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In March, 200,000 people attended the Cheltenham Festival. Now, a month later, the NHS trust which runs Cheltenham hospital is reporting the highest number of deaths in the South West - more than double that of any other SW trust.
This is the anatomy of a disaster [thread].
![In March, 200,000 people attended the Cheltenham Festival. Now, a month later, the NHS trust which runs Cheltenham hospital is reporting the highest number of deaths in the South West - more than double that of any other SW trust. This is the anatomy of a disaster [thread].](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EV4MQHjWsAAzLZf.jpg "In March, 200,000 people attended the Cheltenham Festival. Now, a month later, the NHS trust which runs Cheltenham hospital is reporting the highest number of deaths in the South West - more than double that of any other SW trust. This is the anatomy of a disaster [thread].")
This is the anatomy of a disaster [thread].
A fortnight before Cheltenham, the racecourse manager, Ian Renton, was bullish: “we had the equine flu... the ‘Beast from the East’, so there’s normally something around the corner to create a little bit of concern. At the moment, there is nothing to push us off course."
Participants worried about a possible cancellation, but Renton was adamant: 'the racing industry is working closely with the government and they have been extremely effective in keeping controls on the virus not entering this country so we are delighted with what they have done'
It is worth noting here that there is precedent for cancelling Cheltenham. In 2001, during the foot and mouth outbreak, the Festival was cancelled, after 23 sheep were mistakenly allowed to graze on the racetrack.
In the weeks before the festival, organisers were in constant contact with the government about the risk to the event posed by COVID-19.
This is astounding; 'The Jockey Club, which owns the (Cheltenham) Festival, was repeatedly told by the Government that they “should” press ahead with the event, even as the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic' https://www.telegraph.co.uk/racing/2020/04/03/fatality-adds-government-pressure-allowing-cheltenham-proceed/
Why did the government push Cheltenham to go ahead? Lets remember that reports of the Government's pursuit of herd immunity broke on the 12th March, *during* the Cheltenham Festival. https://www.itv.com/news/2020-03-12/british-government-wants-uk-to-acquire-coronavirus-herd-immunity-writes-robert-peston/
As 60,000 people clustered around the racetrack in Cheltenham, Robert Peston published a story claiming that the government's strategy was 'to allow the virus to pass through the entire population so that we acquire herd immunity'
Its almost important to note the role of the gambling industry. In 2017, a third of all donations to MPs came from sports and betting companies https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/betting-companies-ladbrokes-corals-fixed-odds-betting-terminals-philip-davies-top-list-of-donations-a7925461.html
This week, news broke that 'two Tory MPs accepted £2,400 worth of tickets to the (2020) Cheltenham Festival.'
The MPs - Nokes and Davies - were given the tickets by GVC Holdings, the betting company that owns both Ladbrokes and Coral.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/tory-mps-took-2400-cheltenham-21872923
The MPs - Nokes and Davies - were given the tickets by GVC Holdings, the betting company that owns both Ladbrokes and Coral.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/tory-mps-took-2400-cheltenham-21872923
The government thus had two good reasons to push for Cheltenham to go ahead - they were pursuing herd immunity, and they were feeling pressure from the gambling industry. The Jockey Club followed their advice, and the festival proceeded.
On Friday the 13th, 68,859 attended Gold Cup day at Cheltenham.
Ian Renton, the Jockey Club's racecourse manager conceded 'It is a slightly surreal experience ... But everyone’s having an enjoyable time, nothing has changed for the participants. It feels like business as normal'
Ian Renton, the Jockey Club's racecourse manager conceded 'It is a slightly surreal experience ... But everyone’s having an enjoyable time, nothing has changed for the participants. It feels like business as normal'
What Renton did not say is the Jockey Club had been receiving worried emails from hospitality staff who had symptoms of COVID-19. The Jockey Club told them 'not to worry' and to come to work https://twitter.com/aut_omnia/status/1240628226717888513
Workers interviewed by the Mirror said they knew many other employees at the festival, who were sick, and that they had still been told they had to come in on Friday 13th. These workers will have served thousands food and drink.
In the days after the festival, attendees started getting sick. https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/apr/02/cheltenham-faces-criticism-after-racegoers-suffer-covid-19-symptoms
The Jockey Club were unrepentant 'The Festival concluded three weeks ago and went ahead under the clear and ongoing guidance from the government and its science experts throughout'
On the 3rd of April, the first person who developed symptoms after attending Cheltenham died. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/racing/2020/04/03/fatality-adds-government-pressure-allowing-cheltenham-proceed/
Its hard to know how many people contracted the coronavirus through attending Cheltenham, but reports from sporting events elsewhere suggest the potential scale of infection
Two weeks after the Atlanta - Valencia match on Feb. 19, doctors saw an 'incredible explosion of cases' in Italy. Dr. Francesco Le Foche claimed that 'the match played a huge role in disseminating coronavirus throughout Lombardy and in Bergamo in particular.'
On Feb 19, there were only three confirmed cases of coronavirus in the whole of Italy. By March 8th that number was 997 in Bergamo alone. By April 1st, Bergamo had 8,803 cases and the military were taking bodies away in trucks. https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-soccer-match-that-kicked-off-italys-coronavirus-disaster-11585752012
A couple of people are questioning whether Gloucestershire Hospitals just has more deaths than the other trusts because it is much bigger. Not the case - if we look at 2018-19 stats its clear that all the trusts are dealing with roughly similar numbers of emergency admissions.
Also, for the half a dozen ppl convinced the 13,134 is a mistake cos the SW totals dont add up to it - 13,134 is the *national* total of deaths as of 5pm 16th April. https://twitter.com/supertom124/status/1251526792713768961
For people demanding the stats - these are just the breakdown of COVID-19 deaths available on sheet three of this spreadsheet https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/04/COVID-19-daily-announced-deaths-16-April-2020.xlsx https://twitter.com/i/status/1251451703628574720
Someone pointed out Worcester has a similar number of deaths to Glos hospitals. That makes sense as companies from Worcester provide a lot of hospitality labour for Cheltenham. Step By Step, for example;
Hospitality staff will have had lots more face to face contacts than attendees, and will have come into contact with a lot more surfaces, so following the workers is crucial to tracking the effects of Cheltenham
Lol, two points:
1. Birmingham University Hospitals is a massive trust - deals with almost 4x the emergency admissions of Glos Found Trust in a 'normal' year.
2. Cheltenham has a population of 115,300 and Birmingham has a population of 1.086 million. https://twitter.com/cleevecomment/status/1251904150713118720?s=20
1. Birmingham University Hospitals is a massive trust - deals with almost 4x the emergency admissions of Glos Found Trust in a 'normal' year.
2. Cheltenham has a population of 115,300 and Birmingham has a population of 1.086 million. https://twitter.com/cleevecomment/status/1251904150713118720?s=20
The authorities are slowly gearing up to admit the scale of the destruction these mass sporting events caused and are causing. Deputy Chief Scientific Adviser said today that Liverpool-Atlético links to mass spreading was an 'interesting hypothesis' https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/20/liverpool-v-atletico-virus-links-interesting-hypothesis-says-government-scientist
“I think it would be very interesting to see in the future when all the science is done what relationship there is between the virus’ that have circulated in Liverpool and the virus’ that have circulated in Spain.”
