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R TKeymaster[quote]In today’s Ministerial briefing Rob from Wrexham.com asked specifically about staff moving from ward to ward — this question was clearly known by the Minister in advance yet she could only respond with a “I think!” about internal risk of cross infection.
So I think those measures are in place, and certainly as I say there has been an increase in testing in the Wrexham area.”
She also referenced the community testing as if it was still in place when it ceased on Saturday.
[b]It is time to get real clarity particularly when the questions are provided in advance — perhaps Rob could let us know how long in advance are the questions submitted?[/b][/quote]
The process is quite straightforward, the afternoon before the brief we find out who the Minister will be, and we ask to take part. We join the zoom about 12:15, Minister walks out and takes questions. There is no advance sight of any questions, nor is it requested.
From our end the questions are put together after 2-3 of us having a chat or knocking them about as things spring up, and usually the night before we make a short list, however that can change if something comes out in the morning – or even during the briefing. The reason for having a big list of questions is there can be several others ahead of us in the queue, and often questions get asked by others. It is a valuable opportunity so we don’t want to be sat there reasking stuff that has already been answered. It is more work but hopefully worth it.
We also try and make the questions fit the Minister a little, so today was not the Health Minister but we had a health questions. Our thinking was today’s Minister would be in Cabinet, probably get the internal circulars or info however it works, and also has a voice – that is why we asked for her personal opinion on the matters raised.
It does appear there are prepared answers replying to a topic not a question at times, but out of the near 100 briefings in the pandemic we have participated in there has certainly been more info now public than without them.
The other good bit is now the precedent is there hopefully a range of media can remotely take part in such non-pandemic briefs in the future.
(on a wider point, can everyone play nicer on these threads?! :) )
R TKeymaster[quote]
Looks like someone is trying to do some form of news management- Wrexham.com had an article on the 18th but no follow up since — lets hope someone comes out with what is actually happening and whether we should be worried or not.
https://www.wrexham.com/news/38-staff-test-positive-for-coronavirus-at-rowan-foods-health-minister-concerned-at-north-wales-outbreak-188062.html%5B/quote%5DWe have asked Public Health Wales, who are apparently leading things locally, for information but had no reply.
We have asked via two other separate routes, one last night and one earlier today, to basically nudge PHW to hopefully respond / include us on any local communications.
We asked the First Minister yesterday about the local issue – and on a tweet today tagged PHW in as well, with a hope it might get them to release local information more widely.
The First Minister said “…we will now have people more directly involved in the outbreak at Rowan Foods in Wrexham and we will learn more as a result of the investigations that will be taken forward.” ( @PublicHealthW did not respond) https://t.co/GN5PQVCtRs
— Wrexham.com (@wrexham) June 20, 2020
R TKeymasterA blast from the past (to anyone reading this in 2020 – this was from 2012!) and yes think it got to low double figures. It would be good to try and revive some of the early idealistic ideas…
R TKeymasterWelsh Government don’t seem happy with the UK Gov website as you have pictured :
Speaking on BBC Radio Wales yesterday morning, the minister said: “It’s really unhelpful because that does give a misleading impression about the availability for tests in Wales for people who need to have tests done.
“Actually, we have different methods of getting people the tests that need them, but because there’s a policy divergence on who should be tested, and what the purpose of the test is, then that website I think is particularly unhelpful.
“It would be much better if it would describe the differences in approach being taken rather simply saying this isn’t available in Wales.
R TKeymaster[quote]Interesting briefing response from Police Chief Constable elsewhere in UK today:
“We will not at this stage be starting to marshal supermarkets and checking the items in baskets and trolleys to see whether it is a legitimate necessary item but…if people do not head the warnings…we will start to do that”[/quote]
Northants Police have clarified what you can see in that video…
To clarify some suggestions made in the media, we absolutely will NOT be searching people's shopping trolleys in Northamptonshire.
The same message was communicated to our officers from the very moment we were given these new powers… https://t.co/tbBybJXtY8
— Northants Police #StayHomeSaveLives (@NorthantsPolice) April 9, 2020
“suggestions made in the media”… er!
R TKeymasterInteresting briefing response from Police Chief Constable elsewhere in UK today:
“We will not at this stage be starting to marshal supermarkets and checking the items in baskets and trolleys to see whether it is a legitimate necessary item but…if people do not head the warnings…we will start to do that”
R TKeymasterWe took that to the proverbial top to hoping to get a strong message. This week we tried to ask the Health Minister “Do you think there is a responsibility on retailers to only sell essential items?”
We cited the local examples of DIY and garden shopping sprees as well. The Welsh Gov comms team did not pass it up to the podium sadly, nor any of the other ones put forward (despite those in the room getting follow ups too).
We have had quite a few people working at various levels in retail in touch very concerned about their own health, risks they are being asked to take, and as tweeted 4-5 days ago, “Message from a retail worker who wants to stay anon “Can only echo your recent tweet. Many people are treating this as a joke. Coming out to browse, or to buy a single item. Its surreal. The elderly are coming out, sometimes daily and its just not being taken seriously.” ”
Happy to call out Tesco and Aldi as much as those creatively looking to find an excuse to dodge advice and or laws.
R TKeymasterWe did do a range of testing on it – aware of some issues on older internet explorer versions and squishing those bugs along with general swatting of problems after the move.
I would be interested to hear device / platforms used for issues, and if any screengrabs can be emailed to news @ wrexham .com
Also, are people seeing the same issues on the equivalent pages of http://www.deeside.com and https://north.wales (frontpage / articles etc) or just here.
Finally would note the forums are still on some older code, we were keen to get the new stuff live asap to help stop the server melting – basically stuff is a lot lighter on this framework, it means in theory quicker for people to load (good for mobile use) and allows us to do much more in future.
cheers
rob
R TKeymasterFor info of people reading this, it is worth a look at how close Clwyd South comes to the town itself https://bit.ly/32Tpx2w
R TKeymasterNothing has been removed recently – and it is worth noting nothing is ‘accepted’ before posting, we do not have any pre-moderation, let alone ability to do so inside milliseconds it takes to post.
Edit: There are two ‘pending’ threads – one now visible at https://www.wrexham.com/forums/topic/council-report-ignores-problems-highlighted-by-estyn never had that before and all other threads/posts seem fine. There is nothing different about your account either from anyone elses. No idea yet what has happened there!
Edit 2: It appears the issue is new threads with links in, and the software is pulling that as a possible spammer. This appears to be a new thing as previous new threads have been fine with a link in them.
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