‘If you wanted to design a virus dispersion hub, you could do worse’: the Cheltenham Festival, one year on | Coronavirus | The Guardian
The course was full of coughing, sneezing, shouting, drunk people. It was a madhouse from the moment we opened. “ theguardian.com/world/2021/feb…
“We were in a box in the Guinness grandstand on one of six tables, with a balcony close to the finishing line. There would have been 60 people in the room, and the viewing area was about nine square metres. So it was very crowded. “
These outdoor events are not simply outdoor.
They travel to them on trains, coaches, minibuses, buses, taxis and shared cars.
They use public toilets, bars, and dining facilities. They place bets indoors.
They stay in local hotels and B& Bs. They eat in local restaurants, bars and cafés...then travel home.
The wrong people were in charge.
As with so many other decisions in this pandemic (declared as such, ironically during race week),too many people had irons in fires that mattered far FAR more than public health.
NHS data leaked last spring showed that, by 3 April, the GL52 postcode, which covers the racecourse area, had the most Covid-related hospital admissions in Gloucestershire. 3 weeks later, the local NHS trust had recorded 125 deaths–nearly double the numbers in much larger centres
Almost one year on, Geoff Bodman is still recovering, unable to work, his lungs shot. He has had weeks of rehab, but breathing is hard and he’s had to learn to walk again.
“I was lucky,” he says. “I cannot praise the hospital or the physios enough. I spent 11 weeks in ICU but the Big Man had other plans for me.”
“I think it was the money that persuaded them to let Cheltenham go ahead,” he says. “Whatever it was, it should never have happened.”
Then there’s Randox. Sponsor of the Grand National.
MP, Paterson’s annual income from Randox was £100,000, for four hours’ work a week. Meanwhile Harding was made head of NHS Improvement in 2017;
A year later Penrose, Dido Harding’s Conservative MP husband, become minister for Northern Ireland, and in December 2018 Randox was boosted by a £700,000 UK government research and innovation grant, witnessed at its HQ by Penrose, in his capacity as Northern Ireland minister.
Randox sponsored jockeys at the Gold Cup week.
It all paid off. Sponsor the races. Sponsor the spread of Covid.
And gain a £133 million contract for Covid test kits without competition.
Then a further £347 million contract.
Without competition.
A company investigated just a couple of years before due to employees falsifying lab results in drunk and drugs cases.
Hundreds of cases had convictions overturned. And thousands of cases reviewed and/ or withdrawn.
It’s who you know.
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Joel Kaplan’s Policy Team Sways Big Facebook Decisions Like Alex Jones Ban
“Internal documents & interviews with 14 current and former employees show how the company’s policy team — guided by Joel Kaplan, the vice president of global public policy”... buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanma…
“And Zuckerberg’s whims exerted outsize influence while obstructing content moderation decisions, stymieing product rollouts, and intervening on behalf of popular conservative figures who have violated Facebook’s rules.”...
“In December, a former core data scientist wrote a memo titled, “Political Influences on Content Policy.” Seen by BuzzFeed News, the memo stated that Kaplan’s policy team “regularly protects powerful constituencies” and listed several examples,...”
⚰️⚰️ 215 (28 day cut off) deaths
⚰️⚰️⚰️ 260 (60 day cut off deaths with Covid on death cert)
⚰️💔⚰️💔 139,905 Covid deaths total (by date of death)
(133,077 ONS/Stats Covid death cert to 5/2/21 + 6828 - 28 day cut off to 20/2/21)
🏥 admissions 1397
🛌 In Patients 18,462
VENTILATION 🛌 2469.
Downward trend continues and vaccination effect now visible differentially in the over 80s in both admissions and deaths (- BUT not cases. Will 2 doses reduce transmission more than one dose?)
💉 334,697 VACCINATION doses administered yesterday bringing the total to
💉💉 18,197,269 doses administered to 17,582,121 people
💉💉💉 Of those, 615,148 people have received 2 doses
Important and balanced thread on Long Covid and kids.
And remember the primary rules of public health 1/ Act early (well, that ship sailed) 2/ Act fast (that ship has sailed too) 3/ Act decisively (yep- that ship sailed too) 4/ If in doubt apply the precautionary principle. (Um)
(Frost)”became a figure familiar in many workplaces: the frustrated middle manager, whose resentment at an indifferent world that overlooks him gnaws at his pride. Do not underestimate the anger of the men no one remembers.”
John Kerr, a former head of the diplomatic service, described his former staffer as being “very diligent and conscientious, good at carrying out instructions, not always as good at querying instructions”. Kerr didn’t mean it as a compliment.
Damning with faint praise.
Off he went to offer a bit of boosterism to the Scotch Whiskey Industry.
I wonder what they think of him now?
His notable absence of commitment to a Brexit prior to the referendum made him an excellent fit for Johnson. For both Brexit was a career move.
SAGE: One in 10 Covid patients die within 5 months of leaving hospital, while almost a third of those who survived the virus had to be readmitted, new research has warned.
Half of patients in hospital with COVID suffered complications apple.news/A-e_qWLA6TDWOI…
💥One in four struggled when they got back home.
💥💥💥. Younger patients under the age of 50 were more likely to suffer complications.
This is far higher than the control group where just 2% died in the same timescales & under 10% needing readmission.