Anyone else think this seems far far worse than the first wave?

[XiCi]

I'm in the NW. When we locked down in March I didnt know a single person that had had the virus. I knew of one anecdotally, someone my mum knew of, that had it after a skiing trip in Italy. That's it. Now, virtually the whole of my extended family have had positive tests, friends, friends of friends, their families. It goes on and on. Its absolutely rife and just blazing through everyone. Just seems like noone will escape it. Although luckily, this hasnt translated into a high number of deaths so far, the virus just seems far more prevalent.

I've had it mildly recently and lots of people I know locally have had positive tests, all have been asymptomatic or very mild cases.

I feel similar to @Qasd - I'm in SE and during the 1st wave I knew a few people (though, not close relatives or friends) who tested positive and about 50% of those were hospitalised. This time around, I anecdotally know of 3 people who've tested positive but all of those have been asymptomatic (tested as part of routine testing for their job, or as part of the Covid research study) or very very mild symptoms (e.g. a headache that lasted 2 days). So for me, it's clear that infections are rising but it doesn't 'feel' as worrying yet as the hospitalisation rate isn't as steep. We do have to remember that testing was impossible back in the 1st wave unless you were very very ill with it. We're certain DH had it in March - he had all the classic symptoms and was in bed for 10 days - but as he was 'coping' okay at home the advice was simply to isolate; there was no ability to get tested then.

I do know what you mean because I'm in London and it was like this in March. It felt like it was everywhere and that every day someone we knew would fall ill. I lost colleagues, friends lost parents and grandparents. Horrendous.

@gingerwhingerwife - Just out of curiosity, when you say you had it mildly recently, what were your symptoms? Did it feel worse than 'normal flu'?

No but I'm in London & a relative & family friend were hospitalised & passed away. Don't know of anyone with serious symptoms now.

It's very area dependent. I know someone who died very early on, so I spent the first lockdown really quite worried, but since then I don't know anyone who's tested positive and I live in an area with (comparatively) low incidences. So from a perception point of view it feels "better" now.

Also in NW, I knew of 1 person who had it in March (confirmed positive) no one else then until these past few weeks now theres more and more. However none of these people have required hospitalisation or died and has been described by them as being like "man-flu". Theres quite a few individual classes isolating in the schools nearby , I'm lucky so far that my DC school hasnt been affected yet I'm aware its only a matter of time though. I think its worse this time mainly due to the disruption the constant isolating causes as we have started to get back to work and school, during lockdown it was more or less isolating anyway.

I was thinking the same this morning.

During the first wave nobody on here had symptoms (maybe just a very few) and very few people knew anyone that had the virus.

I'm noticing now that there are so many people on mumsnet who have tested positive, have symptoms, know people who have it etc.

And in real life it's the same. There's no way that this can be less worse than the first time.

No.
It's completely incomparable with March. Everybody is being tested now, they weren't in March.
If anything, I'm encouraged by the figures. Indicates how many many more people have already had it, and are absolutely fine.

I don't know a single person, not one, who doesn't want life just to go back to normal now, just with a bit more care.

Was there a big geographical divide in death rates in March/April?

At the time, I recall lots of people saying how rife it was in London, based on symptoms assumed to be CV. etc.

The death rates should be a low proportion of infections just now as so many young people are diagnosed.... if you’re a student your chances of catching it are relatively high, chances of death very low. It doesn’t mean the risk to an older person has changed significantly.

... I’m in the “let’s have local lockdowns if essential, keep on at hygiene, but otherwise back to normal” camp.

@XiCi

I'm in the NW. When we locked down in March I didnt know a single person that had had the virus. I knew of one anecdotally, someone my mum knew of, that had it after a skiing trip in Italy. That's it. Now, virtually the whole of my extended family have had positive tests, friends, friends of friends, their families. It goes on and on. Its absolutely rife and just blazing through everyone. Just seems like noone will escape it. Although luckily, this hasnt translated into a high number of deaths so far, the virus just seems far more prevalent.

Aren't there a number of experts who think we aren't in the second wave in the north west, that the first never went away in a number of areas?

Blimey this is amazing. I’m in the Midlands and I don’t know a single person who has tested positive, never mind been in hospital.
Does this mean it’s in the way to us?

I don’t know anyone seriously ill from it or with anything worse than mild flu like symptoms

They are doing lots of tests now. I suspect in March in London it spread hugely and we didn’t know

It was very quiet in our area pre national lockdown. The handful of people I knew of with suspected covid who later have had an antibody test come back positive, had all been abroad.

Now it is popping up far more randomly. Where I live we've moved into the circulating in the community stage. So in that sense it's worse.

@MummyOfZog it started with a sore throat, went away for two days and I thought it was just an allergy, then came back as a sinus cold. Never had a temperature or felt particularly ill. I had the test the day I got the sore throat (Zoe app advised it). I stayed indoors so I didn't infect anyone, but did a huge amount of cleaning, painted skirting boards etc and gardening. By day 9 I was totally fine again.

Was there a big geographical divide in death rates in March/April?

There was, although not as much as the evidence of infections suggests, one of the likely reasons for this is that care home lock downs failed miserably so got a disproportionate amount of cases in low community case areas (probably from hospital -> care home transmission)

It turned out that our area did have high rates in care homes early on.

IDK. Lockdown itself was what gave me the "this is big" feeling last time, because I wasn't wfh or furloughed and it was insane to go to and from work during it. My usual morning bus went from so crowded that people stood on both decks and the stairs to one day when it was literally just me and the driver. Then dh got furloughed and said he would take me to and from work and we would travel along these totally empty roads which are normally so snarled with traffic that you give yourself at least an hour for the journey and be there in 17 minutes. Everyone is still out and about now, so it doesn't feel so dystopian and weird.

No. I think more people are being tested than at the height in March and April.

I'm in a high risk area with so many cases in schools, so in that respect, yes.

But in terms of deaths and hospitalisations, no. Also, re those deaths, I'd like to know more about age and underlying health.

And on that basis, we cannot justify the decimation of society, health, education and economy.

The NW is experiencing now what was happening in London in March. We know many people who have had Covid, ( including My Dd, Son In Law, both NDN all had Covid at the beginning of the year.) We know several who’s parents died in March/April - all living or working, in or around London.

@middleager the deaths I knew of already had complications.

We’re in a cold spot atm and don’t know anyone who’s tested positive recently but had several friends and family ill during lockdown including some in intensive care and a friend’s relative who died in hospital. One who was in intensive care in still seriously ill 5 months later.

I’m in the NW and agree, I think it’s partly though to do with far more testing and information available. Back then we knew thousands were in hospital and dying but we didn’t really understand (or at least were not told) where the hotspots were. Now the media is all over where it is worst etc and you have detailed info for your area which makes it much more “real” IMO.