If Delta variant is just like a cold ...

[Dustyboots]

Why all the fuss?

www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jun/14/delta-variant-covid-symptoms-include-headaches-sore-throat-and-runny-nose

@CallMeNutribullet

Why are we still getting posts like this after 15 months?

Because they're about the new variant

Because Covid appears to cause brain and heart damage in some people, aka long Covid.

New variant, same old minimising shiteola.

@hedgehogger1

I've got a bad cold. Just tried to see if I could get a PCR test. It said no

If I had reason to believe that I might have possibly caught it I'd have lied tbh.

Eg im a primary Sen ppa teacher, so lots of contact with older primary age and zero social distancing.

Use lateral flow tests too (but definitely as a replacement); a colleague had a bad cold in March and as we do twice weekly lft, it was picked up.

They're not as good / accurate as a pcr but if you use them as they're supposed to be used, twice a week, they're more likely to pick up infection than if you didn't. Which would include what feels like a cold coming on.

@WarriorN

Because Covid appears to cause brain and heart damage in some people, aka long Covid.

Yes. Lung and kidney damage too in some, neurological issues in others, and it's now been linked to triggering diabetes.

Also seems that, whilst it can affect anyone, women are at higher risk of developing it than men.

Initial symptoms might be mild but we're learning that doesn't mean it hasn't caused long term damage.

We have so much to learn about it still. It's an incredibly foolish gamble to ignore the risks of Long Covid. It's a new disease (potentially genetically modified and escaped from a lab).

Also those cold like symptoms have always been possible Covid. The official NHS list of symptoms has always been much shorter than those in some other countries. It's partly why it spread so much. People dismissing their symptoms as 'just a cold'.

Use lateral flow tests too (but definitely as a replacement);

Should say not as a replacement for pcr.

Yes Tea, and there are some children who've been struck down with this and have lasting effects. Not as common at all, but still happening.

Because, @Dustyboots*, as I'm sure you well know, the fuss is related only very loosely to a virus now. We're into psychological warfare, and an increasing number of people - thankfully - now knows it.
Yes I agree with this.

I'm surprised at this paper allowing this article. Despite the NHS saying that the virus isn't behaving as it was now we are vaccinated some people are still adamant this virus is rampaging the UK killing people. It isn't any more.

Yes people have died with covid that were vaccinated but the NHS have been clear those people had severe comorbidities. Its about time the press started to back peddle after scaring the nation to death.

Boris is now being swayed by public opinion and polls rather than actual statistics.*

All of the above.

I’m not referring to previous variants of Covid. I’m talking about the Delta variant as it exists here in the UK now with a high percentage of the population vaccinated.

It's not "just like a cold", FFS.

That's as stupid as saying a brain tumour is just like a headache because the initial symptoms might be the same.

I’m not saying this new variant is just like a cold. It’s in the article at the beginning of the post. Have you read it?

Initial symptoms might be mild but we're learning that doesn't mean it hasn't caused long term damage.

I think it's important to recognise that the symptoms that people report with various diseases are often not caused by the disease, but by our own immune systems. Some are attempts to fight an infection (these may work or be completely pointless) - e.g. runny nose, fever, swelling. Others are where your immune system wants you to rest so it has more energy to fight the invasion - e.g. headaches, tiredness, aching joints.

There's not necessarily a connection between early symptoms and actual viral damage- although with covid, with prior variants, it was observed that the seriousness of the illness correlated roughly with the number of different symptoms experienced in the first week of infection. Note - number, not severity.

More women have autoimmune issues / diseases, where the body effectively attacks healthy cells or over reacts with inflammation (I have two, one of each ) so it wouldn't be hugely surprising to find there's an auto immune element to long Covid.

@WarriorN

Yes Tea, and there are some children who've been struck down with this and have lasting effects. Not as common at all, but still happening.

Around 350 children die in road traffic accidents every year.

240 children die of cancer every year in the UK, that's 4 every week.

Chicken pox can have lasting effects including encephalitis and death

Flu is serious for children and can kill them especially the under 5s.

1 in 20 cases of meningococcal disease result in death,1 in 5 survivors have permanent effects such as skin scars, limb amputation(s), hearing loss, seizures and brain damage.

42 young people (5 - 19) died with covid and all of them had serious comorbidities - in other words they died of something else but also had covid.

Please dont try the 'but think about the children' manipulation . There are far far worse very common viruses floating about that attack our kids all year every year.

Does anyone know the proportion of cases that are a) asymptomatic, b) cold symptoms, c) stereotypical covid symptoms, d) hospitalised, and e) dead? Surely d and e are the important ones to know, rather than who has a cold. You are less likely to visit relatives if you have a cold than if you are asymptomatic, so having cold symptoms is at least better than having none in terms of reducing spread.

Yes people have died with covid that were vaccinated but the NHS have been clear those people had severe comorbidities. Its about time the press started to back peddle after scaring the nation to death.

Are you saying clinically vulnerable and clinically extremely vulnerable people (including the millions of working age) don't matter?

If so, they should stop paying tax. Their lives don't matter, neither should their money.

Ah Scrambled's claim. People die tragically...so who cares if even more do. Despite it being avoidable.

And again. Long Covid.
Long term disability - including potential organ damage and/or diabetes.
Caused by a new disease (that might be genetically modified and escapes from a lab) we're still learning about.

Long Covid means lots of people will think they have 'just a cold'...until months later when they're stil struggling to walk more than 10 minutes without getting breathless and/or have a scan and find out they have heart, lung, or kidney damage and/or they develop diabetes out of the blue and/or they suffer hearing loss.

Bear in mind a lot of Long Covid sufferers are struggling to get their symptoms taken seriously by their doctors. No diagnosis = no official case to add to the numbers, no scans = no official organ damage etc

@Tealightsandd

Long Covid means lots of people will think they have 'just a cold'...until months later when they're stil struggling to walk more than 10 minutes without getting breathless and/or have a scan and find out they have heart, lung, or kidney damage and/or they develop diabetes out of the blue and/or they suffer hearing loss.

So are you proposing to stay in or wearing a mask for ever? You do know that Covid will always be here now right?

@hedgehogger1

I've got a bad cold. Just tried to see if I could get a PCR test. It said no

Dd has a bad cold She did do a PCR test. No Covid.

@Tealightsandd

Yes people have died with covid that were vaccinated but the NHS have been clear those people had severe comorbidities. Its about time the press started to back peddle after scaring the nation to death.

Are you saying clinically vulnerable and clinically extremely vulnerable people (including the millions of working age) don't matter?

If so, they should stop paying tax. Their lives don't matter, neither should their money.

Ah Scrambled's claim. People die tragically...so who cares if even more do. Despite it being avoidable.

And again. Long Covid.
Long term disability - including potential organ damage and/or diabetes.
Caused by a new disease (that might be genetically modified and escapes from a lab) we're still learning about.

What on earth are you going on about - paying tax?

People do die tragically every day. I'm glad you can remember that. Covid isn't the only thing people die from, in fact its actually way down on the list of the U.Ks top killers. Amazingly we are down on the U.K average death toll...

Or have we now moved on from people dying from it to people not possibly getting log term illnesses from it?

@hedgehogger1

I've got a bad cold. Just tried to see if I could get a PCR test. It said no

This is one of the main reasons why this viris keeps spreading! The Zoe app and doctors give a long list of symptoms, but we are stuck with out 3 silly ones.... and we do not seem to learn! As far as I hear, if you are poorly in other countries, you call the doctor, describe sumptoms, then the doctor will decide if a test is needed. With what is happening, the numbers going up, if you are in an area with increasing cases, they should test. Even if just with the LFT.

So are you proposing to stay in or wearing a mask for ever? You do know that Covid will always be here now right?

Erm. Or we could take sensible precautions (for once). Very basic common sense around infection control - until the majority of the population (and then the rest of the world) are fully vaccinated.

Am I staying in? That's news to me!

Yes with UK government attitude it might become endemic. Of course that doesn't have to be the case but the UK (unlike other places) seems to prefer the option that causes more damage - economically and health wise.

If it stays, as explained by epidemiologists and other experts, that also means precautions like masks. It's either maximum suppression like more sensible (and moral) countries like Australia, New Zealand, East Asia, and many in Africa, or ongoing on off measures to control outbreaks. Plus status as a high risk country that people from abroad will need travel vaccinations before visiting.

You do know that Covid will always be here now right?

I do but hopefully at low levels.