Coronavirus

[ParisInAKilt]

32 minutes ago, Rich NATA said:

That was one of the very best days I've ever known following Scotland.

It was bloody magic. Saturday, 3pm, sunny and our group even won a coupon.

[phart]

15 hours ago, neilser said:

We need to reintroduce  the traditional Scottish male greeting of an almost imperceptible nod accompanied by about a second’s worth of eye contact. A sharp intake of breath can be thrown in if the individual is feeling particularly gregarious...

That's my normal greeting. It was a source of hilarity/bemusement in international halls while at uni and when I went to see my mate in Spain when he was studying he had to give me a talk about how everyone would hug and kiss my cheeks in greeting and i'd just have to put up with it.

[exile]

Saw this one today. Red going down but blue going up? Caw canny!

[Orraloon]

9 hours ago, exile said:

Saw this one today. Red going down but blue going up? Caw canny!

Aye, I noticed that as well. I'm hoping it's down to more, and better targeted testing. Time will tell. If hospital admissions start going up again as as well, it's time to start worrying.

[biffer]

1 hour ago, Orraloon said:

Aye, I noticed that as well. I'm hoping it's down to more, and better targeted testing. Time will tell. If hospital admissions start going up again as as well, it's time to start worrying.

Yeah, that's the key. I'm the same as you, hopefully it's an effect of now having a policy that everyone with symptoms should get a test. 

[phart]

Think the guy explained it in tweets, more infections were added to the total from unspecified times so it mucked up the calculations a bit.

[Orraloon]

57 minutes ago, phart said:

Think the guy explained it in tweets, more infections were added to the total from unspecified times so it mucked up the calculations a bit.

That's good. Just a bit of catching up then. The 7 day average looks pretty stable. 

[min]

This appears to be a big breakthrough:

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-53061281#

[Orraloon]

29 minutes ago, min said:

This appears to be a big breakthrough:

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-53061281#

 Hopefully that will reduce the mortality rate by a significant amount.

Glad I didn't buy shares in chloroquine. 

"The Recovery Trial has been running since March and included the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine that has now been ditched amid concerns that it increases fatalities and heart problems."

 

[Orraloon]

3 hours ago, min said:

This appears to be a big breakthrough:

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-53061281#

And as if by magic, Boris reappears to give us the good news. No doubt he will be trying to claim the credit for it. Probably been working on it in his spare time.

[aaid]

14 minutes ago, Orraloon said:

And as if by magic, Boris reappears to give us the good news. No doubt he will be trying to claim the credit for it. Probably been working on it in his spare time.

And this is absolutely why Johnson is doing the briefing today as he only does it when there's good news to announce  

Seems to be working to reduce some of the symptoms rather than the disease in itself, which is reducing rates of mortality.  

Undoubtedly a positive but doesn't look like the game-changer Johnson is trying to paint it as.

[phart]

4 minutes ago, aaid said:

And this is absolutely why Johnson is doing the briefing today as he only does it when there's good news to announce  

Seems to be working to reduce some of the symptoms rather than the disease in itself, which is reducing rates of mortality.  

Undoubtedly a positive but doesn't look like the game-changer Johnson is trying to paint it as.

Not a game changer but saving an extra 1 in 8 for £35 is good value! (not to say you were saying that)

[Orraloon]

5 minutes ago, aaid said:

 

Seems to be working to reduce some of the symptoms rather than the disease in itself, which is reducing rates of mortality.  

Undoubtedly a positive but doesn't look like the game-changer Johnson is trying to paint it as.

Sorry, but that bit is just not correct. If these results are reproduced on a much larger scale it will save thousands of lives. Still early days though. 

[aaid]

18 minutes ago, phart said:

Not a game changer but saving an extra 1 in 8 for £35 is good value! (not to say you were saying that)

Absolutely, which is why I said it was a positive, hopefully this study and others will find other drugs which have a similar effect, perhaps on other symptoms.

15 minutes ago, Orraloon said:

Sorry, but that bit is just not correct. If these results are reproduced on a much larger scale it will save thousands of lives. Still early days though. 

What's part is incorrect?   A game changer would be a vaccine or a drug which treated the virus itself, so something which stops you getting it in the first place, or which having got it, cures you of it.

This drug acts to reduce inflammation in certain cases - those on oxygen and those mechanically ventilated - and that means that more people are able to fight off the virus themselves - which is great.

To be fair, the scientists were very realistic about this, Johnson on the other hand was struggling to pronounce it by the end of the presser.

[Orraloon]

17 minutes ago, aaid said:

Absolutely, which is why I said it was a positive, hopefully this study and others will find other drugs which have a similar effect, perhaps on other symptoms.

What's part is incorrect?   A game changer would be a vaccine or a drug which treated the virus itself, so something which stops you getting it in the first place, or which having got it, cures you of it.

This drug acts to reduce inflammation in certain cases - those on oxygen and those mechanically ventilated - and that means that more people are able to fight off the virus themselves - which is great.

To be fair, the scientists were very realistic about this, Johnson on the other hand was struggling to pronounce it by the end of the presser.

This is the first drug which appears to reduce the mortality rate. The study still needs to be peer reviewed and replicated, but it is a big deal. This could be the biggest breakthrough in COVID treatment since the virus first appeared in humans.

It is still early days, but estimates are that if this effect had been known about at the start of the outbreak, it might have saved 4000 lives in the UK alone.

[aaid]

Just now, Orraloon said:

This is the first drug which appears to reduce the mortality rate. The study still needs to be peer reviewed and replicated, but it is a big deal. This could be the biggest breakthrough in COVID treatment since the virus first appeared in humans.

It is still early days, but estimates are that if this effect had been known about at the start of the outbreak, it might have saved 4000 lives in the UK alone.

I think there's something off with your maths there.  What are they saying, 1 in 8 of people who are in hospital on either oxygen or being ventilated?    How many of the people who've died in the UK fall into that category - the ones in Care Homes certainly don't.

This is undoubtedly an important breakthrough but its not a game changer.  You had an idiot journalist asking whether this would mean less strict lockdown if there was a second wave.   Thankfully the scientists shut that one down.

My comments are more around Boris Johnson's predilection for being the one who always delivers the good news, builds things up to be way more positive than they are and who is never there when there is bad news to report or its necessary to walk back from his previous hyberbole.

[Orraloon]

27 minutes ago, aaid said:

I think there's something off with your maths there.  What are they saying, 1 in 8 of people who are in hospital on either oxygen or being ventilated?    How many of the people who've died in the UK fall into that category - the ones in Care Homes certainly don't.

This is undoubtedly an important breakthrough but its not a game changer.  You had an idiot journalist asking whether this would mean less strict lockdown if there was a second wave.   Thankfully the scientists shut that one down.

My comments are more around Boris Johnson's predilection for being the one who always delivers the good news, builds things up to be way more positive than they are and who is never there when there is bad news to report or its necessary to walk back from his previous hyberbole.

They are not my numbers. It was this fella. I have no idea how he worked it out.

"Dozens of hospitals in Scotland, coordinated by Prof Kenny Baillie in Edinburgh", were part of "a UK-wide team effort" that discovered a cheap and widely available drug that can help save the lives of patients seriously ill with Covid-19.

The low-dose steroid treatment Dexamethasone has been found to reduce the risk of dying by about a third for those in intensive care or on a ventilator.

Lead researcher Prof Martin Landray tells BBC Radio Scotland: "It is the first time a drug has been found to improve survival for patients with Covid and that's a big step forward.

"If we had known at the beginning of the UK epidemic in early March what we know now, we might have save 4,000-5,000 lives."

Asked what it felt like to make the discovery, Prof Landray adds: "It was one of those unrepeatable moments. It's extraordinary. The first thing you do is check it, so we checked it and checked it and this is a real result."

[aaid]

1 minute ago, Orraloon said:

They are not my numbers. It was this fella. I have no idea how he worked it out.

"Dozens of hospitals in Scotland, coordinated by Prof Kenny Baillie in Edinburgh", were part of "a UK-wide team effort" that discovered a cheap and widely available drug that can help save the lives of patients seriously ill with Covid-19.

The low-dose steroid treatment Dexamethasone has been found to reduce the risk of dying by about a third for those in intensive care or on a ventilator.

Lead researcher Prof Martin Landray tells BBC Radio Scotland: "It is the first time a drug has been found to improve survival for patients with Covid and that's a big step forward.

"If we had known at the beginning of the UK epidemic in early March what we know now, we might have save 4,000-5,000 lives."

Asked what it felt like to make the discovery, Prof Landray adds: "It was one of those unrepeatable moments. It's extraordinary. The first thing you do is check it, so we checked it and checked it and this is a real result."

Something off with his maths then.   I guess "might" is doing a lot of heavy lifting in the sentence I've bolded.

[Big Ramy 1314]

Pubs open there yet? They opened here last week. Well, on "Patios" only for now..

[aaid]

Anyone in the UK desperate to visit a pub will be pleased to know that pubs in Northern Ireland will be reopening on the 3rd July.   They'll probably be pretty busy at first so anyone who wants to go over might want to wait until the following weekend when I'm sure things will be a lot quieter.

[Ally Bongo]

16 minutes ago, aaid said:

Anyone in the UK desperate to visit a pub will be pleased to know that pubs in Northern Ireland will be reopening on the 3rd July.   They'll probably be pretty busy at first so anyone who wants to go over might want to wait until the following weekend when I'm sure things will be a lot quieter.

Which is probably at the same time a massive spike is reported due to the lack of social distancing in the last week

[aaid]

1 minute ago, Ally Bongo said:

Which is probably at the same time a massive spike is reported due to the lack of social distancing in the last week

In Northern Ireland? 

[King Of Paisley]

2 hours ago, Big Ramy 1314 said:

Pubs open there yet? They opened here last week. Well, on "Patios" only for now..

Heard it was mid July when, all being well, we go into phase 3

[fringo]

1 hour ago, King Of Paisley said:

Heard it was mid July when, all being well, we go into phase 3

Last week the relevant Scottish Govt minister mentioned it in the Scottish Parliament.

It was a provisional heads up to pubs, restaurants etc to maybe get ready for 15th July should things continue to improve.

No promise but just a note to maybe start planning for that date.

I won't be rushing out immediately as who know how this could work out and what impact it might have (which will take 3-4 weeks to show .in terms of another spike).

Edited June 16, 2020 by fringo

[aaid]

18 minutes ago, fringo said:

Last week the relevant Scottish Govt minister mentioned it in the Scottish Parliament.

It was a provisional heads up to pubs, restaurants etc to maybe get ready for 15th July should things continue to improve.

No promise but just a note to maybe start planning for that date.

I won't be rushing out immediately as who know how this could work out and what impact it might have (which will take 3-4 weeks to show .in terms of another spike).

Even when pubs do open up, with social distancing and the like you have to imagine they'll be pretty shit places to be in.  TBH, you're probably as well just drinking at home.