Horrible cold & flu virus spreading that isn't covid - yet no restrictions?!

[BlueLens]

AIBU to point this out. There's a wave of illness going about, which is not covid, that is flooring people. Twice recently I've caught it and both times have tested negative for Covid. It's hit me really hard - sore ears, blocked sinuses and persistent cough, aches, chills and fever.

The same symptoms seem to be making a sweep of my local area, at school and at work. Hospitals and old age residential homes must be experiencing similar. Yet no restrictions are put in place like they were in 2020? Or were the lockdowns and restrictions all for nothing?!

I'm genuinely bewildered by this, hence the post looking for some insight.

I'm not for restrictions or lockdowns. They were pretty much pointless. Disease spreads regardless. My point was that this strain is spreading like wildfire and will kill the clinically vulnerable if it's wiped me (a healthy, physically fit individual). I don't believe that death rates in 20/21 from Covid are any worse than this years or affected the clinically vulnerable any more than this current strain of flu.

You'll be suggesting we ban death next, your post is bats OP

What is unreasonable is that money has not been spent on inproving air quality (filters etc) in schools, hospitald and public places. This would reduce covid and other illnesses spreading. The initial outlay would soon be recovered in reduced spending on sickness (supply teachers in schools etc) and would boost school attendance, which was apparently a priority of our last government. You wouldn't intentionally drink polluted / contaminated water, shouldn't we apply the same principles to the air we breathe?

Likewise, masks should probably remain in healthcare settings (where the most vulnerable may not be able to wear them).

Lockdowns were very much a quick (ish) reaction to healthcare systems being overwhelmed in the face of a novel virus with no known treatment or vaccine (at that time).

Parvovirus is what causes slapped cheek I think.

Well you clearly are for restrictions and lockdowns because your OP says you’re genuinely bewildered that there aren’t in place like they were in 2020.

Why would their be restrictions?

Are death rates any less than in 20/21? You can still die of flu not needing a ventilator. There are still clinically vulnerable individuals needing protection from complications and death and as this is a particularly nasty strain of flu doing its rounds, why aren't restrictions put in* place?

Because we all need to live our lives and you know and keep the world turning!

FFS

Here is a graph of registered deaths in England and Wales where the black line is the expected level - you can see currently there are less than expected, hence no restrictions. Although presumably you just want a chance to talk about how you disagree with lockdown in 2020.

OP, your goady post is not only ignorant but offensive to those that lost loved ones during the pandemic.

You should be ashamed of yourself.

You can't shut down society because there's a virus going around. Viruses are always going around. Masks do next to nothing because people don't know how to properly don and doff, and lockdowns destroy the economy.

Oh give over. We're not shutting all of society down every time someone has a sniffle.

The world can't keep being shut down because theres a particularly bad case of flu going around.

Life goes on. Or it doesnt. People have to continue as usual. Take time to rest and recover when you're ill, if you can. Then get up and keep going.

Shutting everything down isnt helpful at all.

Another graph showing excess deaths - only goes up to April this year, so doesn't cover the results of this new virus that has floored you, but does show a comparison with 2020

we are finding with our patients they eventually test positive for both covid and flu. However, it’s very very few in numbers (in ICU),I don’t see any reason for restrictions. People can practice good hand hygiene and self care.

The wards are very busy but they always are, we are very busy but not with covid and flu. The NHS hasn’t recovered from the disruption of covid.

we can’t just default to government imposed restrictions every time viral illnesses spread. We need to learn to deal with viruses which happen literally every year pre and post pandemic.

FYI, when lockdown was introduced we were overflowing in ICU and setting up two to a bed with no room for non Covid patients. We are not at this overflowing level, nowhere near.

I honestly think peoples immunity (including mine) and ability to have a cold, flu etc has declined since the lockdowns and people have been very scared over something that’s a fact of life. I wasn’t opposed to the first or second lockdown but we are nowhere near this point. We are barely getting back on track with the non covid patients who didn’t get the proper treatment and operations etc during the pandemic. I personally have never had as many colds and viruses since lockdown, before I hardly got sick.

People masked up and stayed inside as much as possible for two years, some even longer than that. Their immune systems are now so weak that a cold or mild flu can floor them. More restrictions will make this worse. Having said that, if you want to isolate, you can. But don't start telling others they should also isolate for your specific benefit.

OP@BlueLens There’s most definitely has been a summer wave of Covid recently….not all tests are adequate on picking up new variants ( and people are probably also using old tests from the back of the cupboard) .. there was a lot of people coughing and sneezing around the supermarket this week and I’ve seen a number of people in masks.There’s nothing to stop people taking their own precautions and we should all practise good hand hygiene and be careful what we do if we have a nasty bug anyway, whatever the cause.

COVID lockdowns should never have happened about the only thing Borris said that was right was no let it go (sadly not in those terms). We are still paying the price for COVID and I wouldn't consent to our kids picking up more of a bill for minor viral infection

Oh, so you’re being goady

Tend to think that these weird, goady, lockdown-fetishist posts are actually part of some research project gathering people's opinions on pandemic management.

Especially as the OP's posts are so contradictory.

umm yeah scroll down and look at the spikey graph. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/weekly-all-cause-mortality-surveillance-2023-to-2024/weekly-all-cause-mortality-surveillance-week-27-report-up-to-week-23-2024-data

Do you not see that the two events are completely different?

COVID brought medical systems all around the world to its knees, and raged through a population with no immunity to it, due to it being a completely novel virus we had absolutely no immunity to.

This on the other hand, is the flu. A virus we deal with every year, yes it'll kill a few old people, and that's sad, but it's nothing out of the ordinary, and so we don't lockdown for it.

I suspect you're being slightly ingenious, and you're trying to prove a point that lockdowns weren't needed for COVID. You might be right, but we'll never know because we don't have a time machine. In 2020 we made the best decisions we could with information we had available at the time. Some of those decisions were correct, some of them were incorrect, but it's only possible to work out which were which with the benefit of hindsight.

Yes they are.

Absolutely no need for a lockdown, but that doesn't mean they weren't needed in 2020/21 as completely different situation. COVID back then was a novel virus with no immunity within the population.
I think you just have to accept you don't understand.

Here's the scientific evidence:

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1131428/excess-deaths-in-england-and-wales/

This is very worrying indeed, OP. The new virus seems to have shut down your capacity for critical thinking entirely. I hope that you are able to make a swift recovery.

But the lockdowns and restrictions were mainly to stop the hospitals from getting overwhelmed and then vulnerable people not getting the care they needed. I'm pretty sure if the hospitals looked like they were starting to see a sharp increase there may be restrictions again BUT I don't think you're anywhere near predicting that. There's always been viruses/flus etc but not usually too much for the medical staff to cope with

Is flu circulating widely now? In July?