Am I wrong to think people who say they aren't scared of Covid just aren't getting it?

[youhadmeatjello]

I know we've all had enough, I've really had enough. We travel in a few days and am just desperately trying not to catch covid so we can actually go forward with our plans.

But I'm so sick of friends and others saying 'oh I'm not scared of Covid anymore so I'm just living my life and not following the rules anymore'

Why can't people see that it's not about being scared of Covid, it's about the fragility of our infrastructure if lots of people are off sick? Do they not realise how many essential services could be impacted?

I'm not calling for a lockdown at all, I don't think it's the right course of action but I do think we should individually take a bit of responsibility and follow mask wearing etc at least.

And people who are saying 'the government have never been bothered about viruses etc before' - sure they have, they panic every time they think there's going to be a bad flu season. But people have forgotten that!

I'm just so frustrated that so many people can't see the bigger picture here, but maybe it's because I have many loved ones who work in essential services and I can already see the strain on them.

Someone said that at current growth rate, "everyone" in Uk will have had Omicron twice by early January.... so presumably that's not really gonna happen.

That 11m is confirmed cases

I think there’s the expectation each day there’s more than that

What if it got to the stage that a hospital is so overwhelmed and understaffed that it simply cannot take another patient? What if that next patient was a child/pregnant mother - or you?

As said, if it gets to that stage then it gets to that stage, and if I happen to be the one in the firing line then so be it

If the prophets of armageddon are right and it happens, better it's when there's at least something left of other services to support the population

@Puzzledandpissedoff

The vast majority health professionals worldwide/the World Health Organisation would strongly disagree with you there.

That would be an appalling situation .

The best thing is to put preventative measures in place so we can function as healthy human beings and provide all services.

@Snookie00

I think Omnicron variant is showing us how utterly futile it is to try to control a relatively benign and easily transmitable virus. The great leaps in democracy, living standards and modern medicine in the past 100 years has given us the false impression that we have full control our environment. Modern governments are not able to say “yes it’s shit, people will die and there’s not much we can do about it”. They need to be seen to “do” something even if it’s a massive waste of time and resource. It’s like building costly but useless flood barriers in the face of a tsunami.

Absolutely this!

Maybe not a year ago, but definitely now!

Rather than an unmanageable infection rate, hospitals that cannot keep their communities healthy, all services fail with that scenario.

@Snookie00 - so the scenario that we do nothing? What would happen?

Only the fittest would survive.

No government worldwide is supporting a survival of the fittest strategy.

And the only party that would support that are far right political parties.

The vast majority health professionals worldwide/the World Health Organisation would strongly disagree with you there

Very probably, yes, and agree the scenario would be appalling

However I'm not suggesting it would happen because anyone actively wants it to, only that there are some things which are almost impossible to stop if those prophets are correct

@Puzzledandpissedoff - science is where we shine as human beings though. We have achieved amazing things through science. Look at the HPV vaccine which has practically eradicated a common cancer.

@Beadebaser. None of the options are good. It’s not a case of gleefully accepting deaths but what is the end game here? Endlessly curtailing freedoms to make it go a bit slower when all the evidence shows that Omnicron will spread regardless. The health service is fucked regardless. Every month that we prolong and drip feed covid cases/ deaths increases waiting lists. Of course health professionals and WHO are going to say if you try X then we can control this. It’s human nature to want to fix problems and stop people dying. That doesn’t mean it’s feasible.

@goldenoldie1

Do you think a time will come when isolation of any sort is no longer required?

We have nearly all been vaccinated and are getting our boosters. What more can we do? Do we need to do more, or can we a start to treat it it the same way as any other illness where the individual makes a judgement on whether they go out / to work or not?

That will be the day the pandemic is truly over hopefully it's soon. I can't believe he hasn't isolated the vulnerable yet perfectly healthy people are stuck at home because of a positive test

To be fair loads of people I know are now only testing if they are seeing vulnerable family

Cervical cancer do you mean, Beadabaser? It's true there's been progress, but I wouldn't quite say "practically eradicated" www.cancerresearchuk.org/health-professional/cancer-statistics/statistics-by-cancer-type/cervical-cancer/incidence#heading-Two

I agree that amazing things have been achieved through science though, just not that there'll always be a cure for everything

[quote Beadebaser]@Snookie00 - so the scenario that we do nothing? What would happen?

Only the fittest would survive.

No government worldwide is supporting a survival of the fittest strategy.[/quote]
The vast majority of over 80s survive covid.

From Sky News and other media -

Professor Tim Spector says Omicron appears to produce a "fairly mild" illness with most people recovering "after about five days".

Please let us get back to a normal life then.

Apparently the reason so many in South Africa are presenting mildly with Omicron is because of prior infection and vaccination. This is what we are being told today.

Why is natural immunity in South Africa Good and in the UK Bad?

And why do their vaccines work and ours won't?

Yes I know we have more elderly people (who have a been boosted).

@DarknessAndLight

From Sky News and other media -

Professor Tim Spector says Omicron appears to produce a "fairly mild" illness with most people recovering "after about five days".

Please let us get back to a normal life then.

Reading this is light in darkness to reference your username

Hope so

Also agree natural immunity - on one hand it’s they have it right but oth why did we have such a high sustained delta period

Maybe it will prove beneficial here too

@bumbleymummy - across all its services I mean. An overwhelmed cannot support it’s community, so you end up with a survival of the fittest scenario. It’s not just about Covid, it’s about having a functioning hospital - and a functioning infrastructure to support the hospital.

Yes @Puzzledandpissedoff - cervical cancer rates have dropped by nearly 90% in those vaccinated.

Cervical cancer rates have dropped by nearly 90% in those vaccinated

Ah, I see what you mean - so presumably the more modest decrease overall reflects that not everyone IS vaccinated?

YANBU, I don’t understand how this far into the pandemic people don’t understand that although their personal risk might be low we have a very small number of ICU beds and it’s in all our interests that they aren’t overwhelmed. I think we need more media attention on the situation in hospitals. We need much more investment in expanding the health system but people need to shout for it to create political pressure.

Baedebaser what would you bring in to deal with omicron?

@Beadebaser probably a bad idea to sack care workers then so that elderly people can’t be discharged from hospital.

[quote bumbleymummy]@Beadebaser probably a bad idea to sack care workers then so that elderly people can’t be discharged from hospital.[/quote]
Yes, it was incredibly obvious what impact that was going to have.

@DarknessAndLight

From Sky News and other media -

Professor Tim Spector says Omicron appears to produce a "fairly mild" illness with most people recovering "after about five days".

Please let us get back to a normal life then.

They were saying this about the original strain initially. Omicron has only been circulating for a few weeks, infection to hospital is about 2 weeks, serious illness and death a month, we simply don’t know yet how many people will need hospital, and even if that number is very tiny fraction of infection, the number of people who will be infected at once with current rates is going to be enormous, a small % of a very large number ca still be quite big. Add to this that hospitals are currently at 97% capacity..

Once we get more data and if it says Omicron truly is milder, they need to get rid of the self isolation rules once Omicron pushes Delta out. The rules are going to cause the issues rather than the virus itself.