How will ever get out of this?

[Toria84]

Cases are continually rising, vaccines don’t stop transmission, vaccines don’t prevent infection.

You can be infected with Covid more than once and by the looks of things we will need a vaccine every 6 months.

How will we ever move on from how things are now? How can things change?

It’s absolutely rife in my area and in my DS school.

Are we now just expected to accept these levels of infection, hospitalisations and death?

There are 130 Covid patients in our local hospital which isn’t far off the number of the second wave!

It really isn't.

What was wiping out schools was closing them. For the greater good.

I work in a hospital and there are no end Of people either shielding again (wfh), off with COVID (despite being double vaccinated, they're working their way thru staff to give boosters at the moment) or looking after their children who are sick.

There are about 50 COVID positive cases in the hospital a mix of double vaccinated, single vaccinated, and no vaccine at all at varying levels of being unwell including over half of these being in intensive care.

It feels never ending bit in reality we have to learn to live with it like the flu.

Our trust have also just put something out as have others in the UK saying that we aren't to have social events like Christmas parties with colleagues because of the impact to patients which although Is totally understanding is very depressing.

@Remmy123 is completely correct

This is life now. We carry on.

It astonishes me that anyone continues to think there is an opportunity to "get out" tbh. Where have you been?!

As the overwhelming majority on this thread have said, this is life now, we get on with it.

The 3 weeks that covid "ripped through" my sons primary school have been far less disruptive than the months of bubbles popping, repeated isolations and last minute changes to provision ever were.

If you aren't immune compromised, you get vaccinated and get on with your life. If you are, then you need to take more precautions

Ah,so it’s the people with the underlying conditions who need to stay away from everyone, limit their contacts, just generally live something of a non-life that everyone else can get on with? How about sensible precautions taken across society by everyone so that everyone can get on with living a decent life?

This thread gives me hope that there is some sanity left.

Don't worry about it.

@Remmy123

Whoever thought vaccines stop transmission and prevention infection are very naive.

Just live your life and don't worry about it.

Totally agree with this. It isn't an ignorant thing to say, it is realistic.

It will never go away. It is endemic, just like many flu and common cold viruses. Just get on with your life.

I am classed as CEV. It wasn't even possible for me to shield due to other family members (elderly and disabled parents) needing urgent care.

You can't live your life locked away forever.

@Bordois

The 3 weeks that covid "ripped through" my sons primary school have been far less disruptive than the months of bubbles popping, repeated isolations and last minute changes to provision ever were.

Same here

With all the ‘you wait’ on here etc I far prefer having had it happen quickly over the last 18 months of damaging education

I would like better and faster testing - takes too bloody long waiting for my dcs results, better test and trace so we have more assurances about whether we’ve had contact with the virus.
Also investment in the NHS so that we don’t need lockdowns etc from whatever the next virus will be in future.
And I’ll keep up wearing a mask. I quite like not being ill thank you.

The fact is that deaths do remain low despite rising cases so we crack on and if we get it we isolate and move on, it will never be eliminated but it’s becoming significantly less dangerous for the vast majority of people. We need to stop looking at numbers of cases, they’re broadly irrelevant. The deaths are important and they’re at less than 1/10 of what they were at the peak and the majority of those are probably with Covid not from covid

@Oneforthemoneytwo

The fact is that deaths do remain low despite rising cases so we crack on and if we get it we isolate and move on, it will never be eliminated but it’s becoming significantly less dangerous for the vast majority of people. We need to stop looking at numbers of cases, they’re broadly irrelevant. The deaths are important and they’re at less than 1/10 of what they were at the peak and the majority of those are probably with Covid not from covid

The death rate in the UK is much higher than other countries.

It’s a coronavirus much like other cold viruses that circulate all year round. The reason this one is problematic is it is a novel coronavirus. We didn’t have any antibodies to it, hence vulnerable people dying and why we have vaccinated lots of people to give their immune systems the chance to build antibodies so when they catch it they won’t overreact to it and end up in hospital.

Over time we hope the virus will become less potent. We hope the main variant will change to become similar to a standard cold and many of us will have antibodies to it so when we catch it it will be nothing more than a sniffle or we’ll be asymptomatic. So that’s how we will live with it.

It is noticeable scrolling down the active threads that most are about normal, everyday life not HOW WILL WE GET OUT OF THIS which is frankly overdramatic and not necessary. You can choose to not be in this apocalyptic mindset and come over to a different thread instead. Or alternatively spend some time working out why you're so invested in such an incredibly negative mindset that you've failed to see any kind of wider perspective

Superbly put

Unfortunately the media are once again starting with the doomsday reporting, so between that and social media I've no doubt folk will be whipping themselves into a frenzy soon enough

Nobody pretends Covid isn't a problem, but it's not going away and in many ways it's the reactions to it rather than the virus itself that's doing a lot of the damage

@Itisasecret

Interesting, exponential spread is kind of wiping out schools at the moment. Great logic that.

Exponential growth now, will mean the school is largely Covid-free by November.

Arguably that's better than a drip-drip approach of restrictions (that will never be enough to eradicate it) that means the same number of pupils get it, but just spread over the year and into exam season.

We will get to the same/a very similar place with Covid eventually. We will be vaccinated, we will be exposed to covid, occasionally we will be ill with covid, we will have covid boosters, we'll be exposed to covid etc, etc, etc. Life will go on as it always has, might just take a while.

^
Was about to write something similar, but no need as this says exactly what j was going to say, and probably more concisely!

Until a highly virulent but mild disease variant appears and becomes the dominant strain.
A successful virus is one that passes easily but doesn't kill its host so it gets the chance to pass on easily to many others.
Its what happened with the Spanish flu. That's still around, just doesn't kill as many these days.
The common cold is a coronavirus, doesn't tend to kill you anymore,
Covid will just become another cause of respiratory viral illness, along with rhinovirus, RSV, coronavirus ,human metapneumovirus, adenovirus, Influenza A & B, enterovirus and a myriad of other viruses which cause respiratory illnesses each year.
Its the reason GP,s always say "its a virus" when you have a cough and cold because it is and theres loads of them and we dont test for any of them because its pointless, the illnesses are usually mild and burn themselves out without any treatment, testing changes nothing in the disease course or spread.
Hopefully thats what will happen with covid

@Getawaywithit

If you aren't immune compromised, you get vaccinated and get on with your life. If you are, then you need to take more precautions

Ah,so it’s the people with the underlying conditions who need to stay away from everyone, limit their contacts, just generally live something of a non-life that everyone else can get on with? How about sensible precautions taken across society by everyone so that everyone can get on with living a decent life?

Ah,so it’s the people with the underlying conditions who need to stay away from everyone, limit their contacts, just generally live something of a non-life that everyone else can get on with? How about sensible precautions taken across society by everyone so that everyone can get on with living a decent life?

I accept it's shit for the CEV... But the quicker we get through this stage and it has ripped through schools, the sooner numbers will return to much lower levels. The alternative is endless restrictions, which only drag things out.

@reesewithoutaspoon

Until a highly virulent but mild disease variant appears and becomes the dominant strain. A successful virus is one that passes easily but doesn't kill its host so it gets the chance to pass on easily to many others. Its what happened with the Spanish flu. That's still around, just doesn't kill as many these days. The common cold is a coronavirus, doesn't tend to kill you anymore, Covid will just become another cause of respiratory viral illness, along with rhinovirus, RSV, coronavirus ,human metapneumovirus, adenovirus, Influenza A & B, enterovirus and a myriad of other viruses which cause respiratory illnesses each year. Its the reason GP,s always say "its a virus" when you have a cough and cold because it is and theres loads of them and we dont test for any of them because its pointless, the illnesses are usually mild and burn themselves out without any treatment, testing changes nothing in the disease course or spread. Hopefully thats what will happen with covid

Yes hopefully! We aren’t hearing so much about new variants of “concern” at the moment, so hopefully it goes this way.

Agree with everyone on here, just need to get on with life, it's here to stay, who knew...

@Bordois

The 3 weeks that covid "ripped through" my sons primary school have been far less disruptive than the months of bubbles popping, repeated isolations and last minute changes to provision ever were.

Yes, I've been saying this since the start of term... Your school is over it now - yes, there will be reinfections in a year or so (which are likely to be fewer and milder) and there will continue to be some cases for those that "missed out" (ironically quite probably due to isolation measures when it was ripping through).

It's amazing how short-sighted some people are saying things like "half the class now has it... It's only going to get worse!", when no, it's NOT only going to get worse. Give it a fortnight and you'll be largely back to normal!

Totally agree @Remmy123 - and that is want 99% of people I know in real life are thinking as well.

Totally agree @Remmy123 - and that is want 99% of people I know in real life are thinking as well.