will covid ever go away

[essexgirl58]

As of today the covid figures have topped 50,000.

I blame the Government for relaxing the wearing of masks. Even on public transport where the wearing of masks is compulsory, many people are not adhering to this and nobody takes any notice.

Venues have been opened such as cinemas and gyms and people do not have to wear a mask.

Even places of worship are relaxed and they say oh you do not have to wear a mask. There is also no limit on the numbers at funerals.

Roll on the winter

Do you think even if we imposed restrictions it would go away? Didn’t Australia try that one.

No it won't

Hth

No it won't go away.

I wish the government would stop blaming the public for trying to get on with their lives. I'd love to here what THEIR doing to improve the NHS so it can deal with the numbers that live in this country.

It won't go away, it may change over time. Wearing a mask won't make it go away.

No it won't go away.

It's not MASKS!!!

Some parts of the UK aka Scotland are wearing masks and our numbers were also very shit.

I’m still wearing a mask and washing my hands despite what the government advises. People need to take more responsibility and stop blaming the government for everything. The reality is that so many people just don’t care anymore, and they won’t listen to anyone. This has been going on for almost the entire pandemic. Wear a mask, practice social distancing, and wash your hands.

I dont think anyone ever thought wearing masks make it 'go away'

Rather that when transmission rates are such that hospitals are pretty much full before flu has even got going, and we are looking at major winter pressure, so no hope of tackling the backlog, a measure that pushes down the transmission rate as to be a good thing.

Continuing to improve ventilation and indoor air quality is important too

No, it's endemic now.

Has the flu or common cold ever gone away?... There's your answer.

It will get milder as we become more immune as a population though.

It won’t go away. Masks will not make it go away.

No probably not. Most of us will get it a few times I would imagine.

We will probably stay the black sheep of the world for a while, until everyone realises you can't keep restrictions for ever.

Wales kept compulsory mask wearing all the time. They didn’t work.

No, it wont ever go away but it wont always be like this either.

Dear god why do people still think that the little pound shop scraps of paper, complete with huge gaps at the sides, that even people who do wear them just shove in pockets and reuse, will have any effect on the virus?

And to answer your question, no, it won’t go away, so you can either hide behind your sofa for the rest of your life, or quit bitching and get on with it (like us keyworkers have had to all the way through).

No it will never go away, its severely optimistic to think it ever will do, and that's putting it mildly.
We've never managed to eradicate any other coronavirus/flu/norovirus etc, why would covid19 be any different?

Ppe is always considered the least effective method of risk management. The hierarchy goes:

Eliminate: e.g. full lockdown
Reduce : e.g. 2m social distancing
Isolate: e.g. isolate known cases
Control: e.g. wash your hands
PPE: e.g. wear a mask

Masks are helpful, but you need to consider all the previous, more effective control measures first.

I think it's really unfortunate that masks have been such a focal point. We have a natural experiment whereby we can compare Scotland, NI and Wales (all of which have kept compulsory masks) and England (which hasn't) and we can see that rates have been comparable or higher in Wales, Scotland and NI during the time that masks remained compulsory. There was an article in the news today comparing Wales and England and Wales is currently doing significantly worse than England on every measure, including cases, hospitalisations and deaths.

Of course it's possible that masks are making some difference in Scotland, Wales and NI in that rates there would be even worse without them (though there is no real evidence for that) but it is at least clear that masks alone are not enough to stabilise or decrease cases.

I suppose people focus on them because they are such a visual symbol of your allegiances in the pandemic and they show that you are taking personal action to "stop the spread" but it seems likely that other factors, like population immunity, are so much more significant as to make the wearing or not wearing of masks essentially irrelevant.

It seems likely that Wales and Scotland have recently seen higher cases because they had a lower base level of immunity and, in Scotland's case, it is ahead of England because schools returned sooner.

I was thinking about my day and the interactions which would have involved a mask had they been mandatory were walking into a petrol station for 1 min and talking to someone behind a screen, walking to my table at a cafe (30 secs) and then taking mask off for an hour to eat and chat to friends; popping into corner shop for 2 mins etc. Meanwhile, my toddler is at nursery licking other children's toys etc and then comes home and wipes his snot on me. The chance of wearing a cloth mask preventing me passing on covid in the short periods I was wearing it just seems negligible. I would be upset to have to wear them at baby groups again though because they prevent you communicating properly with your child and anyone else (and I have terrible morning sickness and wearing a mask makes me want to throw up at the moment). Meanwhile if you are sitting in close proximity to someone at work for hours it seems unlikely that a mask would be sufficient to stop you passing covid.

I don't think it will go away. However, I think that people have been lead to believe that there's no point in social distancing, wearing a mask etc. I think it was better and effective when social distancing and masks were encouraged. Plus I think it should be the rules to get tested if a close contact, and advised to isolate if possible. Just sensible reasonable requests. I feel like I'm being seen as someone who is letting the side down when I wear a mask in some places, which is madness!

It won't go away. People don't give a shit anyway. Then again, what example have they been set? I'm all for masks, but well aware I'm in the minority.

@SalsaLove

I’m still wearing a mask and washing my hands despite what the government advises. People need to take more responsibility and stop blaming the government for everything. The reality is that so many people just don’t care anymore, and they won’t listen to anyone. This has been going on for almost the entire pandemic. Wear a mask, practice social distancing, and wash your hands.

@SalsaLove "I’m still wearing a mask and washing my hands despite what the government advises."

To be fair, the government does advise all of this.

@TinaYouFatLard

It won’t go away. Masks will not make it go away.

The point of masks is not to make it go away because, as you have rightly pointed out, it's not going anywhere. The point of masks and other measures such as household isolation is to slow down the spread so it stays manageable.

But hey who needs manageable when this is such fun?

@Becca7910

I don't think it will go away. However, I think that people have been lead to believe that there's no point in social distancing, wearing a mask etc. I think it was better and effective when social distancing and masks were encouraged. Plus I think it should be the rules to get tested if a close contact, and advised to isolate if possible. Just sensible reasonable requests. I feel like I'm being seen as someone who is letting the side down when I wear a mask in some places, which is madness!

But at what point would you stop those measures? Eventually they will be lifted and when that happens the cases would go up.... all suppressing the virus is doing is kicking the can down the road. It made sense while we rolled at the vaccine but that has been done now.

There is no point saying we should wait for boosters as this will need to be rolled out yearly from now on.

People that say we shouldn't have released restrictions never actually give a sensible answer to when they should have been lifted instead.

@Porcupineintherough but you would be managing it forever as its never going away! There has to be a point where people realise we can't stop it from spreading.

Yes mitigation measure can slow it down.. but how long do you propose we do that for? 1 year,2,5,10?

At what point do you stop? Boosters will be needed every year so no point waiting for them to be done as we will just be in the same position next year.

@Tuba437 no because within a year or two most everyone will be vaccinated and/or had it a time or two and it will be just another virus for the vast, vast majority. Children will get it a few times in childhood and the up and coming generation of adults wont need vaccinating at all, or at least not til old age. It would just be a holding measure til then and a very situational and seasonal one at that.