Wednesday 6 May 2020

Five more Covid-19 victims over a sombre weekend for Northampton's frontline NHS staff

Five more Covid-19 victims over a sombre weekend for Northampton's frontline NHS staff Five more Covid-19 victims were added to the total who have died at Northampton General Hospital over another sombre weekend.

Bosses at the Cliftonville site confirmed the five people who died between Friday (May 1) and yesterday (Sunday May 3) are included in the latest Government figures released today. Northampton Chronicle and Echo

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Checking the system’s blind spots

Checking the system’s blind spots It is well recognised that health and care services delivered in the community do not enjoy the same profile and attention as hospital services. Despite longstanding ambitions to rebalance the health care system to deliver more care closer to home, this rhetoric hasn’t translated into reality. There are many reasons for this, including a lack of robust data on activity and outcomes, the absence of prominent national targets, and the fact that care delivered in people’s homes and communities isn’t visible in the same way as the activity taking place in accident and emergency (A&E) departments or on hospital wards. The King's Fund

Guidance: Coronavirus (COVID-19): verification of death in times of emergency

Guidance: Coronavirus (COVID-19): verification of death in times of emergency Clarifying existing practice for verifying deaths outside of hospitals and providing a framework for safe verification of death during the coronavirus emergency. Department of Health and Social Care

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Coronavirus mutations: Scientists puzzle over impact

Coronavirus mutations: Scientists puzzle over impact Researchers in the US and UK have identified hundreds of mutations to the virus which causes the disease Covid-19.

But none has yet established what this will mean for virus spread in the population and for how effective a vaccine might be.

Viruses mutate - it's what they do.

The question is: which of these mutations actually do anything to change the severity or infectiousness of the disease? BBC News

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Child mental health was in crisis before Covid-19. We can't go back to 'normal'

Child mental health was in crisis before Covid-19. We can't go back to 'normal' Vulnerable children will be even more at risk when the lockdown is lifted

Coronavirus doesn’t affect everybody equally – it affects those on the frontline disproportionately. A similar myth has spread about mental health: while anybody can experience mental health problems, they disproportionately affect children who have suffered adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) such as abuse, parental mental health problems, drug use, incarceration or domestic violence. These ACEs are compounded by poverty, poor education and hopelessness for the future. The Guardian