I know more people with covid now than at any point before

[AmIAJoke]

Including myself!

My work has half the staff out, 4 of my friends (in various locations from Manchester to Edinburgh) are positive and several of my sports club. These groups aren’t linked in any way. No one is seriously ill (thankfully) but most seem to be fairly unwell - minimum one week off work kind of ill. It’s been the worst bug I’ve had in many years.

It seems strange whilst there is almost zero talk in the media and yet so many in my life.

Is this is now? Regular repeating cycles of being unwell with covid now jabs are wearing off? I guess we just have to accept and be grateful it’s not making us seriously ill - but it’s no fun and I am worrying about long covid as I’m exhausted.

Mine is second time in 3 months. First was horrid, like flu, floored me for 5 days, 10 days off work etc.

This time, mild sinus, hayfeverish type cold symptoms, up and about as normal. (Though choosing to stay away from others, and required to stay home from work til a negative test)

I use the nasal sprays when going on public transport or planes. Then if I feel like I’m coming down with something- so tickle in the back of my throat - I’ll use it.

Cant harm and may do some good. Especially if we have to live with this circulating constantly.

www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220511005194/en/Clinical-Study-Suggests-SaNOtize-Nitric-Oxide-Nasal-Spray-Is-Effective-at-Preventing-COVID-19-after-High-Risk-Exposure

Sounds promising, it’s expensive though. I don’t know if there are any other brands doing it yet. I can see nasal sprays and gargles becoming more popular in the future. 😊

Very interesting. Especially as it’s good to move away from all the hand sanitising and anti-bac stuff. We know covid is airborne so something nasal is ideal.

Hopefully as more companies produce them the costs will come down.

Article on current govt response to covid in guardian https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jun/28/no-masks-no-free-tests-low-sick-pay-the-government-is-back-in-covid-denial?CMP=sharebtnn_tw

Frances Ryan is another one who gets arsey when people don't share her faith based approach to restrictions we have already seen are not effective against Omicron waves. Her problem is that she's one of those people who thinks because they can articulate why uncontrolled covid is a bad thing, that somehow means we're in a position to prevent it. That because she wants there to be the low effort protective measures she talks about, they must be possible. Note the complete lack of evidence provided that masks are effective against Omicron in real world conditions.

She's right about the need for better sick pay, that was a problem long before covid, but it's not going to change the reality that we can't actually stop covid being everywhere.

Do you think there would be more covid around or less covid around if we took some of her proposals on board?

Most of them have already been tried and didn't stop the last Omicron wave being uncontrollable, so neither.

I do support improved sick pay in the UK, that's been a disgusting state of affairs for a long time, but she doesn't actually articulate how that would do anything about covid in itself. Presumably people who are ill enough that they would prefer not to work if possible, dont get sick pay, can't afford to stay off and are physically able to make an attempt at their job are driving some transmission, but that isn't a case. Does reducing those specific instances of transmission mean people would get infected closer to flu season instead, for example? That needs to form part of the discussion.

No objection to boosters but obviously that isn't a restriction.

Sorry, cut off there. Same with better ventilation.

I note she also trots out the 2 million long covid stat too. As that comes from an ONS definition that encompasses people who still have a cough on day 29 and places them alongside those disabled years after the initial infection, and she does slightly go into detail about the figure which means she's read beyond the headline, she's being deliberately disingenuous. Never a good sign.

I googled it for you. Not that hard to find though I'll admit it's not the most reported thing about the BA.5 variant currently. However, I've heard experts (eg virologists) say that it seems the newest Omicron variant is tending towards infecting deeper in the lungs (compared with earlier Omicron which tended to affect upper respiratory tract), on numerous R4 programmes, news bulletins etc.
www.independent.co.uk/news/health/uk-covid-cases-omicron-variants-ba4-ba5-b2108393.html

Agree with you - sick pay needs to be addressed. She also mentions improved access to antivirals which I agree with.

I don't know to what degree (if any) getting covid now will lead to less chance of covid in winter - people seem to be getting reinfected within relatively short timeframes now. I'm assuming (hoping) a percentage of those recently infected will have some protection. Over 30,000 covid deaths already this year (ourworldindata).

Here's the link for the ONS stats - it's interesting that we have different views on her providing more detail as I thought further info would be helpful for those who didn't know.

What the survey obviously doesn't pick up is those whom have organ damage of which they are unaware, as picked up in numerous research studies. There doesn't seem much consideration given to the human and financial cost of current policy and how that will be managed - long term effects seem 'inconvenient' and are rarely mentioned by government.

www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/conditionsanddiseases/bulletins/prevalenceofongoingsymptomsfollowingcoronaviruscovid19infectionintheuk/1june2022

Sorry that was for applesandbunions.

I think this strain is defeating natural immunity - I've been exposed so many times but only now have I got it

The stuff that isn't restrictions is fine. It's the clinging onto restrictions we know didn't control Omicron when we had them and insisting that something different would happen if we tried it again that's the issue.

Re the ONS, they use such a wide definition of long covid that it encompasses people who haven't quite got rid of the cough after 5 weeks and includes them in the 2 million alongside people significantly disabled years after their infection. You only get figures like 2 million if you're either using data that isn't robust (not the ONS) or robust data with a definition that's so wide that it doesn't actually tell us what we need to be concerned about. The way to use the ONS data is to look at how they break it down.

Because this is so very obvious when you look at how they get the 2 million figure, people who use that in arguments either haven't read anything other than the headline or have but want to pretend that the 2 million means something it doesn't. Frances is in the latter category here. If we want to talk about long term organ effects, the way to do that credibly and effectively is to reference the evidence for that specifically.

87 bloody days... positive test day1 to positive test day1.... (tested negative yesterday) that wouldn't see me to winter from now... barely autumn. Work in healthcare... can't afford a week off on crappy SSP every 3 bloomin months. I'm fed up.

@GlomOfNit thanks for the link, that's an interesting read 🙂

I'm not sure the Independent could be called a quality newspaper though 🤣

I had it in January (triple vaxxed) and I have it again now.

this time I caught it from work rather than from my kids. No one showing signs of it at home yet but I’ll be amazed if they escape it.

The fact that people seem to be getting it multiple times in a short period, either screams to me that it's a novel and unique disease, yet unknown to mankind... or the tests are full of shit. I know which one I think is true, people have lost their fucking minds.

Why would the tests be "full of shit"? I am part of a trial. My covid positive LFT has been confirmed by them both times, and confirmed negative more than once in between.

It is just looking like immunity is not long lived. I haven't lost my mind.

The Uk seems to have lost the ability to sometimes get ill, recover and just get on with things.

I was told back in Jan by someone, that some people can test positive for 90 days after having covid.
Doesnt mean you are contagious, just that you have had covid at some recent point.
That particular person was told not to keep testing.

This has been debunked. The trials that are taking place show you can catch it repeatedly with a relatively short time between. The trials sequence the virus so you can see the variants circulating are changing rapidly.

They started off saying if you catch it you won't get it for 6 months... haha, then 3 months... haha.... now there is no time limitation.

Welcome to the chronic covid world….

virologyj.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12985-022-01831-0

Reduced immunity. Not increased immunity. Take that in.

What should we have done then? Despite the fact that many people are getting it numerous times, the vaccines have reduced the number of deaths and serious illness. I certainly do not want to be going back to the days of 3 or 4 seriously ill people a day coming into our small hospital and many people dying, often without family present. Surely vaccines are the main reason this is not happening so much now?