What pandemic alert level do you think we are at?

[PrincessNutNuts]

In your opinion which coronavirus alert level are we currently at?

Our local health and emergency services have declared a major incident today. Cases here are causing havoc and it's not just down to a shortage of staff.
Sajid Javid has today also raised concerns on cases rising in the older age brackets so whilst Omicron may be milder the damage it's causing whilst it's left to rip through is devastating.

Can we have a link to where the UK / English Government tells us today's alert level?
Rather than having to trawl old press releases?

Officially 4 but in London I think it should be 5

@NormaSnorks

It's really strange, but my experience with direct family members is that many hospitals are NOT currently overwhelmed.

YES, respiratory wards and ambulance services in SOME hospitals, maybe in most urban hospitals may be busy/ overwhelmed, but we're seeing other services continuing as normal.

97 year old FIL went into hospital for some routine surgery last week and said it didn't feel busy at all. In fact he was in a 3 person ward on his own.
My friend who is a matron has said the same.

I'm not saying there aren't problems with the parts of the service covid directly hits, but the commonly touted belief that the WHOLE service is ON IT'S KNEES isn't true!

That's just anecdotal.

I think we're at 'ugh! Is this still happening? Can we not?'

The army are in my local hospital now

I can see why we are 4 based on those criteria, however with Omicron and the vaccines, it is now a bad measure.

37% of people 'in hospital' with covid are incidental cases, i.e. they are not being treated primarily for Covid. Also the stay in hospital is much less now - I can't remember the exact times but it's something like it used to be 10 days but now is 3/4 days.

Winter really is always busy, and I am not sure our hospitals are any worse than pre-covid figures right now.

Given that was for Alpha (I think) surely we should be getting a new set with realistic measures on the other side (potentially I guess linked to the steps out of it) because that in no way reflects where we are or how effecti

I know you love the idea of looking to other countries Princess and seeing what works. But given that arguably we are at level 5 - what restrictions are working in other countries. Netherlands/Germany who locked down are rising again. Realistically where can we look now?

Omicron is a game changer and we need to change with it and stop looking at how it used to be

I'm in the I don't give a fuck anymore zone

@itwasntaparty

I'm in the I don't give a fuck anymore zone

You are not alone.

@itwasntaparty

I'm in the I don't give a fuck anymore zone

I have been there for ages And life’s pretty good in this zone!

Examples of headlines from times gone by

2016

winter of 2017

more

[quote Covidworries],@pootle40 but hospitals are past being at risk of being overwhelmed they are overwhelmed restrictions are needed to prevent total colapse[/quote]
Every single winter the NHS has been overwhelmed. Has anyone looked at the data to examine number of hospital beds occupied now versus, say, 4 years ago? How much worse is it? I can't remember a year when beds were not fully occupied. Many services are annually postponed/delayed due to winter pressures. The NHS is underfunded and doesn't have enough capacity to cope with an ever aging population.
Staffing is the main issue at the moment but as the period of isolation reduces and reduces that will relieve it somewhat.

Is this OP's 'Question of the Day'? I'm sure there was a question yesterday too. Is it like a coronavirus quiz?

@NormaSnorks

It's really strange, but my experience with direct family members is that many hospitals are NOT currently overwhelmed.

YES, respiratory wards and ambulance services in SOME hospitals, maybe in most urban hospitals may be busy/ overwhelmed, but we're seeing other services continuing as normal.

97 year old FIL went into hospital for some routine surgery last week and said it didn't feel busy at all. In fact he was in a 3 person ward on his own.
My friend who is a matron has said the same.

I'm not saying there aren't problems with the parts of the service covid directly hits, but the commonly touted belief that the WHOLE service is ON IT'S KNEES isn't true!

This is entirely accurate and what we are seeing across London and the SE.

@Sparklingbrook

Is this OP's 'Question of the Day'? I'm sure there was a question yesterday too. Is it like a coronavirus quiz?

@itwasntaparty

I'm in the I don't give a fuck anymore zone

I'm with you.

Its Level 4B.

No idea what this even means any more. NHS stumbling through crisis after crisis. And people wonder why HCPs leave.

www.standard.co.uk/news/london/london-hospital-staff-sickness-absence-numbers-covid-omicron-wave-b975431.html

www.standard.co.uk/futurelondon/health/london-bin-collection-overflowing-christmas-waste-covid-staff-enfield-haringey-newham-b974734.html

That's London. The military have had to come in to help. But problems are starting to show in other parts of England now too - and several hospital trusts outside of London also now declaring major incidents.

Hospitals overwhelmed. Bins uncollected.
A 'stable' plateau of 100s a week being killed by Covid. Significant minority of people disabled with Long Covid.

Doesn't sound too good does it.

Another in the 'I don't care' zone. Except for the poor NHS staff. It must be hell right now- after two years of hell.

What pisses me off is the way the NHS is in crisis every winter. That was the exact wording on a bbc article earlier. 'We know the NHS is in crisis every winter'. Why the fuck do we accept this?

Before anyone wants to pile on I'd happily pay more NI for the NHS. When people talk about it being unfit for purpose my immediate response is always 'why not make it fit for purpose rather than scrap it'. I'd like to see NHS staff valued properly- proper pay, resourcing and working conditions. I don't know why anyone would think that's a pie in the sky suggestion.

Methodology here

www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-covid-19-alert-level-methodology-an-overview/uk-covid-19-alert-level-methodology-an-overview

Press release confirming level 4, made on 21/12 here

www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-coronavirus-covid-19-alert-level-increased-from-level-3-to-level-4

I'm sure there used to be a guide to what measures would apply at each level (thing like whether shielding was in force) but I don't think they've updated those recently

There's a rationale for when and how we go into level five (see attached, from this page on gov.uk). So it's not just based on any old interpretation of the sentence on the Nando's chart.

x posted with Unmentioned

I'm at level zero
Mumsnet at level 6

Lemon & Herb