The tragic news of this Omicron death

[User135644]

Very sad news that someone has now died of Omicron. Are the media going over the top though? I always thought a death was likely at some point. Sadly they may not he the last either.

Is it just the old adage of one death a tragedy, many deaths a statistic?

@SickAndTiredAgain

I agree with you in the sense that, while obviously awful for the family, was there anyone thinking that omicron wouldn’t cause any deaths? Surely that was a given. I know some people were hoping it was milder, but I doubt anyone thought fatality would be 0, and one death proves nothing about how mild/severe it is (obviously it may give an indication to medics who know the patient’s medical history, but I meant to the general public). I don’t understand the focus on the omicron death over the presumably much larger number of people who died of delta on the same day.

A common cold can finish you off if you're frail enough.

@TinaYouFatLard

Human life has a 100% mortality rate. Every death is sad but not necessarily a tragedy. The media and politicians are being revoltingly ghoulish for their own means.

Yep. Someone died, they had Omicron. We don't know yet that this was the cause.

Aren’t all the deaths reported ‘with’ not ‘of’

[quote countrygirl99]@chequerboard not necessarily a tragedy, in some circumstances it may be a blessed release. Of course the family would be sad in those circumstances but that isn't the same as a tragedy. If someone phoned me today to tell me my dad or MIL had died I would be relieved that they were no longer in constant pain and distress. Very sad but also relieved.[/quote]
I’d have felt exactly the same about my DM with advanced dementia. It would have been the best and kindest thing, but she went on to 97 with that vile disease.

WITH omicron. Not OF omicron.

Please stop scaremongering, the media does enough of that already.

Yes. My sympathies to the family, who I hope are not reading this, but this is one death. They may be an elderly person, with other health issues. That is not a 'tragedy' compared to a traumatic, unexpected, accidental, purposeful or before their time death.

@MaxNormal

I was absolutely pilloried yesterday for saying roughly what you're all saying.

That was yesterday. This is today. Welcome to the social experiment that is Mumsnet😂

@Trixiefirecracker

I wish the reporting of deaths would stop, or at least be reported along side other fatalities to give us some perspective.

Which fatalities would you like to compare them to? Cancer deaths? Cardiovascular? RTA’s?

Considering covid was the leading cause of death last year I’m not sure what it would achieve (apart from a more anxious population) and the variables aren’t really comparable in terms of consequences of a covid infection eg. Isolation, infection control protocols, resources needed for a contagious infection alongside the wider societal consequences from restrictions/mitigations.

www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/bulletins/deathsregistrationsummarytables/2020

“In England and Wales as a whole, the leading causes of death accounted for 42.4% of all deaths registered in 2020. COVID-19 was the overall leading cause of death, replacing dementia and Alzheimer’s disease which was the leading cause in 2019. There were 73,766 deaths with an underlying cause of COVID-19, accounting for 12.1% of all deaths registered in 2020.”

I’m not being pithy, I’m pointing out that presenting figures without context or explanation doesn’t achieve much perspective wise.

Also the UK HSA tweeted yesterday to say that the person who died was only diagnosed with covid after being admitted. Presumably that tells us they were in for something else.

@Yellow85

Also the UK HSA tweeted yesterday to say that the person who died was only diagnosed with covid after being admitted. Presumably that tells us they were in for something else.

Yes for example they could have been admitted with respiratory problems

@Cornettoninja

I don’t understand the focus on the omicron death

It’s because people are very invested in the idea Omicron is milder but we don’t have any proof of that right now, people are looking for signs that it’s either correct or wrong.

We do have proof of it from South Africa who now seem to be getting over their fourth wave with far fewer deaths than they experienced in the 3rd wave (Delta). There’s a good article in the Telegraph about it today you can read online

I got thoroughly told off yesterday too for raising the “with” not “of”, because apparently that makes me a covid denier.

So far then, nobody has died OF this new variant. Good news, surely?

@Whattochoosenow

I got thoroughly told off yesterday too for raising the “with” not “of”, because apparently that makes me a covid denier.

All the deaths are with not from

But then “with” is not necessarily the cause of the death. It’s fuelling the fear for those who are frightened because they don’t, or won’t, see the difference.

Please could everyone just fuck off with this 'with not of' crap? As if that's some kind of mic drop.

Whatever your feelings about the actual situation we are in, if someone with 'underlying conditions' dies 'with' Covid-19, then the likelihood is that it was Covid-19 that was the trigger for them to die at this point. Not later, with more years lived and shared. Just like my partner's brother died at 27 "of" shingles - but "with" Hodgkin Fucking Lymphoma.

There’s a good article in the Telegraph about it today you can read online

It's behind a pay wall

Died with
Died of

Irrelevant to me
He died
Inevitable part of human life
If it wasn’t omicron
It would have been something else. Possibly today. Possibly not for another 20 years

Either way - me, you, our children should not in any way be restricted because he did die

Someone died that had omicron, there’s no conformation that they died from omicron.

There are a lot of sick elderly people that catch other viruses but it’s not necessarily the virus that kills them but the illness they already have. Because they have covid it’s marked down as a covid death when infact they died of cancer…a infection…a heart attack or just old age? Omicron is spreading fast of of course people that are already fighting illness are likely to catch it.

People need to open their eyes to the bigger picture.

There’s still around 80-100 covid deaths a day and has been for months. It’s therefore not surprising that one happens to be Omicron.

*Twiglets1

Cornettoninja
I don’t understand the focus on the omicron death

It’s because people are very invested in the idea Omicron is milder but we don’t have any proof of that right now, people are looking for signs that it’s either correct or wrong.
We do have proof of it from South Africa who now seem to be getting over their fourth wave with far fewer deaths than they experienced in the 3rd wave (Delta). There’s a good article in the Telegraph about it today you can read online*

I’d take anything read in The Telegraph with a pinch of salt.,,

We do have proof of it from South Africa who now seem to be getting over their fourth wave with far fewer deaths than they experienced in the 3rd wave (Delta). There’s a good article in the Telegraph about it today you can read online

You can’t always extrapolate what happens in SA to the UK. Their population are much, much younger than ours.
I heard on R4 this morning that of thousands of 10-20 year olds tested in SA this week, 50% had Covid (omicron variant) non were ill at the time of testing. So it does look like very good news for that age group but who knows how it will affect the elderly.

After saying that the person who died in the UK, WITH omicron could have been knocked over by a bus and once in hospital they discovered they had Covid.

Yep. Someone died, they had Omicron. We don't know yet that this was the cause.

This. Can people stop scaremongering please? It doesn't help. We don't know anything about it. A clearer picture will emerge in due course. Do what you personally feel is right in terms of personal measures, social engagements etc.

@FlorenceWintle

There’s still around 80-100 covid deaths a day and has been for months. It’s therefore not surprising that one happens to be Omicron.

That’s 80-100 with Covid not because of Covid deaths.

I frankly don't give a flying fuck any more. People die every day from different things and it doesn't get reported. Why don't we start reporting x people died of cancer because they didn't get an early diagnosis.

DH has been looking at excess death figures and there are more excess deaths this year from other causes than Covid