Frightened by Dr Nabbarro video

[Whatisthisworld]

Are we going to get ill?

That video 😨

@youhadmeatjello basically that the exponential growth of omicron variant will be quicker than any we’ve seen, and that people should be vaccinated where possible, wear masks, wash hands, sneeze into elbows etc, all the usual hygiene measures.

What exactly is frightening about that?
I don't think anything he says is particularly new or surprising?

I thought he was quite measured and clear

I didn’t see angry shouting or intense tbh.
I thought he was quite clear.

I honestly think it will be very serious - it’s just so contagious even if most people aren’t seriously ill the percentage of those who are will be very significant.

Not to mention those who won’t be able to come to work as delivery drivers for food and other essential items, carers, medical staff, people who support our electricity, gas and water etc etc.

I don’t believe a word that comes out of WHO

[quote Whatisthisworld]@DaisyNGO Did you watch it? Jesus, so full on[/quote]
Yes, I thought it was a typical TV performance apart from his voice is super annoying

I didn't think he shared any new facts? Apologies if I am being thick.

There have been lots of very high figures under discussion today.

Maybe I’m an easily worried person, but it seemed very strong to me!

I’m a senior manager in the NHS working on resilience planning. Staff are worried about what’s coming. It feels more serious this time due to risk of many staff falling sick at the same time. It’s the rapid speed of spread which is unprecedented. We are working flat out to weather this storm (when we’re not mumsnetting )

I think the fact we’re training office staff to vaccinate the public says a lot about the situation. Clinical staff are too precious.

@Bebedoogoogle What do you think about the severity though? I thought was meant to be mild

Op, they're trying to scare everyone to get vaccinated which is GOOD. It's the only way out of this.

I found it calm, clear and not in the least scare-mongering.

It was measured and sensible. He made no wild predictions.

The message was: it's spreading superfast. It has potential to overwhelm health services so we should all take precautions. Get vaxxed or boosted. Wear masks. Social distance. Take sensible hygiene measures. Rethink social gatherings.

Not surprising.

It doesn't matter if it's mild. A tiny percentage of millions of people getting ill at the same time is too many to fit in hospitals.

Even if it’s mild and only makes a small % seriously ill, if millions have it that means large numbers in hospital, even if the individual risk from it is low.

In regards to it being mild, Chris Whitty addressed this during the press conference today.

It is partly "mild" because of the existing population immunity - such a large proportion has now been either vaccinated or had covid (or both) that it will be milder for them than it would be for someone unvaccinated who has never had covid. I have seen other scientists say the same on Twitter.

Equally though as it's spreading so much faster and more people will be ill at the same time, a small percentage of a large number is still a lot of people so that's why it can be more of a risk for hospital capacity and essential services in general.

^ exactly. A lot of people don’t seem to understand this.

Not to mention the number of people off sick or isolating will have a huge knock on effect on medical care, food supply etc etc

@Whatisthisworld What is most concerning - and new - is the possibility of multiple staff teams all getting Covid at once. Doesn’t matter if it’s mild, they won’t be able to work due to infection control.

Then are the patients who become very unwell with Omicron. Sadly, there will be many hospitalisations and deaths due to the sheer scale of expected infections. It’s a numbers game.

^ obviously clinical staff have been self isolating throughout the NHS throughout the pandemic, but it’s the scale of expected staff illness all at once, which is going to be a challenge.

He's definitely not the only one saying the growth of omicron is going to be exponential. You just have to look at the leap to over 78K cases today, the most we've ever had in one day.

Clear message. Maybe fewer people will die but more people will get it. I'm not going anywhere this Xmas.

He’s painted a clear stark picture of how it’s going to be brutal over the next couple of months.

We are in the perfect storm of Omicron, the cold weather, pandemic fatigue and Christmas socialising.

My thoughts and gratitude to the NHS staff who are going to battle this devastation.

So, would you stay in more now? I still have Christmas food shop and a planned Xmas get together for toddler, I’m guessing no

I’ve been staying in more for a week or so now.

I’ll still be seeing the odd one or two people in the next week before I go to spend Christmas with my family.

I haven’t watched the video but our local hospital closed its A&E department yesterday due to sheer numbers of people coming in with covid.