How do you feel about testing/isolation ending?

[Usernumber5253747293]

If it happens ^

I was speaking to a relative earlier and I was saying how glad I will be when and if all the isolation and testing rules end. It's not that I don't take covid seriously, because we really have. I spent nearly 2 years being so anxious about getting to catching it and being fine!! I know not everyone gets away with it's so mildly but my experience of covid wasn't too bad at all!

Anyway, both dc have sen. Isolation periods have been hard (Dd has had covid twice) m, holding down to test them has been hard, waiting for test results etc. I can't bloody wait to feel like I don't have to anymore. We all had covid in December. The isolation period was hell, far worse than the actual illness. My dc were climbing the walls! Dc had barely any symptoms really and found the isolation hard.

Of course if dc were ill I'd keep them off until better as I would have before covid. I've always kept my kids away from people when germy.

My relative is moaning about all the rules ending and how it will spread it! Which is ironic as they were very poorly last month with covid symptoms and didn't test or isolate but that's another story 😅

I just feel people should use their common sense. If you feel ill, stay home. If you have to go out when ill don't go too close to people, wash your hands and practise good respiratory hygiene!

It's a good thing right? Surely I'm not the only one waiting ever so patiently for any announcement over it 😅

@AndAsIfByMagic

I think it's a huge mistake. It hasn't gone away.

How are the clinically vulnerable going to have any kind of life when the knowingly infected just wander about spreading it?

Why would people put others at risk like that?

It will never go away, ever! We don't regularly test and isolate for any other illness all of which could be potentially harmful to someone clinically vulnerable. People walking around asymptomatically or knowingly carrying a virus is not a new thing, it's happened since time began and will always do so, the illusion that we could somehow stop this from happening is just a mystical pipe dream.

[quote GirlInACountrySong]@luckylavender

So we do what? Continue on like this just in case another variant rocks up?

No. The measures were put in to protect the NHS from becoming overwhelmed.....cases are dropping and dropping as are deaths. Hospitals are coping

The workplace now needs the staff back working.... too much stress on everyone trying to cover unnecessary absence![/quote]
Well we'll just have to wait and see won't we? I'd rather believe the WHO than a PM desperate to restore his reputation. Asymptomatic transmission is what makes this pandemic very difficult to control. That and a total lack of vaccine inequality in the world makes the future unpredictable.

@AndAsIfByMagic

I think it's a huge mistake. It hasn't gone away.

How are the clinically vulnerable going to have any kind of life when the knowingly infected just wander about spreading it?

Why would people put others at risk like that?

Why? Because I need to work and get paid, that's why. I don't know why people can't seem to comprehend that 10 days isolating is a luxury that many people don't have.

Nobody will even be testing once the tests need to be paid for

I know we won't be!

I think it's a huge mistake. It hasn't gone away

It isn't going to go away.

So what ... we do this forever?

@NewModelArmyMayhem18

I don't know a single person who has had lasting lung difficulties after Covid. And I know probably about 50 people who have had it now of varying ages. Still too small a sample to make/break a theory on though . You may know a particularly 'atypical' group of people!

Well, yes, that's why personal anecdotes on Mumsnet aren't really relevent. Looking at nationwide figures is.

@GirlInACountrySong

Nobody will even be testing once the tests need to be paid for

I know we won't be!

Exactly, many people don't test now at all when they are free

The measures were put in to protect the NHS from becoming overwhelmed.....cases are dropping and dropping as are deaths. Hospitals are coping

This is the crux of it. The plan was never to stop people getting covid. Even back in March 2020 governments across the world knew that this virus would do what a virus always does, and spread.

Why people think that the aim was EVER to stop anyone catching it, ever, is beyond me.

Why people think that the aim was EVER to stop anyone catching it, ever, is beyond me.

Yes. And there's evidence that catching covid after being vaccinated significantly boosts your immune system. So a degree of community spread is desirable.

There are no excess deaths this winter and in some areas there have been below average deaths so that must be a factor in the government's decision. The vulnerable are still at risk but in numbers that are acceptable to the government and the NHS.

@BestKnitterInScotland

The measures were put in to protect the NHS from becoming overwhelmed.....cases are dropping and dropping as are deaths. Hospitals are coping

This is the crux of it. The plan was never to stop people getting covid. Even back in March 2020 governments across the world knew that this virus would do what a virus always does, and spread.

Why people think that the aim was EVER to stop anyone catching it, ever, is beyond me.

But being unable to eradicate a virus doesn't mean that we should do nothing to slow/limit the spread. There are lots of other diseases for which we have measures in place to limit spread even though there's no prospect of eliminating the disease, eg the UK has had and continues to have restrictions on bringing animals into the country in order to avoid bringing in rabies. Is it now considered acceptable to send children into school with chickenpox provided they feel well enough? It certainly used to be the case that parents were told to keep children with chickenpox off school for a period to limit spread, but I don't know what the current policy is. I know someone whose (UK) school had a case of TB a few years back. This prompted widespread testing among the infected person's close contacts. The authorities certainly didn't shrug their shoulders and say, "We'll never eliminate TB so why bother doing anything?"

Do you believe that the spread of covid is being effectively limited by isolation?

But being unable to eradicate a virus doesn't mean that we should do nothing to slow/limit the spread. There are lots of other diseases for which we have measures in place to limit spread even though there's no prospect of eliminating the disease, eg the UK has had and continues to have restrictions on bringing animals into the country in order to avoid bringing in rabies. Is it now considered acceptable to send children into school with chickenpox provided they feel well enough? It certainly used to be the case that parents were told to keep children with chickenpox off school for a period to limit spread, but I don't know what the current policy is. I know someone whose (UK) school had a case of TB a few years back. This prompted widespread testing among the infected person's close contacts. The authorities certainly didn't shrug their shoulders and say, "We'll never eliminate TB so why bother doing anything?"

But Rabies , TB and Chickenpox CAN be contained because they're not as transmissible.

@RichTeaRichTea

Do you believe that the spread of covid is being effectively limited by isolation?

Yes in workplaces, schools, care homes it has limited it. Of course it still spreads but isolation has impacted the spread.

@LilyPond2

So what do you propose we do?

Most of us are vaccinated

@BestKnitterInScotland

The measures were put in to protect the NHS from becoming overwhelmed.....cases are dropping and dropping as are deaths. Hospitals are coping

This is the crux of it. The plan was never to stop people getting covid. Even back in March 2020 governments across the world knew that this virus would do what a virus always does, and spread.

Why people think that the aim was EVER to stop anyone catching it, ever, is beyond me.

True - a lot was to do with heavy fear based messaging which was needed for compliance.

“ Yes in workplaces, schools, care homes it has limited it. Of course it still spreads but isolation has impacted the spread.”

Really? All I read on here in terms of omicron is how it is “ripping through”

I’m being facetious but while of course it limits a certain amount of spread, with omicron it is clearly only a limited amount in comparison to the disruption caused by the isolation itself. From a practical, national POV, if the spread isn’t effectively limited by isolation, and the isolation burden becomes higher than the covid burden, then it’s pointless

Totally scared as someone who is pregnant. Omicron can cause stillbirth, bloodclots, early birth etc. It's not just a cold. Glad the vaccine don't make it so bad for the healthy but when pregnant you immune system is lowered and being disabled myself have other health problems that impact it. So soicety are now disabled and baby killers. O know people that have had it and needed 5 days off work as so harsh so don't see 5 days isolation as bad thing. Of course the rates will go now now testing isn't going to be free. NHS is saying they don't like it either as still understaffed etc

Yes you are right. And it is no longer killing people in excess the normal number of deaths. Back in the early days before vaccines we had deaths and serious illness in high numbers so it was the right action to limit transmission. Omicron thankfully in the UK together with the vaccines is not leading to this.

Sorry the above was to RichTea.

Jessie it is worrying for pregnant women. Have you received your vaccines? It does seem as though it is unvaccinated pregnant women who are at a greater risk.

@LilyPond2

People are already being forced into work when they have covid, because of inadequate sick pay. That isn't a new thing. *@VikingOnTheFridge* Some people with Covid are doubtless being forced in to work due to inadequate sick pay, but that certainly doesn't apply to everyone. Your argument is a bit like saying, "Some people ignore the speed limit when they drive, so we might as well abolish speed limits."

Actually, my point was that it should be acknowledged that this is already happening. That's important for various reasons. One is that those who would support continuation of the current restrictions need to understand that, as we do not currently have proper sick pay infrastructure and the accompanying employment rights and will not obtain them in the next few weeks, you're advocating for a system that excludes some people from the ability to isolate whilst also potentially criminalising them. I'm calling that what it is. Additionally, because this is already happening anyway, people need to factor that into their assessments of the significance of the law changing.

The rest is simply what you've inferred. Not my concern.

It will never go away, ever!
We don't regularly test and isolate for any other illness all of which could be potentially harmful to someone clinically vulnerable. People walking around asymptomatically or knowingly carrying a virus is not a new thing, it's happened since time began and will always do so, the illusion that we could somehow stop this from happening is just a mystical pipe dream.

There are very few illnesses as infectious and dangerous as Covid can be that are asymptomatic. Flu wipes you out so you can't spread it around. Your logic is faulty.

It isn't asking too much to keep the basic precautions to keep the vulnerable safe. Unless you're utterly selfish, of course.

@AndAsIfByMagic

It will never go away, ever! We don't regularly test and isolate for any other illness all of which could be potentially harmful to someone clinically vulnerable. People walking around asymptomatically or knowingly carrying a virus is not a new thing, it's happened since time began and will always do so, the illusion that we could somehow stop this from happening is just a mystical pipe dream.

There are very few illnesses as infectious and dangerous as Covid can be that are asymptomatic. Flu wipes you out so you can't spread it around. Your logic is faulty.

It isn't asking too much to keep the basic precautions to keep the vulnerable safe. Unless you're utterly selfish, of course.

You are just plain wrong about flu here. It can be asymptomatic. There are always people walking around with flu, being infectious, with zero idea they've got it.

Unless you're utterly selfish, of course.

It's never long before this old classic line gets trotted out 🤣 unfortunately for you it no longer carries the weight you think it does. Quite happy to wear my "selfish badge" from now an tbh