So happy tests are to be axed

[Wizzbangfizz]

So according to reports they are going to stop handing out LFT and will be stopping mass testing - this is excellent news for both the tax payer and the environment and surely marks a clear path this whole thing becoming endemic

I think the balance has shifted away from trying to control the spread of the disease, (which was always challenging and has now become infinitely harder), to controlling the severity, which luckily we have become significantly better at.

Also easier to relax things when coming into Spring and hopefully case numbers are lower, and coming out of flu season etc. Also gives a bit more time to develop the treatments that have started to be used.

Bit difficult to tell people not to test when so many cases, especially if you are in an area of very high cases and you have vulnerable family members.

Reports are emerging this morning about the possible ending of all restrictions and testing from March

Hopefully!

@TheKeatingFive

I think the balance has shifted away from trying to control the spread of the disease, (which was always challenging and has now become infinitely harder), to controlling the severity, which luckily we have become significantly better at.

As we went into summer, when did the UK try to restrict spread?

Once you allow full access to mass events and hospitality, masks & advice (oft ignored) to WFH, are just peripheral measures, making little difference.

We don't seem to have made much difference to severe disease, baring in mind this variant is nothing like as serious, nor cares about previous infections.

@Blubells

Reports are emerging this morning about the possible ending of all restrictions and testing from March

Hopefully!

Lets see. Remember Freedom Day when we were told all restrictions would end and never be reinstated?

At the risk of being absolutely destroyed on here, I’ve actually changed my view of Boris in the last few months. He’s steered a steady course, kept his nerve and seems determined to get us through this without reintroducing harsh short term restrictions which will have long term consequences.

Whether it’s Boris or his backbenchers steering this, it’s definitely positive that we’re not going down the authoritarian path that we’re witnessing other countries going down.
The restrictions need to start ending after we’ve got through the current wave.

Boris Johnson has ignored all scientific advice in order to save his own position. Nothing to do about what is best.
The scientists predicted our current course means twice as many people will die than would have with some restrictions.
I know lots of you don't care about that though.

At the risk of being absolutely destroyed on here, I’ve actually changed my view of Boris in the last few months. He’s steered a steady course, kept his nerve and seems determined to get us through this without reintroducing harsh short term restrictions which will have long term consequences

Do you not see the damage to the NHS, the patients denied treatments, people dying waiting for ambulances, 8 to 10 hrs waiting to get into AE...staff totally over worked, 12 m people will be waiting for operations within a few months accord to the Govt (6m now)

Omicron turned out to be less serious, he didn't know that at the time but limited restrictions not because he is a wise leader but because he was scared of the right wing of his party.

Fortunately for him, luck was on his side but please don't make out he is some sort of strong leader.

As we went into summer, when did the UK try to restrict spread?

What do you think wfh advice and mask mandates were about them?

We don't seem to have made much difference to severe disease

That's utter nonsense as any glance at hospitalisation and fatality rates, wave by wave, will tell you.

I'd rather restrictions that enabled people who have a stroke, get an ambulance and the best care, instead these poor folk will have years of rehab and outcomes far worse than if Bojo had acted on the scientific advice.
but we got to go to the footie and the pub so who cares.

@TheKeatingFive

As we went into summer, when did the UK try to restrict spread?

What do you think wfh advice and mask mandates were about them?

We don't seem to have made much difference to severe disease

That's utter nonsense as any glance at hospitalisation and fatality rates, wave by wave, will tell you.

I answered the point on WFH aznd masks..... re read.

The anti virials etc have not made the difference you implied, we have stuck steady on about 120 to 150 daily deaths, not including those who die after 28 days nor the deaths where CV is mentioned on the death cert.

Vaccines aren't "treatments"

I'd rather restrictions that enabled people who have a stroke, get an ambulance

So what restrictions would you like?

Bearing in mind that the restrictions themselves are very costly and lead to problems.

The massive booster roll out was a massive intervention to stop spread. U.K. are at maybe 60% over 12’s , one of the best rates in the world. People seem to forget this in their claims of “Gov has done nothing!”

And I agree with the pp that Boris has steered a steady path and we (in England anyway ) have avoided so far some of the more authoritarian responses we have seen in other parts of the world and I am grateful for that.

I'd rather restrictions that enabled people who have a stroke, get an ambulance and the best care

But what would they be? Given the state of the nhs to begin with, I'm not sure much short of full lockdown would make any difference. Perhaps not even that.

Vaccines aren't "treatments"

So? I didn't say they were. I said we'd become much better at controlling the severity of disease, which vaccines are a key aspect of. Fatality/hospitalisation rates have dropped considerably since the start of the pandemic which isn't up for debate, it's demonstrable fact.

@RoyalFamilyFan

Boris Johnson has ignored all scientific advice in order to save his own position. Nothing to do about what is best. The scientists predicted our current course means twice as many people will die than would have with some restrictions. I know lots of you don't care about that though.

A life always has a "cost" unfortunately. That's how it's always been and always will be.

We could prevent about a thousand deaths if we banned vehicles from our roads, but the negative consequences far outweigh the "benefit" of saving those lives.

The body of evidence is growing that lockdowns/restrictions themselves have caused deaths in other ways, i.e. suicide, late disease diagnosis, etc. And that's ignoring the monumental financial cost of the lockdowns/restrictions that will blight future generations.

Scientists look at their narrow area of responsibility. It's just one piece of the jigsaw. Scientific advice has to be weighed against other factors.

Someone put a chart for London MV beds which are reducing. We could have implemented costly restrictions and claimed they were working. Whereas even lockdown might only slow rather than reduce omicron. It’s post peak where we’ll see reduction.

Incidentally Scotland MV beds are going up, not sure why though

@user1497207191 why do you and others always talk about lockdowns? I have not talked about lockdown, but about

I'd rather restrictions that enabled people who have a stroke, get an ambulance and the best care

But what would they be? Given the state of the nhs to begin with, I'm not sure much short of full lockdown would make any difference. Perhaps not even that

err whose fault is that? Tories have been in for 11 years.... and despite 2 years of Pandemic, have done nothing to increase staffing in the NHS

Our infection rates are some 30% higher than France's that has a direct effect on hospitalisations and staff absences, its not rocket science.
Who had restrictions and who didn't?

tbh its rather callous to suggest that spending years in stroke rehab and/or dying is a price worth paying so the fortunate can go about their lives as they wish.

@Blubells

I'd rather restrictions that enabled people who have a stroke, get an ambulance

So what restrictions would you like?

Bearing in mind that the restrictions themselves are very costly and lead to problems.

I would like more positive measures.

• UK sick pay is massively lower than other European nations, this makes it crippling for lower income workers to isolate
• greater effort to budge the first dose take up
• offer vaccination to 5-11s
• proper PPE for medical staff
• investment in ventilation/filtration in schools and medical premises
• switch funding from T&T to local public health teams for contact tracing

Lockdown is the sign of failure. I would like this country to succeed.

err whose fault is that? Tories have been in for 11 years.... and despite 2 years of Pandemic, have done nothing to increase staffing in the NHS

I don't think anyone's denying that Tory policies have been instrumental in this. But equally, no party seems willing table the kind of reform necessary.

Our infection rates are some 30% higher than France's that has a direct effect on hospitalisations and staff absences, its not rocket science. Who had restrictions and who didn't?

I hate to break it to you, but I'm in ROI and are rates are higher than the U.K. despite much more stringent restrictions. Everyone's just riding the waves now, the degree of minor restrictions are making fuck all difference.

@southeastdweller

The best way to “live” with covid is to have a decent, publicly funded health care system which enables everyone to be treated. We don’t have that, because people apply false logic and we keep ending up in a mess.

You're wrong. The NHS isn't fit for purpose because of years of under-funding from this and previous governments.

Yes: a properly funded NHS would have been the answer much earlier on (in fact, all the problems with the NHS BEFORE the plague were due to the Tories having starved it of money for over a decade).

But unfortunately the Tories chose to stir up division and foment an idiot moral panic in order to steal vast amounts of public money and quietly strip away more and more human rights. That's what they are still doing.

Reducing the availablity of tests is a stupid idea because it is useful to be able to check before you go to work in a public facing job/go clubbing/see a CEV person. Though there have always been plenty of people who tried to avoid tests simply because they get no sick pay/there is no cover at work/there is no one else to look after a dependent person.

The snivelling shits keep on and on and on about the 'selfishness' of those who appear unwilling to 'care about others' - yet don't understand that being asked to go without food (because you have to take unpaid time off work), lose your livelihood etc is too much to ask of people who have rarely experienced much in the way of support from 'society'. And, of course, the funsponges who think that everyone should live quietly, within a small radius of their homes, and that clubs, bars, live events etc are immoral and only enjoyed by the immature, have been coming into their own since the plague began.

I don't think anyone's denying that Tory policies have been instrumental in this. But equally, no party seems willing table the kind of reform necessary

Not "equally" at all, the Tories are in power, Labour are not and who says the NHS needs root an branch reform??? thats been tried under the Tories too and ended up where we are now.

I hate to break it to you, but I'm in ROI and are rates are higher than the U.K. despite much more stringent restrictions. Everyone's just riding the waves now, the degree of minor restrictions are making fuck all difference

Did i mention ROI or France... let me see? ah yes it was France...

France is a comparable country to the UK, ROI isn't, which shares a UK land border.

If these restrictions were indeed minor, then 1000s wouldn't be tearing up Paris in protest.

The UK was filling up the NHS back in the summer... why? because we allowed Delta to spread with almost no restriction, relying on vaccines only, despite ignoring the advice we need than just vaccines, so along comes Omicron and the show grinds to a halt.

With such a poor health service to start with, Bojo should have been a little more careful but he has a cavalier approach to these things.

Did i mention ROI or France... let me see? ah yes it was France

Well you can't just cherry pick one country that suits your argument and ignore the others that don't, so 🤷‍♀️.

France is a comparable country to the UK, ROI isn't

Based on ... what exactly?!?

The UK was filling up the NHS back in the summer... why? because we allowed Delta to spread with almost no restriction

And we in ROI had some of the toughest restrictions in Europe over the summer yet are in a worse position than you now.

Everyone's just riding the waves now, the degree of minor restrictions are making fuck all difference

It's looking that way isn't it? Some people are very attached to pre-Omicron ideas, though.

culturally ROI is more comparable to UK than France I would think and France also has higher rates of covid than the UK currently. We're doing pretty "good" on cases at the moment (obviously relatively speaking )

Even parts of Australia has higher (per million) cases than UK at the moment