Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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

144 replies

BlueLens · 09/07/2024 14:10

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.

OP posts:
CleanShirt · 09/07/2024 16:46

We never put restrictions in for flu before covid. Why should we now?

Starlight1979 · 09/07/2024 16:46

BlueLens · 09/07/2024 15:38

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.

So what are you suggesting then?

Jimmyneutronsforehead · 09/07/2024 16:47

Perhaps years of social contact restrictions and also a new highly contagious disease have lowered the general populations immune system and so we're actually just picking up normal bugs but have much less immunity to them.

Everanewbie · 09/07/2024 16:48

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

CormorantStrikesBack · 09/07/2024 16:48

Well i don’t think people in the main are dying from it. Maybe the odd elderly person might like they always will if overwhelmed by flu, etc. don’t mean to sound heartless but it’s true. Certainly no stories of hospitals being overwhelmed.

willWillSmithsmith · 09/07/2024 16:48

I wonder if that’s what I’ve recently had. I had it and recovered then two or three weeks later I had it again.

Starlight1979 · 09/07/2024 16:54

Can I ask why (and how) people are still testing for Covid? Can you even get tests anymore? Or are they using ones from 3-4 years ago?? And what is the point?! You don't isolate anymore so why bother? Some people seem to still get so excited to tell people they have Covid. It's so bizarre.

Propertyshmoperty · 09/07/2024 16:57

willWillSmithsmith · 09/07/2024 16:48

I wonder if that’s what I’ve recently had. I had it and recovered then two or three weeks later I had it again.

Yes this is exactly what happened to us, ended up on antibiotics as it was on our chests too, seemed to go away then came back again, seems to have taken over a month for us to properly get over it.

Negative on covid tests, but still pretty nasty. Although I will say Covid knocked me on my arse more and took months to get back to 100%. I agree that there shouldn't be a lockdown but I do wish people wouldn't go out unnecessarily if they have a nasty cough ie WFH if they can and get an online shop. (or at least take more care with hygeine and covering their mouth) I'm disappointed people are more defiant than ever about spreading germs as if to give the finger to lockdown and precautions. 😅

kitsuneghost · 09/07/2024 17:06

How many has it killed? Because there was thousands of deaths before covid restrictions were put in place.

Poiboi · 09/07/2024 17:07

Weirdly I haven’t been ill since Christmas. Very grateful. Dh has a mild cold right now but he is a pilot so given he is on shifts and in close proximity to new people constantly it’s not surprising.

Illnesses predate Covid.

kitsuneghost · 09/07/2024 17:08

Don't get me wrong I would love another lockdown
So easy to get to work and low petrol prices but I don't think it's gonna happen for every sniffle.

RedHelenB · 09/07/2024 17:09

Are there loads of deaths OP, hospitals under pressure a new type of virus? Yabu.

Everanewbie · 09/07/2024 17:10

Propertyshmoperty · 09/07/2024 16:57

Yes this is exactly what happened to us, ended up on antibiotics as it was on our chests too, seemed to go away then came back again, seems to have taken over a month for us to properly get over it.

Negative on covid tests, but still pretty nasty. Although I will say Covid knocked me on my arse more and took months to get back to 100%. I agree that there shouldn't be a lockdown but I do wish people wouldn't go out unnecessarily if they have a nasty cough ie WFH if they can and get an online shop. (or at least take more care with hygeine and covering their mouth) I'm disappointed people are more defiant than ever about spreading germs as if to give the finger to lockdown and precautions. 😅

Show quote history

That’s the thing though. The restrictions were so strong that it will inevitably turn people against lesser inconveniences. I don’t think there is anything wrong with encouraging someone to work from home if they can if they are coughing their guts up, and employers need to endure sick pay is paid when people need to stay at home. But that ship has sailed now thanks to the dictates and horrible advertising that people see through.

EmeraldRoulette · 09/07/2024 17:13

BlueLens · 09/07/2024 15:38

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.

@BlueLens Be honest OP

prior to 2020, did you know this happens with flu and pneumonia a lot? I had the pneumonia jab in my 20s as I’d been ill with it twice and missed so much work. My doctor had to put a special request in, it was that along ago

what do you want? Or is infectious disease a brand new concept to you? Hospital wards are often closed to visitors due to outbreaks of disease.

NicoleSkidman · 09/07/2024 17:13

BlueLens · 09/07/2024 15:38

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.

What is the number of people killed by this strain of “flu” that you have identified? And how do you know that it’s flu and not another virus? Your making some big claims without any data to back it up.

EmeraldRoulette · 09/07/2024 17:17

@BlueLens another query

how long were you ill? People on here seem to use “wiped out” for what was a nasty bug needing a week off work. That pretty much describes offices and schools for chunks of time. I don’t like the obsession with school attendance and if someone is well enough to do a bit of work that should be allowed

but generally….what do you want to happen when there’s a nasty bug doing the rounds? I don’t get the point of your whole post.

Jumpingthruhoops · 09/07/2024 17:17

BlueLens · 09/07/2024 15:08

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?

Show quote history

Respectfully OP, attitudes like yours are why lockdown went on for so long.

If you want to isolate yourself or others, then isolate. But the draconian measures we endured in 2020/21 must NEVER be repeated.

Opentooffers · 09/07/2024 17:17

What you believe is just based on you having felt ill with it. But it's nothing like covid, and again what you 'believe' about death numbers is not born out in fact. Flu can kill vulnerable people, always could and we've never had restrictions because it's less prevalent than covid was, and there is more general immunity as its not new, plus covid killed some fit people. You clearly have developed anxiety over general cold and flu symptoms, understandable, many have. But it's not practical to have restrictions for every cold and flu virus going as there would be multiple restrictions every year and an economy more knackered than it already is.
Remember the days when people got these bugs, felt rotten for a bit, then just got on with things as they recovered? That is what we are back to. It's just a part of everyday life.

sarahc336 · 09/07/2024 17:17

You want restrictions for a cold 😵‍💫 no thank you

Jumpingthruhoops · 09/07/2024 17:18

2Orangesandlemons · 09/07/2024 15:31

Just stay indoors and live your life in fear. Sounds great.

👏👏

Walkden · 09/07/2024 17:20

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

I'm genuinely bewildered how you can be genuinely bewildered by this.

EmeraldRoulette · 09/07/2024 17:22

@BlueLens oh wait, I think I might have tuned in to your thought process

is it making you wonder why we had lockdowns for Covid?

MonsteraMama · 09/07/2024 17:24

Share some ideas then OP. What restrictions would you see put in place right now to stop the spread of this cold?

Samthedog71717 · 09/07/2024 17:34

Fuck that shit.

Krumblina · 09/07/2024 17:39

What makes you say this is a flu? You feeling quite unwell with it but not needing medical attention doesn't make it a flu. It's a respiratory virus- a cold.
If flu were rife there would be high levels of hospitalisation with it. That's what happens on bad flu years.
Flu isn't treated the same as COVID because it is far less contagious and has a much shorter incubation period.