Coronavirus

[Valid Pint]

The only motivation behind that article is an author desperate to protect their wealth or those they shill for.

Saying shutdown is happening only for "political reasons" doesn't really make any sense when Governments of every form of political persuasion are operating very similar versions.

The two notable ones that haven't - Belarus and Sweden - could not be more opposite politically.

Slutsk are still top of the Belarus Premier football league btw.

[RobertT]

Isn't that one of the rightwing nutjob papers? Not so good on american media.

The Opinion piece writer is pretty much a conspiracy theorist, fully in on the New World Order, Deep State, everyone is coming to take my Christian religion from, led by George Soros, Muslims all dance a happy dance when Americans die type.  Basically shits going down, be afraid article after article.

[Red Frog]

Literally the best thing about COVID-19, and it might be the only good thing, is that it doesn't give a flying fuck about politics. It is completely unspinnable. In these times, that is refreshing.

[RobertT]

One of the points made was that quoting 100k deaths for the USA was over playing it to scare people, yet it seems entirely plausible we are close to that already given the chances are under reporting vs. over reporting.  People of her ilk also fail to look beyond their narrow border - she mentions how under reporting is possible for political reasons, but fails to notice the entire fucking world is facing the same challenges with so many different governments in place.

[pauld]

Literally the best thing about COVID-19, and it might be the only good thing, is that it doesn't give a flying fuck about politics. It is completely unspinnable.

Erm, have you watched any of the Downing St Press Briefings? Or Johnson's victory speech on Monday? Or seen any of the headlines in the Mail, Sun, Telegraph etc? Spinning like a top, the lot of them

[Red Frog]

Erm, have you watched any of the Downing St Press Briefings? Or Johnson's victory speech on Monday? Or seen any of the headlines in the Mail, Sun, Telegraph etc? Spinning like a top, the lot of them

That's them, not it. It doesn't care what people say. It's completely neutral. It only punishes poor decisions, and recedes in the face of good ones.

[pauld]

That's them, not it. It doesn't care what people say. It's completely neutral. It only punishes poor decisions, and recedes in the face of good ones.

My apologies, it seems to be my day for whooshing myself

[mexico red]

I see sadly you’ve now officially gone past spain for deaths

[Saxondale]

How is it out there Mex?  A bit of freedom yet?

[RobertT]

I see sadly you’ve now officially gone past spain for deaths

The deaths in Care Homes was included and backdated - don't believe Spain includes it yet, so expect that to go up as well.  All death totals will be revised upwards in the months and years to come though.  We are probably somewhere between 500k and 1m worldwide in reality.

[RobertT]

https://www.foxnews.com/media/youtube-video-removed-coronavirus-free-speech

This is sort of funny and relates to the previous article mentioned.

The context here is the two Docs who started pushing the theory that Covid-19 was being overplayed are just Urgent Care Docs with no real expert knowledge.  They've extrapolated some data from their own clinic and assumed it can be used Globally.  More importantly, most Healthcare facilities are run as businesses here and Covid-19 has started to have serious impacts on people popping to ED's and Urgent Care, out of fear of getting the virus.  It means these two are no doubt currently feeling financial pressure with reduced revenue.  A warning to anyone who fancies a fully or primarily private system.

[mexico red]

How is it out there Mex?  A bit of freedom yet?

We are being allowed out on Saturday to exercise for the first time. Individuals only not in pairs. It’s day 54 for me. Hope you and your family are well mate

The deaths in Care Homes was included and backdated - don't believe Spain includes it yet, so expect that to go up as well.  All death totals will be revised upwards in the months and years to come though.  We are probably somewhere between 500k and 1m worldwide in reality.

I thought spain included care homes?

[RobertT]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/24/is-comparing-covid-19-death-rates-across-europe-helpful-

Seems not, but I don't think they/you are unique in that respect.

[pauld]

This is why the only really useful figure is overall excess deaths. That tells you how many people have died who would not otherwise have been expected to do so. And it flattens out a lot of the other factors, like how countries collect their stats - Belgium are including pretty much everyone who dies in a care home who has anything looking like Covid19 symptoms so are being criticised for probably overestimating deaths; we are only now including care home deaths, but then only when there is a positive test (and once the first few cases have tested positive in a home they don't bother testing subsequent cases) or GP cites it as cause of death, so likely under-reporting. Overall excess deaths flattens out those inconsistencies, and factors in people who died of other causes who wouldn't have done if we hadn't had the outbreak (patients unable to get treatment for other illnesses, suicides etc). That "other causes" factor is likely to be much more significant when for example this really hits some parts of Africa.

Chris Giles updated his extrapolation of the overall excess deaths in the UK to date to include stats released yesterday to 47,100
https://twitter.com/ChrisGiles_/status/1255497006300237826

[Batch]

bit embarrassing to be outdone by the mail you'd think, but no no, Hancock ignores that and powers on with the praise.

https://twitter.com/MattHancock/status/1255256404207812611?s=19