Sky news 40 million for herd immunity

[MyDcAreMarvel]

Sky new reporting that the plan is for herd immunity 40 million people will need to catch Covid 19. Of those 8 million will be severely ill and out of that 4 million will need hospital care over a three week peak.
So the plan , the aim is for over a million people to die in a herd immunity experiment.
And where would they find four million beds from. How can our county look at Italy and do this, it’s insanity.

I totally agree with you, it's utter madness. Those of us with weakened immune systems or chronic conditions who could well succumb to this, are all just collateral now. Which is nice to know. There's no way of picking and choosing who gets it.

A grim clinical fact is that the dead alone will be unmanageable unless they slow it.

I'm honestly in utter despair at what the government is doing. The most vulnerable in our society are being thrown to the wolves, for what? We're all collateral damage in this experiment, the Tories don't care who lives or dies.

There is no such thing as herd immunity. You are either individually immune to something or you aren’t.

For a disease you can only catch once, I get it, but I'm sure I had read that one can re-contract covid-19??

Yes you did most happy. Well they think you can. China locked down the virus before they got enough re-infections to be sure.

Of course there is such a thing as herd immunity, it means that if an individual catches an infection it can't go any further because everyone else is immune.
This is the only answer for Clovid 19 now, enough people are going to have to get it for herd immunity, otherwise it will just keep coming back. I
Isolate the vulnerable and let the rest of us catch it, it's going to have to be that way. The government are just trying to postpone peak infection until the summer now. There will be a vaccine in a year or two, but you might as well make up your mind that you're going to get it AT some point.

Herd immunity only exists if you cant catch something twice.

There is no evidence to support this is the case for Coronavirus.

BillywilliamV but in order to gain immunity you have to catch it first. And herein lies the problemo.

The health system will collapse if what you say happens. What happens in a country with no health system? I would imagine it is not pretty.

FROM ANOTHER FORUM:
.......

A friend of mine runs a large university department, much of which deals with this type if thing. He specialises in tsetse fly and transmission of sleeping sickness between species.....

Anyhow, heres what he's posted on our watts app group. A simple explanation of 'herd immunity' that I can understand.

From Matthew -

Much talk now about "herd immunity" - what is it and how much is it? In a nutshell, everyone in a population is safe from infection before all of them are immune. The reason is that at a certain level of immunity (ie, a proportion of people are immune, from having had the disease or having been vaccinated), the point comes when - on average - one infected person does not manage to contact and pass the infection on to one other person. Most of their contacts are already immune. The occasional contact is still susceptible, and the odd transmission happens, but not enough to keep the disease going. Transmission grinds to a halt, even though some people have still not had the disease. This is herd immunity.

It is one of the reasons boys are vaccinated against rubella: by vaccinating boys, boys are less likely to transmit to girls (effect of immunity), and by vaccinating boys, girls are less likely to transmit to girls (effect of herd immunity).

So, key question is how much immunity is needed before we get herd immunity? It varies per disease, depending on how transmissible it is. For a highly transmissible disease, like measles, on average one person infects ~20, and herd immunity kicks in at 95% immune [hence, target coverage for MMR vaccine is 95%]. For flu, on average one person infects another two; this means herd immunity kicks in at about 50% immune [hence, target coverage for flu vaccine is nearer to 50%; so it is only make available to the more elderly].

So what about covid19? Estimates are that one person may infect as many as 3-6; meaning herd immunity will kick in at 67 - 83% immune. Hence, in the absence of vaccine (1 year away) there is nothing to stop the spread of covid19 until 67-83% of us have already had it; and at that point herd immunity kicks in and transmission will decline/disappear as if by magic.

This is where the "80%" of the population statistic comes from.

This is everyone's responsibility not Just the government's. Take ownership!

You can catch it again like you get a cold again.

There is no immunity from corona viruses.

Herd immunity doesn’t work for cold and flu viruses as they mutate too quickly. From what I have read it seems Coronavirus is also likely to mutate.

@daffodilbrain how do you propose the majority take ownership?

It is so weird that they are pushing this herd immunity approach when there is little to no evidence that it would be helpful - there are reports that people have been getting coronavirus twice, and there is simply not enough evidence to show that we get any sort of immunity from coronavirus once we’ve had it.

It feels to me like a very sinister way to get people to accept that they will be very ill and lose loved ones.

The UK is, afaik, the only country in the world doing this. All other countries seem to be doing everything to avoid the spread and protecting the population. The WHO are also not recommending this herd immunity approach.
It feels so wrong that we are doing this.

Population of uk 66 440 000

80% infections rate 58 467 200

Collateral damage (deaths) 1 520 147

Thats assuming the 15% that "only" need oxygen dont die because the NHS are so overwhelmed they cant get it.

For a herd immunity theory that only Boris and his cronies believes in

If you want to lockdown do it and refuse to engage with anyone who doesn't no one is stopping you from withdrawing your children from school and stopping work.

@daffodilbrain if i take my medically vulnerable DS out of school now im liable for attendance fines.

You are going to get it at some point though. Better to get it over and done with now than have this nonsense every year hereafter.

Bollocks to that. I don’t want to be part of his experiment, nor my family! We don’t know much about this new virus-could there be long term health risks for example?

Says he's coughing and has a temp then you will be told to take him out of school you're not being forced to go out so don't I won't be going out for the next few days and possibly longer.

What's the alternative to developing herd immunity?

Complete lockdown and everyone in isolation until a vaccine is available?

@Fatted, precisely. Exactly like a chicken pox party.

@Purplewhitelie- and your proof of this is?