The R Factor

Split the calculation of the R factor between the general public and care homes.

Why the contribution is important

This will allow us to see what is happening in our communities without the skew of care homes in the calculations. This will help inform how decisions can be taken to ease lock down measures and without a doubt will demonstrate the need to absolutely protect care homes but may allow the rest of the country to get back to some sense of normality. I think there needs to be more transparency about this split.

by JLynch2812 on May 07, 2020 at 08:25PM

Current Rating

Average rating: 4.6
Based on: 23 votes

Comments

  • Posted by lcraik May 07, 2020 at 20:30

    Yes Very good - the danger of the over combination of data is the you lose information in the averaging i.e. the result is rounded and you miss discrete events

  • Posted by Mosley May 07, 2020 at 20:36

    What happened to easing lockdown earlier so that the second peek did not come in the winter months? Yes we should shield the vulnerable 100% but those not in the high risk categories, who want to go about their business whilst continue to wash their hands and maintain social distancing should be able to do so. This would build up individual and heard immunity which would inevitably benefit the vulnerable groups.

  • Posted by agilchrist May 08, 2020 at 08:41

    this split could only be done meaningfully if all residents and care staff were repeatedly tested and staff only interacted with residents.

    In fact only if all population was repeated tested. Care homes are part of our communities.
    So are hospitals

    And the rate of asymptomatic infection
    Test track and trace is what’s really needed

  • Posted by MikeJohnston May 08, 2020 at 08:45

    The R-factor is important, but an R=0.7 for example, still means that many, many folk are being infected and dying.

    The target should be R=0 and slavish devotion to the number toned down.

  • Posted by Bryn May 08, 2020 at 10:55

    This, I definitely agree with. It's as if the care home epidemic is holding us back from the freedom we once had. If the virus hadn't ravaged care homes in the first place or if its spread was minimal, then frankly the lockdown would've ended three weeks ago.

  • Posted by Ljbl69717 May 11, 2020 at 21:45

    Agree the care home MI is skewing the R figure. These residences need to be protected, as do those over 75 or at high risk, but allow healthy, younger age groups to get back to earning money.
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