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Original poster

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

122 replies

JellyOnAPlatewithicecream · 18/12/2021 21:51

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? Hmm

OP posts:
PAFMO · 19/12/2021 07:18

Ah, the sweet scent of "why can't they all stay at home and let me get on with my life"
You can always tell that the govt is about to do something it should have done a fortnight ago when this othering starts.

nether · 19/12/2021 07:33

@PAFMO

Ah, the sweet scent of "why can't they all stay at home and let me get on with my life" You can always tell that the govt is about to do something it should have done a fortnight ago when this othering starts.
We're managing to be much more polite about it this time round though, aren't we?
ApplePippa · 19/12/2021 07:35

I've been on immunosuppresants for ulcerative colitis for five years, and yes, pre-covid I had to be cautious about lots of other viruses/bugs.

As examples, I had to keep my distance when friends children got chicken pox. When I got flu symptoms, my gp prescribed antivirals straight away. This time of year I would be avoiding public transport and crowded places. I wouldn't have been meeting up with people who had colds.

I didn't live in a sterile bubble, but was cautious. Covid is much more of a worry because it is so prevalent, easily transmitted, and not much available for treating it. I know far more people who have/had covid in the last year than than have ever had flu.

I hate the "but what did the vulnerable do before covid?" faux innocent question.

nether · 19/12/2021 07:35

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

Oversimplified to the point of uselessness, as it totally overlooks
a) the prevalence of the disease in circulation
b) the availability and effectiveness of treatment

knittingaddict · 19/12/2021 07:37

@Gingerbreadhoose

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.

I agree with this.

All these faux "I don't understand xyz" are doing my head in.

HalfShrunkMoreToGo · 19/12/2021 07:41

@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..
Currently in my area of England 63% of people who are eligible have had 2 doses of the vaccine, only 27% have had the booster.

We are not "in a totally different place", until we have higher take up of vaccines we will remain in a vulnerable position to lockdowns, circuit breaks etc

OddBoots · 19/12/2021 07:44

My brother is in the CEV group given the third primary dose (so among the most vulnerable) and he did have to be very careful and avoid situations when he was more likely to pick something up. He still did pick things up from time to time and about once a year would need inpatient hospital care for it - that's the extra thing now, would there be a bed for him?

Borgonzola · 19/12/2021 07:47

My dad has a compromised immune system. He can't have the flub jab. During peak flu/cold season he avoids going on public transport, he doesn't go into town or into crowded shops if he can avoid it, and my family all get the flu jab to protect ourselves and him. I wouldn't go and see them if I had a heavy cold, either.

Some people have always needed to protect themselves in one way or another, it just hasn't affected most people before.

Original poster
JellyOnAPlatewithicecream · 19/12/2021 07:47

@MyrtlethePurpleTurtle by fully vaccinated mean the booster too. I think it's quite clear that without the booster people are much more likely to suffer badly with Omicron

OP posts:
NotAnotherCrapHamper · 19/12/2021 07:49

[quote JellyOnAPlatewithicecream]@MyrtlethePurpleTurtle by fully vaccinated mean the booster too. I think it's quite clear that without the booster people are much more likely to suffer badly with Omicron[/quote]
Do you have any medical evidence to sy that it is clear?

SoSickOfItNow · 19/12/2021 07:52

@OddBoots

My brother is in the CEV group given the third primary dose (so among the most vulnerable) and he did have to be very careful and avoid situations when he was more likely to pick something up. He still did pick things up from time to time and about once a year would need inpatient hospital care for it - that's the extra thing now, would there be a bed for him?
Similar for my loved one. Food poisoning has the potential to kill them. They have been hospitalised for flu & pneumonia in the past and were lucky to survive.

The difference compared to Covid was that there were at least effective drugs that gave them a chance of survival.

I got sick of seeing OP’s original question in the early days when they didn’t have any idea how to treat those affected with Covid. Even now my relative wouldn’t stand much of a chance.

All the “I wouldn’t comply…I’m going to carry on as normal…I’m not going to test” comments make me so angry.

Original poster
JellyOnAPlatewithicecream · 19/12/2021 07:54

I didn't realise that was disputed - there has been a lot of medical evidence to support it? Why else is the government desperately trying to get everyone boostered?

OP posts:
Original poster
JellyOnAPlatewithicecream · 19/12/2021 07:57

My point is that the situation we are in now is very different to before we had the vaccine. It now seems to be mainly a disease of the unvaccinated. Yes you can still catch it and feel ill from it but not to the point of it being worth locking down the whole country.. services are more likely to grind to a halt from people having to isolate.

OP posts:
Willyoujustbequiet · 19/12/2021 08:00

Yes of course they were.

Are you being deliberately obtuse?

bumblingbovine49 · 19/12/2021 08:01

@nether

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

This

I get really irritable when people keep asking . How long can we do this ? It is such a childish question . Life has changed . Living with Covid does not mean the majority of people ignoring it.. A small minority of people wil unfortunately never be able to ignore Covid as despite vaccines and better treatments they always be very vulnerable to getting very ill with it

For the rest of us it will get better but it won't just go away for quite a while . I think we will continue to have some level of restorations for years . It will gradually be less onerous as we will do fewer things as we get better at treating it and if we beef up our health services to cope .

Things will continue as they are as long as they need to.

OnceuponaRainbow18 · 19/12/2021 08:02

My mum would never see us if we had a cold or kids had runny nose prior to covid

Borgonzola · 19/12/2021 08:05

I think there's a very simple point here that lots of people miss. Yes, I might catch it, have it mildly, or even be asymptomatic; if I then have it and don't know about it, see my dad, and then give it to him unwittingly, he could be seriously ill or die. That is why some people are still cautious and worried, and why I have seen my dad twice only since the first lockdown.

Claudethecat · 19/12/2021 08:07

I am wondering why the fuck Chris Whitty, SAGE and all the scientists across the world don't just come on MN for advice on how to deal with Omicron. Clearly there are lots of posters who know far better than them all when it comes to dealing with a new variant.

Original poster
JellyOnAPlatewithicecream · 19/12/2021 08:17

@Borgonzola is your dad unvaccinated? I was the same in the first lockdown but now he is vaccinated and boostered we are not so worried! He would be if very vunerable, but then that would apply before / after covid too?

OP posts:
Northsoutheastwest76 · 19/12/2021 08:20

O God the shield the vulnerable line on here.
When we were in the tiers someone had the cheek to say the vulnerable should stay at home temporarily to avoid everyone else being locked up!
So many levels of wrong and even when I tried to explain what shielding was I was a Lockdown Lover.

Mickarooni · 19/12/2021 08:38

Nearly 2 years down and people still think lockdowns are to protect “the vulnerable”?!

Original poster
JellyOnAPlatewithicecream · 19/12/2021 08:44

No now they are mainly to protect the unvaccinated, and the effect those people being seriously ill with covid will have on everyone else with NHS meltdown etc

OP posts:
Mickarooni · 19/12/2021 08:47

@JellyOnAPlatewithicecream

No now they are mainly to protect the unvaccinated, and the effect those people being seriously ill with covid will have on everyone else with NHS meltdown etc
It’s to protect the healthcare system…
Gingerbreadhoose · 19/12/2021 08:56

FYI it isn't always just a cold to people who are vaccinated. My sister is double jabbed and boosted and currently isn't able to get out of bed as she has covid. It's been like a bad bout of flu for her.

musicalfrog · 19/12/2021 09:04

I get you OP. You're being told you're wilfully ignoring the knock on impact on services blah blah blah but everyone else is wilfullly ignoring the fact that many people are isolating because they have to, not because they're sick.

How many NHS staff were carrying cold and flu viruses asymptomatically before covid, but we never knew because nobody was doing asymptomatic testing!

Nobody seems to want to address this for some reason.