Open data can be scary

[davidgillon]

I checked the main covid map earlier, and my home town, Bishop Auckland, where my mother and sister are, has dropped down to 177 cases/100k (from a high of 531 in early November). Well, that's good, I think. (Chatham Central where I am is at 875 and rising rapidly)

Just checked twitter, and @CovidGenomicsUK have posted a snapshot map from their database of where the new variant is known to be in the UK. And I look at it and think, that spot just above the 'd' in 'United Kingdom' is awfully close to Bishop. So I follow the link and wait for the project to load, which then lets you zoom in the map. And it's not just close to Bishop, it's in Bishop. Bugger. So I've just had to message my sister to tell her to be even more careful than she's already being. Link to the data: https://t.co/AywK4Can02

Just being able to do that made me reflect that Vernor Vinge totally called it when he had 'Rainbows End' open with hobbyists spotting a new respiratory bug from online data.

In other covid news, the government has apparently abandoned plans for mass lateral flow testing given the accuracy (or lack of) of the tests. A DHSC spokeswoman defended the test by saying it had a sensitivity of 57% and 84% in people with high virus loads. *headdesk* its the ones who don't have high viral loads yet it was supposed to catch. They might as well flip a coin, it's almost as accurate, and a whole lot cheaper;.

Comments

[sovay]

So I've just had to message my sister to tell her to be even more careful than she's already being.

*hugs*

[davidgillon]

Thanks. Hugs (and some decent sleep!) to you as well.

[yhlee]

*support support* Thinking of you and yours, David.

[davidgillon]

Thanks, Yoon, and I hope you and yours have an enjoyable holiday season.

I've battened down the hatches here, the furthest I plan on going in the next few days is to the bottom of the drive to put the bins out this evening, after that I'm being an indoor David for as long as the food holds. (I'm well stocked, and I have a delivery due on the 28th, which I'll be increasing over what I had planned). My sister and her husband have gotten seeing his kids and grandkids out of the socially distanced way today, so they and my mother will be bunkering down as well.