Strange day today. It’s been raining all morning but late this afternoon I managed to go for a walk up my hill in complete sunshine. Then we had a storm and the whole garden was covered in hailstones so that it looked like a snowdrift.
My internet is still playing and after another hour and a half on the phone, I’ve got yet another engineer out tomorrow! I don’t expect much.
So today I was working on my Harper book and playing some Ken Nordine. So great to hear The Lemming again. Took me right back to 1967!
Out there in Coronaland I am still digesting what Johnson has delivered. By his reckoning, the virus is only transmitted after 10 pm. So if we don’t go out late we’ll be fine!!
Interesting to see that the sceptical scientists do not think that his measures will make a jot of differences.
The second world-beating phone App was launched today. I don’t imagine too many people will pay it too much attention. Like all Johnson’s expensive stupidity it is likely not to work.
Getting Track and Trace working would be a step forward – not that that going to happen anytime soon – expect Dido Harding to be promoted again soon!
In the UK we have now zoomed up to 6,178 new cases and 40 new deaths. Hospital cases have gone up by 25%. It’s not looking at all good.
The world’s in a mess.
In the USA there were another 37,666 new cases and it has gone back up to another 1091 deaths. I bet all those people are regretting that they thought it was a hoax!!
In Brazil Bolsonaro is doing his best to catch up but could only manage 33,281 new cases and 869 deaths.
How blase we’ve become over these tragedies. Each one of these is a disaster for a whole family!
Terrible. These stupid leaders have a lot to answer for.
Hey Opher, how’s it going?
Slate grey for much of the day, but a spell of weak sunshine late this afternoon brought a little cheer. As I write, the heavens have opened and rain is lashing down! Autumn, I think, has breezed into town.
If you don’t mind me saying so Opher, you sound a little world-weary today? Knowing that the U.K recorded 6,634 cases of Covid-19 on Thursday 24th – the highest reported daily figure, up from high totals in May – doesn’t fill one’s glass to the brim. It is a very worrying statistic. Research in the U.S suggests Covid-19 has continued to mutate through the course of the pandemic, with evidence suggesting it is probably becoming more contagious, but not more lethal. Aside from an increase in speed of transmission, the upshot of this is that any potential vaccine may have to be updated. I hope that doesn’t cause further delay in its widespread availability.
A couple of interesting articles on Skwawkbox regarding C-19 Deaths and Admissions (1), and an admission by Hancock on BBC News today concerning infection in children (2). Again, concerning.
I hear Sunak forwent the autumn budget and instead delivered policies to replace the Furlough scheme ending at the end of next month. I’ve yet to read the details, but it appears the measure have not been met with universal optimism. The hospitality sector, the self-employed (3 million+ people), and freelancers – a large number of whom work in the creative arts – do not feel well supported, or even included in Sunak’s brief.
I think I met my first Covid-19 skeptic today! His opening gambit was to try and convince me the pandemic wasn’t real, and if it was then it wasn’t as bad as we are told by the government – the figures are drastically inflated! – and that according to information he’s read (no source offered) there have only been 307 deaths in the U.K since March where there have been no preexisting health conditions. He wouldn’t accept that Death Certificates detailing Covid-19 as the ‘underlying cause’ of death were relevant. That he thought Trump was a great man, that nationalism should be supported, that racism was freedom of expression, that U.K restrictive measures for the mitigation of C-19 were wholly unnecessary and ineffective (he was not wearing a mask), and that the U.K government had done a marvelous job in responding to the C-19 threat, should tell you the sort of chap he was. Having told me he was 65, weighed 16 stone (about 5′ 8), smoked like a trooper, ate fast-food, and spent 35 hours/week travelling by car for his job, I didn’t have the heart to suggest that he may be more vulnerable to Covid than others who adopted a more healthy life-style. I guess it really does take all sorts to make the world go round.
Enjoy day 185. Good luck with the writing. Stay safe,
DN
(1) – https://skwawkbox.org/2020/09/24/c19-deaths-and-admissions-at-mid-march-levels-johnsons-weeks-delay-then-cost-25000-needless-deaths-he-now-has-just-a-week-to-at-least-close-schools/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=c19-deaths-and-admissions-at-mid-march-levels-johnsons-weeks-delay-then-cost-25000-needless-deaths-he-now-has-just-a-week-to-at-least-close-schools
(2) – https://skwawkbox.org/2020/09/24/after-months-of-saying-opposite-hancock-admits-children-in-danger-of-severe-long-covid-and-can-infect-relatives-so-why-dont-tory-measures-address-it/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=after-months-of-saying-opposite-hancock-admits-children-in-danger-of-severe-long-covid-and-can-infect-relatives-so-why-dont-tory-measures-address-it
Lol Dewin – yes I think I am feeling a little down. What with QAnon and the continuing support for Johnson and Trump I find it hard to maintain any faith in humanity. There are too many stupid ignorant people.
Those Squawkbox graphs are sobering.
Mutations in the virus do not necessarily cause problems for the vaccine. It depends how it affects the virus and what antigens the vaccine targets.