The day started off well. I put together a proposal for a set of webinars, and it went downhill from there. Rather than dealing with today, or even this week, I’m thinking ahead. I’m finding this is not a sensible course of action in lockdown land.
Perhaps some of it was triggered from last night’s googling of face masks, and not the fun kind of face masks. Perhaps it was today having a chat with to a woman with a toddler. I asked her how her daughter was dealing with social distancing. Her daughter doesn’t understand. She’s at that age she just can’t. Her daughter thinks her friends don’t like her anymore because she can’t play with them.
So these things, and uncertainty around work projects, meant the need for an afternoon nap, and a few tears. It is what it is.
I’m likely to be in a completely different mood tomorrow.
And in the news….
The Covid-19 Tracker app is going down a treat. Reports out today (eg) suggest that the UK is going it alone and implementing a centralised model rather than a decentralised one. A centralised approach means that data is taken from people’s phones and stored centrally. In a decentralised approach, you have control of the data and will get the appropriate notifications without the intervention from a Third Party.
The argument for a centralised approach is it means that data can be collected and analysed together. This is useful for public health officials to have sight of where there might be clusters emerging and to plan for likely hospital admissions and the like.
On the technical side, significant issues remain. It requires the App to be running on phones in the foreground with phones needing to be ‘awake’ most of the time. The other key issue is how do you say the system won’t store data including ID and location is it’s to be used for Track, Trace, and Test?
Also, as far as I can tell, many of the concerns about data privacy, data sharing, potential repurposing of data, haven’t been fully addressed. And I put my hand up, I’m a fan of the Information Commissioner’s Office recommendations.
Deaths in care homes have jumped from 2,794 for the week ending 17 April to 5,890 in the week ending 24 April. Over the last 24 hours, there have been another 693 recorded deaths, taking the total to 29,427. I don’t think this figures takes into account the news numbers on deaths in care homes. And we’re now topping the league table for reported deaths in Europe. Each country has different ways of reporting numbers so it’s not something I’m paying too much attention to.
There should be announcements later this week setting out the government’s planned steps on easing lockdown. The timing for when restrictions may in part be lifted remains uncertain.
So that’s it for Day 43. Stay safe, stay well, and stay home!