Latest 24-hour death toll is worst since 13 May
The latest coronavirus mortality figure for Wales has sounded a warning bell for the whole UK. As infection rates have rocketed exponentially, opponents of anti-pandemic measures have tried to dismiss the significance of the rise by claiming that the number of deaths has been low, in spite of similarly exponential increases in hospital admissions and the obvious fact that the number of deaths will always lag behind the curve for infections and hospitalisations.
But the 21 deaths in Wales in the last 24 hours represent the highest number – by a distance – since 13 May, five months ago, despite that nation’s generally clearer and more effective management of the crisis than in England.
The Tories’ hodge-podge of patchwork and inconsistent measures bodes worse for England – and it’s time for Keir Starmer’s Labour to actually start opposing and shout the clear inadequacies and illogic of Boris Johnson’s mismanagement to the rooftops.
The SKWAWKBOX needs your help. The site is provided free of charge but depends on the support of its readers to be viable. If you can afford to, please click here to arrange a one-off or modest monthly donation via PayPal or here to set up a monthly donation via GoCardless (SKWAWKBOX will contact you to confirm the GoCardless amount). Thanks for your solidarity so SKWAWKBOX can keep bringing you information the Establishment would prefer you not to know about.
If you wish to republish this post for non-commercial use, you are welcome to do so – see here for more.
The UK coronavirus hospital death toll has increased by 87 as restrictions are set to get tougher from next week.
England has recorded a further 60 deaths in hospitals, Wales has had 21 deaths and in Scotland there have been six more deaths.
Northern Ireland has reported no more fatalities.
Today’s total death toll was the highest rise since late June.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/breaking-uk-coronavirus-hospital-death-22823555
Maybe it is time for a different approach – continuing with this government’s measures we’ll be in and out of lockdown for years.
Masks everywhere, outdoors and in, but masks also delivered free to every letterbox – no excuses. Alcohol wipes too.
We all have to eat but we don’t have to eat in groups – find yourself a space before removing your mask to eat. Even schools could do that with meals in take-out type containers – no reason kids can’t eat in classrooms & corridors as well as dining rooms and gyms to maintain distancing.
Pubs & restaurants – if they can’t make a living with distancing then that’s where government money should go, along with everywhere else that distancing prevents people going back to work.
FUCK ME – just on the news this minute – the BMA has now called for masks everywhere indoors and out.
ps… jail for profiteering. Nobody should get rich from government assistance or from fiddling the system or gouging or exploiting the public or the state. Let everyone know now that investigations will carry on for as long as it takes after it’s over – years if necessary. No hiding place.
If you’re richer at the end than the beginning of CV you’re going to have some explaining to do – the onus will be on you to prove you didn’t cheat the system – no loopholes, no exceptions.
Profiteering ot what?
https://bylinetimes.com/2020/09/16/company-conservative-donations-government-ppe-procurement-deal/
Yeah, Jack, but it happens constantly so we’ll become inured to it.
You’ll get home from work one day, tell the missus they’re stealing your unborn grandkids’ futures and she’ll say “Yeah, whaddya want for tea?”
David,
most of what you detail is exactly what the HKSAR administration has done, we’ve all been issued re-usable face masks, disposable face masks, hand gel, which my daughter uses as she was given a education pack by her Secondary School, at school they socially distance both inside and outside class rooms, wear face masks and wash hands frequently – these are simple, cheap steps that work. Of course, no one is allowed on Public transport without a face mask and people are encouraged to work from home – this is now at a period when daily transmissions are around 1 per million people – its believed approx 100 persons are infected, not all of whom are expressing the virus, the trick is finding these people before Clusters appear.
In Hong Kong, a Lockdown means a Lockdown, no Ifs or butts, education is closed down and all public gathering spaces are closed down, with the exception of eateries, which cannot all be closed as many folks don’t actually have access to a kitchen.
Its not rocket science and Asia has proven several methods work to contain this pathogen, none of which the Uk follows, which is most distressing as all my family live in Wales.
You’re out of touch mate. The north of England doesn’t want another lockdown and not does the rest of the country without being fully paid. The first lockdown was acceptable because we didn’t know very much and most of our wages were paid. This time it’s different, track and trace should be working, God knows we’ve paid enough for it to grasping outsourcers. There’s no scientific evidence for another lockdown, it only acts as a temporary damper and businesses in our neoliberal country can’t afford another one, not can workers who are being layed off by the thousand with no prospects of another job in anything other than care and other low paid jobs. Mark my words, next year the shit will hit the fan and we, the poor, will pay the price. Not only are we at more risk of catching the virus, we aren’t being treated properly by the NHS and our jobs are disappearing before our eyes…..you won’t read the real story in your newspaper sat in HK.
The headline makes it seem Wales is going off a cliff. Its not, there were 17 deaths 3-7th October in Cwm Taf health board that includes the Royal glamorgan hospital where many deaths were declared last week, its just they didn’t declare them all. Maybe copying Englands similar failures on tracing. Still numbers of positive tests still going up despite partial lockdowns.
Prof. John Ashton (sometime regional director of public health for the north west I think) just ripped the government a new one on BBC News.
I doubt it’ll be repeated much – the interviewer tried to challenge him for saying the goverment had fiddled the deaths numbers and interrupted him when he got into full flow.
Sorry I didn’t record it.
There is a dangerous and false belief that the first wave of CV19 has killed a substantial bulk of those people who were the most vulnerable to the virus. The facts do not support that contention. In England alone there are 15 million people living with long term chronic health conditions, these include heart disease, asthma, diabetes, auto immune diseases, who will, if the virus is let run unchecked, become the next swath of those killed. The first wave was just the start of this deadly pandemic, not it’s conclusion.
The huge spike in Wales was apparently caused by a local health authority last week not reporting 17 deaths – so the daily jump to 21 deaths is (while serious) not as catastrophic as it might seem at first glance.
Here is truly disturbing diagram from Gov.uk which implies 3 times casualties over Winter from 3 times the infections experienced in April:
https://coronavirus-staging.data.gov.uk/cases