THREAD: quick overview of where we are with Covid in the UK.

TLDR: some optimism but a long way to go. NHS will struggle for a bit yet :-( 1/11
First, cases have come down over last week which is good BUT they have climbed over this week.

Is this a blip? or is this is the impact of people going back to work after Xmas, more stuff open & more kids in school than March lockdown? This week should tell us more. 2/11
The proportion of people tested who have Covid is coming down in ALL nations - esp in NI and Wales. Good news!

BUT this misses data from later part of week which had higher case numbers & rates are still v high everywhere (we were at 1-2% over summer!) 3/11
In England, positivity rate dropped in most regions - esp prev Tier 4 regions which have effectively been locked down since 19 Dec. NW, West Midlands & SW barely moved though. 4/11
Hospital occupancy in all nations is higher than in Spring. NI, England and Wales about *twice* as high as April peak.

Wales and NI starting to come down which is really good news. 5/11
Hospital admissions in England are much higher than April peak. Some signs that they are stabilising over last week - but we need to get them to come down FAST.

Many more people admitted to hospital since Sept than in the first wave - and well over 100K since December :-( 6/11
Regionally, London, East and SE are starting to fall in admissions - really good news but it's taken over 3 weeks of tier 4/lockdown to get there. Occupancy should follow soon but from an insanely high level.

Mids, SW still rising very fast which is bad 7/11
Don't think London & SE are ok. Critical care occupancy is higher than 1st wave & taking longer to come down. We urgently need to accelerate drop in cases to relieve pressure.

The numbers in these hospital charts are real people, struggling to breathe & exhausted NHS staff 8/11
Deaths registered by week in ONS and equiv have gone up to 1st Jan but are still very lagged. Given the big increases we see in reported deaths (2nd pic) this will go up steeply soon. 9/11
Good news on vaccination. The UK is on track to meet the 2 million a week target and over 40% of over 80s have now been vaccinated. Well over 300,000 people were vaccinated on Thursday - it's ramping up! 10/11
Summary: good that some signs of cases reducing and admissions plateauing - but concerning that cases have risen over past week again.

Need cases to drop faster: Support isolation, reduce what counts as "key worker" for work outside home & schools. Generous furlough 11/11

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More from @chrischirp

17 Jan
THREAD: for anyone working with those or living with long term conditions whose care is being disrupted by Covid.

We asked parents of kids with Congenital Heart Disease (CHD) and adults living with CHD about their 1st wave experience...

Important lessons emerged! 1/6
Firstly, a lot depended on how well someone felt - people coping well with their CHD or those who were seen just before March lockdown were less worried. People with more complex disease were more likely to be worried and some had had no contact at all from specialists. 2/6 Image
Many people spoke about getting different messages from different people - particularly about shielding and whether they shoud be at work / school.
People who had access to someone they could call for advice really valued it.
Some GP experiences were better than others... 3/6 Image
Read 6 tweets
16 Jan
THREAD: on the connection between age, infection, hospitalisation, death and vaccination...

TLDR: it matters! so read 7 tweets :-)

Each bar in the charts shows the proportion of people in each of the coloured age categories. 1/7
Confirmed cases are more likely to be working age adults & older teenagers. Young kids (esp pre-school) less likely to show symptoms (& get tested) & poss less likely to get infected. Over 65s less likely to be exposed.

Vaccinating >70s is *not* going to stop Covid cases. 2/7
But although relatively few people over 65 get infected, they are the majority of people in *hospital* with Covid - they're much more likely to get really sick.

Vaccinating >70s WILL relieve a lot of pressure on hospitals (by March).

We still need to drive cases down NOW. 3/7
Read 9 tweets
11 Jan
THREAD: good news / bad news / good new on covid with data up to 5/6th Jan by date of test.

Thanks to Bob Hawkins who did the charts for me :-)
First, both Wales and N. Ireland now seeing sustained decreases in case positivity rates. Long may this continue.

Scotland is definitely flattenning and England looks like it is too. WIth any luck, both will start trending down over the next few days.
Looking at English regions, places that have been tier 4 equiv restrictions for longest (inc Christmas) are seeing little or no increase (SE, East, London). This is GOOD.

Bad news is that West Mids & NW saw big increase week after Christmas. Birmingham & Liverpool struggling.
Read 6 tweets
8 Jan
LONG THREAD: Digging into UK Covid numbers & what they mean & what's in store...

TLDR: everything is bad and getting worse.

Except vaccines. They are a shining light - we just need to give a LOT more of them.

Read on (25 tweets!)...
CASES: Cases are climbing very fast - over 735K cases in last 2 weeks, compared to 413K the 2 weeks before that. These increases *will* mean more hospital admissions and more deaths over the coming weeks.

I'm afraid that is inevitable. Image
Drops in testing over Christmas & New Year, and longer times to get tests mean that most recent 5 or 6 days is a bit unreliable.

Cases & +vity show massive increases in England & NI & also steep from Scotland. Wales is mixed. Don't trust v recent plateau - could be lag. ImageImage
Read 26 tweets
7 Jan
THREAD: Will lockdown work?

We're starting several weeks of lockdown in England while we try to vaccinate as many vulnerable people as possible.

Every day more stories drop about the terrible situation in hospitals.

The thing is, I'm not sure lockdown will be enough...
Last spring, we got R down to 0.6-0.7, cases & hospital admissions dropped steadily. Hospital occupancy peaked 3 weeks after lockdown. Even that will place unbearable strain on NHS.

But this isn't March's virus and this isn't (despite what govt is saying) March's lockdown. Image
Different virus: The new strain (B117) is estimated to increase R by between 0.4-0.7. Even a March lockdown will struggle then to bring R below 1 where B117 is widespread. Some regions might get lucky & stamp out B117 before it takes hold. With Xmas & NYE, seems unlikely.
Read 15 tweets
3 Jan
THREAD - Covid-19 in England.

Things are going from very bad to much worse.

Here is where we are in 9 tweets. 1/9
Cases: over *70,000* people who were tested in England on 29th December tested positive. This is *not* because there were more tests on that day.

It *is* 4 days after Christmas though, around when people who caught Covid on Christmas Day might start getting symptoms. 2/9 Image
The case data is very jumpy for the last week because of big drops in tests over Xmas and report lags. But the positivity rate from tests is shooting up - *everywhere*.

London has been in Tier 4 for 2 weeks.

Biggest worry: there is *no sign* that tier 4 is working. 3/9 Image
Read 9 tweets

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