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Original poster

There's going to be a lot of people isolating over Christmas isn't there?

58 replies

yellowgreysocks · 07/12/2021 19:53

Obviously I'm praying I'm not one of them.

We were talking about this at work today. From 15th December, every positive case reported on the news each day will be isolating for Christmas. Plus all their dependants who are affected plus anyone coming into contact with omicron will have to isolate too.

That's a hell of a lot of people unable to have family over / visit etc. Or maybe people are happy with it? (Illness aside obviously) Bit like last years enforced lockdown Christmas that was enjoyed by many. For me, I'd be gutted with house arrest this year, as would my wider family.

No real point to this it was just a bit of a 'oh blimey' moment earlier.

OP posts:
Original poster
yellowgreysocks · 07/12/2021 19:54

Oh blimey as in - that's a huge amount of people affected.

OP posts:
Wizzbangfizz · 07/12/2021 19:55

You only have to isolate if you are positive - if you are vaccinated you don't have to. Omnivron is looking totally mild so no, I don't think there will be.

SivvyPlath · 07/12/2021 19:56
Confused
Neverfittedin85 · 07/12/2021 19:57

But that's still a lot of people who will be isolating!
That's why the majority of people are changing plans.

Paddingtonthebear · 07/12/2021 19:59

All close contacts of anyone positive with Omicron have to self isolate whether they are vaccinated or not.

Not all positive pcr tests however are being tested for Omicron. So loads of people won’t even know.

Original poster
yellowgreysocks · 07/12/2021 19:59

@Wizzbangfizz

You only have to isolate if you are positive - if you are vaccinated you don't have to. Omnivron is looking totally mild so no, I don't think there will be.
But there's 40-50 thousand people every day testing positive. Over 10 days - that's a lot of people with spoilt plans for Xmas!

I say families as in, I'm pretty sure most people won't go off to see relatives and leave the covid positive person home alone on Xmas day.

At the moment, if you are in contact with omicron you have to isolate for 10 days though - regardless of how mild it is.

OP posts:
happytoday73 · 07/12/2021 20:00

I'm confused... You only need to vaccinate if close contact if its the new varient...

If you are double jabbed and close contact or child you don't...

So nope I think there will be far less isolating than last Christmas.....
... Especially if people don't bother reporting all their close contacts

SivvyPlath · 07/12/2021 20:02

Especially if people don't bother reporting all their close contacts

I know many people that did this.

happytoday73 · 07/12/2021 20:02

UK wide there has been less than 500 confirmed cases of new varient...
The figures you are quoting are for delta

Watapalava · 07/12/2021 20:04

Hardly anyone will have to isolate

66 million people

100 a day plus contacts

That’s if they isolate

If I was contacted as contact (unlikely as I’ve blocked number) I still wouldn’t isolate

I don’t know many who would tbh

4pmwinetimebebeh · 07/12/2021 20:04

Alternatively you will have lots of covid positive people mixing because they don’t test because ‘I know it’s not covid’ so they don’t have to isolate over Christmas.

I don’t begrudge or judge them and I won’t be testing unless absolutely necessary and certainly not doing asymptomatic LFTs ‘just in case’ like I usually do. I wouldn’t ignore obvious symptoms though.

Paddingtonthebear · 07/12/2021 20:04

If your positive pcr test happens to be one of the small percentage that are tested for omicron, you will be contacted at a later date by public health. Any of your close contacts a would then need to self isolate for 10 days whether they have all vaccinations or done, and regardless of the age or if they have any symptoms or not. Everyone with any omicron contact is supposed to self isolate regardless.

But not all positive tests are being tested for the omicron variant. So it’ll just run riot I expect.

Paddingtonthebear · 07/12/2021 20:06

Sorry some typos there!

Basically they are likely to be loads more omicron cases in the community than we think because they aren’t testing every positive pcr test the variant!

nordica · 07/12/2021 20:08

I don't know why so many people have misunderstood this thread, OP!

I get what you mean. It's true close contacts don't have to isolate if double vaccinated or if they're children unless it's Omicron, but if your kids test positive, you're hardly going to leave them and go off to celebrate Christmas with your other relatives.

I do suspect people will test less the closer to Christmas we get though, especially with mild or no symptoms. The same happened last year, there was a spike in case numbers after Christmas when people started testing again (too soon to be the result of increased cases from Christmas mixing).

Original poster
yellowgreysocks · 07/12/2021 20:09

@happytoday73

I'm confused... You only need to vaccinate if close contact if its the new varient...

If you are double jabbed and close contact or child you don't...

So nope I think there will be far less isolating than last Christmas.....
... Especially if people don't bother reporting all their close contacts

Lots of people with scuppered plans for lots of covid reasons - not all related to omicron.

Families units are more than likely going to stay at home together though aren't they? Not go off and leave the covid positive person behind. So multiple people have plans disrupted.

My title should have been - lots of people with scuppered plans rather than isolating.

OP posts:
Bobholll · 07/12/2021 20:09

Well, not really. 50,000 people out of 62 million in the UK is 0.07% of the population. So I guess over a 10 day period that’s 0.7% of the population .. so pretty tiny.

It’s easy to think 50,000 is a lot & it is but not when you actually compare to how many people live in the UK..

SirensofTitan · 07/12/2021 20:09

Won't there be loads less than last year when everyone had to isolate? In England anyway, I don't know what the rules are in the rest of the UK

Katie517 · 07/12/2021 20:10

OP you are talking nonsense, only omicron contracts are supposed to isolate so it’s no where near the amount you are saying. Also people will either not test or not disclose contacts in the run up to Xmas. I certainly wouldn’t tell T&T names of anyone outside of my household in the run up to Xmas I would tell the people themselves then it would be up to them to make a decision, the vast majority of people are doing this already and a hell of a lot are blocking the T&T phone number and email address!

Paddingtonthebear · 07/12/2021 20:10

Yes. And you may have the omicron variant and not even know because they are not sequence testing all pcr tests for it. Just some at random.

CovidCorvid · 07/12/2021 20:10

Contacts of omnicrom having to isolate is bollocks now..that horse has bolted. Too late to prevent it taking off. So I don’t see why it isn’t treated the same as normal covid. 🤷‍♀️

Original poster
yellowgreysocks · 07/12/2021 20:10

@happytoday73

UK wide there has been less than 500 confirmed cases of new varient... The figures you are quoting are for delta
Sorry, I didn't mean the numbers were all omicron. Just that's it's a lot of lot of people regardless with disrupted Xmas plans
OP posts:
RoseAndRose · 07/12/2021 20:11

"Citing unpublished data collated by the UK Health Security Agency, Prof Alastair Grant of the University of East Anglia said omicron now made up two per cent of PCR swabs in England.

“This gives a worst case scenario of about 2,500 cases so far and an R-value of 3.47,” he said in a viral Tweet on Tuesday. “[This] would correspond to a doubling time of around 3 days.”

With delta producing about 45,000 new cases daily, and omicron set to produce even more, the yes, there could be a lot of people isolating over Christmas.

(It'll be even worse in the New Year if people don't)

minipie · 07/12/2021 20:11

You only have to isolate if you are positive - if you are vaccinated you don't have to

Hmm well DD2 has been positive for the past week. DH DD1 and I are negative and double jabbed and don’t have to isolate, in theory. however the gov website says we should limit contact, and when we ask friends and family nobody wants any of us at playdates or parties till DD2 is clear!! Which I can understand.

Plus obviously we couldn’t leave DD2 here while visiting family.

So it absolutely will affect way more than just the positive cases, at the very least it will affect their immediate families.

Original poster
yellowgreysocks · 07/12/2021 20:12

@Katie517

OP you are talking nonsense, only omicron contracts are supposed to isolate so it’s no where near the amount you are saying. Also people will either not test or not disclose contacts in the run up to Xmas. I certainly wouldn’t tell T&T names of anyone outside of my household in the run up to Xmas I would tell the people themselves then it would be up to them to make a decision, the vast majority of people are doing this already and a hell of a lot are blocking the T&T phone number and email address!
That isn't what I said. I mentioned all the various reasons people might be isolating. But thanks for being so rude 🙄
OP posts: