To wonder at what point the govt will address the minimal threat from Covid

[TheMurk]

We’re in a position where there have been 6 deaths from (with) coronavirus out of a population of 66.5 million.

In the same 24 hours 8 people died in RTAs.

There were 5 suicides.

So I’m just wondering when the government plans to address the vastly lowered threat from covid-19 and tell us what the next step of the plan is, and when it will start?

Because from a very urgent and vocal few months at the beginning with dramatic televised monologues, suddenly there is a pointed silence about the fact that this simply is not a grave threat to public health any longer.

Is no one concerned by this inactivity?

We should be being told at what point the masks, one way systems, queues and booking systems and other restrictions will be lessened or stopped altogether.

Why are we not being given a timeline?

Um...without stating the obvious do you think that perhaps there's a link between all the preventative measures you want to get rid of and the low death rate?

Being less facetious (I don't entirely disagree with your point) I think the government are probably going to wait at least a month or so and see what happens with schools - in the US there were concerns that schools going back have led to a flare up, however Scotland doesn't seem to have had a significant increase although might be a little bit too early to tell.

One way systems seem to have large been got rid of in every shop I've been in and I haven't had to queue anywhere for at least two months either so am surprised those are such big issues for you...I actually think continuing to wear masks where possible in enclosed spaces is a good idea over the flu season but it's not compulsory in shops in Wales and doesn't seem to have had any noticeable effect (in fact believe Wales has a lower death rate rate pp than England) so could be that that might be the first to go but who knows...

@thevassal so the measures have been successful. So what is the next step of the plan? And when? Those are my questions to the government.

It sounds like you’re happy to keep the status quo so we are coming from different viewpoints in that I quite adamantly want to return to normal, and as soon as possible, so I would like to know when and how this is going to happen.

Incidentally I’m in Scotland. We haven’t had new hospital admissions in weeks. Hospitalised cases are going down daily. Yet no exit plan.

Definitely too early to tell with schools in Scotland, they’ve been open less than two weeks.

You’re not wrong OP but someone else has already called it that the lower death rate is in part due to the preventative measures in place.

What is pissing me off is that any good scientific news is just buried. Like the reports on T cell immunity.

So what is the next step of the plan? And when? Those are my questions to the government.

The next step is schools reopening, with little to no restrictions. That begins next week in England.

I'd imagine they won't announce anything bigger until that happens and to see how it goes.

[quote TheMurk]@thevassal so the measures have been successful. So what is the next step of the plan? And when? Those are my questions to the government.

It sounds like you’re happy to keep the status quo so we are coming from different viewpoints in that I quite adamantly want to return to normal, and as soon as possible, so I would like to know when and how this is going to happen.

Incidentally I’m in Scotland. We haven’t had new hospital admissions in weeks. Hospitalised cases are going down daily. Yet no exit plan.[/quote]
Queen Nicola isn’t in any hurry to exit Covid restrictions. She loves being more extreme than Boris. She loves the power she currently has. She loves telling people off (e.g the footballers!)

Is it down to the restrictions or is it because those who were vulnerable to dying from this illness have passed away? So, we’ve moved past that situation and we are now seeing increased cases (and increased testing), but these people are not being hospitalised. Why would that suddenly swing the other way now?

You raise a good point there op. I’m currently inclined to agree with you and I really do hope you’re right!

60,000 people died before we got it under control, you plum.

Problem is, they’ve massaged the figures. In terms of deaths, they fall into two major categories; early (often superinfection, but generally respiratory and frequently in older patients) and later (after the 10 day cytokine storm; then, frequently a long spell on a ventilator). Excluding deaths more than 28 days after Dx just means we are pretending all the “later” phase deaths don’t happen. Sadly, they do.

Figures are more like 82 deaths. And 7000+ new cases per week and increasing. We should be worried.

The government are using covid as a distraction for their real agenda.

The threat is still there, the deaths are low which is obviously good but that is because of the precautions being made. The highest risk people are still not mixing and the incidence of infection is slowly rising. How can they?

I would be happier if Big Gav got sacked and we had a responsible adult in charge at the DfE

There’s still a number of changes coming up. As PP said, schools will be opening in next week or so. Colleges and Universities soon after. The movement of so many young people across the UK and mingling in new household bubbles, using local facilities, etc. seems to have been missed. What with that and the impending change of weather could be enough. Besides, cases are increasing, not decreasing. I agree deaths have slowed but more preventative/easing medicines have been discovered so as far as I’m concerned, I think we’ve done enough to last us until end of October which will be about four weeks after universities have restarted.

Is it down to the restrictions or is it because those who were vulnerable to dying from this illness have passed away? So, we’ve moved past that situation and we are now seeing increased cases (and increased testing), but these people are not being hospitalised. Why would that suddenly swing the other way now?

We're no where near herd immunity even among the elderly and vulnerable. And it will swing the other way because at the moment infections are mainly among the young but like Florida and France the average age of those will start to rise as the young infect the older generations. And once that happens hospitalisations and deaths will start to rise very fast again.

The social distancing, and masks will be staying for a while, probably until there is a viable vaccine.

@Michaelschofield no deal Brexit?

Because that is where we are rapidly heading towards and COVID keeps us distracted

I could be wrong but I didn’t think hospital deaths were being removed just those outside

The country has slowly reopened and is continuing to with risks being constantly assessed

there has already been localised lockdowns and this is likely to continue

People are still being admitted to hospital less because less people are contracting the virus.

Yes it's a complete over reaction....
statistically if you get Covid you're likely to either not know or be just fine. Complete over reaction.

[quote TheMurk]@thevassal so the measures have been successful. So what is the next step of the plan? And when? Those are my questions to the government.

It sounds like you’re happy to keep the status quo so we are coming from different viewpoints in that I quite adamantly want to return to normal, and as soon as possible, so I would like to know when and how this is going to happen.

Incidentally I’m in Scotland. We haven’t had new hospital admissions in weeks. Hospitalised cases are going down daily. Yet no exit plan.[/quote]
According to the gov.uk website on 21st August Scotland had 254 people in hospital with COVID, it was 249 the day before so not having a new admission for weeks is incorrect (in the healthcare section under new admissions Scotland is down as N/A which means they haven't submitted any data)
England currently has 480 inpatients out of a population of 55 million people, Scotland has over half that amount for a population of 5 million, small numbers over all but still Scotlands hopital rate is very high in comparison

We can't return to normal. We need to keep rates low as COVID kills thousands upon thousands.

OP you may have a low risk yourself but many others do not. The lives of older people and those with underlying health conditions are just as valuable as yours.

Finances, education can all be recovered from but there is no coming backcourt from death. Death is it. The end.

COVID infection rates are increasing every day. Deaths will follow. We need to concentrate on keeping infection rates down as much as possible until we get the vaccine next year.

Suicides are terrible. They are a separate issue from COVID though. There continues to be systems in place to try and prevent suicides.

I would have thought the next step of the plan is that we carry on as we are until there's a vaccine. Otherwise the infection rate will shoot back up again.

I think we have to wait until March and flu season has passed to be able to truly relax. I agree that the figs now indicate that it is no longer a dire threat. I realise that is due to all the measures. The job losses etc are now so dire that we really do need to get some positive messages out. Job losses will be over 1 million when next phase of furlough ends and we cannot replace most of those for many years. The impact on poverty and health will be dire.

They will probably wait until the end of September to assess how the end of summer holidaying and the return of schools has affected infection rates.
As the weather gets colder people will start to mingle indoors rather than outdoors which could also bring up the infection rate.

As someone else has said the government want people focused on Covid so they can get No Deal Brexit through. Once we pass the no turning back point for trade negotiations then I think we'll see more changes.

I think it would be utterly insane to make any further changes until we have seen what the impact of
a) schools reopening
b) cooler, damper weather
on transmission rates

Other European countries are seeing rapid (if localised) increase in case numbers once there is an outbreak. I am not at all sure that the current state of T&T means we would deal with them quickly enough

That it is still causing deaths, despite restrictions, shows that it’s far from gone away

@StaffAssociationRepresentative

I would be happier if Big Gav got sacked and we had a responsible adult in charge at the DfE

Agreed! Total waste of space.

I also agree with OP, yes schools are opening but it would good for the government to address their next steps once schools are back, it's all a bit too "let's wait and see" I'd like more constructive advise or a back up plan in place so we can feel like we are moving forward.

@tiredanddangerous

I would have thought the next step of the plan is that we carry on as we are until there's a vaccine. Otherwise the infection rate will shoot back up again.

People really think there is going to be a vaccine that can be rolled out nationally? Will never happen.