A Diary Blip

Just a diary blip today. This morning I went to the builders merchant in town to get several bags of soft sand needed to line the pond and some other jobs. I also noticed that they're building a temporary Budgen's store in the car park whilst the main store is being re-built (no camera for a photo). This afternoon I did a Zoom Arts Society lecture on Beethoven and did various tidying up jobs in the garden. 

Day 219 / Day 7 of The 3 Tiers (for my record only)
UK deaths up 241 to 43,967 (revised basis), with a 21,331 rise in new daily cases, 6,431 patients in hospital and 629 in ventilator beds. New cases have fallen significantly in India over recent weeks, at 53,512 today.  The ONS reports there have now been 59,000 deaths with Covid-19 on the certificate in the UK, with 438 deaths in the w/e 9/10 (up 36% from the prev wk) in Eng & Wales. They report deaths are roughly doubling every fortnight. There are more hospital cases for Covid in Gtr MCr than in the whole of the SE and SW combined. In the briefing, maps showed the distribution of the virus this time is very uneven which is why a local approach is being adopted as in many other countries. Rates among 10-19 year olds and 20-29 year olds is going down, but conversely those being tested that are positive is going up - reasons might include controls in Universities or younger people not coming forward for testing. Human challenge trials have been proposed to regulators and ethics committees in the UK to speed up vaccine development. 

The Govt has been unable to come to an agreement with the Gtr MCr Mayor after what they say was 10 days of talks. As a consequence, 'with regret' they're putting the area into Tier 3 restrictions from midnight on Thurs. The Deputy CMO at the briefing today showed a series of slides on the situation in Gtr MCr, including some horrendous looking heat maps of various parts of Gtr MCr and how the virus is spreading to older age groups.  Cases per 100k in people over 60 from w/e 7/10 to w/e 14/10 have gone from: MCr 302 to 326; Salford 164 to 287 and Wigan 207 to 399. The Govt has given £22m for local T&T and enforcement, plus offered £60m for business support which is proportionate with the amounts provided to other Tier 3 areas and is still on the table. It was again stressed that the Job Support Scheme for people on minimum wage is topped up by Universal Credit to at least 80% of salary (the Chancellor the other day said an average (?) of 91%). The Mayor continually changes his justification for not acting, including that: Covid rates aren't that bad; impact on mental health; min wage would only get 2/3 pay; Govt is anti the North; unfair on companies that have complied with the rules; not enough money on the table; fighting for other areas still to go into Tier 3; a tougher national circuit break would be better. I've also heard him say they told the Govt they'd accept £75m business support from £90m, and then told Robert Peston he told the Govt he'd accept £65m. The door is still open for the Mayor to talk, otherwise the Govt will talk directly to the constituent local authorities. Nicola Sturgeon has made it clear that she will have the final say on restrictions in different parts of Scotland, but would also consult and collaborate. 

I think the Deputy CMO said it perfectly when he said 'we just can't let our elderly die' and 'we can't afford our NHS be completely consumed by looking after Covid, so it can't do its other business as usual'.