THREAD: latest covid situation in UK (mainly England) and what I think is going on...
TLDR: I *do* think there has been a recent drop in transmission, due to combo of different things. Might not be quite as big as seems and might not last.
(22 tweets)
2. UK cases have dropped quite a bit since 19 July, but gone up a bit again over last couple of days. 29K cases today keeps it higher than it was earlier in week but lower than last week.
3. Different patterns for each nation. But Scotland has been dropping consistently since early July in cases & positivity rate. Positivity rates still quite high though.
England dropping since 19 July & also seeing declines in positivity rate. It's not just fewer tests.
4. Regionally, all English regions and almost local authorities are dropping.
Biggest drops in the North of England from the highest peaks. Similar patterns in positivity rates, although they remain v high, esp in the North.
5. But there have been increases in England in last couple of days and these are seen in all regions.
So regions dropped together and have then (recently) risen together too.
6. Now ONS today showed increases in prevalence everywhere except Scotland.
But because you can test +ve a few weeks after initial infection, ONS often comes down later than *new* cases. Came down 2 weeks after Scottish cases...
Still, I'll return to ONS later!
7. If covid really dropping, we'd expect to see hospital admission dropping about 7-10 days later. We see that in Scotland, and we *might* be seeing it in England - admissions always lower at weekend though, so let's see what data says early next week.
8. Regionally there is some variation in hospital admissions - NW dropping and Midlands flattening but NE only just flattening and London and SW still going up...
But no doubt that vaccinations have massively helped us avoid the January disaster (@jburnmurdoch )
9. And just to say, even though hospital admissions/occupany much lower than peak (at the moment), it has implications for staffing & for capacity nonetheless as @NuffieldTrust pointed out today!
10. And yes, most hospital admissions are *because* of covid and not just with covid!
Accelerated growth due to that is now over. Cases have fallen less in over 60s (perhaps also delaying down hospital reductions).
14. Plus ONS ages (again) show that actually prevalence in 18-49 year olds is flat - only kids really going up. This supports idea that *new* infections in young & youngish adults might be falling.
15. Behaviour is also important. The ONS social survey a few weeks ago showed that most people were worried about 19th July.
16. And many intended to keep with protective behaviours - including wearing masks, trying to meet outside, opening windows, keeping social distancing.
What people aren't keen is doing lateral flow tests which could spot mildly or non symptomatic infections.
17. And, as it happens, after 19th July there was an increase in meeting people outdoors and indoors but NOT a massive jump. People didn't really change their behaviour...
Plus 6% (!) of pop said they were isolating. So the pingdemic might genuinely have helped slow things down
18. Finally, testing willingness... While I do think there are genuine falls, there might also be some reluctance to get tested.
Tests have fallen this week. Some of that is school holidays, some is less covid but some might be reluctance to need to isolate or ping your friends
19. When compared with the King's College symptom tracker app (where reporting symptoms carries no obligation for you or your contacts) you see flattening growth but not a drop.
20. I *don't* think we've reached 'herd immunity'.
If we had, you wouldn't expect drops everywhere at same time (different levels of immunity), & you'd expect a flatter peak. Plus Israel, which has higher vax rates, is still climbing. We've just not vaxxed enough.
21. So basically, I do think a combo of school disruption, pingdemic, no football and cautious behaviours has brought cases down. I think some reluctance to get a test might have made that look more dramatic.
I also think latest opening only now starting to show up.
22. School holidays will help, but changing requirements re isolation, less cautious behaviour plus big events (e.g. Latitude festival) likely to offset that. I expect cases to go up again.
Return from holidays to schools & unis in Sept will be potentially difficult. /END
PS note that in Scotland, football ended earlier, schools broke up for holidays at the end of June and their final opening (clubs etc) isn't until mid August.
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Quick thread on the Astra Zeneca (AZ) covid vaccine since it's been in the news today.
TLDR there isn't a new "smoking gun", the AZ vax was one of first and cheapest, it saved millions of lives globally, there are better vax out there now, adapted to new variants 1/9
the AZ vaccine was one of the first approved at the end of 2020, cheaper than Pfizer, and - importantly - easier to administer in lower resource settings as it didn't require super low temperatures for storage 2/9
In most countries it was first rolled out in older adults. As it was rolled out in younger adults, a *very rare*, serious, side effect was noticed - it could cause deadly blood clots
This was spotted quickly and studied. Vax monitoring did its job. 3/9
A short thread on why this is not a scary chart and why all the evidence suggests that there is not much Covid around right now. 1/6
the above chart is recorded covid hospital admissions / reported covid cases. It is close to 100% now *because basically only hospitals can report cases since Feb 2024*
It is to do with changes in case reporting and NOT hospital testing
2/6
The UKHSA have now published their modelled estimates of what percentage of English population has Covid. And as of a week ago it's high (4.3%) and rising.
It's highest in London, South East and East & in young and middle aged adults.
The main thing is it's going up and fast, so prevalence will already by significantly higher now than it was last week. 3/7
Short thread on what I said on Channel 4 news tonight.
1. Did I find Hancock a sympathetic witness?
A: I find it hard to have sympathy for someone who repeatedly claimed to have thrown protective ring around care homes, while discharging covid+ patients into them.
1/5
There were *28,000* excess deaths in care homes Apr-May 2020.
Harries thought it was "clinically reasonable" not to treat covid +ve residents in hospital. Even it was, it was NOT reasonable to return them somewhere they could infect so many other very vulnerable people. 2/5
2. Did I think scientists bear blame for not emphasising asymptomatic transmission?
A: No, because they very clearly did advise there could be asymptomic transmission before March 2020 - sources in next tweet. 3/5
Hancock: "there was no way we could allow the NHS to become overwhelmed"
Except, the NHS WAS overwhelmed
Here is what NHS staff said about that time - Pls read whole 🧵
"Heartbreaking"
"Horrific"
"It broke my soul"
"We cried, we came home exhausted. We were overwhelmed"
1/16
"Overnight we were told that all “safe working rules” were gone. There was no choice, we were forced to do it"
"It felt like a death sentence. It felt out of control"
"We were put on wards with no senior support, sometimes makeshift ... with little of the right equipment"
2/16
"Terrifying. A huge sense of duty ... but also terror. We were unprepared & ovt clearly had no plan"
"We had patients on wards on 19 litres of oxygen - this would never happen under normal circumstances - they’d have come to Intensive Care but we didn’t have the space"
TLDR: modest August wave with flatlining hospital admissions, but expect a bigger wave later this autumn 1/12
Hospital admissions with Covid in England are still quite flat for 3rd week in a row and at a level below previous troughs.
Number of people with covid in critical care & primaril yin hospital because of Covid also flat & low.
Deaths ⬆️, from case rises few weeks ago 2/12
However, Zoe symptom tracker app estimating significant increases recently. Very hard to know how reliable Zoe trends are, given far fewer people reporting, but it's worth bearing in mind.