AIBU to say that we are all supposed to catch this virus for herd immunity?

[Roxymoomoo]

So if you listen to what the Gov guys says every day.... They say slow the spread...not stop the spread.
Gov figures on death rates are based on 60-80% of the population catching it. (1% of the known cases, known cases approx rep 10% of all cases)

So I'm quite shocked when I read the neurotic things written on some posts people clearly are deluded

Am I being unreasonable to expect people to catch the virus?
( in a slow and organised way so as to allow for proper NHS treatment)

Yes- You are I never expect to catch this virus....
No... I fully expect to catch this virus and contribute to herd immunity

@hahaboink not sure what you're replying to. They have not acted quick enough at any point on anything from warnings about lack of capacity or ventilators or PPE years ago to reacting to china and WHO warnings and advice. We had an advantage a month or so ago and they squandered it. Blaming people who went out on friday night after weeks of crowding on trains and tubes is risible.

Yes, I think it’s really sad the way people are trying to remove themselves from their immediate families within their own homes.

Agreed. I told my husband, and he misheard and thought I was going to refuse to kiss him from this point on. He looked so sad! (he's a massive softie)

Flattening the curve is about keeping it manageable, not removing the risk entirely. It also makes it manageable for the NHS to deal with entirely unrelated health issues that would otherwise go untreated.

Some people crucify you for simple realism on this site. The 13 year old who died? Very sad. I would be devastated to lose a 13yo close relative of mine. But what is impossible to know is that another 13yo who might have been out skateboarding and hit by a car, might have been stabbed by a gang member, might have had a freak sports accident etc actually didn't die that day. Because they were at home, probably a bit bored.

The government have hijacked the term “herd immunity” yes, it is clearly the path they are taking but the concept of herd immunity is directly related to vaccination- for example having 95% of children vaccinated against measles means vulnerable children and adults are less likely to get it - because it’s not in circulation.

This with bells on. There is such a misunderstanding about herd immunity. We don't want to get it so we can build up herd immunity. We preferably would NOT get it, risk being one of those who actually dies of it, but instead become immune from a vaccine once that's developed.

I don't think many people understand herd immunity, here or in government.

It is likely to mutate due to the nature of the virus, so best just not to get it at all which means staying at home no matter how boring and inconvenient that is.

I don’t think it’s that the government don’t understand it. It’s that they changed policy after the Imperial report came out and this hasn’t been communicated well to people. Or at all judging by the OP and others on this thread.

Having a virus does not necessarily give immunity. It might do. It might not. There is no evidence I've seen that CorVid bestows immunity to further infection or that it isnt a relapsing virus. We are being served platitudes as it's new and there's not enough scientific evidence to give certainty other than its infectious and can be fatal. So we need to avoid it if we can.

I do think most of the population with get Covid19 at some point. I think quite a few people may have had it already and passed it off as the common flu or a cold.
I've read a few things where people have said once you've had it, you are immune. Is that the case?

I’ve seen several headline this morning suggesting the government chief pandemic modeller is suggesting the only way out of this is to go for heard immunity. He says

The measures to control [the disease] cause harm. The principal one is economic, and I don’t mean to the economy generally, I mean to the incomes of people who rely on a continuous stream of money and their children, particularly the school closure aspect . . . There will also be actual harms in terms of mental health, in terms of domestic violence and child abuse, and in terms of food poverty.”

The problem is if they relax lockdown many people will be facing a stark choice. We will feel pressured to return to work, send kids to school. What about households with someone more vulnerable? A lot of young and old people will die, just not all in one go, like that makes it better.

That's exactly what flattening the curve is all about. Spreading out the timescales where people become infected, keeping it to a level the NHS can cope with.

once you've had it, you are immune. Is that the case?

Probably, but for how long, and there are reports of some people getting it again. You dont get measles twice but very occasionally people do.

I think I mean measles but it might be chickenpox I'm thinking of.

You do mean measles or chicken pox. It’s rare to catch either twice. Neither mutates much. Corona viruses are different though.

Have they named the ‘chief pandemic modeller’ or is it code for DC. You’d be hard pushed to find many reputable epidemiologists thinking that’s still a good idea. I’d imagine the WHO are looking at those headlines thinking FFS not again.

I've not understood from the beginning why the Imperial report caused such a massive turnaround- were the government burying their heads in the sand, or were the working on previously incorrect data that we weren't aware of?

Because given the stats, spread and deaths that we had already seen in other countries, the data and predictions in the report really don't seem to have come out of the blue? Don't get me wrong, they did absolutely fantastic work putting it together and it's made a noticeable difference, but surely it just provided hard stats that back up the predictions anyone with a basic knowledge of viruses and statistics could have seen coming?

The Tines today spells out that the government has commissioned a report on the impact of quarantine. And I’m fairly sure that it will show that it is disastrous in terms of education/economy collapse/people not going to hospital with appendicitis. Basically, absolutely everything. When that report comes out, it will spell it out. Damned if you, damned if you don’t. Slightly inconveniently, it looks like gradual (ish) herd immunity and vaccine may essentially dead heat, so it’s a matter of which disaster the government wants to pick. Not a great choice, but I reckon the report will make it clear that they have to go for lifting the lockdown fairly soon.

The Professor Medley stuff in the Times is also a classic bit of kite flying. Float the idea out there and see what people think. Start getting the idea in proper circulation. If people want to spend the rest of their life in lockdown, they can get on with it. The rest of the population probably needs to get back to it.

I believe they were working off flu data, Weird. It probably wasn’t hugely unreasonable but I think your right in that they could have been looking closer at China and Italy earlier. Once the Imperial report came out it was clear that the model was hugely wrong and the number of deaths was going to be much much bigger than they could have imagined and the policy had to be changed quickly.