To think we soon won’t be isolating even when we have covid.

[Grida]

If covid is spreading as rapidly as it seems to be, surely people who have tested positive but who don’t have symptoms/aren’t feeling ill will have to carry on working. The country will stop functioning otherwise.

@Lavanderrose

Yes we will have to do this otherwise I don’t think our economy will survive, and it’s not fair on those people who are waiting for important healthcare, surgeries etr to keep having to miss important appointments and surgeries. And we have the vaccination to help stop people getting seriously ill, plus we have that new medicine being rolled out by the NHS for those that have covid and are vulnerable. The downside of no longer isolating when you have covid is that quite a lot of people will be calling sick but this may only be for 2 or 3 days when they are feeling rough, instead of 10 days isolation.

Honestly, this is an ignorant comment. Every time the number of covid cases rises, operations and screenings get cancelled. You cant have other healthcare functioning as normal when covid cases are high. I am surprised that after all this time you still don't understand this.

I can’t wait for the day they stop sending kids home for a sniffle

@aliceca

Look you are all just arguing you want to carry on as normal because you don't care about anyone else except you and your own family. Just own it and stop making up bullshit excuses.

It seems to me that your someone that doesn’t care about others….

Covid doesn’t just impact physically, the severe psychological and emotional negative impacts of lockdowns etc are equally as important as the negative physical symptoms.

The majority of people aren’t affected physically but are affected mentally and don’t make out that’s only a slight inconvenience. I can’t be bothered to go in to all the negative implications as they’ve already been mentioned.

If you can’t understand that, you’re the last person that should be calling people selfish!

That's great! What do we do with the very vulnerable who still have to go out to work? Not all of them are so ill that they are unable to work

Well what are these people doing now? its rife even with isolation currently in place so it isn't like the vulnerable are safe atm. Most people have had 3 vaccines by this point. We are all going to catch covid multiple times in our life so I agree with removing isolation in the near future.

This will have to happen.
My DH tested positive, had no symptoms at all yet then had to stay at home and lose 2 weeks wages(SSP only). There is only so long people will be able or willing to continue doing this for.

It's about time, it's going to end up just like a cold...

@Starcup Except my mental health is also in the toilet. I think the way kids in exam years have been treated is awful. I have also said that lockdowns are a sign of failure to use mitigations. We should not need lockdowns.
But people here aren't arguing against a lockdown or particular mitigation, they are arguing against doing anything at all. And they are doing so on the basis that people die anyway.

@aliceca

It is a total lie that nobody raised an eyebrow at 22,000 deaths from flu in 2017/8. That is when they flu jab was deemed to have failed. There was a lot of coverage about it. And all in all there were 50,000 extra deaths than expected this year. I suspect a lot of people don't read serious news analysis, because this was widely talked about at the time and there was a lot of concern at the beginning of flu season. This is the level of deaths you get from flu without an effective vaccine and no mitigations, so you can see it is far less deadly than covid.

I'm not sure that's true. Immunity is a factor in the severity of illness suffered with respect to pretty much any illness.

Flu has been around forever, there is lots of it bouncing around every year and people are regularly exposed to it from childhood. This creates widespread immunity which we then bolster with vaccination.

Covid is novel and so we didn't/don't have the immunity. That is changing with exposure and vaccination. Covid doesn't have to become fundamentally different for its impact to be lessened significantly. We are already seeing that.

And being honest, shielding social media groups are full of ill people scared of covid and doing what they can to protect themselves.
The sort of person who would join a "shielding social media group" probably is very anxious and thinking a lot about covid. Presumably all 3 million shielding people aren't in those groups - they're not representative of the whole population.

Going out and going on holiday are literally more important to some people than other people’s lives
Yeah, because the two aren't directly related are they. Have you ever been on holiday? Why didn't you give the money you paid for that holiday, to a cancer research charity? Does your holiday mean more than other people's lives. It is not realistic to hold individuals responsible for the health of total strangers.

100% agree OP

I got the worst flu imaginable because those who had the flu turned up to work. I just about stayed for Christmas dinner, even though I bought the food.

I will always remember that Christmas ruined. I was so poorly.

I actually agree with this...and I'd never had said that 6 months or so ago.
We definitelty can't go on forever like this - most people i know to have had it have been asymptomatic, a slight headache or a bit of cold. I appreciate it's not everyone's experience, but then not everyone experiences a cold in the same way either and some people have been taken down with a hideous cold virus in the past few months too. Yet those people still often went into work (once PCR confirmed cold not covid) and carried on teaching, nursing etc. If we all took 10 days off for every cold or sniffle the country would grind to a half in days!

I'm not saying 'fuck em' to the vulnerable either. But I understand enough to realise that covid isn't the only risk to the vulnerable, nor is it the first time they've likely had to consider whether a common illness such as flu would be a significant risk to them. My immunocompromised friend (has to take immunosuppressants) has lived with fear and management of everyday illnesses for the past decade and to her covid risk feels the same.

To add I nearly died from the Hong Kong flu when a child - I was too ill to go to hospital. It took me out of school for four months. I was 8 at that time.

No lots of people joined shielding groups in March 2020 because they got a letter from the NHS telling them, and there was very little information. And lots also joined because the government mobile phone updates, which I unsubscribed to, were in March total scaremongering. They told people not to go out into their own gardens. So multiple people joined the groups and posted - should we really not go out into our own garden??

And this is what annoys me about covid. Multiple people who have never joined a shielding group in their life proclaiming confidently about the type of people who join shielding groups and their motivations when they know nothing.

Once cases were low, the kind of people commenting were either those with health anxiety, or those very vulnerable who were told by their own consultants to carry on shielding. Many who were upset as their own family and friends were telling them they had health anxiety and were being OTT. Because of course unqualified people with an opinion always know more than a persons own consultant about their condition.

I will be forever wearing a mask when in social settings I deem unsafe.

@Justheretoaskaquestion91

Is asymptomatic flu a thing?

Yep, and apparently similar to covid, up to one fifth of infections are asymptomatic

@FinallySomeNormality covid statistically is a greater risk to her than flu.
But personally all I want is increased statutory pay and legal protection so people stay home when really ill instead of struggling into work. An encouragement of culture change by the government for ill people to not go into work. Abolishing the stupid school stuff that pressures parents to send their sick children into school. And for people to be encouraged to wear a mask when they are ill as people do in Asian countries, to stop the spread of illnesses. Normal life can go on while still protecting people.

[quote Bagelsandbrie]@Kshhuxnxk I completely agree with you and I’m in the clinically extremely vulnerable group. Fuck this for a game of soldiers. I could die tomorrow from any of my conditions anyway.[/quote]
Yup. I'm cev. I'm cev every winter to all the circulating viruses. I'm happy to take vaccines and then take my chances as I do every year.

The problem with this thread is that it is what people want to hear. We want to hear that covid is just like the flu at worst and that most people are absolutely fine. We want to hear that doctors and nurses with covid should just be at work anyway and there is no danger to the people they care for. But in reality, how likely is that?

Is there any evidence for this point of view? If so, why are intensive care units too full to accept other planned cases not linked with covid?

The NHS is run on juggling demand anyway. I don't think we have anywhere near enough beds, staff and facilities to provide normal care alongside ventilating people who are seriously ill with covid. That might be unpalatable and annoying to us all but it appears to be the case.

@aliceca

But if medical staff don't isolate, it means many vulnerable people cant get treatment.

Isn't it the opposite - if they do isolate, people (whether particularly vulnerable or not) won't get treatment because their appointments will be cancelled.

I think a reduction to 7 days is a good idea; hopefully it will then reduce to 5 and ultimately to nothing.

Couldn't come soon enough

It’s as though there is a desire among people to want to be terrified over this and Some people just don't want this. Covid is their lives now and essentially how they spend their spare time, reading about it, talking about it, thinking about it. Don't know what they'll do when it no longer dominates the news.

So those who are scared which is a rational fear when you know you are vulnerable and it is affecting their mental health are mocked and criticised for being scared. So these mental health struggles can be laughed at and that is OK apparently. Mocking the disabled is fair game.

Covid doesn’t just impact physically, the severe psychological and emotional negative impacts of lockdowns etc are equally as important as the negative physical symptoms.

Yet when others have mental health issues because of lockdown we must take it seriously. Why is it just one group who's mental health is shot because of this who are supported while the other get criticised and mocked for their feelings?

@hopingforabrighterfuture2021

I agree it can’t carry on indefinitely. As far as I’m aware, covid is the only illness where you LEGALLY have to self isolate, obviously if you have flu or norovirus etc it’s not fair to go out, but most people are sensible about it.

I'm not sure that's true. I'm certain there are other commutable diseases where you get quarantined - I know in the UK it's things like SARS, cholera, diphtheria, infectious TB, yellow fever and, apparently, flus that can cause a pandemic. So I think we would have similar here?

You cant have other healthcare functioning as normal when covid cases are high

you say that but it clearly depends on specialism, as both my mother and my husband have had procedures done this year with little or no delay. Maybe other people are too scared to go to hospital for minor things, but the services are still being provided. My mum has even had an appointment this week.

@aliceca I don’t think you’ve come to terms with the fact that Covid is here to stay for the rest of our lives and forever. Self isolation is not sustainable tor the future and I say that with the most vulnerable in mind. Those that rely on care, who need important surgeries. Yes, no one wants to go into hospital and catch covid but that is happening now anyway. It was heading this way before omicron came about. Supposedly the vaccination means you are less likely to spread the virus so if everyone does the part, gets vaccinated, keeps hygiene up, mask wearing, and the government invests in a better infrastructure such as less overcrowded classrooms, better ventilation etr then yes, self- isolation should end.