Why are things ' kicking off ' in Europe ?

[genuinequestion21]

Please excuse my ignorance. But why is Germany for example stressing so much about covid right now ?

I think we have more cases per 100 k than them and have been having high cases for months and we are still open and not ' that much ' talk about lockdown etc. It seems we are kind of just about ' OK '. Well at least we aren't going to plan B yet.

However in Germany there have been few cases and cases are now exploding and there's talk of lock downs etc.

Hospitals also seem to be full again. Whereas in the UK, they don't seem to be on the brink.

Why these differences ? Germany and UK have a very similar proportion of the population vaccinated. Is it because cases are seeming to go up very rapidly, whereas ours have been high but flat for ages ?

Why are their hospitals full again and ours are not ?

Please correct any factual information which is incorrect.

@HarrietPierce, you are a bot aren't you? There's zero thought in your posts, just a kneejerk reaction to deliver an agenda.

@PutYourBackIntoit

It's not covid thats the big concern now, it's the whammy when other germs get you due to reduced immunity related to social distancing, and more serious illnesses taking hold as people have delayed seeking medical advice sooner. I fear for countries who had very strict lockdowns as the whammy will be greater.

@putyourbackintoit I read it was also a knock on effect of lockdown, lots of older people being less active and their health going downhill as a result. Depressingly.

Child obesity has soared too. It was bad already.

We’ll be feeling these effects from multiple lockdowns for years to come. It will make for an interesting historical analysis in the future.

@ecceromani

You cannot compare raw death numbers (this a lovely conversation ) Countries all count covid deaths differently so it's excess deaths as percentage of population that count. And then this has to be adjusted for age/demographics of population. Countries with younger populations, or more rural populations with less people living packed into cities should fare better in a pandemic

On the (grim) topic of excess deaths, this thread is worth reading.

mobile.twitter.com/jburnmurdoch/status/1455567528365903876

@HarrietPierce

Whatamess582

"It might be kicking off in Europe but still the UK still in the lead. Boris is trying to blindside you."

And the rhetoric he is using is having the desired effect.

Personally I think Boris is an idiot who would struggle to explain his own government’s policy on any of it. I would ignore anything he says and listen to Chris Whitty etc. I suspect the rhetoric is about getting boosters into people tbh. This is what I find so frustrating - each government is trying something different which may or may not work - it isn’t a competition, but we should be trying to learn from each other not assume governments are trying to kill people etc etc If we want 2022 to be better we need a better idea of what actually works I think.

Love how many people are stating with authority that the reason is x or y or z.

As with everything, the factors will be multiple and complex, and really, it doesn’t matter why.

Nobody really knows what is going to happen next in any nation, we just have to react to the here and now and do our best to be personally responsible.

@Sunshinegirl82 , last week I think it was 43 in the week so just over half the UK’s numbers:
www.google.ie/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwiYsdiW9qf0AhUZQUEAHXqgDzYQFnoECB4QAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thejournal.ie%2Fcovid-latest-figures-ireland-3-5604147-Nov2021%2F&usg=AOvVaw15NTBhOYe6sjnf0zptBP6J

These numbers will definitely go up though as case numbers have surged and the country is in a panic.
Ireland, like Belgium, though, is I think overcounting covid deaths - the official covid death toll is twice or even three times the excess deaths. I think officially the UK covid death toll is twice the Irish covid death toll, but looking at the excess deaths posted earlier, there seems to be 5 or 6 times more excess deaths per capita in the UK over the past 18 months.

@genuinequestion21 you must have been living under a rock lately. There were several hospitals in UK recently declaring emergency status and closing a&e etc. people are still dying at an exponential rate now but the Clowns that try and fail to run this country are doing everything to control the media. Same reason the Spanish flu was called the Spanish flu, real news is suppressed. Schools here are actually bringing back face masks because of the massive rise in cases in the Midlands. Other countries like Germany are just taking it more serious as it should be. Everyone needs to wear masks no exceptions the virus doesn’t care if you’re “excepted”.

Thank you for sharing @CornishYarg that's really interesting. UK seems to be in negative on one of the charts
I'd love to see china's excess deaths too

@Iseestupidpeople in Scotland we have legal requirement to wear face masks, including in secondary
And we still have high case numbers, overstretched hospitals and queues of ambulances outside A&E!

Secondary *schools that should say

Maybe it’s because we locked down for longer this year and we’re just a couple of months behind Europe.

@ecceromani

Thank you for sharing *@CornishYarg* that's really interesting. UK seems to be in negative on one of the charts I'd love to see china's excess deaths too

@ecceromani

I'd love to see china's excess deaths too

I would too, but I wouldn't trust them one bit.

@Happyher

Maybe it’s because we locked down for longer this year and we’re just a couple of months behind Europe.

We've had such a different journey since the spring to mainland Europe in terms of case numbers and restrictions it's not a case of us behind or ahead of them... we're just following a different path.

@Iseestupidpeople

There were several hospitals in UK recently declaring emergency status and closing a&e etc. people are still dying at an exponential rate

"Exponential" isn't a fancy word for "high", which is how you seem to be using it. It means the rate of growth is constant - or in other words, the time it takes for a rates to double is constant... so it takes the same time for deaths to go from 20 to 40, as it does for them to go to 40 to 80, and 80 to 160 and so on.

We are not seeing death rates climb exponentially in the U.K., not even close.

As for hospitals, the issues may be a legacy of the impact of Covid on other aspects of health, but not Covid cases themselves.

* I'd love to see china's excess deaths too*

I would too, but I wouldn't trust them one bit.

Indeed. Russia's official figures vs their excess deaths is too

@Warhertisuff maybe you are just a bot, who knows. You sound suspiciously like those incompetent addlepated coxcombs that are running the UK into the ground.

@Delatron

Sadly it is normal for thousands of people to die every week from variety of causes. I’m not entirely sure why the 1,000 from Covid are not ok but we don’t blink at the rest. Bizarre really.

It would be interesting to consider what other deaths are normalized, and what measures we could take to reduce them if we wanted to.

For example, almost 300 a week and rising from liver disease, which could be hugely reduced by banning booze.

@Delatron

Child obesity has soared too. It was bad already.

We’ll be feeling these effects from multiple lockdowns for years to come. It will make for an interesting historical analysis in the future.

Which will make the pudgy little blighters that much more vulnerable to covid. Probably permanently given the tendency for obese kids to become obese adults.

@LobsterNapkin

Banning alcohol would just make it go underground.

Alcohol is the devils work mind you. Banning it will just create prohibition

My brother lives in Germany and is really stressed. He says that cases are expected to explode there in the next few days: p.dw.com/p/43DtI and there’s a real sense of fear

Well, I’m also in Germany and at least in my state, there is no sense of fear whatsoever. But we’re also one of the most vaccinated regions and with one of the lowest incidences right now.

I really, really hope we don’t end up like Austria in a general lockdown. That said, their incidence is 1,000+ whilst ours has been hovering at 300-400 this week. It will still go up, but hopefully not to 1k.

Life is completely normal where I live, I was in a packed restaurant last night at a table of 20 and everyone was very relaxed. The staff not so much, because they had to turn away every single person whose vaccination wasn’t complete, couldn’t produce a certificate, or didn’t have the verifiable digital one on them. Just in my group 5 people had to go home. They’re very strict now.

There’s a 2G rule in place which becomes 2G+ when the hospitalisations are more than 6/100k. That’s compulsory vaccination plus a negative test on the day for entry to restaurants and any events.

Each state is experiencing different case rates and some of them - the ones with very low vaccination rates - are already in a semi-lockdown. Clubs and gyms are closed, there’s a nighttime curfew… Other states, like mine, is business as usual.

you dont need to show anything at restaurants/theatres/cinemas in uk ime

@MrsLargeEmbodied

you dont need to show anything at restaurants/theatres/cinemas in uk ime

I know Scotland does technically require a pass for certain events, but how much is it enforced?

It’s like people saying masks are a legal requirement in Scotland. Yes, but you can wear a cloth one (which does f all) or declare yourself exempt. That’s not mask wearing.

@MrsLargeEmbodied

you dont need to show anything at restaurants/theatres/cinemas in uk ime

You do in Wales and it is enforced, they have been very strict at the rugby matches. A cinema was shut down for not complying.