To wonder when they'll scrap isolation rules?

[GettingThemFromHereToThere]

I'm really not seeing the point of testing and isolating anymore.

With Omicron, and mass vaccination, far fewer people are entering hospital and dying due to Covid.

We know Omicron is highly contagious and most people are getting it now at some stage with very little if any symptoms.

The biggest impact on the NHS is now the ridiculously long waiting lists, including Cancer as the news outlets highlighted today, mainly due to staff isolation (not sickness).

Most of those vulnerable are vaccinated. There's also lots of evidence that those who were vulnerable to Delta are no longer particularly vulnerable due to the milder effects of Omicron. Also, we can't stop the spread of Omicron even if that's the intention of isolating. It's too contagious.

When will the government make responsive policies and scrap isolation?

Yes yes, you have Covid and a sniffle, so what! It's the mass isolation of healthcare workers and teachers that's having a huge impact on health and quality of life (and safeguarding). Not the illness itself.

I feel like we're finally at the stage where we should stop obsessing about Covid, and follow Denmark in eradicating Covid measures and start addressing the waiting lists and gaps in education etc.

AIBU?

The biggest impact on the NHS is now the ridiculously long waiting lists, including Cancer as the news outlets highlighted today, mainly due to staff isolation (not sickness).

Where are the figures that say more are off due to isolation and not illness?

Yes yes, you have Covid and a sniffle, so what!

Do you mean people who have covid but are not unwell should go to work? You want covid positive doctors and nurses to be working with cancer patients?

I hope there are policies to prevent covid positive workers from going to work with vulnerable people, whatever the government stance is.

@TheApexOfMyLife

We know Omicron is highly contagious and most people are getting it now at some stage with very little if any symptoms.

Are you happy to say that to the relatives of the 1700 people who died last week? As in telling them face to face?

Yes it’s a milder infection. Yes vaccines work (atm).
It doesn’t mean it’s not dangerous to people.
It will be especially dangerous to those who are more vulnerable to infection, aka people who are in hospital.
So yes you can scrap the isolation period but sending HCW back to hospital when they are still infectious, in contact with those who are the most vulnerable, might not an idea as good as you think it is.

Are you happy to look cancer patients in the eye and say you agree with isolation rules, even if it means the difference between them being seen quickly and surviving, or having diagnosis and treatment delayed and them dying?

There's a very real negative impact to isolating.

@BoredZelda

The biggest impact on the NHS is now the ridiculously long waiting lists, including Cancer as the news outlets highlighted today, mainly due to staff isolation (not sickness).

Where are the figures that say more are off due to isolation and not illness?

Yes yes, you have Covid and a sniffle, so what!

Do you mean people who have covid but are not unwell should go to work? You want covid positive doctors and nurses to be working with cancer patients?

It may be better than not seeing the cancer patient at all which is what's happening to many at the moment.

@AndAnotherNewOne I haven’t seen the figures for the number of children seriously debilitated by long Covid, please can you share them.

Yes yes, you have Covid and a sniffle, so what! It's the mass isolation of healthcare workers and teachers that's having a huge impact on health and quality of life (and safeguarding). Not the illness itself.

Every teacher in my school was ill with it. 2/3 are ECV and we have staff with long covid. Not one member of staff had the isolation period only off. Every single person had longer. Not one of them had a sniffle. There will still be a huge impact on teachers being off sick with the illness itself....so what? The further impact on children and teachers is what!

@Awalkintime

Yes yes, you have Covid and a sniffle, so what! It's the mass isolation of healthcare workers and teachers that's having a huge impact on health and quality of life (and safeguarding). Not the illness itself.

Every teacher in my school was ill with it. 2/3 are ECV and we have staff with long covid. Not one member of staff had the isolation period only off. Every single person had longer. Not one of them had a sniffle. There will still be a huge impact on teachers being off sick with the illness itself....so what? The further impact on children and teachers is what!

Are you taking about Omicron?

This report was from back in November, and despite Omicron’s subsequent appearance, it looks like the roadmap set out then is still being followed. Free testing - except for health workers - is due to be phased out by this July.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10198985/Operation-Rampdown-Codename-revealed-Government-papers-dismantle-key-Covid-measures-year.html

Every Joe Bloggs thinks they are a Covid expert now. I love it when they tell us so confidently it's only a covid sniffle and to get our lazy arses back to work.
It may be only a cold for some but I am triple jabbed and have covid at the moment. I can assure you that my experience of it has not been that of a mild cold or sniffle. I was unable to get out of bed for the first few days, had a temperature, my chest felt like it was on fire. All I could do was sleep. I am nearly a week in and while I feel a lot better than I did I am still exhausted and constantly coughing.
I have never had a day off work for a 'cold' in my life but this has floored me.
I'm very happy for the fortunate people who have no or very mild symptoms but it certainly doesn't mean it's like that for everyone.

To the people quoting me - I personally never said that, it's what the powers that be are saying.

I have personally seen the effects of covid and long covid, it's caused my mum to have heart failure.

So no I am not saying its like the flu.

24th March. I can’t wait to go out and have to worry about having to isolate if I catch it. I’m more scared of isolation than of catching it now.

Are you happy to look cancer patients in the eye and say you agree with isolation rules, even if it means the difference between them being seen quickly and surviving, or having diagnosis and treatment delayed and them dying?

Do you really think they wouod be happy to be cared for by people who are ill with covid @GettingThemFromHereToThere?
You know have chemo, a lower immune system but the nurse has covid and might well give it to them for example?

I’m not saying that the waiting time are right.
I’m saying it’s not the right way to solve the issue. The right way is to have more nurses, to pay them a decent wage so they dint have to rely in food banks. The right way to ensure there are enough beds and doctors.
NOT putting people at risk by putting them in contact with contagious people.

And this applies to other illnesses too. The people who have heart surgery and are in recovery for a few weeks. What do you think would happen to them if they get covid? Etc etc

And btw, that also means getting rid of the Tories who have created that situation in the last 10+ years by constantly reducing the number if beds and doctors on the NHS.

It is NOT a covid issue. It’s deep underfunding going in years and years that has created the issue.

Wake up!

@EllaPaella

Every Joe Bloggs thinks they are a Covid expert now. I love it when they tell us so confidently it's only a covid sniffle and to get our lazy arses back to work. It may be only a cold for some but I am triple jabbed and have covid at the moment. I can assure you that my experience of it has not been that of a mild cold or sniffle. I was unable to get out of bed for the first few days, had a temperature, my chest felt like it was on fire. All I could do was sleep. I am nearly a week in and while I feel a lot better than I did I am still exhausted and constantly coughing. I have never had a day off work for a 'cold' in my life but this has floored me. I'm very happy for the fortunate people who have no or very mild symptoms but it certainly doesn't mean it's like that for everyone.

Nowhere did I say that no one feels ill with Omicron. But the average person isn't feeling bedridden. The average person seems to feel a bit coldy for a day or two.

If you felt unwell, of course, call in sick as you would any other illness including a cold. I'm not suggesting making it illegal to stay at home if you're unwell and symptomatic.

I have a problem with people having to isolate when they feel absolutely fine. And then the impact this has on the wider community.

And I have a problem with the government being too slow to change policy to reflect the needs of the people. Policy is all about cost/benefit. There was an overall benefit to isolation with Delta and before. But I'd argue there is now a greater cost than benefit in the isolation rules and im really worried about the impact it's having now.

@TheApexOfMyLife

Are you happy to look cancer patients in the eye and say you agree with isolation rules, even if it means the difference between them being seen quickly and surviving, or having diagnosis and treatment delayed and them dying?

Do you really think they wouod be happy to be cared for by people who are ill with covid @GettingThemFromHereToThere?
You know have chemo, a lower immune system but the nurse has covid and might well give it to them for example?

I’m not saying that the waiting time are right.
I’m saying it’s not the right way to solve the issue. The right way is to have more nurses, to pay them a decent wage so they dint have to rely in food banks. The right way to ensure there are enough beds and doctors.
NOT putting people at risk by putting them in contact with contagious people.

And this applies to other illnesses too. The people who have heart surgery and are in recovery for a few weeks. What do you think would happen to them if they get covid? Etc etc

I can categorically tell you that I'd rather - as a hypothetical cancer patient - have treatment provided by a vaccinated person with Omicron, than have no treatment at all. Or have treatment delayed so much that I now need much more intensive treatment or its terminal.

Your solution is ridiculous. More nurses? Pay more? Why didn't we think of that years ago?? Oh yes! We did! But it's not going to happen anytime soon. So in the meantime let's stop sending home all our staff who test positive but are asymptomatic or minimally affected and let's start working through the lists!

Do you really think anyone with co-morbidities or compromised immunities are living at home in sterile bubbles? Omicron is EVERYWHERE at the moment. Their kids or grandkids will be at school with it. Their aunts and carers will be at Tesco at the weekend. Their surgeon will be attending birthday parties and sitting in large meetings.

Theres no evidence to suggest they are dropping like flies with Omicron.

Your approach is very conservative - what do you suggest these people do for the next 5 years? Lock themselves away?

If anyone should wake up, it's you. The situation has changed. The solution is not in a radical overhaul of the health service that will never happen. The solution lies in getting rid of unnecessary isolation rules that are causing staff numbers to plummet every week.

[quote Wandda]@AndAnotherNewOne I haven’t seen the figures for the number of children seriously debilitated by long Covid, please can you share them.[/quote]
@wandda

Channel 5 news covered the subject yesterday. It's available online and very concerning.

I know 2 people in the last 3/4 weeks who have been really unwell due to Omicron. Both had vaccines and boosters and are in their 30s / 40s.

They were both incapacitated for over a week and are slowly recovering but feeling exhausted etc.

It’s not just a cold. And please remember the clinically vulnerable people who are always going to have to be careful. We owe it to them to be careful ourselves surely?

@Awalkintime

Yes yes, you have Covid and a sniffle, so what! It's the mass isolation of healthcare workers and teachers that's having a huge impact on health and quality of life (and safeguarding). Not the illness itself.

Every teacher in my school was ill with it. 2/3 are ECV and we have staff with long covid. Not one member of staff had the isolation period only off. Every single person had longer. Not one of them had a sniffle. There will still be a huge impact on teachers being off sick with the illness itself....so what? The further impact on children and teachers is what!

And I can give my own anecdata, which is that loads and loads of the staff at my school had it and most of them were very mildly ill.

This is no more meaningful on a large scale than yours is. The reality is that children’s education is being way more disrupted by having to isolate (repeatedly) due to a virus which is often asymptomatic for children. I’ve had a child in my class test positive three times - that is a lot of missed learning.

I’m really surprised by this thread and the lack of knowledge on this.

It expires on the 24th March, after this we won’t be required to self isolate, and free lateral flow testing stops in July.

Do you mean people who have covid but are not unwell should go to work? You want covid positive doctors and nurses to be working with cancer patients?

If only it were possible to implement infection control measures on cancer wards without legally imposing them on every member of the public for all circumstances 😕

@Awalkintime I think you've been incredibly unlucky in your school. Our entire department had Covid between October and January, and not a single one of us was off any longer than the isolation period. Most would have been unaware they had it had we not been testing regularly.

I will be glad to see the end of it. Too much disruption in schools and the impact on people's anxiety is far worse than actual covid for many

I understand what you’re saying but I’m not sure the isolation guidance won’t continue in healthcare. Covid positive care staff and Healthcare workers in Nursing Homes and oncology wards?? Personally I’d be surprised if that happens.

www.longcovidkids.org/