If you’re trying to decide whether to go to a Christmas party

[AchillesLastStand]

Victoria Derbyshire on Twitter has shared that her triple vaccinated brother contracted omicron at a Christmas meal out. Out of 21 one of them 17 have now tested positive.

twitter.com/vicderbyshire/status/1469354766560026624

Imagine thousands of similar mini super-spreading events up and down the country this week and where that could lead.

The thing is all social interactions count. Going to the supermarket is one albeit less risky than a party where no one is wearing masks. For anyone interested in the science of super spreading events like parties you may find this interesting:

www.newscientist.com/article/2300503-omicron-variant-may-make-christmas-party-infection-risk-much-higher/

For you folks intent on going to a party and are unfortunate enough to contract omicron Prof Tim Spector creator of the Covid Zoe app is interested in people that contract it at social events and crunching the numbers to find out how contagious omicron is.

This is why most people are like fuck it live our lives within what is legally permitted. Cos you read this and any sane rational person would think wtaf

@londonmummy1966

I'm volunteering at a vaccine centre this week - about 30 volunteers and staff spending all day together and probably 2000+ people coming through some of whom will need us to sit with them and help quite a bit. Shall we just not bother then as that seems to be what your posts are implying?

SELFISH!!!!1!!!11!

I'll just slide into Tim Specter's DMs.

Who know what will happen after Christmas. I'm squeezing every drop of joy from life now.

@Dreamstate

This is why most people are like fuck it live our lives within what is legally permitted. Cos you read this and any sane rational person would think wtaf

Unless they understood about waning and statistics and risk of hospitalisation you mean

@AchillesLastStand I actually think you lot are the selfish ones.

Suggesting we cancel a christmas party planned with all of the people I sit working with all day every day? Because what, you don't enjoy socialising so everyone must suffer the consequences. You really need to get over yourself and get a life.

Many people, even the "vulnerable", just want to get back to normal

Thank you!

I'm so tired of people using us 'vulnerables' as a stick to beat others with.

I fully accept there are things I can't do because I'm immunosuppressed. I also really, really want others to enjoy life and do the things they want to do, because let me tell you, when your life comes crashing down and you can't go to gigs or meet people or use buses or basically have anything like the life you knew and loved, it's shit. So so so shit.

Go out, have fun, get pissed, dance like a twat, watch a play, go to the cinema, go for a meal. Wear a mask and wash your hands and do whatever you need to do to make yourself feel safer. Just do it. And have a (large) drink for me!

@Jourdain11

But OP, if it's so infectious, then you could catch it in the supermarket... at work... in a shopping centre... in the GP surgery... or in many other places where you might need to go.

You could catch it anywhere - so what's the point in avoiding a party? "I'd rather have Tesco Covid than Slug and Lettuce Covid"?

Agreed.

I'm not going to a Christmas party. My work didn't organise one just in case covid was an issue.

But I am planning a shopping trip with lunch on Friday.

Most people going to Christmas parties will be with family, close friends and/or work colleagues who they spend a whole lot of time with anyway, so you can't really point the finger at the party itself, can you?

Get on with your life

@me4real

It’s amazing that after all this time people think that a combination of covid, catching up with backlogs, having staff absence due to covid and completing the vaccine program can all be completed with a flick of a switch. People who have never managed anything complicated in their lives I expect

@sleepwouldbenice We all know a lot of the NHS is inept and that's not a new thing. The amount of times they've nearly killed or not helped family members and loved ones of mine is eye-watering. Money is sunk into it but it seems to be a black hole of incompetence that swallows money without it touching the sides.

This isn't to say that some bits of it/people are good, but there's a lot of really bad practice.

That's not really the point is it? Having worked in that area I could discuss with you all day about government cuts to funding, ageing populations and increased acuity

And the nhs is far far from perfect I agree

But this is about whether it could easily just be changed to deal with a pandemic, if it was that easy then you would see plenty of countries not worrying about the pandemic. But you don't

I've heard a similar story first hand with people I know. All went on a minibus for a night out in Manchester last Saturday. 16 of them. I think about 2 of them haven't tested positive. I've heard this evening that one has been confirmed as omicron.

Which probably means we will be lucky to get to the end of the week with school given the number of cases it has had in the last week...

[quote gloriousgolden]@AchillesLastStand I actually think you lot are the selfish ones.

Suggesting we cancel a christmas party planned with all of the people I sit working with all day every day? Because what, you don't enjoy socialising so everyone must suffer the consequences. You really need to get over yourself and get a life.

[/quote]
Attending parties isn’t just about the risk to you as an individual. If you become infected and infect others, you could contribute to a massive surge in cases that could overwhelm hospitals even if omicron is less severe than delta.

Not my words but epidemiologist Gunhild Alvik Nyborg of the Covid Action Group. The reference can be found in the article linked above.

There is a worldwide oxygen shortage so a new big wave is the last thing we need. Government should do the responsible thing and financially support hospitality while encouraging people to avoid super spreading events like parties.

We need to accept that many won’t make it. Many would take precautions many won’t.

This has a judgemental whiff of 2020 about it, eurgh.

@RedToothBrush

I've heard a similar story first hand with people I know. All went on a minibus for a night out in Manchester last Saturday. 16 of them. I think about 2 of them haven't tested positive. I've heard this evening that one has been confirmed as omicron.

Which probably means we will be lucky to get to the end of the week with school given the number of cases it has had in the last week...

There are a lot of documented cases like this now unfortunately.

In Oslo in Norway for example. Around 70 of the 120 people who attended the party were infected, as were another 50 people at the restaurant. Omicron has been confirmed by sequencing in 13 cases so far.

In Denmark, 53 of 150 people who went to a Christmas lunch in Viborg have been confirmed to be infected with omicron.

In Spain, 68 medics at the University Regional Hospital in Malaga have tested positive after going to a Christmas party at which 173 people were present altogether. It isn’t yet clear if any of the 68 have omicron.

The scientific consensus is that Christmas parties are a really, really bad idea.

@LemonSwan

Surely the cause of this is someone not bothering to LFT before hand?

I just had a packed weekend of social events and every single one, everyone attending was asked to and did an LFT.

Surely that is the solution rather than cancelling everything?

Not necessarily. My friend has covid just now. She got a positive PCR tests at Thursday - no symptoms whatsoever and only got a PCR as her DH was positive.

She did a LFT daily since then and today is the first time she's shown as positive. This is also her 1st day of symptoms

@Slipperoo

This has a judgemental whiff of 2020 about it, eurgh.

We’re at a crucial turning point in this pandemic so in some ways it is like 2020. This new variant is looking and acting like a completely new virus.

This new variant is looking and acting like a completely new virus.

Is it? It's perfectly normal and expected for viruses to mutate, from what seems to be happening globally it looks to be following the predicted path but they want to buy more time to find out more about it. Unless you have an inside scoop?

@Slipperoo

This has a judgemental whiff of 2020 about it, eurgh.

Yep.. and a 'just because you can, doesn't mean you should' vibe.

@Slipperoo

This has a judgemental whiff of 2020 about it, eurgh.

I know, it’s so depressing. I thought it had been subsiding this year and hoped people had stopped trying to blame each other for a virus doing what a virus does, but I see uses of the word “selfish” have increased 4000% in the last week.

It's known that LFTs aren't effective once you have symptoms - that's why LFT need to be taken regularly to pick up infection before symptoms. That absolutely does not mean LFT aren't effective - they've been proven to be highly effective at this

People will have their own ideas about what they want to do. Personally I’m hesitant about socialising in the weeks running up to Christmas. I feel I want to proceed with caution as there are a lot of folk around me getting it (neighbours, work colleagues & a close friend.) So I’m not going to mingle at parties etc but, equally, I am unfortunately of the mind that sooner or later we’re all going to catch it & it’s not a case of “if,” it’s a case of “when.” I just don’t particularly fancy catching it now just in time to spoil Christmas.

I also have wondered about the fail rate of the LFT & whether it’s possible I have already had it, but not realised. I think a lot of ppl might be in this boat TBH. Someone on the news was saying many have already contracted Covid without knowing they had it as it presented as cold-like symptoms.

Anyhoo I’m hibernating now until the spring arrives.

people are being discharged from hospital into care homes,
isnt that imaginary?
i thought they were blocking beds?