General Chat

It (hotel Quarantine) worked in Oz only because it was implemented almost at the beginning of the pandemic, as was a cap on the number of people entering the Country.

People have to pay for their own quarantine and there are no exceptions unless you happen to be a media star, very wealthy person or a friend of the PM, in which case you are allowed to quarantine in your own McMansion or expensive holiday home in Byron Bay :-|

An earlier poster mentioned footballers wanting unimpeded travel. So did several tennis players who arrived here for the Australian Open. They were in contact with another person on planes bringing them to Melbourne and were placed in hard quarantine for fourteen days.

One of the most vocal against this 'barbaric' treatment was a Spanish player who then developed Covid

Many Australian Sporting Codes (Cricket, National Rugby League etc) are now calling on the Government to put their players on the list of essential workers and vulnerable persons who will receive the first doses of the vaccine on the grounds that they are of National or International importance in providing diversionary entertainment for the public in this time of National Emergency.

The Government's response was a polite 'No'

My response would not have been so polite, albeit almost as brief; two words and the second would have been 'Off' :-|

Mine would have been pretty much the same, Allan.

This morning I woke up with my serious hat on.

It is my wont, but I am afraid I am still watching the deaths per capita rate and taking into account such things as reductions in RTA deaths - something I would expect to drop in the UK during lockdown but not in the US because so many went about their business as usual - deaths at home from cancer, eg, because people were afraid to enter hospitals and a host of other factors.

It would be unlikely that a massive majority of medical examiners and/or physicians would lie on a death certificate, that number would be miniscule, I believe, as most western nations are past the days when figures were skewed by such things as doctors in Catholic countries rarely registering a suicide death as such.

Also, when estimating deaths in a state such as Florida which prevents release of full DC data it is still possible to get release of some information contained therein. Other reliable methods, eg calculation of excess deaths in comparable with previous annual figures will be made too.

For comparison, I have looked at the proportion of deaths above average in G7 countries for one period last year. The UK figure (7 March to 7 Aug) stood at 26% above average, the US (16 Feb to 11 July) was 18% above average. A slightly different period but I think the US figure will have been higher if the periods of research had been exactly the same.

Finally, in the event of USA medical examiners lying through their eye teeth (something I find hard to swallow in the vast majority of cases) I have added a 'generous' 10% to the death figure of 400,000, so compared 440,000 deaths to the US estimated population figure of 328,000,000.

Britain's figure of 100,000 deaths, I have left untouched, not that I believe mistakes will not have been made but that 100k figure has been widely taken for granted by UK citizens as correct so that is what I have compared against the UK population estimate 66,600,000.

By my rough estimate, 7.4% USA and 6.7% UK and I have 'manipulated' the figures by adding a sizeable 10% to the US death rate figure!

We are not so far behind the US per capita death rate are we?

So far, we are not the worst-affected country per capita but I still think our government needs to get a firm grip.

Incidentally, isn't it about time they began to claw back some of the billions earlier paid out to chums and cohorts for the failed test and trace system? I can't believe I am the only one who thinks that. Those billions would go some way in supporting citizens who are struggling to pay their bills and put food on the table rather than support those who are already able to buy another holiday home, yacht, etc.

Rant over, but there is great inequity in our country that seems to be growing by the week if not the day..

Apparently, the figures used for calculating UK Covid deaths are those who die within 28 days of a positive test.
So, if you die of Covid after 29 days of testing positive, your death isn't counted - and there must be many deaths where people die after 28 days, for example, Kate Garraway's husband, Derek, has been suffering from the effects of Covid for 10 months.
He may die of a heart attack. That heart attack was brought on /caused by Covid - but he wont be on the Government's statistics as such.

18th January: "One in eight people who are released from hospital after contracting Covid-19 die within five months, a new study has shown.
And a third of patients who are sent home have to be readmitted to hospital".

Those one in eight aren't on the Government's statistics, either.

Deja vu!

Boris again, possibly aided and abetted by messrs. Van Tam and Vallance

Schools possibly opening in March.

I think he told Parliament today that it couldn’t be before March and didn’t say it would happen then.

We shall see.

Which comes first? Schools opening or Boris gets a haircut?

Education unions are pushing for vaccination of their members at the moment, playing well to the government's wish to get children back to school.

However, because children are the superspreaders, I have a feeling that it will encourage essential/key workers' unions to push for the same because of the risk that they may all end up catching covid from children.

The government may find more unions joining the police and teaching unions in the push for vaccination.

I am not at all sure how it will handle this situation; whether it will continue to vaccinate in age groups - which will, of course, include key workers, or whether it will bow to pressure of the stronger unions.

I'd be tempted to follow the safer advice of the scientists but on this occasion, I feel a tad sorry for Boris, having to make such a decision.

(Gosh, I never thought I'd find myself writing anything like that!)

I have always thought Van Tam spoke his mind - and an extremely sensible one he has, too.

I have not watched the clip, Rollo, but my guess would be that Van Tam spoke in favour of vaccinating according to age with one exception, the clinically vulnerable.

For the second time this year I felt like throwing my shoe at the telly - and this time at a Labour MP, A Rayner, who has some support or wants some support from teachers' unions, so effusively was she pushing the cause.

It's so good to hear someone like Van Tam, led by nothing but science. Clearly Rayner did not listen to him yesterday when he spoke about teachers.

Does anyone else feel that Germany, by stating that the AZ vaccine should only be used for the under-65s, is suffering from sour grapes suddenly?

It also seems to have shot itself in the foot because one argument I have seen is for worldwide equity in distribution of the vaccine is that CV-19 is a worldwide epidemic so no matter where the vaccine is produced it should be available worldwide according to age groups - oldest first.

Yet, if Germany is now insisting the AZ vaccine ought not to be administered to over-65s why is it not willing to wait for completion of its late-placed order for the AZ vaccine until everyone in rhe world over 65 has been vaccinated?


Good news last night about the Novavax vaccine. Well done to all who worked on its production and everyone who took part in trials. I'm not at all sure that I would be brave enough to be a guinea pig.

Hancock is back on tonight.

Double deja vue. Boris is back tonight.

I thought Dido Harding was running the track and trace not doing the scientific study of the virus.

Who said there was a problem with the manufacturing of the Janssen vaccine?

We will have to wait and see whether third world countries will pay for the vaccines. At the moment there aren’t enough around to vaccinate the whole world.

No wonder the organisation of the original test and trace system that our government poured billions into (and which I think it should reclaim, by the way) was unsuccessful if people like Harding are spouting rubbish mentioned by you above, Rollo. Nobody could have anticipated that! What ostrich-like world was she inhabiting? A GCSE student would have been able to anticipate that!

India is well on vaccinating the 18-59 year-olds; with an eye on the economy I guess.

By the way, it was interesting to read about the success of the accidental lower dose/standard dose combination of the AZ vaccine. Surprising results!

I'll try to remember to watch Boris tonight in the hope that I'll be able to make some sense of his and his ministers' decisions. I always hope that the scientists' views will prevail.

Edit: names, I've written about Sub-Saharan African nations elsewhere. I think, like the scientists, that vaccinations ought to be done according to age, and looking at population statistics comparing the UK with SSAfrica, I have not changed my mind.

Contagion ( movie )

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZOn6rrpU-Q

His last one was actually Hancock’s Half Hour.

Let’s hope tonight’s one is as well.

It's Boris' turn tonight. Said to be giving the date for the end of lockdown.
Yea! right!