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Post by southlondon413 on Dec 30, 2021 8:41:19 GMT
If the Scientists and Boris had been correct with it doubling every 2-3 days at their press conference last week, then we would be seeing about million infections per day by now. This means either the scare stories to justify action were overdone, or vast numbers are getting it in mild form that they haven’t even noticed and have not even thought about getting a test. The death rate has been generally falling, the number of hospitalisations is roughly flat (only going up marginally). The number in hospital needing ventilation beds has fallen to about 850 (was over 1000 early November). My understanding is that hospitalisations have jumped in London (but if nationally is roughly constant, then must have fallen elsewhere to balance the average), but then it seems parts of London don’t have very good vaccination rates. Apparently some areas of UK are around 70% for boosters, nationally it is 56%, but I hear parts of London are feeble and below 35%. That rather makes policy determination rather hard, if as rumoured there is a 2 week circuit breaker announced Boxing Day then it will be based on pre Christmas data (there is no further data until Monday), so could be announced today. The delay is political not science based. The next problem was if they do a circuit breaker, what was the rush to get boosters, and should it only apply to those who haven’t been done. There is a case for those who have got booster to get back to normal. Not an easy debate. This time last week, I went to my local PCR test centre in Wood Green as I felt rough for a couple of before. I had tested positive on a lateral flow test before. Not a pleasant experience (PCR was fine, but Covid wasn't), your appetite goes off a cliff edge, high temperatures, headaches, nausea the lot. Annoying thing was I had the booster jab the Saturday before, so I wasn't sure if it was a reaction to that, but it was full blown Covid. Boris is scared of killing the economy, he doesn't want lots of kids off school again (as parents won't be able to get to work), after a damp and mild New Year I can't see any sort of circuit breaker working. I think Boris will hope for "keep calm and carry on" to get us through this next wave. The constant questions from Track and Trace have been more annoying. A little Covid trivia:- all tests will show you positive for 90 days, so there's no point for continuing to do lateral flow tests after a positive result. I don't think there will be another lockdown this time. Completely agree, I think the message at the moment of have fun but be responsible is the right one. I also don’t see further lockdowns or a circuit breaker coming, it would be too damaging to the mental health, other non-covid illnesses and the economy. |
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Post by route53 on Dec 30, 2021 8:56:02 GMT
Another lockdown is out of the question, most of the population are vaccinated, we can’t keep going in and out of lockdown because of a new variant, Omnicron hasn’t created the apocalypse people thought it would, 2022 should be about returning to normal, after all the hypocrisy from the government I doubt another lockdown would be realistically enforced.
Time to focus on mental health, other ailments and help out smaller businesses and keeping jobs safe again.
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Post by WH241 on Dec 30, 2021 9:58:20 GMT
This time last week, I went to my local PCR test centre in Wood Green as I felt rough for a couple of before. I had tested positive on a lateral flow test before. Not a pleasant experience (PCR was fine, but Covid wasn't), your appetite goes off a cliff edge, high temperatures, headaches, nausea the lot. Annoying thing was I had the booster jab the Saturday before, so I wasn't sure if it was a reaction to that, but it was full blown Covid. Boris is scared of killing the economy, he doesn't want lots of kids off school again (as parents won't be able to get to work), after a damp and mild New Year I can't see any sort of circuit breaker working. I think Boris will hope for "keep calm and carry on" to get us through this next wave. The constant questions from Track and Trace have been more annoying. A little Covid trivia:- all tests will show you positive for 90 days, so there's no point for continuing to do lateral flow tests after a positive result. I don't think there will be another lockdown this time. Completely agree, I think the message at the moment of have fun but be responsible is the right one. I also don’t see further lockdowns or a circuit breaker coming, it would be too damaging to the mental health, other non-covid illnesses and the economy. Sorry I disagree the messaging is very poor from the government. We are being told yes go out but take tests first, only problem with that is no LFT tests are available! We are told to go out and try to be outside, again how practical is that when most want to be in pubs or clubs on New Year's Eve.
It is also predicted lots of people will travel from Wales and Scotland to England because we decided to follow different restrictions. This is no ideal as it means even more mixing.
Also on the news today they are starting to prepare extra beds for a predicted surge in cases. Just imagine all the mixing that will take place as people return home from family visits and schools return. We are at nearly 200k daily cases now. I won't prove popular with this last comment but feel if they government had been firmer and a little stricter with restrictions over the holidays 2022 would have gotten off to a better start, I have a bad feeling the the first quarter of next year is going to be just as rubbish as the last two years.
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Post by southlondon413 on Dec 30, 2021 10:17:45 GMT
Completely agree, I think the message at the moment of have fun but be responsible is the right one. I also don’t see further lockdowns or a circuit breaker coming, it would be too damaging to the mental health, other non-covid illnesses and the economy. Sorry I disagree the messaging is very poor from the government. We are being told yes go out but take tests first, only problem with that is no LFT tests are available! We are told to go out and try to be outside, again how practical is that when most want to be in pubs or clubs on New Year's Eve.
It is also predicted lots of people will travel from Wales and Scotland to England because we decided to follow different restrictions. This is no ideal as it means even more mixing.
Also on the news today they are starting to prepare extra beds for a predicted surge in cases. Just imagine all the mixing that will take place as people return home from family visits and schools return. We are at nearly 200k daily cases now. I won't prove popular with this last comment but feel if they government had been firmer and a little stricter with restrictions over the holidays 2022 would have gotten off to a better start, I have a bad feeling the the first quarter of next year is going to be just as rubbish as the last two years.
I don’t disagree with your sentiments but at some point the government has to pass personal responsibility onto the people and the messaging is effectively saying that. I don’t trust any media outlet to provide an honest, factual account anymore. They have spent the last 2 years scaremongering us left, right and centre to no end. If they are to be believed than the South Africans are saying that they believe that Omicron is like the final variant of the Spanish flu that killed it off in the 1910s. |
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Post by LondonNorthern on Dec 30, 2021 10:37:28 GMT
Completely agree, I think the message at the moment of have fun but be responsible is the right one. I also don’t see further lockdowns or a circuit breaker coming, it would be too damaging to the mental health, other non-covid illnesses and the economy. Sorry I disagree the messaging is very poor from the government. We are being told yes go out but take tests first, only problem with that is no LFT tests are available! We are told to go out and try to be outside, again how practical is that when most want to be in pubs or clubs on New Year's Eve.
It is also predicted lots of people will travel from Wales and Scotland to England because we decided to follow different restrictions. This is no ideal as it means even more mixing.
Also on the news today they are starting to prepare extra beds for a predicted surge in cases. Just imagine all the mixing that will take place as people return home from family visits and schools return. We are at nearly 200k daily cases now. I won't prove popular with this last comment but feel if they government had been firmer and a little stricter with restrictions over the holidays 2022 would have gotten off to a better start, I have a bad feeling the the first quarter of next year is going to be just as rubbish as the last two years.
I'm only going off of graphs but from what I can tell this variant seems highly infectious but mild. Doing some rough calculations over the past ~10 days shows that 1 in around 900 COVID cases results in death.
On hospitalisations, yes the number of people going into hospital with COVID is increasing which the graphs show, however the numbers going into ICU is decreasing at the same time (thank goodness!)
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Post by WH241 on Dec 30, 2021 10:48:41 GMT
Sorry I disagree the messaging is very poor from the government. We are being told yes go out but take tests first, only problem with that is no LFT tests are available! We are told to go out and try to be outside, again how practical is that when most want to be in pubs or clubs on New Year's Eve.
It is also predicted lots of people will travel from Wales and Scotland to England because we decided to follow different restrictions. This is no ideal as it means even more mixing.
Also on the news today they are starting to prepare extra beds for a predicted surge in cases. Just imagine all the mixing that will take place as people return home from family visits and schools return. We are at nearly 200k daily cases now. I won't prove popular with this last comment but feel if they government had been firmer and a little stricter with restrictions over the holidays 2022 would have gotten off to a better start, I have a bad feeling the the first quarter of next year is going to be just as rubbish as the last two years.
I'm only going off of graphs but from what I can tell this variant seems highly infectious but mild. Doing some rough calculations over the past ~10 days shows that 1 in around 900 COVID cases results in death.
On hospitalisations, yes the number of people going into hospital with COVID is increasing which the graphs show, however the numbers going into ICU is decreasing at the same time (thank goodness!)
Its not just about hospital admissions though. The more people infected the less staff in all sectors, the London Fire Brigade is currently badly affected by staff shortages. Also GP practices are badly affected. Yes it’s not as infectious but we are still taking a big gamble to let it spread like wild fire. |
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Post by vjaska on Dec 30, 2021 12:39:58 GMT
First thing that needs to happen in 2022 is face to face appointments with GP’s to become the norm again
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Post by southlondon413 on Dec 30, 2021 12:48:26 GMT
First thing that needs to happen in 2022 is face to face appointments with GP’s to become the norm again It really depends on the GP surgery. At mine there is a procedure in place to get a face to face appointment, you can either ring and book a telephone appointment first or use the app Doctor Link to determine if you need a face to face. I used the app recently, it determined I needed to see a GP within 1-2 days, I spoke to him briefly on the phone and I saw him face to face the next day. Of course my GP surgery is part of a large care centre that has an MRI machine, blood test facilities and a huge clinical team. |
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Post by LondonNorthern on Dec 30, 2021 13:04:31 GMT
I'm only going off of graphs but from what I can tell this variant seems highly infectious but mild. Doing some rough calculations over the past ~10 days shows that 1 in around 900 COVID cases results in death.
On hospitalisations, yes the number of people going into hospital with COVID is increasing which the graphs show, however the numbers going into ICU is decreasing at the same time (thank goodness!)
Its not just about hospital admissions though. The more people infected the less staff in all sectors, the London Fire Brigade is currently badly affected by staff shortages. Also GP practices are badly affected. Yes it’s not as infectious but we are still taking a big gamble to let it spread like wild fire. That's unfortunately the issue with this variant, it's extremely infectious. I suppose the sort of positive (if you could call it that) is that it is mild and as a result as soon as it spreads throughout the population everybody will have gotten immunity against it. |
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Post by YY13VKP on Dec 30, 2021 13:30:04 GMT
First thing that needs to happen in 2022 is face to face appointments with GP’s to become the norm again Absolutely agreed, the current system of phone appointments (in use at my GP surgery both at home and at uni) is useless despite social distancing restrictions being lifted and people required to wear masks in GP surgeries anyway. |
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Post by vjaska on Dec 30, 2021 14:21:52 GMT
First thing that needs to happen in 2022 is face to face appointments with GP’s to become the norm again It really depends on the GP surgery. At mine there is a procedure in place to get a face to face appointment, you can either ring and book a telephone appointment first or use the app Doctor Link to determine if you need a face to face. I used the app recently, it determined I needed to see a GP within 1-2 days, I spoke to him briefly on the phone and I saw him face to face the next day. Of course my GP surgery is part of a large care centre that has an MRI machine, blood test facilities and a huge clinical team. It's the same procedure for me but it's incredibly unhelpful and time consuming. Before, all you had to do was ring to book an appointment and that's it - now, you have to go through a rigmarole of calling them at 8am, waiting for a call back which they don't always do meaning your whole day is essentially wasted and then when they do call back, your not even guaranteed to see them face to face because they want to you to diagnose everything over the phone which really isn't in the best interests of getting to the problem. |
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Post by greenboy on Dec 30, 2021 16:15:17 GMT
Another lockdown is out of the question, most of the population are vaccinated, we can’t keep going in and out of lockdown because of a new variant, Omnicron hasn’t created the apocalypse people thought it would, 2022 should be about returning to normal, after all the hypocrisy from the government I doubt another lockdown would be realistically enforced. Time to focus on mental health, other ailments and help out smaller businesses and keeping jobs safe again. Another lockdown is certainly not out of the question if infection rates soar and as it is the emergency services are reporting a high level of staff absence because of it. Mental health and other things are not the priority. Inevitably the government will be d*mned whatever they do just like Father Drakeford in Wales. |
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Post by route53 on Dec 30, 2021 16:24:29 GMT
Another lockdown is out of the question, most of the population are vaccinated, we can’t keep going in and out of lockdown because of a new variant, Omnicron hasn’t created the apocalypse people thought it would, 2022 should be about returning to normal, after all the hypocrisy from the government I doubt another lockdown would be realistically enforced. Time to focus on mental health, other ailments and help out smaller businesses and keeping jobs safe again. Another lockdown is certainly not out of the question if infection rates soar and as it is the emergency services are reporting a high level of staff absence because of it. Mental health and other things are not the priority. Inevitably the government will be d*mned whatever they do just like Father Drakeford in Wales. We can’t afford another lockdown, that will break the NHS even more, do you want that to happen? Omicron has been mostly mild, and other variants that may come will be milder each time as Covid becomes endemic. Drakeford and Sturgeon are both prolonging the inevitable of living with with Covid, for once Johnson has done the right thing and not called for restrictions in England. To call for further lockdowns is basically not understanding how the economy works, people will lose jobs and mental health will inevitably rise so regardless of which that’s an issue that cannot and should not be ignored |
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Post by snowman on Dec 30, 2021 16:58:24 GMT
Another lockdown is certainly not out of the question if infection rates soar and as it is the emergency services are reporting a high level of staff absence because of it. Mental health and other things are not the priority. Inevitably the government will be d*mned whatever they do just like Father Drakeford in Wales. We can’t afford another lockdown, that will break the NHS even more, do you want that to happen? Omicron has been mostly mild, and other variants that may come will be milder each time as Covid becomes endemic. Drakeford and Sturgeon are both prolonging the inevitable of living with with Covid, for once Johnson has done the right thing and not called for restrictions in England. To call for further lockdowns is basically not understanding how the economy works, people will lose jobs and mental health will inevitably rise so regardless of which that’s an issue that cannot and should not be ignored Before replying I checked latest covid data, but todays delayed until 19:30 due to data problems. Vaccination (third/booster) seems to vary by location, by using the maps, have spotted Stamford Hill is a pathetic 16.8%, highest I have found is Barton on Sea (Hampshire) at 81.8%. Average is 57.5%. It’s a mystery to me why Londoners are so rubbish at getting jabs, but probably explains the very high London covid rates. Struggling to get a figure for likelihood of catching covid if not jabbed, seems to be upto 60 times (depending on variant and persons age) than a person with 3 jabs The ONS seem to think that 3 in 4 cases of Omicrom have no symptoms, so presumably people infect others and don’t even get tested as have no symptoms Hospitalisations are 8246 with 842 in ventilated beds, not really changed, and lower than earlier in 2021 Death data has fallen 34% in a week (but might not be that reliable over the holiday period) Therefore it seems life is being held back from normality by local areas with low booster jab rates. |
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Post by greenboy on Dec 30, 2021 17:02:04 GMT
Another lockdown is certainly not out of the question if infection rates soar and as it is the emergency services are reporting a high level of staff absence because of it. Mental health and other things are not the priority. Inevitably the government will be d*mned whatever they do just like Father Drakeford in Wales. We can’t afford another lockdown, that will break the NHS even more, do you want that to happen? Omicron has been mostly mild, and other variants that may come will be milder each time as Covid becomes endemic. Drakeford and Sturgeon are both prolonging the inevitable of living with with Covid, for once Johnson has done the right thing and not called for restrictions in England. To call for further lockdowns is basically not understanding how the economy works, people will lose jobs and mental health will inevitably rise so regardless of which that’s an issue that cannot and should not be ignored I don't think anybody is calling for further lockdowns, I'm certainly not, but at the same time they can't be ruled out. Unfortunately there's still a significant minority not wearing face coverings when they should be. |
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