Coronavirus

[johnb]

This is the latest version, released 12th June with data between 1st March and 31st May: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulat...r-output-areas

The "Middle Layer Super Output Areas" interactive map is very interesting indeed. (I live in a very mixed inner city area and, surprisingly, it has had only 1 death in March and 1 in April.)

[LMcD]

One evening this week (probably Wednesday, Tuesday or Thursday in that order - recollecting as best I can) Newsnight BBC 2 had a report from Barrow trying to unravel why the reported rate is high.

I can't quite recall the conclusions (might have been a mixture - from vague memory for some reason a lot/or more testing so more positive results - the town has a lot of housing in very close together situations and is also economically (and so in respect of health) deprived. The director of public health discussed what he had found from his efforts to unravel the reality behind the statistic.

I don't know whether it's relevant, but Barrow has had a serious drugs problem for some time. There was a 90% increase in drug-related deaths between 2013 and August 2019.

[Dave2002]

This article seems a reasonable update on information about coronavirus - https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...b-global-en-GB

I didn’t know that blood clotting is an issue, but it seems to be one. Presumably that increases stroke risk.

Also there’s a reemergence in China - https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...to-food-market which shows that this is still a possibility.

[teamsaint]

So, anybody off to do non essential shopping tomorrow?
I’ll probably pop into town on Tuesday to see how shops , especially bookshops, are dealing with social distancing etc.

And to buy some much needed non essentials.

[oddoneout]

This article seems a reasonable update on information about coronavirus - https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...b-global-en-GB

I didn’t know that blood clotting is an issue, but it seems to be one. Presumably that increases stroke risk.

Also there’s a reemergence in China - https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...to-food-market which shows that this is still a possibility.

I found this interesting from an article in Nature https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-01403-8

This might help to explain why some people have critically low blood-oxygen readings, and why mechanical ventilation often doesn’t help. It’s a “double hit”, says O’Donnell. Pneumonia clogs the tiny sacs in the lungs with fluid or pus, and microclots restrict oxygenated blood from moving through them.

The low oxygen levels has been one of the puzzling, and dangerous, features of the infection in some people, not least because they don't necessarily present as being in a low oxygen state.

[oddoneout]

So, anybody off to do non essential shopping tomorrow?
I’ll probably pop into town on Tuesday to see how shops , especially bookshops, are dealing with social distancing etc.

And to buy some much needed non essentials.

I did some non-essential shopping on Saturday when I decided to buy a couple of magazines when I paid my paper bill... As more shops open and the pavements and roads get ever more busy and crowded I shall probably be making fewer trips into town. I used to like wandering through a largely empty Market Place and High Street with the possibility to have a suitably distant chat with someone on the way(important when living alone) to get the food shopping, free of noise from traffic and the need to dodge cars to get from A to B. This neither one thing nor the other situation is making folk fractious - the queues to get into shops and banks now get in the way of those who are 'back to normal'(what 2m rule mate?), and those still wishing to keep their distance are finding it hard to do so since stepping into the road is no longer an option. I am not overly exercised about the risk factor( this is a low risk area and low population density), but that doesn't mean I want to be forced to get close to Jo/e Public especially when s/he is increasingly likely not to show consideration for others.

[MrGongGong]

Is buying some stakes to plunge through the still beating hearts of Johnson, Hancock, Gove and Patel "non essential" ?

asking for a friend

[oddoneout]

Desperate measures?

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/14/oversupply-of-kits-to-care-homes-raises-concern-over-covid-19-test-figures

Even if there is a proper/acceptable reason for the situation - admittedly doubtful to say the least - who is going to believe it at this stage of the coronafarce?

[Petrushka]

As more shops open and the pavements and roads get ever more busy and crowded I shall probably be making fewer trips into town. I used to like wandering through a largely empty Market Place and High Street with the possibility to have a suitably distant chat with someone on the way(important when living alone) to get the food shopping, free of noise from traffic and the need to dodge cars to get from A to B. This neither one thing nor the other situation is making folk fractious - the queues to get into shops and banks now get in the way of those who are 'back to normal'(what 2m rule mate?), and those still wishing to keep their distance are finding it hard to do so since stepping into the road is no longer an option. I am not overly exercised about the risk factor( this is a low risk area and low population density), but that doesn't mean I want to be forced to get close to Jo/e Public especially when s/he is increasingly likely not to show consideration for others.

Describes the situation here very well apart from the fact that virtually everybody has been happy to keep the 2m distance. From tomorrow, I can see this being a problem which is one reason why I, and others I know, are not taking any notice of Johnson and are carrying on as we have been these past few weeks. Despite not driving, I won't be using public transport and I'll be sticking to the twice weekly supermarket shop.

[LMcD]

Describes the situation here very well apart from the fact that virtually everybody has been happy to keep the 2m distance. From tomorrow, I can see this being a problem which is one reason why I, and others I know, are not taking any notice of Johnson and are carrying on as we have been these past few weeks. Despite not driving, I won't be using public transport and I'll be sticking to the twice weekly supermarket shop.

Same here! If any diehard shoppers out there want to fill the spaces that won't be occupied by Mrs McD and myself, they're free to do so.

[Bryn]

Same here! If any diehard shoppers out there want to fill the spaces that won't be occupied by Mrs McD and myself, they're free to do so.

I think a great deal depends on where one lives. I have used local buses several times in recent weeks. Often I am the only passenger. All windows on these local buses must remain open, come rain, come shine. Timing is the thing for both buses and supermarkets, I find. Waitrose, I now avoid, Their policy of giving preference to NHS workers and the frail at all times, rather than during specific hours, as other supermarkets deal with the issue, leads to too much frustration and missing of buses. Tesco and Aldi are far better organised where queueing arrangements are concerned.

[LMcD]

I think a great deal depends on where one lives. I have used local buses several times in recent weeks. Often I am the only passenger. All windows on these local buses must remain open, come rain, come shine. Timing is the thing for both buses and supermarkets, I find. Waitrose, I now avoid, Their policy of giving preference to NHS workers and the frail at all times, rather than during specific hours, as other supermarkets deal with the issue, leads to too much frustration and missing of buses. Tesco and Aldi are far better organised where queueing arrangements are concerned.

I've no worries about using our local bus service, but as it's only a 20-minute walk to the high street shops, I feel it's better to combine shopping and exercise twice a week (even when hauling a trolley load of essential shopping on the way back home!). Our local Co-operative superstore and Iceland are the least problematical as far as queuing and social distancing are concerned. I think the term 'non-essential' makes it fairly clear how unimportant this latest easing of the lock-down might seem to some of us.

[Dave2002]

I've no worries about using our local bus service, but as it's only a 20-minute walk to the high street shops, I feel it's better to combine shopping and exercise twice a week (even when hauling a trolley load of essential shopping on the way back home!). Our local Co-operative superstore and Iceland are the least problematical as far as queuing and social distancing are concerned. I think the term 'non-essential' makes it fairly clear how unimportant this latest easing of the lock-down might seem to some of us.

Some "non-essential" things may become more essential over time, but generally non-essential should mean things which really aren't essential at all. In that light it's not important that I have access to new CDs, books, new clothes, more food and drink than I can reasonably consume within a year etc. It would be good to have a haircut though, but even that isn't so essential for the moment.

We have lived in a producer-consumer society, and some of the "productions" are not essential to life, but they may be fun to have. I'm not going to die if I never see another opera, or play or concert, or go to another football match, or grand prix motor event etc. Life would get very boring if we had none of those things, but surely "production" does not have to be ramped up just to suit some politicians/economists and their ideas of what the world should be like.

[Dave2002]

I found this interesting from an article in Nature https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-01403-8

The low oxygen levels has been one of the puzzling, and dangerous, features of the infection in some people, not least because they don't necessarily present as being in a low oxygen state.

Very interesting, indeed. Thanks.

[Count Boso]

but surely "production" does not have to be ramped up just to suit some politicians/economists and their ideas of what the world should be like.

Yes, I feel we're implicitly being urged to go out and spend, spend, spend to get the economy going again.