Coronavirus - worldwide spread and control

The answer is clearly battery rearing. oh, and chlorination.

 

https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/cases
Rate per 100,000 by area - Lower tier LA - Bedford - 1047.1 (for period - yesterday)
https://www.centralbedfordshire.gov.uk/info/26/public_health/737/coronavirus_-_covid-19/14
Number of weekly positive cases per 100,000 - 19.4 (for period 21-27 Sept - latest figures given)

Unless the rate per 100,000 is different from the number of weekly cases per 100,000 (which they may well be but if so I would construe this as a deliberate attempt to mislead those looking for comparable figures between area's).

There were a series of local news articles from coronavirus the pandemic - episode 1 (a few months ago) which were asking why the rate in Bedford town was so high, no number was given but it was claimed it was the fifth highest in England, at that time.

There is clearly something wrong on the .gov.uk page as the given figure for Bedford is over half that given for Newcastle (1789 per 100,000), but looking at the map beside those figures, and zooming in - one particular ward of Newcastle has 327 active cases (and is surrounded by areas with similar case numbers) whereas my local ward has 17 (and is surrounded by wards with similar or less cases) and 17 is not 60ish percent of 327, unless my understanding of maths is lacking.

Presumably the dataset for 2 items next to each other, presented as alternate ways of looking at the same data, is the same - but who knows.

ETA - So precisely how the 1047 figure given (and the 19.4 figure) was derived is a puzzle, and looking at the official sources for official information about the state of play has simply left me 'confused' and maybe a little paranoid that my local council is manipulating the figures to avoid the consequences of a high rate per 100,000.

 

The new cases in Italy have started to rapidly increase again. They have been increasing in September but the curve has now changed in a worrying manner.

On September 30 there were 1850 new cases. Yesterday on October 8 there were 4458 new cases.

 

Our cases are rising again, too, mostly driven by transmission within the country.

https://m.dw.com/en/germany-health-officials-warn-coronavirus-could-spread-out-of-control/a-55196856

 

A person I talked to about this says that in Italy this increase is probably driven in good part by the large number of tests because people aren't allowed to work/study if they have symptoms, until they test negative.

The fatalities have changed little. Some doctors here are saying that the virus is much less dangerous compared to how it was in spring.

 

The fatality rate is strongly related to demographics. The high rate of infections in most countries is now younger people. The early high rate of deaths (above 5% IFR) was because all the ideas and policies about "protecting the old" failed and the virus had a catastrophic impact in aged care.

 

Hold our warm beer.

Covid cases increase rapidly as next steps planned

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-54477618

Not sure we should be surprised that the "Eat out to help out" scheme and allowing pubs to open seems to have helped out infection rates.

 

This map seems to be able to show recent weekly new cases:

https://www.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=47574f7a6e454dc6a42c5f6912ed7076

Edit: linked to from the gov.uk site:

https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/cases

 

Remember when we infected every child with Polio and achieved herd immunity? No? Me neither.

 

"It's Up To Us"

"Quarantine before family gatherings, take sore throats seriously and don’t overestimate the immediate effect of a vaccine: Virologist Christian Drosten’s advice for the corona winter."

 

Title : 'It Really was Abandonment': Virus Crisis Grips British Universities

Link : https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/06/world/europe/virus-UK-universities.html

 

On the other hand, in some more positive news,

Masks and closures in Arizona led to a 75% decrease in coronavirus cases

http://www.msn.com/en-gb/entertainm...irus-cases/ar-BB19Sk31?li=AAnZ9Ug&ocid=ASUDHP

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...r-signed-fake-experts-dr-johnny-bananas-covid

 

Florida won't be reporting COVID-19 cases on Saturday because one lab dumped some 400,000 cases that had been previously submitted.

Added: I've changed the link to reference the Miami-Herald, hoping that will be more widely accessible.

 

Today Florida reported 5,570 new cases and 178 resident deaths. Considering the cases not reported yesterday, we are still running over 2,000 new cases per day, and something like 90 deaths per day. This is not a stable situation.

 

Wow!

Meanwhile in Victoria, the government is saying 15 cases per day is too many and we need numbers to drop below 5 before bars/restaurants can open tables again!

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-10-12/victoria-coronavirus-cases-rise-by-15/12753430
https://covidlive.com.au/

 

Florida's state attempts to force schools to conduct in-person classes are not going well. There is a magnet school preparing students for jobs on ships named MAST. It reopened last week, and just shut down again.

 

Similar thing has happened where I live. Number of cases in my local area stands, as it has done for months, at 0 - 3 per week in a population of about 7,500.

In one of the student areas, they're at 750+ per week within a similar-sized population. Some students* are refusing to stay in and isolate, saying they are paying a lot of money for the privilege of being at uni, and it's therefore up to them whether they take risks of becoming infected. Meaning the rest of us just have to put up with the fact that it will inevitably escape into the local community.


* According to people who work on the campus, it is just a minority of entitled tw@ts who take this attitude. Other students are extremely worried, and a few have already decided to leave their courses for good because it's not worth the risks to them and their families.

 

I struggle to understand why agencies worldwide have allowed the idea that only certain groups are vulnerable and the rest won't be affected - the influence of behaviourists possibly?

Sure in these days of social media influence it wouldn't have been such a terrible challenge to make putting yourself and others at risk of infection socially unacceptable?

In recent years it became socially unacceptable to just sit beside someone, even outdoors, and light up a cigarette unless in a designated smoking area. I'd far rather have a smoker light up beside me than risk sitting beside someone who doesn't give a hoot about infecting me because they believe covid won't really affect them.