This is unreal - the new variant - anyone have it

[GreenPebbles]

I am not ill and I don't have it. I had COVID in the summer and I know it's likely only just around the corner again.

Did anyone have COVID recently? How was it?

I came across this on twitter. Apparently there's a new variant called XEN.

It looks a lot like the original Wuhan variant. It appears as if people are getting better and then by the second week there is respiratory distress.

I mean like WHAT THE HOLY FUCK?

I mean like how can this be allowed to spread if this is happening?

had bout 3 weeks ago-mibee 4.total put me on my arse.i am struggling to get back up

There isn't anything "wrong" with my immune system. The virus is unpredictable by nature.

But we are not in the 2019 normal anymore, so carrying on as 2019 normal is in fact delusional.

In fact there are multiple current issues that are major threats to "normal". Climate change damage is accelerating, for example. We have to do things differently or our current society as we know it will break down. Carrying on as normal will not be an option for much longer. If you think having to care about Covid for a year or so was bad, wait until you see what happens with increased extreme weather events, water and food shortages, etc.

Is it talked about any differently than any other virus though?

In my experience it isn't. It's just mentioned and not talked about in any great depth.

I've heard people saying stuff like covid was going around so X amount of people are off, likewise I've heard people saying there was a stomach bug going around so X amount of people were off.

Try and build up your empathy. Despite only having had it very mildly once, I'm able to understand that others have had a less fortuitous experience tbh. But I am not a twat generally.

Current NHS advice for anyone who tests positive with covid is to avoid contact with others for at least 5 days, or 10 days if around vulnerable people. It’s not a legal requirement (at the moment) so I guess it’s a “wait and see” approach.

The vaccines are doing good. Even if they don't give total immunity they are reducing the severity of the illness for a lot of people. Even though the latest variant can be horrible, far fewer people are needing to be hospitalised than at the start. Vaccines can also start to be tweaked each year like they do with flu. It doesn't 100% guarantee you won't get it but it will reduce the severity for most people.

This is so ignorant. People bodies and immune systems are different and handle the virus differently. You are lucky to be someone who gets Covid mildly and doesn’t get ill often. That doesn’t mean you are doing everything right and other people are doing it wrong. We are all different and taking a load of vitamin C or whatever isn’t going to make much difference to someone whose immune system doesn’t work well.

What do you want to happen OP?

@ComingBackHome well masks don't work because
a) people don't wear them properly (pulling them down, not covering the mouth etc) and
b) they aren't medical grade with a small enough filter to stop the virus. People wore homemade masks from a bit of cotton fabric!
Lockdown didn't work either because hardly anyone stuck to it. Not even the government followed the rules.

Why is everyone saying lockdown straight away?

I currently have it and I feel like shit. I tested because my husband is vunerable.

I work in a school. I think if you have it isolation should be back. Work covers your pay and there is no fear of school fines if a child has it.

This advice seems rather pointless from a practical perspective. I appreciate the NHS has to give advice, but can many people follow it? A lot of employers probably wouldn't accept it. Schools probably wouldn't either. Does the NHS even follow it for their own staff? Do they have staff off for 10 days, given that they'll be around vulnerable patients? Maybe they do.

Covid is going round DD's school at the moment. Attendance was at 70-80% last week in some classes. Two children from DD's year ended up in A&E (sent by 111) which is where they were tested so that's how I know it's covid that's going round (obviously they might not all have covid, but there's something nasty going round causing a lot of the same symptoms in a lot of the children and a few confirmed covid cases). I doubt the school would accept a child being off for 5 days, let alone 10, if they're feeling better, so I assume it would go down as unauthorised if you said the child was fine but you were keeping them off anyway.

If COVID didn’t kill anyone why were the ICUs and makeshift ICUs full? Why were the hospital mortuaries full? What was killing those people?

You can start emailing your MP and the govt etc if you feel like something needs to be done, but don’t expect them to take any notice - they ignored all the pleading from medical staff and the WHO first time around re covid.

A zoonotic disease, the original wuhan variant, which no longer exists, save a few lab samples.

Diseases originating from animals are always much more severe when they initially acquire the ability to cross infect humans - over a time the virus evolves its structure to better interact with its new hosts, and is no longer a new zoonotic pathogen.

At the same time, as we are infected out immune system produces T cells, immune memory to that infection, the virus continues to evolve, so doesn't quite match the memory if you like, but a response is still triggered sufficient to reduce the severity.

PS just had covid, week in bed, aching joints, getting better now but still got a nasty cough - cest la vie.

Errr, they're not.
It's these sorts of comments which create drama and worry.

Give it a stern talking to. Tell it that is isn’t allowed to spread. Ground it.

One practical step that could be taken is a proper risk/benefit analysis of people coming into work ill (appreciate there are symptomless) and the knock-on effects. Assumption is still that it’s best for business and society to allow or even encourage this, but is the evidence actually there to back it up in terms of overall days lost etc?

Most people I know stuck to the rules of lockdown.
What are you basing your comment on?

Oh my word. Really?
I worked in a COVID unit.
I watched them die, including my young and healthy NHS colleagues.
Their sacrifice forgotten so soon.
You idiot.

I can tell, it effects me in ways no other virus does... I have used tests in the past to prove it but I'm pretty certain I could tell now without needing one.

With Covid it starts with swollen tonsils (nothing else has ever effected my tonsils, a sore throat is usually much lower down) and then the constant post nasal drip, dry cough from the drip, headache from sinus pressure, leaking eyes and then I lose my hearing. I actually qualify for hearing aids now due to the effects of Covid.

Covid specifically gets deep in my Eustachian tubes, normal colds and winter viruses don't do that and go straight for my chest or gastrotract. Nothing ever did anything like that until Covid came along (and I have a week immune system so catch lots of things so plenty of pre-Covid experience with viruses). Its just a very recognizable pattern and feeling.

Your post lives up to your username. I love it when people talk sense.

Thank you.

Yes this new variant is awful but I don’t know if that’s because we all forgot what it was like a couple of years ago.

I haven’t had this new strain but lots of people I know are getting it and they say they’ve never felt so unwell but I have never been so ill as when I had covid in 2021 and I am only just getting over the long lasting effects of it now.

I don’t know if this one is worse, or we just forgot how bad it is.

@housethatbuiltme i know what you mean, I get a weird burning sensation in my nose that i only have with covid. If I was feeling rough again with that same feeling I’d be pretty confident it was covid even without a test.

No-one I know or work with tests for Covid anymore,we just go on as before it all ‘kicked off’. I’ve not heard of anyone having Covid, recently, however I did have my Flu and Covid vaccinations a week ago as it was offered ( I’m 60 and type 2 diabetic).
I also work in a school. There’s a bit of cold doing the rounds, and a bit of a sickness bug, but nothing out of the ordinary for the time of year.