Does anyone think about Covid anymore?

[ouchmyteeth]

Feels like measures have sort of.. disappeared. Virtually no precautions whatsoever anywhere these days , not even light measures

My CEV mum doesn’t even mention it or bother with a mask anymore.

It’s like it’s gone away but obviously it has not.

@13Bastards That sounds utterly miserable. Glad to see that there's some slight improvement and that you got one positive out of it. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you that it won't be too long before you can return to exercising again.

The above article says that there are no significant spikes in the new variant. How would we know when few people are testing and figures are not being collated any longer? Surely there’s a middle way between denying there’s an issue at all and going back to extreme measures. It’s fine for those who just have a bad cold but for the vulnerable it’s not a good way to go and for people who develop long Covid it really affects their lives. I can’t see a problem with ventilation in busy places and mask wearing on crowded trains etc. Extreme measures like lockdowns are disproportionate now but it’s silly to penalise people for staying off work when symptomatic and surely we should be testing if we actually have symptoms.

Doubt they are terrified (and if they’ve got a mask over their face I’m not exactly sure how you’d tell), they are just taking a common sense precaution to protect their health. Unless you’d be willing to nurse and financially support them through long covid if they got it, it’s not really any of your business, is it?

🙄 how is it a conspiracy when it is what was happening? Surely you can remember the small print at the bottom of the figures every day? Stupid if you want to ignore that fact

I can’t see a problem with ventilation in busy places and mask wearing on crowded trains etc. Extreme measures like lockdowns are disproportionate now but it’s silly to penalise people for staying off work when symptomatic and surely we should be testing if we actually have symptoms.

Hmm.

Mask wearing on crowded trains is going to be a problem for multiple reasons, whether you're talking about a rule or merely encouragement here. Either way, you're going to come up against the issue of people simply not wanting to do it now. A population who buy into mask rules to the extent that we had a year or two ago is not one of the available options here.

Then also, however you see this looking, any measure that hopes to influence people's behaviour potentially means those who can't wear masks are once again potential targets from others.

Strongly agree on the need for better sick pay in the UK though. People are getting penalised for staying off, as they have throughout the pandemic. All the money we pissed away on stupid shit related to covid could've funded a lot of symptomatic people to stay at home.

I don't think about it. During the pandemic I was so obsessed by it, cleaning etc that I got very ill through stress. It was a wake-up call not to get so stressed.

Refusing to wear a mask just because you don’t want to when you could potentially make someone else really ill and policing other people who can’t wear a mask for whatever reason both show an unpleasant side to human nature imo. I do see that it wouldn’t be possible to enforce now. No wonder the government want to stop collecting data and pretend it has all gone away. Of course the situation has vastly improved now we have vaccines so we are left with encouraging people to be considerate.

Tests aren't free for most people any more, there's a cost of living crisis, not everyone can afford to buy tests.

well put, Sasha. I caught covid for the first time recently and six weeks later I’m only just back to about 80%. So yes, I do think about it.

I have two children to look after, I don’t recall any of the anti mask people queuing at my door to help me with them over the last six weeks. Also, I’m yet to have any volunteers to pay my mortgage if, touch wood, I’m off sick in the future.

Perhaps tests should still be available free then. If only testing when symptomatic they shouldn’t be required often.

Five tests cost £5.70. Could be free to anyone claiming free prescriptions? It’s going to cost anyone who gets long Covid much more in lost earnings. If anyone has symptoms I do feel they should be testing and keeping away from people as much as possible if positive

I was CEV throughout it all but we live our lives without being overly worried. We contracted covid 7 or 8 days before H was booked in for a very long awaited medical procedure. We weren't too ill and he was 2 days negative before the op. As per the hospital protocol we advised them prior to his going in that morning and were made to feel stupid and told of course to come in. Pre op in his gown they chucked him out, they weren't comfortable- fair enough - but now his procedure has been rebooked for the end of 2024. He's much worse now and tbh wish we'd kept our mouths shut.

If they were going to be free, they'd have to be available to anyone who wanted them. People who wanted free tests and didn't have symptoms could and would just lie about headaches and diarrhoea. It's possible to restrict free access based on some formal category like pre existing condition or age, but not on self reported symptoms.

@BashirWithTheGoodBeard

If they were going to be free, they'd have to be available to anyone who wanted them. People who wanted free tests and didn't have symptoms could and would just lie about headaches and diarrhoea. It's possible to restrict free access based on some formal category like pre existing condition or age, but not on self reported symptoms.

I agree with this.

I think one problem with the British approach to Covid was the carte blanche free tests. It was great at the time - everyone had access - but you can see now that tests must be paid for, testing levels have gone down dramatically. Why pay for something that was previously free?

In my country, tests have never been free so there is no such precedent. (Some categories of people receive free tests however.) Testing levels have dropped now, yes, but generally people still do test when ill.

Volunteer to buy some for people then. I'm not wasting money on tests, I'm a single parent, there's enough to pay for.

And maybe you can also volunteer to pay the wages of people if you think they should stay home, because not everyone can survive on sick pay, and people on 0 hour contracts don't get sick pay at all.

If you think people should test and stay home, lobby the government to provide free tests and full pay for people to do so. Don't blame people who are trying to earn a living in the current economic crisis.

To be fair me and DH haven't thought about it for a long time. However, we were going out with friends lunchtime and one of them has just tested positive. I knew he had a cold and only jokingly mentioned the "Rona because me and DH are going away next week. He said he would test before meeting us and got a positive result.

I'm keeping everything crossed because DH was out with our friend on Wednesday watching the football. They were in an airy bar however so hopefully all will be well.