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Original poster

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:
labyrinthloafer · 30/07/2020 23:24

It could have been stamped out if we'd done it earlier.

The public aren't massively to blame, it was our terrible, careless early response by the government.

MaxNormal · 30/07/2020 23:25

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.

Covid has only been around for a few months, the length of time the post viral effects persist for is very much an unknown but absolutely no-,one cam confidently claim that they are life-long on five months worth of evidence. Total scaremongering.

Codexdivinchi · 30/07/2020 23:27

@MaxNormal

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.

Covid has only been around for a few months, the length of time the post viral effects persist for is very much an unknown but absolutely no-,one cam confidently claim that they are life-long on five months worth of evidence. Total scaremongering.

I’ve known multiple people to have it and honestly they are ok. Including my 83 year grandmother.
labyrinthloafer · 30/07/2020 23:27

I agree we don't know if they are life long but neither do we know they're not.

Which is exactly why we need a lot of caution.

At current time there are a significant people who remain unrecovered. And I don't want to join them.

SengaStrawberry · 30/07/2020 23:29

@labyrinthloafer

It could have been stamped out if we'd done it earlier.

The public aren't massively to blame, it was our terrible, careless early response by the government.

Yep it needed to be done in February instead of people jetting in and out of Italy on holiday and bringing it back here god knows how many times.

I don’t think we can go back to normal yet OP but hopefully if we can get the virus quashed to low levels we can get a bit more normality but things like SD/masks/handwashing/quarantine and self isolation need to stay for the time being...every week and month that passes we learn more about the virus and get closer to whatever breakthrough it will be to get life back more like the old normal

5363738383j · 31/07/2020 00:01

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.

That's overstating what we know.

5363738383j · 31/07/2020 00:04

the vast majority of people who catch coronavirus only suffer none or mild symptom

See no one with expertise is saying that anymore. Not so broadly. Also an overstatement.

SengaStrawberry · 31/07/2020 00:14

Tbh even with a vaccine I reckon some elements will have to stay - eg isolating with symptoms until you have a test. Going to be a nightmare for employers who have staff who would take advantage (and some would) but they are just going to have to take that on the chin, as it’s a lot less serious than the potential alternative.

BluebellsGreenbells · 31/07/2020 00:18

The only way forward is for the test and trace to be effective. For people to quarantine effectively and be paid for the time needed - especially those in zero hours contracts.

Insist on hand washing and face masks with localised areas closed down.

This could mean you can’t go to work or work from home if the local school is shut. Major investment is needed in online teaching and working.

Same for some staff to move premises at short notice.

There needs to be fines in place to those not complying.

Shit the boarders, get teams in place all over the country to deal with each area.

Forgone90 · 31/07/2020 00:23

As others have said... Eventually we will have too... To everyone saying no we can't, how long do we wait for a vaccine or treatment? We cannot wait forever. At some point we have to make a decision. It may not be the uk that makes the decision first. However as soon as other countries make the decision we wall follow suit soon after.

mosquitofeast · 31/07/2020 00:29

@Forgone90

As others have said... Eventually we will have too... To everyone saying no we can't, how long do we wait for a vaccine or treatment? We cannot wait forever. At some point we have to make a decision. It may not be the uk that makes the decision first. However as soon as other countries make the decision we wall follow suit soon after.
carrying on as normal is not an option, There is a pandemic. If it is allowed to run unchecked it will kill and maim in numbers that will totally destroy the economy and social order anyway.

The choice isn't control the pandemic or protect the economy and social order.

It is control the pandemic AND protect the economy and social order

People behaving recklessly now are sowing the seeds of a catastrophe that is going to play out over the next years, and affect everyone.

Mittens030869 · 31/07/2020 00:32

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.

That's overstating what we know.

We don't know either way yet, as it's a new virus. I've had longer-term COVID symptoms, I really hope they won't be life-long.

mosquitofeast · 31/07/2020 00:33

@MaxNormal

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.

Covid has only been around for a few months, the length of time the post viral effects persist for is very much an unknown but absolutely no-,one cam confidently claim that they are life-long on five months worth of evidence. Total scaremongering.

Well, have a word with my student who's given up on her A levels to care for her mum who has had a leg amuptated and lost a lung. Try telling her that these things may grow back. Its only been a few months, after all. Too early to tell. The mum is 45.

I have teenagers in my tutor group who's lungs are a mass of scar tissue. I have had to go to the locksmith and get lift keys cut for them. They cannot get up the stairs. Lung tissue scarred like this does not regenerate. One has damaged heart muscles too.

Mittens030869 · 31/07/2020 00:33

That was meant to say 'long-term symptoms', sorry about the typo. Blush

mosquitofeast · 31/07/2020 00:36

You do know the government is planning on a nationwide series of care homes for covid victims who are unlikely to live independently again, don't you? She all we tell them that lungs and limbs might grow back? Damaged hearts might recover? Or do you think that maybe they have taken medical advice from people more qualified before allocating the funds and making the plans?

5363738383j · 31/07/2020 00:54

I find it particularly disturbing that covid seems to be causing a rise in encephalitis and neurological defects. The flu virus can trigger some of this too but it seems that covid is simply better at it. We don't know the extent of this yet.

Userzzz · 31/07/2020 01:34

Yes, time to get on with life. Problem is they wont let us.

Flaxmeadow · 31/07/2020 01:52

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.

No. It is nothing like flu.
It has a much higher mortality
It is more infectious
There is no vaccine and probably won't be (it's a coronavirus unfortunately)
There is proably no lasting immunity

It is more like the common cold in that it keeps coming back and like the CC there is no cure/prevention, but the big difference from the CC is how deadly it is

WiseUpJanetWeiss · 31/07/2020 07:28

@Userzzz

Yes, time to get on with life. Problem is they wont let us.
What’s your plan? If you’re happy for the infection rate to rise to and above what we saw in April, what is your plan for the sick? Where will they be cared for and who will care for them? What is your plan for people with other conditions if the hospitals are full of Covid patients? Or are you planning to leave the Covid patients in their homes to die or recover with minimal support?
labyrinthloafer · 31/07/2020 07:31

Yes, time to get on with life. Problem is they wont let us.

Who are 'they'?

I don't want to catch it, as we don't know enough about it. 'they' are not making me think this.

Forgone90 · 31/07/2020 07:39

Yes but what is they plan if there is no cure or vaccine? There has to be a point in time where things are allowed to return to normal and people just have to dot their own risk assessments... The government can't and won't keep us safe indefinitely, there just isn't the money for that.

The NHS is paid for via the tax payer.. Carry on as we are and the amount of tax payers will be reducing significantly due to euneployment. that will effect the nhs itself.

To anyone that says there won't be a vaccine, surely now then we just have to get on with life. How can people Start new relationships etc with social distancing? Who is going to want to bring a child. Into a world at the moment if we just accept this is the way we have to live for ever?

You all keep saying we can't go back to normal... But if no cure or vaccine is coming then you cant honestly suggest social. Distancing etc is here to stay forever!

TheClaws · 31/07/2020 07:43

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.

There can be no "normality" with unchecked COVID raging around you. Look to Florida for an example of 'normality', then get back to me. (Today's cases: 9, 956, Deaths: 253.) Just one day. Mask-wearing policies vary across Florida counties; Florida's Governor has refused to issue a State-wide mandatory order.

AlecTrevelyan006 · 31/07/2020 07:45

@5363738383j

the vast majority of people who catch coronavirus only suffer none or mild symptom

See no one with expertise is saying that anymore. Not so broadly. Also an overstatement.

Well they should still be saying it because even with a rise in infection numbers (very localised), hospital admissions and deaths continue to fall

Lockdown was meant to flatten the curve - which it did. Now it is simply used to punish and control

NewNewt · 31/07/2020 07:45

There is no vaccine and probably won't be (it's a coronavirus unfortunately)
There is proably no lasting immunity

I strongly disagree with this. The fact that its a coronavirus makes it easier to make a vaccine for than, say, flu or HIV. We already have vetinary coronavirus vaccines and have a number of good candidate vaccines already in trials, including one based on the vaccine for MERS, a very similar coronavirus, which was just about to be released when this one hit. Immunity is probably going to be 1-3 years for most people, they just havent had time to establish that, and possibly even longer - they've detected antibodies to the original SARS virus in people who had it 17 years later.

WiseUpJanetWeiss · 31/07/2020 07:49

You all keep saying we can't go back to normal... But if no cure or vaccine is coming then you cant honestly suggest social. Distancing etc is here to stay forever!

A vaccine will come, and better supportive treatments will be developed. But not just yet. In the mean time social distancing is the only way we can stop several million people from getting very sick and about half a million people dying in the UK. If that’s your plan, be honest about it, but don’t expect everyone else to accept it’s a good plan.