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.

You can buy them from all chemists and supermarkets. Not legally having to test doesn't mean it isn't responsible to do so. You can make sure you keep away from clinically vulnerable people and not enter medical establishments.
It's a sensible measure. I'm not sure why it would bother you.

It's highly likely that the virus(es) causing the nasty colds going round lately are well-known and therefore aren't a threat in the way SARS-CoV-2 was in 2020, being new on the scene. It's not necessarily influenza virus, could be RSV, adenovirus, rhinovirus, parainfluenza virus. Your immune system has likely already seen variants of whatever virus it's encountering now. So you won't die, but you may feel dreadful for a short while. It's not necessary to lockdown the population because of it, that's a very drastic action to take as we all know.

I get them free from the chemist
I test so I can get anti virals

To protect those who are clinically vulnerable. I have family with Parkinson's and dementia.
If I am unwell I don't visit them in any case, but if I know it's covid I'd take extra precautions (contact the care home/ward if I had visited before I became symptomatic, or other family members who will be visiting them).

That's not bizarre or OTT, it's sensible and costs me little in terms of cost and time.

The first one I had I felt worse and my temp was nearly 40. The second one I didn’t have a temperature but still all the other things, cough, cold, general unwellness. I’m over it now except for a lingering (mild) chesty cough. I did wonder if it was some form of covid as I heard there’s a new strain. I didn’t test though as I don’t have kits anymore. I did keep wondering how I had it twice so close to each other.

In general, I’m a big fan of staying home when ill and not spreading germs.

I live alone and have bread, milk etc in freezer case of illness (which I’ve had loads of).

People who blithely come for tea with a streaming cold annoy me. Most people know not to with my health history but I’m meeting new people and will maybe have to explain it all over again.

This is life. Best thing you can do is try to strengthen your immune system with a healthy diet and exercise. Take good hygiene measures- so wash hands frequently- I never touch door handles for example.

And avoid ill people if possible…!

Dh and dd are immune suppressed so would need antivirals so we’d all test. I’d test so I could keep my distance/sleep in the spare room.

I tried to write a reasonable response but gave up. Fucking hell.

Bevause its not a novel new virus thats killing people .....obviously
There's always been strains of bad cold viruses or flu doesnt mean anything other than normal protocols exist.

I bought one from the chemist at my doctors request before I could have a face to face appointment. She then listened to my chest and decided it was quite "noisy" plus I had earache so she gave me some antibiotics, this was after several weeks of symptoms.

Do you have any evidence for this wildfire spread and unusually high mortality rate compared with other viruses? Thankfully we have epidemiologists and surveillance strategies rather than needing to rely on OP’s anecdotes. 🙄

But COVID was a world wide, new, mystery virus at the time that was killing people and spreading at an alarming rate. Nobody had any immunity and hospitals were going to be overwhelmed if there wasn't a lock down of some kind. What your describing is a cold/flu, if you can't understand how it's not the same as covid then no one can help you.

@BlueLens Are you expecting all the essential workers to lock down as well. Im sure you didnt mean that you expect them to bring you stuff right?

You wouldn't think it was funny if you had the incurable cancer that I've got. Life is hard enough without your constant harassment

Can't see the difference between oneself having a bog-standard cold or maybe the flu, and a global pandemic... They walk among us.

Are the hospitals overwhelmed with people unexpectedly incapacitated with it? Are people dying in huge numbers from it? No? Pipe down.

Because Covid-19 was a new virus on a pandemic scale which was killing a lot of people before vaccine development. Lockdowns are hugely expensive and being their own health and social aswell as economic problems. Forget lockdowns. They aren’t happening again except for under very extreme circumstances. And certainly not for colds.

This.