Coronavirus (COVID-19)

[NorthernLights]

State of play in England with regards to their tiers.

[madwullie]

6 minutes ago, Snafu said:

This is horrible -

https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/coronavirus-infected-mink-rise-from-their-mass-grave-20201126-p56i4c.html

Looks like they skinned them regardless if they had the virus or not going by this picture. Either that of they were all dropped into a wood chipper.

Jesus that's grim as f**k 

[Have some faith in Magic]

7 minutes ago, NorthernLights said:

State of play in England with regards to their tiers.

Lib Dems have done very well.

Pleasing to see a Tory wipeout.

[Turkmenbashi]

7 minutes ago, Have some faith in Magic said:

Lib Dems have done very well.

Pleasing to see a Tory wipeout.

Surprised to see the SNP winning in Cornwall and Isle and Wight

Edited November 26, 2020 by Turkmenbashi

[pandarilla]

I could be wrong (and there's a fair chance I am so feel free to correct me) but I don't see this having any effect on the vaccine being approved.

From what I understand, whether you get half a dose or a full dose of the Oxford vaccine its going to be about 70% effective. It seems that they found out by accident that administering half a dose and then the remaining half at a later date acts like a booster and takes the effectiveness up to 90%.

I would think that as long as the vaccine is found to be safe and effective it'll be approved regardless of how its given out.

I thought the effectiveness of the double dose trial was 59%, and the 90% 1/2 first trial raised the overall effectiveness to 70%

Again, though, I'm no expert.

I've just read a financial times article on the claims that the results from the Oxford vaccine are not quite as good as they seem.

A tad depressing, but hopefully the other vaccines will continue to show good results, and this can go down as a minor blip.

The people making these claims have vested interests in Pfizer and/or Moderna.

True. But the Oxford defence seemed to acknowledge the issue, rather than argue the case too strongly.

It's quite clearly an overall less effective vaccine - but the fact it's so much easier to store, and will be given on a bit for profit basis - means we really do need it to succeed to a reasonable standard.

[welshbairn]

2 minutes ago, pandarilla said:

It's quite clearly an overall less effective vaccine

We don't know that yet.

[pandarilla]

We don't know that yet.

Apologies.

Based on the early release of evidence, it looks very likely that it'll be a less effective vaccine....

[Hedgecutter]

4 hours ago, Todd_is_God said:

5 hours ago, ICTChris said:

Is there any research on literacy levels among Scottish adults?

I googled this off the back of 101's post earlier. Around 73% apparantly

[Billy Jean King]

Ludlow racecourse say they have no intention of allowing anywhere near 2000 in next week despite being allowed to in T2. Cautious approach with learning towads restricting it to a 600 max which is their number of members (ST holders in racing parlance).

As football clubs here have shown it seems sports arena administrators are very wary.

[NotThePars]

1 hour ago, Snafu said:

 

Prof. Devi Sridhar

 

@devisridhar

 

Replying to

@devisridhar

COVID doesn't care that it's Christmas or Thanksgiving. It spreads in indoor, poorly ventilated settings esp households. If you want to safely see family, check local prevalence, get outside for walks, ventilate indoor settings & isolate for 2 weeks before seeing vulnerable ppl.

 

12:03 PM · Nov 26, 2020·Twitter Web App

Not sure about Devi's face turn but let's see how it plays out

[Michael W]

1 hour ago, Ron Aldo said:

I could be wrong (and there's a fair chance I am so feel free to correct me) but I don't see this having any effect on the vaccine being approved.

From what I understand, whether you get half a dose or a full dose of the Oxford vaccine its going to be about 70% effective. It seems that they found out by accident that administering half a dose and then the remaining half at a later date acts like a booster and takes the effectiveness up to 90%.

I would think that as long as the vaccine is found to be safe and effective it'll be approved regardless of how its given out.

Looks like they will be running another trial - https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-astrazeneca-to-run-extra-trial-of-vaccine-developed-with-oxford-university-12143150

Almost undoubtedly due to some hints that the US will not approve it given the trial error that has come to light. One might cynically say to prevent cheaper competition to the US-developed vaccines. Vaccines which showed a very high efficacy rate, but which you can also point out were subject to a flawed trial as only those displaying symptoms actually got tested. So no idea how much asymptomatic cases resulted. That said, it still did its job in preventing them becoming seriously ill. 

Whilst the link says this is unlikely to affect approval in the UK, this is still bad news. 

Again though, I've no qualms about the safety of it. It seems that it did the job it was designed to (stopped people becoming unwell enough to need hospital). 

Edited November 26, 2020 by Michael W

[LongTimeLurker]

2 minutes ago, Michael W said:

...Almost undoubtedly due to some hints that the US will not approve it given the trial error that has come to light. One might cynically say to prevent cheaper competition to the US-developed vaccines. Vaccines which showed a very high efficacy rate, but which you can also point out were subject to a flawed trial as only those displaying symptoms actually became unwell...

Billions in revenue are potentially at stake so Pfizer and Moderna will view Oxford and their at cost approach as being about as welcome as the proverbial one in a spacesuit. AstraZeneca tested their test group weekly to identify asymptomatic cases cases while Pfizer and Moderna did not and only tested when symptomatic, so 70% vs 95% may be a misleading comparison. 

[welshbairn]

All three companies have offered only intermediate results before their initial testing is past the the 164 infected trialists mark. Might take a bit longer with Oxford as they're still testing different dosage regimes, but better safe than sorry, eh people!

[renton]

It seems unlikely at this stage whether it would hold up regulatory approval in the UK, even at the lower 62% effectiveness regime. 

Presume you give the US vaccines to NHS staff and most vulnerable groups, then Oxford vaccine to general populace. 

Edited November 26, 2020 by renton

[Detournement]

Gyms are open in Tier 3 in England. Take note Nippy.

Peston being a toad and stating that taxes have to rise and spending has to be cut at the beginning of his question. A perfect example of Manufacturing Consent.

 

[Detournement]

Whitty saying it's seasonal.

So summer restrictions have heehaw effect on winter rates and the Scottish Government completely shafted us all for months. 

[Michael W]

12 minutes ago, renton said:

It seems unlikely at this stage whether it would hold up regulatory approval in the UK, even at the lower 62% effectiveness regime. 

Presume you give the US vaccines to NHS staff and most vulnerable groups, then Oxford vaccine to general populace. 

Given they didn't test anyone that didn't display symptoms, are we sure the efficacy is as high as it sounds? Genuinely not sure. 

At any rate, the trials have seemingly achieved what they set out to do in preventing serious illness. We might not have got it totally spot on this time, but hopefully we can go back to something approaching normal. Questions of asymptomic spread and mild cases can be addressed in due course. 

[renton]

Interesting to see Johnson saying mass testing reduced  case loads in Liverpool by two thirds. 

[mizfit]

Interesting to see Johnson saying mass testing reduced  case loads in Liverpool by two thirds. 

They need to start mass testing towns and cities that enter tier 3 or 4. That’s how to drop cases.

[bendan]

24 minutes ago, Detournement said:

Whitty saying it's seasonal.

So summer restrictions have heehaw effect on winter rates and the Scottish Government completely shafted us all for months. 

I think the SG have done not bad with the second wave, despite the way they've handled the schools issue, but there needs to be a good look at what they were doing in the early summer.