WAG: LATEST COVID REVIEW ANNOUNCED

Welsh Government announces outcome of latest review of Covid rules
WalesOnline

The coronavirus infection rate has jumped to record-breaking levels over the past week


The First Minister has urged people to "keep taking steps to protect each other and keep Wales safe" from the wave of Omicron cases.

Mark Drakeford confirmed on Thursday evening that alert level two measures will stay in place in Wales following the outcome of the latest weekly regulations review.

Cases of coronavirus have risen sharply to their highest ever levels as the mutant strain has surged across Wales in the post-Christmas period.

The latest seven-day infection rate across Wales, based on the seven days up to January 1, has risen to 2,228.5 per 100,000 population – the highest it has been since the pandemic began.

Mr Drakeford said: "The Omicron wave means we are all facing a difficult month ahead of us. We are already seeing extremely high case rates in communities and we must be prepared for cases to rise even higher just as they have elsewhere in the UK.

"This variant may not be as severe as we had initially feared but the speed at which it is travelling and its infectiousness continue to be cause for concern.

"That makes it vital that we all take action to keep each other safe. The things which have helped to protect us all throughout the pandemic will continue to protect us now.

"This includes getting vaccinated and making your booster a priority, limiting the number of people you meet who you don't live with, and taking a lateral flow test before going out and mixing with others.

"Together we will keep each other safe and we will keep Wales safe."

At 'Alert Level Two' people must:

Wear a face covering (unless there is a reasonable excuse not to wear one) in all indoor public places including when not seated in a pub, café or restaurant.

Meet no more than five other people at a café, restaurant, pub, or other public premises (unless with their household of a larger number). This applies to both outdoor and indoor areas of the premises.
Work from home if they can.

Self-isolate for seven days if they test positive for Covid-19. People should take a lateral flow test on day six and day seven. If either test is positive they should remain in isolation until two negative lateral flow tests or after day 10, whichever is sooner.

Not take part in an organised event indoors of more than 30 people or outdoors for more than 50 people. All organised events must be organised by a responsible body and have a risk assessment.

People are also being encouraged to follow strengthened guidance to help them stay safe at home.

This includes limiting the number of people they meet who they don't live with, to 'flow before you go' by taking a lateral flow test before going out, meeting people outdoors wherever possible, and making sure indoor spaces are well-ventilated.

Drakeford = Megalomaniac.

Drakeford = Megalomaniac.

He was surely bullied at school and now getting his own back?

Sadly, on 3m people rather than a few; a trait of the group you name above

What is really startling is figures for the last seven day confirm that England has far better COVID figures than the other three home nations despite (or because of?) having the least amount of restrictions. The figures are rounding down to a round number per 100,000

England 1700
Scotland 1900
Wales 2400
Northern Ireland 2600

Doesn’t quite fit in with the lockdown narrative put forward by Drakeford.

The Welsh always get the raw deal throughout history. 'Devolution' served it's purpose in that respect. An illusion of independence. Drakeford just doing his job and will be rewarded handsomely for imposing these policies. Sir Tony Blair Sir Mark Drakeford?

'Devolution' served it's purpose in that respect. An illusion of independence.

Only a week or so in and a contender for comment of the year already. Agree 100%

What is really startling is figures for the last seven day confirm that England has far better COVID figures than the other three home nations despite (or because of?) having the least amount of restrictions. The figures are rounding down to a round number per 100,000

England 1700
Scotland 1900
Wales 2400
Northern Ireland 2600

Doesn’t quite fit in with the lockdown narrative put forward by Drakeford.

I shared this on the main Corona thread...

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What is really startling is figures for the last seven day confirm that England has far better COVID figures than the other three home nations despite (or because of?) having the least amount of restrictions. The figures are rounding down to a round number per 100,000

England 1700
Scotland 1900
Wales 2400
Northern Ireland 2600

Doesn’t quite fit in with the lockdown narrative put forward by Drakeford.

Are these figures correct ? - If they are then it proves beyond any doubt Johnson has it right and Drakeford has it completely wrong. Or maybe we arent abiding by the simple rules and people in England are.

What is really startling is figures for the last seven day confirm that England has far better COVID figures than the other three home nations despite (or because of?) having the least amount of restrictions. The figures are rounding down to a round number per 100,000

England 1700
Scotland 1900
Wales 2400
Northern Ireland 2600

Doesn’t quite fit in with the lockdown narrative put forward by Drakeford.

Are these figures correct ? - If they are then it proves beyond any doubt Johnson has it right and Drakeford has it completely wrong. Or maybe we arent abiding by the simple rules and people in England are.

Today Drakeford refused to answer direct questions regarding the lower infection rates in England compared to Wales and as usual doubled down on what his "Model" was telling him. The thing is these models are just best guess estimates of what could happen not what WILL happen.

As usual the charlatan ignores "REAL WORLD" data like comparing infection rates in Cardiff to say Bristol. Currently infection rates in Cardiff are 2147 per 100K whilst Bristol is 1556 per 100K. This covers the Christmas period where Drakeford has his restrictions (Night clubs closed, sport behind closed doors etc) whilst Bristol is open for business and Bristol City had 2 home games ( Attendance 19k average) and Bristol Bears had a home game against Leicester Tigers (Attendance 20761). Think about it ALL those sports fans behaving badly on the way to and from games night clubs open and YET infection rates are 31% lower in Bristol, it's nearly 50% compared to Swansea.

Drakeford couldn't help himself when he refused to answer these direct question about how effective his restrictions (sorry protections) actually are, he went for gold with a massive helping of political posturing blaming the Prime Minister for everything short of original sin.

Maybe infection rates are lower in England because of supply issues with the tests themselves?
Maybe people in the devolved nations are more compliant in reporting positive results, whereas people in England aren't bothering.
Particularly as we move to more LFT's and less PCR's are the figures that relevant anyway, and what's more important are increasing hospitalisations and isolating staff.

Maybe infection rates are lower in England because of supply issues with the tests themselves?
Maybe people in the devolved nations are more compliant in reporting positive results, whereas people in England aren't bothering.
Particularly as we move to more LFT's and less PCR's are the figures that relevant anyway, and what's more important are increasing hospitalisations and isolating staff.

Are you really saying that the people in the devolved nations are more compliant in reporting positive results do you have even the slightest evidence that this is the case? It’s obviously nothing to do with supply issues with tests either as the figures are for every 100,000 people tested.

You are quite right that the figures for hospitalisations are more important than infections but the more people people who have it the more will go to hospital.

It will be a bitter pill to swallow for some people but Johnson is doing better than Drakeford in every respect on this and the stats prove it.

Omicron is sweeping through the western world at a staggering pace but King Canute of Cardiff bay believes he can slow the wave in our tiny part of the island by closing night clubs, Ice rinks (???) and Outdoor spectator sport.

Its about being relevant.

Its going to be really interesting with the six nations. France won't give a fcuk about Rugby in Paris, the Scots are not a rugby nation and i don't think Ireland will want to see tens of thousands of taffies hitting Dublin and other cities

Wales on the other hand has somehow been defined as the WRU. I wouldn't put it past the teetotal FM to allow the games to go ahead and ban alcohol with x miles. Playing the games in England will hurt the Wales Government. We know he doesn't give one for the football clubs.

I hope our club gives us all full refunds and bill Cardiff bay. Just think this mob have tax raising power.

When this is all over we need a debate on the devolved powers. Half of Wales live just over two hours from heathrow. We are not a separate nation. It takes my mates in Edinburgh longer to just get to Newcastle and twice it to get to Manchester. My daughter works between Cardiff and Bristol offices, we can not be seperate.

Maybe infection rates are lower in England because of supply issues with the tests themselves?
Maybe people in the devolved nations are more compliant in reporting positive results, whereas people in England aren't bothering.
Particularly as we move to more LFT's and less PCR's are the figures that relevant anyway, and what's more important are increasing hospitalisations and isolating staff.

Are you really saying that the people in the devolved nations are more compliant in reporting positive results do you have even the slightest evidence that this is the case? It’s obviously nothing to do with supply issues with tests either as the figures are for every 100,000 people tested.

You are quite right that the figures for hospitalisations are more important than infections but the more people people who have it the more will go to hospital.

It will be a bitter pill to swallow for some people but Johnson is doing better than Drakeford in every respect on this and the stats prove it.

Every respect?

No I have no evidence at all about people outside of England being more compliant- it was a question about being careful not to take bits of information in isolation.

Figures aren't per 100,000 tested - they are per 100,000 of population.

Maybe infection rates are lower in England because of supply issues with the tests themselves?
Maybe people in the devolved nations are more compliant in reporting positive results, whereas people in England aren't bothering.
Particularly as we move to more LFT's and less PCR's are the figures that relevant anyway, and what's more important are increasing hospitalisations and isolating staff.

on the 5th January the UK processed over 2m tests of which 27,000 related to Wales. I think that answers your question.

Maybe infection rates are lower in England because of supply issues with the tests themselves?
Maybe people in the devolved nations are more compliant in reporting positive results, whereas people in England aren't bothering.
Particularly as we move to more LFT's and less PCR's are the figures that relevant anyway, and what's more important are increasing hospitalisations and isolating staff.

on the 5th January the UK processed over 2m tests of which 27,000 related to Wales. I think that answers your question.

ONS figures estimated that 1 in 15 people in England has covid last week. In Wales and Scotland it was 1 in 20.
Is that a case of England being better or not? Crayfish claims England's stats are better in every respect?

Maybe infection rates are lower in England because of supply issues with the tests themselves?
Maybe people in the devolved nations are more compliant in reporting positive results, whereas people in England aren't bothering.
Particularly as we move to more LFT's and less PCR's are the figures that relevant anyway, and what's more important are increasing hospitalisations and isolating staff.

on the 5th January the UK processed over 2m tests of which 27,000 related to Wales. I think that answers your question.

ONS figures estimated that 1 in 15 people in England has covid last week. In Wales and Scotland it was 1 in 20.
Is that a case of England being better or not? Crayfish claims England's stats are better in every respect?

Well this is where population size comes into play as the cases data shows per 100k in England 1786 whilst in Wales 2577 per 100k. So England is better.

Today Drakeford claimed that it wasn't right to compare different areas of Wales with areas of England ( Cardiff / Bristol etc) because there were areas of Wales lower than many areas of England. Again that wasn't true. On the ONS insight pages there is a "Heatmap" showing test positivity rates throughout the UK. The map shows that he told porkies with that one as it shows Wales has higher positivity rates than many areas of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

All this despite his "Protections" ( his lastest description for his restrictions).

Hate Drakeford with a passion! Really don’t know how he can sleep at night knowing business’s in Wales are struggling to keep afloat due to his ridiculous restrictions. Was in Bristol last NYE and it makes me sad to see things more or less normal there and towns and Cities in Wales ghost towns.

Maybe infection rates are lower in England because of supply issues with the tests themselves?
Maybe people in the devolved nations are more compliant in reporting positive results, whereas people in England aren't bothering.
Particularly as we move to more LFT's and less PCR's are the figures that relevant anyway, and what's more important are increasing hospitalisations and isolating staff.

on the 5th January the UK processed over 2m tests of which 27,000 related to Wales. I think that answers your question.

ONS figures estimated that 1 in 15 people in England has covid last week. In Wales and Scotland it was 1 in 20.
Is that a case of England being better or not? Crayfish claims England's stats are better in every respect?

Well this is where population size comes into play as the cases data shows per 100k in England 1786 whilst in Wales 2577 per 100k. So England is better.

Today Drakeford claimed that it wasn't right to compare different areas of Wales with areas of England ( Cardiff / Bristol etc) because there were areas of Wales lower than many areas of England. Again that wasn't true. On the ONS insight pages there is a "Heatmap" showing test positivity rates throughout the UK. The map shows that he told porkies with that one as it shows Wales has higher positivity rates than many areas of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

All this despite his "Protections" ( his lastest description for his restrictions).

Protections was an odd term for him to use- I'll give you that.
As I've said before though, taking any stats in isolation is not advisable. The whole picture is more important.
I'm as disappointed as the next person that Wales has more restrictions, some of which seem wholly disproportionate and frustrating, but I do think we'll see some easing soon.

Maybe infection rates are lower in England because of supply issues with the tests themselves?
Maybe people in the devolved nations are more compliant in reporting positive results, whereas people in England aren't bothering.
Particularly as we move to more LFT's and less PCR's are the figures that relevant anyway, and what's more important are increasing hospitalisations and isolating staff.

on the 5th January the UK processed over 2m tests of which 27,000 related to Wales. I think that answers your question.

ONS figures estimated that 1 in 15 people in England has covid last week. In Wales and Scotland it was 1 in 20.
Is that a case of England being better or not? Crayfish claims England's stats are better in every respect?

Well this is where population size comes into play as the cases data shows per 100k in England 1786 whilst in Wales 2577 per 100k. So England is better.

Today Drakeford claimed that it wasn't right to compare different areas of Wales with areas of England ( Cardiff / Bristol etc) because there were areas of Wales lower than many areas of England. Again that wasn't true. On the ONS insight pages there is a "Heatmap" showing test positivity rates throughout the UK. The map shows that he told porkies with that one as it shows Wales has higher positivity rates than many areas of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

All this despite his "Protections" ( his lastest description for his restrictions).

Protections was an odd term for him to use- I'll give you that.
As I've said before though, taking any stats in isolation is not advisable. The whole picture is more important.
I'm as disappointed as the next person that Wales has more restrictions, some of which seem wholly disproportionate and frustrating, but I do think we'll see some easing soon.

I'm not so sure about that.

Drakeford has shown throughout this period that whilst he is quite willing to impose restrictions extremely quickly (almost overnight in December 2020) he is far less willing to remove those restrictions anything like as quickly.

Remember Wales was the slowest country in the UK to remove restrictions last year and Drakeford will use the usual nonsense of being "cautious" to keep restrictions in place for as long as he possibly can, partly for political reasons, partly to justify bringing in the restrictions in the first place, partly just because he can but mostly because he's a massive prick.

Drakeford wont win the WRU argument , they will simply take their ball and go play somewhere else.
His options :-

Backdown
Allow the games but home fans only (pointless)
Allow the games with away fans but no alcohol in the ground - that will cost the WRU millions
Try and take the WRU to court - and he wont win that one.

So he is scuppered really. He is fecking useless I'll give him that - but I dont think being useless is a positive talent - unless you want to be a village idiot ......

Don't forget we have never removed mask wearing and brought in vaccine passports all totally pointless as they have done nothing to lower rates compared to England.
Drakeford was only shoehorned in after Teflon Jones finally had his up commence over the Sargent affair; after many years running the welsh NHS into the ground, we have one of the lowest rates of icu beds per a capita in the western world, all thanks to MR Drakefords efforts when he was minister for health, and i would just like the welsh media to start holding this guy to account on the handling of covid , everything all looks a little bit to cosy between the media and the WAG and that is not A healthy situation in a democracy.