All about defeating the SARS2 coronavirus and the COVID19 disease it causes
For more detailed onjectives and the author's biography, please see https://bit.ly/blogobjectives
PRESS CONFERENCE LED BY PM JOHNSON 28 May 2020
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Henry is the Features Editor at the Financial Times. He summed up concisely what everyone else was saying:
See larger version below My motto for COVID-19 is “Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst”. This is especially relevant to whether the UK is going to need another lockdown. My assessment as I write on 19 May is that there is at least a 50:50 chance of a lockdown being needed before the end of this May. But I am hoping I am wrong: The R factor will almost certainly be above a national average of 1 before the end of May, which means COVID-19 will be rising exponentially again. It has already risen from an estimate in the range of 0-5-0.9 a week ago to 0.7-1 a week later. Keeping below 1 in the next two weeks seems rather too optimistic. Conversely there will be enormous pressure on the government from their backers and the right-wing press to avoid another lockdown. Despite the risks of a lockdown and leading to far worse economic damage. Yet the government will be keen that the death count will not become even further ahead of the rest of Europe ...
Waiting for the bus I’ve just had an unplanned bus tour of the infamous Blackbird Leys estate. In 1991 it hit the headlines for the riots when police cracked down on a joy-riding craze. It reminds me of estates in my industrial home town. Blackbird Leys is an estate of mainly terraced houses, the occasional semi, but nothing posh. It was purpose-built from the 1950s to clear city centre slums and house workers for the nearby Morris Motors factory. The point is that I was the only person on the bus who was wearing a face covering or mask of any kind. Yet the advice from the government is to wear one whenever on public transport. It was only as we got closer into the city that people were getting on wearing facemasks. Every single one of them. Why such a difference? [Update: On the journey back, only one other passenger had a face covering. The first journey certainly wasn't a one-off.] Blackbird Le...
Last night, Prime Minister Johnson made a televised presentation to the UK public. The focus was on England, as the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are responsible for their own NHS and their own lockdown arrangements. GENERAL ASSESSMENT I welcome the general tone of the presentation. As I hoped in the the previous post , the intention is to ease lockdown as fast as possible but cautiously. Safety first, otherwise R will rise, infections will soar, and further lockdowns will be necessary. Economic damage would then be worse than easing lockdown carefully. But as has been widely reported today (Monday), the lack of detail has meant widespread confusion and dismay. What was my initial reaction on PM Johnson's "road map"? There are 5 "Alert levels" (hence the "Stay Alert" message). But vague on conditions for each step of the plan. Vague on timescales. Indeed the graphic for what would happen when bore n...
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