COVID-19

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More than half of patients classed as hospitalised with COVID were only known to be COVID positive after being tested following admission. So, not admitted for treatment of COVID itself.

 

I don't see it as tribal - it's about beliefs.

I grew up in a Labour supporting family and absorbed the core beliefs in social fairness that I still hold today.
My levels of political activism have gone up and down over the years but my core beliefs haven't changed. Although I'm currently a LP member I'm inactive at present. I would vote tactically for a LibDem or Green candidate if it meant defeating the Tory candidate. I could no more vote Tory than fly in the air - not because of tribalism, but because I loathe what they stand for.

 

On Look North last night the guy being interviewed was saying many of the hospitalised cases were un vaccinated younger patients.

 

In terms of having to isolate people, yes I'd imagine so. Further emphasises the madness of forcing medical facilities to not provide localised healthcare and have healthy members of staff forcibly isolate.

 

I can't believe we're 18 months into this and still can't actually split out who is in covid because of covid and who is in for a separate primary cause but have also tested positive.

I'm not saying the data is wrong by any means but in some areas we have absolutely incredible levels of detail, but on this crucial aspect we have little.

In terms of that actual article there's only 13% that actually concern me but it would be nice to know whether that other 40 odd percent should cause concern.

 

That's tribal. It's same as saying I'd watch any team apart from Leeds!

 

It’s interesting, something I was thinking about the other day and doesn’t seem easily accessible to find out but maybe I’m looking in the wrong place. We need more transparency with the data, I’d also like to see how many deaths are solely down to Covid not just someone dying who has tested positive. I’m not sure why all figures seem to be shoved together instead of separated so the general public can dissect the information better and be better educated.

 

No it's not. Tribal is based purely on affiliations or origins.
I may have initially learned my distaste of the Tory Party from my family and my local area (which used to be staunch Labour but is now Tory) but I moved away from there over forty years ago. I've since been to university and worked in jobs where I have seen the results of their policies all too clearly. I don't have all the same views I did when I was young, but life experience, education and observation, not tribalism, have deepened my anti-Tory views.
If it was tribal then I'd probably have switched sides and voted Tory by now, like many of the working class people I grew up and went to school with. If it was tribal I would vote knee-jerk Labour; but I have voted LibDem and Green in the past when I have felt that they were the only progressive candidates who stood a chance of winning. I've always believed in voting for the greater good, not for what might benefit me most. That's not tribal, it's ideological. Very different.

 

But the fact that you rule a whole party out, regardless of what they evolve into, is tribal.

Labour of the 80s don't stand for the same thing as the Blair Labour. Corbyn's Labour don't stand for the same thing as Starmers. Parties evolve.

The idea that the Conservative party can't or don't evolve and are basically a constant (and constantly wrong) is what makes it tribal.

"If it was tribal then I'd probably have switched sides and supported Leeds by now"

 

I know that the Labour Party has and continues to change over time. Hence my varied level of activism over the years.

I also know that the Tory Party evolves over time. If they were to evolve into a slightly left of centre social democratic party then I would stop disliking them so much and could even possibly vote for them. But, let's be honest, if they did that then they wouldn't be the Tory Party, would they?
I've seen every incarnation of the Tory Party, from MacMillan, through Alec Douglas Hume, Heath, Thatcher, Major, Hague, Howard, IDS, Cameron and May to the the current despicable clown leader. Not one of the those mutations has come anywhere close to representing my political views, so why would I vote for them? The core values of the Tory Party are anathema to me - they will never evolve away from those values because they are what defines them and are why people with like-minded attitudes join and/or vote for them. So, in my case, it's not tribal, it's ideological.

Funnily enough, I have switched footballing sides. My family were mostly gooners. I was taken by my uncle to watch Arsenal beat Everton 3-1 in 1963, when I was seven. I 'supported' Arsenal (inactively) through my childhood until I was 18, when I started dating a girl who was an active West Ham fan. I started going to matches with her and found that my allegiance quickly changed, because the live experience trumped my 'tribal' attachment to Arsenal. I continued to go to all home games at Upton Park until 1980, when I moved to Bradford to go to uni. I remain an armchair Hammer, but started going to City games in the mid-80s, once I was working and could afford such luxuries. Again, I found that the live experience made me identify with City, so I've been a Bantam Hammer ever since.
So I think it's fair to say that tribalism isn't my strong suit.

 

All this data will have been setup by Hancock who was a bit of a control freak who wanted to point to evidence to back up his power mad ways.

In his first address to parliment Sajid Javid MP was asked about the way data was reported, citing that a woman going to give birth tested positive was counted as a Covid case in hospital, when that was not the reason she was there. He said he would look into it, so it comes as no suprise that suddenly this info has been leaked to the telegraph.

Expect the deaths data to be changed in the same way.

 

And we need to know how 'deaths due to covid' is calculated. I believe that the typical measure is 'deaths within 28 days of a positive covid test'. A week or two ago, I posted data from the ONS which showed for Scotland, in the first 6 months of 2021 nearly twice as many people had died within 28 days of a covid jab than a positive covid test. Not that I think either measure is inherently objective.

 

Last week 250k people tested positive. Now they are in the 28 day window meaning that if they are hit by a bus, die of food poisoning, fall off a cliff, have a heart attack, I presume they fall into a death within 28 days of a positive test pool.

 

This is true but equally if someone dies of covid 29 days after their first test it's not counted. It's swings and roundabouts and whilst great for simplicity it should have another layer of nuance by now.

The important thing for me is excess deaths which weirdly enough used to get a lot of coverage but is now not talked about quite so much.

https://app.powerbi.com/view?r=eyJrIjoiYmUwNmFhMjYtNGZhYS00NDk2LWFlMTAtOTg0OGNhNmFiNGM0IiwidCI6ImVlNGUxNDk5LTRhMzUtNGIyZS1hZDQ3LTVmM2NmOWRlODY2NiIsImMiOjh9

Worth noting that in 17 of the last 19 weeks the expected deaths have actually been below where they would be expected to be. That takes all the discussion about what is a covid death and what isn't out of the equation.

 

This week v last week daily comparative is down by 50%, however the biggest suprise is that today usually is the catch up after the weekend but today is still lower than yesterday.

Good news indeed.

 

Very encouraging given that guy was saying we could see 100,000 or possibly more.