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Original poster

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

207 replies

XiCi · 05/10/2020 08:59

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.

OP posts:
MarshaBradyo · 05/10/2020 12:19

Now schools are back and you can go to restaurants etc so it does feel different.

Friendsoftheearth · 05/10/2020 12:21

General attitude seems to be of acceptance of the virus here, and the difficulties balancing the health concerns of the older members of society/vulnerable with the economy. Here testing is running fine, and the care people are receiving is very good, so no complaints in general. Most parents are happy the schools are coping well, and remain open.

Asterion · 05/10/2020 12:21

@Mumisnotmyonlyname

I agree.

I've never been a big fan of the Tories, but this government seems unusually incompetent and has completely lost control of the situation.

Plenty of countries are getting second waves. Paris has just been ordered to close all its bars and is on the highest alert level, and Ireland is going the same way.
WaffleCash · 05/10/2020 12:22

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?

Also East Midlands and I don't know anyone locally who has had a positive test either now or earlier in the year.

MarshaBradyo · 05/10/2020 12:23

We will get this second wave. As other countries are, because lockdown suppresses it until it ends.

We can try and slow it down but can’t remain in lockdown.

EvaHoffman · 05/10/2020 12:23

This is what London was like in April. It was in the news at the time?

Sunshinegirl82 · 05/10/2020 12:25

I don't know anyone at all who has had a positive test. We are in the SE.

Pretty much everyone I know was ill with a virus of some sort in Late Feb/early March. I felt a bit feverish and coughed for 6 weeks. Both baby DS and DS1 had something that gave them a cough but they were well enough in themselves and recovered quickly.

DH was poorly enough to go to bed for a few days but recovered fully within a week. DM (who is 74) had something really nasty with a horrible cough just after we went into lockdown. She took two weeks to recover and probably four to be back to normal but is now fine.

Obviously no one was tested. Could have been COVID, could have been something else entirely! We will probably never know. My suspicion is that we were hit fairly badly as an area back then, which is perhaps a part of why cases are quite a lot lower now.

compulsiveliar2019 · 05/10/2020 12:27

@Dunnowhat2do

Look at historical pandemics. 2nd waves are always worse than the first, and we've just started it. Historically there has always been a third wave too, so i guess if history is anything to go by, then we are likely to see something else early next year too.

Not much we can do, government needs to lockdown but the majority of people don't want it 🤷‍♀️

Historically we didn't have the knowledge, hospitals, drugs that we do today. Comparing this pandemic to the Spanish flu for example is madness. Medicine has moved on a hell of along way since then.

There is no guarantee that this wave (if it even will be a wave) will be worse than the one in the spring.

022828MAN · 05/10/2020 12:28

Surely the fact so many people have had it and deaths aren't particularly increasing, is a good thing?
I'm also in the NW and not concerned by it at all. There's more cases but so what? There are very few people seriously ill or dying.

Friendsoftheearth · 05/10/2020 12:28

We can suppress the second wave with restrictions, and slow it down, and we can protect those at most risk - but we can't stop the virus with or without a lockdown.

It is probably safer to keep the levels as low as possible, and continue with life as normal.

quiteathome · 05/10/2020 12:28

SE here, I and a lot of people I know were ill in March, however not ill enough for hospital so unable to be tested. So it is hard to compare the difference.

I think it has hit the North later- and this is possibly the first wave for the North.?

I think the worst thing about this time is the governement don't seem to be learning from the mistakes of last time.

Friendsoftheearth · 05/10/2020 12:30

Surely the fact so many people have had it and deaths aren't particularly increasing, is a good thing?

Yes, I understand it is because young people are most affected this time around and are recovering well in the most part. Anyone seriously at risk or very old will no doubt be taking extra precautions this time around.

YukoandHiro · 05/10/2020 12:30

It depends in the area you're in. Back in March I knew tens of people with it - colleagues, friends, family friends. Many were only treated at home but my father's friend died and an older colleague (in his 60s) was hospitalised twice before eventually happily recovering. I'm in London. This time round it seems much less virulent, even though numbers are rising - but I think that's just because so many people in London had it at the outset. Also most people I know are still working from home so are not as likely to be exposed at the moment.
I'm due to give birth next week and I'm really nervous about it... just feel like we need to push through the next couple of months.
Hang in there OP. I hope everyone you joe manages to recover easily at home. Look after yourself

MarshaBradyo · 05/10/2020 12:31

There might be something in it being a first wave for north.

It’s unfortunate as the lockdown we had earlier wasn’t as needed then as it is now. Although maybe helped delay what is going on now.

But if you split a country response early on you get people travelling with it as they did in Italy so it’s hard.

Flaxmeadow · 05/10/2020 12:32

A LOT more people have been tested now than in March/April. So people know they have it now but didn't back then

Back in March/April a lot more people had the virus than now, but only people in hospital and who displayed symptoms were tested

I knew of 2 people who died in March (Covid), and one of my friends was in hospital with it (now recovered)

The numbers with the virus now are nowhere the supposed very high numbers back in spring

compulsiveliar2019 · 05/10/2020 12:32

@Dustballs

It’s bound to be worse now isn’t it?

The first wave started from
1 or 2 imported cases.

This wave has had a head start with a few hundred, I would think at the very least, already simmering away from the spring, raring to get going.

Not at all. We know a lot more about the virus than we did back in March. We have better ways of treating it and we are moving in the right direction for a vaccine. There is also a significant possibility that covid has been around and in this country since before Feb/March. Lots of people down here (SW) had weird virus going round last winter. Same symptoms as covid. I had it over xmas and felt lousy. My taste only returned to normal shortly before lockdown.

The reality is nobody has the answers we are looking for. It is going to be a case of waiting and seeing what happens.

Flaxmeadow · 05/10/2020 12:34

There might be something in it being a first wave for north

No there was a first wave similar to London in the north and midlands back in spring. Sheffield and Birmingham overtook London in numbers a few times back then, despite being smaller tha London by population

HesterShaw1 · 05/10/2020 12:36

Wouldn't common sense dictate that many cases will be milder now? Viral load has been shown to be important in determining severity of illness. Now that we are almost all avoiding crowds and mixing with lots of people in poorly ventilated areas and wearing masks, people generally will be receiving smaller doses.

ittooshallpass · 05/10/2020 12:39

No. We just have more testing available now.

We need to see figures that show the number of people going to hospital and deaths from covid now and compare those against what happened in March.

From what I can see the daily death rates are nothing like they were in March.

A lot of us have probably had it and not known because tests weren't available.

Bbq1 · 05/10/2020 12:40

I'm in the NW too. I work in a school where one adult has had Covid. My son's school 4 students positive but his bubble unaffected. I'm the opposite of you though as i know a ton of people who have had the test but come back with a negative result - thankfully. Touchwood it stays that way. I think it is worse because everyone is at school, work, all hospitality and leisure open. Last time it felt much safer.

findingschools4myboys · 05/10/2020 12:42

I had the opposite. I know loads of people who had it back in February and March (myself including). I barely knew anyone who didn’t think they were sick at that time. Was based in London at that point.

Wherehavetheteletubbiesgone · 05/10/2020 12:43

Our rural area has had no covid deaths yet but it does seem relatively quite out here in east anglia covid wise currently It is very much a local thing today with local outbreaks that need to be suppressed.

It also highlights the issues with blanket rules. There was no reason at all for us in the sticks to have ever been limited to one exercise per day i can walk several times a day and see nobody and easily keep 2 meters away if i do. Unfortunately the British public is daft or looks for excuses and therefore blames "It's confusing for different rules in different areas" when actually it isn't and if you cant understand the rules you probably shouldn't be allowed out.

WanderingMilly · 05/10/2020 12:43

It depends where you are. If you are in a hotspot area, it will seem very bad.

First time round, I knew loads of people who had COVID, some in hospital. A distant relative died, then a work colleague from my previous job, then two more people I knew died. In the village there were lots of case and several deaths, we got used to seeing the ambulance and the undertaker's car. It seemed scary and dreadful, and then I got the virus myself....I survived.

But we had our "spike" the first time round. This second wave isn't so bad here as it's already raged through our area. Now I don't know anyone positive, no-one has died recently either. The hotspot is in other places now and they are experiencing what my area experienced in March/April.

My own theory is that however many curfews or restrictions are put in place, until a particular area has peaked, the virus doesn't go away. Once the peak has gone through, it's much less of a problem. No scientific basis though and no research to back up my thoughts….

MarshaBradyo · 05/10/2020 12:50

@Flaxmeadow

There might be something in it being a first wave for north

No there was a first wave similar to London in the north and midlands back in spring. Sheffield and Birmingham overtook London in numbers a few times back then, despite being smaller tha London by population

How prevalent is that do you know? Compared with eg Manchester and other hard hit areas atm
Flaxmeadow · 05/10/2020 12:51

From what I can see the daily death rates are nothing like they were in March

The death rates compared to March are not rising as fast, but they are similar in some ways

March 18th - 33 deaths (total)
October 4th - 33 deaths (for that day)

Back in March though, by the 22nd of March (day before lockdown) the death total was 281

So in March it went from 33 to 281 in 4 days