SARS CoV-2 coronavirus / Covid-19 (No tin foil hat silliness please)

[Brwned]

Is there any real benefit to Germany doing this 2 week quarantine? Feels a bit silly and who else got added to their red list?

Same benefit as the UK adding South Africa to the red list a few weeks ago. It's a political signal to reassure people they're taking steps to limit the spread of a variant of concern. The fact those steps will inevitably fail and cause harm to others in the process is just baked into the idea. It's just a calculated political decision. It's politically risky to not look like you're doing all you can, even when that's not enough in the first place.

 

[Ferguson’s Hairdryer]

It is if you’re intent on ignoring the role that omicron is playing in what’s happening right now.

How is saying Omicron bought it forward by a month or 2 ignoring the role that Omicron is playing? You’ve clearly read that post. Honestly that’s why I don’t really like dealing with extremist on either end of the covid spectrum, because they are intellectually dishonest and find offence when there is none. So discussion and debate is impossible.

 

[PoTMS]

Is it bad to want some of these crazy fecking antivaxxers to succumb to COVID?

 

[golden_blunder]

My first day out of isolation today.

I am double jabbed with AZ and tested positive early last week. I've had strange symptoms, the first day just felt wiped out tired. Then a few days of random coughing, loss of appetite and just awful aches and muscle pains and tiredness.

My daughter who is 9 had it too and three nights in a row her temperature spiked to 40.5 and had to have the paramedics out twice for her. She's much better now.

My sister has it and has the same symptoms as me, she's double jabbed but not sure which vaccine. Her son who is 15 had it really bad too, he was really poorly. Yet his brother who has isolated with them hasn't caught it. And my partner who has shared the bed with our daughter for the last 10 days hasn't caught it either. She's double Pfizer jabbed.

Like many places, it's ripped through our town and area. I've known so many with it and many with little or no symptoms and many like me who suffered like a nasty flu symptoms. I am yet to speak to anyone other than younger kids who have had it and have not been vaccinated, but it appears the vaccines are definitely working to lessen the impact of the virus.

All the stats seem to indicate this too. Cases rising but hospitalisations and deaths appear to be roughly the same and at the moment (touch wood) not rising exponentially like the cases seem to be.

Although it's cost me enough with the lockdowns, I had to close last weekend ( we were fully booked each night) as I didn't have enough staff and didn't want to risk the ones who didn't have it getting it or if they had it, spreading it to customers. So that cost a fortune. I had tickets for me and my lad to see Bill Bailey on Monday we had to cancel and we were due to fly to Finland, Lapland on Tuesday and then had tickets for United Brighton today, so all in all I went from having the best week ever planned to having the actual nightmare before Christmas.

On the bright side though, none of us got severely Ill or worse with Covid, but now we have to once again face the prospect of uncertainty and having to close the pub again during the busy holiday period that usually gets us through the lean winter and early spring months.

I'm just now more disillusioned and confused about how I feel about the whole scenario. I'm not sure how many businesses can cope with more shut downs or how many more people can cope either. Especially teenagers like mine and his cousins in their final years at school. They are suffering awfully and struggling to catch up for their exams and the schools just seem lost and unable to cope or help support then.

Covid causes far more damage than just those sick or dying. It really is a fecking nightmare and there doesn't seem to be an end in sight either.

Sorry for the long meandering post, just needed to get all that out.

I’m glad to hear that you and your family are in the mend fella

 

[Ferguson’s Hairdryer]

Seriously, though. Enough rhetorical questions. What’s your point? What are you suggesting?

Maybe you’ve been on the pisser, or more likely the puff, but there is no hidden message to decode!

 

[gormless]

Ah sorry. It must be a locked account.

Just a silly joke tweet from one of the maths mob on there, it just amused me at the time. I'll delete the post.

Funny, but very true. If we still had Wuhan Covid kicking around as the main strain it would seem like barely a big deal at all with our current vaccination rates, including boosters. We had Alpha down to 2k cases a day in May, and that was far more infectious than the original

 

[Droid_Repairs]

Is it bad to want some of these crazy fecking antivaxxers to succumb to COVID?

You may have the benefit of an education, some others aren't so lucky - and many innocent 'bystanders' get drawn in by bullshit on the internet. How often do you see an older auntie or uncle sharing dubious statistics or quotes on social media? They may not be equipped with the savvy to consider fact checking that something on of their friends has posted. Some people just aren't bullshit savvy.

 

[Blood Mage]

Is it bad to want some of these crazy fecking antivaxxers to succumb to COVID?

It's natural selection. Important for the dumbest among us to remove themselves from the gene pool.

 

[langster]

I’m glad to hear that you and your family are in the mend fella

Thank you so much mate.

 

[stepic]

You may have the benefit of an education, some others aren't so lucky - and many innocent 'bystanders' get drawn in by bullshit on the internet. How often do you see an older auntie or uncle sharing dubious statistics or quotes on social media? They may not be equipped with the savvy to consider fact checking that something on of their friends has posted. Some people just aren't bullshit savvy.

I can get that. What I don’t get is their utter stubbornness when people do try and tell them differently. They just ignore it. That’s the infuriating thing.

 

[Suedesi]

One thing that's always puzzled me is the lack of treatment protocol once diagnosed with COVID.

It seems that once diagnosed with COVID, you need to isolate. You're essentially isolating at home unless conditions worsen to the point where you need to go to the hospital. It seems that from the moment you've got a + PCR test until you've got trouble breathing there's nothing to do (but sit in isolation and terror). Surely with other infections/respiratory illnesses the earlier you start treatment, the better. Why is the treatment of COVID different?

 

[Stanley Road]

One thing that's always puzzled me is the lack of treatment protocol once diagnosed with COVID.

It seems that once diagnosed with COVID, you need to isolate. You're essentially isolating at home unless conditions worsen to the point where you need to go to the hospital. It seems that from the moment you've got a + PCR test until you've got trouble breathing there's nothing to do (but sit in isolation and terror). Surely with other infections/respiratory illnesses the earlier you start treatment, the better. Why is the treatment of COVID different?

I believe you need a few days for the microchip to start working, if you go to the hospital too soon then its 5G capabilities won't work. At least that's what I read on myface.com

 

[Regulus Arcturus Black]

Same benefit as the UK adding South Africa to the red list a few weeks ago. It's a political signal to reassure people they're taking steps to limit the spread of a variant of concern. The fact those steps will inevitably fail and cause harm to others in the process is just baked into the idea. It's just a calculated political decision. It's politically risky to not look like you're doing all you can, even when that's not enough in the first place.

Same as the UK first bringing in a PCR by day 2 with self isolation upon entering the UK to “slow omicron” which made absolutely zero sense whatsoever. A few weeks later they only then added the requirement to take a test before travelling the UK.
Now you’re left with this bizarre scenario where the European country with the most omicron, has the toughest entry requirements to stop it coming in, despite it now being everywhere. Ridiculous, but there you go, so much is political as you say.

 

[jojojo]

Same as the UK first bringing in a PCR by day 2 with self isolation upon entering the UK to “slow omicron” which made absolutely zero sense whatsoever. A few weeks later they only then added the requirement to take a test before travelling the UK.
Now you’re left with this bizarre scenario where the European country with the most omicron, has the toughest entry requirements to stop it coming in, despite it now being everywhere. Ridiculous, but there you go, so much is political as you say.

France and Germany have effectively banned British tourists. Entry requirements aren't just about tests. Ireland specify a test before entry and daily for 5 days on arrival - there are no inbound tests for people entering the UK from Ireland.

Everyone hopes they can buy time, and if a week or so can do something in a particular area - boosters perhaps - then maybe they can. Once the week or so has passed they should go again, but seldom do.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

One thing that's always puzzled me is the lack of treatment protocol once diagnosed with COVID.

It seems that once diagnosed with COVID, you need to isolate. You're essentially isolating at home unless conditions worsen to the point where you need to go to the hospital. It seems that from the moment you've got a + PCR test until you've got trouble breathing there's nothing to do (but sit in isolation and terror). Surely with other infections/respiratory illnesses the earlier you start treatment, the better. Why is the treatment of COVID different?

With most other respiratory viral illnesses there’s no treatment either. You might sometimes give an antiviral for flu but they don’t work very well.

With covid the really difficult bit is knowing who/when to treat. With the vast majority of infections mild or asymptomatic you’d be wasting a lot of drugs (and exposing a lot of people to unnecessary side effects)

Having said that there are a lot of covid treatments being trialled. The Pfizer one looks most promising. And should be available soon.

 

[Brophs]

In the queue for my booster. Around 10% of people not wearing masks in this massive, packed queue.

Also special mention to the woman a few people ahead who has spent the hour chain smoking and shouting into the phone to various people about how she won’t let people talk to her like that and listing all of the things she’s going to refuse to do if asked etc. I wonder what poor cnut, apart from those of us in the queue, is having to listen to that at 8 in the morning.

Still a solid 7/10.

 

[stw2022]

Is banning travellers from certain countries not outrageous again?

 

[sun_tzu]

Must admit I'm surprised they have not announced new years eve measures (closing pubs and clubs for example)

Seems inevitable that will have to happen but the later they leave it the harder it will be to enforce... Monday really must be the deadline with some additional sector specific support

Otherwise I can only imagine the plan is to pop up for a 10 minute announcement just after boxing day

I'm also wondering when we run out of pcr and lat flow tests... if every country in Europe is going to be hit with a civil spike in January then at some point demand is going to outstrip supply capacity ... on top of xmas production constraints and an already stretched global logistics crisis.

New year cancelled
Schools closed in January
Not enough tests so having to rely more on hospital data.

I'm stocking up on toilet rolls while the shops are still open

As unpopular as it would be surely the right thing to do is to go back to reduced (or zero) household mixing ASAP

The Xmas parties of the government from last year really do seem to have undermined their ability to propose this though.

Tldr... buy toilet rolls and tests whilst you can

 

[stw2022]

It’ll happen once hospital admission rise exponentially. If they do. It’s a stick or twist scenario. Many European countries aren’t going same way as Germany or Netherlands yet which suggest there’s at least some political hesitation

 

[decorativeed]

In the queue for my booster. Around 10% of people not wearing masks in this massive, packed queue.

Also special mention to the woman a few people ahead who has spent the hour chain smoking and shouting into the phone to various people about how she won’t let people talk to her like that and listing all of the things she’s going to refuse to do if asked etc. I wonder what poor cnut, apart from those of us in the queue, is having to listen to that at 8 in the morning.

Still a solid 7/10.

Infuriating, isn't it! When I was in my queue on Friday they came out and said that nobody would be allowed in without a mask, and they only had 20 they could give people who didn't have one. Cue loads of moaning!

We're almost 2 years into this and the need to wear a mask while having a medical procedure is taking people by surprise!

 

[hellhunter]

Infuriating, isn't it! When I was in my queue on Friday they came out and said that nobody would be allowed in without a mask, and they only had 20 they could give people who didn't have one. Cue loads of moaning!

We're almost 2 years into this and the need to wear a mask while having a medical procedure is taking people by surprise!

That's proper weird, it's completely unthinkable that anyone would show up for his jab without a mask in Germany, and even worse, expect to be allowed entry.

 

[sun_tzu]

Infuriating, isn't it! When I was in my queue on Friday they came out and said that nobody would be allowed in without a mask, and they only had 20 they could give people who didn't have one. Cue loads of moaning!

We're almost 2 years into this and the need to wear a mask while having a medical procedure is taking people by surprise!

Tbf the centre I went to was excellent... everybody had masks queues were kept outside but undercover where possible and the queue maintained fairly good social distancing

That said with so many centres I'm sure there are good and awful examples

 

[Classical Mechanic]

Infuriating, isn't it! When I was in my queue on Friday they came out and said that nobody would be allowed in without a mask, and they only had 20 they could give people who didn't have one. Cue loads of moaning!

We're almost 2 years into this and the need to wear a mask while having a medical procedure is taking people by surprise!

Mask adherence was 100% when I had mine done but there was this old boy in the waiting room after with a broken mask, he’s was talking and coughing with his mask flapping about in the air. Some people are just bit dim.

 

[stw2022]

Omicron could have been here for much longer than we know but before last week who was getting a test for headache and a runny nose?

 

[golden_blunder]

In the queue for my booster. Around 10% of people not wearing masks in this massive, packed queue.

Also special mention to the woman a few people ahead who has spent the hour chain smoking and shouting into the phone to various people about how she won’t let people talk to her like that and listing all of the things she’s going to refuse to do if asked etc. I wonder what poor cnut, apart from those of us in the queue, is having to listen to that at 8 in the morning.

Still a solid 7/10.

You would think that logic tells you to wear a mask when you’re going to be jammed in a queue with hundreds of others

 

[jojojo]

Omicron could have been here for much longer than we know but before last week who was getting a test for headache and a runny nose?

We know from the ONS, React and Siren surveys that it wasn't around in large amounts. They all do population sampling, mostly of asymptomatic people. We know from school kids and others who do weekly lateral flow tests, followed by PCR if positive, that it wasn't common. Waste water sampling suggests we had our first cases just before w/c 22 November.

There might have been the odd case earlier but it's not that we missed spotting it a lot of cases just because of the difference in symptoms.

 

[golden_blunder]

Omicron could have been here for much longer than we know but before last week who was getting a test for headache and a runny nose?

My kids as covid is rife amongst some of the classes

 

[stw2022]

We know from the ONS, React and Siren surveys that it wasn't around in large amounts. They all do population sampling, mostly of asymptomatic people. We know from school kids and others who do weekly lateral flow tests, followed by PCR if positive, that it wasn't common. Waste water sampling suggests we had our first cases just before w/c 22 November.

There might have been the odd case earlier but it's not that we missed spotting it a lot of cases just because of the difference in symptoms.

But would they have been looking for a variant? Would positive tests just have been counted as ‘normal’ covid?

 

[groovyalbert]

That's proper weird, it's completely unthinkable that anyone would show up for his jab without a mask in Germany, and even worse, expect to be allowed entry.

Makes sense, despite those refusing to wear a mask also being those most in need of the jab/boost.

It's an odd stance to take though isn't it (unless you're exempt from wearing a mask) - I need to get my booster jab, but I draw the line at wearing a mask in a crowded space.

 

[hellhunter]

Makes sense, despite those refusing to wear a mask also being those most in need of the jab/boost.

It's an odd stance to take though isn't it (unless you're exempt from wearing a mask) - I need to get my booster jab, but I draw the line at wearing a mask in a crowded space.

Exactly, you'd think people realising the importance of the vaccine and booster would be the ones understanding the need for a mask.

 

[Brophs]

Infuriating, isn't it! When I was in my queue on Friday they came out and said that nobody would be allowed in without a mask, and they only had 20 they could give people who didn't have one. Cue loads of moaning!

We're almost 2 years into this and the need to wear a mask while having a medical procedure is taking people by surprise!

That's proper weird, it's completely unthinkable that anyone would show up for his jab without a mask in Germany, and even worse, expect to be allowed entry.

You would think that logic tells you to wear a mask when you’re going to be jammed in a queue with hundreds of others

Sorry, should have said, queue was initially outdoors as it was around 600m long but it wasn’t remotely socially distanced. There were two lines, maybe 2ft from each other, going in opposite directions. I kept my 2m from the guy in front but no one else was, including the guy behind me. Then when it went indoors I only saw a few without masks. Not to mention Fag Ash Lil.

 

[jojojo]

But would they have been looking for a variant? Would positive tests just have been counted as ‘normal’ covid?

Positives on the sampling surveys get retested for variants. LFTs not necessarily, though enough go for the kind of PCR test that can give a possible result that we'd see it if it was a big proportion of cases. We might be a week slow but I doubt it would be more than that.

Denmark, who do a lot of testing and sequencing, see it in samples starting at about the same time as the UK. It will have been here, but at low levels, that's the nature of exponential growth though, it builds.

 

[decorativeed]

Sorry, should have said, queue was initially outdoors as it was around 600m long but it wasn’t remotely socially distanced. There were two lines, maybe 2ft from each other, going in opposite directions. I kept my 2m from the guy in front but no one else was, including the guy behind me. Then when it went indoors I only saw a few without masks. Not to mention Fag Ash Lil.

Yeah, my queue was outside too. At first everyone was 2m apart, but as more turned up there were about 200 in the queue, so they made everyone stand closer together. A bloke a few people behind me then lit a joint.

 

[Penna]

In Italy some regions (ours included) are going back into yellow measures from tomorrow. It's not a big deal for those of us who have the Super Green Pass, we'll have to wear masks outside again but then, they help keep your face warm in winter.

As it happens, a lot of people have been choosing to wear masks on the streets for a long time now. I don't, as I can't see the value when you're walking alone in the fresh air and not stopping to talk to anyone - but I will from tomorrow.

There are 5 cases in the village right now, it's not a lot but they've all appeared in one week. Our permanently-resident population is only about 700 people. We've not had any deaths here from Covid throughout the whole pandemic, which is impressive seeing as we have so many extremely elderly people.

 

[Brophs]

Yeah, my queue was outside too. At first everyone was 2m apart, but as more turned up there were about 200 in the queue, so they made everyone stand closer together. A bloke a few people behind me then lit a joint.

There’s no vaccine against being an absolute legend.

 

[jojojo]

One thing that's always puzzled me is the lack of treatment protocol once diagnosed with COVID.

It seems that once diagnosed with COVID, you need to isolate. You're essentially isolating at home unless conditions worsen to the point where you need to go to the hospital. It seems that from the moment you've got a + PCR test until you've got trouble breathing there's nothing to do (but sit in isolation and terror). Surely with other infections/respiratory illnesses the earlier you start treatment, the better. Why is the treatment of COVID different?

As @Pogue Mahone said, we don't really have much we can do about viruses. We have a few things to make it easier - paracetamol/ibuprofen, keep hydrated, rest etc.

We also have some treatments coming, we think. They've been through clinical trials and they seem to reduce the likelihood of it getting serious. We're now looking at who should get them and when, and whether they're safe for everyone.

So with that in mind ...

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

You have to act fast though, as soon as you get a positive PCR test. There are other trials underway, again targeted at stopping severe disease and trying to decide who would benefit from the drug - similar timeline involved.

If we can crack the who needs what bit, hopefully we'll be able to give some vulnerable people prescriptions to keep in their cupboard (or for same day Amazon prime delivery!) ready for a positive PCR or LFT. Like all drugs the side effects might outweigh the benefits for some people. They're still working it out.

 

[langster]

Must admit I'm surprised they have not announced new years eve measures (closing pubs and clubs for example)

Seems inevitable that will have to happen but the later they leave it the harder it will be to enforce..

They announced pubs would close and we were entering lockdown again on January 30th last year. But we were already empty because he had that moronic rule where you could only drink if you had a meal.

The first lockdown Boris told people not to go to the pubs on Monday then announced on Friday that lockdown would start Saturday.

They don't give a feck.

New Years Eve is the 2nd biggest day for us outside of our Pirate Festival (that's been cancelled the last two years)

 

[sun_tzu]

They announced pubs would close and we were entering lockdown again on January 30th last year. But we were already empty because he had that moronic rule where you could only drink if you had a meal.

The first lockdown Boris told people not to go to the pubs on Monday then announced on Friday that lockdown would start Saturday.

They don't give a feck.

New Years Eve is the 2nd biggest day for us outside of our Pirate Festival (that's been cancelled the last two years)

I think there is a high probability new years eve is cancelled as well... hopefully there is business support announced that will lessen the blow

That said I think lots of people will have parties at home and the government has very little chance of controlling that

 

[Pexbo]

I think there is a high probability new years eve is cancelled as well... hopefully there is business support announced that will lessen the blow

That said I think lots of people will have parties at home and the government has very little chance of controlling that

The government, MET and by extension all UK police have zero capital in policing public actions on this issue.

 

[FootballHQ]

Out of interest is there any data for flu deaths so far this winter? Or is it a bit too early and that only becomes available from Feb onwards?

Just wondering if it has come back with a vengeance so far or the Omicron has effectively written it off for second winter running.