Second Wave? Virus Has All But Disappeared
Your daily reminder that the virus has dwindled away to almost nothing. This graph shows daily triage calls for 19-69 year-olds. Note no uptick during the Hyde Park BLM protests or during the “major incident” on Bournemouth Beach. (Hat tip Alistair Haimes.)
Unfortunately, nobody’s told the National Trust. Had an amusing email from a reader just back from the Lake District.
My girlfriend and I took a trip up to Ambleside last week, arriving the day before Maskgeddon. We were denied an early check-in as the room-cleaning regime at our B&B involved multiple rounds of antibacterial fumigation!
The National Trust seems to have completely lost the plot! The day of our first outing, we visited the Aira Force waterfall and parked in one of their car parks near the top of the trail down to the waterfall. As we walked towards the trail, a bedwetter loudly informed me that there was a one-way system on the trails, before we’d even reached the sign. When we got back to the car, I noticed that the Trust has helpfully supplied a hand-sanitiser dispenser embedded in a tree stump near the pay & display machine! Goodness knows how many thousands of lives they’ve already saved with such thoughtful measures!
For the rest of the trip I refused to muzzle up, and I wasn’t challenged at all – in fact most shop staff seemed pleased to be seeing a human face rather than a soggy rag. When we were up on to the fells, it was (mercifully) easy to forget all the absurdity going on down in the valleys…
Not surprising that the National Trust is anticipating having to make 1,200 members of staff redundant, according to the BBC.
Tall Lives Matter
I’ve written a squib for today’s Telegraph about the research purporting to show that people over 6ft are twice as vulnerable to catching Covid. No, it’s not the usual demolition job. As a short(ish) man, I actually welcome the news and hope it’s true.
This comes as something of a relief because I’ve always been a bit chippy about my height. For years, whenever anyone asked me how tall I was, I would say, “Five foot eight and a half,” and then stare at them defensively, daring them to contradict me. But I realised eventually that adding “and a half” wasn’t doing me any favours. It was just advertising the fact that I had an inferiority complex. So now I say, “Five foot nine” and try not to look away too quickly.
Believe it or not, five foot nine is average height for a fully-grown British male and being below that, even if it’s only half an inch, is still a source of resentment. Without quite being aware of it, most people treat height as a proxy for social status, a form of “unconscious bias” that’s unlikely to be addressed by any diversity training programme.
People don’t exactly stop me as I’m on my way back from the lavatory in restaurants and ask me to bring them the bill, but I can still detect a hint of patrician disdain whenever I’m introduced to a tall, upper class man. If I stand next to Jacob Rees-Mogg at a party, for example, I feel like one of the grinning street urchin in that famous photograph of the two Etonian schoolboys towering over the local working class lads.
Worth reading in full, obviously.
My Mask Hell
I’m publishing a new essay today by regular Lockdown Sceptics contributor Guy de la Bédoyère. It’s about his first trip to the shops since the mandatory face coverings policy was introduced.
Walking round a supermarket is actually quite tiring. It’s not like wandering into a newsagent. You have to carry a heavy basket or push a laden trolley. This means that breathing is quite important. As my expedition progressed, I began to feel light-headed. This perplexed me until I realized I was experiencing the first signs of hypoxia. Not only was I not breathing enough, I was also breathing back in my carbon-dioxide laden exhalations. It was like being in Apollo 13 before they managed to knock up some emergency DIY carbon-dioxide filters.
No wonder I was overcome with a constant desire to tear the mask off and gulp air in. With a mild sense of panic beginning to take me over I hurried to the self-service till where I wouldn’t have to use up any additional air trying to speak, constantly having to resist the reflex to remove the mask, hurried through and exited the shop. What a total relief it was to get outside.
Worth reading in full.
Lockdown Killing 2,700 People A week – New Study
According to a study by economists and academics from Sheffield and Loughborough universities, the lockdown has already killed 21,000 people. The Telegraph has the story.
The analysis examines Office for National Statistics (ONS) data in the eight weeks that followed the national lockdown.
Researchers said the findings show that “lockdown has killed 21,000 people” because the policy has had “significant unintended consequences” such as lack of access to critical healthcare and a collapse in A&E attendances.
The study examines deaths data in recent months, and tracks it against long-term trends, taking account of other variables such as demographic and economic factors.
It suggests that the lockdown – and the subsequent reduction in access to healthcare – increased total mortality by roughly 2,700 deaths a week.
It follows warnings that the number of people attending Accident and Emergency departments fell by 50% at some points during the pandemic, while urgent referrals for suspected cancer dropped by 70%.
21,000 people seems like an underestimate to me. This new study complements Carl Heneghan and Daniel Howden’s article yesterday for the Oxford Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine blog flagging up the high number of excess deaths in homes, which they speculated could be caused by “individuals deterred from visiting hospitals”.
Bakery Refuses to Sell Bread to Pensioner, 94, Because She Only Has Cash
The woman behind the counter at Bird’s Bakery in Arnold refused to serve a pensioner because she only had cash. Nottinghamshire Live has the story.
A 94-year-old woman who lived through the Second World War was was told she couldn’t buy bread from Birds bakery because she didn’t have a bank card.
Former hosiery worker Edna Dalchin, of Basford, has never owned a bank card and prefers to pay “the old fashioned way” with cash.
She was left shocked and embarrassed when staff at Birds Bakery in Bulwell told her to put essential items back because they could not take her money.
What utter madness. I’m tempted to send the owner of Bird’s Bakery this recent comment in the Lancet in which the Professor of Microbiology, Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics at the New Jersey Medical School review the evidence about whether the virus can live on fomites and concludes “the chance of transmission through inanimate surfaces is very small”.
Postcard From Derry
A reader in Northern Ireland has been in touch with some cheery news: the people of Northern Ireland haven’t succumbed to Coronaphobia. Face masks still aren’t mandatory over there. And you don’t even need a passport, just some ID.
The atmosphere in Derry is very close to normal now. People are chatting and friendly, and even though cafes, etc. have fewer seats, the ones that are open are quite busy.
Last week there was a brief flurry of mask wearing, but it seems to have died down. About a third of people wear them in Marks and Spencer Food (that middle class virtue signalling is everywhere!) and a much lower percentage elsewhere. Staff in (NI) aren’t wearing masks, but south of the Border (e.g. in a really good cafe called Tank and Skinny’s), they do have to. The South seems to be going backwards very badly, having initially been getting better.
Talking to people here, there is a great deal of scepticism about the disease and the response. I get the impression from Lockdown Sceptics and my friends in England that the atmosphere is a lot more Stasi-like over there, so we are all very glad to be here!
There are a few other local peculiarities which help.
The history of the Troubles mean that the police are very wary of giving any excuse for a riot, so they were pretty light touch even during the worst of the lockdown. The Troubles also mean people are much less trusting of the media and the Government anyway, especially on the Nationalist side of the fence.
There is also a sense in Ireland, North and South, that people are entitled to their view (apart from that obnoxious and tiny minority which has caused most of the trouble over the years), which doesn’t come over in the media at all, and does make daily life a lot less Orwellian than, say, undergraduate studies at Oxford…
On the downside, the public sector is basically completely inert here just like everywhere else.
As well as that, the economic impact of the lockdown is increasingly visible. It is clear many of the shops, cafes and restaurants won’t be re-opening, possibly ever, and from my own perspective trying to get a new tax consultancy business off the ground, not being able to meet people face to face has not been good news.
It’s hardly the biggest problem caused by the lockdown, but I suspect in aggregate it will hit new businesses disproportionately and so hamper the recovery. Certainly, from my own experience things were going very well up to lockdown, and then went into the deep freeze and have been slow to come back out again. Many people thought in June we would be back to normal by September, but we all now think it’s going to be the New Year before the nonsense stops.
Anyway, overall things are about as good as they can be here, and if people wanted to visit somewhere in the UK with nice scenery, nice people and the same very little to do as everywhere else, they could do a lot worse!
Round-Up
Here’s a round-up of all the stories I’ve noticed, or which have been been brought to my attention, in the last 24 hours:
- ‘The lockdown has been cruel and negligent’ – Arch-sceptic Dr John Lee is Brendan O’Neill’s guest on his podcast
- ‘Western liberals’ Covid myopia is condemning the world’s poorest‘ – Strong column from Madeline Grant in the Telegraph
- ‘Red faces as Guardian mixes up rapper Kano for Wiley‘ – The wrong rapper appeared above Owen Jones’s Guardian column about the Wiley brouhaha. Red faces all round
- ‘Will the speculative vaccine shopping spree ever end?‘ – Ross Clark laments the Government’s financially incontinent approach to vaccines as it concludes its fourth deal, this one for 60 million doses of an experimental treatment being developed by GSK and Sanofi
- ‘Cambridge scientists fear coronavirus second wave as “R” rate rises across UK‘ – More scaremongering nonsense. Give me strength
- ‘UK facing “K-shaped” economic recovery as the gulf between the “haves” and “have nots” widens‘ – Another reason lefties shouldn’t be supporting the lockdown
- ‘Lockdown-free Sweden is seeing a “very positive” downward trend‘ – Good news piece in the Daily Mail
- ‘Meghan Markle agrees to pay more than £67,000 in legal costs after losing the first round of her legal battle against the Mail‘ – Embarrassing
- ‘The latest BBC Leftie hatchet job is proof it’s incapable of balance‘ – The Mail‘s Stephen Glover takes aim at the BBC’s three-part documentary on Rupert Murdoch
- ‘School closures do not slow the spread of Covid-19, according to Finnish-Swedish official study‘ – More on the Finish-Swedish study showing school closures had zero impact on the spread of the virus. Finland closed schools, Sweden didn’t, but Covid infection levels for children were similar in both countries
- ‘JK Rowling: Edinburgh rail station advert in support of author removed‘ – An advertising poster reading “I love JK Rowling” at Edinburgh’s main railway station has been removed for being too “political” and potentially offensive.
Small Businesses That Have Re-Opened
A couple of months ago, Lockdown Sceptics launched a searchable directory of open businesses across the UK. The idea is to celebrate those retail and hospitality businesses that have re-opened, as well as help people find out what has opened in their area. But we need your help to build it, so we’ve created a form you can fill out to tell us about those businesses that have opened near you.
Now that non-essential shops have re-opened – or most of them, anyway – we’re now focusing on pubs, bars, clubs and restaurants, as well as other social venues. As of July 4th, many of them have re-opened too, but not all. Please visit the page and let us know about those brave folk who are doing their bit to get our country back on its feet – particularly if they’re not insisting on face masks! Don’t worry if your entries don’t show up immediately – we need to approve them once you’ve entered the data.
Forums Back Up and Running
I enjoy reading all your comments and I’m glad I’ve created a “safe space” for lockdown sceptics to share their frustrations and keep each other’s spirits up. But please don’t copy and paste whole articles from papers that are behind paywalls in the comments. I work for some of those papers and if they don’t charge for premium content they won’t survive.
We have created some Lockdown Sceptics Forums that are now open. Initially, they became a spam magnet so we temporarily closed them. However, we’ve found a team of people wiling to serve as moderators so the Forums are back up and running. Any problems, email the Lockdown Sceptics webmaster Ian Rons here.
“Mask Exempt” Lanyards
I thought I’d create a new permanent slot down here for people who want to buy (or make) a “Mask Exempt” lanyard/card. You can print out and laminate a fairly standard one for free here and it has the advantage of not explicitly claiming you have a disability. But if you have no qualms about that (or you are disabled), you can buy a lanyard from Amazon saying you do have a disability/medical exemption here (although it’s showing a delivery date of Sept 2nd to 12th). The Government has instructions on how to download an official “Mask Exempt” notice to put on your phone here. You can get a “Hidden Disability” tag from eBay here and an NHS exemption notice for just £2.99 from Etsy here (see above).
And don’t forget to sign the petition on the UK Government’s petitions website calling for an end to mandatory face nappies in shops here.
A couple of readers have emailed to say just how effective these devices are.
I am currently in Corfu after flying this morning from Birmingham International Airport. I drove down from Hull in the early hours, 50 / 50 as to what my strategy was going to be. Shops are one thing, airports and aeroplanes another. I had my lanyard on me from Amazon, which you had kindly sent a link to previously on Sceptics.
I thought, what the hell, parked my car at the meet and greet, should have been wearing a muzzle, but Unchallenged as I handed my keys over. Walked into the airport, guy at the entrance motioned to me about a mask, showed him the lanyard, waved me through. Checked my case in after having to get the required Greek travel number to the staff member, no problem. Shopped in the airport, asked in Smiths but again showed the lanyard, fine. Coffee in Starbucks then through to the boarding gate. Asked again, showed the Lanyard, onto the plane.
I was literally the only person on the plane without one. Strangely, I felt proud, rather than guilty, but naughty nevertheless. End of flight, into Corfu, and the long queue to go through customs. Kept reaching for the muzzle in my back pocket as it was feeling a little uncomfortable, I was the only one! I got a couple of comments in the queue but only to ask where I got the lanyard from, half jokingly. Got through, no problem, onto the transfer bus to the Hotel, never needing to put a muzzle on. I may act slightly differently on the way back but I’ll make that call at home time.
Anyway, thought you might to hear that the Lanyards do work. To my defence I do genuinely have mild asthma at times so I feel justified, although I was probably fitter than 50% of people on the flight.
And here’s the other one.
My Amazon mask exemption card/lanyard arrived conveniently on July 24th – £4.95 plus postage – and has proved 100% effective.
Nobody has questioned it nor have I had any ‘dirty’ looks in fact the reverse with some retailers actually thanking me for wearing it !
I have now refined it further by buying an NHS lanyard from etsy.com – £2.95 – and wearing this as well.
This has the added benefit of making the exemption card look totally official and quite a few members of the public giving me big smiles presumably because they think I work for the ‘wonderful’ NHS – which I don’t. Like most of us, I just pay for it.
Absolutely brilliant. All sceptics should get one!!!
And just in case you think we’ve got it bad, a reader has emailed from the People’s Republic of Victoria in Australian where things are much, much worse.
Premier Daniel Andrews has recently imposed a draconian face masks (or face coverings) requirement on us that makes England’s requirement of masks in shops and on public transport sound positively utopian. Melbournians must now wear face coverings at all times whenever they are outside their homes. This includes all workplaces, all day. There are a few anomalous exceptions. Although masks must be worn when walking for exercise, they can be taken off while jogging, cycling, drinking a takeaway coffee, smoking or vaping, or in a car with only other members of your household. Thus, a person walking outside by themselves with no-one else around must wear a face covering. Fines of $200 apply for non-compliance and social pressure from the “true believers” and media is also strongly apparent.
Shameless Begging Bit
Thanks as always to those of you who made a donation in the past 24 hours to pay for the upkeep of this site. If you feel like donating, however small the sum, please click here. And if you want to flag up any stories or links I should include in future updates, email me here.
And Finally…
Picture from the Spectator USA to illustrate an article on how law and order has broken down in San Francisco. Perfect illustration of how we’ve got our priorities upside down during the Covid crisis. And in case you believed any of that guff about housing the homeless in the UK, a reader reports on his conversation with a homeless person in Lincoln yesterday:
Spoke to a homeless woman who said:
* That policy they had to house the homeless through this period (talk of hotels being repurposed) never happened.
* Council/social services/benefits were almost entirely unavailable during this period.
* Police were nowhere to be seen and it became very dangerous.
* No people in streets meant no money and no city centre shops to buy food, but some people drove down specifically to bring food parcels. Very kind.
* She knows nobody that has had the virus or anyone that they know.
* She was shocked that my ways of thinking about this episode were similar to hers – this was the first time she had met anyone that wasn’t sold on the lunacy of this irrational wave of thinking.
Discussion
Comments
This week across the site:
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I’ve calculated the number of COVID-19 for the top 10 places in the UK with highest two-week rate that is causing the lockdown to be re-inforced:
Blackburn with Darwen 328
Leicester 352
Oadby and Wigston 49
Bradford 449
Wrexham 113
Rochdale 174
Oldham 176
Hyndburn 57
Eden 34
Pendle 54
This gives a total of 1,786 infections from a population of 1,893,000, which is 0.0944%or 94.4 per 100,000
Although, the number of infections doesn’t specify whether one infection equals one person, or whether the same person has tested positive multiple times and each positive test was counted as one infection.
Government coronavirus logic seems to be working like this:
Just watch the video of Bloris at the beginning of this broadcast. He looks so pleased with himself!
https://www.ukcolumn.org/ukcolumn-news/uk-column-news-31st-july-2020
Where’s Boris?
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/07/31/bbc-wants-play-bigger-role-childrens-education/
Yes, I bet they bloody do. Can you imagine what the history “lessons” would be like?
FRIDAY’S PAGE arrived some time ago …
https://dailysceptic.org/2020/07/31/latest-news-90/#comments
1, 2, 3 Jump
Another ‘ ‘must read’ – new updates on the ‘Swiss Doctor site :
“The U.S. CDC points out that in most Covid patients, infectious virus particles are no longer detectable ten to fifteen days after the first symptoms. However, non-infectious virus fragments (RNA) can still be found up to three months after the first symptoms. This is likely to be a significant problem with regard to PCR tests, as many people who have long since ceased to be infectious still test positive, triggering far-reaching tracing and quarantine false-alarms.”
i.e CARRY ON WITH EID REGARDLESS – you’ve been fed garbage.
https://swprs.org/a-swiss-doctor-on-covid-19/
For anyone wanting accuracy, realism and ‘just the facts’, the Oxford CEBM site is obviously a go-to.
Their most recent paper should have the headline :
GOVERNMENT LINE IS UTTER BOLLOCKS
But they are unfailingly polite and professional. As they should be. So let the summary speak for itself :
The current community transmission of COVID is low and not at epidemic levels. The rates are less than that of confirmed cases in the UK. This could be explained by asymptomatic people or those with mild infections not seeking out testing in primary care. The observed reductions in URTIs and LRTIs suggest that most of the effect on rates of transmission occurred through the encouragement of social distancing.
Read the whole paper at :
https://www.cebm.net/covid-19/what-does-rcgp-surveillance-tell-us-about-covid-19-in-the-community/
There aren’t nearly enough people fighting back and refusing to wear masks.
They will now be “mandatory” in churches from August 8th.
What are they going to do now? Roll over?
The choice is church or mask, probably. Might have to roll over (but only there – not changing my approach to shops.)
Church with no mask. And not outside either. It’s the only way.
Just use one of the valid exemptions- causes you distress- this is subjective and cannot be challenged- particularly as they would be denying you a basic human right – to practise your religion. Contrary to Equality Act
Time to go Reformation on their asses and set up your own home church services.
Apologies if this question has already been asked elsewhere on the thread: are the government guidelines for the ‘local lockdowns’ in the North West actually yet law? Gov.uk says “The government will pass new laws to enforce the changes”, which puts me in mind of the 23 March announcement when the law took a few days to come into affect – if in 24 March you’d wanted to drive from Castle Barnard to Brighton, visit your granny, and flamencoed down the pier, Plod didn’t have the powers to stop you.
I think fellow sceptics are in a significant minority but I do my best to spread the word. In a meeting today where the local lockdown nonsense came up in conversation, rising number of cases etc. I pointed out the paucity of testing, no’s of false positives etc and so what if there are a few more cases? There’s been no corresponding rise in hospitalisation etc. Not much agreement just here say that they knew someone who’s parent died etc. In car at lights I spotted two kids with presumably their dad. He was maskless, they were both wearing them, both under 9 I would say…..Surprising number of young adults also masked outside. Sigh.
I think most of the kids are just playing. It will soon wear off – if their parents don’t encourage it!
I am wondering if someone can check an official NHS Scotland data webpage – as I look at it there appears to be a formatting error that conveniently hides cancer and cardiology hospital admission rate declines.
There appears to have been a 40% above previous year jump in cancer admissions between mid February and Early March before diving 50% below previous during lockdown.
The graphs appear to show the x axis labelling running through the centre of the plot. It may be a techincal glitch – or a deliberate attempt to prevent headline grabbing declines in cancer care across Scotland.
https://scotland.shinyapps.io/phs-covid-wider-impact/
Drop down > health boards > any of them. All admissions. Then the bottom two graphs relating to cancer and Cardiology as default.
Apologies cannot place picture.
Bettys, Harrogate—tea shop par excellence.
Went into Bettys last Monday to buy bread and was challenged outside by a member of staff and inside by another to wear a mask. Breezed by both with the words:–‘No thank you–I can’t’.
Placed my order and was served OK. I was the only non masked customer in there (apart from the adjoining cafe where nobody was masked).
When I got home I decided to write to the customer services manager explaining that it was against the Government regulations for Coronovirus 2020 that they challenged me at all and I enclosed a copy of same regs:
http://laworfiction.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Face-Covering-Exemption-Notice-with-Law-Explained-24-July-2020.pdf
Within a day, I received this reply:
Dear Mr. Hopkins,
Thank you for your email and very valued feedback. I am sorry to hear about the disappointing experience you have had. Exceptional customer service is at the very heart of all we do at Bettys. We aim to delight our customers in every way and we really do want to hear from our customers, it the only way we learn and grow.
Again I apologize profusely if the team at Harrogate has offended you in any way I am confident that it was not their intention. I… Read more »
Nicola Sturgeon just been on TV advising against Scots travelling to the north of England.
Also caught her saying “nobody can get this virus safely” or “we can’t assume people can get it safely”, something along those lines anyway.
““nobody can get this virus safely”
Excuse my somewhat dismissive language – but what a gormless idiot.
*This* is the quality of dimness that we have in charge of this ‘sceptered isle’ (I think the sceptre must be up the backside).
Is it really too much to expect a grasp of basic probability and risk assessment if you’re going to bore us interminably by pontificating about ‘safety’.
Her own health gurus have praised her for “reading the science herself”. I personally feel this is but one of the dangers sturgeon poses to others including myself. She is harmful.
Nobody…apart from all those that have had it and recovered. All those who have had it and been asymptomatic etc.
Apart from 80% of the people who get it (Chris Whitty, 2020)
This is exactly what I said would happen yesterday. Lockdowns everywhere, masks everywhere, second wave declared. It’s happening again. I’m not sure I can keep doing this much longer.
Deep breaths.
The difference this time is a significant number of people are already ignoring it. This number will increase.
There is no way anyone in Yorkshire or Lancashire will give a fuck about these new rules. If they even know what they are 😂
But it’s just going to go on and on. There’s no endpoint. Deaths below average for time of year. Still justification to lock more people down. Every time we reopen cases will increase. Cue further panic and lockdowns. It will never end.
It will end if we kick back. If we just accept it and cry over our keyboards it won’t
That is the trap they have set by going into lockdown in the first place. Now they can’t justify anything other than no more deaths.
The only sensible long term strategy was that of Sweden. Even countries such as New Zealand or Australia that supposedly did well are trapped in a state of perpetual fear and having to react to any uptick in cases.
It’s essentially a form of OCD on a grand scale.
It ends when people end it by not taking any notice any more.
I don’t think the gvt. is going to change tack.
But unless hundreds of people start dropping dead every week, people will change tack. They will start ignoring these stupid rules if they haven’t already.
I hope so, I really do, but all hope is leaving me!
I sincerely hope that’s the case.
If the gvt. aren’t dumb, they are counting on this – also of anything goes wrong and people DO start dying (unlikely) they can blame it on us! “We set the {ridiculous, unenforceable} rules, but you didn’t follow them, not our fault!”
If nothing happens (likely) they will take credit whether people followed the rules or not.
This is the beauty of it. – For them.
…until the end of Furlough!
Indeed.
We will know without a shadow of a doubt if a worldwide agenda is at play in the autumn. Basically if they do national lockdowns again (as a vaccine is introduced) regardless of the by then obvious consequences we know there’s something very shady at play. (And I’m leaving the country).
We already know something very shady is in play don’t we?
I’m not sure even the government knows what they are. Wankock certainly didn’t this morning.
I was perturbed because people are asking for clarification, which will mean more petty regs. If people had the sense to just shrug and pretend to obey, HMG wouldn’t accept the invite to embroider the restrictions.
Ha! Information leaflet, hopelessly out dated just arrived from Lancs County Council. It contains the phrase “new normal”, so, in line with my Coronacrap policy, it’s gone straight in the recycle bin.
……from whence it will be moved straight to landfill to join the burgeoning collection of face coverings.
Did you see this?
https://miriaf.webs.com/kirkleescouncilcovid19?fbclid=IwAR0CKh5E01TKaYk1Ftef9rqJRfu2OmbyxeDlapsUQEzTjk6EyTkMOYw1v8g
Maybe you should fish the offending propaganda out of the bin and redraft this scalding letter to send it to your lot!
Interesting Twitter thread:
https://twitter.com/BallouxFrancois/status/1289184916127842306
Prof Francois Balloux pointing out some errors in communicating a research paper. No link to the paper I’m afraid.
#COVID19 science communication:
1. Research: index-patient A0 transmitted to 1 person
2. Newspaper: “China Superspreader Gave COVID19 to 71 People in a Single Elevator Trip”
3. Twitter ‘expert’: “Welp—woman returning from trip gave it to her whole building via the elevator …”
Here’s the Newspaper article:
https://www.newsweek.com/china-superspreader-travel-elevator-1517320
My reading of the article shows the woman infected her neighbours son who then went on to infect the other people. Most notably this 1 person (the son) managed to infect 28 people in one hospital ward and 20 people in another hospital.
So over half of these 71 people got infected in a hospital setting.
Of course they did.
Correction, it wasn’t the neigbours son, it was somebody at a party they went to who had a stroke and was taken to hospital.
Shhh!!! You’l spoil the Fairy story for the children.
I read the original research paper, not some journalist’s take on it, some time ago. The paper was intent on blaming the alleged patient 0, who had returned from abroad, for infecting her neighbour in the apartment block, the neighbour’s boyfriend and neighbours daughter. The neighbour and daughter lives in the flat together, boyf came and went. These 3 then went to a party and infected others, were hospitalised, and went on to infect many more in hospital. Sounded much more to me as though boyfriend had been playing away and infected his woman friend and her daughter, and woman back from abroad had nowt to do with it.
Hi – just another update on normality in N.I
I know you ones across the water have it tougher, but acting normally I think is the best way for people to realise that this threat has been massively overblown. Most people don’t want to live like this, I it just takes seeing other people living normally for them to start thinking about what they’re doing.
Exactly.
Just go about your business. And avoid those places/businesses who won’t let you.
The reason I changed gyms was precisely due to the ridiculous list of rules they had. When I saw the phrase ‘limited access to showers and toilets’ I thought ‘right, no more money for you’.
Vote with the almighty dolla
would I be able to leave the UK and live in ni?
NI is in the UK – for now.
People need to watch this from Anna Brees, a Muslin chap talks about the fear he has lived with for the last 20 years.
https://youtu.be/uVVhljYQfAc
If there was any time since Nazi Germany that Niemöller’s poem ‘First they came for the Jews…’ was more apt it is now. This Muslim guy is saying exactly that. We have to stand together.
Very moving!
I have been concerned that there don’t seem to be any Muslims in our LS community.
We need to spread the word.
We need to challenge and oppose this, but how?
Seems a lot of people aren’t happy about things but they are cowards and would sooner someone else did the fighting on their behalf.
We’ve got to do something or this will never end. This whole thing has made me poorly as I’ve agonised over how people have been treated and misled. I live in West Yorkshire so it affects us, I am so livid and I’ve been trying very hard to be more positive and channel my anger in more productive ways but this is just insane. I’m increasingly convinced that Boris Johnson is delusional and just is not in his right mind.
Have you joined Keep Britain Free?
I really think people will give up taking any notice of the government Kevin. Let’s keep supporting each other and keep together.
He’s in his right mind Kevin, a right mind that is devious, duplicitous and mendacious. In Max Hastings’ own words he’s a ‘cavorting charlatan.’ And while we’re here for those on this site who call him Boris, please desist. Makes him sound like an unruly older brother who can’t help himself. In reality he’s a see you next Tuesday.
De Piffle is much more appropriate.
Some major action needs to be taken,we need people to act en masse.I am sick of talking and trying to have reasoned discussions with zealots,it’s pointless.I’m tired of writing to companies about their stupid restrictions and getting condescending replies or more usually no reply and to writing to MPs who have utter open disdain and contempt for us all.
I think he’s in his right mind all right. Except it’s wrong.
Kevin it only affects you if you want it to.
Ignore. The. Rules.
Hear hear!
Boris is a mere pawn.
The first time I went shopping un-masked I felt quite apprehensive,seems ridiculous now,I’m a 6ft well built chap in his fifties but I felt like a little kid about to pinch some sweets !,I expected instant disapproval but not one person said a thing and afterwards I felt pleased I’d made the stand.
The first time is the hardest but once you realise it’s ok, it’s so easy to keep smiling at people and setting a sane example.
I do have the advantage of being 5’2″ and female with a shock of grey lockdown locks, so less likely to be challenged. I understand why younger ones might feel more apprehensive.
Remember that worrying is just a load of thoughts about something that will probably never happen. Worrying doesn’t change anything, just makes you feel like shit.
Just do it, as the slogan goes.
I know a lot of people are very upset about the latest – and rightly so.
No need for despair though. Every time Johnson comes out with more garbage like this he just hastens his own demise.
Each time, fewer people will take any notice, more will see it for the garbage that it is, and more will rebel.
So please, Alex and Matt, keep on making the announcements
“…and more will rebel.”
I wish they would!
I’ve just been down to the pharmacy to pick up a prescription. Pharmacist (a youngish bloke) waved at a woman to wit outside the door of the shop (3 people seemed to make it ‘full’).
I felt like saying ‘Don’t they teach you about probability and basic medical statistics on Pharmacy courses ???’ But I didn’t. Like so many, I guess he was “Just Following Orders” (Mein Herr!!)
Don’t comply, anywhere.
that’s frankly hilarious and deeply disturbing at the same time
…could be a scene in the film ‘idiocracy’
There is some very weird behavior going on. On Twitter a Keep Britain Free supporter tweeted about masks taking a way our liberty, and then Far-right Johnson’s policy was being defended as being correct and we should all be following it by a Far-left Militant Marxist, how on earth does that work?
New government slogan:
#HandsFaceSpace
https://twitter.com/BorisJohnson/status/1289171088430239744
There was a clear omission so I fixed it:
#HandsFaceSpaceCadet
Each new slogan is more infantile than the last. I hate these idiots.
Just needs a really irritating six note tune. Probably played on glockenspiel.
A glockenspiel would be perfect, and with practice I’m sure even Johnson could be taught to string six notes together.
Doubt it.
Good point, perhaps start him off with the triangle…
He’d be even more irritating.
Of course, it couldn’t be a gathering of more than six notes…
It’s genuinely like being back at primary school.
Tell me about it, I’d be wary of insulting my 4 year old daughter’s intelligence if I spoke to her like that!
Know your customer…
I’d add : “And now F. Off you narcissistic lying git”
Gosh, just look at how much fun he’s having.
You should’ve kept them Kh,if panic buying and shortages come back,you could have a use for them !.
Mr Tumble on tour.
Harsh on Mr Tumble. At least Mr Tumble often has something truthful or educational to say.
… remove the waste of space. That’s what the image says to me.
Kick cans.
Cover ass.
Safe face.
Why is there no soap on his hands?
Why does he need a face nappy while working at his desk?
If he lost weight he’d take up less space – though he’s a waste of space any time.
I know it feels like a crime to throw books away but surely the bin would have been more appropriate in this case?
The government remains in full-blown panic mode and is frantically trying to fight its way out of the wet paper bag that it has accidentally put over the nation’s head.
That’s the optimistic outlook. In my opinion it seems more likely that it was not so accidental and they have no intention of doing anything but continue to pour water over our head – in other words torture and terrorise us until everything we had has been destroyed.
I’m afraid I agree. I think trying to ‘punch itself out of a wet paper bag’ is just too generous. It is to deny the danger that is really at our feet. It’s too late to push back, it has to be fight back. They are coming for ALL your civil rights. Please don’t mitigate this, it is beyond sinister and has only just begun.
Yes we need to stop dismissing this as blunndering incompetence. It’s a very well-orchestrated psy-op.
I agree.
I don’t think so.
De Piffle looked well pleased ith himself after the lunchtime broadcast.
The homeless woman tells the LS reader that
“She knows nobody that has had the virus or anyone that they know.”
Quite. This is precisely the reason why I don’t believe we are anywhere near close to herd immunity. There are large swathes of the country that have had little or no exposure to the virus. It’s not credible that everyone in my widely varying circle of acquaintances have all acquired prior immunity while Boris Johnson, Matt Hancock, Chris Whitty & other Westminster contacts all managed to contract the virus.
I resigned my Conservative Party membership earlier this month (after 46 years. I am though still receiving their begging letters which helpfully include a reply paid envelope for sending donations. If anyone else is receiving these I suggest you use the free postage to tell them what you think of this shambles of an anti-libertarian govermental.
Send them some true covid facts!
You never know who might open your letter and be converted.
Anyone here think that Boris has gone for broke? He knows that he has crashed the economy, destroyed the tourist industry, public transport, children’s education, employment, family life etc etc.. He might as well carry on and be hung for a sheep as for a lamb. The hole he has been digging is so deep now, it must be through to the antipodes.
I see no evidence he wants to come clean or move on.
More like hell in my opinion.
I wish I thought he knew that. I think he and Hancock only care whether they killed 70,000 or 80,000 according to their own dodgy figures.
Something in that Margaret. This is planned – he is now deliberately stoking race relations problems. Whatever anyone thinks about particular sections of society and their views/ideals, doing this on the eve of any faith’s special day or celebration is wrong, and highly dangerous.
Not even Hitler bombed British cities over Christmas.
The government and it’s advisors have been engaged in an exercise to take credit for “beating” the virus ever since it became clear, in the middle of April that nature had already done the job and they had backed the wrong horse.
he’s like a mental Father Xmas with a money printing machine in the back bedroom. The man has lost the plot. As for Hancock, at least the end of his name is accurate.
Depressed with the new masks in churches statement. We had a lengthy Zoom discussion of our church council last night where we agreed to re-open on August 23rd. But the church is going to follow the regs to the line – chairs spaced out at 2m distance, on arrival you are guided to a suitable chair by the steward. Sanitiser and sign-in compulsory at entry. You can use the loo but we prefer not as it has to be cleaned. Everything ‘cleaned’ before and afterwards. No singing of course, but those listening to the hymns via Zoom will be allowed to sing. I see they have now mandated face masks to make it even more miserable. I happen to be on our rota as door steward that day (whoops, I wrote the rota a couple of months ago), not sure I want to even go there if it is like this.
Did another davews haircut this morning – not got that much anyway but OK for another few weeks as I couldn’t bear the rigmarole in the barbers.
Our church is due to start again this Sunday. However there is clearly no danger from the virus until the following Sunday as we are still allowed by our hapless government to go unmasked this week. I therefore intend going this Sunday but if our vicar enforces masks thereafter I shall tell him he will not be seeing me again until this nonsense is over.
Buying food to stay t alive I can just about accept you might need to wear a mask (I won’t) but going into a church willingly wearing a mask is frankly treacherous if you are a member of this site and I don’t care what your religious beliefs are (which of course you are welcome to without prejudice from the likes of me.)
Agreed
Can I suggest that they review the Regs.
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2020/791/regulation/2/made
to see whether a church is a ‘relevant place’.
As Awkward Git has eloquently stated many times, the primary source is the Regulations not the Guidance.
I agree that church is not a relevant place under the current regs. No doubt though that Adolf Hancock will sign off amended regs at the last minute.
Under section 45R requiring no Parliamentary scrutiny.
Quite
I’m not a churchgoer by a long chalk.
But I empathise with your plight. The problem for organisations is that they are forced into following this sort of ludicrous nonsense by a variety of factors – not least of which is the pretty mundane one of insurance and culpability. That makes it a much tougher call than for ourselves as individuals.
The orchestra in which I play hasn’t rehearsed or performed now since early March. Two major concerts have gone down the tubes, one of which was the key summer earner.
My daughter is involved with the Arts, and they, similarly have abandoned everything up to and probably including the key Christmas season. They have got performers back and rehearsing (in hope and on video) – but in small groups and wearing f.ing masks!
This before the latest self-indulgence from Mr Toad playing ‘King of the World’.
Multiply our experiences across the nation, in all the multifarious settings (not least in terms of Eid celebrations) and you have a man-made catastrophe of gigantic proportions when you consider the consequences.
This is far worse than Hitler inflicted on the nation in any similar period 1939-45… and certainly far worse than the… Read more »
Please don,t go along with this. Start an alternative outdoor service .
An indoor one, and ignore all the rules. What will the police do? Arrest everybody?
Unbelievable that ‘freedom of worship’ was essentially banned by government edict after so many centuries. Current religious leadership appears to have forgotten that the right to worship your God in your own way was founded on martyrdom; maybe this is the new way of ‘throwing Christians to the lions’!
We’re no better than China now.
That just won’t do. You have to ignore all the rules.
I’d hope the loos would normally be cleaned before and afterwards, covid or no covid!
Guided to a suitable chair? WTF? Are your congregation all aged 3 and under?
https://twitter.com/briannatravers/status/1289016180498300928
From Australia this short video.UK next?“Police have arrested two people outside the Shrine this morning for not wearing masks. They have been taken off in divisional vans. Police have forced a mask on this man”
Notice he quickly moves it off his nose. Good for him!
Didn’t he have his exempt lanyard on him?
This.
Is.
Fascism.
Been saying the same for weeks. How long until people wake up? Or maybe they have. And this is what they want. Which is why I despair.
Yesterday at hairdressers,sole hair dresser had to wear a tight fitting mask and visor all day.She said she nearly passed out the day before.
This government is now just plain sadistic and beyond redemption…..and right now I think any mask wearer in the shops is just colluding in the cruelty.
She doesn’t need to wear both. A visor is enough.
I agree about the unnecessary cruelty but it doesn’t have ot be self-inflicted too.
Why don’t people – especially those in the thick of it – look up the damn guidance??
“It’s the law innit?”
Why don’t people just say f**k off to the gov and every other level of petty fascism that now runs this country ?,what is everyone so frightened of?,they are so worried of being in trouble with the invisible ‘them’,for god’s sake can’t people grow some bloody backbone and collectively make a stand to end this lunacy,the authorities are cowards and bullies,they will crumble if enough of us make a stand.Why the hell are some people happy to let someone else tell them how to control their own body ?,make themselves ill,moan about it but not have the courage to do something about it ?.Every idiot that rolls over and accepts the madness puts us further away from ending it.
Honestly I think the public are already in the process of teling the gvt. to fuck off.
They’re just doing it very quietly.
I was in the fuel station about a week before the mandatory masks and saw no masks. Was in the same fuel station around the same time today – on a day touching 35C! and every customer except me had a mask. Looks to me like they are in the processing of telling the government they want more. If they are so keen to go along with this latest demeaning, uncomfortable and potentially harmful diktat of government then you have to start to wonder what will they not do. I have pretty much lost all hope.
There were signs saying face masks are compulsory in this shop. None if the staff were wearing face masks.
Spoonfed!
No,she has been told by two Council officials that she must wear both.
Look on Simon Dolan’s twitter thing for story of hairdresser who succesfully challenged local council, because it’s guidance not law. Think she was called Vicky.
Here you go:
https://twitter.com/vickyintheuk/status/1286656769285132301
Or just look up the actual regs.
i’ve challenged council recently and won. get the facts, research, be cohetent and knowledgeable. you will beat them.
Remember that the Council officials are most likely products of the British education system.
Council officials are like the Plod, in the main they are stupid.
She needs to get a solicitor (or CAB) onto that.
My beautician is wearing both a mask and a visor and she’s 8 months pregnant so she’s wearing both for more protection apparently.
Though she is a bit sceptical about the whole thing and has said she’s carrying on doing face things like waxing etc even though she’s not supposed to.
It’s like lying with your fingers crossed behind your back.
Unborn babies are the most dangerous asymptomatic spreaders – sure I heard that somewhere.
The one thing that matters to Boris Johnson more than Boris Johnson is Boris Johnson’s legacy…..
We can at least get a tiny bit of pleasure, as the UK Titanic sinks below the waves, that Boris Johnson’s legacy will include;
Leading the country into a panicked lockdown and, once the NHS was not overwhelmed, using mis-information and exageration to keep the population in fear for the sole purpose of covering up BJ’s mistakes and incompetence with further mistakes followed by further mistakes. Covering up the cover ups….
Ignoring the data lead science in favour of ”the science” that, as every new study is published shows, is consistantly wrong (and the ”the scientists” ‘scientists’ are equally guilty of trying to cover up their mistakes and incompetence)
Causing the unnecessary deaths of 10’s of thousands of people who have had their right to medical care taken away from them; cancer screening, heart disease, etc – and all the deaths and abuse caused by the lockdown experiment.
Taking education away from the young and doing great harm to their mental and physical well being.
Destroying the British economy – way beyond any harm a Corbyn government could ever hope to achieve – all… Read more »
Absolutely.
All the theatrics are designed to play the game of convincing the public the lockdown was necessary, through fear, and scapegoating various groups for the results, be they care home workers or northern town residents.
All a complete lie. And he must know it.
Today’s lockdown measures totally unjustified.
Theatres aren’t even legally required to stop putting on performances, another lie from the government!
I don’t think he does know it. That’s the frightening thing.
I think he is hopelessly out of his depth now, probably all the cabinet have been promoted way above their natural pay grades; they are in a complete mess. Who knows what is going on behind the scenes, but perhaps it is simply that a second grade bunch of politicians have totally screwed it up. I know this doesn’t explain it all, however I think it is basically incompetance in spades, plus a huge dose of being scared of social media reaction, and the natural fall back of anyone out of their depth is to look around and see what others are doing in the same situation, thus all the countries (save for a few) play follow the leader on the off-chance that the leader does know what to do. Lemmings and cliffs.
Think you have nailed it right there. Can’t latch on to all the conspiracy theory stuff though I think there are clearly groups pushing a certain agenda for their own self interest and potential profit – vaccines for example. And why wouldn’t they if they stand to make £s out of gullible Governments. But I agree the UK Govt is just totally out of its depth with both eyes on public opinion because that’s what matters most to them. They lack individuals of talent who can make coherent arguments for a more relaxed policy knowing they will have the likes of Piers Morgan ranting against them. So as you say they follow the herd and try and make their stats look better than other countries.
You mean that there are “groups” exploiting a global pandemic for their own advantage? That’s a conspiracy theory.
I think they are just the idiot frontmen.
I think that’s right. And where he may have miscalculated big time is that much of this will hopefully be clear by the time of the next election. He did the lockdown and everything to be popular, which they were, but the next election isn’t for a few years.
Trouble is – we’ve lost a summer of our lives while he and his confabulating cronies have been pissing us about. At my age – that’s one hell of a cost.
This is going to be a lot longer than just one summer. This is not going away any time soon.
There won’t be anymore elections, it’s just one party now.
Not one that any UK citizen voted for!
What beats me is the sheer depth of gullibility required to believe *anything* that comes out of Mr Toad’s mouth, given his unsurpassed record for nothing but making things up and then bullshitting about the tale.
Agree but he isn’t doing this alone, Hancock comes across even worse. You can only imagine the whole Government is full of light weight halfwits. I have always voted Conservative, but even Corbyn couldn’t have handled this any worse. Boris needs to go and real soon.
Lightweight halfwits sums them up.
Wankock comes off worse because De Piffle is a well-practised and accomplished bullshitter and Wankock just isn’t in the same bullshitting league.
Compared to the sh*t show that is now running (and ruining) this country, not to mention the US and much more of the world, Jeremy Corbyn would have been a statesman par excellence.
Just posted this on Guido Fawkes (Toryboy fansite):
“Dear Mr Johnson
I retract every single sympathetic word uttered or typed anywhere during or immediately after your illness.
It is clear to me that you are totally stark staring bonkers, and totally unfit to navigate a knife and fork, never mind the Ship of State. Hopefully soon your political career, together with the gang of brain-dead bellends that forms your government, will be dead and buried in a ditch.
Your smash and grab of power from ordinary people is nothing less than totalitarianism.
You are the enemy – you have destroyed this country’s economy and you have blood on your hands, Mr Johnson.
Soon, we will be coming for yours.”
Ten upticks, two downticks. And that is a dyed-in-the-wool, Johnson fan central website.
Fellow sceptics, the tide is turning…
Are there any politicians who are talking sense on this issue? I heard Keir Starmer on the news, what a dismal wet blanket, there seems to be no challenge or opposition to all this nonsense.
None I’ve seen or heard. House of Lords is also irrelevant.
Hunt thinks social distancing is law.
Starmer is establishment through and through, just look at the refused prosecutions e=when he was head of the CPS.
Most MPs do not even bother to acknowledge any contact and the few that do just go blah blah blah.
Totally agree with you about oily Starmer. But he’s irrelevant (and you could say that is the problem for a ‘leader’ of the ‘opposition’) – but Liar-in-Chief Johnson and his spiv cronies *are* the government. They have instigated this war on the people.
Similarly the Wee Mad Krankie is a prime instigator without the brain or numerate grasp to keep the self-importance of epidemiological modellers at arms’ distance
Good comment. I would just say that, although, as you say, the GF site really is a fanboy hotspot (and sometimes ridiculously so – Liz Bee, anyone?), the mood has been hostile to the Lockdown idiocy from de Pfeffel etc for quite some time. Telegraph ditto.
It has been yes – but was very supportive in the early days, as I think we both know. A comment such as the one above would usually see me downvoted to death, but not today :o))