Coronavirus: Why has Barrow-in-Furness been hit so badly? - BBC Newsnight

Areas like Barrow-in-Furness have been suffering considerably during the #Covid19 outbreak. But why?
Subscribe to our channel here: goo.gl/31Q53F
The North West of England has been particularly hard hit by coronavirus and one such place is the Cumbrian town of Barrow-in-Furness.
Is it the worst affected place in the UK?
Health Secretary Matt Hancock has mentioned its high number of cases at one of his press conferences… But why has it been hit so badly? And what are the underlying factors that have led to so many infections?
James Clayton reports.
WATCH MORE OF OUR CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE: bbc.in/2Vxe5HQ
#Health #Newsnight #Coronavirus
Newsnight is the BBC's flagship news and current affairs TV programme - with analysis, debate, exclusives, and robust interviews.
Website: www.bbc.co.uk/...
Twitter: / bbcnewsnight
Facebook: / bbcnewsnight

[@lesleymartin5084]

What about showing the amount of expensive new houses being built all over Barrow? Obviously not everyone is poor and underprivileged!

[@SirButtz]

Shssh you'll upset the narrative they're trying to create

[@shrek_has_swag2344]

Ratings village? Holbeck? What’s that?!?

[@Justabitnosey]

They always show the negative parts of Barrow. Never much positivity why not show our beautiful Victorian park and gardens to be proud of and beaches?

[@Boilingfrogg]

@@Justabitnosey yeah the flats or rubbish blowing thru the back streets

[@animal79thecat]

​@@Justabitnoseyit's a dirty shithole!

[@belly257]

Typical shitty BBC reporting. Data was per 100k people (only 67k live in barrow) and it was high because barrow was one of the best testing areas in the UK.

[@jameswhiteley6843]

Isn’t that Ellie Williams is from?

[@chowker]

Yes.

[@shrek_has_swag2344]

Yep my hometown

[@Skylark_Jones]

Did they isolate those who tested positive for the virus? Because without contact tracing and isolating testing on it's own is futile.

[@chowker]

They did in the later stages, but early on it was hard to get a test. They weren't instant and nothing was done until the results came back. The school headteacher who got it before lockdown was refused a test until she was in intensive care. Her school, which initially closed, was forced to reopen because she "hadn't tested positive" (because she hadn't had a test at all). Not long after she did finally get tested (it was positive) she sadly died.

[@johnthorpe8930]

People will find it weird for a while then it won't be weird any more,it'll be normal' No it bloody well won't,and if people are stupid enough to blindly accept this nonsense they deserve all they get.

[@hosephanerothe1440]

Tory MP It does’nt affect the recovery But it’ll affect kids going back to school and people going back to work ... What recovery are you aiming for then?

[@JoJo-rx6bi]

more importantly, what about the grooming gangs? eh

[@jilldavey1187]

People that get bored are short on brain matter. No one is there to be entertained, find ur own and stop blaming outside influence, read, paint, walk, study, or travel, the choice is yours! Boring indeed! Life is what YOU make it!

[@chowker]

"You can see that it is not just about the testing regime".

[@ouldonaunt3262]

eight times more testing than the national average and BAE systems just happen to also reside there. they are probably testing those employees a lot, so more cases are found more often.

[@offset_2]

the entire workforce on site was tested twice a week, thats over 6000 tests a week just from the business itself

[@craigstevens2317]

You do realise you showed an American submarine on the surface don't you? The BBC has loads of clips of British submarines. Was your research so poor? Bit of an insult to the town to show an inferior product and infer they built it!

[@kallanarmstrong3750]

BBC why not talk about the grooming gangs #jsuticeforellie

[@masstransit2]

Because there isn't one.

[@fixablecell6028]

You know it hasn’t really been bad it just feels like normal for me but with not as many people

[@bobholyoake1301]

F TO ALL THE BS .

[@Boilingfrogg]

Hear hear. !!

[@jilldavey1187]

I can’t believe this tiny programme. It has shown probably some of the worst bits of barrow, and every town has them. Just because it’s industrial it by no means says it’s a horrible place. It has some of the most lovely countryside, beaches, and areas where people live. This is of course to sway opinion, the people of barrow are not deprived, many have some of the highest levels of disposable income compared to other areas. Absolute rubbish didn’t appreciate that at all!

[@crazyelaine79]

Obesity and hight smokers so wrong. It's only coz we are a small town.

[@eclecticcyclist]

Health inequalities? The ones quoted are down to personal lifestyle choice or local culture. The solution is education. Teaching how diet, and to an extent excersise, impacts on health. Look up Dr Aseem Malhotra and The Pioppi Diet. (the one MP Tom Watson is following)

[@petehall1985]

Health inequity is real. The quality of care and level / breadth of services is always lower in areas with less income. Personally used local services in barrow and its general hospital and the standards arent a touch on oxford or bristol

[@pokeyswan5563]

You should look at the maternity treatment in Barrow - look for titchcomb in particular.

[@joonefps]

Get in! Represent Barrow!!!!

[@toppergreen5864]

Air con recirculating office air in portable cabins, skiers returning from Italy... my guess...

[@billyhuckaby941]

Well, maybe one reason this town has alot of cases is nobody you interviewed or taped were wearing a mask. Are these people even followiing the medical guidelines? If they live in row houses, they cant easily avoid their neighbors! In my opinion they should definitely be wearing masks if they venture outdoors, maintain distance and not gather in groups, or schools or indoor restaurants, or gyms or hair salons. Are they washing their hands frequently after touching a possibly contaminated object such as elevator buttons, door handles, money, dry and wet goods, etc.? Are they washing their hands and clothes and taking an immediate shower after returning from an errand? Decontaminating the packages and items brought in from outside with lysol and or bleach? Soaking vegetables and fruits in water with decontamination drops, 2 drops of potassium iodide or one capfull of bleach to 7.58 liters of water for 20 minutes? Are positive people and their contacts isolating and quarantintining? If not the virus will continue to spread fast throughout the population!

[@Boilingfrogg]

Masks are there to give the illusion of a pandemic.

[@joebloggs5186]

2 meter rule is completely irrelevant if supermarkets etc continue to use air conditioning. Save lives, switch it off.

[@memebump7612]

Doesn't poor ventilation make the virus more likely to remain airborne longer? That's what Dr John Campbell and PhD in pathology Dr Chris Martenson keep saying.

[@joebloggs5186]

@@memebump7612 yes, he is correct. Obviously, an enclosed space will increase the risk of transmission,air conditioning will mimic this in more open spaces. It turns an open area into an enclosed one.

[@joebloggs5186]

@@memebump7612 do you think they are the only people in the UK with a stem PhD?

[@karlritchie3619]

Hits poor more than rich basically.

[@idw9159]

nobody seems to be wearing masks..

[@chowker]

Maybe because they're not on public transport and that's the only time they are required?

[@Boilingfrogg]

And rightly so

[@888ssss]

Interesting that the lower the IQ, the higher the impact was.

[@trewens]

They could have made the same points in half the time. It's really not a great film.

[@justinsingh221]

Barrow in Furness, most boring place in the world

[@Boilingfrogg]

I live there. But you're right.

[@benscotti1991]

😂 with the lake district around the corner, try living in lincolnshire nothing but flat fields everywhere 🤣

[@justinsingh221]

@@benscotti1991 least its a train ride away to london and birmingham

[@benscotti1991]

@@justinsingh221 manchester and liverpool are only 2 hours away, leave london and Birmingham for the odd nice trip, like I said personal preference if you like the city life tbh

[@benscotti1991]

@@justinsingh221 I used to live in spalding, Lincolnshire and that place is boring as hell 🤣

[@AndrewIsaacs]

10.00 look at the body language!

[@colindickinson153]

load of bull

[@beefy0978]

Some research shows the effects of the virus are greater where pollution is greater. Could this be the/a cause??

[@Boilingfrogg]

💉

[@kailemstrickland7425]

🤔🤔