To ask what the plan is for covid this winter?

[TreeHouse8]

Winter will soon be upon us and for many, the worry is understandably how they'll heat their homes. However, covid has not gone away with hundreds dying every week and many more getting long covid.

Not that you would know it from the media, who have moved onto their best story. Am I the only one concerned that there has been no mention of what protections will be in place to protect the nhs when we inevitably have a winter covid wave? Is the message still "let the bodies like high"?

Surely the government should be setting out a plan now for common sense, light touch protections that will help the NHS get through winter? I.e. boosters offered to all, a return to testing and isolating if positive, work from home, high-quality masks indoors, social distancing in hospitality, ventilation in public spaces.

They should also list further protections that may need to be imposed depending on numbers and criteria for these, such as limits on large events, the rule of 6, ban on indoor mixing, blended learning up to full lockdown if unfortunately necessary.

Are the vulnerable and the NHS just going to be fed to the wolves this winter?

You are being very dramatic. COVID deaths are about 100 a day, and that’s not people who have died of COVID, just people who happened to have had a COVID positive test within 7 days of their death. Nearly 500 people a day die of cancer, and 200 of Alzheimer’s and dementia.

There will be a booster for vulnerable groups, NHS etc and flu jabs.

Considering that many may die of starvation and/or freezing to death, no one is thinking about covid.

I'm sure they will massage the figures though as it doesn't look good so many dying thru lack of food or heat.

It was said at the time that late diagnosis, treatment will kill far more than covid actually did. In the years following lock downs the true disaster will emerge.

I think the plan is that lots of people will be infected which will cause large scale absences from work, which in turn will cause disruption to public services such as health care, schools, refuse collection etc. There will also be disruption to businesses. So long term there will be negative impacts on the already famously poor British productivity. The cumulative effects of multiple covid infections MAY cause a sharp increase in chronic health conditions and a reduction in life expectancy which public services, already slashed, will be ill-equipped to deal with. There is also the interesting anomaly with childhood vaccinations - covid has killed more children this year than all the other illnesses combined, which we DO routinely vaccinate for. That's interesting in terms of where we are as a society now compared to where we were before this, and what other future price we might be willing to pay in the event of a global issue. We could just put cheap air purification units in high risk spaces such as schools, hospitals etc. A really effective risk mitigation measure in places where people have to be. Then no other measures in place where people choose to be, eg pubs. Seems like a good compromise between freedom and public health.

My dh works for the nhs as an experienced paramedic and can confidently say the measures you propose op do not help the nhs at all, they actually make things much worse! Mental health calls go went through the roof during lockdowns 2 and 3 so that adds pressure to the nhs. Also if people aren't out there being exposed to germs and living life then their immune systems suffer and they are ironically actually more at risk of getting ill. The number of children with RSV has really increased since covid. If you want to wear a mask then feel free but thankfully people can now do as they please and are out there making the most of life.

When a close family member was receiving chemotherapy pre covid, they were advised to avoid situations where they might be vulnerable to catching infections. They didn’t expect the the rest of the world to be put on hold or everyone with a sniffle to stay at home. They assessed their own risks, trusted their own judgements and made arrangements to have shopping etc delivered. That’s exactly what we should/will be returning to.

The fact that countries all over the world are now dropping the need for visitors to test before they arrive and many are now not even asking for proof of vaccine status shows that the media driven crisis is now over. The best cure for covid was the removal of free PCRs.

In November 2021 I hardly knew anyone who had had covid, now I hardly know anyone who hasn’t had it. They’re all age groups, all in different states of health and all different vaccine status. Some were pretty unwell for a couple of weeks, some had a sniffle, some had no symptoms at all. Not one was hospitalised and not one died. Not denying that there were serious cases and deaths, but the varied cross section of people I know of were virtually unaffected.

The saddest thing I heard from a nurse friend of mine was that the NHS are now picking up the pieces of missed diagnostic appointments because many older people were more frightened of catching covid whilst attending outpatients than they were of dying of cancer.

Op where are you getting the figures for deaths

Yes that's true.

What a load of utter codswallop!

Op where are you getting the figures for deaths

From up her bottom

Do you miss all the circus?
Do you miss being paid for months on out of thin air to stay at home watching Netflix?
Do you think that the country can afford yet another year of wrecking the economy, of making too many people too afraid to go get treatment for heart condition, cancers, diabetes and other killer disease, and die unnecessarily from the covid-induced general panic?
Organise a re-enactment society if you miss all that, and get off the back of other people.

Any sensible government will have a plan in place in case more dangerous variants come along (and indeed if an entirely new disease rears its head).

Whether our government is sensible enough to have a plan is another matter of course.

You always plan for the worst and hope for the best.

What is your vision of the future OP? How do you think that this is all going to pan out? Winter after winter of lockdowns, three or more vaccines a year? for ever?

I will not comply with any more lockdowns, i'm furious with myself that I let myself be influenced by the hysteria. And I'm furious that my son had his A level years messed with and that my daughter didn't get the degree show at Art school that she had worked so hard for.

For now on we must all take care of ourselves, no more ruined lives to protect the vulnerable, they must protect themselves, like they do from other deadly diseases. Take whatever measures you need to keep yourself safe and let everyone else live their lives.

I will not comply with any more lockdowns

If everything is forced to close by law, you won't have a choice.

www.ons.gov.uk/coronavirus
282 deaths week ending 26th August specifically due to Covid. At the moment reducing week on week.

Boosters appear to be the only plan. Upgrading ventilation standards doesn't appear to be on the cards (too expensive maybe?).
Hopefully there is planning for NHS capacity which has always struggled with flu season, and will now have at least double the load with flu+covid going forward.

I do have some concerns about the long term impacts on immune systems, and society as a whole, from catching covid over and over but the science seems mixed still. With climate change, droughts, floods, etc and the energy crisis there is enough to worry about.

People come out with this every time and it's almost in cancel the cheque territory at this point. Obviously nobody can go to an office that's locked up etc, but what people can and did do is socialise privately as they see fit and, depending on what's available, use any local businesses that are illegally operating.

If everything is forced to close by law, you won't have a choice.

There's plenty of places to meet up with people outside of public establishments. I'm simply not going to do it again. My parents are elderly and don't want to be deprived of seeing their grandchildren again.

If anyone was reading some of the COL threads this week some people were saying they would effectively be in a kind of lockdown as they wont be able to afford to go out anywhere.

I had covid (Delta) last year and was really ill. Everyone else in family got it, but only I and son#2 were really ill with it. Six months later, he got it (Omicron) again and was unwell for a day or two. Nobody else in the family got it. So, if Omicron and similar variants are around, I shan't worry too much.

If something worse comes along, I'll stay home - I WFH anyway, and I'll just not go to places with a lot of people while risk is high. I'm CV, so I'm prepared to restrict myself if there is a potentially more serious variant than what's around now.

I have a lot of time for Indie Sage, but their message gets lost. They keep saying that if we ventilated public buildings, especially schools, properly, lockdowns wouldn't be necessary. Even if restrictions are necessary, I can't see a government being able to impose them, so I do think we have to work out what we can do for ourselves.

Lol none I’ll be following.. covid is over move on. We’re supposed to treat it as Flu and live.

🤣 my thoughts too .

Oh OP.

Im speaking as someone who, as a result of the constant cancellation of hospital appointments over 18 months, landed on the operating table for a very high risk surgery earlier this year. No bloody way can we go back into “limited contact” “bubbles” “social distancing” this year. Or ever again.

I was seen at the hospital late February 2020 for something that seemed minor at the time but needed to be watched. The 3 month follow up was cancelled and rebooked, cancelled rebooked again and this went on till October 2021. I was finally seen. The minor problem had grown and symptoms missed. Ended up in emergency surgery this January. This surgery would likely have happened anyway but would have been nowhere near the level of urgency and high risk it turned into, it would have been very bog standard and routine if I had been seen when I was supposed to be and as a result, the repercussions are still an issue 9 months on. And likely will be for a long time.

I am not the only one. I’m one of thousands where missed appointments due to lockdowns and reduced services caused greater problems in the long term. Some people have lost their lives due to covid restrictions indirectly.

Covid for the considerable vast majority is now an illness that, while not nice, will not land them in hospital or cause long term problems. Like the flu. CEV people will always have significantly higher risks should they catch the flu than the average Joe, but we don’t shut down every winter when flu season comes round. We offer vaccines and we carry on with life.

No I do not believe that hundreds are dying in this country every week from Covid. I believe people are seriously unwell and dying as a result of not getting to see a GP or getting an appointment for medical issues due to the back log of patients during restrictions. And you think putting restrictions back in place will help the NHS? No. No chance in hell.

This is, of course what I meant. If there is another lockdown I would unfortunately probably not be able to see my Dad in his care home, but I would not be leaving my 91 year old Mother alone.

I did blended learning and work From home it was really tough but didn't break me.

Op unless it mutated again which...it may well do I don't think anything will happen at all.