Coronavirus shambles

[Derek Hardballs]

From The Spectator:
To prepare for the predicted surge in Covid-19 cases, NHS hospitals discharged patients en masse and emptied beds. But the Covid-19 models were wrong: the ICU surge never happened in the way that was predicted. Not only is the NHS not overwhelmed, it now has some 37,500 empty beds, an astonishing figure: four times more than is normal for this time of year, according to figures obtained by the Health Service Journal.

This is why the Spectator are a bunch of odious twats, the gall that they have to publish this tripe is astonishing and I sincerely hope the author who wrote that doesn't believe what he wrote.

The models used to predict needed capacity have been used in multiple areas for both reaction and mitigation procedures. The point of migitagation procedures, like the lockdown, are to reduce the strain on the system as much as possible. Reaction measures are designed to assess what level of slack is required to help the system manage if the mitigation procedures didn't work as intended. The models were not "wrong", they were used in different ways for different purposes.

Imagine how much shit we'd have been in if the reaction measures went for the "best-case" scenario and didn't account for those 37,500 extra beds while the mitigation procedures failed. We'd be up shit creek without a paddle, the system would collapse and there would be an unprecedented level of unnecessary deaths.

You can’t fit all that on a bus though. CIM is waiting for something more pithy, perhaps something like Get Covid19 Done.

[Borin' Baggie]

I'm pretty sure CIM's point was to show that we aren't at capacity so it's irrelevant.

And I'm having a dig at the Spectator, not CIM.

[fuzzbox]

That said I cannot day for certain he didn’t simply ring the BBC up to get the number and neither can anyone else.

Another case of arguing a point that wasn't asked! Of course you can't say for certain - you're not him! 

If you really believe there is any possibility that it's true, then you're in effect saying it's possible he's mind-blowingly stupid, because surely we can agree that the only certainty we have is  that anybody who can't find a phone number and thinks the only way left is phoning the BBC is certainly mind-blowingly stupid.

I sincerely hope he's not, or that trust is seriously in the shit. So I'd prefer to think he's lying for the 'greater good'.

Why you should cling to this is beyond me - It smacks of somebody who can't ever admit they're wrong!

The rest (which is more important) of what you say I mostly agree with. It just shows how one lie can completely overshadow the message.

[Derek Hardballs]

I'm pretty sure CIM's point was to show that we aren't at capacity so it's irrelevant.

And I'm having a dig at the Spectator, not CIM.

I know the bus thing is a running joke with CIM and his political posts. Can’t take credit it was Duffers joke originally.

---

That said I cannot day for certain he didn’t simply ring the BBC up to get the number and neither can anyone else.

Another case of arguing a point that wasn't asked! Of course you can't say for certain - you're not him! 

If you really believe there is any possibility that it's true, then you're in effect saying it's possible he's mind-blowingly stupid, because surely we can agree that the only certainty we have is  that anybody who can't find a phone number and thinks the only way left is phoning the BBC is certainly mind-blowingly stupid.

I sincerely hope he's not, or that trust is seriously in the shit. So I'd prefer to think he's lying for the 'greater good'.

Why you should cling to this is beyond me - It smacks of somebody who can't ever admit they're wrong!

The rest (which is more important) of what you say I mostly agree with. It just shows how one lie can completely overshadow the message.

I’m not defending or condemning. I put up why he may or may not have done something. All of the scenarios typed may be valid.

[baggy1]

Elsewhere on Westminster Bridge last night... 



Welcome to London’s lockdown... epicentre of the virus and if you want after clapping on a crowded bridge, you can mingle with people flying in from New York, Italy and other pandemic hotspots on the tube, or at the airport.

Why were you there taking the picture?

You do realise this is a still from a video circulating don't you?

[Derek Hardballs]

Elsewhere on Westminster Bridge last night... 



Welcome to London’s lockdown... epicentre of the virus and if you want after clapping on a crowded bridge, you can mingle with people flying in from New York, Italy and other pandemic hotspots on the tube, or at the airport.

Why were you there taking the picture?

I was praising them for ignoring social isolation and telling them how over the top the lockdown was in Poland!

[Ciro]

If you needed a test, Ciro, are you confident you would receive one?

Hats off to you, mate. You're doing a great job.

Yes if I needed it I’m confident I’d get it.

I’m actually being kept away due to a chronic illness I have that is deemed high risk so am in offices doing development work. It’s boring stuff and have felt guilty that my mates who do the same as me are in it and I’m not. I feel a bit like Captain Darling to their captain Blackadder and Baldrick.

Hats off to them indeed

[Derek Hardballs]

That said I cannot day for certain he didn’t simply ring the BBC up to get the number and neither can anyone else.

Another case of arguing a point that wasn't asked! Of course you can't say for certain - you're not him! 

If you really believe there is any possibility that it's true, then you're in effect saying it's possible he's mind-blowingly stupid, because surely we can agree that the only certainty we have is  that anybody who can't find a phone number and thinks the only way left is phoning the BBC is certainly mind-blowingly stupid.

I sincerely hope he's not, or that trust is seriously in the shit. So I'd prefer to think he's lying for the 'greater good'.

Why you should cling to this is beyond me - It smacks of somebody who can't ever admit they're wrong!

The rest (which is more important) of what you say I mostly agree with. It just shows how one lie can completely overshadow the message.

Oops

[JOK]

Precisely, opps. Still, why wait for the facts and let them get in the way of an agenda driven thread.

[fuzzbox]

That said I cannot day for certain he didn’t simply ring the BBC up to get the number and neither can anyone else.

Another case of arguing a point that wasn't asked! Of course you can't say for certain - you're not him! 

If you really believe there is any possibility that it's true, then you're in effect saying it's possible he's mind-blowingly stupid, because surely we can agree that the only certainty we have is  that anybody who can't find a phone number and thinks the only way left is phoning the BBC is certainly mind-blowingly stupid.

I sincerely hope he's not, or that trust is seriously in the shit. So I'd prefer to think he's lying for the 'greater good'.

Why you should cling to this is beyond me - It smacks of somebody who can't ever admit they're wrong!

The rest (which is more important) of what you say I mostly agree with. It just shows how one lie can completely overshadow the message.

Oops

In all fairness, I can see why everybody would have taken it on face value. It didn't occur to me either that the BBC would be so unprofessional.

To be honest, I'm relieved. If he had said it, it didn't look good either way. It's probably the best outcome.

You've got to worry about the fact-checking of the BBC. Didn't they even cross reference his name or call him back at work to ensure they'd got who they thought they had?

That was obviously going to be big news, especially the way it had been framed. Certain politicians are going to have a field day with this.