Tier level restrictions may be ‘strengthened’ when England comes out of national lockdown on December 2.
At a public briefing held today (November 16) Chief Medical Advisor to NHS Test and Trace Dr Susan Hopkins said Tier 1, which Thanet was in before the national restrictions came into force on November 5, “had very little effect.”
The health expert said Tier 3 and Tier 3 plus, which had the most severe restrictions, had resulted in a reducing of cases in the North West, whilst Tier 2 had seen a ‘hold’ in cases in some areas. But Tier 1 had not been effective.
Dr Hopkins said: “When we are looking at tiers in future we will need to think about strengthening them in order to get us through the winter months until a vaccine is available to everyone.”
Thanet cases have risen during the national lockdown with the isle now recorded as having 467.9 weekly cases per 100,000 people (November 6-12). This is the second highest rate in the county as Swale has now again recorded the highest rates at 530.4 per 100,000, according to data published by Kent County Council. The England average is 269.5.
Today’s (November 16) figures on the government coronavirus dashboard show 113 (down from 139 yesterday) new cases reported for Thanet, making a total of 740 cases between November 10-16. This is a rise of 340 (or 70.5%) on the figure for the previous seven days.
The total number of people in Thanet who have had a confirmed positive test result as of November 16 was 2,655.
There were four deaths within 28 days of a positive test for Coronavirus reported for November 10-16 for Thanet. The total number of people who have died within 28 days of testing positive for Coronavirus was 124. Covid-19 is mentioned on the death certificate but may not be the primary cause of death.
The government dashboard says the seven day rolling rate to November 11 is 458.7 per 100,000 ( a day’s time lag on the figures published by Kent County Council).
The latest R number (the rate an affected person will spread to others) for the healthcare region of South East is estimated at 1.2 to 1.4 with a daily infection growth rate range of +3% to +6% as of 14 November. Ideally the R rate should be at one or below to show a decrease of virus spread.
The figures are updated daily, although there is time lag on some statistics. They can be found on the government dashboard here and here and the KCC page here
An interactive map on the government’s dashboard site which has figures for neighbourhood areas shows the most affected places are (week up to November 10) Nethercourt, Pegwell and Cliffsend with 59 cases and Newington with 56 cases.
Find the map at https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/details/interactive-map
Thanet has two Covid walk/drive in centres at Manston and Margate.
Testing statistics for NHS laboratories (pillar 1) and commercial partners (pillar 2) up to November 12 are recorded by Kent Public Health.
Kent Public Health data says the sensitivity of RT-PCR testing methodology is reportedly poor and has been estimated to give false-negative rates between 2% and 29% of the time. Positive tests are considered highly accurate by comparison.
The British Medical Journal’s 13 Nov editorial is entitled ‘ Covid-19: politicisation, “corruption,” and suppression of science’. It says: “Science is being suppressed for political and financial gain. Covid-19 has unleashed state corruption on a grand scale, and it is harmful to public health.1 Politicians and industry are responsible for this opportunistic embezzlement. So too are scientists and health experts. The pandemic has revealed how the medical-political complex can be manipulated in an emergency—a time when it is even more important to safeguard science.”
So many in the medical, scientific, education, mental health, elderly care and business worlds (and more) are waking up to the destructive nature of all these draconian measures. If the BMJ is saying this, the alarm bells are truly ringing.
There are also detailed studies on the weaponising of behavioural psychology as a tool to frighten the public and the government’s Behavioural Insight Team has advised Sage on this, and traumatised those more susceptible to this. This is propaganda at its worst. Study death rates in detail and compare with other years, and see the true picture.
For the full story on this opinion piece, read this:
https://www.bmj.com/content/371/bmj.m4425
It’s perfectly possible for TWO things to BOTH be true at the same time.
1)The pandemic IS deadly serious, killing over 50,000 people in the UK before their time. A world-scale tragedy that needs drastic action by governments AND individuals to overcome.
2) Corrupt, opportunist governments , like the current crowd in Westminster, have taken advantage of the crisis to shift shedloads of taxpayers cash into the hands of their business cronies. Who, in turn, take a big personal cut out of the public money they are given, allocate generous donations to the Tory Party as payment, and then cobble together a version of whatever they are supposed to do for us.
Just because the Tory government are taking advantage to benefit their business friends, doesn’t mean that the medical crisis isn’t real or is exaggerated.
It’s known as “Crisis Capitalism”. Where the establishment and its political Party seize the opportunities presented by a major problem to push its own interests. They don’t need to lie about the seriousness of Covid19. It IS serious and we need to respond seriously.
As another example, the Economic Crisis of 2008 was caused by low wages in America leading to massive levels of indebtedness and the sudden realisation that billions of dollars would NEVER be paid back for Bank loans and mortgages. The world capitalist system was in meltdown. So the establishment Parties bailed out the banks and kept them going using huge amounts of public money. Then they imposed austerity on the public services to pay for it all.
The crisis WAS very serious and drastic action WAS needed. But corrupt elites used the atmosphere of worry and anxiety to transfer huge amounts of cash from the population into the hands of the Bankers and speculators.
Leaving public services so stripped of cash they couldn’t respond when the pandemic came along.
But that is where we are!
No need to talk of conspiracies. Or to minimise the seriousness of Covid19 to prove a point.
We just have the wrong system with the wrong people having the bulk of the wealth and the wrong politicians running the show on their behalf.