How are people still catching the virus?

[Baileysforchristmas]

Numbers are still so high, are people catching it from supermarkets? Does 2 metres apart still stop you catching it? Are you still pretty safe outside if you stay at least 2 metres apart?

@Gwenhwyfar dont be so ridiculous!!! stores cannot enforce mask wearing!! we would be contravening disability rights straightaway!!

and i didnt state my shop.....its ALL 'essential' retail. many shops have or have had cases. Retail workers are sitting ducks with stupid people coming in for something to do!

who else, which group of people right now, has people walking past them (rarely 2 metres, they take the piss) for leisure purposes??

@AiryFairyMum

Schools. Ours has 70% attending still, mostly key worker kids. Last time it was 10%.

thats ridiculous!! 70%!!

@Baileysforchristmas

It’s frightening if PPE is now no protection against the virus

Suitable PPE would offer protection- the rates of sickness among those who work on ITU is lower than those on the general wards. This is thought to be due to the current PPE recommendations- on ITU they are wearing respirators, FP3 masks or similar. On the general wards we get surgical face masks unless we are doing an aerosol generating procedure. There are concerns being raised that this appears inadequate when you consider how easy this strain spreads and evidence that aerosols can accumulate in the air so no wonder staff in covid areas are catching it despite wearing the recommended surgical masks. A letter has been written to the government about this by medics and nurses.

There is a high level of sickness among staff and this is putting a huge strain alongside the actual surge in hospital admissions. Staff are probably unwittingly contributing to the spread in hospitals as some may be picking it up from patients but be asymptomatic so are spreading it to other patients as well as bringing it back to their own household.
I have followed the PPE recommendations and infection control measures as have many of my colleagues who have still caught it. The FP3 masks are uncomfortable but more widespread use may reduce staff catching it and spreading it. Unfortunately we can only use what is made available to us.

Afraid to say this concept that PPE/2m SD will protect against SARS-COV-2 - or that workplaces/schools can somehow be made 'Covid Secure' by following a Risk Assess is a bit of a false sense of security. My background/training is as an epi & still know many in field (epis/virology) & still follow the studies with pro interest. Primary vector transmission is now firmly proven as air aerosols. The 2m business comes from WHO & is based on 1930/40s studies on influenza transmission by LARGE droplets. Aerosols are far smaller & studies show infectious particles can travel WAY further than 2m/6' (30' +); they have also been shown to hang around on non-vented indoor settings for 3 hours or longer, so someone can walk through a cloud breathed out by infectious person hours before & become infected. Covid is now est as infectious as measles (IE ...very) & that was orig variant - that's why will need higher than thought herd immunity (70/80%+) to oppress it. New variant B117 (2021/12) attaches far more easily to ACE2 receptors....one reason younger people are becoming more seriously I'll with higher viral-load. Unless you have FFP3 facemask (US: N95/99) I'm afraid 'face coverings' or surgical masks won't cut it - may as well have loo paper over your mouth! Also goggles btw....why oh why don't people protect their eyes... Just an epi perspective

@kissmelittleass

Well I'm in a area where 1/20 have it according to our doctor and no surprise to be honest as no one listens. Our neighbours go in and out of each other's house's, the kids play together in the street and our neighbours have had drinking sessions nearly every night from Xmas to new year with several cars parked outside their house so that's exactly how the virus is spreading in my area because no one gives a shit!!!!

bless you! how worrying for you.

Christmas mixing?

I have heard from three families who I know have been very careful and have still caught it. The only places they'd been were school/nursery and supermarket.
One tested negative. A family member then developed the same symptoms and tested positive.

@Lifeispassingby

I agree people must be catching it in supermarkets, although schools, nurseries & care homes too.
The key pads at supermarket checkouts are not being sanitised, I suggest people put a latex glove or even a food bag over their hand when keying in their card at a checkout, then discard the glove/bag in a bin. also sanitise handles of supermarket baskets and trolleys.

A relative tested positive today after nursing on a non-COVID ward with infected patients. Waiting to see if she passed it on to the rest of her household.

Because people either break or bend the rules all the time and lockdown measures are not strong enough. And the Government won't follow scientific advice. A d they are too slow and cowardly to act fast enough. Take Xmas too cowardly to cancel it. Now in another week you will see the deaths for that one day that you all could not do without. The figures will keep riding for at least 6 weeks despite lockdown. Nearly 60,000 positive cases today and you will see the deaths from those that caught Covid today in 28+ days time ( roughly 600 or is it 6000? 1% out of a 100 or a 1000) so think hard when u get in yr car to meet your mate for natter/exercise. Think twice before u let yr kids go to skateparks and playparks ( I don't care if they are outside they ain't wearing masks and not social distancing and mixing!!!) In fact think twice when u drag whole family to the supermarket cos you can't possibly shop on your own. You just have to have yr partner and kids with you!

I'm on a final day of isolation and the only place I'd been on the day I was exposed was a supermarket.

I was thinking the same

Vast numbers of people still obliged to go to work on industrial estates, in factories, building sites, workshops etc often working cheek-by-jowl with minimal PPE.

Pretty simple. Non-compliance/bending the rules to suit them.........e.g I have 10 different bubbles, my dog needs walked 25 times a day, I need to have business meeting with 20 people.

And then there are those that recently returned from Dubai and just don’t give a shit.

@Charteta

I'm on a final day of isolation and the only place I'd been on the day I was exposed was a supermarket.

How do you know exactly which day you were exposed? Had you not been anywhere else in the days before or after? Do you live alone?

Three bubbles popped today at my school and we are still awaiting test results for at least 7 more families!

@Baileysforchristmas

Numbers are still so high, are people catching it from supermarkets? Does 2 metres apart still stop you catching it? Are you still pretty safe outside if you stay at least 2 metres apart?

Many people catch it in hospital whilst they’re waiting to be treated for something else. I know this happened to a family member. They don’t segregate people who are waiting for their test results, thereby spreading it to others.

There’s also a lot of false positives and if one person is tested, but receives 2 tests, then they are counted as 2 cases, not 1.

Surely Christmas/NYE mixing? It’s only been a week since New Years and lots of people would have mixed despite the recommendations. I don’t know a single household that didn’t very slightly bend the rules over the xmas period (including me). We are generally more cautious than most people we know and are genuinely worried about getting it. I’m sure lots of people carried on as normal over the holidays.

"@Gwenhwyfar dont be so ridiculous!!! stores cannot enforce mask wearing!! we would be contravening disability rights straightaway!!"

Stores in Belgium enforce mask wearing. I've been to a few small shops where there are people with masks under the nose etc. but in the big supermarkets you wear a mask or you don't come in. Not seen anyone without a mask.

I think my dd got it at school and then steadily passed it first to her grandmother who picked her up on the 17th (got symptoms just before Xmas), then to me (symptoms 28th) and her little brother who had no symptoms but has passed it on to his dad...That's the way we think it's happened anyway as other children in her class also had it over Xmas. Plus we haven't bloody seen anyone as we were tier 4 and not allowed!

"and i didnt state my shop.....its ALL 'essential' retail. many shops have or have had cases. Retail workers are sitting ducks with stupid people coming in for something to do!"

You don't know that people are catching it there.

@Swishswish26

Secondary schools have been closed for almost four weeks. They only opened to keyworkers on Monday so I really don’t think we can still blame schools. I would guess there is a lot of non-compliance. People aren’t as scared as they were back in March. For the most part, they have seen family and friends catch the virus and recover quickly with only very mild symptoms, if any which is why we now have Whitty telling us to ‘Stay Home’ .

THIS.

I think if people weren't catching and spreading it in shops then retail staff wouldnt be suffering such high levels of infection (5 times the community average is what I've heard).

They don’t segregate people who are waiting for their test results, thereby spreading it to others.

This seems bonkers to me, but I suppose there’s not enough wards to keep them separate. According to a friend whose a medic in London, the new strain is so infectious that they’ve had a COVID positive patient infect a whole ward in the short time they’ve been waiting on test results for them.

Hospitals and care homes