It seems like the U.K. may have a better Covid strategy after all

[Warhertisuff]

... at least since the emergence of Delta. I generally supported the restrictions before last summer, but thought that opening up in July was sensible. It's too early to tell
for sure, but at the moment it looks like the right call.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-59378849

@ktel1

SemynonA

The French health care system is by far the best I have ever experienced.

I have experience of the UK and Canadian systems as well. They don't come close.

The only shadow is, Mental health.

And it gets much much worse when it comes to Learning Disabilities. Especially Autism.

Not just because it's underfunded, but because France is rotten by the psychoanalytic theories, over 90% of our psychiatrists are from psychoanalysis influence, which mostly means, in France the mom is still blamed for her autistic child. (Because of the psychoanalytic mindset, France is a very patriarchal and patronizing country, and all female related care is very poor in term of respect and integrity)

ABA, Makaton, PECS... it is just starting in France, it's a huge luck to find a speech therapist trained in ABA/makaton.., so the whole ABA controversy didn't even hit France yet.

This is the reason I'm here in the UK.
I miss the decent food, I miss my GP, I miss the French efficiency (and I thought we were bad compared to Germany!), I miss the high standards in general.

But I do not miss the mindset/abuse and lack of awareness.

Peace of mind has no price as my sister once told me. She was not right, it has the price of decent food, decent affordable housing, amazing trains, amazing healthcare.. and so much more xD
But I agree it has no price. I never have been happier, even though I'd kill for some saucisson. Deprivation of physical comfort is nicer than deprivation of mental comfort :)

I'd add to conclude that being spoiled with the best things in the world and a providence State made us entitled little piece of s* is only a step away, that while I fought the idea my whole life... might be truer than I am still willing to accept.

Or maybe, we need all the best things in the world and a providence State, simply to survive the constant mental abuse we impose on each other and ourselves?

MarshaBradyo

Javid just recently said he doesn't think mandatory vaccines will be introduced in the UK.

"In terms of requiring mandatory vaccinations for the general population I don't think that's something we would ever do"

I'm confused about him speaking for the UK.

Scotland have the passport, it's just been approved in Northern Ireland, do Wales have one?

I suppose the line is that it's still not mandatory , you have a choice yet will be barred from x,y and z which is essentially the same thing

@ktel1

MarshaBradyo

Javid just recently said he doesn't think mandatory vaccines will be introduced in the UK.

"In terms of requiring mandatory vaccinations for the general population I don't think that's something we would ever do"

I'm confused about him speaking for the UK.

Scotland have the passport, it's just been approved in Northern Ireland, do Wales have one?

I suppose the line is that it's still not mandatory , you have a choice yet will be barred from x,y and z which is essentially the same thing

Oh right yes I wouldn’t say Plan B is same as mandatory vaccine

Only Austria has suggested latter in Europe so far, we won’t do that

But Plan B is an option which is passport

MarshaBradyo

With the Austria situation they have said that fines will be imposed next February - it remains to be seen if they follow through with that

However the other aspects of the rules and passports aren't dissimilar from what's in place in other countries already and is actually less strict than some- including Australia and Canada

I don't know the details of plan B but if rights are restricted if people don't get a vaccine how wouldn't that effectively be a mandate?

@ktel1

MarshaBradyo

With the Austria situation they have said that fines will be imposed next February - it remains to be seen if they follow through with that

However the other aspects of the rules and passports aren't dissimilar from what's in place in other countries already and is actually less strict than some- including Australia and Canada

I don't know the details of plan B but if rights are restricted if people don't get a vaccine how wouldn't that effectively be a mandate?

I’d say it’s better to keep them separate otherwise it’s hard to know what is being proposed or not.

Covid pass or mandatory vaccine are used across the world

As words that is.. not actually used yet

This new Covid variant B.1.1.529 seems like bad news.

South Africa has been put on the red list from Friday, plus six neighbouring countries.

meanwhile in the UK

cases have been going up for about 3 weeks and at the same time hospitalisations have decreased and so have deaths - possibly would have expected both of the later to have started to increase.

Cases up 10% week on week.
Deaths down 15.5 % week on week.
Patients admitted down 10.5 % week on week.

I know loads that have had covid recently and most said its like a bad cold, this must be down to the vaccinations and boosters

Yes the lag would have kicked in now. I heard it mentioned on the news by a scientist.

We must be seeing the impact of the boosters.

There were 26 ambulances waiting outside my local hospital yesterday.

In South Africa hospitalisations have tripled.

Our Delta cases mean that the NHS is struggling. This new variant sounds likely to put immense pressure on the NHS.

This deliberate front loading of infections was a reckless gamble and now it looks like it may actually make the winter wave worse with the new variant. That’s on top of the dubious ethics of a mass infection strategy to alleviate winter pressure on an underfunded NHS. Allow deaths and rampant long covid early so voters don’t know how much the government has fucked the health service with austerity.

Our hospital always has a queue of ambulances outside it lately.

I'm morally against a policy of removing protections in schools which has infected, hospitalised, and killed so many children.

But mostly I've never understood the maths, or the logic behind this policy.

How was it supposed to work?

How does 3 or 4 million infected from July - October prevent millions being infected from November - February?

@Brindle88

I strongly suspect the vast majority of those ambulances are not queuing with covid patients!

Hospitals are under pressure with non covid issues that have been ignored due to GPs being closed for the last 18 months!

[quote GreenLakes]@Brindle88

I strongly suspect the vast majority of those ambulances are not queuing with covid patients!

Hospitals are under pressure with non covid issues that have been ignored due to GPs being closed for the last 18 months![/quote]

The point is that whatever the patients in the ambulances are suffering from they are sitting there unable to obtain treatment in a timely fashion.

The Royal College of Emergency Medicine published a report this month estimating that 4,519 patients had died after waiting more than 12 hours in emergency departments in England in 2020-2021.

The flow of patients through the health and social care system is broken in many parts of the country. What will happen when the cold weather kicks in and winter pressure start is scary to think about.

Let's hope the Omicron is mild and doesn't trigger another big wave of patients needing hospitalisation.

[quote GreenLakes]@Brindle88

I strongly suspect the vast majority of those ambulances are not queuing with covid patients!

Hospitals are under pressure with non covid issues that have been ignored due to GPs being closed for the last 18 months![/quote]
Well, quite. When my husband needed an ambulance due to covid the wait was going to be several hours so they suggested I take him to A&E myself since that would get him on oxygen quicker.

GP Surgeries haven't been closed.

But a lot of out-patient monitoring space and staff at hospitals had to be diverted to covid wards.

And a lot of surgery had to be cancelled to divert resources to covid.

The tsunami of unmet need has been created by keeping the NHS so busy with covid that it couldn't keep up with its usual work.

Decade long staffing and building maintenance issues aren't helping either.

[quote GreenLakes]@Brindle88

I strongly suspect the vast majority of those ambulances are not queuing with covid patients!

Hospitals are under pressure with non covid issues that have been ignored due to GPs being closed for the last 18 months![/quote]
Except that

• more patients in ICU with covid means more doctors, nurses and bed used so nit available for non covid patients.
• Covid being rife means you have more staff off because they are ill.

The reason why ambulances are waiting outside isn’t just that there might be more people going through A&E. it’s also because A&E can’t discharge patients to wards too.

@PrincessNutNuts

Our hospital always has a queue of ambulances outside it lately.

I'm morally against a policy of removing protections in schools which has infected, hospitalised, and killed so many children.

But mostly I've never understood the maths, or the logic behind this policy.

How was it supposed to work?

How does 3 or 4 million infected from July - October prevent millions being infected from November - February?

Sorry, what has hospitalised and killed so many children?

@HesterShaw1

The government covid policy of removing protections in schools has led to children being ill, hospitalised, dying or suffering with long covid in higher numbers than previously during Delta, with the protections in place.

Sorry, with your use of the words "so many" I assumed your aim was to worry and panic already nervous people.

@HesterShaw1

Sorry, with your use of the words "so many" I assumed your aim was to worry and panic already nervous people.

There have been more child covid deaths and hospitalisations this term than in any term since the start of the pandemic.

This fact informs my negative opinion of the policy that removed most protection against covid from English schools.

I was expressing that opinion.

Just like everyone else on here.

Guys, how was that "wave in the summer instead of in the winter" meant to work again?

@PrincessNutNuts

Guys, how was that "wave in the summer instead of in the winter" meant to work again?

It was clearly a complete load of shit. The thinking behind it was that it was an 'exit wave' and it was better to have that in summer than winter, but how arrogant to think we had any control over when the 'exit' from the pandemic would be!

That's pretty much my view on it @megustalacerveza,

But it had a lot of support here on this board.

Time for some good news!

I still support it as a logical choice. You might think you would have made a different choice but that does render the choice that was made wrong or illogical.

If/when the new variant becomes dominant here we'll see what the impact of that choice is, it's still to early to know anything for definite.