Covid testing 100k

[Mojooo]

Government probably made a mistake even mentioning 100,00 as a number...

But.. as it looked like the target would not be met
-they started opening up the test to everyone - trying to cover the fact that high priority users may not have had easy access and now BBC says
a test counts as a test that was posted out to be used

So it seems a test is a test that hasn't even been done and may never be done counts in the 100,00 and funnily enough the target has been met on the last day.

Any wonder people are skeptical of stats and believing the Govt.

[zygalski]

Counted as completed tests when ordered or posted out, counted again, no doubt, when results are given.
That's what we call a win-win for the govt around here.

The promised 100,000 per day plummeted to under 75,000 over the weekend.
Perhaps Hancock should've said he planned to do a mail shot of 100,000 tests in the 24 hours leading up to 09:00 on 1st May, and left it at that.

[zygalski]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

The important point is that the govt has lied and grossly manipulated the figures to manufacture a means of 'making' the 100,000 tests a day pledge, purely so that Hancock can save face.
It doesn't exactly bode well for their approach to other issues relating to their response to this pandemic if the govt's default fall back position is to be economic with the truth when in trouble.

[Pupp]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Well, the government thought it did. They're only being hoisted from their own petard...

[768]

Mojooo said:

Government probably made a mistake even mentioning 100,00 as a number...

On a certain level you're right, but I absolutely despair at the infantile way this sort of thing is approached.

It should be important to set a target, to let everyone know the scale they're aiming for so people can plan accordingly and understand roughly what success looks like, at least in orders of magnitude. It should be ambitious or you're planning for failure and transparent because it's our government. Governments won't do that though the reaction is an overreaction to missed targets, or even to people working flat out and hitting the target then easing off for a bit presumably while they take a break for a weekend.

A blurred distinction between tests carried out and capacity is a particularly unhelpful though.

zygalski said:

plummeted

zygalski said:

lied

zygalski said:

grossly manipulated

This st.

[Smollet]

If they'd said well do 50K tests a day they probably would've fallen short on that. The 100k figure galvanised resources to get close to that. I just wish Hancock had come clean and said I put a high target for that very reason rather than blindly repeating we will get there. In the end, the result has been very good and will continue to rise. Low ambitions rarely get anything done. BoJo said a lot earlier he wanted 250k a day but that seems to have been forgotten probably because he didn't repeat it.

[abzmike]

The 100K target and response became a microcosm reflecting almost the entirety of the response. Many targets and deadlines were set, assurances provided, and were fudged. Testing was a hard commitment, repeated for weeks. In the end try and fool the media and public that the target had been met, rather than decent progress made, was stupid, and does nothing to inspire confidence.

[zygalski]

It's not the target I object to. More the government's stream of bullst in response to not making it.
They even included tests on order but not posted in the 100,000 figures. FFS.

[mcdjl]

zygalski said:

It's not the target I object to. More the government's stream of bullst in response to not making it.
They even included tests on order but not posted in the 100,000 figures. FFS.

Whereas I object to the media bashing they were recieving on Friday when drive it looked like they might make the target, the narrative changed to'what's the point, we should have had this many tests months ago'. The government have to be seen to be doing something, the media have to be seen to be finding their failings. Or so they both think.

[Vanden Saab]

The Gov. could have done over 120,000 tests and some people would still find some reason to moan or call foul.

[zygalski]

No doubt you'd spin our highest death rates in Europe in the next day or so as some sort of decent result for the government?

Our response has been shambolic, given Italy gave us a 2 week headstart which seems to have been wasted. The lack of testing (and the previous abandonment of track and trace) early on is a key failing.

[Electro1980]

It’s quite simple. The government said “we will do 100,000 tests”. They then lied about doing 100,000 tests.

They could have said “we will have the capacity to process x tests per day” but they didn’t. They said they would DO the tests and didn’t.

I’m not sure why this is hard to understand. The government we are trusting in a time of crisis lied. They need to be held to account.

[PushedDover]

zygalski said:

anonymous said:

[redacted]

The important point is that the govt has lied and grossly manipulated the figures to manufacture a means of 'making' the 100,000 tests a day pledge, purely so that Hancock can save face.
It doesn't exactly bode well for their approach to other issues relating to their response to this pandemic if the govt's default fall back position is to be economic with the truth when in trouble.

so that would com under the "sniping and ridiculous cheap point scoring" mentioned above

[zygalski]

PushedDover said:

so that would com under the "sniping and ridiculous cheap point scoring" mentioned above

You could say that about absolutely any criticism of the government. It's a total non-point and I'm certain most in here would not be so charitable if it were a Labour administration leading the UK response to Covid-19.
The amount of hypocrisy in these forums is astonishing.

[PushedDover]

zygalski said:

PushedDover said:

so that would com under the "sniping and ridiculous cheap point scoring" mentioned above

You could say that about absolutely any criticism of the government. It's a total non-point and I'm certain most in here would not be so charitable if it were a Labour administration leading the UK response to Covid-19.
The amount of hypocrisy in these forums is astonishing.

Deflector shield to full power Strawman ?

I was directing my post at your post.
Don't go off saying that in another government / situation others would say what you say.

[Jinx]

zygalski said:

You could say that about absolutely any criticism of the government. It's a total non-point and I'm certain most in here would not be so charitable if it were a Labour administration leading the UK response to Covid-19.
The amount of hypocrisy in these forums is astonishing.

Must be a parody account. There is much to bash any government with (irrespective of colour) but the 100,000 aspirational testing target is not one of them.

[zygalski]

Err Corbyn's not the Labour leader.

I don't see how the soon to be highest death rate in Europe is somehow a fairly decent result for the UK government.
The wishy-washy social distancing message up until lockdown was shambolic.

If what the FT are reporting is to be believed, we overtook Italy several weeks ago with care home deaths which still aren't being added to the official figures.

[Muzzer79]

zygalski said:

Err Corbyn's not the Labour leader.

I don't see how the soon to be highest death rate in Europe is somehow a fairly decent result for the UK government.
The wishy-washy social distancing message up until lockdown was shambolic.

If what the FT are reporting is to be believed, we overtook Italy several weeks ago with care home deaths which still aren't being added to the official figures.

In terms of deaths per million population, the UK is still well behind Italy and Spain, plus there are known inconsistencies between countries in the way that deaths are reported.

Everybody (including the FT) is speculating about the number of deaths which could be as a result of Covid-19.

The Govt is doing a good job. These are unprecedented events which we are reacting to in the same way as other countries. The media is not helping the situation by searching for negatives and flaws.

[MG CHRIS]

We have one of the highest population in Europe behind germany and same as france did you really expect we would have less deaths or not be one of the worst effected countries in Europe. Also how many of those deaths were from covid or with. Im seeing a hell of a lot of people saying their relative that died of a heart attack or similar has had covid put down as cause of death.

All we see is the same sad posters who dislike the tories and boris complain about them its so predictably boring.

[rscott]

MG CHRIS said:

We have one of the highest population in Europe behind germany and same as france did you really expect we would have less deaths or not be one of the worst effected countries in Europe. Also how many of those deaths were from covid or with. Im seeing a hell of a lot of people saying their relative that died of a heart attack or similar has had covid put down as cause of death.

All we see is the same sad posters who dislike the tories and boris complain about them its so predictably boring.

And judging by the conversations I've had with friends treating Covid19 positive patients, many would have survived these other problems, like heart attacks, in normal times when their body wasn't weakened by the virus.

So putting it as a contributory factor seems extremely sensible.