On these days in 2020 - 30th and 31st May.

SATURDAY 30th MAY 2020

Facts and figures.

38,376 deaths in total.

215 deaths were reported yesterday.

4,171,408 tests have been completed in the UK.

272,826 of these have tested as positive with the disease.

127,722 tests were done or dispatched yesterday.

2,445 of these were new cases.

7,945 people are currently in hospital with COVID-19.

 Daily news.

Simmer down.

Some concerns have been expressed by scientists around the easing of lockdown. Professor John Edmunds and Sir Jeremy Farrar, who are both members of SAGE, are notable dissenters. Professor Peter Horby, another SAGE member, agreed, and Professor Calum Semple said,

‘We’re lifting the lid on a boiling pan, and it’s just going to bubble over. We need to get it to simmer before we take the lid off, and it’s too early.’

The ONS figures showing 54,000 new cases a week, which is 8,000 a day, has fuelled concerns. Bearing in mind, these are figures in the community only and do not include hospitals and care homes.

For balance, it might be worth mentioning that there are around 50 members of the SAGE advisers, not just the four expressing doubts. I suppose this concern is inevitable, and I think there is an air of worry in some quarters of society, because of the high prevalence of infections coupled with the closeness of r to 1. It seems obvious.

Other countries are going further than us, such as France, Italy, and Spain, but they had the outbreak around two weeks earlier. We should have caught up, but we haven’t.

A school of thought.

Although the government has announced a reopening of schools. This now seems in doubt. I had an email from my daughter’s school stating that the local council and unions have said not to open and that this was ‘sad.’

News is out today that my local Council, Nottingham City Council, has said it does not ‘feel the time is right to bring children back to schools on Monday.’ It has advised schools not to open. Leicester City Council said it was advising the same, as well as many more, no doubt.

Part of me is pleased about this because of my daughter, but stepping back, it does show the amount of chaos and ill-discipline there is in the political system in this country, both with devolved governments, civil servants, and local councils.

WHO is this guy?

As previously mentioned, President Trump has followed through on his suggestion of pulling funding from the WHO. He has announced that the US will be ‘terminating its relationship’ with the World Health Organisation. He stated that China has total control over the organisation.

The US is the most significant single contributor to the WHO, giving $450 million a year. Mr Trump said that China contributes only around $40 million.

No cough – no job.

I mentioned earlier in the diary that a woman who worked at a railway station was spat at by an angry customer. She went on to contact and sadly die from COVID-19.

The police investigated this and recently announced that the customer would not be charged with any offence.

Looking behind the statement, it turns out that CCTV shows that the passenger did not spit, as alleged, nor cough or anything that might infect the lady, and an antibody test also showed he has never had COVID-19.

 4 pm Press Briefing – Secretary of State for Culture and Sport – Oliver Dowden.

First past the post.

Mr Dowden announces that Live Sport can start behind closed doors from Monday, beginning with Horse Racing.

There are specific guidelines to the activity including:

·      Screening processes.

·      One-way systems.

·      Dressing room protocols.

·      Social distancing.

A third of all Premier League matches will be free to view.

‘Grassroots’ sports can restart from Monday with up to 5 members from other households so long as they socially distance.

Controversy.

Professor Jonathan Van Tam, who is the scientist supporting the briefing today, said that this ‘is a very dangerous moment.’

Despite this, he goes on to say that with the changes on Monday, with good compliance and Test and Tracing, it is likely that r will stay below 1. There is a ‘high degree of confidence.’

When questioned about you know who; Dominic Cummings, Professor Van Tam made it known that the measures are clear and for all to adhere to.

It seemed clear that Professor Van Tam’s emphasis meant it included Mr Cummings too.

Don’t tear your pants.

When referring to the easing of measures, he urges people to be cautious and not ‘tear the pants out of it,’ by seeing five people in the morning, five in the afternoon, and five at night.

 Family life.

Presents or Else.

Jackie’s son, Ashley, and his wife April came around to see us in the garden. It was a lovely hot day. They brought little baby Elsie, it was great to see her but frustrating that we could not pick her up or hold her. She kept crawling towards us but had to be pulled back. It was Ashley’s birthday, so we threw his card and present at him!

Working from home.

The group ‘Take That’ did a ‘virtual concert’ last night on YouTube. It was good and weird to see individual performers in their own homes, singing independently and then when conjoined to give a great sound. Maybe I need to get out more.

Our Lily.

I had a picnic in the park with my daughter Lily, and sons Harry and Chris. Social distancing was involved, along with hand sanitiser. Frisbee, football, boules, and picnic which was great fun.

It was a gloriously sunny day – apparently, this has been the hottest Spring since records began. It was lovely to be able to cuddle and kiss our Lily. I have missed seeing her so much.

Strange that I can cuddle my daughter but not my granddaughter because we are not in the same bubble.

Quote of the day:

‘I would like to see anyone, prophet, king or God, convince a thousand cats to do the same thing at the same time.’ – Neil Gaiman.

SUNDAY 31st MAY 2020.

Facts and figures.

38,489 deaths in the UK overall.

113 reported dead yesterday.

4,285,738 have been tested overall in the UK.

274,762 have tested positive.

115,725 were tested or dispatched yesterday in the UK.

1,936 tests were positive and were new cases.

7,639 people are in hospital.

The government states it has the capacity to test up to 200,000 a day.

At the Press Briefing at 5 pm there was an update on rough sleeping with some supporting figures to ponder. The ambition is that as few homeless people as possible will go back on the streets after the pandemic is over.

6,000 new homes are being made available. £433 million pounds is being donated from the government to support this.

3,300 homes are being made available in the next 12 months. 15,000 people in England are currently off the streets and being helped after ‘bringing them in’ to protect them from the virus.

 Daily news.

Sunday newspaper headlines:

Dangerous moment’ as lockdown warnings grow.

 – The Independent.

Keep promises or face no deal, Barnier tells PM.

 – The Sunday Times.

Officials ‘could only cope with five Covid cases a week.’

 – The Sunday Telegraph.

Top scientists: Cummings has broken trust in Covid policy.

 – The Observer.

Millions more get taste of freedom.

 – Sunday Express.

 Pillow.

Just when you thought it was safe to come out from behind your pillow, we learn, through the TV media, of course, that…him again…Dominic Cummings, you know the guy who committed a minor breach of regulations which didn’t quite qualify him for a £30 ticket, has been the subject of thousands of emails and calls to M.P.’s in outrage. Shame, they were not as outraged when…insert almost anything here, dear reader. I will leave it to your imagination.

No doubt it is the same people we learn have complained now against Durham Constabulary for how they investigated Mr Cummings and are being investigated by the Police Complaints authorities.

For balance, in a poll by Sky News, over 60% said they thought he had committed an offence, unlike the police and even the Lord Chief Justice, but hey, what does she know?

I only meant it as a laugh, sorry.

Just for amusement, for those who cannot accept they might not know everything that happens during an investigation; it is revealed today that a witness to seeing Dominic Cummings in Durham has admitted he ‘made up’ the allegation ‘for comedy.’

The fool’s name is Tim Matthews. We have yet to see any reference to this by the TV news media which carried the original false allegation. It was totally fictitious, and interesting enough to include as an allegation, but not so much that we know it isn’t true and totally spurious.

Not just one Cumming breach of regs, other options are available.

I’m sorry, reader, but the farce continues, this is our glorious country bonding together during a national crisis. So, the next hypocrisy lies with The Labour whip Rosie Duffield who has resigned today from the shadow front bench for breaching lockdown rules.

She still keeps her role as a labour MP; there is no clamour nor even a whisper for her to be ousted from her responsible position as an elected parliament member. Rosie Duffield, who is the MP for Canterbury, had repeatedly met her secret married lover. Apparently, she did not deny that her lover had visited her house during the ongoing tryst when under lockdown provisions.

An excellent trick.

Maybe bonking your married lover is less dangerous than driving your family to be safe in lockdown as per Mr erm…Cumming? In fairness, Ms Duffield did say that they always kept a 2-metre distance, which is an excellent trick if you can pull it off.

Black Lives Matter, unless it’s COVID?

Thousands have gathered in Trafalgar Square in support of ‘Black Lives Matter.’ This is to demonstrate against the brutal killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota, by a police officer. The officer knelt on the guy's neck for nine minutes, for three of which he was unconscious and probably dead by my estimation. I’ve seen the video. I know about these things. There was no need for it. There is no excuse. The cop was totally wrong. Riots and demonstrations have taken place across America.

BLM unmasked.

What’s this got to do with COVID-19? The thousands in Trafalgar Square were milling together, shoulder-to-shoulder, and no social distancing. It reminded me of the Cheltenham Gold Cup meeting, which boosted the original outbreak. The start of the second spike?

It is a horrible paradox that here and, in the States, people ignore social distancing, and potentially infect themselves with a killer virus by shouting ‘Black Live Matter.’

The pied piper of Clapton.

Hundreds of people attend an illegal street party and ignore social distancing in Detmold Road, Clapton, East London. A DJ was playing rap music and R&B, who, not unlike the pied piper of Hamlin, drew in hundreds of revellers in Clapton.

The ‘too difficult’ tray.

ITV news report that at the start of the outbreak, coronavirus patients' widespread testing was stopped after it was revealed that Public Health England could only deal with five people a week!

The strategy which was supposed to dampen down outbreaks of the virus, was abandoned in March 2020.

The reasons are revealed in minutes from the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) meeting on 18th February 2020, which states Public Health England could increase to 50 new cases a week, but this would need stress testing. SAGE curiously said,

 ‘When there is sustained transmission in the UK, contact tracing will no longer be useful.’

It was agreed two days later that the abandonment should go ahead, so on March 12th, 2020, the Prime Minister announced that basically anyone with symptoms must stay at home for seven days.

 4 pm Press Briefing. – Robert Jenrick, Secretary of State for Business.

Mr Jenrick spoke about the vulnerable, elderly who have been ‘shielded’ during the outbreak. They have been in their homes for the duration of the ten-week lockdown. The vulnerable are those with severe health issues. 90,000 of the 2.2 million vulnerable people are children.

The National Shielding Service has been supporting the vulnerable, delivering 2.5 million food parcels Author’s note. Minus the one that inexplicably came to our house, and medicines. 350,000 people who are shielded have registered for support in some way. More than half wanted someone to talk to on the phone, bless them.

There will be updated guidance from the government from tomorrow that those being shielded can spend time outdoors with members of their own households. Or if they live alone, with one person from another household. They must still, of course, follow social distancing. This is merely an invitation to do this; people should only do what they feel comfortable with.

The shielded population’s easing of restrictions will be reviewed simultaneously to the general population going forward.

 Family life.

‘I can’t see it.’

I went on my new bike again in my quest to lose corona weight. I can’t help noticing I have developed quite a paunch.

We have our main shopping delivered by Morrison’s because of coronavirus, and a load came this morning. We sat in the garden and Jackie was checking the receipt, she said, ‘I can’t see my meat.’ ‘Join the club,’ says I.

Quote of the day.

‘Most people talk about the fear of the unknown, but if there is anything to fear, it is the known.’- Depak Chopra.

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