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Covid

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

562 replies

947EliseChalotte · 30/07/2020 19:48

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.

OP posts:
TheLegendOfZelda · 30/07/2020 20:38

Yes. Not 'back to normal' but as much as possible, with distancing and other measures. Basically Sweden. We missed our chance to be New Zealand by very early March.

VeryQuaintIrene · 30/07/2020 20:42

If getting on with it includes masks, keeping your distance from people and being dipped in sanitizer, I agree with you. I'm about to start teaching in person at my US university and I hope that these measures are going to be enough for us to get on with it.

Cloudyroom · 30/07/2020 20:45

Getting people back to work would be a start.

VirginiaWolverine · 30/07/2020 20:46

If we have endemic Covid-19, and other countries manage to get it under control, it will be a disaster, because nobody will want to work or travel to the UK, and UK residents will have to quarantine to get into other countries.

MarshaBradyo · 30/07/2020 20:49

If we have endemic Covid-19, and other countries manage to get it under control, it will be a disaster, because nobody will want to work or travel to the UK, and UK residents will have to quarantine to get into other countries.

This is looking less likely atm. Starting with Spain, and other countries rising. Very few have eliminated it. Even Australia is facing a split in its own country.

I really do hope the vaccine works.

SantaClaritaDiet · 30/07/2020 20:50

Funny... how before covid no-one could possibly have the flu without being nearly dead, or at the very least semi-conscious, bed-ridden, unable to open their eyes, to talk, let alone use a phone and needing WEEKS possibly months before feeling semi-human again

but since Covid "it's just the flu", a very mild inconvenience

and the world is suddenly divided into "vulnerables" and "non vulnerables". As if "non vulnerable" were safe... Hmm

TheLegendOfZelda · 30/07/2020 20:50

@VirginiaWolverine

If we have endemic Covid-19, and other countries manage to get it under control, it will be a disaster, because nobody will want to work or travel to the UK, and UK residents will have to quarantine to get into other countries.
Well that's very obviously not going to happen so I wouldn't worry about it

A few countries will manage it but it's far too late for most

SantaClaritaDiet · 30/07/2020 20:51

because nobody will want to work or travel to the UK, and UK residents will have to quarantine to get into other countries.

as this is exactly why the majority voted for Brexit, most people will be more than happy about that!

itsaratrap · 30/07/2020 20:52

Maybe when we have a vaccine.
How have you missed the various reports on Newsnight, etc. over the last couple of weeks detailing how this is a very dangerous virus with all manner of life changing complications. It is in no way, shape or form “another flu”.

eeeyoresmiles · 30/07/2020 20:53

@NailsNeedDoing

Op, I'm guessing that you're not vulnerable and don't give a fuck if the vulnerable die or not. Can't you see how cold you are?

There are things that people who are vulnerable to Covid can do to protect themselves, and those people should have the financial support they need to do so, but paying for that requires the rest of us to be earning at full capacity.

There is less that the people who are vulnerable to the effects of lockdown can do to protect themselves, and they deserve to be considered too.

I can really understand why it seems like a simple solution, to just decide to think of covid as something different and milder as a way of getting things back to normal.

Unfortunately it's not going to work, firstly because it isn't flu - far more people have no immunity for a start, which means hospitals would face huge numbers of patients and have to stop all other treatments again, if we let numbers get high again. Secondly it's not a disease with a well known course doctors are familiar with, known treatments, understanding of long-term effects.

From an economic point of view there's another important thing to remember: almost no one is going to be "earning at full capacity" while the virus is circulating. Many many people are still avoiding most of the travelling, shops, hairdressers, restaurants, and holidays they used to go on. No amount of telling them that they 'ought' to be out spending money as normal will make a big chunk of the population do that, while a new illness with some very concerning potential effects is out there, because that sort of spending is not essential.

The only thing that would truly get everyone (not just those who are currently feeling confident) spending money as normal, and being educated and getting medical treatment as normal, is vanishingly low levels of covid in the community. Treating this as though it was flu and shrugging our shoulders and behaving as if it doesn't really matter if we catch it will unfortunately have the opposite effect, as that will cause higher levels of covid in the community.

Like I said I do understand the appeal of what seems like a simple solution, but unfortunately it really won't work.

itsaratrap · 30/07/2020 20:56

“Like I said I do understand the appeal of what seems like a simple solution, but unfortunately it really won't work.”

What a lovely, polite way of saying dozy buggers sticking their heads in the sand. Or elsewhere.

PinkSparklyPussyCat · 30/07/2020 20:58

Maybe not now but at some point I think we're going to have to. As much as some people might want to, we cannot live like this forever. If there's no vaccine we're going to just have to get on with it otherwise we could be social distancing forever.

Veganfortheanimals · 30/07/2020 20:59

I don’t think we will have a choice other than ,to do as op says

Singalonggong · 30/07/2020 21:01

Tell it to the NHS staff who would be overwhelmed within weeks. This isn't the flu. The flu doesn't overwhelm hospitals and cause the need to refrigerated trucks to hold the bodies. You're talking about the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people. Surely people aren't this thick to think we need to "get on with it".

LizzieBennett70 · 30/07/2020 21:02

Wholeheartedly agree OP.

Time for the over reaction to stop and life to carry on. 0.46% of the population have had this virus but the entire country has had to grind to a halt because of a failing health system.

XingMing · 30/07/2020 21:03

No country is going to be safe against an outbreak, but it's important to keep the wheels on the bus. CoVid-19 is very dangerous to older people, especially those in weakened health for whatever reason and, as we have already seen, elderly people are at greater risk. So if you are vulnerable as is DH, or over 70, then you/we just exercise greater care. If you are young and fit, you would be very unlucky to suffer anything serious, but I acknowledge that there are outliers in everyt group. I just don't think it's possible to prevent every random transmission. Wear a mask in public, wash it after each wear, and talk to anyone outside your household from a 2m distance.

pennylane83 · 30/07/2020 21:03

If it's "just a flu", how come schools and hospital wards were closing due to staff shortages back in March??

Because people were being made to self isolate for 14 days at the mere sign of a sniffle despite having naff all wrong with them given that we are now being told that only a miniscule percent of the population has been exposed to the virus.

shamalidacdak · 30/07/2020 21:03

Absolutely not. People are still dying by the thousands including the young. Others left with lifelong serious medical issues. We can't go back to normal until a safe vaccine is available which won't be for a couple of years.

Sweettruelies · 30/07/2020 21:03

What if they never find a vaccine? They were definitely going to find an HIV vaccine within a year - twenty five years later they’re still trying....

TheLegendOfZelda · 30/07/2020 21:04

I do understand the appeal of imagining a future where our government has managed to reduce levels to vanishingly low numbers in the community. A beautiful dream.

8misskitty8 · 30/07/2020 21:06

@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.
It’s not flu.
PinkSparklyPussyCat · 30/07/2020 21:08

@shamalidacdak

Absolutely not. People are still dying by the thousands including the young. Others left with lifelong serious medical issues. We can't go back to normal until a safe vaccine is available which won't be for a couple of years.
What I'd you suggest if there isn't a vaccine? Living like this forever?
millymollymoomoo · 30/07/2020 21:08

Yes
This is danderius predominantly to the same categories as flu - is old and vulnerable
2017/18 saw 50000k flu related deaths in England in the sane categories and to be honest it went unnoticed

If you’re under 50 and in good health the risks are minimal. If you’re older and more vulnerable we need to think how they can be protected while others go about their business
Distancing / marks etc cannot be the way forward indefinitely!

AldiAisleofCrap · 30/07/2020 21:10

Is that you de Pfeffel?

labyrinthloafer · 30/07/2020 21:14

@itsaratrap

“Like I said I do understand the appeal of what seems like a simple solution, but unfortunately it really won't work.”

What a lovely, polite way of saying dozy buggers sticking their heads in the sand. Or elsewhere.

Yes, very polite but very clear Grin
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