Were people who are very vunerable (weakened immune systems etc) isolating before covid?

[JellyOnAPlatewithicecream]

As there are lots of other virus' / bugs you can catch? I get it more when it was very new but we know a lot more about it now, and people seem to be disproportionately worried about COVID over any of the other nasty things out there you could catch in a shop or on the bus... when COVID disappears will they still be avoiding these places?

Just a bit confused as to why we might need another lockdown when the Omnicrom symptoms are basically a cold for most people who catch it (and are fully vaccinated), apparently most people (around 9 out of 10 I think) in hospital at the mo with covid are unvaccinated, are we going to have to be in lockdowns for evermore just because people are refusing to get jabbed?

Yes. My mum is CEV and has a shortened life expectancy due to a range of medical issues and previously if I had a bad cold I wouldn’t go round to see her. There was a time when I accidentally passed a mild cold onto her and she was ill for months. There are a huge number of CEV children and people who are much more careful in the winter months because of this, even before covid.

My mum is CV and has always worried about catching things, we never went near her if we had a cold or flu or anything.

I'm not being funny but I can't believe that after two years of this shit people STILL don't understand that yes, for the majority of people covid is going to be very mild, but it is severe enough (with a higher CFR than flu) that enough people get it that hospitals will be overwhelmed and public services decimated.

So even if you are not personally CV you will still be affected because your public services will be affected. The NHS struggles every year in winter for the same reason; now it has covid on top of its usual struggles.

It isn't complicated.

If I hear "it's just basically a cold" line one more time I might add someone else to the a&e queue.
Either you are thick or goady at this point.

When DH was on chemo for lymphoma we basically isolated for 6 months. Didn't go anywhere busy or indoors although we could go walking a bit. I did the shopping, DC was 6 months to a year so didn't need to go anywhere as I wasn't working. The one time we saw anyone brewing a bug DH got a temperature so we had to go straight to the hospital for blood tests to check WBC counts - which unexpectedly we're ok - they were expecting to admit him asap...

We were also careful about food - bizarrely lettuce and most salad wasn't allowed!

Yes. I’ve known of kids with lukeamia who had to isolate for long periods

@randomsabreuse lettuce and salads are the most common source of certain types of food poisoning.

Fucks sake.

All severely immune-suppressed (critically vulnerable) people are given instructions by their hospital doctors, OP, about avoiding people with flu and colds, certains foods, etc.

The worry about Omicron is about the knock-on effects if the majority of hospital doctors, nurses and NHS workers, police officers, fire & rescue officers, food processors, lorry drivers and shop workers all getting a shitty 'cold' and being off work for a few days at the same time. The country would fucking collapse. There would be no services for that time for people in road traffic accidents, having heart attacks and strokes, who have been attacked, who have blood clots, pregnancy emergencies, and cancer.

It's not about protecting the CVs. It's about keeping normal life afloat, so that hundreds of thousands of other people don't die.

The worry about Omicron is about the knock-on effects if the majority of hospital doctors, nurses and NHS workers, police officers, fire & rescue officers, food processors, lorry drivers and shop workers all getting a shitty 'cold' and being off work for a few days at the same time. The country would fucking collapse. There would be no services for that time for people in road traffic accidents, having heart attacks and strokes, who have been attacked, who have blood clots, pregnancy emergencies, and cancer.

It's not about protecting the CVs. It's about keeping normal life afloat, so that hundreds of thousands ofotherpeople don't die.

^that.

I'm starting to think people are wilfully stupid.

@JellyOnAPlatewithicecream

As there are lots of other virus' / bugs you can catch? I get it more when it was very new but we know a lot more about it now, and people seem to be disproportionately worried about COVID over any of the other nasty things out there you could catch in a shop or on the bus... when COVID disappears will they still be avoiding these places?

Just a bit confused as to why we might need another lockdown when the Omnicrom symptoms are basically a cold for most people who catch it (and are fully vaccinated), apparently most people (around 9 out of 10 I think) in hospital at the mo with covid are unvaccinated, are we going to have to be in lockdowns for evermore just because people are refusing to get jabbed?

• I've always had to be careful about avoiding catching anything. When I do fall ill, it is commonly worse for me.

• Covid vaccines have been gold for me, however, I still need to avoid catching Covid as much as possible as who knows how my body will react?

• Covid isn't a cold.

• the medical use of 'mild' differs from your use of 'mild'. It basically means you aren't flat on your back requiring ventilation.

HTH.

Yes, various family members receiving chemotherapy over the years. Some upto 6 months and we've practically isolated as a result of them having no immunity.

For many it's just part of their life.

My work colleague had some autoimmune disorder and often worked from home before covid because of this.

Yes I am at risk due to current health issues, I have had them since birth, been hospitalised at least 20 times probably much more. I have a genuine fear of germs and sharing germs because of this and touchwood I haven't had anything since this began.

Yes. I have been told to by my consultant, long before covid, and I am severely immunosuppressed.

Yes comparing it to a cold before the vaccine was stupid. We are in a totally different place now we have the vaccine. For fully vaccinated people Omnicrom is basically just a cold. The vast majority of people in hospital at the moment are unvaccinated. And for people with compromised immune systems even if vaccinated they will have to very careful - but as others have said on here that was the case before covid and will be after..

@Gingerbreadhoose I see what you're saying. But I think the issue is not so much that those people would be off work because they don't feel well enough to go in - but because they are having to adhear to isolation periods etc.

@JellyOnAPlatewithicecream

Yes comparing it to a cold before the vaccine was stupid. We are in a totally different place now we have the vaccine. For fully vaccinated people Omnicrom is basically just a cold. The vast majority of people in hospital at the moment are unvaccinated. And for people with compromised immune systems even if vaccinated they will have to very careful - but as others have said on here that was the case before covid and will be after..

Please don’t spout rubbish. Over half those currently hospitalised with omicron in the UK are fully vaccinated - if by ‘fully vaccinated’ we mean double vaccinated

@JellyOnAPlatewithicecream

Yes comparing it to a cold before the vaccine was stupid. We are in a totally different place now we have the vaccine. For fully vaccinated people Omnicrom is basically just a cold. The vast majority of people in hospital at the moment are unvaccinated. And for people with compromised immune systems even if vaccinated they will have to very careful - but as others have said on here that was the case before covid and will be after..

Please read up some more - using reputable sources. (And the name of the variant is Omicron.)

FYI, how Omicron will affect anyone is unpredictable. In my country we are having a surge of Omicron that at the moment is running through our younger, Covid-naive population. Anecdotally, they are becoming quite ill for at least a number of days - so for them, it isn't just a mild cold. They are mostly double-vaccinated (but not boostered), too.

We sort of shielded our baby son for two winters. He was born extremely prematurely. Was on a ventilator. Had bronchiolitis at 9 months and went back on oxygen. So no playgroups. Or very much socialising. And when his brother came home from school lots of hand washing and changing of clothes. This was our life and the lives of many vulnerable children long before COVID.

When DH was on chemo for lymphoma we basically isolated for 6 months
I did the same when I looked after my friend with lymphoma.

When she had her stem cell transplant, she was only allowed one nominated hospital visitor, which unluckily for her was me.

I'm starting to think people are wilfully stupid
Or lie to themselves

Many people that are CEV are careful every year. But this virus is unpredictable and many many people are becoming infected and lots of them will need medical assistance.

In our case our child needing medical care in other years would mean that we would be confident i recieveing this. Currentlu, our worry is that the medical care wouldnt be available due to so many needing it at the same time. On top of that if in hospital for a non covid reason the risk of contracting covid from the people in hospital is very very high right now. With other illnesses this wasnt the case.

On top of that is the knowledge that if our child was to die the general population would dismiss this death as unimportant and say was it with or of, they had underlining conditions. No one healthy has died etc etc. As if this child doesnt deserve the long life they would otherwise have.

As if this child doesnt deserve the long life they would otherwise have
I am so sorry that you have to deal with this as well as coping with your child's condition.

I'm not being funny but I can't believe that after two years of this shit people STILL don't understand that yes, for the majority of people covid is going to be very mild, but it is severe enough (with a higher CFR than flu) that enough people get it that hospitals will be overwhelmed and public services decimated.

I very much get this, but where exactly is the end point? Are we meant to just carry on forever, having isolations and lockdowns, because a virus is constantly mutating? Maybe we should be looking at it from the other end, and investing money in the NHS so it isn't always at breaking point (which it was even before covid)

Once everyone who's willing to be jabbed has been jabbed, surely we need to move on. I don't know how it will work, but it's also not feasible to keep putting us all under restrictions (especially when it's 90% unvaccinated in hospital)

Yes and no.

Yes, there are some who need to take a level of precaution.

No, others are usually fine because a) there isn't an infectious disease thus serious in such wide circulation (no, it's not comparable tomcols it even flu) and b) those that are in lower levels of circulation usually have effective treatments (established retrovirals, for example) and c) vaccines have longer duration and higher effectiveness (some forms of pneumonia)

And of course is all ages, including children and young adults. For some it's temporary (just the months/years of cancer treatment) for others it can be longer.

And it's shit. I wouid hope hat the pandemic, when people are struggling with the idea of lesser changes and isolation of up to 10 days, might spare more sympathy for those who have it different.

That's both thuse who are especially vulnerable during the pandemic, and those who are under precautions all the time.

And do be careful - there's a group of anti-lockdowners who use words along the Iines of 'if they're that vulnerable they should be shut away all the time, no need to do anything different for this one' which is heartless and offensive, and of course totally overlooks the obvious differences in extent of circulations, number of excess deaths caused, lack of effective treatments (though this is gradually changing) and levels of vaccine escape.

Are we meant to just carry on forever, having isolations and lockdowns, because a virus is constantly mutating?

Well that's what 'learning to live with it' means, and it seems to be quite a popular slogan (it doesn't mean 'ignore it and act as if it wasn't happening)

Effective measures to flatten and spread peaks are going to be needed until there are more, and more readily available, treatments.

Asking 'how long' really does miss the point. We're dealing with something that doesn't have a time line, and only tool is drug debpvelopment, for which timelines are uncertain. The question can only be answered as 'for as long as there is need'

And that need can't be wished away