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Media Coverage of COVID -19

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ChiefPlanner

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Hit the jackpot today with 4 Megan related "heartbreaks" , I for the Queen and 2 contradictory reports on burning weather conditions over Europe this weekend.

Plus all the usual good news on Europe , etc.
 
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kez19

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I've noticed several stories every day banging on about second waves, much of the media is now stuck in covid mode, maybe we need a nice war to rebalance it all.


Seems more like they are stuck on Covid-mode permanently!, I rather the media gave the public the 2 sides of it than what seems to be more each day as doom/gloom (you only get the odd positive story once in a while) or is that the whole point we have to live in fear (is that the media's game?)
 

Freightmaster

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Oh this will get the doomsdayers and conspiracy theorists about the mark of the beast in a tizz...

Travellers would present the customs officers with an entrance visa and a vaccination record. That could be a paper card – or a tiny tattoo on their arm, invisible to the naked eye but readable by an infrared scanner.

That reminds me of the (rather good) Dystopian film 'In Time':

"Instead of using paper money, a new economic system uses time as currency, and each person has a clock on their arm that counts down how long they have to live"
o_O












MARK
 

adc82140

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Sky news top story now:

"Coronavirus: More countries could be added to quarantine list 'straight away', minister warns"

But he first lines of the article state:

"The UK government is poised to put more countries on its quarantine list "straight away" if coronavirus runs "out of control" in them"

Those are two very different things. The fact that the government can introduce quarantine in short order for any country where covid runs out of control is taken as read. It doesn't mean that they are about to do it though.
 

Richard Scott

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More media joy here https://www.aol.co.uk/news/2020/07/...appen-in-next-few-weeks-if-virus-not-suppres/
A second wave of Covid-19 could take hold in the UK within "a few weeks" if the virus is not suppressed, an expert has warned.

Professor James Naismith, director of the Rosalind Franklin Institute medical research centre, made his remarks as The Daily Mail reported Boris Johnson's fears of a resurgence within two weeks.

The paper reports his worry comes as the weekly average of new coronavirus cases rose by 28% from three weeks ago.
Looks like we have another expert making a comment that the second wave is coming. Seems a bit like betting on an event, one of them will be right! Who are all these experts and how do I become one? Must be honest getting seriously fed up with the doom and gloom and as no vaccine yet available we really do have to learn to live with this, not keep carrying on with this unsustainable way of life.
 

adc82140

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That Daily Mail article linked through to is utter codswallop too. They have taken an unusually low infection rate day (399) and then just quoted the figure a week later. The 7 day average is largely unchanged.
 

thejuggler

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Judging by the snippets I have seen over lunch Matt Hancock really shouldn't be near TV screens at the moment. More 'uhms' and 'ahs' than actual words.

He is absolutely all over the place when asked basic factual questions. He is only there to desperately try to get his bosses 'blame the Europeans' message across.
 

Mcr Warrior

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Any nominations for a game of COVID-19 media coverage "Bingo"? ;)

I'll start off with "Unprecedented", "Second Wave" and "New Normal".
 

Huntergreed

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Any nominations for a game of COVID-19 media coverage "Bingo"? ;)

I'll start off with "Unprecedented", "Second Wave" and "New Normal".
I'm stealing 'Lockdown Imminent' 'Winter Resurgence' and 'Extremely Concerned'
 

Yew

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"A vaccine will be ready in <6 months from now>"
"Massive exaggerations about young people dying from the virus"
 

kez19

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Gyms not to open in Scotland until 14 September and add the other word “maybe” , personally I wont be able to access any gym to October (Sturgeon on this one has buggered it for me...thank you)


Seems a joke to me (pardon the pun)
 

kez19

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"A vaccine will be ready in <6 months from now>"
"Massive exaggerations about young people dying from the virus"

Mask up everywhere and everything mind wash your hands and feet every 10 seconds
 

Red Onion

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Gyms not to open in Scotland until 14 September and add the other word “maybe” , personally I wont be able to access any gym to October (Sturgeon on this one has buggered it for me...thank you)


Seems a joke to me (pardon the pun)

Yeah, really not happy on that decision
 

duncanp

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Yeah, really not happy on that decision

And Nicola Sturgeon has also been rebuked by the UK statistics watchdog about false and misleading claims that the virus is 5 times more prevalent in England than in Scotland.



Nicola Sturgeon has been accused of misleading the UK public after she was criticised by a statistics watchdog for making unsubstantiated comparisons about coronavirus rates in Scotland and England.
Scotland’s First Minister repeatedly claimed earlier this month that the prevalence of the virus was “five times” higher in England, and opponents said she had deployed the figure "to suggest her policy was working better than elsewhere in the UK".
She also used the statistic to justify her controversial refusal to rule out imposing quarantine on visitors crossing the border into Scotland and taking a different approach to Boris Johnson on air bridges.
But in an intervention described by her critics as “damning”, Ed Humpherson, Director General for Regulation at the Office for Statistics Regulation, said that the "uncaveated" comparison should never have been made as it was not backed up by sound data.
An investigation also found that the justification for the claim provided to the media who questioned its basis was different to the one provided to regulators, after Ms Sturgeon's officials changed their story.
The accusations of citing false figures will prove embarrassing for Ms Sturgeon, who has won widespread praise for her handling of the pandemic despite separate statistics published on Thursday confirming that Scotland has the third-highest rate of excess mortality deaths in Europe.

The rebuke came on the same day that she was named as the fifth “most eloquent” leader in the world by a panel of experts who praised her authenticity and compassion, but was accused by opponents of fuelling ugly protects on the border by making unsound comparisons with England about virus rates.
Jackson Carlaw, the leader of the Scottish Conservatives, said the use of the figure showed “party political thinking is woven through the fabric of this SNP government” and undermined Ms Sturgeon’s insistence that she had handled the pandemic in a non-partisan manner.
He added: “This flawed analysis was the centrepiece of policy, used to justify major decisions, to explain the easing of lockdown.
“When the Scottish tourism industry was crying out for a positive message, the First Minister refused to shut down the idea of closing the border.
“People across the country take the First Minister at her word, and now we know that they were repeatedly misled. Nicola Sturgeon must apologise.”
Only last week, Ms Sturgeon insisted she stood by the five times figure. Challenged following the watchdog's intervention, she did not repeat her “five times” claim, but said it remained clear that the virus prevalence was “significantly” lower in Scotland than in England. That claim from the SNP leader is backed up by data on Covid-19 deaths and confirmed cases, which are now proportionally much lower north of the border.
“The issue with the statistic I cited before was the UK, English part of that statistic has not been published,” she said at Holyrood. “That is not down to me, the UK Government hasn’t published it and I’d encourage them to do so.”
In fact, Mr Humpherson told the Scottish Government’s chief statistician that the sources used to justify the figure had been “been difficult to identify”. He went on to say he did not believe the sources eventually cited “allow for a quantified and uncaveated comparison of the kind that was made”.

The claim was based on separate reports produced north and south of the border using separate methodology with a UK estimate "used as a proxy for England", Scottish officials told regulators. Statisticians then compared "upper prevalence rates" in Scotland and England in separate reports to "corroborate" the initial figures although it remains unclear why upper estimates, which experts said would have meant an artificially high figure for England, rather than central estimates, were used.
Mr Humpherson added: “There are lessons to be learnt in this case, with different data sources being quoted to the media and to us. We expect that any figures used are appropriately sourced, explained and available in the public domain.
“The Office for Statistics Regulation will continue to monitor Scottish Government’s use of statistics and data.”
The intervention came just weeks after the authority criticised the Scottish Government for making unverified claims about antibody tests.
Miles Briggs, health spokesman for the Scottish Tories, said: “The First Minister’s use of these dodgy statistics even led to repeated warnings that the border could be closed which, in turn, triggered ugly protests that have damaged Scotland's reputation as a welcoming country.
“It is hard not to conclude that the First Minister pushed this unreliable comparison, with no context, for her own political purposes."
The dodgy figures inspired ugly anti-English  protests at the border from SNP supporters, opponents said

The "dodgy" figures inspired ugly "anti-English" protests at the border from SNP supporters, opponents said CREDIT: Euan Cherry/Euan Cherry
Meanwhile, the Office for National Statistics published excess mortality figures which showed Scotland had the third highest rate in Europe, behind only England and Spain. The figures show that by the week ending May 29, England had the highest rate of the 23 countries where data was available, with deaths 7.55 per cent higher than average, followed by Spain, with 6.65 per cent, and Scotland on 5.11 per cent.
Ian Murray, the Shadow Scottish Secretary, said the figures were a reminder that both Ms Sturgeon and Mr Johnson were guilty of “catastrophic failures”.
He added: “Boris Johnson and Nicola Sturgeon must now take responsibility for why we were so badly prepared.
“The First Minister should also apologise for making false claims about prevalence rate comparisons and stop seeing everything through her constitutional prism.”
A spokeswoman for the Scottish Government said: “The Scottish Government has been recognised by the Office for Statistics Regulation for its open approach in regularly publishing a wide range of transparent information.
“We continue to push the UK government to take the same approach and to publish Covid-19 prevalence statistics that would make this information publicly available.
“The decisions we are taking to ease lockdown restrictions while still suppressing the virus are based on prevalence data. It is legitimate to use the evidence that is available to highlight differences in prevalence.”

Who would have thought it.

Nicola Sturgeon misleading the public in order to make Scotland look better than England. Can't imagine why she would want to do that.

Scotland's testing rate (total number of tests as a % of population) is about half that of England.

But the total no of cases per 100,000 of population in Scotland is about three quarters of that in England.

What does that tell you about the prevalence of the virus in Scotland?
 

kez19

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And Nicola Sturgeon has also been rebuked by the UK statistics watchdog about false and misleading claims that the virus is 5 times more prevalent in England than in Scotland.





Who would have thought it.

Nicola Sturgeon misleading the public in order to make Scotland look better than England. Can't imagine why she would want to do that.

Scotland's testing rate (total number of tests as a % of population) is about half that of England.

But the total no of cases per 100,000 of population in Scotland is about three quarters of that in England.

What does that tell you about the prevalence of the virus in Scotland?

I wouldn’t mind if the media grilled this but we know they’ll cosy up so what’s the point in having media/politicians to make a case for and against it’s become a one way street
 

Class 33

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Any nominations for a game of COVID-19 media coverage "Bingo"? ;)

I'll start off with "Unprecedented", "Second Wave" and "New Normal".

"Social distancing" and "Socially distanced" are surely up there as the two most mentioned phrases on the news. Am absolutely bloody fed up of hearing these phrases. They mention things with a "Socially distanced" prefix now as though it's trendy and fashionable, for instance "And how about this. A socially distanced orchestra...." or "And how about this. A socially distanced street bingo....", etc.

Sooner social distancing is a thing of the past, the better. It's ruining the economy and ruining people's lives. Hopefully early November, it may be scrapped, according to what Boris said a couple of weeks ago. But am not holding my breath this will turn out to be true.
 

Mag_seven

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"Social distancing" and "Socially distanced" are surely up there as the two most mentioned phrases on the news.

The "Social Distancing" bit is often followed by the word "rules". The media seem to be obsessed with subjecting us to more "rules".
 

PHILIPE

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"Social distancing" and "Socially distanced" are surely up there as the two most mentioned phrases on the news. Am absolutely bloody fed up of hearing these phrases. They mention things with a "Socially distanced" prefix now as though it's trendy and fashionable, for instance "And how about this. A socially distanced orchestra...." or "And how about this. A socially distanced street bingo....", etc.

Sooner social distancing is a thing of the past, the better. It's ruining the economy and ruining people's lives. Hopefully early November, it may be scrapped, according to what Boris said a couple of weeks ago. But am not holding my breath this will turn out to be true.

Social Distancing Measures are put into places as an orderly way and in an organised way to enable this, i.e. shops, pubs, trains, stations, places of entertainment. Outside such places it has gone out of the window..
 

Richard Scott

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I'm fed up with the adverts for places that are 'keeping you safe'. Oh please! It's being spoken to like we're children and this will encourage me into the store? I'm less likely to go there, to be honest. I find the whole thing thoroughly patronising.
 

AdamWW

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I'm fed up with the adverts for places that are 'keeping you safe'. Oh please! It's being spoken to like we're children and that this will encourage me into the store. I'm less likely to go there, to be honest. I find the whole thing thoroughly patronising.

When I went for an eye test I was reassured twice that they disinfected all the equipment between customers.

It hadn't crossed my mind that they wouldn't.
 

kez19

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I'm fed up with the adverts for places that are 'keeping you safe'. Oh please! It's being spoken to like we're children and this will encourage me into the store? I'm less likely to go there, to be honest. I find the whole thing thoroughly patronising.


Its Ok I have still put with the Scottish Government ads in terms of Phase 3 for a little bit longer (i'll guess they'll increase the frequency of the ads even more...)
 

Jonny

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I'm fed up with the adverts for places that are 'keeping you safe'. Oh please! It's being spoken to like we're children and this will encourage me into the store? I'm less likely to go there, to be honest. I find the whole thing thoroughly patronising.

I'm starting to agree as well. On top of that, the media is becoming increasingly repetitive and dictatorial.
 

bramling

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"Social distancing" and "Socially distanced" are surely up there as the two most mentioned phrases on the news. Am absolutely bloody fed up of hearing these phrases. They mention things with a "Socially distanced" prefix now as though it's trendy and fashionable, for instance "And how about this. A socially distanced orchestra...." or "And how about this. A socially distanced street bingo....", etc.

Sooner social distancing is a thing of the past, the better. It's ruining the economy and ruining people's lives. Hopefully early November, it may be scrapped, according to what Boris said a couple of weeks ago. But am not holding my breath this will turn out to be true.

I can’t see it being ended by November at this rate. Things seem to be heading rather ominously in the wrong direction at the minute.
 
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