Do you work in a hospital/school in an Indian variant hotspot? What are you seeing?

Loubellbell · 30/05/2021 23:10

My SIL does ... she said there were around 50 at peak now 5 - all unvaxed

Original poster

LilyPond2 · 30/05/2021 23:16

Thank you. Do you have any feel for whether the people ending up in hospital are older people who chose not to get vaccinated or whether it's young healthy people who haven't been offered the vaccine yet?

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ajabajan · 30/05/2021 23:27

Currently working in a school hotspot area. Most recent staff member to test positive is under 30, healthy, no underlying conditions and has been diagnosed with long covid. Off for the foreseeable future, hadn't been vaccinated as not offered to their age group yet.

MissDollyMix · 30/05/2021 23:32

Friend in Bury has teenagers at a local school which has been hit quite hard. No serious illness though.

Fiddlersgreen · 30/05/2021 23:33

At peak our hospital had over 100 cases, as of Friday there is 4 patients with covid.
No idea on ages or if they are vaxxed though

Fiddlersgreen · 30/05/2021 23:35

Forgot to say, neighbouring borough is a hotspot

Thehogfatherstolemycurry · 30/05/2021 23:36

I live in Bolton.
I work in a preschool, we've had no cases all the way through.
My teenage dd goes to school and goes out shopping, eating, cinema now we can. Also gets the bus daily. So far so good. No cases at her school recently. The local school has closed years 10+11 though as they're struggling.
I personally only know 1 person who has tested positive recently, it was the Indian varient, they were poorly but ok now.

ajabajan · 30/05/2021 23:41

Probably should also add that they were one of very few left to not already test positive, a lot of other young members of staff have tested positive already without long term impact.

Original poster

LilyPond2 · 30/05/2021 23:42

Thank you for all the replies. Ajabajan, I'm sorry to hear about your colleague. My sister is a teacher so the issue of safety (or lack of it) in schools is one that is very close to my heart.

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TableFlowerss · 30/05/2021 23:59

@LilyPond2

I am trying to understand how much of a risk the Indian variant poses to children in their teens. 17-year-old DD has recently finished A levels and is up for getting out and about more with her friends. Our immediate local area is not currently a "hotspot", but if DD heads into town for a bit of shopping, a significant proportion of her fellow shoppers are likely to be people who do live in a known hotspot. DH and I are now both double vaccinated, but I'm wondering how cautious I should advise DD to be. Are teenagers getting seriously ill with the new variant in a way that didn't (usually) happen before?

No - we would know about it if kids were getting seriously ill with it. It would be national news day and night

Fuckitfuckit · 31/05/2021 00:07

We're in Bedford. So I believe we're about 3rd highest in the country at the moment.
In DDs year group there were 9 cases last week.
Everyone I know here has either had their child off for being a contact of a child with covid, or had it themselves within their families.

Most are saying that their children, and the contact of their children with covid have all been affected minimally.
It seems that the risk to children/teens is generally quite low.

Though to be honest, I felt awful sending her to school last week, just sending her out, with a risk of her picking it up whilst it's still relatively unknown what the long term consequences would be for her health.

I don't believe anyone in the younger age group has been hospitalised with covid, here atleast!

Original poster

LilyPond2 · 31/05/2021 00:33

Thanks FuckitFuckit. That does help to put things in perspective. Hope you and your DD can relax a bit over half-term.

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RaspberryCoulis · 31/05/2021 09:37

if DD heads into town for a bit of shopping, a significant proportion of her fellow shoppers are likely to be people who do live in a known hotspot.

You really think that your daughter is going to be at risk from going shopping and walking past other people?

Jeezo.

Original poster

LilyPond2 · 31/05/2021 09:42

@RaspberryCoulis If you are indoors in the same room as someone with Covid it is possible that you will catch it, particularly if it's the new far more transmissible variant. The virus is airborne. Why do some people still not get this?

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Original poster

LilyPond2 · 31/05/2021 09:52

@RaspberryCoulis The grandma of one of DS's friends died of Covid in October. The family concluded she must have caught it in a supermarket, as she hadn't been anywhere else. I know lots of people (and you are apparently one of them) like to kid themselves that their activities are virtually risk free when actually it's the luck of the draw whether they happen to stand or sit next to someone with Covid at whatever (indoor) place they have gone to. (I agree outdoors is ver low risk.)I prefer to weigh up the risks.

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x2boys · 31/05/2021 13:47

@Thehogfatherstolemycurry

I live in Bolton. I work in a preschool, we've had no cases all the way through. My teenage dd goes to school and goes out shopping, eating, cinema now we can. Also gets the bus daily. So far so good. No cases at her school recently. The local school has closed years 10+11 though as they're struggling. I personally only know 1 person who has tested positive recently, it was the Indian varient, they were poorly but ok now.

I also live in Bolton ,in BL3,my teen son's school are doing ok at the moment fingers crossed 🤞,but I know other local schools have burst bubbles,my Dsis is a teacher in bury and she's just tested positive 😢

Bitofachinwag · 31/05/2021 13:55

@RaspberryCoulis

if DD heads into town for a bit of shopping, a significant proportion of her fellow shoppers are likely to be people who do live in a known hotspot.

You really think that your daughter is going to be at risk from going shopping and walking past other people?

Jeezo.

Yes of course you can catch it going shopping! What do you think it takes?

Whyarewehardofthinking · 31/05/2021 14:03

I'm in Manchester with several cases and am isolating after several students tested positive, just as my DP has been released from isolation. We are both secondary.

DP teaches in Bolton and he doesn't know a school without cases. His school has been hit (he was isolating after staff and students tested positive) and several asymptomatic were found in the surge testing. He knows of a small school with most students and staff isolating after a spate of cases in every year group, shutting down their entire 6th form as well as over half of each year group.

It seems surreal to us when we see pictures of crowed pubs and restaurants right now; certainly not life for us at this moment.

NotBot · 31/05/2021 16:47

I’m in Kirklees. I know several schools have been hit but hospital numbers remain very low, 1 death since April, indoors & outdoors rammed.. people are out living life as normally really. But it’s quite divided here, the hotspots are contained very much to certain areas. I don’t live anywhere near so maybe it’s different there.

We are currently on holiday on the south coast, the holiday was none refundable as the govmt retracted the no travel advice and our holiday company said we could still travel.. so we’ve come, can’t afford to loose over £1300 🤷🏼‍♀️ This is a twice re-arrangesd break from last spring!

UseOfWeapons · 31/05/2021 17:09

I’m a nurse in a hotspot area.
We have seen increased number of cases, of course, but, as yet, the hospital isn’t much affected, and our insane busyness is due to backlog, rather than Covid. My colleague’s son tested positive last week, and she’s currently self-isolating, and a doctor I know had it a couple of weeks ago, but those are the only ones I know about.

Doublevacc · 31/05/2021 17:43

Name changed for this.

Double vaccinated 50+ teacher in North Manchester. We hadn't had any cases for about a month, then last week had a few children off isolating because their parents had tested positive.

I've done my regular Monday lateral flow test and tested positive - confirmed through a PCR today. Despite 2nd jab being over two weeks ago.

Can only have picked it up in school, almost certainly from a child as have been rigorous about not being in close contact with adults. Obviously it should be a mild case and just feels like a cold at the moment.

But if anyone is any doubt - it's definitely out there and does seem to be pretty contagious.

Soontobe60 · 31/05/2021 18:06

I teach in Bolton. Primary school. No closures since Easter, but KS1 / EYFS bubble burst just before so they were off 3 weeks in total. Our nearest secondary school has had lots of burst bubbles - one ended shutting the school completely las week as gather were dropping like flies. The other nearest school has had several year groups isolated since we returned in March. We are not in the area where there’s less vaccinated adults - but lots of teens who think they're invincible!!!

mightyducks · 31/05/2021 19:06

Work in a hotspot with school’s, although it is absolutely rampant among 17-18 year olds, no reports of any of them getting seriously poorly, it’s hitting them very mildly, which is obviously a good thing! Staff however, even with one dose, seem to be getting hit hard, not hospitalised, but very bad flu symptoms

Whyarewehardofthinking · 31/05/2021 20:11

I'll back up what people are saying about it hitting staff hard. I know multiple staff with at least 1 dose who are having to spend 1-2 weeks in bed barely functioning right now. My DP has just finished an isolation and he is going into school this week (half term) to work with some students who couldn't do practical assessments last week as half the staff were off. He also has a school parent in hospital atm despite a single dose of the vaccine. In my school the students are reporting it to be like having bad flu right now; previously it was mostly just a sniffle and sore throat with them.

strangeshapedpotato · 31/05/2021 20:45

The Indian variant isn't thought to pose much in the way of increased risk to children, but despite nearly all children surviving covid before, it doesn't mean the virus was totally inconsequential to them.
You're highly unlikely to catch covid out shopping - unless an infected person is coughing in their face. Generally accepted that risks rise when you spend time indoors with an infected person - even then the risk is far lower than you may think. Many share houses with infected people and don't catch it.