How can they still say nothing?

[Purplegurple]

So numbers today over 183,000. How can BoJo and his cronies still be making no statement? No clear guidance, nothing. I'm not wanting lockdown or anything but can't believe they're so quiet over all this.

@Guacamole001

They should stop daily cases reports and concentrate on hospital admissions and deaths instead.

These are pretty shit anyway, hospital admissions are higher than teh worst case scenario on the LSHTM model that everyone said was too pessimistic, and deaths look low but it is because they have not been recorded yet.

YABU for not posting in the Coronavirus topic.

Not sure exactly what you want OP.

@2389Champ

In the winter of 2017-2018 there were 43000 people in hospital with flu. I don’t remember a lot of fuss in the headlines then or discussions about the lack of restrictions.

I remember a lot of headlines about it.

I don't think it helps that the media keep reporting various experts and members of SAGE giving their personal opinions at the drop of a hat.

If they confined themselves to reporting to ministers/PM who could then made the decision what was to be done, and made the official announcement, then there would be a lot less confusion.

I gather that most of those cases which have been hospitalised have not had the booster, and that they have decided not to reduce the length of time for isolation after a positive test.

The message is clear - get vaccinated and boosted ASAP so we can all get on with our lives.

Hello @rrhuth here to frighten the lives out of everyone again?

@Sparklingbrook

YABU for not posting in the Coronavirus topic.

Not sure exactly what you want OP.

A guarantee of immortality if the British mindset is anything to go by,

Here's a really scary number: 541,589 people DIED in England and Wales in 2018. That doesn't even include Scotland and NI !!!

www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/bulletins/deathsregistrationsummarytables/2018

[sarcasm alert - I have run out of patience with the hard-of-thinking and the "doom-and-gloom-gets-eyeballs/ratings" media]

@noblegiraffe

Everyone knows what to do.

Wash your hands
Keep a distance where possible
Test regularly especially if you've had contact
Isolate if necessary
Don't go to busy places if you are vulnerable/worried
Have the sodding vaccine that has been on offer free of charge all year

I'm not sure you do know what to do. You've got wash your hands at the top of your list and wearing a mask nowhere on it. For an airborne virus.

Well the list wasn't in priority order for a start. And I didn't intend to include absolute everything we need to do.

I can assure you, I know exactly what to do.

Honestly some people need to get a grip and stop trying to make it political. It’s a mild illness in the vast majority of people. Get onto the unvaccinated selfish idiots who refuse to protect others and then scream for treatment when they are wheeled into hospital.

Not if we allow positive but mild or asymptomatic teachers to continue working.

But then they’ll spread it to the children - most of which haven’t been double vaccinated. And many of which have vulnerable family members.

Then we get to a point like in the beginning where parents don’t want to send their children in.

@Hospedia

when Omicron is so infectious, case numbers do matter. There will be a knock on effect especially in the NHS.

180,000 cases a day is 1.26 million a week. Say if only 1% of those need medical intervention, that's 12,600 admissions a week. We have around 6000 critical care beds sonwould have to hope that most of these admissions do not need one.

What about all the hospital staff who have to isolate for 7-10 days after a positive test though? There’s more than one way that the NHS can be impacted.

Nobody gives a flying fuck!! The scariest experience I've had, was when I got my booster!!! Over 150 people in one room for over 2 hours!

@WonderfulYou

Not if we allow positive but mild or asymptomatic teachers to continue working.

But then they’ll spread it to the children - most of which haven’t been double vaccinated. And many of which have vulnerable family members.

Then we get to a point like in the beginning where parents don’t want to send their children in.

The children are spreading it among themselves anyway, one extra person will make very little difference. Let’s crack on with things and get some antibodies while we have a mild variant.

As for sending positive teachers in 🙄

His advice is seldom much clearer than when he keeps his gob shut. "Go out but don't go out. Go to work but don't go to work"

YANBU, OP but I lost confidence in his leadership so I'm not surprised he hasn't said anything. They probably don't know what they are going to do yet, and to be fair, the data isn't as clearcut this time.

Hospital numbers will increase, as more of the population have covid. This doesn't mean they are in hospital with covid, they could have a broken leg but also happen to test positive on their admission swab.

I am a midwife. We have 7 positive women on the unit at present, none of them are in because of covid, they just happen to have tested positive on admission to hospital.

@Franklin12

Honestly some people need to get a grip and stop trying to make it political. It’s a mild illness in the vast majority of people. Get onto the unvaccinated selfish idiots who refuse to protect others and then scream for treatment when they are wheeled into hospital.

Surely it is obvious that this is very much a political issue?

There's a thread on here tonight (also in AIBU) saying that Boris (but don't call him that ) turns up at too many vaccine centres and should be doing other things.

So many are only looking as far as ‘it’s mild for most’. Firstly, mild compared to what? Being on life support?! From what I hear it’s between a bad cold and flu. Which is fine if people could all soldier on, mindlessly spreading it and feeling like shit. But certain careers preclude that approach. Like nurses, doctors, police officers, paramedics, retail workers, teachers….

Our infrastructure can still be dramatically derailed by knock on effects even without high hospital numbers or deaths.

Still, I’m guessing Bj and co have access to info none of the other countries or scientists have as we’re the only one seemingly barely reacting. In fact, the lack of reaction feeds into the hands of those who are convinced it won’t kill them so what’s all the fuss about (seen several times on this thread!)

@noblegiraffe

Why are people saying that cases don't matter when those cases each represent someone isolating for at least 7 days? That's a lot of people unable to work.

Services will start falling over as case numbers rise. No one in power is seriously discussing stopping isolations of positive cases, so it is going to be a problem.

This will be the biggest problem, we are already pretty certain that omicron is milder, so our biggest issue now is staff shortages as perfectly well people are isolating for between 7-10 days.

@SunshineCake1

Surely by now people can make their own decisions to keep themselves safe ?

How does that work then? Particularly if You work out the home @SunshineCake1

These are the recorded number of cases. There must also be a lot of unrecorded cases too - so these numbers are probable well under actual numbers.

@Prescottdanni123

His advice is seldom much clearer than when he keeps his gob shut. "Go out but don't go out. Go to work but don't go to work"

YANBU, OP but I lost confidence in his leadership so I'm not surprised he hasn't said anything. They probably don't know what they are going to do yet, and to be fair, the data isn't as clearcut this time.

And this year's classic of 'don't go to the office but do go to your work Christmas party'

@feathers7

Hospital numbers will increase, as more of the population have covid. This doesn't mean they are in hospital with covid, they could have a broken leg but also happen to test positive on their admission swab.

I am a midwife. We have 7 positive women on the unit at present, none of them are in because of covid, they just happen to have tested positive on admission to hospital.

How are they doing Feathers?

Straw poll - how many people do you know who have had covid in the last 6 weeks, and how did they find it? Not trying to prove anything in particular, just interested.

@Lifeisnteasy

Hello *@rrhuth* here to frighten the lives out of everyone again?

TBF there is a lot of scary news at the moment

I was just thinking I could relax before Omicron