Thursday, 18 June 2020

The Coronavirus observational guide . . .




Now last time I posted on my blog I did happen to mention that the masses had heard little of the track and trace system that was being developed and tested. Well it seems that the reason for that is it didn’t work very well. I am not entirely surprised.  What governments often forget to take into account is that developing IT software is not easy and often takes time and costs a lot. Gone are the days when you could ask an IT geek hidden in his bedroom to create something overnight.


News on testing folk for Coronavirus has also gone rather quiet I think the government’s argument is that because numbers are reducing it is no longer important.  Of course if people get complacent it runs the risk of a second wave of Covid-19 which would cause loads of issues as lockdown is eased in an attempt to return to normal
.

I do have a little theory of my own (far too long to go into here) about the spread of Covid-19 and the slow but sure reduction in cases. It is clear that where there is a population living or working in close proximity the risk is very high. So social distancing is highly effective in cities, but out in the country it probably makes little difference. So I do think that having very targeted social distancing and working practices would be as effective as a national policy, but I guess the big problem then is policing it. Folk you see will bend the rules on the grounds that they are fine and are not worried so it is not important.
Since I was last here a common and cheap drug has been found to be effective in the worse cases where life is at risk so that is a really positive step.


And as a final note the Black Lives Matter movement continues to have an impact on many, also a positive step…  






Wednesday, 10 June 2020

The Coronavirus observational guide . . .




Here in the UK lockdown continues to be eased as the number of deaths falls. This is good news, although I still have doubts about the effectiveness of the systems put in place to ensure we don’t get a second peak. There is a track and trace system, but we hear little about it. And Coronavirus testing numbers look good but it is not the number of people tested but the number of tests. It also includes tests sent out in the post on that day, but we never know how many get returned and used.

I still think we may be at a point where other issues such as folks income and savings could turn into a major issue very soon. 


The incident in the USA where the black man (George Floyd) died during his arrest where the police were very much in the wrong has had worldwide implications. The Black Lives Matter protests have seen thousands of people protesting and the destruction or removal of statues of those who were in some way involved with the slave trade; and in several countries.  It is good that there is a possibility of a change of attitude. But there also needs to be something to remind folk of the past and what was done during the slave trade removing all evidence without replacing it with something that shows the barbarity of what happened risks removing the events from history.