Coronavirus in the UK - news, lockdown and discussion

[elbows]

I suppose I may as well post a couple more graphs. Data is from the daily NHS England spreadsheet at Statistics » COVID-19 Hospital Activity

Regional picture of daily hospital admissions/diagnoses, smoothed using 7 day averages:



NHS England admissions/diagnoses that were listed in the data as involving people admitted from a care home. A subject I doubt the media provided a good understanding of in this wave. Not that I know how complete a picture of care home admissions this data really provides, and there is no way to separate out 'for' and 'with' covid cases in this data:

 

[zahir]

 

[elbows]

UK authorities like to go on about how independent the likes of the JCVI are, but it sounds like JCVI reports get sat on when there are political rows. But it seems Wales has spilt the beans on this one anyway, ha ha.

Covid in Wales: All five to 11-year-olds offered jabs

Wales becomes the first UK nation to announce it will vaccinate the younger age group.

www.bbc.co.uk

All five to 11-year olds in Wales are to be offered Covid vaccinations, the health minister has announced.

Eluned Morgan said she was following a "yet to be published" recommendation from the UK's Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI).

The Welsh government was "working with health boards on implementing the offer", she told the Senedd.

There are reports the official JCVI announcement has been delayed due to a disagreement with the UK government.

 

[two sheds]

Free testing to be scrapped next week? (according to LBC). I've not actually used an LFT so I just ordered a set in case I need them in future.

 

[Buddy Bradley]

I've not actually used an LFT

What, ever? Do you live on the moon?

 

[two sheds]

Pretty well I just don't have contact with people - retired, live in the country, don't have a car and get deliveries, asthma so vulnerable. I've done a couple of PCR tests but they were negative.

 

[elbows]

Free testing to be scrapped next week? (according to LBC). I've not actually used an LFT so I just ordered a set in case I need them in future.

The tweet a few posts back implied that the end of free testing doesnt happen just yet, more like the end of March, but guidance recommending regular asymptomatic testing will be scrapped imminently. I dont know if the leaked plans are accurate.

Meanwhile Scotland has taken much the same stance as Wales in regards jabbing 5-11 year olds, and the BBC article about it also says:

Speaking on the BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland, Mr Swinney said curbs had been "relaxed very significantly" in recent weeks - but warned that the virus was still a danger.

He said: "Fundamentally the government has got to have in place a legal framework that allows us to act.

"Covid has not gone away, it has not disappeared, it has not ended, and anyone who puts that argument around is just misleading people.

"Covid is still out there, it's still a significant threat to public health. We've got to proceed with care but we've also got to apply the proportionate test at all times.

"That's what the Scottish government looks at in all circumstances to make sure the measures we have are proportionate and appropriate."

Covid in Scotland: Vaccine offered to children aged five to 11

The Scottish government made the move based on draft advice on vaccinating children from the JCVI.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[gentlegreen]

Almost zero mask-wearing today in Aldi.
They clearly think it's all over ....

 

[souljacker]

Got to admit that I'm wearing one less and less. My local shop has removed it's Perspex screens too.

 

[Mation]

Got to admit that I'm wearing one less and less.

How come?

 

[souljacker]

How come?

Less COVID around and what is around is giving people a few days of essentially a nasty cold.

 

[existentialist]

Less COVID around and what is around is giving people a few days of essentially a nasty cold.

TBF, that's not what I'm seeing. Quite a few people I know who've contracted Covid lately have been feeling a LOT worse than a "nasty cold" would suggest.

Fortunately, here in Wales, mask-wearing is still pretty much the norm in shops, etc. I won't be getting rid of mine any time soon.

 

[LDC]

How come?

I work in a large hospital and we currently have 0 patients with Covid in ICU, and it's been that way for a few weeks (we get weekly email updates). Loads of people I know have had Covid the last few weeks and they've all had very mild cold like symptoms.

I've been pretty strict the last 2 years, but the last few weeks my mask wearing has gone from everywhere indoors (unless eating/drinking) including transport, to in shops nearly all the time, but being generally much less strict and more relaxed about it. It's partly a reflection that what I see about me which is that everything seems pretty normal, and mask wearing is in single digit percentages here I'd guess.

 

[gentlegreen]

Less COVID around and what is around is giving people a few days of essentially a nasty cold.

Is that the way you plan to get your boosters from now on ?
I'll let you be the beta tester ...

 

[LDC]

Is that the way you plan to get your boosters from now on ?
I'll let you be the beta tester ...

It might not be the plan, but it is the reality as avoiding catching Covid for ever is not realistic in the long run.

 

[Steel Icarus]

I figure it's less hardship for me to wear a mask than unwittingly pass Covid on to someone for whom it isn't mild.

 

[Mation]

Less COVID around and what is around is giving people a few days of essentially a nasty cold.

That's something I have trouble getting my head around. To me, I see a new disease, which means that I don't know what it will do. Even though the currently predominant strain seems to be affecting many (vaccinated) people less severely than the original, I don't feel confident that I know what the longer term effects might be. Long covid exists, and it scares me. It's vascular, and that scares me.

I work in a large hospital and we currently have 0 patients with Covid in ICU, and it's been that way for a few weeks (we get weekly email updates). Loads of people I know have had Covid the last few weeks and they've all had very mild cold like symptoms.

I've been pretty strict the last 2 years, but the last few weeks my mask wearing has gone from everywhere indoors (unless eating/drinking) including transport, to in shops nearly all the time, but being generally much less strict and more relaxed about it. It's partly a reflection that what I see about me which is that everything seems pretty normal, and mask wearing is in single digit percentages here I'd guess.

So is that 'things look normal, so I feel safe' or 'most people are doing x and I don't want to stand out' or something else?

Not trying to have a go. I just don't get it, and am often in conflict at work because I don't.

 

[gentlegreen]

It might not be the plan, but it is the reality as avoiding catching Covid for ever is not realistic in the long run.

It probably makes a big difference that I retired, so the sum total of effort required is to wear a mask in the shops once a week ... my sister's 4 generational experiment at xmas was far too much - I suspect she and my mother consider me a hypochondriac - but I've made it to my 60s with no significant health issues and I hope to keep it that way ...

 

[Sasaferrato]

I've just had a scam Covid passport E-mail, purporting to be from the NHS.

 

[mystic pyjamas]

It probably makes a big difference that I retired, so the sum total of effort required is to wear a mask in the shops once a week ... my sister's 4 generational experiment at xmas was far too much - I suspect she and my mother consider me a hypochondriac - but I've made it to my 60s with no significant health issues and I hope to keep it that way ...

I'm sure I've read posts from you before about your various medical aliments, no?
Perhaps they weren't as serious as I understood them to be.

 

[gentlegreen]

I'm sure I've read posts from you before about your various medical aliments, no?
Perhaps they weren't as serious as I understood them to be.

The only significant medical issue is a slightly elevated uric acid .
Most of my problems have been caused by visiting doctors ...

 

[souljacker]

That's something I have trouble getting my head around. To me, I see a new disease, which means that I don't know what it will do. Even though the currently predominant strain seems to be affecting many (vaccinated) people less severely than the original, I don't feel confident that I know what the longer term effects might be. Long covid exists, and it scares me. It's vascular, and that scares me.

Don't get me wrong, first sign of a new strain causing problems again and the mask will be straight back on wherever I go. But currently it feels more likely I'll get hit by a flying tree branch than get killed by COVID.

 

[Doctor Carrot]

I've certainly stopped wearing a mask at work now. None of my colleagues do and it's dropped a lot among customers. The door is always open though so the place is very well ventilated. I think that's what has prevented any of us from catching it, at work at least because a couple of colleagues have caught it elsewhere on nights out or from their kids.

I'll still wear a mask if the supermarket is busy or on public transport but that's it. I don't think the pandemic is over and as soon as another strain comes along the mask will be back but I do think we're in a new phase now. Even my local Sainsburies have removed the dividing perspex screens from the self service tills.

 

[Monkeygrinder's Organ]

Just as an aside is there any verdict/evidence on the effectiveness or otherwise of the screens?

 

[LDC]

That's something I have trouble getting my head around. To me, I see a new disease, which means that I don't know what it will do. Even though the currently predominant strain seems to be affecting many (vaccinated) people less severely than the original, I don't feel confident that I know what the longer term effects might be. Long covid exists, and it scares me. It's vascular, and that scares me.

So is that 'things look normal, so I feel safe' or 'most people are doing x and I don't want to stand out' or something else?

Not trying to have a go. I just don't get it, and am often in conflict at work because I don't.

It's just the reality that the overwhelming number of people who get Covid and are fully vaccinated are fine so are safe, and most of society is steadily going back to normal. I also wear one for 13 hours a day at work (which wasn't before) which probably makes me less happy to wear one outside that as well now if I'm honest.

It is (has been made) a personal choice, and as you say you're scared, whereas at points early on I was very concerned but I am much less so now and that's reflected in how I behave. And as for the passing it on/mask wearing thing, yes for sure, but what I see about now is vastly different to a year ago, in that people aren't generally seemingly that bothered any more. As I said I do generally wear one, but if I forget it I'll go into a shop, and have done the same on train journeys now as well. (For example I was on a packed bus a few weeks ago, people crammed in and talking and shouting etc. and I was pretty much the only person in a mask, so thing like that do make you less likely or bothered to wear one sometimes.)

We're all complicated beings, and we don't always make logical choices and decisions, and what we see as sensible and rational might just seem bonkers to others. I also do admit that there's an element of fatigue to it all now, and that seems to be the same among friends, even those that have been very worried in the past. Nearly everyone I know is 'back to normal' with most of their life now - mask wearing sometimes excepted.

 

[two sheds]

Can't really argue.

I'm avoiding people until we see how it progresses and the effect on NHS. Friends are visiting next week and I'm not sure how to phrase that I'm up for a walk but not to meet inside. They've been really conscientious with masks and things throughout but if you're vulnerable and nobody has to isolate any more then you have to assume that everyone's (potentially) got it.

 

[LDC]

I do think for some people they've either got a bit stuck in a rut with some of the behaviors over the last 2 years and are struggling to change (totally understandably) or that in some way it enables them to avoid some kinds of social contacts that they found difficult anyway. I have concerns that a few people won't be able (or willing) to go back to how things were before due to fear, anxiety, etc.

 

[gentlegreen]

I do think for some people they've either got a bit stuck in a rut with some of the behaviors over the last 2 years and are struggling to change (totally understandably) or that in some way it enables them to avoid some kinds of social contacts that they found difficult anyway. I have concerns that a few people won't be able (or willing) to go back to how things were before due to fear, anxiety, etc.

That would include me.
I had got rather blasé about viral infections, but was off work for over a month in 2018 and 2019.
I hope the flu vaccines will get better...

 

[andysays]

Less COVID around and what is around is giving people a few days of essentially a nasty cold.

Just in case anyone takes this seriously, I've just finished my fifth week off work off work with Covid and (although I'm able to function OK) I'm still not fit enough to go back to work yet.

Even without considering Long Covid (which I'm not qualified to talk about) many many people are finding that getting over Covid takes a lot longer than getting over a cold or even a typical case of flu.

Some people may experience Covid as "a few days of essentially a nasty cold", but many (even those who eventually make a full recovery) do not, and it's a bit silly to assume that this is all it is.

 

[pbsmooth]

Five weeks! wow. Have you got underlying health issues or are you considered vulnerable? Are you bed ridden for all this time?