Should we treat covid like flu now and just get on with life?

[947EliseChalotte]

Is it time to accept covid as another flu and just get on with life and back to normality. The whole point of lockdown was to flatten the curve.

@My0My I don't know about 'lifelong' issues. But it isn't scaremongering to talk about long-term health issues. It's my actual experience right now, thank you very much.

But I'm not suggesting that life should stop, as lockdown has been very damaging for my 2 DDs of 11 and 8.

Luxembourg has tested its whole population
so has a high case load

there is no "long term" until we are at least a year down the line

Well I’m afraid one persons experience, albeit upsetting, isn’t necessarily what will be everyone else’s experience. It’s impossible to know what would have happened anyway. Which was really my point. It’s a bit crystal ball gazing until we know the fill extent of ongoing illness and why.

Closing the pubs may be necessary in the cities but certainly the villages pubs here are very well managed.. My local has a one way system, all outdoors two in the front bar to order maximum, food ordered online and brought out by waiting staff, all plastic glasses and cardboard food boxes.
Other pubs are reservation only SD tables and waitress service.

Sure if pubs are carrying on letting people hang around in large groups they need to be closed but what’s the point of shutting the well managed ones.

@My0My It isn't just my experience. You should read the thread for long-term sufferers, so that you find out more about it. Since you have so much to say about it, you should learn more about it.

I don't think it will be lifelong, I certainly hope not! But it isn't trivial either.m, so it would be appreciated if you weren't so dismissive.

As I said, I agree that we can't just say closed down, I hope my DDs will be in school full-time in September.

In any average week in the UK 10,000 people die. COVID has caused a spike in excess deaths but as Sweden shows with guidance and government lockdowns do more harm than good

Per million of population, Sweden has a higher death toll than the USA and isn't far off Italy's number either

OP you sound like Bolsarono. Maybe you’ll be lucky like him and just get a relatively mild dose but you might get it badly like some of the 45,000+ people who’ve died of it so far or a dose like the many many people who’ve ended up on ventilators for months but you can just have a paracetamol or some lemsip eh?

45,000 haven’t died OF covid, they have died WITH covid

Polkadotties

They also died alone, suffering. Their families also suffered. No funerals, no goodbye.

Weather they died if Covid or with Covid makes little difference. Their lives weee cut short in a cruel manner.

I wonder sometimes whether the politicians could put on big girl pants and decide that it would be sensible to quarantine by age. My DS21 is unlikely to have anything worse than a very unpleasant cold. Two or three days gentle coddling would be likely to have him back on his feet. DH, at 64 with a cardiac history, needs to shield and be shielded a lot more. So before DS sets sail for uni in September, he's abiding by our rules... only open air contacts with friends. Wear a mask indoors.

Do your own risk assessment. If you're old (over 60), or of BAME extraction, or very overweight, or have underlying chronic health issues, doubled if you work in a healthcare setting, then you just need to be even more attentive to the guidelines. Wash your hands five times a day. Keep hand-sanitiser nearby at all times. Stay out of crowds. Avoid public transport.

It's going to be all the cumulative little things that minimise transmission.

I am fully aware of the situation and the impact it has had on families. I lost a loved one due to cancer, he was riddled with it, his body was a husk, he was terminal. But covid was put on the death cert. He is included in the 45,000. Covid didn’t get him, the cancer he battled for years did

There's the potential lifelong complications.
potential
Nobody has lived for more than 6 months with the aftermath of COVID
it could all self clear in a year

Wow I really hope you don't get long term Covid.

I have been ill for 4 months and obviously I hope beyond anything it is not permanent but it's very different when you are living with shortness of breath and chest pain. Even if I am better in a year that's a year of my life where I am like an invalid.

My dad nearly died ‘with Covid’ amongst other health problems but if he had died it would have been because the Covid sped up his demise. He was one of the lucky ones, we have excess deaths so far this year of over 65,000, isn’t that enough to convince some of you that this isn’t just like the fucking flu?!

What is a long term sufferer? What’s now long term? It cannot be very long term because we haven’t got there yet. I know people have had various after effects but we don’t know how many. People writing on a social media site isn’t a scientific study. So we just don’t know but I think future studies should be conducted.

I also think we worry too much about the risky dying. If I’m approaching the end of my life and it’s awful I’m definitely not wanting anyone keeping me alive because they cannot cope with death. I can and I don’t want to be alive but not having a decent life. We forget that it’s natural for the elderly to die. I think that’s why people preferred to stay at home. As I would have done.

@lifeafter50 👏🏻

Okay, I've had symptoms for 5 months, so that's kind of a long time. I appear to be getting better now, but I've had so many 'false dawns' now, only to end up with flare-ups again.

But why won't you have a look at the thread on the Coronavirus board for long-term sufferers? There are a lot of us on there.

We obviously don't know what it's going to be like long-term.

Maybe I should tell dh to grow a new immune system than and I can somehow cure my asthma @lifeafter50
O and turn back the clock a few years.
Not sure what a type 1 diabetic is supposed to do either.

@Northernsoulgirl45

Maybe I should tell dh to grow a new immune system than and I can somehow cure my asthma *@lifeafter50* O and turn back the clock a few years. Not sure what a type 1 diabetic is supposed to do either.

Agreed, or people with cystic fibrosis or congenital heart disease for example. How unpleasant

@Polkadotties

45,000 haven’t died OF covid, they have died WITH covid

You are factually wrong. That is why we have excess death data. It shows how many more deaths we have had, compared to previous years. It is the most accurate data we have in whether deaths ‘would have happened anyway’. It clearly shows that there have been 65,000 excess deaths. EXCESS.

It is really important to think with facts about covid19, the economy, people’s lives. Putting around lies does not help anyone.

Life is too short to live like this any longer.

Where's everyone's resilience? Fair enough for those struggling with mental health, but for everyone else, it's only been four months. What kind of world have we become that we can sit and put up with limited freedom for a few months until a vaccine is (hopefully) available.

@Kitcat122 Yes that's how it's been for me. It feels as if I don't matter. I'm breathless after any kind of exercise, with chest pain, headaches and nausea as well as flare ups with high temperature.

But we don't fit with their argument that COVID is mild for those who are not elderly or at death's door.

@IceCreamSummer20

I think we need to be careful though with excess death data as well - it needs a good year really to see what the actual impact was and how much time was lost by those who died. July was actually lower than the 5 year average

We need more time to make any real statements in terms of long term impact

@Quartz2208 all the indications are that those excess deaths weren’t people who were to die anyway, just a few months early. There will probably be lesser deaths from other causes in other months - however we will also need to look at these - road / work accidents and pollution related deaths will be down. 65,000, even 40,000 would be shocking, he’ll 20,000 is shocking. Considering that other countries have managed to avoid this AND have kept their economy going.

What really comparable countries though? It is wrong we have faired worse that Italy and France but I dont see how in the middle of a pandemic 20,000 would be shocking

www.health.org.uk/news-and-comment/charts-and-infographics/comparing-covid-19-impact-in-the-uk-to-european-countries

Is an interesting read because these are the countries you can compare us too