The Spectator

Who came up with ‘lockdown’?

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issue 07 November 2020

The start of lockdown

The earliest known use of ‘lockdown’ in its current sense was in a 1973 story in the Fresno Bee, a Californian newspaper, referring to prisoners being kept in their cells after a knife attack. Despite apparently giving the world the concept, not all Fresno locals seemed happy to be placed in lockdown in April. A protest in May resulted in a fight between protestors and the president of the city council.

Bed cover

How full of Covid patients are hospitals? Hospitals with more than 200 Covid patients (data for 27 October):

—Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust: 450 out of 1,595 beds
— Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust: 249 out of 1,442
— Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust: 289 out of 1,512
— Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust: 236 out of 1,685
— University Hospitals of Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust : 232 out of 2,029
— Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust : 207 out of 1,368
— Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust: 201 out of 798
Source: NHS






Bust sizes

What about business death statistics? Has Covid-19 impacted on corporate insolvencies?

2019 / 2020

March – 1,586 / 1,232
April – 1,435 / 1,201
May – 1,355 / 980
June – 1,469 / 762
July – 1,450 / 965
August – 1,369 / 784
September – 1,513 / 926
Source: The Insolvency Service

PE lessons

We are being encouraged to exercise, yet tennis courts and golf courses will be closed.

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