China Coronavirus

[Blowitupref]

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/could-ireland-become-the-wayward-child-of-europe-on-covid-response-1.4343216?mode=amp

Ireland, meanwhile, having achieved one of the lowest incidences in Europe in mid-summer, is now struggling to contain fresh outbreaks. So much so that the latest ECDC figures show our figures are higher than both the UK’s and Sweden’s. (The death rate in Sweden is 60 per cent higher than in Ireland.)

60% higher than 0 in Ireland in the last week?

Where does anyone mention the last week?

No one mentioned any figures.  That's the point.  It is scare mongering to put % figures on death rates when people generally aren't dying of it at the minute.  If there is 1 death in the next week (from or with) and 2 the week after will there be a headline 100% increase in deaths?

Will be plenty of that tonight from journalists when a high number of cases is expected to be reported. A high figure that will include cases from the weekend.

Fair enough.  I'd like to see an article like above to at least mention that the number of deaths at the minute is low.

Will be a while waiting for that. For the record if zero deaths are reported tonight it will be 10 days in a row without a death.

[imtommygunn]

I think in general people are starting to get peeved with the negativity and scaremongering in the reporting here. Even small numbers of increases in hospitals are causing hysterical headlines. Granted we don't want any more in hospital at all and need to stop the exponential growth but to suggest that 8 in a week has the whole country f**ked is a touch overboard to say the least.

[tintin25]

I'm all for the scaremongering if it delays my return back to the office 

[armaghniac]

I think in general people are starting to get peeved with the negativity and scaremongering in the reporting here. Even small numbers of increases in hospitals are causing hysterical headlines. Granted we don't want any more in hospital at all and need to stop the exponential growth but to suggest that 8 in a week has the whole country f**ked is a touch overboard to say the least.

Most journalists wholly innumerate in general and much of their readership is even worse, hence the crap reporting.
The situation is not in a crisis, but growing numbers each week and an R > 1 make it problematic down the line. Remember that hospitalisation and deaths grew for a full month after lockdown in March, this thing is like driving an ship, you cannot slam on the brakes. They probably reckon that schools and especially universities opening will inevitably boost the figures and so didn't want things to be already growing before these opened. Some people do not want this detail and can only be reached by headlines.
And in this country hospitals were always flat out in winter anyway, it is easy to say that you are only adding just a few more but that is the few that puts things over the top.

[seafoid]

https://otd.harvard.edu/explore-innovation/technologies/rapid-point-of-care-covid-19-detection-assay-by-rt-lamp

[armaghniac]

https://otd.harvard.edu/explore-innovation/technologies/rapid-point-of-care-covid-19-detection-assay-by-rt-lamp

Great. Simple testing could be a solution to this. Setup this kit in hotels, airports, universities etc and test everyone. If you tested everyone a few times then you could more or less exterminate this virus without a vaccine.

[rodney trotter]

217 cases in the 26 Counties today
49 in the 6 Cos

[Farrandeelin]

217 cases in the 26 Counties today
49 in the 6 Cos

Lockdown 2 on the way? At least there are no deaths.

[armaghniac]

217 cases in the 26 Counties today
49 in the 6 Cos

Lockdown 2 on the way? At least there are no deaths.

No, its a midweek thing, the 5 day average hasn't risen much.
However, people should remember there were days when we had 6 or 7 cases, things have slipped a lot.

[Blowitupref]

217 cases in the 26 Counties today
49 in the 6 Cos

Lockdown 2 on the way? At least there are no deaths.

As I said earlier the high figure today includes cases from the weekend. The seven day average is the same as last Wednesday.

[seafoid]

https://otd.harvard.edu/explore-innovation/technologies/rapid-point-of-care-covid-19-detection-assay-by-rt-lamp

Great. Simple testing could be a solution to this. Setup this kit in hotels, airports, universities etc and test everyone. If you tested everyone a few times then you could more or less exterminate this virus without a vaccine.

https://www.ft.com/content/d0781aca-06a4-4b6d-a738-14117397ff78
   A cheap, simple way to control this pandemic exists
It is not a 'moonshot' — RT-LAMP mass tests could curb the global spread of viruses
JULIAN PETO


The writer is an English statistician and epidemiologist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

Four years ago, an international committee convened by the US National Academy of Medicine warned of the global threat of a new virus. It identified the threat potential of new coronaviruses and highlighted the relatively trivial costs of preventing pandemics — especially compared to, say, spending on defence or financial stability.

Since then, Covid-19 has amply demonstrated the catastrophic effects of a virus with relatively low mortality rates. The next virus may be far more deadly. A method that achieved rapid and effective control of today's pandemic would also provide the framework for dealing with the next one. But how?

As Covid-19 has shown, developing new vaccines and treatments takes time. As it has also shown, that leaves mass testing and contact tracing as the best way to control a pandemic and avoid the disastrous effects of lockdown.

The idea that weekly testing of whole populations can reduce transmission so that normal life can continue has been endorsed by leading epidemiologists and Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Romer. Yet it has been largely ignored. In the UK, Matt Hancock, the health minister, has called Britain's long-term aim of making tests available to everyone a "moonshot". More dramatically in the US, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently downgraded its guidelines so that only people with symptoms are tested.

This is despite the fact that a cheap, effective and non-patented technology for testing is available to be rolled out quickly, even in rural settings in the developing world. RT-LAMP (reverse transcriptase loop amplification), as it is called, does not require expensive equipment. Crucially, testing can be done using self-taken saliva samples. That simplicity is important as it makes the logistics of administering and monitoring regular testing feasible. It is also unlike the latest commercial rapid test, Abbott's BinaxNOW, which requires a nasal swab administered by a health professional and analysis within an hour. These are major obstacles to testing whole populations regularly.

Taking the UK as an example, local biotech companies could supply the needed RT-LAMP reagents for less than £1 per test. This ease of technology and low cost means that scaling up to the 10m daily tests needed to conduct weekly testing of the entire British population could be achieved quicker than via the various commercial systems currently being studied by the government.

To be clear, this is not a diagnostic test to determine the need for clinical treatment. Optimised RT-LAMP tests have a sensitivity of over 97 per cent, but even a single-step test has 85 to 90 per cent sensitivity — enough to control the epidemic. People who do test positive (around 1 in 2,000 are now infectious in the UK) would quarantine with their households only after taking a high-tech test to remove false positives. 



This approach to mass testing should be deployed as the northern hemisphere winter approaches, when many fear a second wave. All travellers from abroad should also be tested — a vast improvement on the UK's current ad hoc approach of country quarantines.

Just as significant, if testing arrangements are established now they could be reinstated rapidly to prevent future pandemics, which may well prove more lethal. There would be strong international and charitable support for the World Health Organization to organise that immediately. The technology is such that in developing countries, tests can be analysed in a pan of warm water using a thermometer to keep the temperature at about 63C. The colour change that indicates a positive result is visible by eye. It is that simple.

Arrangements for universal weekly testing should be set up now to deal better with this pandemic, and to prepare for the next one while public concern is high and before it is too late — again.

[imtommygunn]

I think in general people are starting to get peeved with the negativity and scaremongering in the reporting here. Even small numbers of increases in hospitals are causing hysterical headlines. Granted we don't want any more in hospital at all and need to stop the exponential growth but to suggest that 8 in a week has the whole country f**ked is a touch overboard to say the least.

Most journalists wholly innumerate in general and much of their readership is even worse, hence the crap reporting.
The situation is not in a crisis, but growing numbers each week and an R > 1 make it problematic down the line. Remember that hospitalisation and deaths grew for a full month after lockdown in March, this thing is like driving an ship, you cannot slam on the brakes. They probably reckon that schools and especially universities opening will inevitably boost the figures and so didn't want things to be already growing before these opened. Some people do not want this detail and can only be reached by headlines.
And in this country hospitals were always flat out in winter anyway, it is easy to say that you are only adding just a few more but that is the few that puts things over the top.

No it's not in crisis at present but it is portrayed all the time as being one.

Yeah health service north and south are fragile so imperative we do what we can to not overload but too much scaremongering not the answer. I guess it's just very difficult to find that balance but the media is something it is just very hard to have much faith in these days.

[armaghniac]

I think in general people are starting to get peeved with the negativity and scaremongering in the reporting here. Even small numbers of increases in hospitals are causing hysterical headlines. Granted we don't want any more in hospital at all and need to stop the exponential growth but to suggest that 8 in a week has the whole country f**ked is a touch overboard to say the least.

Most journalists wholly innumerate in general and much of their readership is even worse, hence the crap reporting.
The situation is not in a crisis, but growing numbers each week and an R > 1 make it problematic down the line. Remember that hospitalisation and deaths grew for a full month after lockdown in March, this thing is like driving an ship, you cannot slam on the brakes. They probably reckon that schools and especially universities opening will inevitably boost the figures and so didn't want things to be already growing before these opened. Some people do not want this detail and can only be reached by headlines.
And in this country hospitals were always flat out in winter anyway, it is easy to say that you are only adding just a few more but that is the few that puts things over the top.

No it's not in crisis at present but it is portrayed all the time as being one.

Yeah health service north and south are fragile so imperative we do what we can to not overload but too much scaremongering not the answer. I guess it's just very difficult to find that balance but the media is something it is just very hard to have much faith in these days.

206 people on trolleys in the 26 counties today, on the 1st of September. And increasing Covid19 numbers means that the next change in restriction is likely to be more not less.
The media are not good on a subtle point, and neither are the public. How many comments do you see something like "how does having a pizza stop Covid", which ignores that fact that there is no doubt that on aggregate restaurants are safer than pubs.

[GetOverTheBar]

I think in general people are starting to get peeved with the negativity and scaremongering in the reporting here. Even small numbers of increases in hospitals are causing hysterical headlines. Granted we don't want any more in hospital at all and need to stop the exponential growth but to suggest that 8 in a week has the whole country f**ked is a touch overboard to say the least.

Most journalists wholly innumerate in general and much of their readership is even worse, hence the crap reporting.
The situation is not in a crisis, but growing numbers each week and an R > 1 make it problematic down the line. Remember that hospitalisation and deaths grew for a full month after lockdown in March, this thing is like driving an ship, you cannot slam on the brakes. They probably reckon that schools and especially universities opening will inevitably boost the figures and so didn't want things to be already growing before these opened. Some people do not want this detail and can only be reached by headlines.
And in this country hospitals were always flat out in winter anyway, it is easy to say that you are only adding just a few more but that is the few that puts things over the top.

No it's not in crisis at present but it is portrayed all the time as being one.

Yeah health service north and south are fragile so imperative we do what we can to not overload but too much scaremongering not the answer. I guess it's just very difficult to find that balance but the media is something it is just very hard to have much faith in these days.

206 people on trolleys in the 26 counties today, on the 1st of September. And increasing Covid19 numbers means that the next change in restriction is likely to be more not less.
The media are not good on a subtle point, and neither are the public. How many comments do you see something like "how does having a pizza stop Covid", which ignores that fact that there is no doubt that on aggregate restaurants are safer than pubs.

I would say that is more exasperation at the ridiculous byways and rules that have popped up recently as opposed to the scientific facts in fairness.

So one I experienced this morning, timeslot to leave the child to school....lady left the kid in slightly early as she had to be in a different town 10 mins later for 0900 start. Think she was 5 mins early for her allocated slot.

Headteacher comes out and reads the riot act. That is not common sense. This is the kind of thing that turns people against these recommendations/rules etc.

[Jeepers Creepers]

The amount of people I now meet who couldn't give a flying fudge about Covid is frightening.