Anyone live in Leicester? The lockdown there has been extended.

Illte you were only getting the Pillar 1 data. The Pillar 2 data wasn't being released.

Quite frankly, the data you and millions of others received was worthless.

I don't understand that growstuff.

I signed up for all the government communication emails and there's always been those figures available - every day.

It's been very useful to get what's actually bring sent out as opposed to the media interpretation which is often very different.

Im just an ordinary person. Surely the Council and the Mayor would have got those emails too.

I don't know whether people have seen this graph but it explains why mayors and other local authority leaders haven't known the true rate of infection in their area.

The Pillar 1 (in blue) numbers are those who have been tested and found positive in hospitals. The Pillar 2 (in red) numbers are those who have been found positive by other providers (Serco, Boots, etc).

The government has only been releasing Pillar 1 data to the public and it's those figures which the official government's tracker uses. They weren't even released to mayors and local authorities.

As you can see, Pillar 2 tests have accounted for most of the people found positive for some weeks.

Despite anecdotal evidence locally that infections were rising, the official data showed that they were going down and local authorities didn't have the data until last Thursday to deal with outbreaks. That's why the mayor of Leicester didn't believe at first that there so many infections. He'd only been given the Pillar 1 data. Andy Burnham is saying the same thing about Manchester.

The fact that Pillar 2 data wasn't being released accounts for the discrepancy between official data and that available on the KCL Covid-19 tracker. The KCL tracker has always shown much higher figures, but the government refused to co-operate. I knew from my own area that something was wrong. I've been keeping on eye on the figures and it was quite obvious that they didn't agree.

Iam64

Furlough is 80% of wage, without the expenses linked to work, it’s manageable. The factory I referred to is making fast fashion

Thank you for info on factory.

Responsible employers have topped up the 80% to 100% of wages (we have)

Furlough is 80% of wage, without the expenses linked to work, it’s manageable. The factory I referred to is making fast fashion

That’s just not the case Gaga as the government has been paying 80% furlough money all along.Owners of factories are supposed to have put safety measures in place for their workers and if these particular bosses of factories around Leicester haven’t done so, then it’s their fault and they should be named and shamed.

Maybe the government could crack down on the owners of these factories, exploiting immigrants, committing furlough fraud and putting money and profits before the health of their workers and the general community.

I wonder who owns these places?

And having no other choice than to work, because as we know, the government are going to crack down now on benefit claimants. Tory policy yet again driving the growth of the virus. It's like something from a 'How to lead your country into ruin' handbook.

Crikey growstuff that does make some kind of sense, so I will revise my comment about poverty playing no part here. Those poor workers, (20 - 40 year olds), knowingly taking CV back home to their elders who were no doubt doing the childcare in the multigenerational household.

If it is a garment factory are they manufacturing scrubs or uniforms for NHS..........just a thought?

I agree. Let’s see a few raids on such premises. And charge the bosses not the workers.

It beggars belief that companies have totally ignored the laws and guidelines all these months, and got away with it!

Remember in the early days pictures of the police moving on solitary individuals sitting on a park bench or a deserted beach, and checking if shopping was essential goods; and drones monitoring dog walkers in the middle of nowhere?

The authorities in Leicester, and elsewhere, should be held to account for their lack of action.

If all this was common knowledge locally it begs the question ‘why did nobody do anything about it?’

Was that couple of weeks ago when he was also apologising for a lack of judgement for visiting and staying over at his girlfriend's separate residence through April and May wholst telling the citizens of Leicester to stay at home.Behaving exactly the same as Neil Ferguson .Honestly what is wrong with these people in positions of authority.The lot of them.

grow stuff - I read this morning that at least one clothing factory plans to continue operating despite the lockdown. The manager/owner states they have orders that need completing by the end of this week. He claims to have closed in the early part of lock down but re-opened as they can't afford not to work. He also says his staff need the money, so come to work. I don't see how the claims about staff needing money can be accepted to be honest, as furlough would give them 80% and they'd be without the expenses associated with working.

It raises the question again, is this legislative or guidance. (you know, the driving to BC test)

Yes growstuff I was shocked to read this. It is similar to an article I read on Mexican meat processing workers in the US being forced into work despite lockdown rules.

McGilcrist, the area i think you refer to is completely different now.

Those of us who live round here knew about that too, growstuff, anecdotally.

Rather than prurient gossiping about Soulsby and blaming travellers, Pakistanis and Uncle Tom Cobley and all, could this be the source of the flare up in Leicester?

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/jun/30/some-leicester-factories-stayed-open-and-forced-staff-to-come-in

We all knew, anecdotally, peardrop, but Sir Peter was otherwise engaged!

The Leicester Mercury knew about the spike in infections weeks ago yet the mayor had no idea.

Perhap the high incidence of cv in Westminster was due to foreigners/ travellers / poverty/ lack of hygiene / lifestyle - delete as appropriate.
So much ignorance on here, saw it all in February when Italy was being criticised.

Goodness, we have someone bringing the travelling community into the blame arena now, lawless and working in the clothing industry.

The Barrow outbreak may be linked to a group of residents who visited Italy in the period just before the spike there. Madbird is right though, to bring attention to the link between co-morbidities, poverty, poor housing and deprivation as well as the higher risk to the BAME community.
Blackpool is an area with out a large BAME community but it has all the other risk factors.

The attempt by some posters here, to blame the Pakistani community for the spike in Leicester is nauseating.

Thank you tickingbird for confirming that.
An Italian study found that "coresidential pattern is key to understanding the risk of direct and indirect death by COVID. Countries with older population & high levels of intergenerational households are especially vulnerable".

Actually growstuff they did establish that multi generational living was part of the problem in Italy!