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Covid

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Is the pandemic over for good?

204 replies

Ashleighz88 · 29/01/2022 00:41

Is the pandemic finally over for good? I really can't see it getting worse again now Or am I naive?

OP posts:
HailAdrian · 29/01/2022 10:50

Jesus, check out all the experts on here 🤣

justustwoandmoo · 29/01/2022 10:51

Tbh I don't think it'll be over for a long time BUT I think threats of lockdowns etc are over. It'll be a matter of living with it now and just getting on with our lives.

I certainly know why you are asking this though OP as it definitely feels like the impact of it is coming to an end. No face masks, social distancing etc. Time to move on xx

justustwoandmoo · 29/01/2022 10:53

@Dontforgetyourbrolly

No definitely not , but most people are no longer hysterical. Except on mumsnet lol
😂😂 this is so true!!
Scianel · 29/01/2022 10:55

@BogRollBOGOF your posts are absolutely excellent.
Yes we all know that there's still quite high case rates and clearly amongst that some people will get very ill but there can be such a reluctance to admit that is possibly the lesser of two evils on a societal level, for all the reasons you've touched on, and that having your entire society geared towards management of a respiratory illness rapidly becomes very problematic.

BogRollBOGOF · 29/01/2022 11:04

@nether

If you weren't going outdoors at all, then you or someone in your household must have been CEV. And even then it was only the first 12 weeks when CEV were told not to go out even for daily exercise.

The local rules orr the venue of the karate club sound appalling, but that's what they were - idiosyncratic local rules - not part of what lockdown required (and of course nothing to stop you walking round outside close to the venue if you wanted to get your paces in during the DC's class)

I did go out, but my body can only take 2 hours of running in a day and not every day. We did have walks and ignored the one a day guidelines and Gove's imaginary time limits, but that still leaves another 8, 9, 10 hours a day of moping around the house avoiding disrupting office life upstairs. Compare that to walking the DCs to school 2,3,4 times a day depending on activities. The DCs running around at break and lunch time with friends, walking to activities. Going places and walking around shops.

I go running anyway, but the incidental movement is important on top and is hard to substitute.

As to the Karate club, council venues and community centres are still full of box ticking, ineffective measures. Our youth groups still have to wash/ sanitise on entering, contact with parents still limited, still having to risk assess activities to Guiding/ Scouting and in turn Youth Association guidelines and venue guidelines. Still ticking off on the form that we've sprayed all touch points on entering and leaving to satisfy the venue committee.

There is still a huge amount of measures out there that are very culturally difficult to abandon because there is still an obligation to produce "Covid Secure" risk assessments.

Covidworries · 29/01/2022 11:13

@summerbluez

grow up..... Im praying for it to end so my family can get out and about more. Currently my children cant go to school, or out and about. Our CEV child is at risk from covid - which isn't over. Luckily we have finally been given an appointment for the vaccination which will finally give some protection but she needs 2 doses 8 weeks apart so will be Mid April before protection kicks in.

Im not a doomsayer loving the pandemic - im a concerned parent trying to keep my children safe - i would love it to be over but it isnt yet!!

Flaxmeadow · 29/01/2022 11:14

Avocadoandlemons
Sorry to disappoint you but it's over - coronaviruses don't mutate in the way you'd wish they ALWAYS get less lethal. So we really are done worrying about covid

I suggest you write a very stern letter to the virus telling it that it is mutating the wrong way for you, because...
Covid original Wuhan strain became more transmissable and more deadly by mutating into Alpha
Covid Alpha then became more transmissable and more deadly when it mutated into Delta

Postdatedpandemic · 29/01/2022 11:19

The pandemic isn't over. SARS Covid 2 is no longer a novel virus, most of our population has been jabbed and a significant proportion have had natural infection. We can't declare a pandemic over unilaterally. We can get back to life with minimal restrictions whilst still showing some respect for CEV people, for now.

The Chinese are still taking a very harsh path. Are they concerned about recombination events?

Mylittlepixie · 29/01/2022 11:23

@Flaxmeadow

Avocadoandlemons Sorry to disappoint you but it's over - coronaviruses don't mutate in the way you'd wish they ALWAYS get less lethal. So we really are done worrying about covid

I suggest you write a very stern letter to the virus telling it that it is mutating the wrong way for you, because...
Covid original Wuhan strain became more transmissable and more deadly by mutating into Alpha
Covid Alpha then became more transmissable and more deadly when it mutated into Delta

Viruses usually mutate to be more transmissable and less deadly over time. The virus has the goal to mutate and spread. Being too deadly would be counterproductive, because if they kill the host too quickly they wont be able to mutate anymore. So eventually it will mutate to a weaker version (which is happening now).
Cookerhood · 29/01/2022 11:25

Or like flu, every now & then will throw up a deadly mutation

Postdatedpandemic · 29/01/2022 11:33

@Cookerhood

Or like flu, every now & then will throw up a deadly mutation
Probably
Flaxmeadow · 29/01/2022 11:34

Viruses usually mutate to be more transmissable and less deadly over time.
The virus has the goal to mutate and spread. Being too deadly would be counterproductive, because if they kill the host too quickly they wont be able to mutate anymore.
So eventually it will mutate to a weaker version (which is happening now).

Sorry but this is not true
A virus that has a long incubation period and has many who are asymptomatic has no need to become less deadly because 8t will infect anyway. But that is beside the point anyway because a virus mutation is mainly a random occurance. It does not have a brain

And do we know that much about Omicron and long term effect. Already we have 3 other concerning sub-varaints of Omicron, one of which (BA.2) is ATM swiftly replacing this one. In Denmark now for example.

Do we know the long term effect on our bodies of being repeatedly infected with this virus, even repeatedly infected with Omicron.

The post I replied to said coronavirus always mutates to becomes less lethal. This is incorrect because this one hasn't and did the opposite, with Alpha and then Delta

TheKeatingFive · 29/01/2022 11:37

Covid original Wuhan strain became more transmissable and more deadly by mutating into Alpha. Covid Alpha then became more transmissable and more deadly when it mutated into Delta

In fairness, the degree to which it became more deadly in both of these cases was very small.

Coming off an omicron base now, I suspect that any significant leap in severity is not expected (though not entirely ruled out).

MrsSkylerWhite · 29/01/2022 11:38

No. Obviously.

Flaxmeadow · 29/01/2022 11:42

In fairness, the degree to which it became more deadly in both of these cases was very small.

It really wasn't

Coming off an omicron base now, I suspect that any significant leap in severity is not expected (though not entirely ruled out)

The virus does not 'come off the base' of the last significant one.
Though this misunderstanding is wholly my fault because of the way I wrongly worded my post.

Is the pandemic over for good?
Flaxmeadow · 29/01/2022 11:43

*mutation not off the base

Sorry I'm rushing about ATM

TheKeatingFive · 29/01/2022 11:44

It really wasn't

Well I can't make head nor tail of that chart, so you're going to have to do more explaining.

TheKeatingFive · 29/01/2022 11:46

The virus does not 'come off the base' of the last significant one.

Well a strain does mutate from another strain, yes? So a strain coming from omicron will have that as a starting point.

BewareTheLibrarians · 29/01/2022 11:48

Well, we’ve been told we have to learn to live with covid so that’s what I’ve been doing. I’ve cleared out the spare room and fashioned a kind of “covid bed” (like a dog bed but much much smaller) for the virus to snuggle in, and put in a selection of books and dvds (Outbreak, Contagion, The Hot Zone, Spillover) so it can feel a bit more at home.

Im just not sure what to feed it?? Honestly, the government messaging around this (as usual) has been shocking.

Flaxmeadow · 29/01/2022 11:49

Well I can't make head nor tail of that chart, so you're going to have to do more explaining.

It is a kind of family tree of significant mutations. The colours represent each mutation, Alpha, Delta etc
As you can see, each mutation does not follow on from the last one, but rather originates further back in the tree

So Omicron did not spring directly from Delta for example.

Flaxmeadow · 29/01/2022 11:50

Well a strain does mutate from another strain, yes? So a strain coming from omicron will have that as a starting point.

No, see my last comment

TheKeatingFive · 29/01/2022 11:50

As you can see, each mutation does not follow on from the last one, but rather originates further back in the tree

Sorry, I'm on my phone and I can barely make out anything on it

Postdatedpandemic · 29/01/2022 11:55

This www.news9live.com/science/mutations-transmissibility-and-virulence-of-the-omicron-variant-explained-139388 might help you @TheKeatingFive

Flaxmeadow · 29/01/2022 11:58

The horizontal bar at the bottom is time, it starts on left at March 2020 and is up to recently on the right. Omicron is the red dot just ahead of all the others (right on graph near centre), Delta is the green at the top.

The right of the graph is like a finishing line in a race i suppose is a way of looking at it

Flaxmeadow · 29/01/2022 12:00

Sorry Omicron is red dot about a third of way up on right

Im on a phone as well Blush