Getting Through the Days: Day 121 More Scrubs!

Notes for new readers - as this is a diary the first entry is the last, so you get to know 'who done it' before the crime is committed! This is a pain but can't be helped. After a week of entries the scrolling will stop and if you want to venture further click on 'OLDER POSTS' and read until you get to the first entry 'The Day Before Day 1.

The old Bramley Apple at Eastgate

Another busy day. I got up early as I didn't know what time the new window cleaner, named Neil, would turn up. After breakfast I started on the new masks and after a few amendments I was satisfied with the result:

It has a nose wire which can be adjusted and a pocket for a filter.

Christine came and collected the mask she ordered and brought me a lovely bunch of sunflowers.

I made five before Neil turned up but he messed me about rather as he did not work sequentially up the street but did the first floor windows first, then the ground floor and, of course, I was the last so it was gone three before Sheila and I I made it to Llantwit. I have 11 medium scrub tops to do. We then went shopping, came home and walked Jasper to the allotments. Too tired to do any more masks.

Won £25.00 on the Premium Bonds!

Snippet from the News

1. Failures of the government’s test-and-trace system are risking an exponential growth of coronavirus in hotspots across England, a director of public health has warned.

Dominic Harrison, the director of public health in Blackburn with Darwen, said the national tracing system was only managing to reach half of those who had been in close contact with a coronavirus patient in towns with high infection rates in the north-west.

In Blackburn with Darwen, where officials are battling a “rising tide” of cases, only 44% of 799 close contacts of someone with coronavirus had been successfully contacted by call handlers, according to Harrison’s analysis. In Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale and St Helens, fewer than half of the at-risk people had been reached.

The government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) told ministers in May that any delay beyond 48-72 hours in isolating an infected person’s contact would result in a significant increase to the local infection rate, adding: “The sooner it is done, the better.”

2.The reckless behaviour of this government in ignoring a vital and legally required safety step known as the data protection impact assessment (DPIA) has endangered public health. We have a ‘world beating’ unlawful test-and-trace programme.

A crucial element in the fight against the pandemic is mutual trust between the public and the government, which is undermined by their operating the programme without basic privacy safeguards. The government bears responsibility for the public health consequences.
The test-and-trace programme is central to easing the lockdown and getting the economy growing again. The ICO should have taken action but did not. We were forced to threaten judicial review to ensure that people’s privacy is protected.
The ICO and parliament must ensure that test and trace is operating safely and lawfully. As we have already seen individual contractors sharing patient data on social media platforms, emergency remedial steps will need to be taken.

Snippets from Facebook