UK Covid death toll

[baggy1]

It's one of the most bizarre points about this whole outbreak - why does anyone object to wearing them, yes they are something that we're not used to and they can muffle peoples voices which makes it harder to people to hear them (especially people that tend to lip read to aid hearing) but there shouldn't be any of this 'infringements of my liberties' bollox being spouted about them. And if you are that worried about having breathing difficulties then you are susceptible to this virus and you shouldn't be walking around where people could infect you.

The fact that wearing a mask can make those more vulnerable than yourself feel comfortable should be reason enough for people to want to wear one.

Exactly

[PeakBaggie]

If that’s the case why do surgeons, doctors, nurses, pathologist, scientists, lab technicians etc. All bother to wear them?

And welders.

Not sure any of us would want to risk walking/riding/flying on much welded by anyone wearing just a surgical mask 

[JOK]

If that’s the case why do surgeons, doctors, nurses, pathologist, scientists, lab technicians etc. All bother to wear them?

And welders.

Welders wear Welding Helmets, Samar’s arse.

[baggiebuckster]

So apart from shielding, what protections to public health would you put in place?

Masks if you want to, even though there's not much evidence they help.

If that’s the case why do surgeons, doctors, nurses, pathologist, scientists, lab technicians etc. All bother to wear them?

All those people you listed  were wearing them pre-covid yet our Government told us in March that masks were useless.

 From: Gov.uk     Dated 11th May
 “Working Safely During Coronavirus (Covid 19)”
 
“6.1 Face coverings
There is growing evidence that wearing a face covering in an enclosed space helps protect individuals and those around them from COVID-19.”
 
 It was actually the W.H.O. who suggested it was wrong for us Hoi Polloi to wear masks.
Reported on 21st of April.
 
“Current evidence suggests that most disease is transmitted by symptomatic, laboratory-confirmed cases. (Yeh, that proved correct didn’t it in Covid’s case; see point below)
"There is currently no evidence that wearing a mask (whether medical or other types) by healthy persons in the wider community setting, including universal community masking, can prevent them from infection with respiratory viruses."
 
And whether the Government or anyone has suggested they are “useless”, the question still stands, why, if they afford no protection against transmission of viruses and airborne particles, do those people wear them? It was actually the CMO, Chris Witty who said, on the 3rd March, “the public wearing face masks will do little to combat the ongoing outbreak.” Though he did say “More drastic action may be needed further on”.
Also, don’t you think the real people in the know, scientists, not we laymen, may have learned a bit more about this virus in the last seven or eight months and what was considered correct or apt in March has been superseded by that greater understanding? (see the statement from the WHO above)
Even senior figures in the NHS questioned their use for the general population but this may have been due to fears surrounding the adequate supply to medical practitioners.
 
 

Not sure if you are suggesting that I am anti-mask or not. 

The point I was making was that whether it be our Government, Chief Medical Officer, Chief Scientific Officer or the World Health Organisation that suggested wearing masks was not necessary doesn't fill me with confidence. Seeing as all those professional medics etc have worn them for years I would have expected such esteemed professionals to understand the value of mask wearing and not require another few months to make a judgement. In fact they were actually less professional than this in the fact that Jenny Harries and Fauci in the USA actively stated that wearing a mask could do more damage than good.

It is for this reason that I will be interested in their view on the much heralded vaccine when it is released. Will they wait 7 or 8 months after releasing that to gain a greater understanding of the pro's and cons?

[baggy1]

Patients admitted to hospital on the 21st = 275 compared with the 14th of 172
Patients in hospital as at the 23rd = 1381 compared with the 16th at 894
Patients on ventilators on the 23rd = 192 compared with 107 on the 16th

All of these figures are for England

---

6,178 new cases just announced.

Quite a jump. What was it a week ago?

3991

An update on these figures before the weekend:

Admitted to hospital 23rd - 314
In hospital on 25th - 1615
On ventilators on 25th - 227

All again for England

Definite upward trend - difficult to say how it will go but please be careful and make sure you take the safety measures seriously.

[HawkingsHalfpint]

Yep - all international 'hellos' - whether chest-related or entirely innocent - must be conducted through a big pair of masks.

[baggy1]

Week 38 figures (week ending 18th September), so there is a lag on this weeks news stories, show a slight increase on the 5YA of about 300 more deaths than average and a smaller increase on 2019 of about 100 (about 3% and 1%) for England and Wales, so up but not a significant amount. This puts the excess death figures against the 5YA as 53.6k and against 2019 as 61.2k (again only for E&W). Each of the age groups are up against 2019 figures but not significantly until you get to the 45-64 and over 65 age groups - Under 45s: 231 (1.8%), 45 - 64: 5,907 (12.7%) and over 65s: 55,068 (17%).

Patients admitted to hospital in England was 245 on the 26th Sept which appears to have levelled out again but frustratingly there is a 2 day lag on figures. But the patients in hospital figure is up to the 28th and showing an increasing daily amount now standing at 1,883. This is significant as it is the highest since we got through the 1st wave and is higher than the start of that wave (1,541 was the number on the 21st March climbing to 2,092 on the 22nd and then steeply thereafter). The figure of those in hospital has doubled in 11 days

Number of patients on ventilators is still low but slowly rising at 245 - the first day of measurement on this was the 2nd April and was 1,494 and at that point we had over 10k in hospital so we have nothing to directly compare with. The numbers on ventilators have increased by about 100 in a week, so again not a lot but worth watching.

[billybassett]

Thanks baggy1

I see the headlines scaremongering again this morning with the 1million mark of deaths which obviously is highly tragic. Just for context between 400,000 to 700,000 people die each year from seasonal flu, so Covid has unfortunately taken many people much too early but it will be really interesting to see how the govt separates out flu from covid over the winter. No doubt whatever fits their agenda but with the age data you've posted to keep students locked up, not learning or enjoying their life is a real tragedy.

[baggy1]

This is going to be a very important couple of weeks, all of the stats are showing that the death rate is being kept down by the measures we are putting in place with social distancing, washing hands, wearing masks. And although the numbers are rising there isn't as bad a jump as there was in March / April..... yet, and this is the important part, if we can get through the next couple of weeks without a major spike then we can say it is under control using measures.

The other thing that this will highlight is how some simple measures put in place in March could have made this a completely different picture. Also if they had managed to introduce some form of track and trace then by now we could be virtually back to normal. Complete balls up from the start and because of their gross incompetence they haven't had a clue how to fix it.

[Derek Hardballs]

This is going to be a very important couple of weeks, all of the stats are showing that the death rate is being kept down by the measures we are putting in place with social distancing, washing hands, wearing masks. And although the numbers are rising there isn't as bad a jump as there was in March / April..... yet, and this is the important part, if we can get through the next couple of weeks without a major spike then we can say it is under control using measures.

The other thing that this will highlight is how some simple measures put in place in March could have made this a completely different picture. Also if they had managed to introduce some form of track and trace then by now we could be virtually back to normal. Complete balls up from the start and because of their gross incompetence they haven't had a clue how to fix it.

Those that voted for them will never admit to themselves it’s been handled poorly, if they did it means they might have dropped a bollock believing them on other things like erm Brexit