SAGE are sooo depressing

tatutata · 02/02/2021 09:48

Yeah well since variants mean more lockdown, and variants are pretty much guaranteed, I don't really see how handcocks key criteria for lifting lockdowns will ever be met.

spectacularfailure · 02/02/2021 09:49

I just think that they are being realistic and telling it like it is, even though no-one wants it to be so, it is what it is, a nightmare.

RMRM · 02/02/2021 09:49

I don't understand posts like this. You're upset by reality, you'd like them to pretend things are better, is that what you're saying? You don't want to face reality, you'd rather live in denial? Don't listen to them then.

Mudmudingloriousmud · 02/02/2021 09:50

The Uk seems to be doing really well at the moment though and things are looking up, personally I would rather go as long as can until its right down - by then so many millions more will be vaccinated....then...roll on some normailty

Downriver · 02/02/2021 09:50

Just put fingers in your ears and all will be just fine......

PuzzledObserver · 02/02/2021 09:51

It’s their job to understand, analyse and explain the risks to the Government. The risks are depressing, they are doing their job - I shouldn’t think they are enjoying it much at the moment.

justwanttoknow21 · 02/02/2021 09:54

Quick question. The Spanish flu pandemic ended eventually after a couple of years. How did they deal with variants then ? Surely it's just going to end eventually - variants or not ? Also why are all the variants suddenly popping up and being spoken about ? I thought it's normal for viruses to mutate ? Does it take a certain amount of time for them to become prominent variants like they have ? Never heard much about variants in March to November.

Katie1784 · 02/02/2021 09:55

YABVU.
The clue's in the name: "Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies" - they provide scientific and technical advice to support government decision makers during emergencies.
Rather than basing their pronouncements on "hope" as you would seem to prefer!

AlexaShutUp · 02/02/2021 10:00

What a ridiculous post. The scientists are not making this happen, OP, they are merely telling it as it is. Why would you blame them, or assume that they want it any more than the rest of us? What on earth do you think is in it for them?

Original poster

RosieLemonade · 02/02/2021 10:02

@Katie1784

YABVU. The clue's in the name: "Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies" - they provide scientific and technical advice to support government decision makers during emergencies. Rather than basing their pronouncements on "hope" as you would seem to prefer!

I hadn't asked if I was being unreasonable

OP posts:

babbaloushka · 02/02/2021 10:09

Is that you Lesley M?

ArseInTheCoOpWindow · 02/02/2021 10:10

I’ve just read an article on pandemics and virology somewhere.

As we haven’t had many in living history they also looked at animal pandemics.

Anyway just because the Spanish flu disappeared in 2 years doesn’t mean to say this will, which is what everybody seems to be thinking.

Some virus don’t die out. They looked at Myxomatosis in rabbits and something in cattle. Also measles which has only died down but not out due to vaccination.

Depressing read😕

justwanttoknow21 · 02/02/2021 10:13

@ArseInTheCoOpWindow look at a list of pandemics on Wikipedia. Most do end. Otherwise we would have been already living with restrictions of another pandemic before this started.

Ethelfromnumber73 · 02/02/2021 10:14

Their advice is based on the science. Suck it up buttercup.

GreenSlide · 02/02/2021 10:17

@Mudmudingloriousmud

The Uk seems to be doing really well at the moment though and things are looking up, personally I would rather go as long as can until its right down - by then so many millions more will be vaccinated....then...roll on some normailty

I think this thread might be about the news this morning that the vaccine is not as effective against the SA strain

frozendaisy · 02/02/2021 10:19

Are SAGE depressing? Or is it gutter press articles spinning it that way because their offshore non-tax paying owners have commercial property portfolios and want everyone back in city centres earning them more and more and more money?

SharedLife · 02/02/2021 10:19

@RMRM

I don't understand posts like this. You're upset by reality, you'd like them to pretend things are better, is that what you're saying? You don't want to face reality, you'd rather live in denial? Don't listen to them then.

This!

Niki14 · 02/02/2021 10:20

@justwanttoknow21

Quick question. The Spanish flu pandemic ended eventually after a couple of years. How did they deal with variants then ? Surely it's just going to end eventually - variants or not ? Also why are all the variants suddenly popping up and being spoken about ? I thought it's normal for viruses to mutate ? Does it take a certain amount of time for them to become prominent variants like they have ? Never heard much about variants in March to November.

Spanish flu didn't really end until the 1960s when a new flu variant gave immunity to it. It was just the first time a H1N1 virus had circulated for a while so there was little immunity in younger age groups and post-war conditions and lack of medications meant many people died of a secondary bacterial infections that would be very treatable today. You really can't compare Spanish flu and covid. It's main use is how people and populations behave in a pandemic! And yes there have always been variants, the problem now is it seems to be mutating the protein all the vaccines are targeted against which was thought to be fairly stable. If we don't contain the variants and they mutate further plus we don't vaccinate quickly enough we are running the risk of vaccine escape.

lavenderlou · 02/02/2021 10:21

The Spanish flu mutated into different strains just like Covid is doing. Eventually it mutated into less dangerous variants while Covid's most successful variants so far seem to be more dangerous as they have increased transmissibility, even if there's no evidence yet that they increase mortality.

However, we've only had this virus for a year. The Spanish flu initially mutated into a more fatal variant, which is why the second wave killed many more people than the first. It took time for it to mutate into less dangerous variants.

Covid-19 is still a novel virus. We don't know how it will mutate in the future. We don't know the long-term effects on resistance of people who've already caught it. We don't have evidence yet from the vaccination programmes. Scientifically speaking there is much need for precaution at the moment, but looking at pandemics historically, it is unlikely that Covid will remain such a threat to us long-term, especially given the many advances in medical technology.

GCAcademic · 02/02/2021 10:22

If you can't cope with reality, that's your issue.

You don't get to demand that everyone else denies it to keep you happy.

herecomesthsun · 02/02/2021 10:23

boring old reality

MereDintofPandiculation · 02/02/2021 10:23

Surely it's just going to end eventually - variants or not ? One thing that's different with Covid is that it starts spreading before the sufferer shows any symptoms, so there's no natural selection in the direction of reducing symptom severity, because the virus has done its spreading since then. So we're in unknown territory, really.

Also why are all the variants suddenly popping up and being spoken
about ? I don't think they are, only the ones that are worrying (like transferring more readily). I read that there have been a lot more
variants, just not behaving differently from the original.

I hadn't asked if I was being unreasonable True, but when you write things like They would love lockdown to last forever I am sure. you are inviting comment on whether you are reasonable.

MaxNormal · 02/02/2021 10:25

Their advice is based on the science. Suck it up buttercup.

Why the rudeness? If you spoke to people like that in real life you'd get a smack.

justwanttoknow21 · 02/02/2021 10:25

@lavenderlou yes I think eventually it's likely to be OK. Also Spanish flu did end after a couple of years, in terms of killing lots of people and people having to live with restrictions. This isn't the first time we've had a pandemic and it won't be the last. You just have to pray that the next one is not even more deadly and that we are better prepared when it comes. Ie : better spending on public health and health care in general.

iVampire · 02/02/2021 10:25

They’re neither depressing nor the opposite

They provide the best available evidence (often with heavy caveats that it’s an evolving picture which may change)

They lay out what is going on. You can choose not to see this as depressing. Indeed it might even be better to make a deliberate effort to see it as neutral - and further than that, the point from which we can see a way ahead

Because this lockdown has massively reduced transmission, even including the new more catching variants. They are right to say that we need to get it even lower, and we need the hospitals to empty out before restrictions can change, but they are telling us that we are getting there

They’ve been consistent, evidence-based and non-political throughout (they point out what is the scientific remit, and that it is the politicians who make the policy decisions).

And it’s a good thing that the evidence is so readily available - it’s been one of the things that has stopped the response being used as a party political issue.