Erm....Boris WTF are you talking about?!

[PopcornandPretzels]

Hi,

I'm watching the Coronavirus briefing and I can't believe what I'm hearing!

Boris was saying that we saw what happened with other countries, we haven't been far behind in terms of a second wave, we've seen this before etc, as though we all know where this is heading, I.e, a 3rd wave!

He's talking as though this is inevitable! Have I missed something? Have vaccines been announced as useless?

These countries that he's talking about, the ones which we have always "followed in the past", don't have a vaccination programme like ours, so why is he speaking like this?

I feel really angry. He will have scared a lot of people talking like this.

The journo asked why we don’t speed up the relaxation of lockdown. B was saying we have to be careful and watch the data.

Technically our second wave was two waves.

The “third” wave these countries (Czech Rep, Poland etc) are experiencing is due to the British variant. As the name suggests it started here in about Nov and drove cases through Dec and Jan. So our second wave was eclipsed by the third wave.

He is just being cautious, but really there isn’t much to fear.

The vaccine rollout is going surprisingly well, and the number of people that had covid in Sept-Jan was huge, way more than any other European country, maybe bar Portugal.

Covid cases might rise again, but hospitalisations won’t. You herd it here first.

[quote Allmyarseandpeggymartin]@PrincessNutNuts

“We'll hit 150,000 covid deaths in the next 8 days. Possibly even tomorrow. I bet we don't hear a peep about it”

There are so many things wrong with this statement that I don’t even know where to begin.

I find it highly worrying that you pop up on every thread spreading bullshit like this.

It especially concerning for posters that might have mental health or anxiety issues and believe the absolute bollocks you talk.[/quote]
Which part is bollocks?

[quote Pootle40]@PrincessNutNuts but 60,000 people haven't died OF Covid since we started vaccinations. Sorry every time I see this I have to correct it. 60,000 people in the UK have died since we started vaccinated who had a positive Covid test in the last 28 days.

We don't even know how many that contributed (to any degree) to their death.

That's why data interrogation is important. That picture has been painted for a reason. Effectively what's happening is by leaving out a few key facts they can influence any which way they want.
[/quote]
About 60,000 people have died, and a doctor put covid on their death certificate.

@FaithfullyYours

PrincessNutNuts and her bollocks scaremongering. Pulling her made up information out of her arse. No logic, no substance in any argument she puts forward..

And another one @Lovingspring are you living under a rock? The vaccines do reduce transmission.

Lord give me strength..

Which information was made up?

Can you explain the details of the number of deaths we'll surpass in the next week

We don't know how long immunity from the vaccination, or the illness, will last.
We don't know how effective that immunity will be against new strains.
The more virus there is in circulation, the more mutations are likely. Which further increases the uncertainty and potential for mutants which are not covered by the vaccines we have.
The longer we are careful the more time we have to develop tweaked vaccines against the new strains and to assess the longevity of immunity.
Exactly how careful is careful enough is open to debate.

@PopcornandPretzels

Hi,

I'm watching the Coronavirus briefing and I can't believe what I'm hearing!

Boris was saying that we saw what happened with other countries, we haven't been far behind in terms of a second wave, we've seen this before etc, as though we all know where this is heading, I.e, a 3rd wave!

He's talking as though this is inevitable! Have I missed something? Have vaccines been announced as useless?

These countries that he's talking about, the ones which we have always "followed in the past", don't have a vaccination programme like ours, so why is he speaking like this?

I feel really angry. He will have scared a lot of people talking like this.

Most of us aren't vaccinated yet through. Most who have had a vaccine haven't had two doses.

It's the younger school age/working age population who spread the virus most.

@Mif4

Of course he did. I guarantee that we will be in lockdown at the end of year. They've said this already many times in different ways. They are prepping us so that its not a Shock when were back in lockdown again.

Some restrictions might be needed in Dec/Jan if it’s been completely normal (virtually no restrictions through the autumn) AND the vaccines are rendered fairly useless.

But in reality data is being gathered on the effectiveness of the current (and future) vaccines on the current variants. If one of these vaccines is much more effective, then this will become the “vaccine de jour” and the olds will be given it in the late Summer.

The worst case scenario would be a new variant popping up in late autumn rending the vaccines 80-90% ineffective. But with cases being surprised worldwide, chances of that are very low.

*suppressed (not surprised)

Total lockdown now. Somebody’s got to say it.

Some people assume that the lessening of a little bit of the rules gives them a free pass to do what they like. Its those people that are responsible of the spread. Also people have had their first jab. That also makes people think they have a 'free pass' when they have not. So yes we could end up in another wave if its not followed properly.

The other issue is how long the vaccine works for. I think it may be 4 - 6 months so we would need to do it like flu - vaccination ready for the winter season each year is likely particularly of the old and vulnerable as we do with flu each year (and not bother about the summer as hospitals are less crowded then).

An increase in cases isn’t an issue if people aren’t ending up in hospital. We’ve vaccinated the groups most likely to be hospitalised. The whole lockdown was about reducing the strain on the nhs. As long as huge numbers of people aren’t ending up in hospital the NHS isn’t under pressure.

Variants.

So cases are better low.

People talk as if there is one unchanging covid.

Yes, viruses mutate. If increasing numbers of people aren’t ending up in hospital then it isn’t a problem.

@Lovingspring

The vaccines haven't been shown to reduce transmission. If the virus levels are high, even if people are asymptomatic, there is a bigger risk of mutations.

Except it has. www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/uk-56145392

@RinkyD

Total lockdown now. Somebody’s got to say it.

Why? Cases are falling as are deaths

@ChameleonClara

A 'wave' is just a period of high cases.

The wave can have differing impacts - so a high wave of cases of a low severity flu might result in fewer deaths than a smaller wave of a high severity flu.

We will have more cases of covid in autumn and winter.

Yes of course we will but we cannot shut down society every autumn and winter.

@RosieLemonade

I didn't say we would

As everyone understands - we will shut down any winter where we are at risk of serious consequences. We won't shut down any winter where we are not.

"Yes of course we will but we cannot shut down society every autumn and winter."

If we DON'T get this lockdown exit right, we may have to.

Third time lucky you might say - if we'd got it right the first time round of course, about 90k fewer would have died and schools would have been open since last September.

@KisstheTeapot14

One point I think has been missed by the politicians is that vaccines don't - as far as we know - protect against long covid.

This can effect children and adults alike.

As someone with CFS I would say - please don't underestimate this.

It hasn't had enough air time as we are still fighting death/severe cases. The clinical lead for NHS (Horizon special - what do we know about Covid) says even if you get mild Covid - take it seriously and rest for 3-4 weeks (as much as you can - not rushing back into work for example) as the virus can be doing invisible damage and the best hope of limiting this is rest to let your body heal/fight the virus as effectively as poss.

Trust me you don't want CFS/Long Covid (very similar symptoms).

Had CFS for 7 years now and it has changed many aspects of my life. I do about 50% of what I would have before. Socialising, work, gardening and other hobbies. Lockdown didn't seem so harsh to me as many things I have already curtailed.

This is not a woe is me post - I am actually very positive and glass half full.

It IS a don't end up like me post! If one person reads this and takes preventative action that's good enough for me.

If lots take heed and we all protect each other as much as poss - we may never know how many lives we save from chronic illness by doing that.

Keep patient and keep safe out there. I'm going to be distancing and mask wearing even after the vaccine - until community rates are really low. That might be a long time yet.

Yes, please do take long covid seriously.

DP's friend has it and is really struggling, he gets out of breath walking a mile. Before he got a very mild case of covid he was very fit and used to do park run with DP (loads faster than DP). I think there is a lot that is not known about this yet.

I don't know why people are calling out @PrincessNutNuts on data. The dashboard shows clearly we're at 140k deaths of covid ie mentioned as cause on death certificate - that is, not mentioned just because that person is positive, but only if it was a main cause. So yes, we will get to 150k by that measure - by far the most accurate - within a couple of weeks or so.

Why people still bang on about the with/of covid thing beats me, when the death toll is higher from the death certificates and excess deaths back that up.