Coronavirus

[oddoneout]

When the testing was under the auspices of PHE and a major correct was made they would usually publish a breakdown of the adjustment by day. Apparently not so now that Dido Harding's crew are involved.

Trying to deflect analysis and resultant awkward questions which might expose further inadequacies?

[teamsaint]

Trying to deflect analysis and resultant awkward questions which might expose further inadequacies?

No doubt.
What also concerns me is a general deflection in the news agendas,which takes the narratives and discussion away from whether certain policies are in fact working, and what the overall net results are, in terms of collateral damage as well as covid prevention.

[LMcD]

Why should we believe whatever Covid numbers are released later today?

[DracoM]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/oct/04/trump-and-covid-what-we-now-know-about-the-week-he-caught-the-virus

Hmm................

[oddoneout]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...ught-the-virus

Hmm................

Someone forgot to apply the orange face paint before that hospital video.

[Dave2002]

This makes an interesting, though perhaps overlong, read - https://www.theatlantic.com/health/a...ndemic/616548/

If nothing else, I liked this example about the use of "averages"

Unfortunately, averages aren’t always useful for understanding the distribution of a phenomenon, especially if it has widely varying behavior. If Amazon’s CEO, Jeff Bezos, walks into a bar with 100 regular people in it, the average wealth in that bar suddenly exceeds $1 billion. If I also walk into that bar, not much will change. Clearly, the average is not that useful a number to understand the distribution of wealth in that bar, or how to change it. Sometimes, the mean is not the message.

The notions of forward and backward contact tracing are also of interest, plus the observation that less than perfect and highly accurate testing may have different uses in both modes.

[johnb]

The laughable part of the recent farrago is that apparantly PHE was using Excel to import the csv files containing the test data.

No problem - apart from the fact that the version of Excel they were using had a row limit of 65,536 (i.e. it must have been pre-Excel 2007) so they "lost" the rows in the csv file beyond row 65,536.

I regularly use Excel 2003 myself and know that if you try to import a csv file with more than 65,536 rows a warning comes up - so they must have either ignored the warning or (possibly) were using a macro which ignored this type of error.

[LMcD]

The laughable part of the recent farrago is that apparantly PHE was using Excel to import the csv files containing the test data.

No problem - apart from the fact that the version of Excel they were using had a row limit of 65,536 (i.e. it must have been pre-Excel 2007) so they "lost" the rows in the csv file beyond row 65,536.

I regularly use Excel 2003 myself and know that if you try to import a csv file with more than 65,536 rows a warning comes up - so they must have either ignored the warning or (possibly) were using a macro which ignored this type of error.

Matt Hancock has announced that 'PHE's IT system is to be upgraded' - words that fill me with a mixture of weary resignation and dread.

Did anybody else watch last night's broadcast of the VPO's Summer Night concert, given late in September? The orchestra appeared to be at full strength and there was no separation of any kind between players. There were very few masks being worn by the audience, who were also not socially distanced. Can we learn something from the Austrians? (Perhaps I should say 'could we have learnt' ...)

Trump's Press Secretary is the latest of his friends to test positive. For some reason, some of the White House press corps, whom she has been addressing maskless, are angry.

[oddoneout]

Matt Hancock has announced that 'PHE's IT system is to be upgraded' - words that fill me with a mixture of weary resignation and dread.
Did anybody else watch last night's broadcast of the VPO's Summer Night concert, given late in September? The orchestra appeared to be at full strength and there was no separation of any kind between players. There were very few masks being worn by the audience, who were also not socially distanced. Can we learn something from the Austrians? (Perhaps I should say 'could we have learnt' ...)

Apart from the obvious problem with the upgrade - loss of function(which may of course be intentional...) - if PHE is being scrapped why bother? Whatever form the replacement takes it isn't going to use its predecessor's equipment as that would be a lost opportunity for more Tory crony benefits.
I saw the beginning of the VPO concert. The 'normal' orchestra set-up was remarked on by the presenter, who did also say that there would usually be around 100 000 in the audience, which suggests that some attention was paid to covid issues? The musicians' canopy was a tunnel(and outside) so perhaps that was considered enough mitigation for them - not sure I'd be convinced.

[LMcD]

Apart from the obvious problem with the upgrade - loss of function(which may of course be intentional...) - if PHE is being scrapped why bother? Whatever form the replacement takes it isn't going to use its predecessor's equipment as that would be a lost opportunity for more Tory crony benefits.
I saw the beginning of the VPO concert. The 'normal' orchestra set-up was remarked on by the presenter, who did also say that there would usually be around 100 000 in the audience, which suggests that some attention was paid to covid issues? The musicians' canopy was a tunnel(and outside) so perhaps that was considered enough mitigation for them - not sure I'd be convinced.

In normal years, some of those people who attend the concert but don't have seats tend to wander around the grounds and mingle, possibly in largish groups, which is probably riskier than sitting in rows of seats but not coming into contact with one another.

[Anastasius]

.... Can we learn something from the Austrians? ...

That they are surprisingly silly at times ?

[teamsaint]

That they are surprisingly silly at times ?

Or that the evidence on masks is mixed at best ?

[Anastasius]

Or that the evidence on masks is mixed at best ?

Oh Jesus...you're not still banging on about that, are you? It is very simple. If you are wearing a full mask and one up to hospital standards then that will give you an awful lot of protection. No debate there else we'd have no medical staff left in Intensive Care. If you're wearing a mask that is not up to that standard then you have 'some' protection but at least better than no mask. That is, of course assuming that you do not have Covid and are concerned about catching it.

But if you do have Covid (and are unaware) then wearing one of these masks will curtail you spraying virus droplets to all and sundry. And if you know that you do have Covid then why are you out of your house ?

So please don't be like the cretin in Waitrose the other week, who was wearing a mask but decided to pull it down to cough all over the bakery counter.

[Cockney Sparrow]

........ So please don't be like the cretin in Waitrose the other week, who was wearing a mask but decided to pull it down to cough all over the bakery counter.

TS has not been an advocate of the right to cough over others.......... let alone a bakery counter. I think an apology is due.

[Bryn]

Or that the evidence on masks is mixed at best ?

Wearing a seat belt and having working airbags in a car does not guarantee that you will not be killed in an RTC. Such measures, however, do significantly reduce the risk of death. The same, plus an even greater reduction in the risk to others, should one be virus-positive, applies to the wearing of face coverings during the current health emergency.