Is covid growing rampant again

[Prizlime]

I read an article online and it says it is growing. Another article says that a newer symptom for starting off is a sore throat.

I am in work and my colleague and boss both have sore throats.

I'm supposed to be going away on holidays. I feel fine to be honest but the idea of getting sick right now or withing the next week doesn't appeal to me.

I personally found that one particularly offensive as my own grandmother suffered permanent physical changes (her eyebrows and eyelashes fell out and never grew back) and what would no doubt today be diagnosed as PTSD due to the trauma of living in London during the Blitz. It wasn’t all singsongs in the air raid shelter as some seem to think

I have it now. I haven’t been anywhere for weeks because I’m post surgery (6 weeks ago). The only place I can think of is our local cafe which is quite spaced out, table-wise. Certainly nothing to do with crowds. I just think it’s rampant at the moment 😕.

I have covid at the moment and my symptoms are dizziness, sore neck, sneezing and coughing. The sore neck is actually really annoying and the main reason I'm trying to rest. I wouldn't call it a cold as im on day 3 and I'm not improving.

Bugger I've got a sore neck, off my food, headache, one slightly swollen gland, started with a slight sore throat.

I'm coming out the other side - started Tuesday with mild sore throat then later that day a fever and shivers plus general aches. My skin felt really prickly and sensitive. Lots of sneezing. Still testing negative at that point. On Weds the fever and shivers weren't as bad but the cough started. Yesterday fever and shivers all but gone,but feeling achey and tired. Today tired; it had gone onto my chest a bit this morning and into my sinuses this afternoon but now feeling pretty clear! So weird. Cough is subsiding too. I'll see how I feel tomorrow but hopefully that's the worst of it over. It's been pretty mild for me.

@PerfectlyPreservedQuagaarWarrior

Incidentally, I've posted less about this particular subtopic than you have. If you think it's nothing, your devotion of more time to it is rather odd...

Because I started posting about it? And then Vampire and yourself started sniping about it? How hard can this be? You do seem to enjoy making it difficult.

Agree, @Dammitthisisshit.

I didn't 'snipe' about anything; I simply pointed out that you're statement, Really? That's cheap wasn't true. You then chided me for not being psychic and realising that you meant cheap compared to Australia when you hadn't actually said as much.

Will try to hone my mind reading skills, sorry for any offence caused 😊

Because I started posting about it? And then Vampire and yourself started sniping about it? How hard can this be? You do seem to enjoy making it difficult.

Yes, obviously people pointing things out you don't like are just being difficult. Again that's very telling. So very inconvenient when people point out that conflating your personal experiences and circle with the population at large might leave us with some gaps in our understanding.

In any case, the time to decide this wasn't important and to appoint yourself arbiter of how much time should be spent on the topic was rather before you'd not only started it but engaged in what, a dozen posts of goalpost moving and bullshitting on the matter.

I didn't 'snipe' about anything; I simply pointed out that you're statement, Really? That's cheap wasn't true. You then chided me for not being psychic and realising that you meant cheap compared to Australia when you hadn't actually said as much.

Er, yes, she did.

Really? That's cheap. In Australia, we pay an average $50 for 5. (That's roughly double you're paying.)

I listened to the CEO of an NHS trust on CV infections - reduces bed space as bays can't be used, patients isolated, op's cancelled, patients can't be sent to care homes as they don't want them, staff off sick.

Its a huge problem and the vaccine either doesn't work or the program is too little too late, just 1 in 5 over 50s has had the 2nd booster and infections in the over 70s rising fast.

I'm in my 3rd week and still nothing like 100%, now i don't work in the NHS but imagine 1000s of staff off for 2 or 3 weeks, returning to work at 80%, DD who does work in NHS just tested positive, very poorly.

We are only just in October, we need to start thinking about a return to SD measures and mask wearing....

Do you mean mask wearing and social distancing just in clinical settings or elsewhere too?

We are only just in October, we need to start thinking about a return to SD measures and mask wearing.

you can think about it, I’ll be complying with neither of these measures. My days of accepting being treated like a mug are over.

We are only just in October, we need to start thinking about a return to SD measures and mask wearing

...which would mean closing huge swathes of business with no furlough scheme in place during a cost of living crisis.

No. Just, no.

Nah, she said 'that's cheap'.

And then she said the following sentence. I didn't make it up myself!

Masks and SD don't mean lockdowns, let alone another wasteful furlough scheme.

But if not, whats your ans to the NHS and social care problems?

Or we just put up with it..... and do nothing.

It rather depends on what you mean by social distancing. Because it's been used very widely, it would help if people give an idea what they have in mind when they say it.

If it means limited numbers in spaces like hospitality and theatres, places that have already suffered greatly during the pandemic and now have spiralling energy costs to worry about too, there are going to be venues and businesses who won't withstand that and will finally close.

increase capacity and funding in the NHS to deal with this ongoing burden on it would be the obvious suggestion. Otherwise nothing, I don’t care about Covid any more, I’ll have my vaccines and crack on, I’ve had other viruses much worse and for much longer than I had Covid and I won’t be the only one.

your opinion that vaccines don’t work is clearly utter nonsense as well.

If what's meant here is social distancing in wider society rather than just talking about clinical settings, this is another example of some people not understanding that a population who are willing to go along with this again is not one of the options on the table.

Its well known the vaccines have worn off and regardless don't prevent re infection of Omicron multiple times.
Hence the new vaccines with a specific Omicron component, which have been rolled out at a glacial rate, as have the flu jabs.

But when it comes to utter nonsense opinions, yours on increased capacity and extra funding for the NHS tops the list... any idea how long it takes to get more staff and more capacity? (answer - years) and whats the point if they are off sick multiple times.

You ve clearly not a clue and just interested in your own little life.

@Alexandra2001 can you confirm what you meant by social distancing and masks? Did you mean just in clinical settings or wider than that, and if so what do you mean by social distancing?

I know that masks/SD don't mean lockdown. It does mean, however, that hospitality cannot operate at full capacity, and in many cases (nightclubs, venues etc) cannot open at all. Staff on zero hour contracts will have no work, others will be laid off, and for many venues this would be the final nail in the coffin - particularly after two disastrous Christmas periods, when they usually make the bulk of their revenue for the year.

And as was so often said in the heady days of 2020/21, SD doesn't just mean standing a metre apart in the Tesco queue. It means being isolated from loved ones and schools being unable to open. NHS clinics being unable to operate.

As for 'putting up with it and doing nothing'... How are we 'doing nothing', precisely? We have vaccines, including Omicron specific vaccines. We have antivirals. Measures which protect the most vulnerable and keep people out of hospital, and if they do need hospital care, their stays are typically shorter and they recover faster.

The answer to 'NHS and social care problems' is not shutting down swathes of society and putting people out of work during a cost of living crisis. The ensuing MH crisis would cost the NHS even more. The answer is investment and increasing staffing levels - under a Tory government more interested in protecting the wealth of its cronies, don't hold your breath.

@nightfairy @VampiresWife

This is the offending post. I think most people wouldn't have an issue with it; just those who want to find pick bones will, regardless. The sentence clarifying "That's cheap," came immediately afterwards. For example, my DD might say she had her hair styled for $100, and I might say "That's cheap. My hair cost $150 here."

I honestly think this has been over-analysed for no good reason. This was an honest statement of my experience in Aust., and not an attempt at speaking for a whole population (how could I even do that?)

Really? That's cheap. In Australia, we pay an average $50 for 5. (That's roughly double you're paying.) Generally, people do buy them and test as that's the accepted thing to do, or go and get a free PCR. That means waiting for results though.

The new vaccines have not been 'rolled out at a glacial rate'. They've been given to the most vulnerable first, which is as it should be. Me, DH and DD have all had ours, and our flu jabs - you can book a flu jab at any branch of Boots or Superdrug and countless other pharmacies, for free if you're vulnerable or live with someone who is, so hardly 'glacial'.

The original vaccines have not 'worn off'. Immunity wanes but the ability to fight serious illness remains for most people.

It's not nonsense to suggest investment in the NHS. Yes, it takes years for that funding to make a difference, but the pandemic is almost three years old. The government has had plenty of time to make inroads - it's just chosen not to. And the whole point of having greater staffing numbers is that if staff are off sick, there are others available to cover for them.

The irony of your 'you're just interested in your own little life' is astonishing - you clearly have no regard for the lives of people who would stand to lose their jobs, homes and health should draconian restrictions be reintroduced.