The ONS have produced a thorough piece of research into non-COVID excess deaths. It is important work. Immense harm has been caused by changes in behaviour and people have died (and are still dying) as a result.

A&E attendances fell from the beginning of March. At the end of February we were told to isolate if we, those we shared a household with had a cough or fever.

That meant people with coughs and fevers were dissuaded from attending A&E. It also meant that healthcare were understaffed. With increasing numbers of us falling ill this had a large effect. Ambulance response times tripled to an average of an hour. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/revealed-how-elderly-paid-price-of-protecting-nhs-from-covid-19-7n62kkbtb

Urgent A&E attendances fell by 30-40%. GPs were also not being used in the same way. Look at Scottish prescriptions for heart meds. Stocking up in March (was there enough to go around) and too low ever since.

Attendances for heart attacks and angina fell from the beginning of March. Did these people die before they got there?

By the beginning of April there were 291 excess deaths a week from ischaemic heart disease (including some attributed to COVID too). This problem has continued ever since.

Other conditions that need prompt treatment (and some that don't) have also spiked during the epidemic.

Look how the different regions have been affected by non-COVID deaths (red line) and think about how that relates to current excess deaths.

Because look at the A&E attendances now compared with normal. They never returned to normal and they are falling away again.

There are 100 deaths at home a day that are in excess of normal. That means they are of people who in the past would have died elsewhere e.g. hospital. This is despite 80% of COVID deaths being in hospital.

Understaffing care homes, hospitals, ambulances has an effect. When we did that because we were trying to stop the spread of a lethal virus it was justifiable. Now we are doing it because asymptomatic people have a positive test result. Can that be justified?

Full report. Thanks @duncangolicher for sharing https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/articles/analysisofdeathregistrationsnotinvolvingcoronaviruscovid19englandandwales28december2019to1may2020/28december2019to10july2020

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