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6 Oct, 5 tweets, 4 min read
1. “Why were we faffing around with Excel when the scientists were telling us not to?" @skynewsniall

“The system was designed in conjunction with our scientists... at PHE & the JBC they're all scientists who have been involved in this." @RishiSunak
2. “Scientists” didn’t decide on using Excel. It’s a reporting/admin tool

The scientists would have told IT what info the database needed to hold. The IT team should have designed a database fit for that purpose rather than using an old version of Excel.
3. Sunak is also allowed to claim: “We are now testing 250,000 people a day”

That’s the figure for tests “processed” NOT people tested

When @MattHancock claimed 226,000 people were being tested on 21/9, the actual figure turned out to be around 82,000.
4. Sunak says “they’re also all scientists” at the #JointBiosecurityCentre

We know the #JBC it is headed by Claire Gardner seconded from GCHQ

Unlike SAGE, the JBC don’t share data, minutes, reasoning behind decisions

We don’t even know it’s composition
In August, 70 clinical virologists wrote to Vallance & Whitty expressing concerns that testing contracts were being awarded on apparently ideological grounds

Today, a nobel-winning scientist said the govt are "thwarting independent labs" testing efforts.
theguardian.com/world/2020/oct…

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More from @StefSimanowitz

Stefan Simanowitz Profile picture
5 Oct
1/. Ten days ago, @MattHancock launched "#GenomeUK: the future of healthcare", a major new 10-year genomic healthcare strategy

Happening on a Saturday without much fanfare, it didn't get much news coverage beyond the biomedical press

And yet this is big.
2/. The launch of a new decade-long national health strategy should be big news at anytime, but coming amidst the #COVID19 pandemic & with the potential to shift genome research to the heart of No.10's programme for govt, it is of particular significance.
3/. Genome research has HUGE potential social & cost benefits, not just in medicine

In the right hands & with the appropriate checks & balances it is very important but, when it is being rolled out by this govt in conjunction with companies like #Palantir, scrutiny is needed.
Read 7 tweets
Stefan Simanowitz Profile picture
5 Oct
Wow!

"The UK offers companies system-wide collaborative working, a dynamic regulatory system, active life sciences & increasingly expanding access to rich longitudinal data from the NHS’s 65 million patients"

A Dept of Trade / NHS "invitation to invest" directory-cms-public.s3.amazonaws.com/documents/Inve… ImageImageImageImage
Last week, the govt launched #GenomeUK.

The NHS is already implementing whole-genome sequencing as routine care in order to sequence 500,000 whole genomes by 2024.

NHS Wales just introduced a programme to sequence the genomes of critically ill newborns.
https://t.co/vhpoeUHxFu
If you don’t want your data shared with companies for research, you should have opted out before 30 Sept

You can still opt out but even if you do, they can still share your data if they anonymise it

The fear is that data dumps may have already been done.
nhs.uk/your-nhs-data-…
Read 4 tweets
Stefan Simanowitz Profile picture
3 Oct
No distancing, no masks & this photo (via @nytimes) shows the #AmyConeyBarrett super-spreader event last week was INDOOR as well as outdoor, despite official claims

Attendees who later caught #COVID19:
Donald Trump
Melania Trump
Mike Lee
Thom Tillis
Kellyanne Conway
John Jenkins
Trump's campaign manager, Bill Stepien, has also tested positive for #COVID19

This comes days after telling staff without symptoms there's no need for them to quarantine

Perhaps, the entire White House should be put under quarantine! #DonaldTrump #TrumpCovid #TrumpHasCovid @aoc
In early March, @BorisJohnson boasted about shaking hands with #COVID19 patients

5/5 - PM’s #TakeItOnTheChin comments

12/3 - @peston reveals that #HerdImmunity is the govt strategy

13/3 - SAGE advises lockdown

16/3 - SAGE informs govt

25/3 - Lockdown
Read 6 tweets
Stefan Simanowitz Profile picture
2 Oct
1/. One thing the govt excel at is shifting blame

They blame the scientists & the science, the students & the teachers. They even blamed NHS workers for using too much PPE!

Now the PM says the COVID spike is a result of a "fraying of people's discipline"
bbc.co.uk/news/uk-543921…
2/. Dido Harding said the rise in demand for COVID tests was unexpected & BLAMED it partly on schools not preparing enough over summer

Like the PM's "invisible mugger", it was "unexpected" even though public health experts had warned about this for months news.sky.com/story/coronavi…
3/. On the #CareHomeScandal, @BorisJohnson claimed:

* “clinicians made the final decision” to discharge from hospitals even though they were ordered to by govt

* care homes didn't "follow procedures"

* scientists didn’t know about asymptomatic spread
Read 4 tweets
Stefan Simanowitz Profile picture
2 Oct
The govt are acting as if they are beyond parliamentary scrutiny?

Q: Why are people are still unable to get tested & forced to drive hundreds of miles for a test? @TanDhesi

A: “I will not have this divisive language. I just won’t have it.
@MattHancock
It is a deliberate & well-rehearsed strategy

If asked about any govt failings, ministers go on the offensive

This was @BorisJohnson ystdy, accusing @Keir_Starmer of "continually trying to snipe from the sidelines & undermine what we are trying to do.”
"And so by malice, stealth & brutishness a pattern is set. Less & less transparency. Less & less scrutiny. Less & less accountability. Until they are entirely unleashed to bundle aside the truth and speak only their truths."

A lesson from history. Emerson Warner writing in 1949.
Read 9 tweets
Stefan Simanowitz Profile picture
2 Oct
Two days ago, #Trump mocked #Biden on masks: "I don't wear masks like him. Every time you see him, he's got a mask. He could be speaking 200 feet away and he shows up with the biggest mask I've ever seen."

Today, he tested positive for #COVID19. #BREAKING
Given his age (74) & weight (clinically obese), @realDonaldTrump is in the highest-risk group for hospitalization from #COVID19

Melania #Trump also tested positive for #coronavirus Image
In May, @SpeakerPelosi called Trump “morbidly obese”.

At around 240 pounds, Trump’s BMI is 30+ which is considered clinically obese.

As well as weight, people are at greater risk from coronavirus if they are 70 or older & have a condition affecting the brain or nerves. Image
Read 5 tweets

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