Tiering up the Covid elimination strategy

[dancemom]

Sadly the end was not as close as we thought so new thread required ....

Interesting article @SoMuchForSummerLove
Slightly concerned about "harsher measures for winter" In Scotland that's Dec to end March, One third of the year

And because of the way the school/ university year falls its more than a third of the year! Impact on schools/exams?
I have family member involved in nurse education. so much been taught by video this year (injections, taking blood etc) which should be learned in skills labs. Plus all the science students who haven't set foot in a lab. There's been no dentists graduated this year. We can't go on like this or we'll have a real skills problem in 2 or 3 years time.
If harsher measures means social distancing then the higher education sector cannot operate anything like normal and these will all have to go online again

Tbh, I'm amazed that hot spots haven't had the last week of term knocked off - I was slightly expecting it yesterday.

My main worry would be if the schools did close, what that would mean for the holiday clubs a lot of us have booked...

But sounds like it's fake news!

We've got very few pupils isolating now, from probably over a hundred a couple of weeks ago.

I still wonder if parents may pull kids out next week to avoid getting hit by track and trace.

DS is at University in England and Covid is ripping through his college. They are all getting hayfever like symptoms and Oxford have told them to test with any cold like symptoms. These have changed with new variant. He had it in late November but is isolating because of flatmates.

Poor bugger has 9 more days stuck inside with only an exam for company. (9 day take home paper).

I had hay fever symptoms the other weekend 😳

Headache now most common symptom:

news.sky.com/story/amp/delta-variant-symptoms-signs-of-covid-19-could-be-different-with-indian-strain-heres-what-to-look-out-for-12333749

But there's also a high pollen count at the mo. 😂

Seven people isolating with Covid and all just mild sore throat and occasional sneeze / runny nose.

It seems to have a real grip on students again (although DD at University in Scotland finished about 3 weeks ago so less here).

But if these are the symptoms, why on earth are we worried?

No idea. They are all well but still stuck indoors for 10 days. DS had it before and still has to isolate. That is what makes me cross.

If you are vaccinated or have had it confirmed in the last few months, why can't you live your life normally?

@Cismyfatarse as your are the source of knowledge in here about vaccines in Fife 😀 (I think) can I ask you with the drop in clinics for second doses would you be turned away if you were less than eight weeks from your first injection?
Dh is 48 and had his on 6th may but it would be great to get him done before our holidays for peace of mind. I feel like ages 40-50 are in the worst position just now as everyone over 50 has probably been double vaccinated and everyone under 40 has had Pfizer which works better from the first vaccination 😬

Just read that article, do they actually expect people to stay at home because they have a mild cold or feel a bit off? That would be my children (and me when they passed it on) for pretty much the whole first couple of years of primary school!

DS, DH and I all had a "cold" starting about 2 and a half weeks ago, really did think it was just a cold, DS and DH had classic sinus issues and were all bunged up but I had more hay-fever type issues, lots of sneezing and now have a tickly cough. I'm now wondering if it's the dreaded Indian variant. You can't test after day 5 of symptoms apparently. I popped into Mum and Dads3 for a coffee on Sunday, can't believe i didnt think not to (my Mum doesn't seem to produce antibodies to the vaccine, she's in a testing programme). Glad i didn't hug them.

@Icannever

Just read that article, do they actually expect people to stay at home because they have a mild cold or feel a bit off? That would be my children (and me when they passed it on) for pretty much the whole first couple of years of primary school!

We've all had colds or hay fever or who knows in the last few weeks and we just carried on as normal as anything else is frankly insanity.

@Icannever DH has not worked anywhere in Fife with drop in. They are cancelling / not opening centres he works in and trying to send him to big centres, not local ones. The problem with the bigger centres is he does one job, repeatedly, and doesn't really see how things are working. Sorry.

Most recently he was catching people who faint. Quite a few as the groups get younger.

Friend's DH has it (he's in his 50s, no underlying symptoms and double jagged), their DD has it (25 no jag) and they got it from their DDs friend.

Friend doesn't have it (double jagged)

They had hayfever symptoms but nothing else (yet)

I had hayfever symptoms the other week but otherwise felt fine

How are we to know the difference?

[quote Cismyfatarse]@Icannever DH has not worked anywhere in Fife with drop in. They are cancelling / not opening centres he works in and trying to send him to big centres, not local ones. The problem with the bigger centres is he does one job, repeatedly, and doesn't really see how things are working. Sorry.

Most recently he was catching people who faint. Quite a few as the groups get younger. [/quote]

That's interesting about the fainting. I wonder why?

@itsjustlowhangingfruit

Friend's DH has it (he's in his 50s, no underlying symptoms and double jagged), their DD has it (25 no jag) and they got it from their DDs friend.

Friend doesn't have it (double jagged)

They had hayfever symptoms but nothing else (yet)

I had hayfever symptoms the other week but otherwise felt fine

How are we to know the difference?

Well I guess that's what the twice-weekly LFTs are about.

[quote Cismyfatarse]@Icannever DH has not worked anywhere in Fife with drop in. They are cancelling / not opening centres he works in and trying to send him to big centres, not local ones. The problem with the bigger centres is he does one job, repeatedly, and doesn't really see how things are working. Sorry.

Most recently he was catching people who faint. Quite a few as the groups get younger. [/quote]
Oof. How does he know which ones are going to faint so he can be there to catch them?!

We all had summer colds last week (no continuous coughing, though ) - largely gone now. Nothing in DSs school for a fortnight or so now, though we seem to be in a bit of a hot spot, so presumably he didn't pass anything on to anyone else who's keener to test than we are.

Loving the idea of being The Fainter Catcher

DS1 is very inclined to faint, he's fainted having an eye test never mind medical stuff, fainted giving blood samples as well. He is not particularly scared of the procedures, he just gets really anxious being in unfamiliar situations and overheats easily and being 6'3, I think his blood pressure seems to drop and I've had to catch him myself at times.

He'll have to go for this himself so hopefully the jagger spots the signs. The nurses taking blood were always hyper aware and would spot it easily but I guess that it's a more normal occurrence for them.

I'm always so curious about fainting, it's never happened to me, although I've randomly caught a few people in the street about to keel over!

I've only proper fainted once though I've been close a few more.

My proper faint was the day after I gave blood the first time. I was just 18 and only just made the weight limit, but I am 5'10 so was very thin. I got up in the morning to get breakfast, I remember taking the milk from the fridge and then the blackness starts moving in from the sides of your vision. Then I woke up on the floor in a pool of milk.... I think my body was struggling to cope with the loss of blood as I wasn't good at keeping hydrated.

Near things were when I could see the blackness moving in and managed to sit down and get my head down quickly and it cleared.

Not had one in years as I suppose I'm not so thin anymore and better at drinking regularly.

I am a fainter my DDs are fainters. Not sure why we have clung to the Austinesque swoon as we are a feisty squad. The Blood Donation service find DDs a dilemma as they have said they probably shouldn't donate as it seems no matter how hydrated and pampered they are they faint, sometimes mid chocolate biscuits sometimes in the uni library later that day. But they are O negative so really want that universal donor blood. We faint in other circumstances too - nerves or shocks can do it too. None of us are squeamish or bothered by needles- a bit of a mystery.

That'll by why it's never happened to me - I am neither tall nor skinny