Is the pandemic over for good?

[Ashleighz88]

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

Embarrassing. I feel sorry for people desperately clinging on to any covid crumbs that they can, and obsessively disqualifying anything even remotely positive.

People overwhelmingly catastrophise on this board. It’s the default. Most people are just getting on with their lives now so you’ll find bias here. There are people here who really don’t want this to be over so they get irrationally angry at the mere suggestion that it might be.

@x2boys I'm guessing so? I've had my 4th and there are drop in places - went for mine and was the only one there. So they're available to get and timing wise should be fine for gaps

Pandemic =!= the virus itself.

The virus itself is here forever. The pandemic will ease off as world's population gradually builds up t-cell immunity and is no longer "immuno-naive." There will still be some death and severe illness from the virus, but this will slowly cease to become an immediate systemic threat.

We are surrounded by viruses that once caused pandemics. One of the commonest common-cold viruses probably caused the so-called "Russian flu" pandemic of 1889-90. Nobody worries about it now.

@VikingOnTheFridge

I thought that the pandemic might spur people on to eat better, exercise more, lose excess weight & unhealthy habits in general but I don’t see it happening sadly

Realistically a pandemic was never going to do that.

We spent months living under restrictions that severely limited many people's access to exercise. This group contained a disproportionate number of people who were already vulnerable due to disability, poverty and age. Lockdown also exacerbated inequality, which we know leads to poor health. For children, a group we should be particularly concerned about, the provision for many was for them to simply be shoved in front of devices so their parents could work, and the state considered that sufficient. We had months where primary aged kids weren't able to go for a walk outside with a friend while provision was made for other groups. It's no shock at all that child obesity rose as it did.

To that we can add people drinking more to cope: with loneliness, lack of space and privacy, too much work, too little work. With the attendant problems that causes. And for people whose incomes dropped suddenly, simply getting enough food had to be a bigger priority than anything else. The cheapest way to fill your stomach, especially when we take into account the costs of time and space to cook, is stodgy crap.

I don't often write on the covid board (long time lurker!) but this is spot on.

Thanks!

@HariboMaroon

Embarrassing. I feel sorry for people desperately clinging on to any covid crumbs that they can, and obsessively disqualifying anything even remotely positive.

People overwhelmingly catastrophise on this board. It’s the default. Most people are just getting on with their lives now so you’ll find bias here. There are people here who really don’t want this to be over so they get irrationally angry at the mere suggestion that it might be.

The only person getting wound up is you... You are getting irrationally angry at the mere suggestion that CV may yet have a trick or too up its sleeve.

You do know it is possible to get on with ones life, enjoy the easing of restrictions, plan new exciting holidays etc etc yet not dismiss the idea that CV may return in a more virulent form?

Is it over?

Maybe not in the sense of the virus being controlled.

But I think it’s over for a lot of people as society has generally had enough now. We can’t keep living like this forever.

The other day it was a boy’s birthday in my son’s class and he wasn’t allowed to take individually packed bags of Haribo sweets in to give to the other children “because of the virus”….

Yet all the children spend 5 days a week together, sharing paper, pencils, room space, air space, painting equipment, sports equipment, library books, homework books etc, but God forbid a child gives packets of sweets to his friends for his birthday.

It’s just ridiculous now.

I think we are moving from pandemic to endemic in Europe at least. So yes I think we are heading towards the end despite the high numbers.

@DontWantTheRivalry

Is it over?

Maybe not in the sense of the virus being controlled.

But I think it’s over for a lot of people as society has generally had enough now. We can’t keep living like this forever.

The other day it was a boy’s birthday in my son’s class and he wasn’t allowed to take individually packed bags of Haribo sweets in to give to the other children “because of the virus”….

Yet all the children spend 5 days a week together, sharing paper, pencils, room space, air space, painting equipment, sports equipment, library books, homework books etc, but God forbid a child gives packets of sweets to his friends for his birthday.

It’s just ridiculous now.

Reminds me of dds school saying they couldn’t sing happy birthday to children in the classroom. The whole class had to go outside to sing to the birthday child.

Yet they were regularly sent to the toilets to wash their hands in huge groups. Where they would all crowd round the sinks. And what did they have to sing while they washed their hands…happy birthday

What a load of shit that was.

If anyone has seen the film Little Voice, you won't have fogotten Michael Caine's rendition of "It's Over" at the end, where he loses it completely and screams "It's FAAAAACKING OVAAAAAAAAAH!!!"

Many of the posters on this board remind me of Michael Caine, so thank you for that, I suppose.

Reminds me of dds school saying they couldn’t sing happy birthday to children in the classroom. The whole class had to go outside to sing to the birthday child.

Yet they were regularly sent to the toilets to wash their hands in huge groups. Where they would all crowd round the sinks. And what did they have to sing while they washed their hands…happy birthday

What a load of shit that was

That’s so funny

It’s like at work…..we all sit in close quarters with each other, thigh to thigh, chatting away, eating snacks etc (about 5-8 of us) but when it comes to lunch time only three people are allowed in the staff room at any time and we have to sit 2m apart. We even have three single desks with a little chair at each one to highlight the extreme importance of these rules

However, it’s absolutely fine for us all pop to the usually crowded Costa next door and eat our lunch cramped together at small table

It’s insane.

I wonder if other countries are as fucking ridiculous as England when it comes to dictating absolutely inane ‘restrictions’

[quote HariboMaroon]@GlacindaTheTroll

Omicron is milder is it not? I mean to dramatically respond with “yeah right” like we’re back in april/may 2020 is quite unbelievable.

SORRY folks… it’s over!! Maybe find a new hobby, I hear climate change will be a good avenue for you all to explore with hysteria.[/quote]
Of course it's not over & you taking bitchy swipes at people is just nasty.

I'm CEV, amongst other things I'm diabetic. People with diabetes make up the greatest number of deaths from
Covid. Without covid my lie expectancy is decades more, with covid, I could be one of the 'daily deaths' that you think are insignificant.

Then there are the people for whom the virus doesn't give much, if any, protection. So yeah, let's forget about the immunosuppressant people, after all, they're 'other' & are hysterical,

I guess while we’re using somewhat “unique” definitions of words, it’s worth asking what people think “endemic” means.

Do people think it means “safe”?

Endemic does not mean safe. A virus that becomes endemic does not become less dangerous but more static in society.

www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-00155-x

Absolutely rambleonplease. It’s used on these kinds of threads as a shorthand for “yay, it’s all over!” which is slightly frustrating when that’s not what the word means.

And mainstream media (or the government’s crappy messaging) doesn’t spend much, if any, time making the difference clear.

To my mind endemic levels of 100k plus which is where we currently are with 300 plus daily deaths would be a bad place to stabilise at.

Ideally we would want to stabalise at a few 100 to a few 1000s daily cases

@Covidworries

And when would you like things to stabilise 2030? Lol. The ships sailed no one will comply with anything now.

@JugglingJanuary there is more to society than just one group of people. CEV are vulnerable in a multitude of ways to a multitude of viruses.

The repeated isolations need to stop now for well children and adults who can get on with living and feeding the economy etc.

Roll on March.

@haribomaroon

logically continued high levels of infections are not great. Would yoube happy with 100k plus new cases of measles, mumps etc every single day with 100s of extra daily deaths caused by this every single day.
The knock on impact to our hospitals which delay cancer treatment etc.

Its not a good number to be maintaining at endemic levels.

On a very personal levelid like my CEV child to be able to return to school at some point. Normal life expectency but vunerable to covid so not able to attend school. Low transmission in community means reduced risk so although could still catch the risk is lower and benefit of school outweigh risk. With high transmission the risk of contracting is veryhigh.should soon be vaccinated but will be April before bothdoses have happened and obv high tranmission increases risk of mutations which may be better or maybe worse

@Covidworries I hear what you are saying regarding protecting your child. I am just not sure what the solution is and how we can lower the number of daily cases. Even countries that have lockdown to some degree have seen cases soar, look at NL. The off shot variant of omricon is meant to be even more transmissible than omricon.

I don’t think it is anywhere near over. It is a global problem, and many poorer countries have not immunised enough of their population. There is no chance it being over until the whole world has access to vaccines. Without that new variants will continue to arise, some might be less lethal some might be more lethal. And people who have caught one variant can catch another.

In the UK we are lucky enough to have enough vaccines so that deaths and hospitalisations are not as bad as in the second wave here (when they were absolutely appalling), but they are still not low. And so many people are still getting it, it might be mild but mild in most vaccinated people with no conditions who are young but can still be really unpleasant. And cases are still very high and daily life is still being impacted. 1 in 10 primary school kids had it last week according to ONS. That’s a lot of kids off school at one time, much more than you would get in a bad flu season.

@Covidworries

Whilst I am not thrilled at the extra cases it’s inevitable with the transmission rate. It isn’t inevitable to have all those measles cases because of vaccinations etc. There is no putting the lid on this, ever.

Yes that may well be the case... the point here is people saying its over and celebrating, people can go about their lives either way. I just dont like the putting down of people who continue to have to limit their lives or the laughing at them that happens on here.
Vaccines have helped an awful lot, their are very few restrictions in UK at pressent but i dont feel that it is over. I dont expect it to ever be over as in no risk, but with vaccines and treatment options growing things will be improved as time goes on. I will.be happier once all.vunerable children have recieved vaccine as they really have been treated badly through this pandemic and been given almost no protection

I know more people have it now than ever. I can't understand them saying the infections rates are lower. People must not be reporting LFT results.

@Whywhywhy48

I know more people have it now than ever. I can't understand them saying the infections rates are lower. People must not be reporting LFT results.

I think that's key to the falling numbers. Many people won't bother registering their positive LFT. And few people now need to bath having a PCR.

@Whywhywhy48

I know more people have it now than ever. I can't understand them saying the infections rates are lower. People must not be reporting LFT results.

Yep outside my job (A&E) this is the worst I have seen it amongst people I know personally. Loads and loads of people I know in London and the SE have got it. At work, not a huge number compared to this time last year which was the absolute worst time in the pandemic.