No isolation when covid positive in March

[Whathefisgoingon]

I just cannot get my head around this.

As far as I know, no other country has announced this.

For two years they’ve told us that it’s dangerous and now they’re prepared to send me to work directly next to someone infected with covid?

I had always believed it should be more socially acceptable to simply stay home when sick, as too many feel forced in to work with flu etc, but this takes the biscuit.

I understand we need to find a way to get back to some kind of normal but this seems extreme.

Will this really happen in less than 2 months!?

But this has always been the case! CEV have always been at extra risk from all sorts of viruses etc. Rightly or wrong the world didn't stop!

Exactly.

@user1496146479

But this has always been the case! CEV have always been at extra risk from all sorts of viruses etc. Rightly or wrong the world didn't stop!

Userbunchofnumbers, that's because this virus is far more dangerous. It can infect a vulnerable person and they can then go on to develop dangerous secondary infections such as pneumonia, or inflammatory issues in the chest muscles and lining, or clots throughout the body. It's a multi-system virus and we don't fully know the long-term effects yet.

Please stop repeating nonsense one-line propaganda.

@Tynetime

I think the best thing they could do for the ECV especially the immunosupressed like cancer patients and those on immunosupressants would be to offer them antibody tests. It would really help them if they knew whether their 3 or 4 vaccines had generated an immune response. It must be so hard for them not knowing whether they are protected especially when they are doing unavoidable things like working and attending hospital appointments etc especially once the small level of protection we now have ends. Obviously anti viral are promising but not everyone qualifies.

Isn't the answer just to ensure that the anti-virals cover all groups that need them?

What groups don't qualify at the moment? I'm presuming some people in those groups think they should qualify, but the NHS has decided they don't for whatever reason.

@KurtWilde

But this has always been the case! CEV have always been at extra risk from all sorts of viruses etc. Rightly or wrong the world didn't stop!

Exactly.

This is simply not true

Or rather not the full truth

a) there hasn't been a potentially fatal illness so widespread in the community
b) there hasn't been the same pressures on the health service, necessitating green/red areas within hospitals (needed whether person is admitted because of, or with, covid)
c) treatment options are increasing but are still not as reliable or as available as they are for other diseases.

Yes, other infectious diseases can be a risk, but both the likelihood of the risk, and the likelihood of serious/fatal consequences of that risk, are significantly higher.

People with other, survivable, conditions (such as cancer - which will affect between 1 in 2 and 1 in 3 of us at some point) deserve safe care in hospitals, and a life that is more than just isolation. That is what it was before, when there was no disease causing so many cases

[quote Cameleongirl]@Spudina. I appreciate what you’re saying, but what sort of advice were your CEV patients given pre-pandemic? They would have been as susceptible to colds, flu, D&V as they are to Covid now. People weren’t isolating for those types of illnesses pre-pandemic. My CEV late Mum would catch a cold and end up in hospital with pneumonia, because her lungs were damaged. It happened several years in a row. The same would happen now, whether it was a normal cold or Covid. Unless she stayed at home forever-and even then she caught colds from my Dad.[/quote]
I’m CEV and the pre pandemic advice was to have the flu shot every year, get vaccinated against pneumonia and shingles, and be very careful in winter when various things were doing the rounds. I also had hospital appointments cancelled when we had a local outbreak of Norovirus. Colds are not usually life threatening to those of us CEV and if regular flu shots are given that offers protection. I think you’re rather missing the point - this is a pandemic. The Covid virus is everywhere and many people who have underlying conditions like myself, are on immunosuppressant treatment which can render the vaccines ineffective. Throughout this whole thread there has been a breathtaking lack of understanding as to what CEV actually means. There’s also an underlying suggestion that many of us are ‘hiding’ behind the condition - do you think we want to live like this ? If so you’re deluded. We’ve spent the best part of two years holed up in our homes scared to death and we’re still being advised by medics to be cautious, and by regular emails from the health department reminding us we’re still vulnerable and it’s not over. If your immune system is severely impaired - either by a medical condition, or the drugs used to treat it, then you are much more at risk from Covid, whatever the strain, and the vaccines are of little use to some. No one’s asking for self isolation or lockdowns, but a bit of consideration would be good - wearing a mask for the protection of others for example. It’s not rocket science.

Myself and all the kids have had it - all very mild - i WFH throughout and no reason kids couldn't have gone to school/childcare instead were off 10 days. It's ridiculous for something which is now for the majority of people nothing more than a common cold or even symptomless

@nether look, my dad was CEV and died from a COMMON COLD. He worked full time, he wasn't protected by people wearing masks or closing businesses, he wasn't allowed to shield during virus season.

This is not the first time a new a highly infectious illness has turned up, and it won't be the last.

The lockdowns and restrictions were unsustainable, in fact I'm often shocked that people complied for as long as they did. We're back to being responsible for our own health, and those who want to carry on with their own mitigations can do so.

@Sparklingbrook

A lot of CEV people are not as terrified as people would like to think. Going about their business as normal but being careful re going to crowded places etc.

But people in favour of keeping restrictions forever like to say they are thinking of the CEV people primarily.

It depends on how vulnerable you are. The people most at risk have conditions which seriously compromise the immune system, or the drugs used to treat the condition do. Cancer, and its’ treatment can lay waste to a persons’ immune system to the point where the Covid vaccine is useless. I have Rheumatoid Arthritis and the disease plus the treatment is immunosuppressive, so although it’s not as severe as that, it’s still enough to significantly reduce the protection from the vaccine. A number of my family and friends are CEV and like myself, no one is asking that we keep restrictions for ever. Self isolation and lockdowns do no-one any good, but I don’t think it’s too much to ask that people continue to wear masks in enclosed spaces like supermarkets, shops etc. A few days ago Covid deaths reached the highest daily total since February 2021, the disease is rampant and yet the government is proposing to remove all restrictions, despite the science not supporting it. Forgive me, but I have no intention of throwing caution to the wind and risking infection on the word of a proven liar.

@greenteafiend

>>>Stuff that it is reasonable to expect society to do, to protect those who are CEV: --Get all vaccines that HCPs strongly recommend, for themselves and their child. --Get vaccines that are merely "recommended," like the flu shot annually, and vaccinating children against chickenpox --Practice proper hygiene, including washing hands well at appropriate times, putting down lids on toilets before flushing, and so on. --Stay home if you are sick with something. --If you are sick at home and you NEED to go out for something essential, then put a mask on before going out rather than breathing aerosolized snot all over the wider world. --Do things to improve ventilation in both existing and new buildings

Stuff that it is NOT reasonable to expect society to do, to protect those who are CEV:
--Wearing masks everywhere forever
--Not being able to travel overseas
--Being forced to WFH if you don't want to
--Significantly disrupting children's education
--Crushing small businesses
--Chasing women out of the workplace
--Massively increasing social inequalities
--Putting people into centralized quarantine by force
--Making children freeze to death while they are trying to learn and study
--Making people feel guilty for wanting to have a social life and have actual physical contact with fellow humans.

I think ventilation is a wonderful thing and I personally don't mind wearing a surgical mask in indoor public spaces, but these things are making very little difference to COVID transmission.

The trajectories of China, HK and NZ suggests that the only long term way to make a significant difference to the transmission rates of these newer and more infectious varieties of COVID, is to either become a hermit kingdom, or systemically and grossly infringe civil liberties on a mass scale. There is no appetite for this in most of the world, so it is pointless to even talk about.

Agree with this.

@bonetiredwithtwins

Myself and all the kids have had it - all very mild - i WFH throughout and no reason kids couldn't have gone to school/childcare instead were off 10 days. It's ridiculous for something which is now for the majority of people nothing more than a common cold or even symptomless

I'm very pleased for you. But how could possibly know what Covid is like for the majority of people?

But how could possibly know what Covid is like for the majority of people?

Because it's widely reported that 'for most people it will be a mild illness', and that's been the stance for the last 2 years.

[quote KurtWilde]@nether look, my dad was CEV and died from a COMMON COLD. He worked full time, he wasn't protected by people wearing masks or closing businesses, he wasn't allowed to shield during virus season.

This is not the first time a new a highly infectious illness has turned up, and it won't be the last.

The lockdowns and restrictions were unsustainable, in fact I'm often shocked that people complied for as long as they did. We're back to being responsible for our own health, and those who want to carry on with their own mitigations can do so. [/quote]
Completely agree!

@KurtWilde

But how could possibly know what Covid is like for the majority of people?

Because it's widely reported that 'for most people it will be a mild illness', and that's been the stance for the last 2 years.

Exactly!

The majority of people I know would not have needed more than a day or 2 off work if any. A big part of the staffing problems are because people who are basically well are having to stay at home.

Exactly.

People are realising that omicron causes very mild symptoms, even for the unvaccinated.

There's no need to force a large part of the population to isolate at home if they're well enough to work and contribute to society.

Everyone I know who's had COVID recently says they were pretty rough - raging fever, can't get out of bed. Mild is a relative term. It just means you are kept out of hospital. I am mainly referring to people in their 40s and 50s

Good! I've just taken over a week's unpaid leave to look after an isolating DC that is not in the slightest bit ill and I've now got the worry of how I'm going make my next wage cover all the bills. This isn't the first time I've had to take 10 days off to look after a dc that's perfectly well. It's not sustainable.

This. Do people not see the huge costs to society of forcing so many people to isolate?

I do understand that there are also costs (faster rate if transmission of the virus) of not isolating, but it appears that the costs of isolation are higher?!

Everyone I know who's had COVID recently says they were pretty rough - raging fever, can't get out of bed. Mild is a relative term. It just means you are kept out of hospital. I am mainly referring to people in their 40s and 50s

Really?

Everyone I know I'm that age group is triple vaxxed and has had at most a runny nose, slight headache and a day or two of feeling a little more tired. Many triple vaxxed friends are asymptomatic or don't even catch it.

@9ofpentangles

Everyone I know who's had COVID recently says they were pretty rough - raging fever, can't get out of bed. Mild is a relative term. It just means you are kept out of hospital. I am mainly referring to people in their 40s and 50s

I'm forties. had original covid this time last year pre-vaccines, the worst bit was no sense of taste or smell. I could easily have gone about my normal business otherwise.

Of course you get into trouble for saying how mildly you had it, and I'm in no way minimising people who had a bad time or died, but for the majority of the country the isolation period has been more of an inconvenience than the actual illness, particularly if they've had to do it multiple times.

@TheAverageForumUser I’d be really interested in knowing where you live, where you don’t have to isolate, if you don’t mind sharing?

I feel like it’s time to move on also and although I have sympathy with anyone who is CEV and worried, it’s unsustainable to live this way forever and has too many huge negative knock on effects on many others in society (such as those not getting paid to isolate).

One thing I think would be a good idea and would support is a free supply of high grade masks (such as N95s) available for anyone classed as CEV.

@9ofpentangles

Everyone I know who's had COVID recently says they were pretty rough - raging fever, can't get out of bed. Mild is a relative term. It just means you are kept out of hospital. I am mainly referring to people in their 40s and 50s

Anyone I know who has had it recently has had it like a cold or barely any symptoms as all (including the 5 of us in our house at Christmas). Just anecdotal but still… I’m sure some people feel quite ill but personally I’ve had much worse colds before

@Rosscameasdoody believe me I know all about it. My CEV relative is in the most at risk category. They caught Covid and we were terrified but they got through it.

@PandorasBex

*@user1496146479*

But this has always been the case! CEV have always been at extra risk from all sorts of viruses etc. Rightly or wrong the world didn't stop!

Userbunchofnumbers, that's because this virus is far more dangerous. It can infect a vulnerable person and they can then go on to develop dangerous secondary infections such as pneumonia, or inflammatory issues in the chest muscles and lining, or clots throughout the body. It's a multi-system virus and we don't fully know the long-term effects yet.

Please stop repeating nonsense one-line propaganda.

This is the problem another of my friends has. They're immuno suppressed, they have a newly emerging heart condition, and have lung problems which have emerged over the last decade. Blood pressure has also become problematic and their doctor doesn't seem to know why (these are all co morbid conditions to an existing issue). Previously they've been able to determine risk. If they catch covid, I think they won't survive it.

@SpidersAreShitheads agree

[quote AnEpisodeOfEastenders]@Rosscameasdoody what were you doing prior to Covid for avoiding other viruses like Flu (you still catch a milder flu after having flu vaccine)?

@JugglingJanuary you were CEV at the beginning of the pandemic when everyone went into lockdown to protect those that needed it. Now you're double or even triple vaccinated and booster jab too so are you still CEV or are you just someone with diabetes hiding behind a CEV barrier?[/quote]
For myself
I have had flu, and was ok. If someone is unwell (sneezing etc) in work then I sit in the corridor
My vaccines probably haven't worked, which is why I have had 4

I have never been offered anti virals, a priority PCR, 4 vaccines and been advised to shield for anything else so therefore to me, covid is more of a risk
My body tends to cope with colds ok but if I get a chest infection it usually goes to pneumonia as it's my weak spot. So covid would likely = pneumonia
I'm taking advice from blood cancer U.K. and my consultant and I am still CEV. Not hiding behind it, I'm genuinely fucking vulnerable which is why I have been at home, alone for 3 years

So not only is it ridiculously lonely, I get pissed off with people who think they know my incredibly rare medical conditions better than my haematology consultant