[News] The Coronavirus Good News thread

[LamieRobertson]

The good news is from New Zealand, the reduction in deaths and no deaths.

In relation to Sakora as this is a good news thread I won't say any more than take comments from the man who calls the NHS 'the last bastion of communism' and lied about being a being an honorary professor at Imperial with a big dose of salt.

Yes the news re NZ has been posted earlier and there is a thread re SIKORA on the covid19 forum ..as you say it’s a good news thread so perhaps comment over there ..what with you being a mod an all that I’m surprised u haven’t spotted it

Perhaps a mod could move your post

 

[LamieRobertson]

Could be COVID weakening but I suspect also a lot more mild cases are being picked up now because testing has been massively up scaled and a lot more people can now get tests only 1/3 of cases, averaging between 4-500 per day are now being diagnosed in hospital, in early April we had 5k+ cases diagnosed from hospitals ALONE.

That in itself shows the progress we are making in defeating this, really hoping there is no spike caused by the protests.

On another note, anyone worried by the mystical R number I would advise reading this, gives a good example of why whilst cases lower R number becomes far less useful

https://twitter.com/johndstats/status/1269961883760680960?s=21

Ye I mentioned that tweet earlier today if you want to scroll back

 

[blue-shifted]

Could be COVID weakening but I suspect also a lot more mild cases are being picked up now because testing has been massively up scaled and a lot more people can now get tests only 1/3 of cases, averaging between 4-500 per day are now being diagnosed in hospital, in early April we had 5k+ cases diagnosed from hospitals ALONE.

That in itself shows the progress we are making in defeating this, really hoping there is no spike caused by the protests.

On another note, anyone worried by the mystical R number I would advise reading this, gives a good example of why whilst cases lower R number becomes far less useful

https://twitter.com/johndstats/status/1269961883760680960?s=21

An excellent, important and uplifting point

 

[dazzer6666]

The numbers really are plummeting now across the board in the UK....no. of cases (less than 1% of those tested), no. in hospital, no. on ventilators (all down around 20% or more in a week) and no. of deaths (accepting the usual Monday dip, but today's number is half that of last Monday). Important for me too that the no. of new cases daily is dropping despite all the wailing about easing lockdown too early and widespread abuse of the rules - surely we'd be seeing the number edge up by now if we were heading this way after the BH weekend etc.

 

[Weststander]

The numbers really are plummeting now across the board in the UK....no. of cases (less than 1% of those tested), no. in hospital, no. on ventilators (all down around 20% or more in a week) and no. of deaths (accepting the usual Monday dip, but today's number is half that of last Monday). Important for me too that the no. of new cases daily is dropping despite all the wailing about easing lockdown too early and widespread abuse of the rules - surely we'd be seeing the number edge up by now if we were heading this way after the BH weekend etc.

Finally, we’re getting down to the low overall numbers seen in Italy and France for many weeks. A sense of relief from me, far fewer families suffering loss.

Great to hear also of zero newly reported deaths in London and Scotland.

No doubt there’ll be further mini peaks, for example the midweek bounce starting tomorrow, but today seemed to be a seminal moment in the UK’s metrics.

 

[LamieRobertson]

Finally, we’re getting down to the low overall numbers seen in Italy and France for many weeks. A sense of relief from me, far fewer families suffering loss.

Great to hear also that zero newly reported deaths in London and Scotland.

No doubt there’ll be further mini peaks, for example the midweek bounce starting tomorrow, but today seemed to be a seminal moment in the UK’s metrics.

Even the bbc website sounded mildly positive

 

[Weststander]

[/B]

Even the bbc website sounded mildly positive

Did Sky get a question? They have a depressing Batman and Robin duo who take turns to grandstand.

 

[dazzer6666]

Did Sky get a question? That have a depressing Batman and Robin duo who take turns to grandstand.

Yes......easiest to copy the BBC reporting which sums it up. Beth Rigby is right up there for me in the irritation stakes :

The Health Secretary Matt Hancock was notably spiky when asked by Beth Rigby of Sky News about a trade off between reopening the economy and the coronavirus death rate.

Mr Hancock repeated that in his view there was no such trade off - because a second surge in cases would be economically damaging.

 

[Mellotron]

Several on here saying that they cocked up because they have virtually zero immunity but I never bought that and seen no real evidence to support the argument. Nor do I but the argument that their economy will tank (any more than elsewhere) because of quarantine.

Tourism aside they can get back to normal, both socially and economically. I think they've done it absolutely right and well done on them for taking quick and decisive action

For the record - I never said they cocked up. Just that they may have to wait longer to open borders than many other countries, which looks likely to be true.

I absolutely think they’ve done things right overall, the borders issue might just be a small downside to an otherwise very positive situation for them.

 

[LamieRobertson]

Did Sky get a question? They have a depressing Batman and Robin duo who take turns to grandstand.

Ah I don’t know I don’t follow the daily ‘show’..have to say haven’t watched or listened to one since BJ first announced the restrictions in early March....I got the latest figures from another site which sends alerts...I just popped on to the bbc site to check their reaction...I was pleasantly surprised

 

[wehatepalace]

In relation to Sakora as this is a good news thread I won't say any more than take comments from the man who calls the NHS 'the last bastion of communism' and lied about being a being an honorary professor at Imperial with a big dose of salt.

A pinch of salt may be a bit harsh, whatever your views on the chap, he still knows far more about this whole shitstorm than you and I.

 

[The Wizard]

Mildly inappropriate post from a moderator to be fair, regardless of his past he’s helped a lot of people through this shitstorm, amongst a hail of negative f**kwittery on Twitter.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/08/asy...-arent-spreading-new-infections-who-says.html

This article is potentially massive and it’s from WHO, apparently asymptomatic transmission is exceptionally rare.

Coronavirus patients without symptoms aren't driving the spread of the virus, World Health Organization officials said Monday, casting doubt on concerns by some researchers that the disease could be difficult to contain due to asymptomatic infections.

Some people, particularly young and otherwise healthy individuals, who are infected by the coronavirus never develop symptoms or only develop mild symptoms. Others might not develop symptoms until days after they were actually infected.

Preliminary evidence from the earliest outbreaks indicated that the virus could spread from person-to-person contact, even if the carrier didn't have symptoms. But WHO officials now say that while asymptomatic spread can occur, it is not the main way it's being transmitted.

"From the data we have, it still seems to be rare that an asymptomatic person actually transmits onward to a secondary individual," Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, head of WHO's emerging diseases and zoonosis unit, said at a news briefing from the United Nations agency's Geneva headquarters. "It's very rare."

Government responses should focus on detecting and isolating infected people with symptoms, and tracking anyone who might have come into contact with them, Van Kerkhove said. She acknowledged that some studies have indicated asymptomatic or presymptomatic spread in nursing homes and in household settings.

More research and data are needed to "truly answer" the question of whether the coronavirus can spread widely through asymptomatic carriers, Van Kerkhove added.

"We have a number of reports from countries who are doing very detailed contact tracing," she said. "They're following asymptomatic cases. They're following contacts. And they're not finding secondary transmission onward. It's very rare."

If asymptomatic spread proves to not be a main driver of coronavirus transmission, the policy implications could be tremendous. A report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published on April 1 cited the "potential for presymptomatic transmission" as a reason for the importance of social distancing.

"These findings also suggest that to control the pandemic, it might not be enough for only persons with symptoms to limit their contact with others because persons without symptoms might transmit infection," the CDC study said.

To be sure, asymptomatic and presymptomatic spread of the virus appears to still be happening, Van Kerkhove said but remains rare. That finding has important implications for how to screen for the virus and limit its spread.

"What we really want to be focused on is following the symptomatic cases," Van Kerkhove said. "If we actually followed all of the symptomatic cases, isolated those cases, followed the contacts and quarantined those contacts, we would drastically reduce" the outbreak.

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

Finally, we’re getting down to the low overall numbers seen in Italy and France for many weeks. A sense of relief from me, far fewer families suffering loss.

Great to hear also of zero newly reported deaths in London and Scotland.

No doubt there’ll be further mini peaks, for example the midweek bounce starting tomorrow, but today seemed to be a seminal moment in the UK’s metrics.

Turning the news on and it not being 24/7 covid was the turning point for many

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

There was a virus expert on radio earlier who said there are hundreds if strains of Covid 19. News to me. It mutates a lot, then. That means it can change a lot. Successful viruses like the common cold are not horribly lethal. So.....I wonder whether 'successful' covid is spread quite well but isn't as lethal as the original bat version.

I have posted elsewhere that I can't explain how covid crashes everwhere, regardless of wealth, healcare or the size of the peak. Maybe it is simply the product of the really lethal version spreading less effectively than the milder strains. Pure speculation of course, but . . . .I'm feeling a bit more positive....(and....exhale). Till tomorrow, anyway.

 

[LamieRobertson]

There was a virus expert on radio earlier who said there are hundreds if strains of Covid 19. News to me. It mutates a lot, then. That means it can change a lot. Successful viruses like the common cold are not horribly lethal. So.....I wonder whether 'successful' covid is spread quite well but isn't as lethal as the original bat version.

I have posted elsewhere that I can't explain how covid crashes everwhere, regardless of wealth, healcare or the size of the peak. Maybe it is simply the product of the really lethal version spreading less effectively than the milder strains. Pure speculation of course, but . . . .I'm feeling a bit more positive....(and....exhale). Till tomorrow, anyway.

You are always welcome to visit us ‘soppy’ lot

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

You are always welcome to visit us ‘soppy’ lot

You're very kind.

Now, I'm off to to immerse myself in the music of Fraunhofer Diffraction and gaze into the middle distance, with one eyebrow doing that thing. You know?

 

[LamieRobertson]

You're very kind.

Now, I'm off to to immerse myself in the music of Fraunhofer Diffraction and gaze into the middle distance, with one eyebrow doing that thing. You know?

View attachment 124651

Is that why Mrs Wilson married you....the eyebrow thing

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Is that why Mrs Wilson married you....the eyebrow thing

That, and my enormous....opinion.

33 years ago a young medical student working in my lab, attempting a bit of greasing, which clearly backfired spectacularly, said to me 'May I have the benefit of your enormous opinion?'. After I'd stopped laughing, I told him to **** right off out of my face. Irrelevant to Covid, or indeed anything, but a heartwarming story, you'll agree?

 

[dazzer6666]

I'm with the Prof on this :

[tweet]1270255528623644673[/tweet]

My optimistic prediction:

Getting almost back to the 'old normal' by August 1st, with minimal social distancing, should be our goal.

NZ has done it entirely!

Weddings, sports, parties - aiming for August would give people hope.

It's possible if we all follow the rules now.

 

[Biscuit Barrel]

Britain is about to pass a significant landmark - at midnight on Wednesday it will have gone two full months without burning coal to generate power.

A decade ago about 40% of the country's electricity came from coal; coronavirus is part of the story, but far from all.

When Britain went into lockdown, electricity demand plummeted; the National Grid responded by taking power plants off the network.

The four remaining coal-fired plants were among the first to be shut down.

The last coal generator came off the system at midnight on 9 April. No coal has been burnt for electricity since.

The current coal-free period smashes the previous record of 18 days, 6 hours and 10 minutes which was set in June last year.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-52973089