To wonder why Covid is so rampant atm?

[Summerdayzhaze]

As title really, I know so many people that have it at the moment and cases are really high here, which is odd as we've had nothing but glorious sunshine here for the last couple of months really.

I thought it was a bit more dormant in the summer, especially if people are outside more in terms of bars/ restaurants etc which they certainly have been here due to the weather. Is it because the children haven't broken up yet I wonder?

Are cases high in your area atm?

People going out and about with covid are perfectly entitled to

no one is breaking any rules in doing so

I looked at the stats online earlier after seeing this title and it doesn't seem that 'rampant'?

What are the media meant to do? Testing is no longer happening in large numbers, so there aren't accurate stats about how many people have it, there are no restrictions anymore...

What do they report? Oh, that COVID is still a thing and lots of people have it?

How do you suggest people take more 'personal responsibility' when they have to go to school and work with Covid? How do you propose they test, when tests cost money?

I would never have allowed my son to test during his exams for a sore throat. Under 18s aren’t advised to test at all except on medical advice these days and if they don’t have a temperature and feel well enough to go about their business they don’t even have to isolate

I’ve seen people on Twitter (and here) arguing pretty much that masks and social distancing “should be a way of life now”. “It’s just a mask it’s hardly a big deal, we should be wearing them all the time to protect them vulnerable” etc.

The thing is, I did find mask-wearing a big deal. I did comply, but I hated it. I suffer from rosacea on my face and not only did it exacerbate it, but it also removed the make up I had applied to hide it. I found it oppressive and utterly soul destroying and it just stopped me wanting to go anywhere or making any effort. I stopped going to the shops because it simply wasn’t a pleasant or enjoyable experience. So to be honest yeah, wearing a mask everywhere did have a negative impact on my quality of life.

And yes I know people will make comments along the lines of it being so much worse for CEV. And of course I can see that. That’s why I complied (despite the fact that it was a performative pile of nonsense and there was no evidence whatsoever that my soggy strip of material from
Amazon had any effect). But it’s not as simple as just saying “we should just wear masks forever”. These things do have a detrimental impact for a lot of people, for many reasons.

You mean apart from breaking the link between infection , hospitalisation and death?

I’m positive, I’d like to be off work, but I was off a few months ago with a chest infection, and I think the company I work for sacks you, if you are off sick too much in one year. I work from home, so I’m not infecting others.
if I drop dead, at least I’ll have legitimate time off. ( also very tired, sleep deprived, and feeling sorry for myself right now)
I was amazed when I looked up the new regulations, ( there are none) and also the costs of PCR tests.
We have a few LFTests left so used two of these. And my second test , a few days after first test was positive . But I knew I had it, I feel ill and it’s different to anything else I’ve had.
But I would like to rest a bit, but won’t be able to.
if I had tested some more when I had the chest infection, and it had actually been covid, I think at that time it would have been discounted for our sick policy, but I tested at the onset and was negative, so now I’m stuck ill with COVID and having to work.
i used to work for decent companies, sadly this isn’t one of them

I fully sympathise with you. I have rosacea too and mask wearing definitely made it worse. Hot sweaty skin for long after I took the mask off. Add in glasses wearing too, and going out wearing one was just not pleasant.

Like you, I complied. But ended up only going out if I needed to and not for any social, fun reason.

No, but it is a bit selfish.

I have no issues with this country going back to normal and always felt that the 2 years of lockdowns were disproportionate. IMO the cure was worse than the disease but everyone's different.

However, if we've learnt anything I'd have hoped that people's attitudes to illness had changed.

So many of us used to just go to work/out when ill and spread it around. I grant that not everyone has that luxury but many do. Nowadays I'll take a day off the gym rather than spread my germs around or not go out, unless necessary. Sure it's not law but common sense/courtesy.

I didn't know or suggest it. I was out for the evening and when I arrived home, I saw a positive test on the table, so I think she initiated it herself.
I contacted the school exams officer and I had to complete a form to say why she was absent.

Because the government have told people to go about their normal business and go to work still instead of making people stay home for a week.

Did you see the crowds at Glastonbury?

stuff like that is the answer to your question

So not the fact that people have to go into work and school with covid, then?

It's bonkers how covid only seem to target those having fun, eh?

My biggest worry about us experiencing these huge waves if infections is what is this doing to those who are infected multiple times? I have friends who are on their fourth or fifth round that they know of, that’s not normal especially when they’re boosted and not exactly out raving on the weekends.

Also hearing of lots of people with ongoing issues such as mouths full of ulcers, extreme fatigue, headaches, head colds, coughs that don’t go away, gastro problems and yet testing negative, dc in nursery constantly having temperatures and sickness bugs seemingly weekly. If I didn’t know any better I’d say our immune systems are kaput. All of that in the summer months. What on Earth will BA.6 or BA.7 bring next, these variants seem to get slightly worse each time?!

Isn't it just.

We’re all technically “entitled” to do loads of things.

but to knowingly walk around with COVID-19 and not wear a mask is extraordinary.

The main reason it is rampant is partly because there are no measures to reduce it but also because the virus keeps mutating and people just get it again and again. We are never going to have herd immunity. It might help if people started wearing masks and being more careful again although that's not certain.

It's very isolating now for people who are very immuno suppressed. Although there is a licenced drug (evusheld) which will prevent them from catching covid (if the vaccine doesn't work for them), the government haven't bought any so not available in the UK unlike many other countries.

People could go to work with COVID-19 and not isolate for a week, but still wear a mask to protect their fellow workers.

it’s the “all or nothing” mentality that is leading to people wearing no masks, infected with COVID, and sitting around others blithely passing it on.

we could have retained masks for certain situations where folk are infected - similar to the pre-COVID way of life in Hong Kong and other parts of SE Asia.

there it wasn’t uncommon to see folk wearing masks if they had a cold. They do it not to protect themselves, but to respect others in society.

something which is lost on the “I’m not wearing a face nappy and I’m certainly not being caged in either!” mob

Hear you @Geneviev and @tigger1001 I got an exemption in rlthe end as unrelated to rosacea I got a fungal infection inbthr fold of my nose 🤮 - FTS

Sorry for terrible typos!

I have it at the mo, first time. I think its increased air travel and an even more infectious variant of Omicron that's driving it.

I've been going about my normal business when allowed and haven't picked it up until last week. This included going into a very large city on a packed train a couple of times and out for dinner in a small packed restaurant in the March/April wave, no mask didn't pick it up. DC in school also.

Got back from hols on Sat and tested positive last night, guessing the plane.

My parents caught it on the way out to their holiday in May. Again could only have been the plane/airport. Mum has a public facing job and has so far avoided it until then.

I feel a bit rubbish and am worried about long covod so not going anywhere.

For the 18684th time on this thread alone...

Some people have no choice.

For all the discussion of people who have tested positive and voluntarily gone out anyway, the reality is that most people aren't testing now that tests aren't free, or won't be in the near future once they've got to the end of whatever stash they might have. Even if every single person in that position did isolate, or wear a mask at work, or whatever else anyone angry about it suggests, it's still tinkering around the edges. That cohort receive a disproportionate amount of attention.

Yep, any positive news story - even how effective vaccines are for example, she finds a way to rubbish them and predict more doom. Awful scientist.