COVID-19 — Coronavirus

[grunge]

discussion point; why are we spending £40bn on a mass testing programme?

Why not just treat and test those who need to come to hospital? why bother testing the populace at large?

so we can find the hotspots and clamp down? well, given that every single reactionary policy has come as the case numbers have been falling, as in Liverpool, Manchester, Lancashire, London didnt even rise, then i'd say they've been a bit pointless.

why not spend £40bn on other public health like nurses, clinics, ICU beds etc.

i've become very jaded with the testing programme, it seems like a LOT of public money being thrown after something that wont change much - those who need to go to hospital will.

there are a few points for me,

1) is just raw data knowing a pretty much exact figure of how many people in the population have it. Id like to see them do antibody tests too at this point to get a really clear view of it.

2) testing a whole population of a city you will catch pretty much all cases, symptomatic or not ( as well as some who have had it and cleared it but still have remnants of the virus in there system.

that will allow for everyone to really know they need to isolate for the 2 weeks and in theory 2/3 weeks after testing the whole city you end up with cases plummeting as in theory you catch pretty much all cases and stop them there and then.

of course this depends on people doing the right thing if they get a diagnosis.

 

[squirtyflower]

of course this depends on people doing the right thing if they get a diagnosis.

And there’s the rub.

 

[kaz7]

It's a totally misleading stat designed to shock. If you used under 20s it would be even worse. What it doesn't mention is barely anyone has died in the age group.

How many have died in that age group?

Everyone thinks you have to have pre-existing health conditions , you do not

 

[kaz7]

Question if anybody knows the answer as I can't seem to find what I need to know and wondered if anybody has any idea?

Daughters class at primary school has been sent home this morning. Me and her mother have shared custody and its fallen on a day she has dropped her off so has now gone home with her.

Does my daughter now have to stay at her mothers house for the next 14 days or are we still able to use two homes? I did the drop offs Monday and Tuesday so it's not like I haven't seen my daughter since last week.

What a shitshow.

Yes she needs to stay with her mum, that is what isolating is

 

[Tim of the Oak]

 

[somapop]

Not particularly anti-vax responses (but likely falling into vaccine nationalism) but news of Pfizer 'winning the race' (so far and conscious nothing is certain atm) but there's a lot of 'evil Pfizer/Big Pharma companies' concerned about nothing more than share prices and profit going around at the moment.

I know the US healthcare system is highly complex but from what I've read, much of the profits are fed back into even more research (and as insurance over drugs or vaccines that never quite make it).

Neither singing the praises of Pfizer nor suggesting they're the anti-christ, I was wondering of you guys and gals opinions.
Are AZ any different (given the price of Pfizer's £29 per vaccine to AZ's £2 per shot?)

There's a book by the virilogist Peter Kolchinksky (linked below) which I may go ahead and buy.

 

[BlueAnorak]

That's NHS Management for you.
NOT FIT FOR PURPOSE

 

[kaz7]

Not particularly anti-vax responses (but likely falling into vaccine nationalism) but news of Pfizer 'winning the race' (so far and conscious nothing is certain atm) but there's a lot of 'evil Pfizer/Big Pharma companies' concerned about nothing more than share prices and profit going around at the moment.

I know the US healthcare system is highly complex but from what I've read, much of the profits are fed back into even more research (and as insurance over drugs or vaccines that never quite make it).

Neither singing the praises of Pfizer nor suggesting they're the anti-christ, I was wondering of you guys and gals opinions.
Are AZ any different (given the price of Pfizer's £29 per vaccine to AZ's £2 per shot?)

There's a book by the virilogist Peter Kolchinksky (linked below) which I may go ahead and buy.

Pharma companies are not charities, they make money , a lot goes back into finding new drugs , they make losses on potential drugs that never make it to market , there are many of those every year

The scientists at these companies want to do what all of them do and that is make vaccines to save people and other drugs to make peoples lives better

 

[Healdplace]

ok, some data re the new lateral flow test being used in Liverpool;

Sensitivity 76.8% for all PCR-positive individuals but detects over 95% of individuals with high viral loads
Specificity of 99.68%

Detection limit roughly equivalent to 25 Ct in PCR test

Oxford University and PHE confirm high-sensitivity of lateral flow tests

Extensive clinical evaluation shows lateral flow tests are accurate and sensitive enough to be used in the community, including for asymptomatic people.

www.gov.uk

https://www.ox.ac.uk/sites/files/oxford/media_wysiwyg/UK%20evaluation_PHE%20Porton%20Down%20%20University%20of%20Oxford_final.pdf

today in Liverpool; 44k tests and 220 positive, rate of 0.5%

this is still being pushed to those without symptoms.

This is important context;

Just wondering - are these the only tests being done in Liverpool now? Or just extra ones being included in the official daily case data on gov.uk? Or listed separately altogether?

As they are quick response tests they will all presumably be reported on the day.

I ask as the Liverpool cases shown for last night by Gov.UK were 201. Will these 220 be the numbers for today perhaps.

Or are they still doing other tests?

Liverpool's positive case numbers over past 4 days published on Gov UK were 185 - 186 - 165 - 201

 

[Didsbury Dave]

A worrying number of thickos on my Facebook timeline have become experts in drug interactions/reactions and won't be taking the vaccine.

For fuck sake, we finally have real hope of winning this war and the same selfish morons who made it worse intend to hamper all the efforts of everyone else yet again.