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Original poster

The news has turned Covid posts down

115 replies

Islandcircle4 · 20/09/2021 22:39

Is it just me or has anyone noticed that there isn’t much news on tv about Covid anymore. Also find it strange that some news online report that the schools going back hasn’t caused a spike. I find it odd as schools haven’t been back long…. Surely these people know it takes time for cases to multiply.

OP posts:
IveGotASongThatllGetOnYNerves · 21/09/2021 08:10

We can't carry on like this forever. People need to eat! Pay bills. We can't spend the next 20 years going into lockdown.
Covid is here to stay and we have to accept that, just like flu kills people, covid will kill people. And on an individual level that's utterly crappy but the world simply cannot afford lockdown after lockdown.
And I'm not saying that because I think I'll be ok and I am heartless and simply don't care about vulnerable people. I am cev. My lungs are fucked. I have congestive heart failure. If I get it I'm dead. But the world cannot stop for me, nor would I want it to. I want children to have a normal childhood. I want adults to have their lives, I want people to be able to see doctors and get their hospital appointments.
I'm not trying to speak for anyone but myself but I feel that covid is not the only or the most important thing out there.

KingsleyShacklebolt · 21/09/2021 08:11

@Innovationstandard

Maybe other news has become more important, we're not in an emergency anymore
This in a nutshell. There is very little to report at the moment, it's not interesting to people, not newsworthy.

And that's a good thing too, who wants 18 months or more of wall to wall coverage?

Stuffin · 21/09/2021 08:14

I think some people have become obsessed about covid that nothing else matters and can't seem to weigh that up with all the other shit things happening in the world that will ultimately cause far more harm.

snowblack · 21/09/2021 08:17

Norway has even classed covid as a normal flu now.

Toddlerteaplease · 21/09/2021 08:17

@vdbfamily yes. We are sitting consistently round 140 for the last few weeks. 6 months ago it was 450.

ladybrunton · 21/09/2021 08:21

I'm sorry to disappoint you OP but cases are dropping in most areas of the country, not rising. I'm in London and cases are below average in my borough, despite schools returning.

I'm not naive enough to think covid has gone away but we need to embrace normality while we can. News wise, I'm much more concerned about the energy crisis and those muppets blocking the M25 than I am about covid at the moment. It's not headline news.

CloudPop · 21/09/2021 08:23

@Sparklingbrook

What’s the obsession with Pret? Confused
Yes I've always wondered that!
herecomesthsun · 21/09/2021 08:26

There needs to be middle ground between "it's all over" and "we're going to be dead by Christmas"

just as there is middle ground between "It's all over" and "we're going into lockdown forever"

KurtWilde · 21/09/2021 08:42

Good. About time we started focusing on recovery rather than obsessing over numbers.

herecomesthsun · 21/09/2021 08:51

@snowblack

Norway has even classed covid as a normal flu now.
Can you link to a source for that?

Or is it that some scientists in Norway are more concerned about covid + flu than new variants? (we're quite worried about covid+ flu too)

Sparklingbrook · 21/09/2021 09:29

Yes @CloudPop two posters have mentioned Pret on this thread, I am intrigued as to why.

herecomesthsun · 21/09/2021 09:37

I think it is part of the argument for people being encouraged back to work partly to benefit office landlords and companies like Pret a Manger that rely on a commuting workforce consuming their product.

I have a vague recollection of the Pret ownership enthusiastically campaigning for people to get back to the office

eg www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/boris-johnson-leadership-criticism-pret-a-manger-founder-a4554666.html

TableFlowerss · 21/09/2021 09:47

@GoldFrankensteinAndGrrr

At the moment there are things happening which will affect people (particularly the vulnerable/those on low incomes, as usual) in a far more detrimental way than Covid. Most people are doubly vaccinated, many have already had covid too - so most people have a good degree of protection. Even the vulnerable.

What people don't have a good degree of protection against is rising food and fuel prices, food shortages and cuts to UC. It's a perfect storm which is going to cause tremendous hardship, and as a knock on effect, threat to health and wellbeing, in the coming months. There's no vaccination against poverty unfortunately, and the vulnerable are most likely to bear the brunt.

These stories are far more urgent and pressing than Covid right now. Only those who are insulated against poverty could possibly disagree.

Here here! Only those that have the luxury of being financially stable will think covid is more important than this. The poor will be affected yet again.

I say this as someone who won’t be affected financially by this, in a way that will cause me hardship. I still worry about those on lower incomes

Sparklingbrook · 21/09/2021 09:47

How strange. Well our local one closed prior to Covid so it couldn't have been that popular before.

I can understand how businesses that rely on people from offices buying their lunch there might be keen to stay afloat TBF.

Judging by the queue out the door at Greggs in the city centre the other day I think that worry could be over though now.

TheGrumpyGoat · 21/09/2021 09:47

For the past 18 months I have had to search hard for any news that was not related to Covid. I am glad these things are starting to get some mainstream coverage again.
For me, the biggest issue at the moment is the hike in fuel prices. That, along with the rise in NI means we’re looking at a pretty bleak year next year.
The Covid data is still available in all the places it has always been available. I check the dashboard at 4pm ish every day to see the case numbers. Does it really have to be headline news every day?

EvilRingahBitch · 21/09/2021 09:49

Pret is a symbol of "the economy as normal with everyone WOH". It's a metonym really.

Actually the businesses which would be first up against the wall in the event of more restrictions are the nightclubs but "we need to get back to normal to save Fabric" hasn't really caught on, whether ironically or seriously.

MarshaBradyo · 21/09/2021 09:50

I have as I’ve thought about what stories have led

I appreciate the change

Sparklingbrook · 21/09/2021 09:52

I think the tide is turning on MN too. Threads about all sorts of other mundane things. No more 'Am I allowed to go for a walk?' or moaning about queuing outside shops, and a lot less about mask wearing etc.

When we get a 'reclining seats on an airplane' thread I will know all is well again. Grin

Sparklingbrook · 21/09/2021 09:53

@EvilRingahBitch

Pret is a symbol of "the economy as normal with everyone WOH". It's a metonym really.

Actually the businesses which would be first up against the wall in the event of more restrictions are the nightclubs but "we need to get back to normal to save Fabric" hasn't really caught on, whether ironically or seriously.

Don't think I have ever been in one, I think in these parts we'd have to use another sandwich place as an indicator.
NothingIsWrong · 21/09/2021 10:30

Pret sandwiches give me raging indigestion. Must be something in the bread they use. Do like their porridge though...

Also happy to see news focussing on other things. Energy prices is the biggie at the moment I think.

Sparklingbrook · 21/09/2021 10:32

Talking of Pret-this is a good non covid news story, coming into effect soon

www.gov.uk/government/news/natashas-legacy-becomes-law

NannyAndJohn · 21/09/2021 11:03

@Porfre

Maybe theres a load of other important things on the news now.

Concerns about empty shelves.
Inflation, how are people going to put food on their tables later this year.
Energy companies going bankrupt, bills going sky high and the possibility there may not be enough energy supply this winter.

All of which stem from Covid!
TheGirlWhoWantedToBeGod · 21/09/2021 11:03

I think the clue is in the word ‘news’. It’s been over 18 months now, plus the media have nothing interesting to report when case numbers are broadly stable, and deaths are low.

Yes some people are dying of covid but people die every day of lots of things. But we don’t have news headlines shouting “53 people in the UK had a heart attack today” or “94 dead after a stroke” because that would be ridiculous.

Our brains aren’t programmed to stay in high-alert emergency mode indefinitely, and I think for most people their brains have now ‘processed’ covid and it is now in the realm of ordinary day-to-day risk rather than something exceptional and terrifying.

TheGrumpyGoat · 21/09/2021 11:05

All of which stem from Covid!

No. A lot of the issues stem from Brexit.

TheGrumpyGoat · 21/09/2021 11:16

For the people who want to keep reading about it every day, there are plenty of outlets who focus on it. Join Twitter and you can read about it all day every day if you desire.
For people who are interested in everything else going on in the world, it’s great that the mainstream news has started reporting on other things again.