Main Coronavirus / Covid-19 Discussion Thread

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Weststander

Well-known member
Aug 25, 2011
69,241
Withdean area
I would just like to hold my hand up and say sorry if I have offended anyone today or over the last couple of days.

My wife is having a massive wobble with regards her cancer treatment. It’s a strange one, the cancer she has means she’s not needed any surgical treatment, and since starting her chemotherapy has felt “well”. She has almost forgotten she has cancer, between her 2 monthly chemo sessions.

2 days ago she had a call from her radiotherapy consultant, who is a jolly enough fellow, but threw into the conversation, of course as you have Non Hodgkin Lymphoma you know we cant cure you... Yes, she did know this, but it felt like a bit of a slap round the face for her, and has probably made me even more spikey than normal.

Then I come on here and see people squabbling over semantics as to how, where and when people died - and sort of blew. Please, please, please remember that everyone of those deaths, whatever age, are someone’s loved ones and please don’t trot out the “ah, but they had an underlying health condition” to justify their death. My wife has an underlying health condition, and at just 59 doesn’t deserve to die or have her death dismissed as another statistic.

Sorry, I will now retreat back to my safe place...

All the best as always.

Others need to be sensitive, not just for you, when they trot out stuff about the over 65’s or those with a health condition.
 




atomised

Well-known member
Mar 21, 2013
5,170
I would just like to hold my hand up and say sorry if I have offended anyone today or over the last couple of days.

My wife is having a massive wobble with regards her cancer treatment. It’s a strange one, the cancer she has means she’s not needed any surgical treatment, and since starting her chemotherapy has felt “well”. She has almost forgotten she has cancer, between her 2 monthly chemo sessions.

2 days ago she had a call from her radiotherapy consultant, who is a jolly enough fellow, but threw into the conversation, of course as you have Non Hodgkin Lymphoma you know we cant cure you... Yes, she did know this, but it felt like a bit of a slap round the face for her, and has probably made me even more spikey than normal.

Then I come on here and see people squabbling over semantics as to how, where and when people died - and sort of blew. Please, please, please remember that everyone of those deaths, whatever age, are someone’s loved ones and please don’t trot out the “ah, but they had an underlying health condition” to justify their death. My wife has an underlying health condition, and at just 59 doesn’t deserve to die or have her death dismissed as another statistic.

Sorry, I will now retreat back to my safe place...

Thinking of you and your wife though. I can't begin to understand the challenges you face
 


e77

Well-known member
May 23, 2004
7,270
Worthing
in the past 6 months or generally? nothing new that GPs generally hold their role as gatekeeper to healthcare very seriously, keeping the slightly ill out of the system. the whole notion of having "your" GP is archaic idea. we keep talking about covid changing working practice, lets hope also brings change to this part of healthcare too. (it wont).

see also dentists.

I tend to avoid my GP unless I really have to but by all accounts seeing a GP is much more difficult (that is any GP, not 'yours').

I really think triaging access to the NHS isn't the job of medically unqualified receptionists.
 


e77

Well-known member
May 23, 2004
7,270
Worthing
People are now getting GP appointments via FaceTime - I’m not sure how accurate that can be?


We need to get to the bottom of these hospital numbers

Why is the Gov saying hospitals are getting over run and yet local Mayors/MPs are saying they are not and it’s normal numbers for this time of year?

These are not all labour mayors etc - they are Tories as well

Not really my field but on-line appointments might sort some things out but there still should be the option of an in person one.

I would hope Mayor's would defend their area against national pressures (even from the same party). They certainly should do if they want to keep their jobs.
 


Machiavelli

Well-known member
Oct 11, 2013
17,770
Fiveways
67 yesterday was it?

How do we know those 241 people died of COVID?

How many non Covid deaths were there today?

I’m at the point where the information we are being given is so one sided, I’m starting to question everything that’s being reported by a highly malleable press.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Are you saying that it's fake news?
 




Lower West Stander

Well-known member
Mar 25, 2012
4,753
Back in Sussex
Are you saying that it's fake news?

No.

What I'm saying is that its selective news. I've said before on here that it is possible to use data to prove any point you want. In the Times today it was reported that there were 9 more deaths in the 1st week of October than last year. This suggests that people who were dying of flu for example are now dying of Covid instead - and this doesn't take account of the lack of treatment of patients with other illnesses. Its just another data source....

Listening to the news in the car yesterday, some random doctor was quoted as saying all the pubs shut be shut now. Why don't the press ever report a random doctor saying all the pubs should stay open?

I'm no conspiracy theorist but I think we've lost the plot on the way this is being viewed in the context of the wider world. My partner is an NHS ward sister and she is tearing her hair out at the lack of treatment on her dementia ward because all (and I mean all) resources are being diverted to Covid.
 


Machiavelli

Well-known member
Oct 11, 2013
17,770
Fiveways
No.

What I'm saying is that its selective news. I've said before on here that it is possible to use data to prove any point you want. In the Times today it was reported that there were 9 more deaths in the 1st week of October than last year. This suggests that people who were dying of flu for example are now dying of Covid instead - and this doesn't take account of the lack of treatment of patients with other illnesses. Its just another data source....

Listening to the news in the car yesterday, some random doctor was quoted as saying all the pubs shut be shut now. Why don't the press ever report a random doctor saying all the pubs should stay open?

I'm no conspiracy theorist but I think we've lost the plot on the way this is being viewed in the context of the wider world. My partner is an NHS ward sister and she is tearing her hair out at the lack of treatment on her dementia ward because all (and I mean all) resources are being diverted to Covid.

I agree with some of what you're saying, but not others. Ultimately, all statistics require selection in order to make it to the front of the media's and/or politicians' attention, which then tends to be what the public is exposed to. There is then an onus on which statistics/data are selected, and there the notion of significance comes in. I'm comfortable with the way in which the CMO and CSO and Public Health England, for instance, have been sharing statistics. Ditto with most reputable media outlets. Ditto with John Hopkins, and the WHO, and public intellectuals (Costello, Speigelhalter, Sridhar, Harford, etc) and public bodies (eg, independent-SAGE).
So, the key figures to look for in the UK tend to be the number of cases, hospitalisations, and deaths, and also the R-rate, in my view. We can also compare them with earlier phases of Covid, but that requires caveating.

What you'll find is that this is a serious pandemic that has been estimated to have been contracted by 10% of the world's population, that spreads unlike other recent pandemics because it can be both pre-symptomatic and asymptomatic, that causes excess deaths and, as a result of all this, requires stringent restrictions imposed by governments. This has been what governments around the world have been implementing, although how governments have implemented restrictions has varied markedly which, in turn, has impacted on the number of cases and deaths in each country. So, I'm not sure what you mean about what this means in terms of the wider world. I'm also unsure of your point about your sister. On this, firstly, a focus on statistics should be seen as an alternative to highlighting the viewpoint of someone's experience at the coalface. Second, if the NHS is overwhelmed with Covid cases, then they will have to manage that alongside the other ongoing conditions they have to treat and, as a consequence, we should do what we can to avoid that scenario arising ('Protect the NHS' was one of the mantras/justifications behind the initial lockdown).
 


The Wizard

Well-known member
Jul 2, 2009
18,399
Sturgeon extending Scotland’s ‘circuit breaker’ to an indefinite period of lockdown, what a shocking turn of events.... :rolleyes:
 




Justice

Dangerous Idiot
Jun 21, 2012
20,658
Born In Shoreham
I tend to avoid my GP unless I really have to but by all accounts seeing a GP is much more difficult (that is any GP, not 'yours').

I really think triaging access to the NHS isn't the job of medically unqualified receptionists.
My hospital consultant is fuming the GP’s are getting an easy ride, he said I see patients why can’t GP’s. Can see his point they do seem t be dragging it out now.
 




Tight shorts

Active member
Dec 29, 2004
313
Sussex
My hospital consultant is fuming the GP’s are getting an easy ride, he said I see patients why can’t GP’s. Can see his point they do seem t be dragging it out now.

Exactly what the nurse at G.P surgery said, who has been seeing patients for tests and jabs etc all the way through.
 




BeHereNow

New member
Mar 2, 2016
1,759
Southwick
Fl

Here's a maths question for you... Which is the larger number?

43726*

or

26000**

Would you like to phone a friend, clearly you can't use 50/50.


*minimum number of Covid deaths with a lockdown.

**possible maximum number of excess deaths due to a lockdown (although exact numbers can't be proved as it's only a theoretical 5 year average).

No, I don’t know what the larger number is. Sorry.

No evidence to suggest lockdown has saved anyone’s lives, but it does seem like it’s lead to more people dying at home.

The 43,726 number you quote isn’t the actual number of Covid deaths. I’d be surprised if half of those people had it let alone died because of it.

I think I saw that the average age of a Covid death is 84. Almost all people that have died with it would have died of flu or pneumonia anyway. This has killed far less than what flu did a few years ago, yet we didn’t have the news constantly fear mongering about it all the time.

I also saw the other day that flu is killing more people than Covid at the moment. So, which one is worse? And why don’t we lockdown every time flu comes around?

Good to see more and more people are questioning the narrative though and seeing it for what it really is.
 




Driver8

On the road...
NSC Patron
Jul 31, 2005
16,210
North Wales
No, I don’t know what the larger number is. Sorry.

No evidence to suggest lockdown has saved anyone’s lives, but it does seem like it’s lead to more people dying at home.

The 43,726 number you quote isn’t the actual number of Covid deaths. I’d be surprised if half of those people had it let alone died because of it.

I think I saw that the average age of a Covid death is 84. Almost all people that have died with it would have died of flu or pneumonia anyway. This has killed far less than what flu did a few years ago, yet we didn’t have the news constantly fear mongering about it all the time.

I also saw the other day that flu is killing more people than Covid at the moment. So, which one is worse? And why don’t we lockdown every time flu comes around?

Good to see more and more people are questioning the narrative though and seeing it for what it really is.

Flu v Coronavirus figs below.


https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopula...ive-year-averages-for-influenza-and-pneumonia
 




BeHereNow

New member
Mar 2, 2016
1,759
Southwick

Expect they’ve lumped them together.

We also know they’ve put Covid as a cause of death when it hasn’t been.

They said on Sky News a couple of months ago that the figures were exaggerated. It was conveniently forgotten about within a day and the usual scaremongering rubbish continued.

Covid has hasn’t killed as many people in one month as flu has.
 


e77

Well-known member
May 23, 2004
7,270
Worthing
No, I don’t know what the larger number is. Sorry.

No evidence to suggest lockdown has saved anyone’s lives, but it does seem like it’s lead to more people dying at home.

The 43,726 number you quote isn’t the actual number of Covid deaths. I’d be surprised if half of those people had it let alone died because of it.

I think I saw that the average age of a Covid death is 84. Almost all people that have died with it would have died of flu or pneumonia anyway. This has killed far less than what flu did a few years ago, yet we didn’t have the news constantly fear mongering about it all the time.

I also saw the other day that flu is killing more people than Covid at the moment. So, which one is worse? And why don’t we lockdown every time flu comes around?

Good to see more and more people are questioning the narrative though and seeing it for what it really is.

COVID-19 is a virus that spreads either through face to face contact or on contaminated surfaces. Are you seriously suggesting that bringing in rules that reduce face to face contact and people touching surfaces didn't reduce the spread of it, and by extension hospital admissions and deaths?

Dying of COVID-19 is categorised as having had a positive test in the 28 days before dying (this was changed to put a time limit on it for reasons you are hinting at). Bearing in mind people weren't getting tested at all in the early days I think that is as good a method as any of counting them.

The Flu killing as many people as Covid-19 in the UK is incorrect and has been disproved several times on here.
 


darkwolf666

Well-known member
Nov 8, 2015
7,651
Sittingbourne, Kent
No, I don’t know what the larger number is. Sorry.

No evidence to suggest lockdown has saved anyone’s lives, but it does seem like it’s lead to more people dying at home.

The 43,726 number you quote isn’t the actual number of Covid deaths. I’d be surprised if half of those people had it let alone died because of it.

I think I saw that the average age of a Covid death is 84. Almost all people that have died with it would have died of flu or pneumonia anyway. This has killed far less than what flu did a few years ago, yet we didn’t have the news constantly fear mongering about it all the time.

I also saw the other day that flu is killing more people than Covid at the moment. So, which one is worse? And why don’t we lockdown every time flu comes around?

Good to see more and more people are questioning the narrative though and seeing it for what it really is.

Ok, now I understand why Harry Wilson’s Tackle has you on ignore...
 
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BeHereNow

New member
Mar 2, 2016
1,759
Southwick
COVID-19 is a virus that spreads either through face to face contact or on contaminated surfaces. Are you seriously suggesting that bringing in rules that reduce face to face contact and people touching surfaces didn't reduce the spread of it, and by extension hospital admissions and deaths?

Dying of COVID-19 is categorised as having had a positive test in the 28 days before dying (this was changed to put a time limit on it for reasons you are hinting at). Bearing in mind people weren't getting tested at all in the early days I think that is as good a method as any of counting them.

The Flu killing as many people as Covid-19 in the UK is incorrect and has been disproved several times on here.

Wel, it’s not incorrect. You tell me when Covid has killed over 28,000 in 1 month.

No, I am not suggesting the reduction face to face contact has, ultimately, stopped the spread of this particular virus, it has merely drawn it out for much longer. The people who died ‘of’ it were always going to get it unless we developed herd immunity as quickly as possible.

When the government made us have the 3 week lockdown, they must have fully well known that the virus wouldn’t just disappear. In a way, the lockdown has proven that it does nothing to stop people from getting it. If the government really wanted to stop Covid getting here, they would’ve stop travel into this country, but they didn’t, they knew exactly what they were doing.

No, I don’t think the recording of other deaths as a Covid death is very helpful at all. It just makes it looks more dangerous than it is as keeps people in fear, but that’s probably what they want. They way they’ve gone about it is psychological warfare.

Since March, I’ve been inside my house about 98% of the time. I’m 29, single, should be meeting people, trying to get somewhere in my life. I am unable to because of a virus that people have been scared into believing is worse than flu. How do you think I feel? How would you feel?

Half a year of my life wasted for a virus that was always going to infect a certain amount of people, lockdown or not.
 


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