To those who think it's over

[user1497207191]

The Weston Super Mare hospital has announced this morning that it's closed it's A&E due to an increase in the number of Covid patients the hospital is currently treating.

This highlights why "tourist" hotspots have been trying to persuade people from away not to visit them.

Also highlights that there are still plenty of Covid cases around and it's still spreading.

This is why the lockdown needs to carry on, with very slight relaxations over a long time period. Those who think it's all over and we can get back to normal are deluded.

I think those WHO figures are out of date and based on the Chinese figures - who have said they missed asymptomatic cases

Its vague isnt it as to whether they have had an influx of cases or missed a super spreader who has made existing patients catch it

We need to get the country back to work

I would say that people who believe that a country of nearly 70 million people can be put under lockdown indefinitely are the deluded ones

AGREE!

Weston super mare often shuts it's A&E department, locals are used to it, and there are provisions in place at neighbouring hospitals to accommodate people who need care (normally, not just during covid). I suppose it sounds nice and dramatic though doesn't it. Also

I can't imagine that Weston super mare hospital is very big so I wouldn't have thought it's a huge number of cases.

This. One family of 3 coming in positive could do the job.

This is why I think that the lockdown should be eased with reference to local outbreaks - and retightened when necessary. This needs to be the new normal, while we buy time for vaccine. With the aim that rather than becoming overwhelmed once more, hospitals instead can open up capacity to investigate and treat cancer, and the like. (Which is not happening at my local hospital yet.)

Exactly, we need to come out of this slowly and regionally. My OH had his cancer treatment stopped back in March and his consultant finally phoned him back only last week to say they "hoped" to restart his treatment in July, but don't know when, and don't even know where - they suggested it may be a different hospital an hour away, because our local oncology dept IS closed and may not reopen even in July!

That doesn't sound like NHS is working anywhere near normal! It sounds like things have been a lot worse in hospitals than is being admitted, especially since a lot of people seem to have caught covid whilst in hospital for other things, hence the urgency to close and empty the hospitals!

Omg run for the hills! Tell you what I was driving the other day almost got hit by a car in what would have a very serious head on collision judging by his speed and him overtaking someone so he was driving towards me.

Wouldnt have been covid that kill me be would have been something else.

So fuck it I'll take my chances thanks, a human almost killed me in a vehicle so if a human kills me cos they passed me a virus, I still got killed by a human and that's life. I will die on day so I'll just make most of the life i have now

This situation is a bit like when the Cold first arrived on the Earth. It killed lots of people who couldn't cope with it. But now we get the Cold every year and it is no big deal. We need this to run through everyone and then the people who survive will be okay with it forever more even if they get it each year. I think it is something He does to keep our numbers sensible.

Government thinks it’s over. I don’t think anyone here really thinks that do they? We’re not mugs.

That doesn't sound like NHS is working anywhere near normal! It sounds like things have been a lot worse in hospitals than is being admitted, especially since a lot of people seem to have caught covid whilst in hospital for other things, hence the urgency to close and empty the hospitals!

I'm really sorry you're in such a shitty situation. But it's not that cancer care like your dh's can't start up because the hospital has been so overwhelmed with virus patients. They aren't overflowing. It's because the hospitals will take a while to get departments up and running, plus I guess there's a degree of wanting to see cases consistently falling over weeks so when they mess with someone's immune system, they know they aren't putting the patient at greater risk.

I am also waiting for surgery. I know for a fact my hospital is sitting empty - it's a private one and very little is being done in it right now. But the hospital won't start up for the reasons I've listed above. They will start soon though. The actual surgeon and the hospital nurses are sitting at home with nothing to do.

We live very near the beaches of WSM. We can always tell how busy the seafront is by the sheer number of cars parked in our road. It has been rammed the last few days. Weston A&E is TINY, as is the hospital itself.

Until its recent merger with one of the Bristol Trusts it was the smallest acute trust in England, with a correspondingly miniscule budget (although with some amazing staff who manage to make that budget go a VERY LONG WAY indeed and often don't get the credit for it from the likes of the Daily Heil). The A&E has been closed after 10pm in any case for over a year now despite valiant attempts to keep it open.

The population here has a large percentage of elderly and vulnerable people, in general - it's one of the poorer towns, financially, in the West Country. Only two large employers - the hospital and the college. Even the council has their HQ in Clevedon. Many people live in WSM and work in Bristol or Taunton or elsewhere.

The numbers in town in a normal summer go up by thousands due to day trippers and those on holiday; we also get lots of people coming over from Wales. And under normal circumstances they're very welcome since despite the snarky comments WSM makes a good amount of its income from tourism, overall.

But the images shared by friends who live even nearer than we do of the lack of social distancing o the busy bits of the seafront at the moment are somewhat concerning.

The VE Day celebrations are just under 3 weeks ago now...though I'm entirely sure that's just a coincidence.

It's also a VERY popular place for Brummies to visit. And, oh, let me see, what was the second "hotspot" for the first wave after London?! Logically, since it's the 2nd city. I'm NOT having a go at Brummies, two of my best friends fall into that category. I'm just joining up some of the dots.

Exactly, we need to come out of this slowly and regionally. My OH had his cancer treatment stopped back in March and his consultant finally phoned him back only last week to say they "hoped" to restart his treatment in July, but don't know when, and don't even know where - they suggested it may be a different hospital an hour away, because our local oncology dept IS closed and may not reopen even in July!

Oh I'm so sorry, OP.

The people descending on all these small town beaches like Weston in recent days and weeks need to take a long look at themselves and the damage its caused.

Boris should never have allowed this.

Weston’s A&E has limited opening hours anyway. It’s often temporarily closed to new admissions.

www.thewestonmercury.co.uk/news/weston-super-mare-emergency-department-to-shut-at-night-1-6300931

www.thewestonmercury.co.uk/news/weston-general-hospital-waiting-times-in-december-increase-1-6478699

Were people out for street parties in WSM for VE bank holiday, Sophiafour?

I can't imagine that Weston super mare hospital is very big so I wouldn't have thought it's a huge number of cases.

A fair number of the hospital staff were off sick with it on Friday and there are a number patients with it too, many more than 3.

They didn’t need to close during the first wave and had coped well with well so this is worrying and really does highlight that we need an effect tracing scheme. Which given who is organising the thing doesn’t fill me with confidence.

I thought lockdown meant we all stayed at home unless we had a good reason not to e.g. to go to work or take exercise? It seems a lot of other people think it now means they can do whatever they want, while the rest of us mugs stay at home.

It can't last forever. But unless most of us at least try to stay home, it will have to last a whole lot longer than we want it to. So it's your choice - obey the rules now and lockdown will be short and sweet. Or flout the rules and condemn all of us to a miserably long lockdown. And remember, the longer the lockdown, the more delay there'll be for all the other vital medical activity.

I wasn’t aware anybody thinks it’s over!

It is not big news at all,WSM is close to Bristol which has several big hospitals.

This is the Waily Fail blowing it out of proportion and those who are not the brightest run with it.

i can’t see why we can’t open up for business with social distancing in order.
Yes life goes on and the economy relies on us going back to work, however if not done properly, it will cause the collapse of the NHS by overwhelming it and far more deaths from the younger age group that is not meant to die will die because they can’t get hospital attention.
So yes open up but a good testing and tracing system should be in order plus social distancing.
The other side of the coin is ignoring social distancing and go back to precocial normality:
Result is many people will off sick, isolating for two weeks, some will be off for a Whole month.... then whole office needs to stop work and clean the workplace everytime one is ill.,, The economy won’t survive with poorly people being off sick all the time. NHS is broken and noncovid patients dying because they can’t be seen...

A careful plan needs to be devised to opening up.

Agree jaxhog. Why are people saying we cant stay in lock down forever we all need to get back to work and take our chances. When what they should be saying is, we can’t stay in lockdown forever please government can you sort out a decent test and trace system so it is safe to release lockdown

As a nation, we are not seeing any spike in cases because of VE Day and many people starting back at work. We would be seeing signs of that by now if there was going to be a large-scale problem.

It’s only been 2 and a half weeks since VE day. Since the virus can take two weeks to develop and then, once someone’s actually ill , at least another week for them to develop the kind of symptoms that need hospital treatment, and then a week to three weeks on average for them to die if they’re going to, your optimism is a bit premature. In other words, it’s too soon to tell. Levels of cases hospital cases post VE day would only now be starting to go up, if they’re going to…And it’s been less then 2 and a half weeks since people started going back to work, so any spikes from that are even further ahead.

At one point A&E at a London hospital stopped taking patients (I think).
It's not unusual - there was another hospital in the south diverting patients as there was an issue with oxygen.

Weston is my nearest seaside from landlocked Birmingham, but I'd be mad to go on a busy Bank Hol regardless of C19. It is so popular and this news won't keep people away. They are not deluded - everybody knows the virus is here - and they aren't breaking any rules.

People said the same on here about the Easter spike that never materialised.

The economy won’t survive with poorly people being off sick all the time. NHS is broken and noncovid patients dying because they can’t be seen...

Agree with you. And the vulnerable people so many are keen to ignore also contribute to the economy, a fifth of the current workforce are vulnerable and they all pay taxes/NI and buy things! A third of the workforce is over 50 so pretty vulnerable. And the ‘grey pound’ the money that pensioners spend, plus the taxes they pay also pretty high here. How will the economy work if those people are off work for long periods of time, or are part of the one in 20 who are ill for months? How much money will those people be spending? The economy doesn’t just depend on things running, it depends on people buying/using things! The virus running rampant again can tank the economy too. That’s why there’s no easy answer and just ditching the rules won’t work to solve everything. Might make some people feel better for a bit to ignore what’s happening but it won’t make it go away.

It’s only been 2 and a half weeks since VE day. Since the virus can take two weeks to develop and then, once someone’s actually ill , at least another week for them to develop the kind of symptoms that need hospital treatment, and then a week to three weeks on average for them to die if they’re going to, your optimism is a bit premature. In other words, it’s too soon to tell.

Incubation can take 14 days, but the norm is about 5 days. So this 'spike' would likely show up in testing figures by now - had it actually happened. But then the Easter 'spike' so many here were gleefully anticipating didn't happen either. So maybe, just maybe this won't too. Certainly looks that way.