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[News] The Coronavirus Good News thread
- Thread starter Bozza
- Start date
Mackenzie
Old Brightonian
So glad to see this thread back on track.
Toby Young will be furious he wasn't invited along. Almost like these so-called profs and experts don't deem him worth listening to.
I like reading his stuff - balanced and at least looking for the good news without any sensationalism either way. We need more like him to counter the tide of negativity.
More positive news on the hunt for a vaccine today too
German vaccine set for human testing
A possible vaccine for Covid-19, developed by German firm BioNTech and US drug giant Pfizer, has been given the green light for human testing.
The trial will begin with 200 healthy people, aged between 18 and 55, being given the vaccine.
"This is a good sign that the development of a vaccine in Germany is so progressed that we can start with the first studies," the country's health minister, Jens Spahn, said Wednesday. "At the same time the advice remains important that it will take months. This is an injection in the body. Safety first is the guideline for such a vaccine."
Only a handful of vaccine candidates have been approved for clinical testing on humans globally, and experts caution that it will take at least a year for a viable vaccine to be developed.
Scientists at the UK's Oxford University are starting human trials of a possible vaccine this week. Other clinical trials are taking place in the US and China.
Mr Banana
Tedious chump
I feel like Sikora decided at the outset that he wanted to become a pop scientist, or at least get more attention. He seems to have suspiciously changed his entire tune on the NHS.
Can't believe (if disbelief exists anymore) that Cambridge are giving Hitchens a voice. He's gone beyond nuclear recently on the caricature that he'd relentlessly built.
Some scientists (pitiful apologies if this has been mentioned on this tome, as ever) are saying that Oxford's vaccine tests carry significantly fewer risks (and could, therefore, potentially bear fruit quicker) because they are relative tweaks of previous successful vaccines.
Can't believe (if disbelief exists anymore) that Cambridge are giving Hitchens a voice. He's gone beyond nuclear recently on the caricature that he'd relentlessly built.
Some scientists (pitiful apologies if this has been mentioned on this tome, as ever) are saying that Oxford's vaccine tests carry significantly fewer risks (and could, therefore, potentially bear fruit quicker) because they are relative tweaks of previous successful vaccines.
[TWEET]1253006149110116352[/TWEET]
Postman Pat
Well-known member
Twenty thousand households in England are being contacted to take part in a study to track coronavirus in the general population.
The study aims to improve understanding of infection levels and how many people may have immunity to the virus.
Volunteers will provide nose and throat swabs on a regular basis to see whether they have the virus.
The findings will help to inform the government's strategy for easing the lockdown.
The tracking study being announced by the Department of Health is the largest to date of the population in England, with 20,000 households being approached by the Office for National Statistics to take part in the pilot phase.
Tests will initially be undertaken once a week for five weeks and then every month for 12 months.
Both those with symptoms of the virus and without will be tested - with participants drawn from a representative sample of the UK population by age and geography.
Blood samples (antibody tests) will also be taken from adults in 1,000 households to ascertain whether they have had the virus in the past and have developed some form of immunity. Monthly samples will continue to be taken for a year.
One of the great unknowns when it comes to coronavirus is just how many people are infected but do not show symptoms.
There is some evidence that as many as half of infections are asymptomatic.
Knowing the extent of this will be crucial in managing the gradual moves out of lockdown and relaxing restrictions.
This study will provide help with that - and more. With the initial results expected early in May it will also provide some clue to the extent of transmission in the community overall.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-52390970
The study aims to improve understanding of infection levels and how many people may have immunity to the virus.
Volunteers will provide nose and throat swabs on a regular basis to see whether they have the virus.
The findings will help to inform the government's strategy for easing the lockdown.
The tracking study being announced by the Department of Health is the largest to date of the population in England, with 20,000 households being approached by the Office for National Statistics to take part in the pilot phase.
Tests will initially be undertaken once a week for five weeks and then every month for 12 months.
Both those with symptoms of the virus and without will be tested - with participants drawn from a representative sample of the UK population by age and geography.
Blood samples (antibody tests) will also be taken from adults in 1,000 households to ascertain whether they have had the virus in the past and have developed some form of immunity. Monthly samples will continue to be taken for a year.
One of the great unknowns when it comes to coronavirus is just how many people are infected but do not show symptoms.
There is some evidence that as many as half of infections are asymptomatic.
Knowing the extent of this will be crucial in managing the gradual moves out of lockdown and relaxing restrictions.
This study will provide help with that - and more. With the initial results expected early in May it will also provide some clue to the extent of transmission in the community overall.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-52390970
LamieRobertson
Not awoke
Another refund from an insurance company ...staff fully employed etc etc
With fewer cars on the roads during the UK lockdown, we’re seeing a reduction in the number of claims coming in. We want to give the money we would’ve used to pay these claims back to our loyal customers in this difficult time.
If your car or van is one of the 4.4 million vehicles insured with us on 20 April 2020, you’ll get an automatic £25 refund per vehicle.
You don’t need to contact us or do anything at all at this stage, we’ll be in touch between now and the end of May with more details about the refund.
If you have any questions in the meantime, please take a look at our Stay at Home Refund page which answers questions around the refund.
Championing community efforts
Your refund is part of a wider Coronavirus response. As well as refunding £110 million to our customers, we’re supporting the incredible efforts of emergency services and NHS workers staff, the wider community and our staff in the following ways:
tick We’ve made policy changes for NHS and emergency services workers to make their life easier in the event of an accident and keep them on the road
tick A £4 million Support Fund has been set up to offer funding and support throughout south Wales – our home for the past 27 years
tick Our dedicated staff are all receiving full pay. No staff are being furloughed under the UK Government-funded scheme
Once again, thank you for being a Gladiator customer and for everything you’re doing at this unprecedented time.
For now, stay safe and we’ll get back in touch with you in the coming weeks with more information about your refund, you don’t need to do anything.
...oh I should say my van is insured via them and I’m not staying at home ...all the time
With fewer cars on the roads during the UK lockdown, we’re seeing a reduction in the number of claims coming in. We want to give the money we would’ve used to pay these claims back to our loyal customers in this difficult time.
If your car or van is one of the 4.4 million vehicles insured with us on 20 April 2020, you’ll get an automatic £25 refund per vehicle.
You don’t need to contact us or do anything at all at this stage, we’ll be in touch between now and the end of May with more details about the refund.
If you have any questions in the meantime, please take a look at our Stay at Home Refund page which answers questions around the refund.
Championing community efforts
Your refund is part of a wider Coronavirus response. As well as refunding £110 million to our customers, we’re supporting the incredible efforts of emergency services and NHS workers staff, the wider community and our staff in the following ways:
tick We’ve made policy changes for NHS and emergency services workers to make their life easier in the event of an accident and keep them on the road
tick A £4 million Support Fund has been set up to offer funding and support throughout south Wales – our home for the past 27 years
tick Our dedicated staff are all receiving full pay. No staff are being furloughed under the UK Government-funded scheme
Once again, thank you for being a Gladiator customer and for everything you’re doing at this unprecedented time.
For now, stay safe and we’ll get back in touch with you in the coming weeks with more information about your refund, you don’t need to do anything.
...oh I should say my van is insured via them and I’m not staying at home ...all the time
https://twitter.com/ProfKarolSikora/status/1253324154209615872?s=20
A big drop in fatalities today.
616 today vs 861 last Thursday and 881 two weeks ago. Cases steady with more testing.
I understand the Government's caution, but there is no doubt we're past the peak.
Stay calm and look at the data - we are getting through it.
A big drop in fatalities today.
616 today vs 861 last Thursday and 881 two weeks ago. Cases steady with more testing.
I understand the Government's caution, but there is no doubt we're past the peak.
Stay calm and look at the data - we are getting through it.
Robert Peston, ITV.............
'Could the minister explain why apparently OVERLOADED planes are being allowed to fly from Asia - without passengers - to the UK during this pandemic, and can he confirm he going to put a stop to this immediately ?'
- Jul 10, 2003
- 27,753
Lots of positive stuff in government briefing re testing and track & trace (and explains what they've been up to at the theatre of trees last few days) 
Lots of positive stuff in government briefing re testing and track & trace (and explains what they've been up to at the theatre of trees last few days)
Quite noticeable how the press are struggling to find anything to moan about today (until the goon from the Argus did so about 'all the people coming to Brighton'
)
Quite noticeable how the press are struggling to find anything to moan about today (until the goon from the Argus did so about 'all the people coming to Brighton'
Lots of positive stuff in government briefing re testing and track & trace (and explains what they've been up to at the theatre of trees last few days)
Yeah I saw that as positive. Should be testing far more within a week or so, and ultimately that is the way we get on top of this thing, and keep it down.
- Thread starter
- #1,297
A preliminary study of 3,000 New Yorkers found that 13.9% tested positive for coronavirus antibodies, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Thursday.
The revelation provides further evidence that the coronavirus spread earlier and infected more people than official tallies show.
Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease expert at Johns Hopkins University, said New York's antibody testing results could be good news, as it means that the virus's fatality rate may be lower than the official fatality rate.
"It tells us this virus is much more widespread than we thought. When we look at the models that are using hospitalization rates and case fatality ratios, that those are likely overestimating because they're based on skewed data," he said. "The hospitalization rate may be much lower because the denominator (of people infected) is so much bigger.
"I think it's also in a way reassuring, meaning that we are developing some immunity to this. There are people that have mild illness that don't know they are sick, and those individuals may be part of how we move forward as we start to think about reopening certain parts of the country."
In New York, Gov. Cuomo said days ago that they would begin antibody testing to try to get a snapshot of how many New Yorkers have had the coronavirus and developed antibodies to fight the virus. The tests were performed on 3,000 random adults who were outside of the home, he said, so it was not an entirely random sample.
The results found that 13.9% of people tested statewide and 21% of people tested in New York City had antibodies for the virus.
If those rates hold for the state's 19.5 million people and the city's 8.4 million people, then about 2.7 million people in the state and about 1.8 million people in the city had the virus -- numbers that are multiple times higher than the official state counts.
Source >>> https://edition.cnn.com/2020/04/23/health/us-coronavirus-thursday/index.html
The revelation provides further evidence that the coronavirus spread earlier and infected more people than official tallies show.
Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease expert at Johns Hopkins University, said New York's antibody testing results could be good news, as it means that the virus's fatality rate may be lower than the official fatality rate.
"It tells us this virus is much more widespread than we thought. When we look at the models that are using hospitalization rates and case fatality ratios, that those are likely overestimating because they're based on skewed data," he said. "The hospitalization rate may be much lower because the denominator (of people infected) is so much bigger.
"I think it's also in a way reassuring, meaning that we are developing some immunity to this. There are people that have mild illness that don't know they are sick, and those individuals may be part of how we move forward as we start to think about reopening certain parts of the country."
In New York, Gov. Cuomo said days ago that they would begin antibody testing to try to get a snapshot of how many New Yorkers have had the coronavirus and developed antibodies to fight the virus. The tests were performed on 3,000 random adults who were outside of the home, he said, so it was not an entirely random sample.
The results found that 13.9% of people tested statewide and 21% of people tested in New York City had antibodies for the virus.
If those rates hold for the state's 19.5 million people and the city's 8.4 million people, then about 2.7 million people in the state and about 1.8 million people in the city had the virus -- numbers that are multiple times higher than the official state counts.
Source >>> https://edition.cnn.com/2020/04/23/health/us-coronavirus-thursday/index.html
Tom Hark Preston Park
Will Post For Cash
- Jul 6, 2003
- 72,321
Story of one hospital's inspired ingenuity in saving lives of COVID-19 patients 
'COVID-19 death rates with 'black boxes' for sleep disorder
Clinicians say there has been less need for the more intrusive ventilators and they have had a far quicker patient recovery rate.'
https://news.sky.com/story/amp/coro...-with-black-boxes-for-sleep-disorder-11977789
'COVID-19 death rates with 'black boxes' for sleep disorder
Clinicians say there has been less need for the more intrusive ventilators and they have had a far quicker patient recovery rate.'
https://news.sky.com/story/amp/coro...-with-black-boxes-for-sleep-disorder-11977789
Perfidious Albion
Well-known member
How about a song and video for our times.......Alicia Keys ..Good Job
LamieRobertson
Not awoke
Story of one hospital's inspired ingenuity in saving lives of COVID-19 patients
'COVID-19 death rates with 'black boxes' for sleep disorder
Clinicians say there has been less need for the more intrusive ventilators and they have had a far quicker patient recovery rate.'
https://news.sky.com/story/amp/coro...-with-black-boxes-for-sleep-disorder-11977789
Brilliant idea