Covid - the not so good news.

[Workingman]

The trial of the coronavirus vaccine being developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University, have been paused due to "an unexplained illness" or an adverse reaction in a volunteer. It is being reported that a volunteer in the UK trial has been diagnosed with transverse myelitis, an inflammatory syndrome that affects the spinal cord and can be caused by viral infections.

This is the second time the Oxford trials have been paused and it not uncommon, but it is a worry. It puts the release date of the vaccine back a bit until the review is completed.

The other piece of bad news is that Matt Hancock says Britain has seen the first 'credible' cases of coronavirus reinfections. Apparently they are all asymptomatic. Other cases have been reported around the globe and they do not bode well for long-term 'immunity for all' post a Covid infection or a vaccine.

Both are a shame, but that's life, I guess.

[Suff]

It is WM, but I am guessing that the anticipation of a vaccene and the pressure it creates is causing the caution.

Prior pauses were about 4 days.

The point is they use a "benign" common cold virus to deliver it. As we know, not everyone is immune to the common colds.

[Workingman]

In the meantime we now have the rule of six, or make that 'for some time' the length of which is unknown.

I am sure that many of the public, probably a sizeable majority, will not now wait for a vaccine. There are plenty of indications that people really do want to get back to some kind of normality and hang the consequences. The result of all this stop-start, lockdown, ease up charade will be that people start to do their own thing. The country does not have enough personnel to enforce all these rules and the postcode lottery of who gets caught and who does not could cause civil unrest.

Reports are the hospitals are restarting general surgery and other treatments so it might be time for a general easing up of things and see how it goes without going all panic stricken if an area jumps for 16 cases to 23 cases per 100,000. Keep the vulnerable as safe as possible, yes, but allow the rest to have a little bit of life.

People like myself can continue to do what we have been doing for the past six months without too much trouble.

[medsec222]

I entirely agree Frank. I never understood that visits from family members were restricted given the amount of marches and gatherings that were allowed a few weeks ago.

[Workingman]

Meds, I have just been reading a blog's comments and many, many people are asking what is so magical about the number six? They point out that there are more than six pupils in a class, and more than six people in a workplace, on a bus, train, plane, and in shops, pubs and restaurants yet suddenly a house - your own home - becomes the Devil's virus incubator if there are seven in there - mum, dad, three kids, gran and gramps.

Just about everybody agrees that we should simply go back to keeping our distance, wearing a mask and sanitising / washing our hands and being sensible as that was what brought the cases down in the first place.

[miasmum]

Close town centre pubs and only allow pubs to open that serve food.

[cromwell]

Whatever bad news may be coming on Covid you can rely on Ch4 news to report it.
For the first time in a long time today I (accidentally) saw thir trailer for the news.
They were absolutely relishing the fact that in some areas the infection rate has gone up - they were leading on it and loving it.
The fact that deaths are massively down? I don't know if it even got a mention.

Honestly, what is wrong with these people? I know they hate the government, but do they want to cause another panic? Do they want to see supermarket shelves stripped and people hoarding toilet roll and flour again? I think they do.
It is massively irresponsible. Ch 4 journalists aren't the ones who would end up queueing outside Aldi in the freezing November rain. They don't care what trouble ordinary people are put to, just so long as they get a story.

[Workingman]

Let's not pick on C4, the BBC etc. they are all at it.

Their reports are why I made the observation the other day that a large number of people want to get back to some kind of normality and hang the consequences.

Here's their latest: the the R number in some areas of England and Wales is now 1 to 1.2 = exponential, so that is a worry - head for the hills! It is calculated over seven days.

We also learn that cases are rising, but all we get are the raw numbers. Cases one day 2918, cases the next day 3,157 so a rise, yes. But we are doing more tests so we will find more cases.

There is another way of looking at things. Test 1,000 and find 100 cases and that's one in ten. Test 10,000 and get 1,000 cases and that is a HUGE rise in the number of cases, and that is what we are being sold. But hang on, it is still only one in ten. The % has not changed.

Meanwhile the number of hospitalisations and deaths remain roughly the same. Sure, there is a time lag between the two, but let's not go all wibbly-wobbly Homer Simpson till we know for sure, eh?

[cromwell]

Let's not pick on C4, the BBC etc. they are all at it.

I believe you WM!
But I've purposely been avoiding the tv news for months now so it came as a bit of a shock.

[Suff]

When we were less than 500 cases per day the headlines were screaming about the R number going over 1.

Now we are heading for 4,000 cases per day and they are telling us the R number is reaching 1.2.

An R number is only of use to the people if it is reported religiously at every interval (weekly). But the press don't want to report it that way, they want to use it to scare people. Because if they reported it religiously, along with the number of cases, the people would be able to work out the threat themselves and wouldn't be scared.

At which point, the R number ecomes useless to the press.