Why the panic of Omicron is mild?

[WineGetsMeThroughIt]

All of this just seems utter bollocks. A handful of new cases of a variant that could potentially pose less of a threat than delta. Yet with delta we were basically told to keep calm and carry on. No masks, no isolating, children or C+ parents going to school, no social distancing or any rules really.

I'm seeing news reports now encouraging everyone to go get their booster jab and their flu jab to help protect against the new variant and flu this winter. But if you come in contact or test positive with Omicron even if you're fully vaccinated then you must isolate for 8 days. Then seeing other reports saying that Omicron is resistant to the vaccine, so the pharm companies are rushing out a new vaccine - so potentially everyone will be encouraged to get a 4th vaccine.

Meanwhile even though you're vaccinated you can still spread it and it's been said that the first positive case of Omicron to enter this country was via a fully vaxx'd person because that's the only way you can travel now. But the vaccines were the ticket of this pandemic they said. Obviously there are fewer ill people because of the vaccine, but there are also a lot of people experiencing worrying Ng side effects with them as well. What will the build up of all these vaccines be doing to us I wonder. Genuine question we may not know for years.

Im just getting so fed up with all this now. It's so depressing

Vaccines are reducing the risks of dying from covid, so they have been providing a way out. Unfortunately those anti-vaxers who are not dead are clogging up ventilation beds and depriving others of much needed health care.

Keep reminding the anti-vaxers that people like them die and their relatives regret it. www.sorryantivaxxer.com/ They hate it but just maybe it'll encourage a few to get vaccinated and be part of the solution, not the problem.

Yeah last I read there were 3 confirmed cases in the UK, and they want to cancel Christmas again??!! Fuck right off!!

That’s a nasty little site. Full of glee that people have died? Wow. How persuasive is scorn and Karma Will Get you type gloating?

I wish everyone would take available vaccination for Covid. I don’t crow and gloat if someone dies if they weren’t vaccinated. Not even if they were loudly anti-vaxx.

@HeatonGrove

We are several weeks away from being able to assess the risks from this new variant. You are basing your assertion that it is a mild virus on one quote from one doctor in South Africa. That is not how risk is assessed.

Most governments worldwide are taking it seriously and are introducing restrictions until they have sufficient evidence to make an informed decision.

In UK the new national hobby seems to be to criticise whatever decision the government takes on Covid. Damned if they do. Damned if they do not.

Plus the doctor had only treated young healthier cases. It’s not known how it might affect older or compromised people. I’d rather restrictions until more is known than higher death figures.

Bit confusing when the scientist who discovered this new strain has said they havent had any deaths from it so why are we going backwards?

@Mumontour85

Yeah last I read there were 3 confirmed cases in the UK, and they want to cancel Christmas again??!! Fuck right off!!

Perhaps read again. 22 now. I don't think anyone wants to cancel Christmas.

We need more data.

Caution while waiting for that data seems sensible.

We don’t know that the relatively small number of people who have caught this variant so far will be representative of the population in general. We especially need to know how it afffects older and vulnerable people.

@exiledfromcornwall

I distinctly remember Hancock saying that the vaccines were the way out of this.

Yes, and they have to be because what else is there? Living our lives with on and off restrictions?

You do understand the reason for everything is to stop people dying? ( and overwhelming the nhs)

The virus is deadly to many people - it doesn’t pick and choose, healthy young people are at risk too. We all have to make small sacrifices to protect our extended family and friends.

The virus (even in those with mild symptoms) causes organ damage, blood clotting problems, memory problems, chronic ill heath.

There are only a handful of proven cases of serious complications from the vaccine.

The virus is inconvenient …. Masks, vaccines, restrictions are inconvenient …. But all much less so than death.

If we let it rip through the community filling up ICU, pulling medics / nurses from other departments what happens to car crash accident patients? Stroke patients? Those needing hip replacements?

We all need to think of the world as a whole, not just us and our immediate family, we need to work together to stay on top of this virus in order to maintain some kind of normality. With luck this mutation will not cause more severe illness and we can step back again.

In SA they have seen a huge rise in admissions of children under 2 and those in their 20/30s… what if that is this new mutation?

What if we let it run rip through our population now then find out in a month vaccines no longer work, our elderly and vulnerable are dying and our children and young people are critically unwell ?

Isn’t caution better?
Allow scientist time to figure this out?

You're sick of Covid. The government is sick of Covid. Doctors, nurses and teachers are sick of Covid. Lots of people who have it are sick of it. I'm currently on Mumsnet a lot because I had it in January, thought I had recovered in October and was daft enough to see friends yesterday and today. Since they left I've collapsed on the sofa and am exhausted. Please. Have the vaccine. It's not perfect but it's the best we've got.

@Mumontour85

Yeah last I read there were 3 confirmed cases in the UK, and they want to cancel Christmas again??!! Fuck right off!!

I don’t think that either of those things are true, are they?

The whole premise of this thread has a very tenuous relationship with what's true, but that's not stopping any of us.

(1. There's absolutely no concrete data that omicron is mild.

And 2. Covid being mild for some people hasn't stopped it killing over 5 million people so far.)

...it's been said that the first positive case of Omicron to enter this country was via a fully vaxx'd person because that's the only way you can travel now

Is that correct? You can only travel if you're vaxxed? I didn't think that. I thought people who were not vaxxed just had to follow different rules upon return - such as extra testing and quarantine.

@PrincessNutNuts

The whole premise of this thread has a very tenuous relationship with what's true, but that's not stopping any of us.

(1. There's absolutely no concrete data that omicron is mild.

And 2. Covid being mild for some people hasn't stopped it killing over 5 million people so far.)

Very fair point!

Emergency situation evolves and plays out on real time. People make decisions as data changes. Not hard to understand.

@PearlyShamps

...it's been said that the first positive case of Omicron to enter this country was via a fully vaxx'd person because that's the only way you can travel now

Is that correct? You can only travel if you're vaxxed? I didn't think that. I thought people who were not vaxxed just had to follow different rules upon return - such as extra testing and quarantine.

You can still travel to countries by intermittent PCR testing and quarantining.

Why are they pushing for everyone to be vaccinated and boosted with this current vaccine, all in a panic, when they say Omicron is likely to evade this vaccine?

Has there been any testing to see whether our bodies can take this number of MRNA vaccines and boosters so often and so close together?

@Smokeyfish

Why are they pushing for everyone to be vaccinated and boosted with this current vaccine, all in a panic, when they say Omicron is likely to evade this vaccine?

Has there been any testing to see whether our bodies can take this number of MRNA vaccines and boosters so often and so close together?

Probably because an Omicron surge on its own is one thing, an Omicron surge mid Delta surge is another. At least get protected against one variant before another tries to infect you.

Why are they pushing for everyone to be vaccinated and boosted with this current vaccine, all in a panic, when they say Omicron is likely to evade this vaccine?

This was answered by Adam Finn on the bbc today. They expect the vaccine to be less effective, not ineffective. The greater the number of antibodies you’ve got (increased by the booster), the greater chance you’ve got of fighting off covid with as mild a course as possible.

@Veeveeoxox

I'm not one for the tin foil hat but it does make me wonder are they trying to soften us up scare us into more restrictions ?

I’d be highly surprised if there isn’t a lockdown over Christmas. I’m absolutely sure it is bound to happen. And again, it will be at the last minute as Boris won’t want everyone up in arms for weeks/they need people to spend money to boost the economy.

Just my opinion. But I’ve absolutely accepted this will be bound to happen.

@Mrssheppard18

Bit confusing when the scientist who discovered this new strain has said they havent had any deaths from it so why are we going backwards?

It takes usually three to four weeks from infection to death so given that Omicron variant hasn't even been identified a week ago, it shouldn't be confusing at all!

@PurpleDaisies

Why are they pushing for everyone to be vaccinated and boosted with this current vaccine, all in a panic, when they say Omicron is likely to evade this vaccine?

This was answered by Adam Finn on the bbc today. They expect the vaccine to be less effective, not ineffective. The greater the number of antibodies you’ve got (increased by the booster), the greater chance you’ve got of fighting off covid with as mild a course as possible.

Good point... Lots of people only seem capable of thinking in black and white terms.... Either vaccines "stop Covid completely" or "are useless".... Same with masks, etc. I know people like the comfort of dealing in certainties rather than shades of grey but that's life!

BECAUSE WE DON'T KNOW HOW DANGEROUS IT IS YET DUH! the NHS is 9n its knees, people are still getting ill, the last thing we need is a new variant which could be worse or vaccination resistant - I don't think people are taking this seriously enough yet, so panic more please!!!!!

@Bertiebiscuit

BECAUSE WE DON'T KNOW HOW DANGEROUS IT IS YET DUH! the NHS is 9n its knees, people are still getting ill, the last thing we need is a new variant which could be worse or vaccination resistant - I don't think people are taking this seriously enough yet, so panic more please!!!!!

The NHS hasn't been fit for purpose for years but it's not on its knees.