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Covid

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Original poster

Do we all just need to get it?

180 replies

friedeggandsauce · 26/12/2021 22:13

So this new variant is really virulent, we went out just over a week ago and more than half our party of 12 have now got covid.

Thankfully no one is really ill with it, people have got a sore throat, bit of a headache, slight temp but nothing else.

So with that in mind (and I know there may be a few who get it bad) why are we isolating? Do we just need to all get it?

This isn't goady, we're all isolating and have taken the correct tests, just trying to see if this could just end (in an optimistic way!)

OP posts:

CorsicaDreaming · 26/12/2021 22:24

The trouble is there isn't yet enough data to know. If it's just like a bad cold for everyone who gets it then you may be right we effectively just ignore it as we do with normal colds.

But no one yet knows what it will be like for older people / CV / etc. And it may be fine for the boosted / young/ fully healthy - but still v serious if unvaccinated / unboosted. We will know in two weeks though as an uncontrolled Christmas of mixing is the "perfect" experiment - despite all advice from SAGE, etc to limit mixing my impression is nearly everyone did, so time will tell now.

KrispyBrussels · 26/12/2021 22:27

Pretty much.

Seriouslymole · 26/12/2021 22:28

Yes we do

Karmagoat · 26/12/2021 22:29

I personally think yes, I think people could take all the vaccines in the world but the virus will carry on mutating, till hopefully it will just become like the common cold. That's my take on it but I'm not a scientist so who knows?

AnyFucker · 26/12/2021 22:29

Yes. But shield the vulnerable as much as possible.

Aposterhasnoname · 26/12/2021 22:29

Yup.

rrhuth · 26/12/2021 22:33

It won't work though, will it?

If having had Delta doesn't prevent you getting Omicron, why do you think getting Omicron will prevent you getting whatever comes next?

Every time you get infected you have a risk of a nasty bout or longlasting effects.

And 'shield the vulnerable' is completely impossible. So every wave you are risking a large number of deaths.

Icantremembermyusername · 26/12/2021 22:34

I'm pretty much praying for a positive! I get paid by the day and I'm not back until the 5th. DC with Dad until Hogmanay. If I test positive soon we can go to work and resume life as normal when school starts back. If not, I have no money for Feb bills. I work in an international school, some one is going to being it back. I'd rather have it when I'm at home than catch it when I could be earning!

Wolfiefan · 26/12/2021 22:35

I’m vulnerable. I’ve had my jabs. TBH I shielded and it was miserable. I’m now at the stage where I think we need to crack on. I’ll manage my own risk (avoid crowded indoor venues)but live my life!

nordica · 26/12/2021 22:36

Restrictions have never been to stop people getting it as such, but to stop too many people getting it at the same time because inevitably a small percentage will need hospital treatment. And a small percentage out of a large number is going to be a lot.

Dghgcotcitc · 26/12/2021 22:39

I think stopping everyone getting it is pretty unrealistic now and no evidence that a lockdown that work against alpha would work against a much more infectious variant but it will take a long time for those in love with lockdown to realise that in reality yes whether they like it or not we are all going to get it.

Bellabelloo · 26/12/2021 22:40

The problem is all of us getting it at the same time. Everything would grind to a halt let alone if the majority of doctors, nurses, surgeons, etc couldn't work.

Original poster

friedeggandsauce · 26/12/2021 22:43

@Bellabelloo

The problem is all of us getting it at the same time. Everything would grind to a halt let alone if the majority of doctors, nurses, surgeons, etc couldn't work.

Yes that does make a lot of sense, I can see schools closing due to staff shortages not because of a lockdown

OP posts:

rrhuth · 26/12/2021 22:45

@Bellabelloo

The problem is all of us getting it at the same time. Everything would grind to a halt let alone if the majority of doctors, nurses, surgeons, etc couldn't work.

Yes exactly.

Those of us who expect to catch it and are assuming we will be OK - that is fine - but medical staff can't just give it to the vulnerable in hospital without serious impact - which means the fact that Omicron escapes the vaccine is a real problem.

I don't want a lockdown but we are facing a difficult path through January I think.

foxgoosefinch · 26/12/2021 22:48

There are plenty of viruses where humans get repeated different strains of them and gradually build up more general immunity - rotavirus works like that. Children get repeated infections of slightly different strains, and adults are generally immune to most of them although can be made ill again by encountering a particularly virulent new strain of rotavirus, but unlikely to get it severely.

The best case scenario is that Covid works a bit like that too - you get it a few times in different variants plus vaccines, and then eventually build up something of a residual immunity do that when you encounter the next variant which escapes immunity, you get it as a mild cold rather than a systemic shock.

Fingers crossed.

littlepeas · 26/12/2021 22:49

But surely the reason everyone getting it at the same time would result in everything grinding to a halt is because of the 10 day isolation…the vast majority of people could work with it.

Dghgcotcitc · 26/12/2021 22:51

I think that it’s hard to genuinely get people to buy the “let’s all just not get it at the same time”, conversation
“So we are locking you in your own home only allowed our for exercise once a day, your kid will get no education and you can access no routine medical care”
“Oh wow are we doing this to protect me from a deadly virus that might kill me?”
“Oh no no you are still going to get it but we want you to do all of that si you get it in March not January”

Do people honestly think most people agree to lockdown on the basis of putting off when they get covid? It’s was stay home save lives not stay home to not get covid until March? Why didn’t they go with the second slogan if they thought everyone was really in board with that plan?!

rrhuth · 26/12/2021 22:51

If we are going to have endemic covid at high levels, we are going to either have invest a lot in healthcare or accept we do far less surgery etc than we used to do?

TooManyAnimals94 · 26/12/2021 22:53

We should all be having Omicron parties like some people do with chicken pox.

BrotherHelp · 26/12/2021 22:53

No we don’t.
At work, colleague double vaxed had it last month and is now being assessed for oxygen as goes blue walking up the stairs. Young and no other conditions. Others with long covid despite vaccinations. Really no.

BrotherHelp · 26/12/2021 22:54

@TooManyAnimals94

We should all be having Omicron parties like some people do with chicken pox.

Other countries vaccinate kids for chicken pox. We don’t so adults get a booster exposure to lesson shingles. Kids can have complications from chicken pox. We do it so there won’t be a band of people with no immunity.

rrhuth · 26/12/2021 22:54

@TooManyAnimals94

We should all be having Omicron parties like some people do with chicken pox.

This is the stupidest idea of the day.

What is the benefit of doing that?

Redjumper1 · 26/12/2021 22:56

I feel it is going that direction but they just need a bit more data. Also I think there will be staff shortage problems but it will all hopefully settle down by Spring.

Tippytaps · 26/12/2021 22:59

@littlepeas

But surely the reason everyone getting it at the same time would result in everything grinding to a halt is because of the 10 day isolation…the vast majority of people could work with it.

Not sure if you have been to A&E recently? It is bedlam already.

Isolating isn’t the problem, it’s the number of sick people who need more care than our hospitals can cope with.

Roll back 10 years of austerity and maybe

TheKeatingFive · 26/12/2021 23:03

If we are going to have endemic covid at high levels, we are going to either have invest a lot in healthcare or accept we do far less surgery etc than we used to do?

Yeah, true.

But that was coming anyway. Covid has brought it forward and made it more acute.

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