The Brick Castle: COVID-19 Coronavirus UK and World News weekend update 14/15 November 2020.

COVID-19 Coronavirus UK and World News weekend update 14/15 November 2020.

The UK added 24,962 cases today and now has reported a total of 1,344,356 positive cases of COVID-19.

14,915 people were in hospital on Thursday 12th, with 1,355 using a ventilator on Friday 13th November.

In the 24 hours up until 5pm yesterday, we officially reported the loss of another 168 people who have tested positive to COVID-19 within 28 days. We now very sadly have a total of 51,934 officially reported losses of life in all settings.

Rep. Of Ireland 67,526 cases and 1,978 losses of life. (Not yet reported today.)

There have now been a total of 54,611,015 reported cases worldwide. The number of people who have lost their lives worldwide to COVID-19 is 1,322,317. Already 38,052,515 people have recovered.

There was trouble in the USA last night. Trump supporters organised a 'Million MAGA March' in Washington DC, an area where Donald Trump only got 5.5% of the vote, and Biden got 92.9%. It was never going to end well, and it didn't.

Donald Trump has has well and truly returned to Twitter, and his messages were not helpful. He referred to counter-protesters as "Human Radical Left Garbage". At least 3 people were stabbed. Sadly I do not think this event is over.

Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth told Sky News that he is hoping to work with the Government on an emergency ban on anti-vaccine posts on UK Social Media. He referred to "poison, garbage (and) conspiracy theories" which will affect public trust.

I try to bring you up to date information on what is happening out there, I've read more about vaccines than I ever thought possible, and I'm also a live human being person with loved ones - I have a vested interest in safe, effective vaccines.

No-one did bow to Trump's request to bring anything out early, and the Oxford and BioNTech vaccine candidate studies are not cutting corners on numbers of participants or time actually studied. I'm looking forward to getting the next lot of safety information on the BioNTech candidate hopefully this week - then we'll know more. Most of the other candidates seem perfectly sound, but aren't as advanced, so we don't have the same useful data yet. COVID is a new virus, but virus aren't new. Coronavirus aren't new. Coronavirus vaccines aren't even new. The vaccine manufacturers didn't have to start from step 1, and we aren't trying out something that's had to be created from scratch. There was never any real worry a vaccine would be dangerous, there was far more worry that it wouldn't work, or would only work for a short period of time.

Excluded UK are fighting for the 3 million or so working people who have so far been excluded from any UK Government Covid19 financial support. You haven't entirely been forgotten.

On BBC News this morning, Professor Ugur Sahin, the co-founder of BioNTech, said that he believes next Winter (2021) can 'be normal' if enough people take up the vaccines. It really does seem likely. For most people, it's possible late Summer and Autumn could also be pretty 'normal'.

I've mentioned it before, but it bears repeating, All the modellers are predicting that parts of Europe at least will have a smaller COVID wave in Spring, and that includes the UK. The size of that wave very much depends on how cautious/wild people are over Christmas and new Year.

vaccine information general safety uk government

El Paso, Texas, is really in trouble. There are reportedly 10 mobile morgue vans in use, and prison inmate labour is being used to move bodies. There are some grim reports emerging from hospitals, and the case count there is going through the roof, so their situation is not about to come to an end.

COVID has a very low death rate, until you cannot treat people with basic care and oxygen, at which point it can reach a mortality rate of around 1 in 7 known cases.

People with learning disabilities in England have been really disproportionately affected by COVID. A Public Health England report out last week, which covers the period from February up until 5th June 2020, estimates a national total of 956 deaths. The "estimated rate was 369 per 100,000 adults, which is 3.6 times the rate in the general population". The death rate for people with a learning disability aged 18-34 was 30 times higher than general population.

Reasons are tricky to pin down, but people with learning disabilities have a higher rate of comorbidities overall, and social distancing can be a lot harder, with shared accommodation and personal care needs. Communication can be a barrier, and experience and understanding of pain.

Chinese authorities have found traces of COVID on frozen beef and tripe, and their packaging, from Brazil, Bolivia and New Zealand, and on packaging for frozen pork from Argentina.

China has been testing imported frozen foods for a few months now, and has on several occasions detected the virus, triggering import bans on items including Ecuadorian shrimp, Russian squid and Norwegian seafood.

The World Health Organisation still say:

"There is currently no evidence that people can catch COVID-19 from food or food packaging."

"It is not necessary to disinfect food packaging materials, but hands should be properly washed after handling food packages and before eating."

Cooking raw meats will kill COVID. Washing your hands with soap destroys COVID.

Trump of the Day:

Trump retweeted a bloke called Mark who said:

"History will show that President Trump had the greatest, most effective response to a pandemic in world history."

Trump added the comment:

"Thank you Mark, but the Fake News Media will never say it!"

Ermmmm. Yeeeeahhhh maybe in your head. I'm not convinced the rest of the world would agree it was "the greatest, most effective response to a pandemic in world history", especially the quarter of a million bereaved families you already have.

Donald Trump Concedes he lost the election 151120

The Mayor of the City of Chicago, Lori E. Lightfoot, has issued a 'stay at home' advisory from tomorrow for 30 days.

Residents are advised to only leave home to go to work or school, or for essential medical / food. Face coverings and maintaining 6ft distancing are mandatory. Residents have also been asked not to have visitors, avoid travel and: "Cancel traditional Thanksgiving celebrations."

Not content with calling our worried, worn out and under-appreciated NHS staff 'fat and lazy', The Daily Mail has today printed a headline that implies Marcus Rashford has made millions out of being a nice guy. Nope, he made millions out of being a footballer. He does the nice guy bit for fun. Remember the 'Stop Funding Hate' campaign? Maybe 'Stop Printing Hate' should be a new thing...

When new scientific papers are published, they are there for their 'peer-review'. Basically they're marked and evaluated by other scientists. It's a really important part of the process, because they can spot flaws, check maths and even highlight interesting additional findings that might not be part of the main study. It's also important because just occasionally someone publishes something that looks genuine, but isn't. There are a handful of studies out there examining the effects of COVID on various Pokemon. Thanks to Cathy for the link to "Cyllage City COVID-19 Outbreak Linked to Zubat Consumption".

Trump of this Afternoon:

Around lunchtime UK-time Donald finally conceded defeat in the US election. A very sad "He won" tweet image is being shared, it's actually a photoshop which cute out the rest of his tweet. He had no intention of stopping the lawsuits. Within 4 hours he changed his mind:

"He only won in the eyes of the FAKE NEWS MEDIA. I concede NOTHING! We have a long way to go. This was a RIGGED ELECTION!"

Sigh....

The German Government has a new advert, and it's as good a Christmas advert as you'll see. I've added it below for you. It has a message for all of us at the end.

A huge thank you to everyone who wished me a happy birthday - it was a bit overwhelming! I had a Bailey's birthday cake... and I definitely recommend it!

Some people. All very much like you:

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

USA 11,249,858 (+23,640) 251,331 (+75)

India 8,841,784 (+26,882) 130,043 (+369)

Brazil 5,851,239 (+2,280) 165,696 (+23)

France 1,954,599 not yet reported today 44,246

Russia 1,925,825 (+22,572) 33,186 (+352)

Spain 1,492,608 not yet reported today 40,769

UK 1,369,318 (+24,962) 51,934 (+168)

Argentina 1,304,846 not yet reported today 35,307

Colombia 1,191,004 not yet reported today 33,829

Italy 1,178,529 (+33,979) 45,229 (+546)