Guilt Free Railing 17

[WouldBeGood]

Happy New Thread, Railers!

@WouldBeGood

They were saying that 80% of Scottish covid cases are now omicron I believe!

Literally do not care about the name. I have a family friend (elderly) in hospital, now with hospital-acquired pneumonia😒, a far more life threatening position than folk with no symptoms isolating (with their whole household) or at worst, with cold symptoms.

Meantime, JL whining that he’s been misinterpreted. Dry your eyes, mate and put your ego back in the box.

Hospitality asking for clarification on rules for the Scotland England rugby in six weeks. These things take planning

Sorry to hear about your elderly relative's setback @OnceUponAWhine .

Can i just confirm something?
Lateral flows are for people with no symptoms and pcr is if you have symptoms?
Im working beside someone with body aches, sore throat and headaches. But the company are saying as they are testing negative on Lateral flow thats enough. I told them they need a pcr and its going down like a burst balloon.
No wonder workplaces are so short staffed

Yes, later flowers only if fully well. Otherwise, PCR. Lateral flow may show negative but they're positive.

*lateral flow!!

It's always been PCR for symptoms hasn't it? This is the thing at this stage the time to get results and the isolation is putting people off testing.

rookie I'd be inclined to go for something warm in feb!

@ssd I think technically your company are right, in that the 'symptoms' for PCR are still fever, cough or loss/change of sense of taste/smell. It's massively out of date and the symptoms you describe could well be COVID as it mostly presents as a cold now. A lateral flow test is pretty good at detecting infectious people though, even if it doesn't pick up every last scrap like PCR.

The NHS website still says PCR for new continuous cough, fever or loss of smell, which doesn't sound as if it applies to your colleague. But, lots of people with omicron have regular cold symptoms, so I wouldn't rely on a negative LFT to be honest. A family member with cold symptoms only got a positive LTF days after a positive PCR recently (they had done PCR as a close contact).

I’ve heard a lot of people saying LFTs are negative until symptoms whereupon they are positive

So the 20k+ positives listed today. Is that just from last 24 hours or since Friday?

Regardless surely that not many in ICU then there is no need for restrictions as majority of people are fine

Apparently the figures for 1st and 2nd were 17k and 14k respectively - and 20k today. But hospitalisations are still pretty low (given the huge numbers in the community) and ICU, as you say, teeny-tiny.

I can't see how they can stick with the household 10 day isolation and continue to have a functional society, really. But maybe that is the point? It's such a disruptive virus we are totally 100% correct to keep it as low as possible in the community... conveniently forgetting that the reason it is disruptive is because THEY put rules in place to ensure that no-one with the virus, or their family, can go out to work.

@ssd is your colleague sure they don't also have a temperature?
Often a raised temp would go hand in hand with body aches and sore throat.
And that is listed as a symptom requiring pcr

Thanks for the information @ResilienceWanker .

Yes, the number of people in hospital 'with' covid has jumped up though nowhere near previous numbers. But the numbers in ICU are barely up,fortunately.

Re LFTs vs PCRs - I can't believe the "symptoms" to merit a PCR are still only the original 3. Most people don't have those any more, from what i can gather - but "feeling a bit under the weather" doesn't count as a symptom! I kind of understand why - they didn't want people having to test (and isolate until that came back) for a headache or a dodgy tummy. But things have moved on, and there is so much emphasis on LFTs "just in case" I can't see why anyone who continues feeling ill - but without the Big 3 symptoms can't just have a PCR for reassurance if they want that. I mean, yes it may be wasteful of resources - but at the moment we have people doing several LFTs in a row, because they can't believe they are negative - whereas a single PCR seems to be more trustworthy.

Also - I can never make out the supposedly positive LFTs people post on the covid board! They look negative to me - but everyone is saying - "yes, there's definitely a line there"! Maybe there needs to be a service where you do your LFT in front of an expert, and they read it for you

I hope the journalists keep pushing for the numbers of people actually admitted to hospital for treatment for covid and report these widely so Gov don't misuse the numbers to scare people.
I doubt very much there are currently over a thousand people in Scotland ill enough with covid to need hospitalised.

Since we are railing.
"New Year New You" has had me thinking why haven't they pushed healthy lifestyle: getting active, eating veg, cutting sugar.

By the way does everyone take their vitamin D daily until the sun returns? Daily doses are associated with lessening respiratory infections. They did mention the NHS advice that everyone should be taking some a while back. (You can take far more than the tiny RDA amount that's the level to stop rickets though.)

I'm fanatical about Vitamin D intake, mine got really low a few years ago. I take the Better You 3000ug spray all winter, 1000 one in summer unless I get decent sun exposure.
I almost never get respiratory illnesses now, and if I do they are very mild. PMT is much better and the severe period pains I used to get are gone. No more UTIs.
When I was deficient my bones used to actually ache.

Very good and timely reminder @OldaRailer.

Tbh I started taking it for bone / leg pain thinking I really don't get sun exposure. It was a while before I noticed I hardly get a cold any more. Then I did read about the research into respiratory infections.

A few years ago there was a women took a major, public huff when the NHS, in an ad campaign, dared to mention that obesity is a major risk factor for cancer. Caused all sorts of debates about 'fat shaming'. Maybe they're trying to avoid that kind of nonsense situation occurring again.

That is what I suppose.

Ive been taking high strength vit d since the start of all this

I try with the vit D but you need to take it in the morning or it affects your sleep and I keep forgetting and then don't want to risk it later when I remember.

Dh currently reading a book about the benefits of sunlight to every aspect of your life (in particular heart disease).

I take high strength vitamin D, vitamin C with Zinc and Vitamin B complex.

I keep thinking i should take Vitamin D every Oct/ Nov when the clocks change...keeping it up for a few weeks then forgetting - then remembering again in January with a New Year New Me kind of thing. Then forgetting again! I'm beyond help ... I have to say, I've never really noticed any benefits - probably because I don't do it for long enough. Anyway, I'm on a roll now of Day 3...and have made an annoying reminder in my phone to take the Vit D spray and a multivitamin every morning. So I WILL be a NewWanker in April...