Wednesday, 25 March 2020

COVID19 - A Question That Needs to Be Asked and Answered

We are told that there have been over 91,000 people admitted to hospital with flu like symptoms who have been tested for COVID19.  Of these, only just over 8,000 have tested positive for Coronavirus.  That means that the vast majority of people admitted to hospital with severe respiratory problems due to flu-like symptoms do not have COVID19, but either flu, or some other flu like virus.  So, the real reason that hospitals are being over run is a bad year for the flu.

So, the question that needs to be asked is, how many people admitted to hospital are actually suffering from flu or some other flu like virus rather than COVID19, and also, given that the number of deaths attributable to COVID19 is still only just over 400, how many deaths currently are attributable to flu, or other flu like viruses. 

When provided with this information, we might have a better understanding of what is actually going on.  Because as I wrote earlier today, given that the number of confirmed COVID19 cases in Stoke amounts to just 4, its hard to see why this should be causing the NHS to be overwhelmed, or if it is it is an indication of just how unfit for purpose it has become following ten years of Tory austerity.

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