It seems that the Tories are using a church to help rip off the UK taxpayers. https://bylinetimes.com/2020/08/10/...f-ppe-government-contracts/?mc_cid=3711447572
Someone known to a friend of ours elderly mother died after taking a stroke. The death certificate stated it was a covid related death and the stroke was not even on the death certificate! Subsequent tests showed that the person did not have covid at all! The daughter is trying to get the death certificate changed. I find this concerning in that it distorts the data on covid cases and deaths and also ignores the fact that the stroke was a primary cause of death and it is not even mentioned on the death certificate. It may be a one off but I have my suspicions.
I think there are some real concerns about the reporting which MAY be part of the reason why the government was not including care home deaths initially.. I do think the best measure is the more than annual average measure.. Which does put the deaths so far around 60k...
The figures have been played around with to suit the narrative of the time. Very quietly 1.5 million of tests given were removed from the figures this week. The number of new cases went unreported twice in the week just as it was shown that they were starting to climb again quite rapidly. Claims about the fabulous phone app until the figures showed it didn't work and has now been scrapped. There is a big difference to having the medics reporting what is happening as here, and the politicians spinning the figures to suit their message.
Birmingham has seen the rate of infections double since the beginning of the month which coincides with the reopening of bars. In Europe similar things have been observed. Spain and Italy have reimposed some restrictions on the bars in the tourist areas where people gather in numbers. The English pub is just such a place, but far more time is often spent in one than the continental bar. I am sure it will go down like a lead balloon if they are shut down in Brum again.
A couple of months old but, given the rise in numbers of anti-mask protests, still quite topical. And blunt...
That is quite stark about the reality of the treatment. I can think of one person I know in England who should be made to read that.
The latest from The Week in Tory. Already 80 posts long and only written on Tuesday - looks like this week in politics may well be a long time... https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1295772678163517443.html
I know how corrupt and nepotistic this lot are and yet I'm reading this with my jaw hanging open and a steady stream of saliva dripping as if I'd just had some sort of stroke...
Good news if you are going to Portugal. They aren't on the Quarantine list. Austria, Croatia and Switzerland have been. Liverpool are in Austria atm - will they be allowed to skip the quarantine period?
Greece isn't on the list either - at least not for German tourists. Apparently Germany has recorded 15,942 new infections between July 20th and August 16th - of these 9,519 were infected in Germany and all the rest were recorded on returning from abroad - either from holiday or from visiting relatives. The figures are as follows: Kosovo 1,755 (nearly all migrants returning home to visit relatives) Turkey 1,134 Croatia 786 Bulgaria 322 Bosnia/Herzegovina 297 Spain 222 Serbia 211 Rumania 193 Poland 163 North Macedonia 161 Albania 152 Austria 101 France 90 Italy 79 Malta 72 Others 685 For those returnees on family trips to their countries of origin a high proportion of those newly infected were either children or of middle age whereas for countries like Austria or Spain (which were obviously holiday destinations) the average age of new infections was between 20 and 24.
That is impressive cologne. It shows just how well the tracking system is working there. Although I have not seen anything as detailed here there is a clear indication that it is younger people who are now becoming infected. There are worries about schools returning, and although efforts are being made to safeguard the children there are huge doubts about just how successful it can be.
All schools will have a supply of home testing kits, so that if a child seems unwell he/she can take it home and test the family. Slight problem, the government ran out of them this morning, and people who needed them were sent miles to a mobile testing centre. Oh and those thousands of laptops for the disadvantaged children seem to have been lost in the post.
What is it about Tories and rules? Here's Tory MP Andrew Bowie actually telling people to follow the rules whilst ignoring them himself.
please log in to view this image If you look at the map that shows where the virus is spreading too fast, it is clear that along with the big cities the Med coast that is so popular with tourists from both France and the rest of Europe has been badly infected. Although it is understandable that countries want to open up again for business, it clearly has it risks. The UK has recorded the highest rises in infections for two months just as the country started to reopen, and that seems to be happening everywhere. Ask people to isolate must be something that helps, but to then say that we will give you £13 a day to live on is clearly ridiculous. When a Russian who has donated large sums of money to a political party gets rewarded with a peerage, and £300 plus a day for simply signing on, but doing nothing, then the society has gone badly wrong in my opinion.
I watched the round-up of football games from Ligue 2 last night, and was surprised at how the rules on distancing are being ignored. Mainly the younger element all gathering together without any masks, and in full voice. Older fans did have masks and were sat away from the gatherings, so it is little wonder that the younger age groups are now showing a steep rise in infections. All part of the certainty of youth I suppose.
My local paper today reports on one of the small towns in the area that gathered together an eight strong team of volunteers who were given some training, then opened up a coronavirus testing station for people to walk in if they wished to find out if they were infected. Over the course of two days they managed to test 400 people and thankfully no one was positive. Local efforts like this surely have to be better than telling people that they have to travel hundreds of miles in some cases if they want a test. It should be possible with local schemes such as these to reach a large number of people.
France yesterday recorded 9,000 new cases of Covid-19, almost 1,500 higher than the previous peak on March 31st.
