Has anyone else entered a new stage of pandemic fatigue? (NOT the same as lockdown fatigue!)
The summer wasn't great but it was "ok-ish", but now everyone's being whipped back to school, uni etc. while the virus rages like a forest fire, the situation is much less tolerable...
What really grinds my teeth is that there appears to be a sliding scale with "different, but relatively safe life" at one end and "very dangerous normality" at the other, and the UK government is pushing hell for leather for "normality".
We are ALL condemned by their choice.
And the other problem is Trump.
He normalises such beyond-the-pale behaviour that the UK Government can do literally whatever it wants and yet it will NEVER be as bad as what he's doing. So they feel empowered to run wild.
Anyway, sorry for the mini rant.
Have as good an evening as you can, under the circumstances. And stay safe!
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After factoring in the missing COVID-19 data in England, it's clear that cases are rocketing in every part of the UK.
The graphs below show 7-day new cases per 100,000 population, in each of the 4 nations. They're based on the specimen date. (The date that samples were taken.)
You can also see the impact of the stricter lockdown measures in Scotland and Wales over the summer. Cases there fell much further than in England, to a very low baseline.
But now, sadly, everywhere in the UK is being hit - badly.
Also worth noting: every part of the UK exceeded the UK Government threshold for imposing a quarantine (20 new cases per 100,000 over a 7-day period) since the beginning of September. Now we're almost 4x that.
In other words, if the UK were a foreign country, we'd quarantine it!
[THREAD]
You may well be familiar with the UK Government's coronavirus dashboard, the main website they use to report data on a daily basis for the whole of the UK.
What you may not realise is that almost nothing you see on the summary page is accurate. coronavirus.data.gov.uk
There are a wide range of reasons for the data being incorrect or out of date. Combined, the result is that almost everything you see on that first page underplays the severity of the pandemic.
The first thing is, all graphs are 7-day averages, not actual value graphs.
Secondly, summary Testing data includes some people who have been tested to see if they had COVID-19 in the past.
You need "Tests processed by Pillar" (Pillars 1 and 2) on the detailed Testing page to see number of currently infected people being tested. coronavirus.data.gov.uk/testing
Narrator: The cost is underestimated by 5x. Most are not entirely new hospitals. There are no cost savings from Brexit, only added costs. But apart from that...
Also worth noting that they sacrificed the story of Trump for this dishrag propaganda puff piece.
- Passengers going to the EU will be able to buy duty-free alcohol and tobacco products like they can now for non-EU destinations.
- But they will no longer be allowed to bring in unlimited amounts of goods from the EU for personal use. Instead, there will be specific limits.
- The government is getting rid of tax-free sales to all destinations (that will hit retailers in airports, like Dixons) - they had to do that because WTO rules demand equal treatment for all countries, so it was either that or extend tax-free sales to EU destinations.