On scale of 1-5 - where are your views on COVID?

[SonicBroom]

So it’s nearly two years and none of us want things to be the way they are. However, it still feels like people are pretty polarised in their views looking across threads and conversations, so I was wondering quite HOW polarised people are?

Please therefore indulge my highly unscientific mini-survey to see roughly where people sit. If I have nothing better to do then I might even add up all the numbers at the end and make a pretty graph .

Please just reply with 1 to 5 in respect of how you feel about what we know at the moment (which is largely that omicron is more transmissible, no certainty over severity yet but even if less severe could result in higher impact due to greater numbers).

1 - I’m worried about what COVID will mean for me / my / family / society and willing to take any precautions necessary including full lockdown with school closures

2 - I’m worried about what it will mean and I’m willing to take precautions including restrictions on social gatherings but want to be able to mix between households and prefer schools to stay open, although I know transmission among kids will be high.

3 - I’m on the fence, I don’t mind a few restrictions but I’m not that worried and really don’t want anything that curtails my life too much. I’ll go along with whatever I’m asked to do though.

4 - I’ve had enough, I don’t think we’re at much risk and don’t want any major restrictions or disruption to my life / social life. I’ll do what I absolutely have to on the face of things but otherwise will quietly get on with doing things my own way.

5 - I’m completely over it, it’s utterly ridiculous how worked up everyone is getting we just need to get on with our lives and accept that some people just won’t make it. I’m not going to bother paying any attention if I’m asked to do something I don’t want to.

@lljkk

Thru Rumples.... I only do these things so someone says nice things about me

Thanks for the chart - I was hoping for a breakdown!

1

I work on the periphery of the hospital so get a bird's eye view every day of what's happening in there:

• Someone falls down at home and waits 10 hours on the floor for an ambulance, exacerbating a bunch of other health problems.
• A person sits alone on a hard chair in a corridor at the hospital for 24 hours bleeding profusely from their rectum because there is no bed for them, or staff to talk to them or help them with the toilet.

Several members of my work colleague's family have died from Covid and she now has cancer and is off work.

I can't bear to think of what will happen if this new variant sweeps across the country and puts a lot of extra people in hospital.

I guess how you feel about it depends on what's happening to you and the people around you...

@LightSpeeds

1

I work on the periphery of the hospital so get a bird's eye view every day of what's happening in there:

• Someone falls down at home and waits 10 hours on the floor for an ambulance, exacerbating a bunch of other health problems.
• A person sits alone on a hard chair in a corridor at the hospital for 24 hours bleeding profusely from their rectum because there is no bed for them, or staff to talk to them or help them with the toilet.

Several members of my work colleague's family have died from Covid and she now has cancer and is off work.

I can't bear to think of what will happen if this new variant sweeps across the country and puts a lot of extra people in hospital.

I guess how you feel about it depends on what's happening to you and the people around you...

Those examples given sound like the NHS before covid tbh.

3

@LightSpeeds

1

I work on the periphery of the hospital so get a bird's eye view every day of what's happening in there:

• Someone falls down at home and waits 10 hours on the floor for an ambulance, exacerbating a bunch of other health problems.
• A person sits alone on a hard chair in a corridor at the hospital for 24 hours bleeding profusely from their rectum because there is no bed for them, or staff to talk to them or help them with the toilet.

Several members of my work colleague's family have died from Covid and she now has cancer and is off work.

I can't bear to think of what will happen if this new variant sweeps across the country and puts a lot of extra people in hospital.

I guess how you feel about it depends on what's happening to you and the people around you...

The solution is to properly fund and reform the nhs. Not to bring the whole country to a halt and strip the entire population of their quality of life, liberties and freedoms!

1

it’s utterly ridiculous how worked up everyone is getting we just need to get on with our lives and accept that some people just won’t make it

It’s utterly ridiculous that nearly 2 years on people think the choice is live a full life or die. It’s never been that simple. The issue is the capacity of the NHS to handle both covid and it’s usual diagnosis/treatment/emergencies vs the NHS not working working at current capacity because staff are off with covid vs what happens when so many people are sick simultaneously that the food chain is affected and essential services are running on no staff - what if your boiler breaks/your power goes off/your water is coming out yellow/the broadband goes off….when people who needed an emergency appendectomy die because they can’t be seen quickly enough, we will start to see unrest. Add in the fact that there’s been no delivery at the supermarket for 3 days and the shelves are empty and there will be more unrest. When there’s unrest, things start to get nasty and that’s when we really see what this Government is/isn’t capable of.

Covid deaths are the tip of the iceberg,

@LightSpeeds - I was talking to a friend who had broken his wrist playing football last week, and had to go into A&E and then through re-sus in order to get an x-ray.

He said that area was full with people wearing oxygen masks. Every bit of wall space, corridor and alcove was just full of people.
When he said to the doctor that it seemed really busy that night, the doctor said no it's actually quite a quiet night....
And that is before Omicron cases will be getting bad enough to be in hospital.

5

4/5. We've recently had covid and dh and I are double vaccinated. Dc had nothing more than a mild cold. Its made me feel a lot less anxious, though I will continue to wear masks, keep a bit of distance etc.

4.5-5

4

3/4. For the impact on my life and my compliance 3. For my kids 4.

Posts re restrictions are edging me up the scale

1

5

5

1/2

4

3

2

None of your numbers.

I don't want schools closed, but I want sensible mitigations so we can properly live with covid not teeter on the brink of lockdowns veering wildly between one extreme and another. Plenty of countries have managed this much better than us.

For example, I would like CO2 monitors, proper ventilation,, air filters in every classroom and workplace. Doing this would cut transmission and save money in the long run by the economy not grinding to a halt every time things get out of control (because of lack of proper mitigation).

A study recently came out that showed that properly ventilated classrooms had 6x fewer the number of cases of covid than those without. It's not quite as simple as we'd have 6x lower rates of covid if we had proper ventilation in schools - but you can see the massive onward impact the lack of ventilation will have.

DDs both say no CO2 monitors in their schools visible.

I also think we need to respect medics far more and actually listen to them. We need investment in the NHS but that's not going to result in significant change right now. A decent pay rise for nurses would be a start though.

And we do need to take more mitigations. Whilst I agree with vaccination, there's too much focus on that alone. I think it's more important that people do LFTs before going to crowded indoor spaces. You can be double jabbed and still transmit. LFTs aren't perfect but they're more important than vaccination status.

4

3.5