When did the narrative change?

[Namechangednotatroll]

Last year it was Covid affects mainly the elderly and people with underlying conditions
Now it seems to be get the vaccine or end up dead - age not a factor.
But then there are news stories about how there is no evidence that the delta variant is more deadly- why has the narrative changed?
I’m struggling a lot mentally but was doing ok a few months a k but the lat few weeks have been really difficult- feel I’m back to square one

"narrative" seems to imply you think none of it is true.
It's not a "narrative", it's a logical evolution of an unprecedented situation.
Last year, most deaths were among the elderly and vulnerable. True
Nobody has said "get the vaccine or end up dead". People say "get the vaccine so life really can return to normal humdrum monotony" (but "ending up dead" is more exciting a headline for the local and national am-drams I suppose)
How old is the Delta variant? Two months? Could it possibly be the "narrative" has changed because scientists have discovered more things about it?

Not everything is a conspiracy theory.

@Honey12346

Narrative has been changing day to day depends on what the govt wants you to believe that day... First it was the vaccine doesn't stop you from transmitting it, now it does... Masks don't work, now they do... Cloth masks are useless, oops they're not. Locking up just to stop hospitals from overwhelming, wait now we're locking up to save every life. If you don't wear a mask in public you're a murderer, but if you don't wear it in public while you're eating it's perfectly fine, food prevents you from being a murderer. Opening up non essential industries is too dangerous, but not for movie and TV crews who are allowed to film...

I'm amazed at how the people who believe everything the govt say can function with that amount of double think in their brain.

And this is stupid. We knew from the beginning that this was a novel virus and things would change as we learnt more. Mask policy changed as more information became available, namely that they seem to reduce transmission significantly. Things like going out to eat are more about balancing the risks with getting things opened up so people can have more of a life and supporting the economy. It's all a balancing act. It's shit, but it's not going to be forever.

We need as many people to be vaccinated as possible to reduce the reservoir of infection eg if someone brings it to the U.K. from country b it can only take hold here if person x can pass it on in the 3-5 day window they are infectious, the higher the immunity rate the lower that probability is. Teenagers in particular seem to not be getting sick but are catching covid and passing it around providing that reservoir, they then may come into contact with unvaccinated older adults or those who the vaccine cannot be effective due to health problems.

Some younger people also do get sick, very small numbers but do you want to take a chance?

And they never said vaccination didn't prevent transmission, they said there wasn't enough evidence to say for sure. Because, again - novel virus, new situation. It was always likely to prevent the spread, we just didn't know for sure yet.

@topcat2014

I agree, roughly, as it seems to have gone from protect the vulnerable to eradicate the disease

Which is utter nonsense, this will now be around forever

@Aspiringmatriarch

I don't get this attitude really. Yes, the messages have been confusing at times, but surely we're at the stage where we're vaccinating as many people as possible to try and achieve herd immunity. It's not so much a change as a progression. We've never lived through a pandemic before, but this seems to be the way it was always going to play out. It's not 'get the vaccine or end up dead', but surely you'd rather be vaccinated than get covid? Or spread it around?

I am double vaccinated, I didn't say I was anti vacc

We have lived through a pandemic before. Most of us have lived through several.

@BonnieDundee

We have lived through a pandemic before. Most of us have lived through several.

Like what? I know about the ‘flu epidemics of the 50s and 60s, but half the population weren’t born then.

Whitty said Vaccines OR Treatment was only path out. Frequently said one or other. That narrative has changed to only vaccines.

The big problem (which doesn’t seem to be clearly articulated anywhere) seems to be the big drop in effectiveness of the first vaccine dose. We now need the older age groups double vaccinated for proper protection against the delta variant. That is going to take a bit more time than the original road map, but not ages. It’s going to be a few weeks and since the restrictions we’ve got now aren’t particularly stringent, I can live with that.

I am double vaccinated, I didn't say I was anti vacc
But what about the rest of your post? You think the government have been lying about masks etc? What kind of sense does that even make?

In any case, my post was more aimed at OP and sceptics in general.

Maybe have a read about what is happening around the world in places like India and Nepal. You think they are complaining about queues when they desperately try to find oxygen to keep their sick family members alive?

If the virus is let to spread out of control here, there's more likelihood new variants will emerge and people's insistence to continue foreign travel will mean the virus is then taken to countries that don't have access to vaccines yet, nor do they have the NHS.

I could understand people here were struggling when we had proper lockdown but now? Pre-booking for a spinning class or not being able to go to Spain this summer are literally first world problems. I feel for people in industries that have been closed although they do have furlough and there's no shortage of jobs in hospitality now for anyone wanting to work instead.

@Honey12346

Narrative has been changing day to day depends on what the govt wants you to believe that day... First it was the vaccine doesn't stop you from transmitting it, now it does... Masks don't work, now they do... Cloth masks are useless, oops they're not. Locking up just to stop hospitals from overwhelming, wait now we're locking up to save every life. If you don't wear a mask in public you're a murderer, but if you don't wear it in public while you're eating it's perfectly fine, food prevents you from being a murderer. Opening up non essential industries is too dangerous, but not for movie and TV crews who are allowed to film...

I'm amazed at how the people who believe everything the govt say can function with that amount of double think in their brain.

I don’t believe anything this government says but I have some faith in the science . The scientific advice will change as more evidence emerges but Bozo will cherry pick the good news and ignore the bad despite the harm this causes.

@4pawsgood the Asian flu you mention, SARs, HIV, swine flu, Zika, Ebola, Russian flu and MERs

But what about the rest of your post? You think the government have been lying about masks etc? What kind of sense does that even make?

The government have lied about so much including masks that I don't know where to start. I think lack of trust in the government is huge.

[quote BonnieDundee]@4pawsgood the Asian flu you mention, SARs, HIV, swine flu, Zika, Ebola, Russian flu and MERs[/quote]
Most of those weren’t widespread in the UK

The government have lied about so much including masks that I don't know where to start. I think lack of trust in the government is huge.

Lied how?

4paws they are listed as worldwide pandemics. Pp said we hadn't lived through a pandemic before. I simply pointed out that most of us have lived through several

Aspiring do you really think the government havent lied throughout this?

@BonnieDundee

4paws they are listed as worldwide pandemics. Pp said we hadn't lived through a pandemic before. I simply pointed out that most of us have lived through several

It doesn't say much for your 'truth teller' thing if you're deliberately misunderstanding my post. Or do you think the viruses mentioned were endemic worldwide in the same way as covid and we just didn't notice?

@BonnieDundee

Aspiring do you really think the government havent lied throughout this?

If you give specific examples I'm happy to respond. Of the ones you have given, I'm not aware of any systematic lying, no. Not that I'm a big fan of the government or think they don't cover things up at times. But your examples aren't very substantial, unless there's loads I'm completely unaware of, in which case do share please.

@BonnieDundee

4paws they are listed as worldwide pandemics. Pp said we hadn't lived through a pandemic before. I simply pointed out that most of us have lived through several

@BonnieDundee But just using some common sense you can conclude that most of us have not lived through an outbreak of Ebola etc.

Pandemics don’t have to be worldwide, just widespread.

Of those, which do you think you’ve ‘lived through’?

@lljkk

Whitty said Vaccines OR Treatment was only path out. Frequently said one or other. That narrative has changed to only vaccines.

Partly because we haven’t really got anywhere far with treatment and are much further with vaccines.

I’m not convinced any narrative has changed from people who know what they are talking about. Most of the ‘we’ve locked down to protect the elderly and vulnerable’ stuff I’ve seen has been from denialists on MN. If the MN theory that only the elderly and vulnerable die or get seriously ill from Covid then we’ve done a pretty poor job because inaction has killed about 150,000 of them. Most of those will have been preventable deaths.

The reality is we needed to control the spread of the virus because not doing so would have a catastrophic effect on the services society needs to function, not just healthcare. If we’d ever cared about the elderly and the vulnerable we’d have got on top of the virus at much earlier points in both March and November and December and wouldn’t have waited until hospitals were overwhelmed before introduced no lockdown.

MERS isn’t a pandemic virus is it? That list might be confusing viruses that get watched carefully with ones that have actually become pandemic.