Current guidelines are irresponsible

[Rookiemistake]

I am on my second bout of Covid in 8 months despite being fully vaccinated. I have been ill both times, pretty incapacitated for two days and a bit more functional for the last three. Regardless, it has been disruptive and I am healthy with no underlying conditions. My teen ds has also had it for the first time. He was similar to me and about to start mocks for his A Levels.

Talking to someone the other day and they said it'll be like flu and we'll learn to live with it. It's not like flu. I'm 43 and I've had flu twice in my whole life yet I've already had this twice in less than a year.

I have stayed at home and will do until I either test negative or reach 10 days and am not symptomatic. However, I could if I choose, just go around as normal. My ds was allowed back into school after three days if he felt well. He didn't go but he could have as he was feeling much better by day 4. He would have still been spreading it and there are kids at school and on his bus in the middle of their GCSE's. I just think we are being entirely irresponsible. This is not a cold.

I'm not advocating a full lockdown but I think there needs to be more stringent controls if people are knowingly positive.

What do others think?

Yep, those of us with underlying conditions, really don't have any value do we.

at least you're honest about how you feel I suppose.

BONKERS to want people to stay home with a life threatening virus. Ok happy to be bonkers.

what they could do is stay home when at all possible and wear a PROPER mask when they go out & try to keep a distance from people.

@JuneJubilee

none of those other things have such an impact on diabetics as Ovid (let alone other underlyings). Diabetics made up a large percentage of the deaths from covid, much much more so than chicken pox/flu etc.

im not asking for lockdown, just some people not to be so cavalier in their DGAF approach, not even wearing a mask when they're infectious

but it's ok, I'm getting used to the fact that those with underlying issues don't actually matter

I'm a diabetic myself 🤷‍♀️

Life needs to move on. Restrictions mattered before. But vaccinations etc mean lthis disease is no longer novel and the societal level of risk means that that we all need to live with it.

Perhaps if we hadn't spent millions on furlough and not locked the country down three times and destroyed many businesses and livelihoods we would be able to provide adequate sick pay for all? Most people cannot afford to stay home when ill as sick pay is not anywhere near enough to pay bills especially now the cost of living is skyrocketed! If we had taken a better approach in the beginning and paid people who were unwell for whatever reason to stay off work we might be in a better position now? Not just for covid but for any infectious illness which by default could kill someone! Tbh that would be the only mitigation that would work! The rest haven't and are now pointless!

It costs to isolate and not everybody can afford to. Obviously the impact on earnings for those with long covid/supporting someone with long covid should also be factored in to covid policy, along with the health (£) burden of treating. As pressure is put on NHS, costs of treating illnesses (covid/non covid) increase due to longer waiting times causing worsening conditions. Are these costs outweighed by pension savings? If we can't afford to help people isolate, can we also afford the impact of not isolating?

Society may have been damaged for decades and some are asking for more of the same.

As has been already said the money spent should have been used to help with sick pay, then there would have been a much better response to isolate.

After test and trace and the useless app many people did not want anything to do with either again and if they were brought back, I would think many people would just ignore them both.

Those who think people should isolate will you pay their bills?

It's not that I don't care about the vulnerable. It's that I do care about my family.

And everyone posting here and out there come below them

So if you want to pay my bills and do my shoping drop me a message and I will be more than happy to isolate.

Well considering that

a) It costs money to even take a test and

b) if said test is positive I don’t know how my bills will be paid if I need to isolate

When I have previously tested positive on free PCR and with full pay it was not an issue to isolate and stick to the guidance.

The cost of living is rising rapidly at the moment and many families are struggling to cope more than ever. I can see why covid and isolating is no longer at forefront of people’s thoughts with financial worries now affecting so many.

This! Posters must be in pretty privileged positions to not even consider that many just can’t afford to isolate.

OP "I have been ill both times, pretty incapacitated for two days and a bit more functional for the last three."

so like a nasty bug? That many of us with immune issues have a few times a year?

i honestly wonder if you are aware that one person's cold can become pneumonia for another. This is not a reason to place restrictions on people. Of course I don't want to be ill, and yes, I do get annoyed when people with colds come to work when they can work at home. I literally tell them to keep away from me.

but you cannot want restrictions back. The damage is immense on so many levels. I am pleased to see that most posters don't want them either.

I can only think that people who want more decades of damage have no sense of how daily life works on a practical level, or have a strange desire to have stricter governments for the sake of it.

Nope, sorry. Living while I can.

Nope, sorry. Living while I can.

Anyone who wants us to even consider going back to any semblance of lockdown is selfish, overly anxious and has no understanding of how the real world works (work = money = bills paid).

Such a good point on sick pay and the apps etc.

Agree.

And that's the reality for many families across the country. They just cannot afford to isolate.

@Rookiemistake I completely agree.

Im a nurse and honestly i wish people had more understanding of exactly how this ISNT like flu and will affect the health outcomes of a whole generation .

I had covid 3 months ago ... it was a horrible experience. I am still far from recovered and am really struggling .

I have to go to work and care for others struggling mentally and physically, with literally no support or protection any more .

Covid is not like the flu - please wake up people.
It affects multiple organ systems.

I agree with you. I've just read in the news that the figures are rising. It wasn't on the TV news though. I think advice should be given to wear masks in crowded places still. I went out a couple of nights ago and people were hugging me goodbye and I didnteven think about it. It would've been very awkward to stop them from doing it. I'm now worried that I'll catch it a second time.

Now we know covid is impossible to eradicate, even with severe restrictions (just look at China), or even to keep under effective long-term control with reasonable restrictions that do not cripple economies, I think guidelines are the most that can be reasonably expected. Tbh, also, if immunity is short-lived, I can’t help thinking attempts to artificially control it do little more than serve to increase people’s chances of having lost a good level of immune protection before they encounter covid again, so doing very little to help protect them from either getting it again, or getting it more mildly than previously. So, sorry, but I don’t think more stringent controls would be worth it atm.

If you want to stay at home that's up to you. Many people can't afford to hide away and take time off my work as it's often unpaid. You need to understand that not everyone is in the same situation to have the luxury to do this. It's extremely judgemental and naive to call others irresponsible.

Vaccines are only lasting 6mths. People need to keep coming into contact with it to keep topping up their immunity levels.

Seems to be the only explanation I can see why they have ditched all restrictions.

Vaccines don’t work? Why isn’t this being reported in the news?!

The current measures are just fine. Our economy is devastated enough without preventing more people from being able to work. And school kids have been the worst affected group of all - I wouldn’t dream of imposing more restrictions on their education and social lives.

But surely people with underlying conditions are more at risk from every virus? What precautions did you take against flu or any other infection pre 2020?

I can fully appreciate you have been dealt a crappy hand but you cannot expect the rest of society to damage their childs education, ruin their businesses, pollute their environment and wreck the economy for a virus that is no more than a nuisance to them. That's the very definition of selfish.

Aren't some people on thier 5th or 6th dose in 18 months? Do you need 3 doses of MMR every year or 3 doses of polio vaccine?

It's like Paracetamol. Paracetamol may dull the pain of your current headache for 4 hours but it won't stop you getting a new one.

Covid vaccine may dull the symptons of a covid infection for 4 months but after that it won't stop you getting a new infection.

Who takes paracetamol every 4 hours, just in case they get a headache?

Why do you need 'advice' to be given to wear a mask? Why don't you make your own decision to just wear one yourself.

Obviously, then you would be totally protected as masks work. Oh, hang on . . .