Has anyone perceived a single Brexit benefit yet?

[vinteuil]

Our very high obesity levels have certainly been a factor in the high levels of hospitalisations and deaths.

...yes, among other factors. I found this helpful -

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-55757790

.

[Bert]

Not what we were just told on the BBC lunchtime news.

Shocking. Shouldn't be allowed.

[Bert]

I suggest you take a look at https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/data/mortality

In deaths per 100.000, the UK is the world leader, though the Czech Republic and Italy are not far behind.

Don't bother with second rate US Universities, here's the most up to date (today) figures. The Vaccine figures are to be updated tomorrow.

[Bryn]

Don't bother with second rate US Universities, here's[sic] the most up to date (today) figures. The Vaccine figures are to be updated tomorrow.

Source?

[oddoneout]

Don't bother with second rate US Universities, here's the most up to date (today) figures. The Vaccine figures are to be updated tomorrow.

On what do you base your opinion of Johns Hopkins?
What's the source of your table, it's just showing as a partial static image?

[ardcarp]

I think I heard on the BBC News that France, not having managed to produce its own vaccine yet, has designated the facilities set aside for its future production for use by another company. If that is so, good for them.

[mikealdren]

Quote Originally Posted by Bryn View Post
I suggest you take a look at https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/data/mortality

In deaths per 100.000, the UK is the world leader, though the Czech Republic and Italy are not far behind.


Well not exactly when the website you quote shows Belgium and Slovenia are ahead of us but I agree that it isn't great.

[HighlandDougie]

Don't bother with second rate US Universities,

I'm assuming that you have your tongue firmly stuck in your cheek! Johns Hopkins is a very distinguished US university - see

https://www.timeshighereducation.com/student/best-universities/best-universities-united-states

Although league tables need to be taken with a bit of a pinch of salt, the Times Higher ones are generally reckoned "in the business" (in which I still have some involvement) as about the most accurate.

[Nick Armstrong]

No but I don't remember an age of bounty when we entered either.

Those EU purchases of CDs etc are going to seem cheap after October, if you use a credit card, it seems:

https://www.politico.eu/article/mastercard-fees-to-increase-fivefold-for-uk-eu-trade/amp/

[jayne lee wilson]

Nonsense. Our Covid death rate is statistically indistinguishable from 9 European states that sadly head the global table. Belgium is the worst on the planet and San Marino is giving them a run for their money. Seems like it's a European problem.

Oh I see.... not long ago it was a Chinese problem, according to a certain ex-president.
More Trumpian Fake News won't help anyone... your reading of the figures/statisitics is hugely and ideologically-Brexiter-biased.... but this thread is becoming impossible to usefully contribute to...

Subjective and local yes - but those Sainsburys shelves were emptier than ever today.... staff confirmed supplies are running low, deliveries to the store much slower, (it is NOT stockpiling)......oh, I wonder why...

[Simon B]

I suggest you take a look at https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/data/mortality

In deaths per 100.000, the UK is the world leader, though the Czech Republic and Italy are not far behind.

Not for the first time, the the graph at the top of this is selective. For obliquely explained reasons it omits the very worst offenders.

The raw data, from further down on the same page, starts like this:

Cases and mortality by country
DEATHS/100K POP.

San Marino 192.39
Belgium 182.80
Slovenia 164.75
United Kingdom 150.94
Czechia 146.98
............

*This doesn't diminish the significance of the UK figure, but it is a fact.

Recent media coverage of the UK having the highest rate in the world repeatedly failed to make a sufficiently clear distinction between the highest rate *right now* and *overall* just to further muddy the waters.

*This doesn't diminish the significance of the UK figure, but it is a fact.

[mikealdren]

and the important question is why our numbers are high.

As others have pointed our, our rates of obesity and type 2 diabetes are almost certainly key factors. Population density and the fact that we tend to live in large urban conurbations are probably factors too. And the areas that have done badly are often major transport hubs, London certainly fits the bill here.

Of course the numbers are also calculated in different way in different countries, even in the UK the figures for those dying within 28 days of a positive test are misleading, the ONS death certificate stats are much more accurate but they are obviously not available so quickly. In addition to deaths directly attributable to Covid of course, there are also deaths indirectly attributable: deaths as a result of untreated heart attacks and strokes for instance.

Not great news but at least we are not stuck in the unseemly bureaucratic wrangle within the EU over their awful performance on vaccination.

[Simon B]

Whereas the UK... ...highest death rate among Covid victims anywhere.

This statement is flat-out counterfactual.

The UK is nowhere near the worst in terms of Case Fatality Ratio or Infection Fatality Ratio - i.e. "death rate among Covid victims". For a wealthy nation with a National Health Service this would be an extraordinary outcome.

According to the above Johns Hopkins dashboard the UK is 36th down their list, with a CFR of 2.7% - significantly better than 19th placed Italy on 3.5% and 28th placed Australia on 3.2%.*

These (CFR* and IFR) are in any case the next closest thing to impossible to meaningfully compare between nations because - what are they actually measuring? "Nobody knows" would be a good starting point.

[french frank]

This statement is flat-out counterfactual.

And a problem, I suspect, is that the media, if they understand the data, report it in ways that easily lead to misinterpretation. NYT today: "Per capita, Britain’s death rate has been the worst in the world over the last week." (My bold)

[Simon B]

and the important question is why our numbers are high.

It is already clear that population density, weather, interconnectedness*, obesity etc are all correlates in varying degree.

*Colleagues in Australia find the perfectly-normal-for-the-UK concept of large volumes of people commuting daily between cities for work and leisure bizarre for what should be obvious reasons. Their whole society is set up entirely differently to reflect the geographic realities of the country. Ditto NZ.

All of this needs to be properly accounted for before blaming the government for the residue - of which there is probably rather a lot. For it to be a worthwhile exercise they need to be blamed for the right things.

Meanwhile, the furore over the vaccines may be the exception that proves the rule where Brexit goes. There have to be instances where a free-wheeling go-it-alone agile-risk-taker approach bears fruit. This is looking like one.