Wow,look at the actual numbers on worldometer at the moment ..

[Layladylay234]

Current levels of infection: 7,007,039
Number of mild infections: 6,946,649 (99%)
Number of serious/critical cases: 60,390 (1%)

Do these numbers make anyone else think,what the fuck are we doing damaging the economy,our children's future and mental health for figures like this?

@1940s

Cancer research have said they estimate 3800 cancer diagnoses have been missed because of lockdown measures

In the UK. In other countries screening continued as usual.

Sorry I should have elaboraTed. Yes in the UK. We should have carried on with screening

@Hyperfish101

‘It’s just like a bad winter flu season’ is the latest mantra. Well we haven’t hit winter yet 🤷‍♀️.

I think that this government, who are all about enterprise and wealth, didn’t introduce this level of restriction, intervention and public spending lightly. If we don’t need all of this, why is it all still in place? Why do you think that is? Are they doing it because they believe in limiting personal freedom and stifling the economy?

The task has always been to move at a pace that the NHS can manage.

Why is the government doing this? Political point scoring maybe? Bending to the will of the masses to retain popularity?

I dunno but I wanna play arrowball !!

Absolutely screening should have continued, as should treatment of other serious illnesses.
More blood on the govt's hands. That's what is unforgivable.

Cancer research have said they estimate 3800 cancer diagnoses have been missed because of lockdown measures

This is much lower than the figures given for this earlier in the pandemic.

Given that if someine was already diagnosed, they would be shielding and there are plenty of people who would are ready to write them off as 'likely to die soon anyhow' (memorably on one thread as 'low hanging fruit' ffs) I am wondering why the same person's death matters in one context but not so much in the other

I am wondering why the same person's death matters in one context but not so much in the other

I wondered this on a thread the other day. I didn't get an answer, so I'd be interested to see if you get one here. I can't really make sense of the argument.

I wonder whether really the issue is that this is a situation with no 'good' outcome, only least worse ones on a population level.

I'm classed as 'mild'. I've been ill for 6-months and I'm left with heart, lung and eye damage. Previously fit and healthy woman in my 30s, no underlying health conditions.

They are not counting the moderate to severe cases. Totally skewed figures.

@MrsStefani for you, sounds grim

@TheSeedsOfADream

Absolutely screening should have continued, as should treatment of other serious illnesses. More blood on the govt's hands. That's what is unforgivable.

Did the govt stop hospitals from doing it, or is it another cock up from NHS management?

@1940s

Arrowball. This is hysteria. Do you know how many under 75s have died in the UK?

Do you know how many of those did not have any other serious underlying conditions?

The numbers of people dying absolutely do not add up to this lockdown / measures in place. It's madness. Look how many people under 75 have died. Look how many under 45 have died. Look how many children have died.

"Only" 45k people have died because of the lockdown. How many more would have died if those restrictions/precautions hadn't been taken. Deaths were 1,000 per day and the lockdown brought that down. Another month delay in lockdown, and you'd have had another 30,000 deaths at the minimum, potentially tens of thousands more due to exponential growth.

It's not just about death, although that is a tragically high number. Thousands more are going to be permanently damaged from this virus. And don't think you'll get any help from the NHS when a second wave comes.

Did the govt stop hospitals from doing it, or is it another cock up from NHS management?

Neither. There was a WHO survey out the other week showing that in 90% of countries they served healthcare had been distrusted due to Covid-19 www.who.int/news-room/detail/31-08-2020-in-who-global-pulse-survey-90-of-countries-report-disruptions-to-essential-health-services-since-covid-19-pandemic. It is, for a variety of reasons, a side effect of a pandemic.

And I’m not sure either the NHS or the government made the decision about cancer services (for lots, but not all patients). I thought it had come from the Royal college of Oncologists, but I could be wrong.

I wonder if all the people posting that it's just Flu would change the casual rubbish they spout if they had someone like Kate Garraway's children reading what you write? Not knowing if their father will ever come home and if he does will he be the person he was before? It's easy to be dismissive of things when they don't affect you.

1%. There will always be tragic outliers like Kate Garraway’s husband. Just as a tiny number of previously well children will suffer some awful health event. But clearly the vast majority recover from covid. Perhaps we have forgotten that being alive is a fatal condition, with a mortality rate of 100%.

Cancer research have said they estimate 3800 cancer diagnoses have been missed because of lockdown measures

Absolute nonsense. Cancer diagnoses were missed due to the NHS refocusing provision and attempting to prevent Covid from spreading into non-Covid areas of hospitals. You could argue that the NHS should have acted differently, over-reacted, got back to normal sooner - though that’s easy to say with hindsight - but that’s not to do with “lockdown measures”.

@Derbygerbil

Cancer screening was stopped as part of the lockdown measures that were implemented.

Sorry I should have elaboraTed. Yes in the UK. We should have carried on with screening

You say that, but how would fewer restrictions have helped with this. Had we largely carried on as though Covid was “just the flu”, the NHS would have been even less able to cope, and there would have been even less screening!... and highly vulnerable patients going for chemo would have playing Russian roulette every time they went to get treatment with Covid endemic throughout hospitals as Covid spread even further.

More than 1% for moderate to severe. Long Covid isn't even counted yet.

Cancer screening was stopped as part of the lockdown measures that were implemented.

The Government’s lockdown measures, as commonly understood and announced on 23 March were:

a) Requiring people to stay at home, except for very limited purposes.
b) Closing certain businesses and venues.
c) Stopping all gatherings of more than two people in public.

It did not stop medical appointments - on the contrary, this was an exemption - NHS trusts did this as part of their response.

[quote Ecosse]@Derbygerbil

Cancer screening was stopped as part of the lockdown measures that were implemented.[/quote]
It was never part of official measures. NHS trusts/depts took it upon themselves to stop doing it, just as GP surgeries took it upon themselves to put up barbed wires and watchtowers to keep patients away. Lots of organisations went far too far with their lockdown measures and took actions they weren't told to take - they made their own decisions and I hope in the fullness of time, they have to account for their actions in the multitude of enquiries etc that will follow Covid.

@MrsStefani

‘Long covid’ doesn’t exist. Some people suffer after effects, but that is the same with any virus. It is not an new thing.

The medical establishment are concerned about long covid. BMJ in particular discussing it quite a lot.

Government has acknowledged it.

NHS has set up support systems.

60,000 sufferers so far in the UK.

It might be worth remembering that at the point that these things were stopped, there were issues with obtaining PPE and we know that significant numbers of HCPs had become ill and died in other countries. it would have made very little sense for the PPE we could attain to be spread between staff treating those whose treatment couldn’t wait and those treating ‘elective’ cases.

Also, Covid was spreading in hospitals. I’m not sure it serves anyone well for people to be going to hospital for outpatient or screening clinics and contracting Covid, spreading it round the community. Or for people coming in for those clinics to be constantly reseeding the infection in hospitals.

I think that WHO link I posted earlier mentions online consultations as being part of a recommended measure, so I don’t think some of the complaints can be entirely aimed at the NHS or government.

Long covid
www.bmj.com/content/370/bmj.m2815

Writing inJAMA, a team of researchers from Italy reported that nearly nine in 10 patients (87%) discharged from a Rome hospital after recovering from covid-19 were still experiencing at least one symptom 60 days after onset. They found that 13% of the 143 people were completely free of any symptoms, while 32% had one or two symptoms, and 55% had three or more.3Although none of the patients had fever or any signs or symptoms of acute illness, many still reported fatigue (53%), dyspnoea (43%), joint pain (27%), and chest pain (22%). Two fifths of patients reported a worsened quality of life.

Meanwhile, the team behind the UK Covid-19 Symptom Study app, which collects symptom information from nearly four million users, says their data show that one in 10 people with covid-19 are sick for three weeks or more.4The team said, “Most health sources suggest that people will recover within two weeks or so. But it’s becoming increasingly clear that this isn’t the case for everyone infected with coronavirus.” The app was developed by the health science company ZOE, and the data are being analysed in collaboration with researchers at King’s College London.