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.

Let's hope it soon just gets treated like a cold or flu. And people can just get on with their lives. Take precautions if they need to.

The sooner it happens the better.

It will be over by 19 March 2022.

Mark my words here.

@Magnited

It will be over by 19 March 2022.

Mark my words here.

That's super specific..... is it your birthday or something?

I want two weeks full pay for a mild cold and a cough like all the other staff members have had

Some of my colleagues have managed to wangle that one several times.

Me ? Not once.

@tillyandmilly

Totally agree - I have long covid unfortunately- another friend has developed asthma as a result in her 40’s and I have lost two relatives to covid - so don’t tell me it is just like flu!!

Sorry to hear that. I will say that I developed asthma in my 20s following a bout of bronchitis so it's not just covid that triggers it.

@Whatthefucketyfuck

I work in a school. We have gone (in a week) from telling parents they must tell us if it's Omicron and as an extra precaution siblings must self-isolate even if not Omicron - (a school-specific directive from PHE by the way, not made up by us) as we must control the spread to..... yeah...um...don't worry if your mum's got it...just do an LFD and come on in. And if you don't come in it will be unauthorised absence.

It is utterly stupid.

I am more for the just come on in to school, you have missed enough. But the govt/media hype 7 days ago means people are still terrified/confused.

I'm more for the "just come in to school" too now. People are now more worried about the wider effects of testing and isolating than they are of the actual virus in my view. The constant threat of restrictions at any time, not being able to book anything without risk of it being cancelled, having to stay off work for 10 days even though by day 6 or 7 you feel back to normal, or even risk losing pay all that time, or if you have young kids, having to tell your boss that your young child has tested positive and you have to miss work for 10 days to look after them, having your relative be on their own at Christmas because their 10 day isolation isn't up (even though it's day 8 and they're fit as a fiddle), feeling stressed the minute you have the slightest sniffle because what if it means all the above.....

and so on, and so on.

I actually think all this dithering by the government is being used partly to get an idea of public opinion on what should be the next steps for us. They need to know what we will go along with.

@tillyandmilly

Totally agree - I have long covid unfortunately- another friend has developed asthma as a result in her 40’s and I have lost two relatives to covid - so don’t tell me it is just like flu!!

I think a lot of people overlook the long covid thing. I have long covid - brain fog, tiredness and a year on with still no taste or smell. The loss of taste and smell is the worse, as it might never come back. People need to look at the bigger picture, and not see just the 10 day window you might have the virus for. It goes way beyond that for many people.

I completely agree with the OP and the many since. We cannot keep on damaging children/young people, the economy and the NHS due to short staffing in this way. If I had a serious bout of flu - I would isolate as I wouldn’t feel well enough to go out anyway. When I had Covid in September - Delta I think - I wasn’t well enough to go out so I isolated anyway. If the new strain is physically unidentifiable from a cold or not at all in children, it is milder. It is running its course of mutation. I have sympathy for those vulnerable, I really do. But so many are now vulnerable because of the mental, financial and emotional toll of restrictions. This can’t go on forever.

I do think NHS / Emergency workers will be exempt soon.

@RoseAddict

We need to look at zero hours contracts and statutory sick pay more than anything else. Too many people can’t afford to be sensible about taking time off when ill.

We also need to look at those who are forced to work when sick too including children. If this is allowed we need to put proper policies in place to cover people like teachers who need time off to recover and by time off we mean not work from home between naps, time off. Literally money in the system to employ staff to cover and do their whole job.

We are already seeing a culture of children starting to think they have to work when they are sick as the policies in schools are to ensure those who have covid have work at home. Now parents and kids are asking for work when they are vomiting. It really isn't a good model for our kids to begin life thinking they work when they are sick but this is what we are showing them.

@Magnited

It will be over by 19 March 2022.

Mark my words here.

Give or take a few weeks this will be about right.

I'm what is classed as CEV. I work just as hard as anyone else in my job, I have a purpose in life.

I don't want to have to stay behind closed doors forever. Having to shield twice nearly almost broke me, my mental health was not the best second time round.

I long for the day when we can all go around as we did before. I took extra precautions pre-covid, not dissimilar to those today. Anti bac hands before and after touching things in public, avoid friends/family who are contagiously ill, get flu jab. Only thing missing was a mask.

@RoomOfRequirement

My plan is if you have symptoms of and test positive for a virus that is killing many more people than a cold/flu as you all seem hellbent on confusing the 2, you stay home and don't infect other people.

Though while we're at it if you have the flu how about you also don't go out and infect people?

Well, people tend to feel bloody terrible if they have the flu and to not want to leave their bed never mind their house so it's self-limiting to some extent as you are most likely to pass the flu on a few days before you actually feel ill yourself. Should we all just isolate for ever more in case we accidentally pass flu onto someone before we even know we have it?

People take up the flu vaccine without any fuss, and they then forget about it and go about their daily lives. We need to do this with Covid. Get our jabs, carry on, being sensible in the process. ie if you're coughing and sneezing everywhere from Covid, stay in your house to minimise infecting others, the same way you would with any other virus. Perhaps in the process we could also change stupid sickness policies so that people don't feel forced to come in while they ARE coughing and sneezing everywhere, dosed up with Anadin Extra, just because "it's only a cold".

@JaneTheVirgin

The flu doesn't kill anywhere near as many people as covid, and doesn't require anywhere near as many hospital stays. I have no idea why people still keep pedaling this 'its just a flu!' lie.

@JaneTheVirgin- they’ve moved on from ‘it’s just a flu’ to ‘it’s only a cold’

Hallelujah!

@UpintNorth

I completely agree with the OP and the many since. We cannot keep on damaging children/young people, the economy and the NHS due to short staffing in this way. If I had a serious bout of flu - I would isolate as I wouldn’t feel well enough to go out anyway. When I had Covid in September - Delta I think - I wasn’t well enough to go out so I isolated anyway. If the new strain is physically unidentifiable from a cold or not at all in children, it is milder. It is running its course of mutation. I have sympathy for those vulnerable, I really do. But so many are now vulnerable because of the mental, financial and emotional toll of restrictions. This can’t go on forever.

I think people should still test and then isolate when they're ill going forward (although I wish people would spread less germs around in general).

People isolating when they've got no, or very mild, symptoms is not going to be sustainable. That's the first thing that needs to change once we're over the worst of this variant.

Give or take a few weeks this will be about right.

Yes. To be prudent, probably a bit later around 29 April to 2 May we will see more formal public confirmation from a variety of national and international sources that Covid has been beaten. However, by about 19 March it will be beaten on the ground.

We need to stop asymptomatic testing now.

Stay home if ill, like the olden days

@WouldBeGood

We need to stop asymptomatic testing now.

Stay home if ill, like the olden days

Thats the problem in education, we are doing and schools are having to close because we are off sick.

@CoffeeMuggins

What do we expect the vulnerable to do when this happens? Stay inside forever or gamble with their lives every time they need to go to work or pop to the shops?

What do they do as regards every other airborne virus?

@Awalkintime here people are off because of positive tests not illness

Society can’t shut to protect the very vulnerable. Particularly as it’s a tiny percentage of people, even vulnerable people, who are at serious risk

Here people are off because they are sick as is the case in many schools. We must therefore learn to live with school closures if learn to live with it means fuck it and crack on.

@LethargicActress

I’m looking forward to the days when we can treat covid the same as we do a cold.

Amen to that. It’s beyond ridiculous now.