Health – Page 13 – Slugger O'Toole

Coronavirus: A chance to reshape our roads for the future…

Soapbox on April 25, 2020, 10:33 am

| Readers 1674

https://i1.wp.com/bikefast.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/belfast_road_diet.jpg?resize=854%2C534

Jonathan Hobbs is a cycling campaigner from Belfast The coronavirus pandemic has affected life in Northern Ireland in unprecedented ways. Thousands have becoming infected and hundreds have died, devastating families and communities. Lockdown has changed how go about daily business in ways that we would have thought unbelievable at the start of 2020. One of the very few positives to emerge has been the general outdoor environment, especially in my city Belfast. Vehicle traffic is almost non-existent compared to normal. …

Anyone want a swig of Toilet Duck?

Brian O'Neill on April 24, 2020, 1:44 pm

| Readers 1235

In these times of global crisis, it is reassuring that we have a strong leader of the free world. Donald Trump is many things, a humanitarian, a philanthropist, a voice for the downtrodden but best of all he is a scientist and medical genius. The latest advice from the Golden Sage is we can cure Coronvirus by injections of disinfectant and UV light. Trump's coronavirus disinfectant comments are 'dangerous', doctors say, after the U.S. president said during a White House …

Invite your friends or family to dinner by video. And other Covid-19 tech tips…

Brian O'Neill on April 23, 2020, 2:21 pm

| Readers 616

As you may know, TV Dinners is what Americans call ready meals. But how about a video dinner? I was chatting to a friend the other day to see how he was getting on during the big pause. He lives with his family in Belfast but his mother lives alone in Armagh. To make his mum feel less isolated he came up with a novel solution. Every night at dinner time he video calls his mum on his tablet, then …

#Covid19 is part a scientific and part a political problem…

Mick Fealty on April 22, 2020, 6:55 pm

| Readers 1755

As Brian notes ‘there is so much data floating around it would make your head spin’. This is because we still don’t know what we are up against. This piece in Slate draws lessons from the US and warns against the false certainties this ‘infodemic’ can bring: …those communicating scientific information are at risk not only of oversimplifying the misinformation problem itself but also of failing to recognize and address other factors that complicate efforts to communicate effectively about COVID-19. …

The FT estimates actual UK Covid-19 deaths at 41,000. Also QUB research shows Republic’s Covid-19 death rate is two-thirds that in the North…

Brian O'Neill on April 22, 2020, 10:47 am

| Readers 5467

Who knows what to believe anymore. There is so much data floating around it would make your head spin. The latest number-crunching from the number wizards over at the FT has the actual UK death rate over twice as high at the official rate. The coronavirus pandemic has already caused as many as 41,000 deaths in the UK, according to a Financial Times analysis of the latest data from the Office for National Statistics. The estimate is more than double …

COVID-19 Spread In Both Irelands, the UK and Selected Countries: Early clusters difficult to flatten:

Philip McGuinness on April 21, 2020, 12:39 pm

| Readers 3090

The COVID-19 cases for April 20th have been used to draw two maps: one showing the rate of incidence of counties and councils relative to their jurisdictional average, and the other showing the rate of change over the April 15-20 period. The ‘rate of incidence’ map shows essentially the same pattern as did the earlier two maps (for April 9/10 and April 15). Once a county or council got off to a bad start with respect to the number of …

Lost Lives Reminds us we can’t Forget…

Terry Maguire on April 21, 2020, 7:00 am

| Readers 1331

For Terry Maguire, a recent BBC programme, Lost Lives, featuring deaths in the Troubles, triggered a flashback on his way to work. This caused him to reflect on an incident he witnessed as a schoolboy in Derry in 1972, making him reassess his long-held view that the Troubles had no personal impact. As I walked to work in darkness one morning in 2020, work tasks and concerns swirled unhelpfully in my half-awakened mind. When I reached the entrance of the …

The Sunday Times puts the boot into Boris Johnson’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic…

Brian O'Neill on April 20, 2020, 10:18 am

| Readers 2977

I am sure Boris was feeling bad enough recovering from COVID-19, opening yesterdays Sunday Times I am sure did nothing to lift his mood. Coronavirus: 38 days when Britain sleepwalked into disaster was the headline and just to reinforce the point the subheading hammered home the main accusations – ‘Boris Johnson skipped five Cobra meetings on the virus, calls to order protective gear were ignored and scientists’ warnings fell on deaf ears. Failings in February may have cost thousands of …

Reforming government in Northern Ireland

Paul Gosling on April 20, 2020, 9:01 am

| Readers 2058

Government in Northern Ireland needs reform, but the fact that it works at all is actually impressive given the past, says Jess Sargeant of the Institute for Government, a London-based think-tank. She was speaking in the first of a new series of podcasts produced by the Holywell Trust, which feature opinions from policy experts who consider some of Northern Ireland’s biggest challenges. The Institute for Government published a review of Northern Ireland’s system of government at the end of last …

Modern life has lost the daily sense of ebb and flow…

John Kyle on April 19, 2020, 10:57 am

| Readers 1352

Who would have thought that walking is almost as good for depression as taking an antidepressant? As we all now know from the Government’s Coronavirus advice, exercise is not just good for our physical health but also for our mental health. And not just any old exercise, the best is green exercise, exercise surrounded by nature. Creation feeds our souls and spirits. Looking at the birds of the air and considering the lilies of the field reassures us of God’s …

Shock of #Covid19 is an opportunity to change NI for the better

Mick Fealty on April 17, 2020, 1:37 pm

| Readers 2874

“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.” Viktor E. Frankl For all the catastrophising of this event, Northern Ireland seems to be holding up fine. That’s in large part because of the people of Northern Ireland (and I mean all, not some) have changed their habits and bought our health system precious time. Belfast’s hospitals have themselves turned on a sixpence and remain still well under capacity as far as Covid19 …

Breakdown of COVID-19-related deaths in Northern Ireland published for week ending 10 April

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on April 17, 2020, 10:25 am

| Readers 1552

Statistics released this morning by NISRA reveal that up until the week ending 10 April there were 157 COVID-19-related deaths in Northern Ireland. 109 people died in hospital (69%); 41 people died in care homes and hospices (26%) across 23 separate establishments; 7 people died at residential addresses (4%). 39 of these deaths which mentioned COVID-19 on their death certificate were not part of previous PHA daily reports of deaths of people with positive tests for COVID-19.

COVID19 Spread In Both Irelands, the UK and Selected Countries: Cases Rates of Change by County and Council:

Philip McGuinness on April 16, 2020, 6:43 am

| Readers 2011

The rate of increase of Covid19 cases on the island seems to be slowing down in the greater Dublin and Belfast metropolitan areas. However, Donegal and Derry & Strabane have had a large rate of increase, as have Monaghan and Roscommon. Also, commuter-belt counties around Dublin-Wicklow have also had increases greater than average. Dublin, Wicklow, Belfast, Lisburn & Castlereagh, Cavan, Westmeath, and Monaghan are the only counties or councils whose cases per head of the population is above their jurisdictional …

View from New York – 15 days later – the new normal…

Niall NYC on April 15, 2020, 6:34 am

| Readers 1066

After submitting my first, then second (and I assumed last ever) posting to Slugger on the C19 pandemic from my viewpoint in Brooklyn, New York, I figured I was done. The headlines out of Ireland and Britain have already begun to reflect the horrors across the pond here in the US, and there seems to be no need to revisit what is now the day-to-day reality for all of us. Whether it be the hard-to-fathom daily statistics on staggering C19 …

So what are the total UK Covid-19 deaths? 10,000? 20,000? Does anyone know?

Brian O'Neill on April 14, 2020, 10:39 am

| Readers 2209

You would imagine it would be a simple enough process to track how many people are dying from Covid-19 but it seems like a lot of things in life it is more complex than it first appears. The government stats are 10,000 but they only track deaths in hospitals. But with experts saying around half of Covid-19 deaths are in care homes, this means we are vastly undercounting deaths. Then what about deaths in the community? The people who die …

Not even a global pandemic can bring Sinn Fein to welcome help from the Brits…

Alex Scates on April 14, 2020, 8:52 am

| Readers 13369

Sinn Fein’s recent criticism of Stormont’s Health Minister Robin Swann was a curious occurrence in even more curious times. The UUP MLA’s decision to utilise the UK military to support logistic functions like distribution of PPE and construction of a NI Nightingale facility, was layered with realism, a sense of urgency and for once, relative political neutrality. And yet, Michelle O’Neill criticised the decision, based not on the intended use of the UK military, but on the lack of consultation that …

COVID19 Spread In Both Irelands, the UK and Selected Countries: The Geography of COVID19 in Ireland

Philip McGuinness on April 13, 2020, 6:35 am

| Readers 15029

The map below displays how your county or council is doing in terms of COVID19 cases, relative to the jurisdictional average for COVID19 cases. The approach taken is to work out a county’s /council’s share of its jurisdictional population, and then work out its share of jurisdictional Covid19 cases, then divide this ‘case’ percentage by the population percentage. That will tell us whether the county/council is above or below average. <br> The map shows how the greater Dublin and Belfast …

How not being a 90s Supermodel can help in lockdown…

Lisa Wells on April 11, 2020, 9:15 am

| Readers 1519

Back in the heady days of pre-lockdown (remember them?) a friend and her son had asked us to join them for dinner. I politely declined and suggested they visit us instead. You see, I like to compare myself to the supermodels of the 90s who wouldn’t get out of bed for less than £10K. I don’t do evenings. My reluctance to go out in the evening is unrelated to any financial incentive or indeed my appearance, I simply can’t do …

When it comes to Covid19, let’s shun institutional ageism…

Peter Garrett on April 9, 2020, 6:54 am

| Readers 1339

We’re hearing an awful lot about how vulnerable groups, especially the elderly, require special protection from Covid-19. Strangely, though, we’re hearing very little from old people themselves. That’s okay. After all, we love our grandparents. They went through tough times, and yet they looked after us through thick and thin. They deserve protection in turn. Of course, some of them tend to be a bit stubborn and contrary. That’s okay too; our job is to explain to them, kindly if …

Covid-19. The View from New York – 10 days later…

Niall NYC on April 9, 2020, 6:47 am

| Readers 1565

On March 30th, Slugger was kind enough to post my “View from New York” and when I wrote it, I was probably motivated in part by shock and anger and how quickly the C-19 crisis had escalated on my doorstep, and by the horrifying headlines and statistics I was seeing reported every hour. Also, I was concerned about what was about to unfold “back home”. My mum used to say that her mum used to say that, “Whatever happens in …