A sample of that size doesn’t need to be direct individual tracking, though there are other smaller studies that have traced that. The reduced presence of antibodies in the sample is very unlikely to be a function of anything but presence in the population, unless they have made a complete mess of their sample populations.
There has never been any evidence, by contrast, that herd immunity was a logical possibility.
I wouldn’t be surprised if I have had it at some point and been asymtamatic as we got classed as key workers, but I know several residents at work had it in the early stages of lockdown, so chances I picked it up are on the high side.
You mention Ireland as being on par,but given that we and the UK are so closely connected in so many ways,what do you suggest could be the reason for our differing results in combatting covid.Is it all down to speed of response?
Well, I don’t have a great deal of insight into what Ireland has done, but have had a couple of conversations with Irish directors (no trip to Dublin this Fall for me!). There cannot be much doubt that Ireland reacted earlier, and more significantly, than the UK. Again and again, governments have ignored that basic lesson, that acting earlier and with stronger measures shortens the period of disruption.
At the same time, Ireland appears to have done a creditable job of making policy that minimizes economic costs versus the public health effects - though put the other way, I feel for the Irish people, in that the flip side of that is that a lot of public wellbeing has been sacrificed for public health measures precisely because the economic disruption is not that great. It has clearly been a tough six months, and my contacts are fairly prosperous professionals, it must have been and continue to be tougher for normal working people.
I don’t know how extensive mask use has been in Ireland, nor how good people have been with compliance with public health measures. From what little I know of concrete government actions, Irish contact tracers are the unsung heroes - not that many of them, but working incredibly hard doing a sound job rather than waiting for a magic wand/phone app to solve everything. Not in the same league as the Germans through the summer, but a solid percentage of cases traced to origin and contacts tracked, punching more than their weight.
So, in a nutshell, speed of response, better policy mix, and more effective government - but on the backs of rather more deprivation.
We moved fast back in March and when cases began to rise again recently. Tougher restrictions and lockdowns have been tough but have been localised to particular counties when spikes appeared. Dublin probably feeling it for longer as we never really opened up to the same extent as most other counties.Mask use is very high in indoor settings and has been for quite a while but household transmission of the virus has added to a recent increase like everywhere else.
Level 5 lockdown in place since last week/10 days and in place till Dec 1st,seems to be toughest restrictions in Europe, but done with the hope to bring cases right down to give us something to look forward to come christmas.
A huge bill will need to be paid at the end of this but if that’s the price of fast, decisive action in order to save lives then so be it.
Only from Australia. Pretty sure @SBYM is in there somewhere
https://www.facebook.com/mark.thomas.589100/videos/3975784699104342
523 deaths due to this shit in France over the last 24hrs. That’s about the average at the peak of the last wave. That’s 235 in nursing homes which is unsettling they should be being ‘protected’, still 288 in hospitals is still concerning.
367 in the UK that’s not looking good.
This '2nd wave is going to last longer and affect more people we seem to still be in exponential growth period.
Just saw the German announcement, with reports that French announcement of an even more extensive one is imminent.
Also saw a scary way of framing the situation in Belgium. The first patient that cannot be treated properly probably got infected today.
I think we can all learn a lot from Kim Kardashian.
Strong and brave. 
Brilliant. You couldn’t make it up.
no invite?
I saw twitter ablaze last night with satirical takes on this. I saw so many that by the time I saw the Kim tweet they were all mocking it took me a while to realize this was the genesis of it and not a continuation of the joke.
No events to earn qualifying times would be a big problem for the Boston Marathon
Look on the bright side, incompetence does pay.
If “dildo” Harding wasn’t a billionairess before, she will certainly be one come the end of the pandemic. 
The moment when you realise you’ve been doing it wrong your whole life 
France, Germany heading back into restriction. @Flobs, are you being good!
over here in vic, aus, we are just coming out of a hard lockdown and heading into late spring/summer weather…i hope my niave optomism is well founded …i know a lot needs to happen, but we hopefully have a few good months where flu like weather is not as present, i know thats not the be all, but from what i can see with a glance, it seems to help.
i hope the next few months europe and the rest of the world (along with us, obviously, but obviously theres more to learn at the coal face) can further progress with its understanding and treatment of the disease.
best of luck guys, stay safe, thoughts are with you as you head into winter.
I’m hiding away. They should have done something here in France much earlier. Not encouraging people to go on holiday might have been an idea.
I just turned on the news, I managed 5 minutes, the fucking arsewipe of a PM just said that they had anticipated this 2nd wave. Well fuck me that great so why didn’t they prepare for it and impliment the principle of precaution? Why didn’t they inform the public, rather than encourage them to ‘go back to normal’?
Bande de imbecile!