Why is London so low now?

[taptonaria27]

I understand why London got hit hardest and hit first by the virus but those reasons have not gone away. Why is it that the new cases there are reported to be a trickle now?
It's still over crowded, poor living conditions for many, heavy reliance on public transport etc etc etc

[LaurieFairyCake]

Much fewer people on public transport, people are social distancing/staying in

And apparently 17.6% of the popn has had it

[taptonaria27]

But that just makes them the same as the rest of the country (apart from the 17% who've had it).
It hasn't been covered in the media I just wondered if I'm missing something.

[Playdonut]

We all had it already that's why.

[AwkwardPaws27]

A combination of factors, partly;
Ahead of the curve compared to the rest of the country (as hit early).
Many office type roles, which can more easily be done from home + an infrastructure to support a large number of commuters = very low density of people who still need to travel using said services (facilities colleagues remarked on having a carriage to themselves, prior to last week).
A lot of my co-workers who live in London flat shares went to stay with parents prior to lockdown, and have continued to do so.
Wide range of food delivery options, veg boxes, prescription deliveries etc; more people able to avoid visiting a supermarket or pharmacy in person.

[arethereanyleftatall]

Well the 'apart from the 17% who've already had it' is rather a large factor isn't it?

[PeterPomegranate]

I am wondering this (in London). Yes the peak was earlier here but why so low now. We are following the same rules as everyone else. Is it because we were more scared (consciousness that we were ahead) so complied more or because a larger proportion has had it already? I think it’s an important question.

[PumpkinP]

I’m in London and haven’t had it and don’t know anyone who has had it let alone died from it.

[effingterrified]

I'm on the edge of London and at least a third, probably more, of people I know have had it.

Some communities and areas have been affected more than others.

[Playdonut]

Pumpkin didnt you have that weird illness in december/January/February? Every londoner I've spoken to thinks that they had it then. But we cant prove it, and we could all be hypochondriacs! I only know 2 people who had it since they admitted it was in the country.

[PumpkinP]

Nope not been ill at all, I’m rarely ever ill so I would remember if I did. Unless I’m one of the ones who had no symptoms.

[creativecringe]

I moved jobs at the beginning of the year. My last work place, everyone was sick in the winter.(office of about 500). Current job, I was told in january, December most of the staff was off sick..something was making the rounds.

[bulletjournalbilly]

Because everyone's had it now ...

[Playdonut]

Yes that could be it. Hopefully we are all immune and there will be no second wave. That would be lovely.

[Deblou43]

I work in London and 5 people I work with had symptoms so pretty sure they had it !! I think it was doing the rounds in January to be honest

[namechangenumber2]

@Playdonut - do you know anything about that weird illness? DH has something odd Christmas/new year - very high temp, shivery, diarrhoea, ear ache and mild cough. Took at least 10 days to start feeling remotely better. No one else got it in the house, but the nature of his work means prior to Christmas he flew a lot ( no he's not Santa ) around the UK and he's now convinced he's had corona...

In fairness I've never known him be so ill..

[MrsPear]

Me and h had a strange thing too - affected taste and was rather chesty. We often wonder if that was it it would interesting to take a test and see. The children were not ill mind you.

[Playdonut]

@namechangenumber2 yes. We all had those symptoms! I took my child to the doctor with it and was told he had a virus and to give him calpol. He gave it to me and I coughed so much I considered giving up smoking. Tbh if this Coronavirus hadn't come out I would not have thought much more of it, but too much time to think in lockdown has convinced me that that was the first wave and this is the second.

[blueshoes]

Younger population

[Bramblebear92]

I live in London and worked in a huge co-working office space until mid-February. I can't be sure I've had it, but I started with a very dry cough for the first 3-4 days and that was then followed by fatigue, aches and pains, stuffed nose, fever and corresponding rash. The only thing is I wasn't bed-bound and continued to work throughout as I had no choice, but I felt quite dreadful. No breathlessness really, but very intense fatigue.

I dismissed the idea of it being Covid at the time as we didn't think it was spreading in the UK at that point.

[JetSetGo]

Because social distancing has worked. Have you not been following the science?

[Divebar]

Jeremy Vine was talking on the radio about having symptoms earlier in the year ( before the official break out) but did a test and it came back negative. Indications are that it was not in the U.K. earlier than thought because there was no increase in the death rate which you would expect to see.

[Clavinova]

Possibly something to do with temperatures rising in London as well (compared to the rest of the UK) - viruses are less active in hot weather.

[Sunshinegirl82]

Social distancing doesn’t explain the discrepancy in R value between London and the rest of the U.K. It is spreading more slowly in London for some reason.

It seems possible the higher number of people with antibodies in London is playing a part. The question is how much of a part and are other factors at play such as demographics (younger population?), fewer care homes perhaps?

[JassyRadlett]

Obesity and age demographics would have an impact on death rate and hospital rate but not infection rate, wouldn’t it?

I wonder if the social makeup of London may have had an impact too. Less likely to have family nearby so less likely to have to do extra shopping, support numerous shielding relatives, less temptation to break lockdown with family?

[Sunshinegirl82]

I just find it hard to believe that London have locked down “better” than the rest of the country although I suppose it’s a possibility.

There has been an (as yet unproven obviously) suggestion that younger people may use a different immune response to defeat the virus, one which doesn’t illicit an antibody response in the blood. That might also play a role if it is true given London’s younger than average population.