What would YOU do about Covid?

[KhalliWhalli]

I get that the government can’t win, whatever they do. And everyone seems to have an opinion on what should be done about Covid. I have my own opinions but am wondering what everyone else thinks, about lockdown, mandatory vaccination, etc.

So, what would you do, if you were in charge?

At the moment, I’d just do a big drive to promote improving underlying health by eating more fresh fruit and vegetables and taking vitamin d, looking at how to reduce stress and improve wellbeing.

Covid isn’t going away yet. Even for those double vaccinated. Chances are better with a healthier and stronger immune system.

1. Vaccine offered to anyone over 12
2. Pay more doctor and nurse student places from now, they have been underfunded far too long
3. Start to build more permanent hospitals and test/ treatment centres
4. Develop new rules for ventilation systems and grade every public space; start to roll out upgrades for hospitals, care homes and schools; set dates for public access buildings and workplaces to comply
5. Increase publicity about the importance of ventilation
6. Bring in less invasive test types for public large gatherings / shopping malls e.g. breath and saliva
7. Expand funding for sniff vaccines e.g. Imperial
8. Rolling publish of stats about immunity from infection and each vaccine type, to demonstrate vaccine benefits in a simpler way to general public and to build support for any booster programmes required
9. Fund teams to travel to other countries to help them establish their vaccination programmes effectively, as well as to aid publicity about vaccine effectiveness and safety
10. Fund booster programmes
11. Fund trials for age 2-11 vaccines
12. Economy boosting initiatives including green energy, pharmaceuticals, engineering (including ventilation/ air cleansing) etc.

Mine would have started September last year.
We'd have planned in regular firebreaks to keep numbers low.

A firebreak would be a full everything shut, schools etc. Back to the first lockdown level of closed. A fortnight at a time.
I'd have planned it so we'd have had one last week of August, 1st week September. Then a fortnight over autumn half term, asking all schools to do one week online/one week half term. Then another the fortnight after Christmas, another February half term etc.
Hopefully the breaks would be enough to keep numbers low if you had them regularly. But between, depending on numbers, places mostly open.

Having planned breaks would mean people could plan for them, make sure they had enough food in etc.

Properly funding the health service rather than trying to sell bits of it off would be a start.

No different to what has been done or tried in order to protect health services. Lockdowns, social distancing and hygiene, vaccines.

One thing that maybe could have been improved on is information. More TV and social media health programmes like we used to get. Info graphs and short adverts to help people to understand the reasons for mask wearing etc. For example, how airborne the virus is and that it can be caught in a room even when you are alone alone in that room (after someone infected has left). I think even now there are people who still don't understand this

Only stuff that is hindsight-they should’ve closed the borders/stopped non emergency travel. I remember thinking this at the start.

Anyone who runs a business knows you cannot totally control borders. Everything would ground to a halt.

I would now concentrate on developing a home easy / accurate saliva test .
And then I am sorry but we have to live with this

@Flaxmeadow

Good point. Rather than briefings . Accurate public information films.

Pretty much what we’re currently doing except give away more of our spare vaccinations to other countries.

Would not have locked down back in March 2020, and instead got a real strategy around “pushing through it”. (Perhaps tempered if the NHS really got overwhelmed.)

Definitely none of the “deadly virus” nonsense.

Would never have closed schools, and idea would have been to develop a degree of immunity in the younger cohorts early on, while encouraging older/vulnerable to restrict contact for a time.

It would have worked far as I can see.

I wouldn’t have gone all in for the vaccine, like Hancock. (And probably thay would have been a mistake.)

So we’d probably now be in more the position other European countries are in — not quite at herd immunity, but also not far from it. We’d not have had the disruption to lives and education nor economic damage.

Offer all over 5 the vaccine and close off the borders.

Shut everything down completely for two to four weeks, enlist the army and police to ensure compliance.

Jesus Christ 🤦🏼‍♀️

The army?!

Thank god you weren't in charge

So we’d probably now be in more the position other European countries are in
You do realise that each European country dealt with covid in their own way? So which European country are you referring to? This is a common theme on mumsnet- there is the UK and Europe.

@ActonSquirrel

Shut everything down completely for two to four weeks, enlist the army and police to ensure compliance.

Jesus Christ 🤦🏼‍♀️

The army?!

Thank god you weren't in charge

@ActonSquirrel Well OP did ask! 😂 lol

@KhalliWhalli

I get that the government can’t win, whatever they do. And everyone seems to have an opinion on what should be done about Covid. I have my own opinions but am wondering what everyone else thinks, about lockdown, mandatory vaccination, etc.

So, what would you do, if you were in charge?

After 18 months of this I would quite like those vehemently against lockdowns, masks and vaccination to live in a parallel universe where these policy decisions were made.

Like PP I'd offer vaccines to everyone. I'm still considering from what age.

I'd train more doctors, nurses and support staff hoping to prevent our current ones collapsing under the strain.

I'd make it a legal requirement that all buildings used by the public (in which I include employees) have opening windows. With particular emphasis on schools - every classroom should have opening windows.

I'd publish up-to-date figures on cases in MSOAs so that people would know the local situation and react as they feel appropriate.

Then I'd open the country and not prevent anyone from trying to earn a living.

And I'd drag the 'close the borders' brigade to the cliffs above Dover and let them watch how food and vital supplies enter the country. If they still didn't get it, I'd take them round all of the country's ports.

I'd train more doctors, nurses and support staff hoping to prevent our current ones collapsing under the strain.

But it takes years to train up HCPs @amicissimma!

Medicine is 6 years minimum. We're also already at a maximum of how many medical students we can have in the UK due to caps on how many FY1/FY2 doctors can be admitted to work in hospitals each year. These are long term policies that should prioritised but wouldn't have helped in the current timeframe.

And this is without all the disruption that covid caused to education and placements for those training to becomes HCPs.

Would hate to be in charge as certainly wouldn’t want the responsibility

Vaccines for everyone who wants one or wants their children to have one
All non essential travel out of the country stopped
Mandated masks indoors and on transport in all public places
Large fines for failing to test when unwell or failure to isolate
Mitigation’s in schools inc remote learning to keep numbers low with twice weekly tests for all
More tracing staff and checks

@leafyygreens, well ideally, I wouldn't start from now, I would've done it years ago. And certainly tried to get some kind of assistant training going 15 months ago.

But we are here, now, so I'd get going for the future.

@bumbleymummy Why do people still drone on about "using the nightingales" - there was not the NHS staff to do this, or do you think Dr/Nurses/HCA/allied health staff/lab workers etc etc can be pulled out of a hat

Face coverings a legal requirement in shops and on public transport.
Keep working from home, not just a vague requirement that is the whim of employers, but for named professions a maximum amount of time you can be in an office per week.
Autumn booster jabs.
Set an example by own behaviour, no different rules for some than others.

I'd train more doctors, nurses and support staff hoping to prevent our current ones collapsing under the strain.
I would reverse Brexit and try and entice some of the many EU doctors and nurses who left to return.

@bumbleymummy

Lift all restrictions and let people get on with their lives. Offer antibody tests to anyone who wants one so they can make an informed decision about whether or not to have the vaccine (particularly young people/children). Offer boosters to the most vulnerable groups coming into the winter. Use the nightingale hospitals to treat and convalesce covid patients (so we’re not sending sick people into care homes). Invest in the nhs so it is properly staffed and can cope with typical winter respiratory illnesses never mind a pandemic. (The budget for the ridiculously overpriced T&T app could have gone much further here for example)

This again

People can't "get on with their lives" if coronavirus is not adequately supressed.

No one with any expertise is recommending people who have had a previous infection shouldn't be vaccinated.

The nightingale hospitals aren't fit for purpose - they don't have the appropriate setup nor do they have extra staff to work there

@newnortherner111

Face coverings a legal requirement in shops and on public transport. Keep working from home, not just a vague requirement that is the whim of employers, but for named professions a maximum amount of time you can be in an office per week. Autumn booster jabs. Set an example by own behaviour, no different rules for some than others.

and yet look at this

I'm convinced all the wfh constantly people are those who just can't be arsed to go back.

Oh I didn’t realise there was a common theme about UK and Europe!

Anyway what I meant was we’d be better off in terms of damage to education, lives and economy. But worse (compared to where we are now in UK) in terms of vaccination, and so would be having a bit more of a battle against Delta.