The Brick Castle: COVID-19 Coronavirus UK and World News weekend update 12th / 13th September 2020.

COVID-19 Coronavirus UK and World News weekend update 12th / 13th September 2020.

The UK added 3,330 cases today and now has reported a total of 368,504 positive cases of COVID-19. We reported 3,497 yesterday. Last Saturday and Sunday we reported 2,593 and 2,988. It's up by almost 1/3.

884 people were in hospital on Thursday 10th, with 79 using a ventilator on Friday 11th.

In the 24 hours up until 5pm yesterday, we officially reported the loss of another 5 people who have tested positive to COVID-19 within 28 days. We now very sadly have a total of 41,628 officially reported losses of life in all settings.

England 318,121 / 36,964
Northern Ireland 8,314 / 568
Scotland 22,679 / 2,499
Wales 19,390 / 1,597

Rep. Of Ireland 30,730 cases and 1,784 (+1) losses of life. (Not yet reported cases today.)

There have now been a total of 29,107,970 reported cases worldwide. The number of people who have lost their lives worldwide to COVID-19 is 926,910. Already 20,947,030 people have recovered.

"We may not get back to our normal lives until the end of 2021."
Dr Anthony Fauci, US COVID lead, being very brutal and honest about when it's likely the US, and a lot of the world, are going to be able to put the face masks away, or go to a packed theatre etc, without risk of catching COVID.

Hope school reopening is going well for you. We had 3 cases already in my 2 sons' schools by close of play on Friday. Awesome. My kids however were delighted to be back.

The Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine trial has resumed. Whatever adverse event the UK patient suffered - and they can't really tell us because of patient confidentiality laws - independent scrutiny has found it not to be a reason to stop the trial, or consider the vaccine unsafe. Good stuff.

Scotland have reported 244 new cases today - 3.7% of all tested individuals. Following the rise in cases, restrictions on indoor household gatherings are being extended to North and South Lanarkshire.

Children of any age are included in the English 'Rule Of 6' maximum limit for gatherings. In case anyone missed it, they can also catch and spread COVID, so for the purposes of this ruling, are considered people.

From Monday people in Wales will be limited to gatherings of no more than 30 (socially distanced) people outdoors, and only 6 people from your extended household indoors. Unlike the ruling for England, children under 11 do NOT count as part of the 6.

Scotland adopted the 6 person rule earlier, as did Northern Ireland.

It is up to you to keep up to date with your own local restrictions. Ignorance is no defence in the eyes of the law. Your own Gov. pages have all of the updates, but following your own local authority or community leader/ Mayor etc on social media can be the best place to look.

Harvey Hawkins

Politico are reporting that a Mr Trump's officials interfered with CDC weekly COVID-19 reports, and in fact tried to get them stopped altogether. Naughty, naughty. Apparently they felt that the CDC were trying to undermine the President's message. Erm.... okay.... By reporting numbers of cases and losses of life?

The West Coast of America is on fire. This time it's wildfires, not protests, but it's just as deadly and devastating. It's turned the sky orange over Northern California, and is stretching emergency services and ability to maintain hygiene and social distancing laws.

Yesterday Canada reported no new losses of life to COVID for the first day since March 15th. The situation there is not over, they still have a steady number of cases, especially in Ontario and Quebec. Fingers crossed though that this is a sign of things to come.

Denmark reopened schools really successfully, without it causing a spike in cases, and they are often given as an example of how to do it. When prioritising reopening, they chose schools over pubs or eating out, and had a very low incidence of COVID-19 in the community. They taught outside whenever possible, and kept children in groups of around 6-10, with strict hygiene and distancing between groups. Their population is spread thinly, most people live in smaller towns and communities, rather than the sort of huge towns and cities that exist in many countries.
It isn't realistic to assume that English schools (and schools in many other countries worldwide) can achieve the same feat.

Denmark is, in common with much of Europe, experiencing the highest number of cases since Spring. Across Europe the ripple of a second wave is causing problems. Remember that we test many more people now. If you have 1,000 new positive cases:
- If you can test everyone you think has exposure to COVID, you hopefully won't really have more than 1050 cases overall.
- If you only test people who come forward with symptoms, you will likely have more than 2,000-3,000 cases overall.
- If you only test those people who end up in hospital, you may have as many as 10,000-15,000 cases in the community.
The rate at which people succumb will be far lower, the more positive cases you can find. And because you can tell them to self-isolate, so will the number of people you lose next week, and the week after.

Some people. All made from the same star as you:

Countries / Cases / Losses of life (some states /provinces yet to report):

USA 6,694,486 (+17,885) 198,289 (+161)

India 4,837,952 (+86,164) 79,690 (+1,076)

Brazil 4,319,184 (+3,326) 131,408 (+134)

Russia 1,062,811 (+5,449) 18,578 (+94)

Mexico 663,973 (+5,674) 70,604 (+421)

Spain 576,697 not yet reported today 29,747

Chile 434,748 (+2,082) 11,949 (+54)

Iran 402,029 (+2,089) 23,157 (+128)

France 381,094 (+7,183) 30,916 (+6)

UK 368,504 (+3,330) 41,628 (+5)