How to avoid catching it in the long run

[Therabble]

Just that really. Pretty easy to avoid catching it during lockdown but once normal things start happening again how will we be able to avoid catching it over the next 12 months?

It's important to avoid getting it right now because 1. It will burden the nhs and 2. Your life may be more at risk if there isn't enough hospital equipment and you need critical/intensive care.

But your likelihood of getting really sick from it isn't going to be different if you catch it now or in 6 months time, presumably. Does this mean we will have to avoid seeing grandparents etc for a year/until a vaccine is out?

[Blankscreen]

This is my worry. What is the way out of this.

We can't live in lock down forever. As soon as we start recirculating surely the numbers will just surge again and then what? Back on lockdown for months to be let out for 2 weeks and cases to go nuts gain.

I've accepted that we will need to get it and hopefully get immunity. I'm using lockdown to try and get fit, lose weight spend quality time with the children and I have sorted my will out.

A friend of mine works in a local hospital. One patient on a ward of 20 spike a temp so they tested everyone. 5 people had it. 4 have had no symptoms at all 1 had mild symptoms (the temp) . It doesn't have to game over .

[daisychain01]

@Therabble it's easy to say try not to worry, but at least don't over think it at the moment.

It's impossible to know the progression of this infection and whether, as more people catch the virus and then become immune, whether that reduces the viral load and therefore the people who catch it later will get a more mild version.

Control the things you can such as hygiene and keeping healthy through diet and exercise. This will ensure you're prepared for whatever happens.

Remember that stress will negatively impact on your immune system, so keep as well as you can and that's as much as you can do.

I've been doing deep breathing exercises which has been recommended to increase blood oxygenation. None of this is a guarantee, it's just preparing for the worst and hoping for the best.

[daisychain01]

In addition to actual prevention (vaccination),: there is plenty of research ongoing to determine whether existing drug therapies can be repurposed to alleviate the worst symptoms when a person is suffering from the virus compromising their respiratory system.

Trump as normal massively overstated and oversimplified with his claim that an antiretroviral is "the cure for Covid19". The man's an idiot, it isn't a cure ffs, what he should have said, research is showing potential as a therapy to mitigate the extreme symptoms (like Boris Johnson has been treated for). There are so many mixed messages and inaccuracies out there, no wonder we are all overwhelmed, stressed and confused. So much with being in the Information Age, more like the Mis-Information Age!

[BahHumbygge]

I’m taking vitamin D3 (include K2 supplement or dietary sources), vitamin C and zinc supplements which help support the immune system.
Eating lots of colourful veg and drinking green tea... rich in polyphenols like quercetin and EGCG which help zinc bioavailability into the cells. Apples & red onions best.
Minimising consumption of immune-diminishing foods like sugar, alcohol, processed carbohydrates, omega 6 rich vegetable seed oils.
Going for a brisk dog walk for my daily exercise in shorts and vest top in early afternoon sunshine. Moderate exercise and sunshine is beneficial. Also gardening.
Wearing a mask when going to the small shops (butcher, health food store, farm shop). Just a long cotton scarf tied round my neck and pulled up over my nose, and with a folded facecloth safety pinned inside. I’ll probably use a screwfix respirator mask when I’m brave enough to venture to the supermarket. Not set foot in one since early March, but needs must soon.
The usual like washing hands regularly, especially when coming home, leaving shoes, jacket, bag etc in the front door cloakroom. Quarantining post/parcels for a few days. Keeping a clean house with bleach spray/dettol.

Also on a public health level, advocating for mandatory mask wearing in public, like Austria has done, keeping the ban on large events like festivals, sporting events and concerts well into next year and strongly recommending the universal use of high strength vitamin D, and actually issuing it on free prescription to all groups eligible for a flu shot. It’s a highly cost effective simple health intervention that would reduce the taxation burden by billions for a few pennies per person, and reduce the morbidity burden on the economy and workplace productivity across a wide range of health conditions. I reckon imho that these measures combined would significantly reduce the R0 of the virus and allow lockdown to be gently lifted once we get the current wave under control.

[NebbiaZanzare]

When are schools said to be opening in Italy?

Nobody seems to expect schools to reopen before September. But we normally finish in early/mid June rather than end July. So it may different in the U.K. with more of the school year left.

[refraction]

Wow that's a long holiday Nebbia. Thanks for your reply.

[quirrels]

@NurseJaques I can't tell you how comforting it is to know that some people with comorbidities recover. I'm 61, DC are in early 20s. I was fit and in excellent health apart from mild asthma until 2 years ago. Since then I've developed arrhythmia, Rheumatoid arthritis, breast cancer and a condition similar to COPD. While I'll never be as healthy as I used to be it's all now managed with drugs. If only a few vitamin supplements would do the trick!
I want to see my DC get married and have children, even if that means staying home until there is a working treatment or a vaccine.
On the subject of vaccines I wondered about the fact that there has never been one for the common cold which is a coronavirus.

[NebbiaZanzare]

Wow that's a long holiday Nebbia

It is, too long. But it's way too hot with no air con to keep going in the summer. They only get short holidays during the year as a result which makes it quite a tough slog from September to June.

[PomBearsyummy]

You can hermit yourself away until the day you die. Or you can relax and accept that the vast majority of the population will get this. I am going to try and avoid it until the demand on hospitals is lower, but when that time comes I will go back to my pre 2020 lifestyle.

[onetimeprepper]

Do you realise there might never actually be a vaccine dont you?

There are several viruses out there that nobody has been able to develop a vaccine for. Plus there are already several strains of Covid-19. What are you lot going to do should they eventually create a vaccine, but it doesnt work protect you against them all?

[cologne4711]

I'm not sure you can avoid it altogether. I WFH and could probably avoid going into the office too much.

But DH is usually office based and has to use public transport and DS has to use public transport to get to college.

So one of them is going to get it and give it to me anyway!

[everythingisginandroses]

I believe we have had it, but I am aware there may be other strains and immunity may be limited. The biggest change I plan on making is to ask for permanent WFH, and I will resign if I don't get it. I appreciate that I am very lucky to be in a position to do this. Otherwise...er, ramp up cleaning, take vitamins and hope for the best. I don't want to give up the pub, shops and library for the rest of my life. People have come through worse.

[user1477391263]

It might take two years for a vaccine and then it will take YEARS to vaccinate 70 million people.

Most people will have caught it already by the time the vaccine is developed---they won't need to vaccinate everyone. And vaccination is only an urgent matter for the minority of people who are high risk.

[daisychain01]

Do you realise there might never actually be a vaccine dont you

Impossible to speculate whether or not a vaccine will be available and in what timescales, so what you've said isn't a helpful concept. The balance of probability is on the positive side.

Given that they have matured the science around HIV, such that it has now developed from medicine to control the symptoms, to a person actually being technically cured of HIV, I have a lot of faith in today's scientists than ever before to be able to develop a vaccine to protect large populations against Covid19, and to continue to develop it to in encompass mutations/strains, as they do with seasonal 'flu.

The key aspect is time, time to test safely and thoroughly, time to expand testing across global populations with nuances of different humancentric differences across ethnicity/race, etc. So it isn't a question of "if" but of "how long"?

[DCOkeford]

IMO the healthiest of us need to step up and be the first to catch it.

I hear so many stories about people barricading themselves in their houses when they are young, fit, healthy and have literally no reason to fear Covid-19.

It's a horrible selfishness that smacks of anti-vaxxers. The healthy need to take one for the team to protect those who, for whatever reason cannot be vaccinated/catch the virus.

Furthermore, while the overall death rate is approx 1%, that ranges from over 10% for those over 80, to nothing for under 10s.

[justanotherneighinparadise]

It will become a seasonal illness much like all the others eventually. A non covid respiratory illness tried to take my son last summer. He ended up in hospital with it. This will be another arsehole pneumonia creating piece of shit virus that we will have to try and not die from.

[gluteustothemaximus]

Terrified of going back to work (in a school). Already picked up so many bugs. Hard to social distance. Would wear a mask but people will think that's OTT. Plus it's a posh school and every bugger goes off skiing in Italy every sodding half term.

[bluebeck]

I think for people who are high risk of dying if they catch COVID-19 then staying at home or practising restrictions for a long as possible makes sense.

For the rest of us, the idea is that most of us (about 80% I think) should get it, spread over a long period of time, in a manner that doesn't overwhelm the NHS but does lead to some degree of herd immunity whilst we await vaccination.

So yes, I agree with PP that we will be drifting in and out of restrictions so that the number of people with the virus at any one time is controlled.

[Fivefourthree]

I think it's a reminder that life is a gift, and not one to be taken for granted. We have become used to most illnesses being curable, or the effects being mitigated at least. We are also living in much greater numbers and therefore in closer quarters than is really healthy. In my view it's no surprise that this has happened.
I hope that working from home will become much more widespread in future for people who want it.
I plan to keep washing my hands to current levels, stay away from crowds, work and see my friends cautiously, and hope for the best

[notdisclosedtoday]

"Impossible to speculate whether or not a vaccine will be available and in what timescales, so what you've said isn't a helpful concept. The balance of probability is on the positive side. "

You have yourself admitted its not possibly to confirm if a vaccine will be possible, which I also agree with. On that basis how can you then claim what they have said "isnt a helpful concept"? Its a perfectly reasonable concept and just highlights to all on here that a vaccine isnt a given.

[Eckhart]

@DCOkeford

I hear so many stories about people barricading themselves in their houses when they are young, fit, healthy and have literally no reason to fear Covid-19

Apart from the fact that it can and does kill young, fit, healthy people.

[ChipotleBlessing]

There are already coronavirus vaccines for animals, so it’s fairly likely they can be developed for humans. Not necessarily in the timescales people are hoping for though.

[Healthyandhappy]

I'm a rgn and the nightingale hospitals opening up have me anxious. I'm seeing alot of health visitors and gynae nurses going to work their basically outpatients etc. They haven't if ever or recently worked in resp med and will be out of depth so how will they care for patients as they would on a resp med or itu ward x

[LilyPond2]

More widespread testing (as Germany is doing) has surely got to be part of the solution. Obviously, testing won't eliminate the virus, but if someone knows they are positive they can self-isolate and will spread the virus to far fewer people. Availability of testing also means you don't get large swathes of the workforce self-isolating unnecessarily.

[divafever99]

Interesting thread OP, and something I have been thinking about. I definitely won't be rushing out anywhere when lockdown is relaxed, and l'm unsure if we will ever return to normal. It already seem so alien watching tv programmes where people are in packed bars and restaurants.