded theories and conspiracy theories doesn't help anybody. The simple fact is that it's an airborne virus, which "dies" (not that it's ever truly alive) without a host, so if people create a barrier, it will not be transmitted. Why some people are affected more than others and whether immunity can ever be achieved are amongst the questions which still need to be answered, but not how it is transmitted - we know that.

aonk

No one, myself included, can think of or agree on a solution to this. Our economy cannot support another lockdown. We have to think of ourselves but also of the younger generation. We should continue with the vaccines which are effective and there’s little more we can do. I won’t comply with any more restrictions and I know many others who will agree.

Would you comply with wearing a mask in a hospital or other clinical setting?

It's not just the NHS, staff absences are having an impact across the board. 400,000 with long Covid so absent from work contributing to shortages. Impact on GDP. We seem to be in a spiral of ill health and all its consequences. But hey we had Freedom Day.

That’s what I like about Costco. Most of the people who go there wear masks , mostly Asian people and at least it gives you a certain feeling that they take things seriously.

I don’t think anyone has suggested another lockdown. But what people must learn to do is minimise the risk to themselves and to others and very few people are doing that any more and it’s putting terrible pressure on the NHS. One of the biggest disappointments imo was realising that the vaccination didn’t prevent transmission of the virus. I just wish we had learned from eastern countries where people are happy to wear masks to protect those around them.

nanna8

We have had over 11,000 deaths and considering our smallish population spread out I think that is pretty bad. It is not being handled well at all now and none of the politicians e en mention it. Contrast with the ridiculously over zealous situation previously where we had helicopters flying around at night checking on people and we were confined to a 5 km zone round our houses. Now people are reacting against that so much that they are ignoring the disease completely and people are suffering as a result. Nothing is on its way down here, it is the worst it has ever been.

11,000 deaths for a population of 26m people is very low compared to 200,000 for a population of 67m nanna8.

No one, myself included, can think of or agree on a solution to this. Our economy cannot support another lockdown. We have to think of ourselves but also of the younger generation. We should continue with the vaccines which are effective and there’s little more we can do. I won’t comply with any more restrictions and I know many others who will agree.

We have had over 11,000 deaths and considering our smallish population spread out I think that is pretty bad. It is not being handled well at all now and none of the politicians e en mention it. Contrast with the ridiculously over zealous situation previously where we had helicopters flying around at night checking on people and we were confined to a 5 km zone round our houses. Now people are reacting against that so much that they are ignoring the disease completely and people are suffering as a result. Nothing is on its way down here, it is the worst it has ever been.

growstuff what we did or didn't know about the virus is irrelevant. The article discusses similarities between the Po Valley in Italy and the Wuhan area, and why one specific place in Italy had a problem dealing with an excess of deaths over a very short period of time.

No matter how you look at it, it is not and never has been remotely related to any conspiracy theory - and that was youe specific complaint.

Just checked Dr Johns latest blog and he mentions the ZOE App which shows that the latest variant has peaked and is on itself way down. Hoping that Tim Spector will do an update soon.

M0nica

growstuff No conspiracy theory about that article at all. Just a documented analysis of one specific incident .The authors are all academics at reputable Italian universities, so have reputations to maintain, or are you casting a general slur over the quallity of Italian Universities, academics and research?

The analysis took place immediately after the event. If anlysis had been delayed, I doubt if much of the evidence would still be available. The fact that the article was researched and published in 2020 has when much was still not known is irrelevant. They had all the evidence needed for this study.

I feel very uncomfortable to find people accusing reputable academics of 'conspiracy' theories when it is quite clear that all they are doing is doing a through study of a specific phenomena, but producing results that someone less qualified finds inconvenient.

But look at the date!!

At the time, hardly anything was known about the virus.

I wasn't accusing the "reputable academics" of being conspiracy theorists. It was an early paper and irrelevant now so much more is known.

That’s good news. I haven’t seen a ZOE App report for a while but I’m sure Tim Spector said the ONS figures are usually a week or so behind theirs so, hopefully the downward trajectory is even greater than that. I’ve got various things I need to do eg eye check up that I’ve been putting on hold waiting for the infection rate to go down.

ONS figures for UK infections have just been released, an increase of 7% this week, last week it was 29%, so the rate of infection may be slowing.
Sky news source.

growstuff No conspiracy theory about that article at all. Just a documented analysis of one specific incident .The authors are all academics at reputable Italian universities, so have reputations to maintain, or are you casting a general slur over the quallity of Italian Universities, academics and research?

The analysis took place immediately after the event. If anlysis had been delayed, I doubt if much of the evidence would still be available. The fact that the article was researched and published in 2020 has when much was still not known is irrelevant. They had all the evidence needed for this study.

I feel very uncomfortable to find people accusing reputable academics of 'conspiracy' theories when it is quite clear that all they are doing is doing a through study of a specific phenomena, but producing results that someone less qualified finds inconvenient.

Some masks around in Sainsburys yesterday, but not that many. I was wearing mine.

I had a so called friend who should have isolated due to her transplant ... did she heck ... I told her ... her reply ... rules are there to be broken !!! Still went shopping also had free food delivered from local council as vulnerable ... moaned about that aswell !!! This speaks volumes of some peoples attitudes, may I add not everyone ... I still wear my mask

Pantglas2

My dad, 87, caught Covid recently (after 4 jabs) and was poorly enough to stay in bed for the weekend and a few grandchildren have tested positive with very mild symptoms.

Otherwise I don’t know any one who’s died with/of it and there have only been 330 deaths in the whole of Conwy county (117,000 pop). Have we been extraordinarily lucky here in north Wales or are the figures wrong?

You’ve been very lucky not to know anybody who’s died of Covid Pantglas2. I’m in mid Wales, which hasn’t been a high incidence area, and I know two people who have, one of whom was a care worker. I’m worried at the moment about a friend who has Covid pneumonia and is poorly in hospital. She doesn’t have any chronic conditions, and is only early 70s (she lives in Yorkshire, not in Wales). It hasn’t gone away, and I am still concerned for my very elderly parents, who are in their nineties, and both fully vaccinated. It really is just the luck of the draw.

M0nica

I have read that the Italian problem with one region was deliberately overhyped as part of the campaign to frighten us into submission over any draconian measures in this country.

The following paper shows that there were particular circumstances in the Po valley of Italy as in Wuhan that made it exceptionally vulnerable to a virus like this, conditions that are not replicated more generally, in Italy or else where - but a good frightener to make us behave.www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/12/5064/htm

I think you're straying into conspiracy theory with that. The paper was submitted in May 2020, when the effects of the virus were only very vaguely understood. Nobody really knew at that stage how it would spread to just about every area of Europe.

Who do you think was trying to frighten "us"? Not the government, which spent too long sitting on the fence and doing nothing. I remember the daft theories at the time about Italians living in extended families and kissing a lot.

My dad, 87, caught Covid recently (after 4 jabs) and was poorly enough to stay in bed for the weekend and a few grandchildren have tested positive with very mild symptoms.

Otherwise I don’t know any one who’s died with/of it and there have only been 330 deaths in the whole of Conwy county (117,000 pop). Have we been extraordinarily lucky here in north Wales or are the figures wrong?

GrannyGravy13

MayBee70

I keep hearing of families that have caught covid and the least healthy member of the family has been the one to either not catch it or have had it milder than everyone else. Not sure if it’s because they will have had a recent booster or if it’s because some are on steroids?

Steroids particularly prednisolone and cortisone are immunosuppressant, open to catching infections easily.

Anyone taking these doesn’t want Covid (or anything else)

I know. That’s why it surprised me that those on steroids seemed to have it much milder.

M0nica

I have read that the Italian problem with one region was deliberately overhyped as part of the campaign to frighten us into submission over any draconian measures in this country.

The following paper shows that there were particular circumstances in the Po valley of Italy as in Wuhan that made it exceptionally vulnerable to a virus like this, conditions that are not replicated more generally, in Italy or else where - but a good frightener to make us behave.www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/12/5064/htm

Earlier action may have saved many lives. The government were frozen.

MayBee I don’t think there is any rhyme or reason with this Covid virus
The vaccination programme had obviously had a great effect but some will probably never catch it for reasons yet unknown. My son has never caught it although he has had many a contact who turned out later to be positive he is not on any medication but is fully vaccinated
No doubt in time we may find out that certain medications or previous exposure to other viruses provides some protection

MayBee70

I keep hearing of families that have caught covid and the least healthy member of the family has been the one to either not catch it or have had it milder than everyone else. Not sure if it’s because they will have had a recent booster or if it’s because some are on steroids?

Steroids particularly prednisolone and cortisone are immunosuppressant, open to catching infections easily.

Anyone taking these doesn’t want Covid (or anything else)

I keep hearing of families that have caught covid and the least healthy member of the family has been the one to either not catch it or have had it milder than everyone else. Not sure if it’s because they will have had a recent booster or if it’s because some are on steroids?