'A financial diuretic': Leo Varadkar and ECB voice support for €500bn Franco-German recovery plan
President Emmanuel Macron said that the funds “were not loans.”
www.thejournal.ie
Current Affairs Coronavirus Thread - Serious stuff !!!
- Thread starter bullybeef
- Start date
- Status
www.thejournal.ie
Some 'ring fencing' from the government.
Today’s ONS figures show that the proportion of coronavirus deaths taking place in care homes rose in early May, with care home deaths accounting for 42.4% of coronavirus-related fatalities registered in England and Wales in the week ending 8 May. This was up from 40% the previous week.
This chart from the ONS report helps to illustrate this point.
Coronavirus deaths, by place of death Photograph: ONS
March 16th - advised over 70s and those vulnerable with underlying health conditions to self isolate.
March 19th - Covid 19 Discharge Service Requirement document drawn up by the government's Health and Social Care department. The government knew there was going to be an increase in those with the coronavirus so told hospitals to free up beds. Which meant sending people back to care homes without testing for the virus. The subsequent result of that action was/is the devastation it caused in care homes, care in the community and at peoples' homes. There is no hiding place for the 'ring fencers' Johnson, Hancock and Gove and relatives, care home managers and providers seem like they are going to make sure there is justice.
Today’s ONS figures show that the proportion of coronavirus deaths taking place in care homes rose in early May, with care home deaths accounting for 42.4% of coronavirus-related fatalities registered in England and Wales in the week ending 8 May. This was up from 40% the previous week.
This chart from the ONS report helps to illustrate this point.
Coronavirus deaths, by place of death Photograph: ONS
March 16th - advised over 70s and those vulnerable with underlying health conditions to self isolate.
March 19th - Covid 19 Discharge Service Requirement document drawn up by the government's Health and Social Care department. The government knew there was going to be an increase in those with the coronavirus so told hospitals to free up beds. Which meant sending people back to care homes without testing for the virus. The subsequent result of that action was/is the devastation it caused in care homes, care in the community and at peoples' homes. There is no hiding place for the 'ring fencers' Johnson, Hancock and Gove and relatives, care home managers and providers seem like they are going to make sure there is justice.
Just on a call with the WEF, and they're talking about global industrial concern around supply chains as a result of the pandemic, and that there's a lot of concern across industries that they're making these changes at a time of financial vulnerability. Good job we're not blindly blundering ahead with something in December that will cause even more disruption 
Just on a call with the WEF, and they're talking about global industrial concern around supply chains as a result of the pandemic, and that there's a lot of concern across industries that they're making these changes at a time of financial vulnerability. Good job we're not blindly blundering ahead with something in December that will cause even more disruption
Having native focussed supply chains, in line with a reaction to globalisation, is going to make us poorer. I'd advocate instead diversifying supply chains across the globe to increase their robustness, including some increased native supply in certain areas.
(Obviously this is over simplifying a very complicated issue.)
Indeed, resilience doesn't occur when you shrink your supply chain, but introduce greater redundancy within it. Companies need more suppliers, not less.
NilSatisOptimum
Player Valuation: £70m
Officially we will hit 35000 today. Government were hoping and stating at the beginning 20000 deaths would be a good result...44,000 and counting...Jesus!
UK Covid-19 death toll over 44,000 - nearly 10,000 more than previously thought
Figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that the number of care home deaths in the UK had passed 10,000 by May 8, with the overall death toll passing 44,000www.mirror.co.uk
Why "Chinese virus" is wrong
Discover why calling COVID-19 the "Chinese virus" is scientifically inaccurate and the implications of such terminology in Dr Simon Taylor's latest blog.
insight.jbs.cam.ac.uk
Agency staff were spreading Covid-19 between care homes, PHE found in April
Temporary care workers transmitted Covid-19 between care homes as cases surged, according to an unpublished government study, which used genome tracking to investigate outbreaks.
In evidence that raises further questions about ministers’ claims to have “thrown a protective ring around care homes”, it emerged that agency workers – often employed on zero-hours contracts – unwittingly spread the infection as the pandemic grew, according to the study by Public Health England (PHE).
The genome-tracking research into the behaviour of the virus in six care homes in London found that, in some cases, workers who transmitted coronavirus had been drafted in to cover for care home staff who were self-isolating expressly to prevent the vulnerable people they look after from becoming infected.
At least 22,000 people are estimated to have died in care homes in England and Wales directly or indirectly from Covid-19. While the peak appears to have passed, the crisis is far from over for the country’s 400,000 care home residents, with some providers reporting fresh outbreaks and hospitalisations at the weekend.
During flu pandemic planning in 2018, a report from social care directors warned ministers that frontline care workers would need advice on “controlling cross-infection”. A 2019 PHE document about flu pandemic preparations called “Infection prevention and control: an outbreak information pack for care homes” urged operators to “try to avoid moving staff between homes and floors”.
But the DHSC’s social care plan, published on 16 April, mentions nothing about restricting staff movements between homes in its chapter on “controlling the spread of infection in care homes”.
Results from the PHE study, conducted over Easter weekend from 11 to 13 April, have been known about inside the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) since at least the end of last month, but were only circulated last week to care home providers, councils and local directors of public health.
It was referenced as part of a £600m infection control plan, which adult social care directors said came “tragically late in the day” given the peak of deaths in care homes appeared to have already passed.
The study warned: "infection is spreading from care home to care home, linked to changed patterns of staffing, working across and moving between homes.” The infection could be introduced by “bank staff” – floating workers used to fill temporary vacancies in different homes – it said, adding that workers were often asymptomatic so “by the time local health protection teams are informed of an outbreak substantial transmission may already have occurred”.
The existence of the study was flagged to care operators and councils last week when the care minister, Helen Whately, announced details of a £600m “infection control fund” for care homes to allow providers to pay extra to carers who normally work in several homes in exchange for working in only one facility.
The new plan to cut infection rates in care settings included instructions to councils and operators to “take all possible steps to minimise staff movement between care homes, to stop infection spreading between locations” and that “subject to maintaining safe staffing levels, providers should employ staff to work at a single location”
The £600m funding is “intended to help providers pay for additional staff and/or maintain the normal wages of staff who, in order to reduce the spread of infection, need to reduce the number of establishments in which they work”
Documents seen by the Guardian show that on 30 April, shortly after a sharp rise of 4,300 care home deaths in a fortnight in England and Wales, DHSC officials had drafted plans for “comprehensive infection prevention and control measures” in care homes. These included measures “minimising the extent to which care workers are moving between different units”. However, they were not published until last Thursday – a fortnight later.
In the meantime, at least another 2,500 people died in English care homes, according to the Office for National Statistics. Last week, Boris Johnson admitted there had been “an appalling epidemic in care homes”.
DHSC said it would not comment on leaked documents and said the study would be published shortly.It stressed that it started working on new guidance and funding as soon as it received early results from the report.
“We are working around the clock to make sure care homes, and our frontline social care workforce, are getting the support they need to protect their residents and tackle coronavirus,” a spokesperson said. “Our help to care homes, which includes financial support, infection control training and supplies of PPE, has meant that two-thirds of England’s care homes have had no outbreak at all.”
The DHSC also examined three US studies of care home outbreaks showing high levels of transmission by asymptomatic carriers and staff members working in more than one facility. A report published in March about an outbreak in February at a home in Washington state where 23 people died found “staff members working in multiple facilities contributed to intra- and inter-facility spread”
Care operators have been increasingly reliant on flexible workers to fill shifts, with absence rates caused by self-isolation among permanent staff running as high as 25% at the peak of outbreaks.
Until recent weeks, shortages of PPE exacerbated concerns that care staff risked spreading the illness and family members have complained of loved ones put at risk by care workers travelling to and from work without changing clothes.
Vic Rayner, the executive director of the National Care Forum, which represents charitable care providers, said: “Staff have always been extremely concerned with the potential for spreading the virus. It would be the last thing any of them want to do."
“They have been putting the wellbeing of the people they are caring for above themselves. Good care homes have been implementing restrictions on movement from day one and have been buying out agency staff at their own cost [so they only work in one home].
“The challenge here is they are looking for restrictions on movement when we are already running with a high level of vacancies in the sector, people self-isolating with symptoms and now the roll out of testing of asymptomatic staff which will increase the numbers self-isolating again.”
Temporary care workers transmitted Covid-19 between care homes as cases surged, according to an unpublished government study, which used genome tracking to investigate outbreaks.
In evidence that raises further questions about ministers’ claims to have “thrown a protective ring around care homes”, it emerged that agency workers – often employed on zero-hours contracts – unwittingly spread the infection as the pandemic grew, according to the study by Public Health England (PHE).
The genome-tracking research into the behaviour of the virus in six care homes in London found that, in some cases, workers who transmitted coronavirus had been drafted in to cover for care home staff who were self-isolating expressly to prevent the vulnerable people they look after from becoming infected.
At least 22,000 people are estimated to have died in care homes in England and Wales directly or indirectly from Covid-19. While the peak appears to have passed, the crisis is far from over for the country’s 400,000 care home residents, with some providers reporting fresh outbreaks and hospitalisations at the weekend.
During flu pandemic planning in 2018, a report from social care directors warned ministers that frontline care workers would need advice on “controlling cross-infection”. A 2019 PHE document about flu pandemic preparations called “Infection prevention and control: an outbreak information pack for care homes” urged operators to “try to avoid moving staff between homes and floors”.
But the DHSC’s social care plan, published on 16 April, mentions nothing about restricting staff movements between homes in its chapter on “controlling the spread of infection in care homes”.
Results from the PHE study, conducted over Easter weekend from 11 to 13 April, have been known about inside the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) since at least the end of last month, but were only circulated last week to care home providers, councils and local directors of public health.
It was referenced as part of a £600m infection control plan, which adult social care directors said came “tragically late in the day” given the peak of deaths in care homes appeared to have already passed.
The study warned: "infection is spreading from care home to care home, linked to changed patterns of staffing, working across and moving between homes.” The infection could be introduced by “bank staff” – floating workers used to fill temporary vacancies in different homes – it said, adding that workers were often asymptomatic so “by the time local health protection teams are informed of an outbreak substantial transmission may already have occurred”.
The existence of the study was flagged to care operators and councils last week when the care minister, Helen Whately, announced details of a £600m “infection control fund” for care homes to allow providers to pay extra to carers who normally work in several homes in exchange for working in only one facility.
The new plan to cut infection rates in care settings included instructions to councils and operators to “take all possible steps to minimise staff movement between care homes, to stop infection spreading between locations” and that “subject to maintaining safe staffing levels, providers should employ staff to work at a single location”
The £600m funding is “intended to help providers pay for additional staff and/or maintain the normal wages of staff who, in order to reduce the spread of infection, need to reduce the number of establishments in which they work”
Documents seen by the Guardian show that on 30 April, shortly after a sharp rise of 4,300 care home deaths in a fortnight in England and Wales, DHSC officials had drafted plans for “comprehensive infection prevention and control measures” in care homes. These included measures “minimising the extent to which care workers are moving between different units”. However, they were not published until last Thursday – a fortnight later.
In the meantime, at least another 2,500 people died in English care homes, according to the Office for National Statistics. Last week, Boris Johnson admitted there had been “an appalling epidemic in care homes”.
DHSC said it would not comment on leaked documents and said the study would be published shortly.It stressed that it started working on new guidance and funding as soon as it received early results from the report.
“We are working around the clock to make sure care homes, and our frontline social care workforce, are getting the support they need to protect their residents and tackle coronavirus,” a spokesperson said. “Our help to care homes, which includes financial support, infection control training and supplies of PPE, has meant that two-thirds of England’s care homes have had no outbreak at all.”
The DHSC also examined three US studies of care home outbreaks showing high levels of transmission by asymptomatic carriers and staff members working in more than one facility. A report published in March about an outbreak in February at a home in Washington state where 23 people died found “staff members working in multiple facilities contributed to intra- and inter-facility spread”
Care operators have been increasingly reliant on flexible workers to fill shifts, with absence rates caused by self-isolation among permanent staff running as high as 25% at the peak of outbreaks.
Until recent weeks, shortages of PPE exacerbated concerns that care staff risked spreading the illness and family members have complained of loved ones put at risk by care workers travelling to and from work without changing clothes.
Vic Rayner, the executive director of the National Care Forum, which represents charitable care providers, said: “Staff have always been extremely concerned with the potential for spreading the virus. It would be the last thing any of them want to do."
“They have been putting the wellbeing of the people they are caring for above themselves. Good care homes have been implementing restrictions on movement from day one and have been buying out agency staff at their own cost [so they only work in one home].
“The challenge here is they are looking for restrictions on movement when we are already running with a high level of vacancies in the sector, people self-isolating with symptoms and now the roll out of testing of asymptomatic staff which will increase the numbers self-isolating again.”
OnlyBlueWillDo
Player Valuation: £35m
Germany, every person returning to a care home after getting better from treatment in a hospital went into quarantine for 14 days and then tested before being returned to a care home.
They have a fraction of the deaths we have in care homes.
Just common sense isn't it.
They have a fraction of the deaths we have in care homes.
Just common sense isn't it.
Shevin Keedy
Player Valuation: £35m
That shows the majority are working remotely, teaching online.
What Are Teachers Doing At Home? (And Where Are You Doing It?) - Teacher Tapp
Another week of mostly being told to STAY HOME & SAVE LIVES. But what does that mean when you’re also trying to teach reception or impart science knowledge to hundreds of children? We know that a small percentage of you are still in school each day, but here’s what we’ve learned this week about...teachertapp.co.uk
Is the most comprehensive data to date.
AUXLEN
Player Valuation: £1.5m
There are so many figures being bandied about. It would useful to have a definitive figure (ONS vs Govt vs Media vs Piers morgan).
Kenshin
Player Valuation: £40m
44,000 and counting...Jesus!
UK Covid-19 death toll over 44,000 - nearly 10,000 more than previously thought
Figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that the number of care home deaths in the UK had passed 10,000 by May 8, with the overall death toll passing 44,000
Why is that a different number to what is being reported?
It's getting silly now. It's under 40000 officially but your link says 44000?
It's not only common sense but human decency to want to care for the health of the elderly. The NHS is an organisation that was set up to provide care for all which included those in care homes. The tragic deaths in care homes, in the community was/is a sign that the NHS was overwhelmed. To clear out hospitals, so there were beds available for the anticipated increase in those affected by coronavirus, meant those moving into care homes and into the community would spread the virus if they had it. By not testing those leaving hospital was a deliberate strategy, as was forcing care homes to take in those who had coronavirus, and was negligence in the extreme..N o wonder relatives and care home managers and providers are furious with the government and hospitals.
It is common sense, which only adds to the sense of incompetence and/or wilful negligence that surrounds this. I don't think it is a coincidence that at the time people were being returned to care homes with no test for coronavirus taking place only deaths in hospitals were being recorded. If the tests had been carried out, those who were positive would be kept in hospital and would make the numbers worse. Better to send them on their way rather than give any thought to anything other than how bad the government would look if keeping them in hospital led to more reportable cases.
- Status