Coronavirus Thread

[leicsmac]

Over one million cases recorded yesterday in the USA. Here's hoping that Omicron, if that is indeed the reason for the spike, is as mild as it is thought it is.

[FoxyPV]

Out of my seven staff, 4 are out with Covid.

[shade]

19 minutes ago, FoxyPV said:

Out of my seven staff, 4 are out with Covid.

I bet sneezy is one of them?

[rachhere]

3 hours ago, Farrington fox said:

Does anyone know if they've  started giving people Molnupiravir at home yet?

 

Last month Javid was saying this would be a game changer in avoiding Hospitalisations. With this Country being amoung the first to licence its use, You'd hope they would be.

I can't remember where it was now, but I am sure I saw/heard someone say that they were offered it after a positive diagnosis, after receiving communication saying they had been identified as someone at particular risk due to their underlying health conditions. 

[Buce]

Two more NHS trusts declare critical incidents over staff Covid absences

 

“seriously sick patients are waiting too long to be admitted and there are many times when we are operating on a one in, one out basis”.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/jan/04/two-more-nhs-trusts-declare-critical-incidents-over-staff-covid-absences

[Stivo]

Well worth reading John Burn-Murdoch of the FT on twitter here

 

https://twitter.com/jburnmurdoch

of note is the vaccine wall graphic 10 tweets or so down.  

 

It’s striking how few of the unvaccinated there are left in the UK who have not yet caught covid (it’s the red portion at the top) compared with other countries.

 

lots of the retweets are worth a  look too.

[z-layrex]

21 hours ago, Legend_in_blue said:

COVID Facts - Challenge the Narrative | Joel Smalley | Substack

 

@shade and anyone else with an open mind, take a read.  

 

 

You do not have an "open mind", large swathes of people have lost track of what that term means. An open mind to people like you is: "Science says the world is round, but what if it could be flat?".

Edited 4 January 2022 by z-layrex

[Zear0]

On 23/09/2021 at 19:57, Legend_in_blue said:

I'm sure another Ferguson projection will see to it that this is prolonged as much as possible.

 

Are we at 200k cases a day yet?

Bit behind schedule, but we made it.

 

This might be the pettiest thing I've ever done on this forum but screw it...

[Legend_in_blue]

1 minute ago, Zear0 said:

Bit behind schedule, but we made it.

 

This might be the pettiest thing I've ever done on this forum but screw it...

 

Are we all conceding that he has got something right?  Eventually?  Ignoring the axis labelled "time" of course.   5000 deaths a day from Omicron though - he's well off there and continues to be so.

[Zear0]

2 minutes ago, Legend_in_blue said:

 

Are we all conceding that he has got something right?  Eventually?  Ignoring the axis labelled "time" of course.   5000 deaths a day from Omicron though - he's well off there and continues to be so.

We all work to a tolerance...

[Legend_in_blue]

1 minute ago, Zear0 said:

We all work to a tolerance...

Fair enough.  Let's see if Whitty has a clicker...

[FoxesDeb]

I went to my local petrol station earlier and the pumps were empty. I asked about local availability, and it turns out that all the local pumps are empty too. The bloke reassured me that there's no shortage though, petrol is readily available from my neighbours. I just need to ask them. 

[kingfox]

Briefing time with Bumbling Boris, FFS 

 

[Legend_in_blue]

2 minutes ago, kingfox said:

Briefing time with Bumbling Boris, FFS 

 

He goes on an on about it being absolutely crazy that people are not being boosted who are currently taking up spaces in hospitals but likewise it is absolutely crazy that nothing has been done to address the ongoing winter pressures on the system over the last 10 years.  We are running services to the bone and the problem is not just about blaming the unvaccinated as he appears to do time and time again.  There is a lack of staff, a lack of beds and the care home support is severely stretched.  This needs sorting.

[Zear0]

13 minutes ago, kingfox said:

Briefing time with Bumbling Boris, FFS 

 

He's turning into Rowley Birkin Q.C

[Buce]

26 minutes ago, kingfox said:

Briefing time with Bumbling Boris, FFS 

 

 

The guy doing the signing for the deaf actually had to sign, "er... er... er..."

[Robo61]

1 hour ago, Legend_in_blue said:

He goes on an on about it being absolutely crazy that people are not being boosted who are currently taking up spaces in hospitals but likewise it is absolutely crazy that nothing has been done to address the ongoing winter pressures on the system over the last 10 years.  We are running services to the bone and the problem is not just about blaming the unvaccinated as he appears to do time and time again.  There is a lack of staff, a lack of beds and the care home support is severely stretched.  This needs sorting.

Tories in not investing in public services shocker

Edited 4 January 2022 by Robo61

[Sol thewall Bamba]

 

Those tighter restrictions working wonders in the devolved nations.

 

 

[Buce]

It's like living in a third-world country:

Heart attack patients told to make own way to hospital...

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/04/growth-rate-covid-patients-north-more-than-double-london

[Babylon]

12 minutes ago, Sol thewall Bamba said:

 

Those tighter restrictions working wonders in the devolved nations.

 

 

Be careful with that, there were reporting delays and issues across a number of them, meaning they got all lumped together into the last 7 days, when many would have been in the previous. 

[Parafox]

28 minutes ago, Robo61 said:

Tories not investing in public services shocker

To start, I am by no means a supporter of the current Tory mob and very few of any previous ones. 

I agree that they have failed to invest in public services but it was the previous Labour gov that decimated the social care system and cut funding to local authorities that pay for things like care homes. The Tories simply never re-invested or addressed the need for social care in all it's forms. They were quite happy to ignore that the NHS was pretty much being "overwhelmed" every winter because people had nowhere to be discharged to as care homes were underfunded and full and people couldn't be discharged. This was a result of Labour policy but was never subsequently addressed and still isn't, despite what the Gov say.

It feels to me like the Gov of whatever persuasion, see care homes as place where people sit and dribble into their food until they die and are not worth spending on.

 

[Parafox]

1 hour ago, Legend_in_blue said:

There is a lack of staff, a lack of beds and the care home support is severely stretched.  This needs sorting.

Yes. See post above.

[Parafox]

32 minutes ago, Buce said:

It's like living in a third-world country:

Heart attack patients told to make own way to hospital...

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/04/growth-rate-covid-patients-north-more-than-double-london

From experience, I find this hard to believe.

If someone turns up at A&E in a taxi/family car they'll be left to wait in the waiting room before being booked in by a clerical staff member. This will be their first encounter with any NHS personnel and that in itself takes time as you effectively in a queue. They book them in and then send the electronic form to the assessment staff who then decide on a priority code. This takes some time, sometimes over 4 hours to be clinically assessed depending on workload.

I just can't see how the clinical assessment team (manned by experienced paramedics with support from a duty doctor) in any ambulance control centre would advise someone with symptoms of cardiac chest pains or a stroke would suggest they make their own way to hospital. A suspected stroke or heart attack is a priority one response in all UK ambulance services and a crew or solo response paramedic will be sent as as one is available, usually within 8 minutes.

Sensationalist press reporting once again.

Edited 4 January 2022 by Parafox

[Buce]

5 minutes ago, Parafox said:

From experience, I find this hard to believe.

If someone turns up at A&E in a taxi/family car they'll be left to wait in the waiting room before being booked in by a clerical staff member. This will be their first encounter with any NHS personnel and that in itself takes time as you effectively in a queue. They book them in and then send the electronic form to the assessment staff who then decide on a priority code. This takes some time, sometimes over 4 hours to be clinically assessed depending on workload.

I just can't see how the clinical assessment team (manned by experienced paramedics with support from a duty doctor) in any ambulance control centre would advise someone with symptoms of cardiac chest pains or a stroke would suggest they make their own way to hospital.

Sensationalist press reporting once again.

 

Well, it was reported by the Health Service Journal:

 

An internal note at North East ambulance service NHS foundation trust said that where there was likely to be a risk from the delay in an ambulance reaching a patient, call handlers should “consider asking the patient to be transported by friends or family”, the Health Service Journal reported.

[Parafox]

17 minutes ago, Buce said:

 

Well, it was reported by the Health Service Journal:

 

An internal note at North East ambulance service NHS foundation trust said that where there was likely to be a risk from the delay in an ambulance reaching a patient, call handlers should “consider asking the patient to be transported by friends or family”, the Health Service Journal reported.

Call handlers are not qualified to make that decision. They would pass it on to the CAT. If the phone assessment by the "Clinical Assessment Team (manned by experienced paramedics with support from a duty doctor") suggests that the chest pain is NOT a heart attack then maybe so, but it's very risky ground to be on and I suspect those decisions are very few and far between and based on very specific parameters. That chest pain or sudden loss of neurological function needs on the spot assessment.

It may be that crews or responder at the scene make an assessment and THEN decide the patient is not in a life threatening condition but will need further assessment and refer the call back to the CAT. In that case the patient may well be asked to make their own way. I have given this advice myself many times. An ambulance response does not necessarily equal ambulance transport to hospital. 

I'm only speaking from my personal experience of what actually happens.

Edited 4 January 2022 by Parafox