Is it now impossible to avoid?

[MrsKDB]

My feeling is that the cat is completely out of the bag now and we are all getting covid, with symptoms or without, at some point. I’ve expressed this to colleagues / friends who have agreed but a few have looked very shocked at the idea and seem to think ‘being careful’ means they won’t ever catch covid.

What do you think? An inevitability or possible to avoid for your entire life?

@CheeseCakeSunflowers

I think it is as likely as catching a cold at some point in the future. At the moment the vaccine is what most of us are relying on for ammunity but as that wears off we will build up natural ammunity by coming into contact with the virus.

Sorry but that makes no sense. Natural immunity levels are random - you can be infected and have no antibodies at all shortly afterwards or you can have a strong immune response that protects you for ages.

Vaccine immunity is much more predictable and robust because that’s the whole point of the vaccine - that’s what they’re designed to produce, a robust immune response.

We know vaccine immunity can wear off. How long that takes is still being studied but the answer will be boosters not reverting back to natural immunity and forgetting vaccines.

It genuinely amazes me that some people believe it is in any way possible to avoid covid forever. That is just mad - how would it be possible? To some extent I blame the stupid information spread about 'staying safe' but at the same time I would expect people to have some ounce of sense and realise a highly infectious disease that is literally everywhere is pretty much impossible to avoid. Even being 'very careful' is a bit pointless - all it takes is one exposure - at the dentist, at the hairdresser, in a friend's house. Exposure doesn't mean you'll catch it or get ill if you do catch it - there's every chance that people who are still worried about getting it have already had a lot of exposure and just fought it off with no issues.

I feel sorry for CEV people, not because they're CEV but because they've been made to believe they have to do whatever they can to avoid an infection that may have very negative consequences or no consequences at all. It's a terrible burden to put on someone. I also note that many CEV people never worried at all about the many infection that kill millions of people every year and now are suddenly fixated on one single infection. If you're 'CEV' to covid surely you're 'CEV' to many other things that were always around? What did CEV people do in 2019 and earlier?

@MarshaBradyo - that does suggest we’re still in a much better situation with everyone vaccinated doesn’t it?
I guess it’s the approach of ‘well it’s inevitable, so why did we ever bother doing anything about it’ that stresses me out. I think things we have done have really made a difference. I think we’ve saved lives.

LOL, anecdotally I have got it twice with double doze of Pfizer sandwiched in between...and I know of many who did as well.

It is inevitable. I just hope we all survive this winter and no new variants emerge.

Acton yes I’m pretty much hailing the vaccines. If you think about the terrible choices without them it wouldn’t have been good - overwhelmed healthcare for example as lockdowns weren’t a long term answer

It’s really great we can do so much even with delta circulating. We have saved lives - pretty much anyone who would have died without it but now is double vaccinated. But now we all can be then it’s a different stage. Delaying is only necessary if hospitalisation is too high.

We might have it here I keep thinking re how grateful I am to SG and team (not that I’m that high risk, late 40s but no other conditions).

It’s been awful here, really bad but touch wood I think vaccines have really taken hit out of it now.

@TheDailyCarbunkle - well quite a few cev people before the pandemic did have to spend periods of their life isolating and using enhanced hygiene precautions precisely to protect themselves from common infections, when their immune systems were being depressed by treatment. Many cancer patients have to do this.

Some CEV people also get offered vaccines for common infections that aren’t offered to everyone.

My DH is CEV and long before the pandemic was having regular blood tests to weigh up on a monthly basis the benefits of a medication that depresses his immune system vs the risk of common infections he might be exposed to.

Last line re U.K. rather than here - home

@TheDailyCarbunkle

It genuinely amazes me that some people believe it is in any way possible to avoid covid forever. That is just mad - how would it be possible? To some extent I blame the stupid information spread about 'staying safe' but at the same time I would expect people to have some ounce of sense and realise a highly infectious disease that is literally everywhere is pretty much impossible to avoid. Even being 'very careful' is a bit pointless - all it takes is one exposure - at the dentist, at the hairdresser, in a friend's house. Exposure doesn't mean you'll catch it or get ill if you do catch it - there's every chance that people who are still worried about getting it have already had a lot of exposure and just fought it off with no issues.

I feel sorry for CEV people, not because they're CEV but because they've been made to believe they have to do whatever they can to avoid an infection that may have very negative consequences or no consequences at all. It's a terrible burden to put on someone. I also note that many CEV people never worried at all about the many infection that kill millions of people every year and now are suddenly fixated on one single infection. If you're 'CEV' to covid surely you're 'CEV' to many other things that were always around? What did CEV people do in 2019 and earlier?

Regarding CEV people, there is a crucial difference with respect to Covid - we will have no beds to care for CEV people if they just throw all caution to the wind. We used to be able to give them much higher standard of care should they become critically ill. We just no longer do.

It actually sucks. Especially if you work in the vicinity of CEV people and witness it all yourself.

I’m doubled vaxxed, so is DH and DS has had the one jab he is allowed. We’ve all caught it recently. Almost certainly I brought it home from school.

With the current systems in place, I think most people will catch it in the next few months. Schools will be open, but many won’t have enough staff to run safely.

Honestly this thread is making me panic. I can’t bear the thought of getting Covid in my third trimester, possibly being ill during labour, passing it to my newborn. Or my CEV DH being seriously ill when I’m pregnant/have a newborn.

Our biggest exposure risk is DS who is in reception now. It seems inconceivable to take him out of school but if this thread right it’s a lost cause if we keep him in.

We don’t eat out, go to hairdressers, cafes, anything precisely because we’re trying to remain cautious until a little while after the baby’s born. I can accept getting it at some stage but i can’t bear the thought of testing positive right now.

@AlexaShutUp

Are there really people who are planning on living like this forever? I don't really understand what the end date is.

Honestly speaking, I'm not sure if my parents will ever go back to normal. We are all double jabbed but they still won't meet me indoors except in emergencies.

My parents are the same. They're mid-70s so feel very vulnerable. And I have a child at nursery, so we're going to get it at some point.

I haven't seen them indoors since February 2020 and I doubt I will until next spring, at least. Maybe they'll decide it's better to go back to normal and risk dying of Covid, but at the moment it doesn't look like it.

I should mention we had a very young family member die of it early in the first lockdown, and it was so shocking and scary I'm not really surprised they're trying to avoid it. I would, I think, if I didn't have a child.

@MargosKaftan

I think the plan is herd immunity again. We are all supposed to get it. Those who are v vunerable have the "choice" to continue to lockdown, the hope being by spring, everyone else will have had it and it'll start to disappear. I assume that's the thinking, anyway.

So many cases in schools, nothing happens until it goes above 10% off at the same time with it. But then primary aged kids aren't testing regularly so if some are asymptomatic you wouldn't know you've hit 10%.

I have the week of my dcs half term and the week before off work. Loads of jobs planned for that 1st week, im fully expecting to fucking get it then when I really need to have some time to clear the decks!

It's not so much herd immunity because it's endemic now, it's the fact that lockdowns only delay infections. Had we opened up in September rather than July then everyone would have got sick over winter rather than spacing out more over summer

I have a friend who lives with a vulnerable family member and, aside from medical appointments. she hasn't left the house for 18 months .

I do wonder whether people who aren't coming into contact with any one else at all are losing immunity and may, in time, become more vulnerable not just to Covid but to any other infection (flu, cold etc). Don't we get immunity by very small exposures to viruses which are not enough to infect us? Or have I totally got that wrong ?

I don’t live in the U.K. any more - I’m in a country which has handled things really well and cases are really low now. I think this idea of inevitability seems to be unique to Britain. I’m actually wondering if we will need to be vaccinated to be allowed to travel back from Britain in the future, much like one needs a yellow fever vaccine for parts of Africa. I don’t think many (any?) other countries are just letting it spread like the U.K. is, are they?

@feesh

I don’t live in the U.K. any more - I’m in a country which has handled things really well and cases are really low now. I think this idea of inevitability seems to be unique to Britain. I’m actually wondering if we will need to be vaccinated to be allowed to travel back from Britain in the future, much like one needs a yellow fever vaccine for parts of Africa. I don’t think many (any?) other countries are just letting it spread like the U.K. is, are they?

What vaccination rate and restrictions do you have?

Cases may be low but are they decreasing? Even if it takes a long time why wouldn’t it keep circulating

Unless the country is aiming for elimination?

All my close family managed to avoid Covid until now. Dgs1 started feeling unwell last Saturday. I said to my dd that she should do a LF test on him, just in case. It was positive. After PCR testing both dgs1 and sil have Covid, dgs almost certainly contracted it from school. Dd and dgs2 were (and still are) negative. Dgs’ we’re at their other grandparents’ home last Saturday, so they had PCR tests done. Nana tested positive but Grandpa didn’t. They would normally have been at my house over the weekend but luckily (for me) other grandparents wanted to take them out. Think it’s just pot luck now whether you catch it or not.

I think most people will get it but maybe not all. I'm 48 and never had the flu or the flu jab, I've also never had covid and been exposed in my job (nhs) and by friends. Maybe I've just been lucky as the child hasn't brought it home ....yet!

If you have kids that attend school I would say catching it is inevitable. Somehow my child has missed it so far even thought it’s affected two close school friends. I don’t think he’ll avoid it next time.

I think so. We have always been careful, stayed out of crowded spaces, stayed mainly outdoors but for the first time, covid is in our primary and my son has been setting next to the child who tested positive. I knew school would always be the route that brings it into our house. So frustrating and inevitable.

We have been v careful. Currently me and DH are isolating, DD is negative although we half suspect that she had it first and it didn’t show up on LFTs.

HRTT but isn't the rule that where CATS are involved there shas to be a photo? Hi

Depends on what you do

If you wfh, order online shopping, don’t have kids and are careful with contact , wear masks, sanitise well you may not get it

If you have kids, go shopping, visit attractions, pubs, nightclubs, restaurants, don’t sanitise, refuse to wear masks and are not vaccinated you are very likely to get it

I’m in Ireland and I am in the “it’s inevitable” camp. We’ve all had it in this household with the youngest having it twice.

I’m double jabbed, wfh, get shopping delivered and I somehow managed to get it and bring it into the house. Kids were on school hols at the time.

I genuinely think people are deluded if they believe
Covid is suddenly going to go away. People are going to have to change their mindset on this. We have to learn to live along side it. It’s going nowhere.

I would say inevitable unless you never go to work, shops or have kids in school.

I’d say yes but maybe more the same way than you catch the flu (yes I know it’s not the same).
Many people have had the flu once or twice in their life but no more. I’m hoping we will fall back into that sort if situation.