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.

Wetherspoons.

@MarshaBradyo

Eeyore what restrictions would you choose?

I would choose whatever works best to keep numbers low while allowing as much education, healthcare and economic activity as possible. That's something that could be different for different areas at different times.

What I wouldn't choose is for people to have the attitude that it's just another flu and therefore take as little care to avoid spreading covid as they do flu. That attitude is really, really dangerous because it will lead to increasing cases, which will screw up the economy, education and healthcare.

DH in his 40's went from training for a marathon to a 'recovery' that is lasting 12 weeks and is still debilitating, he can't cope with inclines, more than 800 mtr walk on the flat and is frequently so fatigued he needs to sleep in the afternoon. It's not 'flu' not even close. 10-20% so called mild cases are "long-term" cases that are suffering really debilitating effects. It's causing, strokes, neurological issues, kidney failure and that in people not in ICU for lung disease...
Having said that I do think we need to bring back as much as possible (including schools) just with masks, hand washing and no enmasse gathering that don'tt need to occur (education imho is a need) so no watching sports in stadiums, no clubs, no gym, no big lecture halls etc...

The long-term effects (lung, heart and kidney damage) appear to be much more prominent and worrying even in younger patients than after flu. I think we need to get away from a discourse that divides patients into Died and Didn't Die, as if there is nothing in between and anyone who didn't die is going to spring back to normal life as an active member of society. In a great many cases, even with previously healthy people, this does not seem to be happening.

If we hold off a bit longer there will be more treatments tried and tested, and hopefully a vaccine.

(The lockdown is not limiting my family at the moment though, except that some places for days out are still closed, and going shopping is a pain.)

I might change my mind if the children can’t get back to proper education in September.

FWIW, I agree that life shouldn't stop until there's a vaccine, even as someone who has been badly impacted by the virus. Life does need to go on, especially for our children and young people. My DDs have really struggled and that isn't right.

Other countries have managed to navigate this with a clear testing policy followed by tracking and tracing, which is something our government has never quite got right yet.

But minimising this as 'just flu' really won't get us out of this.

Agree. It's a complete and utter waste living like this.

Really? 5 months and over 600,000 (WW) dead, no one knows how many with long term affects AND the infection rate is increasing rapidly, particularly in the North, but yes let's just carry on regardless, despite evidence pointing to this being completely the wrong thing to do.

I don't get it, what's SO important to you that means getting back to "normal" is worth making thing's worse for everyone?

Yes

No, because this virus isn't anywhere near remotely like flu. I've had flu. I was off work for 3 weeks but it took me months to feel anything like normal.

But people who recover from Covid-19 are often left with life long health problems which will debilitate them for the rest of their lives. Significant organ damage is just one example. My colleague who had Covid-19, confirmed by a test, at the start of the pandemic is still nowhere near back to full health.

Have you had or recovered from Covid-19 OP? I'm just wondering why you think its just like having flu.

The long-term effects (lung, heart and kidney damage) appear to be much more prominent and worrying even in younger patients than after flu. I think we need to get away from a discourse that divides patients into Died and Didn't Die, as if there is nothing in between and anyone who didn't die is going to spring back to normal life as an active member of society. In a great many cases, even with previously healthy people, this does not seem to be happening.

This is what far too many people are refusing to take into account. Just look at the thread on the Coronavirus board for long-term suffers, some of whom are young or without underlying health issues. (I gave CFS and I had pneumonia last year so I had vulnerabilities, so I'm not in that category.

Please understand that it isn't just about the percentage of people that die.

Maybe a calculator of all known risk factors would be useful so you could judge your personal % chance of dying if you caught the virus, and % of people carrying it in your area - and an overall % risk of dying if you interact with society.

The risks are so different depending on age, sex, race, health etc, - the risk is minuscule for many people, and the risk is huge for many people.

Not sure this would really help, it might create different tiers of society. But the vulnerable will need the economy to keep going etc so what other options are there if there is no vaccine soon?

I don’t think we should just carry on as if it’s the flu because it’s not.

I do think we need to except the new normal, that people will have to wear masks, wash hands more and socially distance, things can not go back to how they were unless a vaccine is found. Although covid is pretty harmless to most people we still need to protect the vulnerable.

@JoeCalFuckingZaghe

We’re at the highest figures in over a month. Until the fucking idiots and naysayers start taking this seriously we’re in never going to get past it. Honest to fucking god how hard is it to stay away from people, stop mouth breathing all over the place and be sensible?!!

You are so right. This could have been stamped out if people had just done as they were told. The way social distancing and mask wearing is being ignored means this could drag on for decades.

Oops @947EliseChalotte
Wasn’t intentional and I do take your point.

I agree, people are the issue. Selfish people who don’t give two hoots about anyone but themselves.

It’s not flu. It’s once every hundred years. We have a responsibility to do everything we can to negate the damage.

There are hot spots though and it’s becoming obvious what the problem is! No mixing of households now. Some people who have done everything required are going to be furious and I don’t blame them.

There seem to be very fit younger people who cannot recover from Covid quickly. I’m wondering if there is research on why this is? Is their immune system compromised by exertions? I remember Bradley Wiggins being super fit but needing inhalers for athsma. Is there a correlation between being super fit and breathing issues? I’ve no idea but I hear so many stories linking Covid to the very fit younger person.

Sorry that was meant to say:

Please understand that it isn’t about the percentage of people who die
Oops @Mittens030869, I just directly contradicted this point above mine. Wasn’t intentional and I do take your point!

Sorry to the other poster I named above, your username just popped up for some reason.

Have lost two relatives to pneumonia/Covid.
Not sure what to say, really.
The curve isn’t flattening though, is it?
Our death toll is way more than most countries already.
Please yourself.

Well if you live in Leicester, Blackburn and Darwin, Burnley, Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees etc you know what the chances are. But maybe also these areas have the greatest number who don’t adhere to advice? My area seems to!

@Lucked

How short is your memory? 5-6 weeks ago we had sustained daily Covid deaths between 750-1000. Nursing homes decimated.

You want to go back to that? Explain it to me in a bit more detail what you think will happen. Or do you think it is a hoax?

.... Statistical Comment: We actually had 22 consecutive days with deaths above 1,000 with a peak of 1,445 on 8 April

Remember, care home deaths weren't included until end April, only hospital deaths
so the official figures for those weeks understated by several hundred

Instead of treating it like flu, why not treat it like chicken pox? Dab on some calamine lotion and take a week off school. It's not chicken pox - just like it's not fecking flu either.

@Fatted what a horrible thing to say.

Get off their arses? My DH - hardworking, young, forced to shield for the last 6 months? Is that who you mean? Because I’ll tell you now, staying inside for that many months had nothing to do with sitting on his arse.

There are so many petulant children on this thread, commenting as if we have some control over this virus and as if people have been choosing to live a limited life. Trying to persuade people to get back to normal because this way of life is boring.

We have no control, this is not a case of ‘enough is enough’ whatever you think - it’s a threat to life and we should be treating it as such instead of complaining that we can’t go on holiday etc etc. I’m sick of it too but I’d rather my friends and family were safe than go back to ‘normal’.

Some people on here don’t seem to care about the vulnerable amongst us, writing them off as hysterical and lazy instead of acknowledging that their health conditions mean that this could kill them. Probably more frightening is the reluctance to believe that perfectly healthy people have been killed by this virus, instead insisting that we have to get back to normal because ‘we can’t live like this’.

Just because some people are bored of doing the right thing doesn’t mean that the rest of us should stop too. It would be nice find everyone could just do as they’re asked so we can keep safe.

And it isn’t flu. It just isn’t.

The curve isn’t flattening though, is it?

Down from 1000+ a day - That’s flattened isn’t it?

Death toll isn’t the same as percentage of deaths per 1m people. Obviously we failed. However we might have had a more aged population than other countries. I don’t know.