I know it doesn't seem like it but the public is very slowly beginning to wake from its sleep. Even some MSM is reporting contrarian views on government Covid strategies. The imposition of local and regional lockdowns is accelerating this wake-up.
As a great scholar once said, "Gradually, then suddenly"
Yes, there's a lot of anger about the economic side on the Welsh Govt and PHW FB pages now, where before it was mostly the (idiotic) "if it saves one life ..." line, and also a lot of (loose) conspiracy theorising and accusations of lying. There has definitely been a change in tone.
People are also beginning to grumble about unfairness. I think at the beginning during the national lockdown, there was a sense of "we are all in this together", but now people are more aware of the differences between different places, and thinking "why should WE be locked down here when there are hardly any cases compared to THAT place?"
I did have a bit of a Eureka! moment the other day, and suddenly realised that a lot of people appear to be stuck in the same mindset they had in March, when this was all scary and potentially a threat to everybody. I think some people just don't look beyond the headlines, so when they read stuff saying there are more "cases" now than in the Spring, they take it at face value.
I showed someone Carl Heneghan's Florence Nightingale plot yesterday, and she argued that the scary spike in March/April could happen again if we weren't careful, and there are still lots of covid deaths even though overall deaths at present are not high. So I said that would mean without covid, deaths would be much LOWER than normal, even though there have been extra deaths associated with lockdown - which makes no sense at all. (When I tell my husband this, he just says, "Yeah - people are thick!" 😆 .) I think this is a huge obstacle because a lot of people just seem to be incapable of grasping straightforward statistic or interpreting simple graphs. I know it sounds patronising, but I think we need some really simplistic graphics that even a child could understand!
Hang in there fellow sceptics. The road is long. I agree it is all very frustrating at present but l believe things are slowly starting to turn our way. John Edmunds drove me mad yesterday with his smugness, lecturing us all like a scornful headmaster with his prophecies of doom, and yet even if he proves to be right about the virus and high death rates, does he factor in the socio-economic damage further lockdowns will do to the country, does he hell. I especially feel for our children, are they not a VULNERABLE group also, and have no voice but ours to defend them from this harm being inflicted on their lives now and going forward in the years and decades to come. We have to keep fighting for the next generation sceptics.
I agree about the graphics; very often I see a killer image that shows beyond doubt that things are not as bad as portrayed, yet when I click on the link I'm taken to a column of dates and numbers which doesn't have the same impact. (I didn't even get O level maths so can't devise these things myself. 😳 )
I was reading about the 'dedoubling' - new word to me- of positive test reports on the Gov.uk/ NHS track and trace site. You have to click on the 'methodology' link where it's explained.
Can anyone clarify whether graphs/stats from earlier in the year have been adjusted in the light of this new way of counting positives (only changed on Oct 15).
I was reading about the 'dedoubling' - new word to me- of positive test reports on the Gov.uk/ NHS track and trace site. You have to click on the 'methodology' link where it's explained.
Can anyone clarify whether graphs/stats from earlier in the year have been adjusted in the light of this new way of counting positives (only changed on Oct 15).
Do you have a link to that page, please?
I was reading about the 'dedoubling' - new word to me- of positive test reports on the Gov.uk/ NHS track and trace site. You have to click on the 'methodology' link where it's explained.
Can anyone clarify whether graphs/stats from earlier in the year have been adjusted in the light of this new way of counting positives (only changed on Oct 15).
Do you have a link to that page, please?
I hope this is it: it is 'NHS Test and Trace Statistics (England): Methodology'.
Scroll down past the flowchart for the heading 'Testing in England' and sub-heading 'People tested and people testing positive'.
