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?

I think that there are several ways to deal with the spread of Covid which work together - but government funding/ action would be needed.

Extend vaccines to everyone rather than just certain age groups or for medical reasons
Have free availability of tests again so we can all test when we have symptoms and then take preventative measures
Stop employers from forcing people into work when they have Covid by not exempting it from sickness absence procedures, same for schools who chase parents to get children back in even if they have Covid
Make the provision of FFP2 or N95 standard masks cheaper to buy, rather than allow less protective cheap paper masks to flood the market
Improve standards or air filtering in offices, schools, hospitals etc

There are probably other things I have forgotten but in reality none are likely to happen due to the cost.

It will be interesting to see figures of hospital admissions due to Covid after this winter.

On another question raised by the OP, I know loads of people who have recently had Covid as I belong to the WI, U3A and still teach part time so come into contact with large groups of people. Honestly, although this current variant seems to be particularly nasty and hard to shake off, I do not know anyone with long lasting problems or long Covid, or even been hospitalised. Other than when in school, I mix mainly with older people who are all vaccinated and currently having another booster so maybe that is the main factor in reducing long term effects - extend the vaccination offer to all adults?

Myself and a lot of people from a hobby I go to have been unwell with it recently. It's presented very much like a heavy cold to start, but then severe muscle aches, fatigue, cough, loss of smell and taste, all follow.

I'm 3 weeks in and, while I'm "back to normal" with regards to routine etc, I feel far from fine.

I feel sad that people think we can control biology by negating everything else that makes our lives meaningful. There will always be diseases, we will always catch them

i'v had it at least 3 times, the last time in June.

Each bout has caused me more and more issues. i've had to change my asthma inhalers, my pain levels (i have degen disk diseas/sciatica) have risen, my mobility has decreased, i have severe folate anaemia, joint pains. I've gone from being fairly ok, to needing a walking stick, to needing crutches and occasionally a wheelchair. My immune system has bombed, my health with it.

I am fully vaccinated.

People going 'oh i didn't get it too bad' should consider themselves lucky.

So many people i've spoken to who've caught it 3+ times are suffering.

My phone's autocorrect capitalises it, my friends does too. Not saying I agree with the op but just that I see it in capitals on several posts and not just people who are worried about, it's also in posts who strongly disagree with people like OP.

I do consider myself lucky if that helps.

I also value connection and social groups, freedom to travel and all the things that make life worth living.

I know during lockdown there was a large group of people who loved not going anywhere. I was not one of them.

The thing is people used to get ill before covid and particularly this time of year there were always more bugs around and people more susceptible to being ill. It's only since covid that as soon as someone is ill then the covid assumption is jumped to. I have had covid twice and both times not been nearly as poorly as I have with other bugs, tonsillitis etc. I am offered both the flu and covid jab being NHS and I decline both. I think we need to keep perspective. People get ill, it is normal and to be expected. The more people try and live in a bubble they will become even iller as not build any natural immunity.

I’ve just had it, I’m pregnant and asthmatic and it did knock me sideways for a week! But it is like the flu, if you’re vulnerable you should get vaccinated (I kicked myself for not sorting it sooner). We certainly can’t do another lockdown. Hospitals aren’t overrun in the same way they were before, the healthcare service is running as safely and efficiently as the rest of the year (whether that’s as safe and efficient as we’d like is another thread!)

I would 100% be convinced by this, I developed an auto immune condition after my first covid rumble and it flares up worse every time I get covid!

There’s a solution I’ve already given - buy your own masks if you’re that worried about “long covid”.

I've got it now. I'm out of breath, chest pain from coughing, running a fever plus D&V. Main symptom is breathlessness so feels more original COVID, but no worse than the 1st time. On day 10 will be back at work on Monday.

You are catastrophising. I’ve just had Covid and am severely immunocompromised and recently vaccinated. It was akin to a mild dose of flu. Unpleasant for a few days but got over it. Stop googlin.

I had the exact same from a heavy cold (I tested negative), it affects everyone differently

Oof. Sounds miserable. I hope you are feeling better before Monday.

I have spina bifida, tethered spinal cord, rheumatoid and osteo arthritis, osteoporosis, pernicious anaemia and breast cancer, for which I am undergoing immunosuppressant treatment in addition to the same for the arthritis. Full time wheelchair user and classed as severely immunocompromised. I’ve had Covid five times so far since the start of the pandemic, despite being fully vaccinated. Everyone is different and catastrophising doesn’t help.

What do you meant there’s no immunity? Loads of people have immunity, mainly from vaccinations or from having it fairly recently.

Air filters make life less meaningful?

Fewer infections make life less meaningful?

Vaccines make life less meaningful?

Steering clear from others when you have covid makes life less meaningful?

Fewer babies hospitalised makes life less meaningful?

Less brain damage makes life less meaningful?

Etc etc. What aspect of any of these makes life less meaningful?

This isn't competitive sickness you know. How about you stop minimising other peoples experiences?

I wasn't catastrophising, i was explaining what Covid has done to my health.

Myself and 2 of my teenage children have it currently. Its awful in comparison to the time i had it last year. We all feel really poorly.

I'm actually dubious the vaccine does much tbh. The amount of people vaccined up to the eyeballs and they still seem to get it worse than everyone else 🙄

Lots of things in this world ‘aren’t right’ but there is not realistically a great deal we can do about it, except practice really good hygiene and avoid crowded places and poorly people. It’s been proven that lockdown and significant measures cause widespread negative effects and implications for people across the board, and specially children. We can’t live in some kind of permanent lockdown- like state.
The virus will constantly mutate; this is what virus’s do. Quite a lot of people WILL have some immunity, either from vaccination or because they have had covid. A different strain doesn’t always mean that vaccines and immunity will be totally ineffective. Vaccination doesn’t generally stop people getting covid, it just hopes to make it a milder illness. But utterly miserable for those who do get it. The vaccine is to be made available commercially soon, which is a whole new discussion.

Yeah, It's not good, is it? what's so frustrating is that there's lots we could do to reduce transmission; cleaner air, better airflow, masking if unwell... loads.

And we only ended up needing lockdowns as a last resort during the start of the pandemic BECAUSE we didn't actually get our act together and do those things. Lockdown worked, like a firebreak in a forest, but we should never have gotten to the point where the fire was raging out of control.

I do wonder if the COVID inquiry might help us to implement some of the changes that would help - but that'd need them to be recommended and also for the will to implement to be there. TBH none of the simple changes are massively expensive; but given we're in a situation where school roofs are still leaking when it rains, who knows if the will to make change will be enough? sigh.

(and yes, I'm a doctor with a background in public health)

How do kids avoid poorly people and crowded spaces?

They can’t & neither can people who work in schools.

So air filters there would be a good start.