Do people realise Coronavirus won't be eliminated

[Shockhorrorno]

And they'll always be lots of Coronavirus deaths every year? I get the feeling people think it's going to magically disappear when a vaccine appears, but at best we'll still have Coronavirus deaths similar to flu and pneumonia. And people will still catch it and be left with long covid. Is it time for a reality check on what we're actually going to be able to achieve?

[quote MummyPop00]@shitonitbambinos

No need to be condescending, I didn’t know whether deploying with a limited brief was possible during a pandemic situation hence the question.

Fecking hell. If everybody needs that lot no wonder the NHS is constantly underfunded & running close to capacity. I’m amazed they have time to get round all the patients.[/quote]
You are being really patronising and condescending about all the work the NHS staff put in to getting people well. To make it sound like a drain on society is disgusting. I seriously don't know why we bother when it just gets thrown back in your face.

This is why I’m worried about how Australia is going to move forward. Sure, it’s great that most states have eliminated or nearly eliminated Covid (we still have restrictions though) but they can’t isolate the country forever.

Letting the virus back in will be political poison but we also need our freedom of movement back eventually. New Zealand will have the same problem.

Absolutely, OP, because some people are stupid or they are desperate to see an end to this nightmare. I don't know what the answer is but lockdowns, social distancing and wearing masks are doing fuck all except indirectly destroy lives.

@MaxNormal

Welsh labour and plaid cymru still believe they can 'elliminate covid'

Not science fans then?
I suppose once they've starved the entire Welsh nation to death there'll be no-one left to catch it, maybe that's the plan.

Even more amusingly, if you read their scientific advice, they are predicting they get past the herd immunity threshold within 2-3 months, and that's with their firebreak.

They are literally following a policy of herd immunity by infection, they just don't seem to realise it.

@doireallyneedaname

Errr... yes, but when there is a vaccine the idea is that you will be significantly less likely to catch it.

Bollocks. If you could vaccinate against it, one dose of it would be enough to give you immunity. Which now seems not to be the case.

We really do just need to forget about all this stuff and get on with our lives.

I do think there is confusion- the criteria for vaccination really brought it home to me.

So a vaccine in the U.K. will not be given initially this under 50 who do not have underlying health conditions or work in the health sector.

So

• my 9 year old should not be educated according to many on mumsnet this is “because health is more important than education”
• but it’s ok because there will be a vaccine soon
• but when there is he will not get it, nor will his classmates, parents or siblings or even his current teachers unless they have underlying health conditions (they are under 50 but obviously don’t know otherwise)
• so erm then health is no longer important as he can both get covid (including this long covid of course) and pass it on to pretty much to everyone he could have passed it on to if he got it in March since no one he has regular contact with will be vaccinated
• but yes for now obviously he shouldn’t be educated because erm”health is more important than education”

Better just hold out and wait for the magic vaccine that will not actually change anything other than stop people arguing for for the end of state education...or will it given how little in practice will change?

Why write this post?
We don't know what's going to happen. People don't regularly die of the Spanish Flu these days, we just get it occasionally as a cold virus.

There's no reason why we can't live full lives again with a combination of a vaccine that has a good take-up (and we don't yet have the results back on those, though the ones at stage 3 do look promising, even if they take a couple of shots, or may have to be adjusted annually), plus better and faster diagnosis and treatment (look at Germany's death figures - they get people in hospital much quicker and have more resources), plus the virus itself becoming milder over time as many do.

Why do you want to try to take away people's (quite reasonable) hope? We have so many people worldwide looking at vaccines and cures and tests. That kind of funding and research isn't usually put into one virus in such a short time. I do have faith in scientists to fight this, and while yes I might be deluded, I'd much rather be deluded in that direction than be deluded into thinking it's just something we 'live with', because so many people can't live with it, they'll die with it instead, and that's not something I want to accept and 'live with'.

Bollocks. If you could vaccinate against it, one dose of it would be enough to give you immunity. Which now seems not to be the case.

What??

Easy Asian countries like Taiwan, s Korea, Japan, China, Singapore, Hong Kong seem to be doing as alright as you can be - obviously still affected economically, but doesn’t look as bad as Europe. I mean I guess it could spring back up there with a vengeance, or maybe they have cracked it in terms of having enough daily measures to reduce risk.

I guess europe are unwilling to live with those kind of measures, but it is possible. Personally I find it preferable because less disruption, less worry about passing it on to vulnerable relatives. But people will have different opinions.

I am hoping for an effective drug regime for those who catch it and develop severe symptoms.

Japan has barely locked down though. Yet still had much lower deaths.

It’s such a small thing, but last winter, I stopped biting my nails - first time in 50 years. And the change to my general health was so obvious - it was a light bulb moment. As I daily commuter and office worker, I’d effectively been chewing down other people’s germs every day. Yeuch. No wonder I had several nasty colds every winter.

So even pre-covid, I had my healthiest winter in years after stopping chewing my nails - completely cold free. It’s the small changes that will make a difference.

Japan has barely locked down though. Yet still had much lower deaths.

WHY is this not being discussed, it flies in the face of everything everyone thinks they know about Covid?

@Thingybob

I don't think the majority do realise. People I talk to are still speaking about "when we get back to normal"

The two are not mutually exclusive

Covid being around forever doesn’t mean we will be in a pandemic forever. Even the Scottish CMO said this last week.

Totally agree with all you said @HesterShaw1

Put it this way, I anticipate I stand a fair risk of being plucked off by Covid in my dotage. Doesn’t mean I won’t have a normal life before then

@Figmentofmyimagination

It’s such a small thing, but last winter, I stopped biting my nails - first time in 50 years. And the change to my general health was so obvious - it was a light bulb moment. As I daily commuter and office worker, I’d effectively been chewing down other people’s germs every day. Yeuch. No wonder I had several nasty colds every winter.

So even pre-covid, I had my healthiest winter in years after stopping chewing my nails - completely cold free. It’s the small changes that will make a difference.

Covid made me realise I must be a bit of a minger. Used to go to Lidl on way to work, get a croissant from the bakery.

Drive to work, touch keypad and handrails, make coffee, eat croissant

Didn’t wash hands most of the time

Makes me boak now.

@Utini

Yes obviously, but the hope is that a reasonably effective vaccine could reduce circulating levels to the point that we can all behave normally again, with a relatively low chance of getting it.

With a very effective vaccine it might be similar to e.g. whooping cough or measles - a very small number of people catching it every year and no one really worries much about it. Or it might turn it into something you catch once or twice in a lifetime rather than something you might get every year or two.

It's not like whooping cough or measles, though. Much as people insist that it's not like flu, mostly because people confuse flu and colds, it is more like flu and we will have to live with it like flu which kills tens of thousands of people despite the vaccination availability.

@Shockhorrorno

What about people not wanting to catch it because of long covid. What are they hoping for?

They are hoping not to catch it

@TheKeatingFive

Japan has barely locked down though. Yet still had much lower deaths.

WHY is this not being discussed, it flies in the face of everything everyone thinks they know about Covid?

It reinforces what we know about why the UK has made a bad situation worse. Japan took it very seriously early on.

The UK's initial response was wash your hands , no masks, no travel advice/quarantine, no distancing, no testing.

You don't need to lock down if you don't let it spread widely in the first place.

Still, reassuring to see the UK government going for round two of the same

@WiseUpJanetWeiss

Bollocks. If you could vaccinate against it, one dose of it would be enough to give you immunity. Which now seems not to be the case.

What??

www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/health-54696873

It reinforces what we know about why the UK has made a bad situation worse. Japan took it very seriously early on

They didn’t ‘take it seriously’ according to the Covid playbook though. No lockdown, no mass testing.

I’m pretty sure they do know this by now, yes.

Didn’t Spanish flu disappear? And swine flu is pretty non existent now. Ebola isn’t really kicking around the general population but a few years ago was a real worry when there was an outbreak. Measles, mumps, rubella, not eradicated but I don’t know any vaccinated children who have caught these.

I think things will get ‘back to normal’ if an effective vaccination is available.

@Shockhorrorno

And they'll always be lots of Coronavirus deaths every year? I get the feeling people think it's going to magically disappear when a vaccine appears, but at best we'll still have Coronavirus deaths similar to flu and pneumonia. And people will still catch it and be left with long covid. Is it time for a reality check on what we're actually going to be able to achieve?

Things won’t always be this bad though - don’t lose hope! We just need to get through the next couple of months as safely as we can, whilst providing as much support as we can to those that need it.