SARS CoV-2 coronavirus / Covid-19 (No tin foil hat silliness please)
- Thread starter Don't Kill Bill
- Start date
Just reading about one of Ireland’s larger hospitals having to divert all emergency referrals to another hospital because this omicron wave has them completely slammed. That’s something that gets lost in all the good news about “milder” illness. Easy to forget that mild just means you don’t need to be admitted to hospital for oxygen. You can still feel like boiled shite. And the average punter is not good at judging severity of any illness, never mind one as scary as covid.
So even if an ED ends up only admitting 2 out of every 100 covid walk-ins, as compared to 10 out of every 100 delta patients (i.e. omicron is 80% less severe, according to my crap maths) each of those 100 patients takes exactly the same amount of time and resources to assess. And with cases numbers so crazy high at the moment it’s going to mean a ridiculous number of unwell and frightened people turning up to hospital for assessment. Which diverts resources away from all the usual, non-covid emergencies.
I’m about as positive now as I ever have been about this nightmare ending soon but I think we all need to do our bit to take the edge off this wave as much as possible and do our level best to make sure that none of us end up presenting to hospital for any reason at all over the next few weeks.
So even if an ED ends up only admitting 2 out of every 100 covid walk-ins, as compared to 10 out of every 100 delta patients (i.e. omicron is 80% less severe, according to my crap maths) each of those 100 patients takes exactly the same amount of time and resources to assess. And with cases numbers so crazy high at the moment it’s going to mean a ridiculous number of unwell and frightened people turning up to hospital for assessment. Which diverts resources away from all the usual, non-covid emergencies.
I’m about as positive now as I ever have been about this nightmare ending soon but I think we all need to do our bit to take the edge off this wave as much as possible and do our level best to make sure that none of us end up presenting to hospital for any reason at all over the next few weeks.
It was like my bed cover was a living organism but biomechanic. A blend of human organs and Hospital equipment.
It was like something from Otomo's AKIRA or Tsukamoto's Tetsuo The Iron Man.
Not going to forget that dream for a while.
Symptoms went downhill fast last night. Woke up with fever, aches, chills, and a killer headache. Took LFT and it's positive. Just as I was doing that my son logged into the test site and got his positive PCR result. They don't state what variant it is but most likely it's Omicron. He's feeling much better. I took some Tylenol and my headache is going away for now at least. Just waiting for the other 3 in my house to have symptoms.
NHS England planning for army-helped makeshift hospital tents as well in anticipation of January surge here
https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/n...n-for-wave-of-omicron-covid-cases-1365680/amp
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...ingale-hospitals-battle-omicron-b1980845.html
Wishing anybody who's tested positive here well. Remember DO NOT ignore shortness of breath, being unable to form full sentences without getting breathless or chest pain with this thing. Seek help if so.
Also for those in UK asking about anti-virals, you are likely to be contacted if PCR positive you are coded on your GP's records as having one of the vulnerable conditions. There are dedicated regional services for monoclonal antibody or antiviral drug after a positive PCR test.
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/treatments-for-coronavirus/
If you are clinically vulnerable and test positive PCR this is the letter you can expect to get after positive PCR
https://www.england.nhs.uk/coronavi...tter-to-patients-new-covid-19-treatments.docx
But for others there is also the chance to enrol on the PANORAMIC trial - open to all aged over fifty and all over eighteen with certain medical conditions making them vulnerable. Its testing out molnupiravir versus placebo in the community setting. There is however a 50/50 chance of getting placebo.
https://www.panoramictrial.org/participant-information
Also for those in UK asking about anti-virals, you are likely to be contacted if PCR positive you are coded on your GP's records as having one of the vulnerable conditions. There are dedicated regional services for monoclonal antibody or antiviral drug after a positive PCR test.
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/treatments-for-coronavirus/
If you are clinically vulnerable and test positive PCR this is the letter you can expect to get after positive PCR
https://www.england.nhs.uk/coronavi...tter-to-patients-new-covid-19-treatments.docx
But for others there is also the chance to enrol on the PANORAMIC trial - open to all aged over fifty and all over eighteen with certain medical conditions making them vulnerable. Its testing out molnupiravir versus placebo in the community setting. There is however a 50/50 chance of getting placebo.
https://www.panoramictrial.org/participant-information
I'm sure if we see hospitals getting full we'll see more restrictions, but there's definitely little political will in this country to save lives by closing down parts of society.
During the first wave I heard about a local restaurant that was telling staff to keep working sick, I hope they got in trouble but I don't actually know. My town still has a mask mandate indoors, though it was removed for about 2 weeks in the summer.
Mange tout Rodney, mange tout.
So less A Nightmare on Elm Street and more Pretentious Dream at the Anime Festival?
Some places are anticipating it, my old man has been contacted already with a number to call if he ever does test positive and they will send the antivirals out to him in the post. He's about 2 years post discharge for NHL.
It will go down to 5 days soon enough so yeah after that no point really just saying 2-3 days as further isolation. A week will be minimum/maximum all in one.
I'm quite mad about this. I'm going to be teaching in-person starting in 2 weeks, and my university has updated its quarantine guidelines to match the CDC's.
I also have to defend my thesis this semester. If I don't, I won't be allowed to continue, 7 years of work will be for nothing. I will be ready by early March probably, and the defence (to be scheduled with 5 professors in mind) has to be before April 1.
I can very easily imagine getting covid from a student, fingers crossed it's a mild case, I miss my planned date in the middle of March, and then maybe I recover quickly, maybe I can reschedule, maybe not, who knows, and April 1 is flying up all the time.
Sounds like those 5 fewer days self isolating could potentially be a big help to you if you catch covid within a week or two of an important deadline. I would focus on that rather than whatever small difference they make to your chances of being exposed to omicron (which will be extremely high regardless)
I'm probably going to defend online, it won't make that much difference in that regard.
We've been a low-covid campus for 2 years, and I'm not happy that the CDC and omicron are teaming up to make sure the dam breaks right when I *really* need things to not get messed up. Canceled my travel last week on the same basis- no taking chances - all for nought now.
You think that was pretentious ?
A visiting DJ here for our summer music festivals has ignored the required quarantine rules thinking he was negative and spent a few days going all over the place and has subsequently tested positive for the new variant. So its here a little earlier than expected, the shame is we are close to eliminating Delta. Lots of health workers are pretty angry with this guy as well as a decent chunk of the population. Our opposition parties have pushed very hard for home quarantine options, they got them and now its failed because humans arent perfect and mess up sometimes. Fingers crossed it turns out to be less llife threatening than the others and somehow we get lucky and dodge another bullet. Our luck here must be running out soon.
Almost half a million cases in one day.
More detailed numbers below:
More detailed numbers below:
Good god.
A good summary of #scottyfrommarketings shambolic performance.
https://www.theguardian.com/comment...lian-leaders-must-actually-work-cooperatively
https://www.theguardian.com/comment...lian-leaders-must-actually-work-cooperatively
Is there any scientific literature showing that high vitamin D levels correlate to no symptoms or serious illness from Covid-19?
A friend's been recommending I take a ton of Vitamin D; suggested 4000-5000 IU as I fight this thing off (on day 4 after showing symptoms).
I'm sure he's coming from a good place, just wanted to be certain it's based in actual studies....
A friend's been recommending I take a ton of Vitamin D; suggested 4000-5000 IU as I fight this thing off (on day 4 after showing symptoms).
I'm sure he's coming from a good place, just wanted to be certain it's based in actual studies....
That youtube doc has spent some time analysing the various studies out there - https://www.youtube.com/c/Campbellteaching/search?query=vitamin d
tl;dr is yes, he's an advocate for it.
Case numbers don’t seem that bad in context of at one point being told they were doubling every 2-3 days and 24,000 of them being Northern Ireland’s catch-up total.
You gotta serious question the accuracy of the numbers though in particular at this time of the year.
Especially when there’s such a shortage of LFTs and PCRs - normally they’d say genuine cases is X times the official number but you then have to multiply that again I’d imagine.
The key figure for me would be the hospitalisations which, between 19th and 21st averages at about 1100 per day, which is about 40-45% up on the average for the previous week. Combine that with increased NHS absences due positive cases could spell trouble.
It was a shit joke really. I like Akira.
The advice is contradictory. The French authorities have evidently said Brits who have official residence in another European country will be judged to have a "compelling reason" to transit France, and will just need to show proof of residence.
If that's the case, this will only affect Brits who have a second home in another European country.
Nothing wrong with Vit D so this isn’t a response to that but having loved his videos at the start of the pandemic you can’t help notice the subtle red flags recently that he wouldn’t look out of place on the Tory backbench. Constantly pushing ivermectin, slating the EU, having underhanded digs at Fauci and Biden, loving what Scott Morrison had to say a few days back about getting on with it, thinks the Public Health organisations are overstating omnicron and lying to us…been some little undertones I haven’t liked recently from him. I still watch because he’s good at breaking down data but definitely not as balanced as he used to appear.
I travel into London every day for work and have pretty much been working all year as normal. Got my first two jabs in spring and then the booster a few weeks ago. Now with Omicron mask wearing is back in public railway transport. Not enforced because a few go about without a mask with no problem but pretty much 99% are going about wearing a mask again voluntarily and with no problem. It's no inconvenience to wear a mask and maintain to the guidelines. It has always been in place for buses without a break because obviously a bus is a smaller spaced vehicle which gets packed quickly.
Hopefully the news that Omicron is mild per the reporting from South African medical experts is correct. There basically hasn't been a lockdown here since the start of the pandemic. Even if the government enforce a lockdown people aren't going to follow it.
Hopefully the news that Omicron is mild per the reporting from South African medical experts is correct. There basically hasn't been a lockdown here since the start of the pandemic. Even if the government enforce a lockdown people aren't going to follow it.
I personally it derives from the worst influence of the whole Protestant work ethic stuff from the 19th century, "idle hands do the devil's work" and all that. And of course, many business owners don't care about their employees health at all and view them as morally inferior for not being rich.
For the UK population, I think we're getting to the point where Covid is a mild cold for 57.5%, a bad cold for a 24.8%, a 'flu' for 7.6% and a severe 'flu' for 10.1%.
But as more people catch it, it'll become a common cold for everyone. We just need to balance the herd immunity strategy with not overloading the NHS with people from the 10.1%. The selfish cnuts.
Thankfully, I think the NHS appears to be holding out so far.
Yes, I think that's part of it. In this specific case the owners are greedy, uncaring scum, but I'm sure many were and are scared of losing their business. I'm surprised we haven't lost more restaurants than we have. Since we know the state and our fellow citizens won't help us get our business or lost profits back, why should we destroy our livelihood for them (is the thinking I imagine)? Not to mention many employees can't afford to not work.
We need a really big celebrity with long covid to get people to care.
That's a good point about some business owners just being scared to lose their business. Especially since those PPP loans didn't always go to true small businesses. I know some big, rich firms received some of those loans despite being wealthy businesses stacked with cash (they were just under the 150-200 employee threshold).
For restaurants, the one that seemed to weather the quarantine around me, were the ones that could easily transition to take-out and/or had parking lot space to open outdoor patios (this being Los Angeles that's more viable than it would have been in Minneapolis). Some of the local restaurants here were absolutely booming with take-out. Some of the large chain restaurants though seemed to struggle the most.
I think things are going to get pretty dicey - the numbers in hospital are going up fast and it’s now translating into the older age groups. Thankfully I don’t think ventilation/ICU bed numbers are going up much - but the sheer numbers visiting hospitals could get pretty high. Usual proviso about with not because of/hospital acquired etc but there’s definitely going to be massive strain on the NHS even in the best case scenario. The admission numbers in London have only gone up by 20 from yesterday and cases MAY have peaked there so hopefully admissions are approaching their peak too.
For the UK population, I think we're getting to the point where Covid is a mild cold for 57.5%, a bad cold for a 24.8%, a 'flu' for 7.6% and a severe 'flu' for 10.1%.
But as more people catch it, it'll become a common cold for everyone. We just need to balance the herd immunity strategy with not overloading the NHS with people from the 10.1%. The selfish cnuts.
Thankfully, I think the NHS appears to be holding out so far.
Fair points.
I'd be looking at the London numbers as a canary in the coalmine. If they can cope (with their low vaccinations rates and high population density and high rates of lung damage from chimney sweeping), so should everywhere else.
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In light of the soaring numbers of positives, Italy's about to bring in new rules about quarantine for non-symptomatic people who've had close contact with someone who's tested positive.
If you've had your booster or are no more than 4 months after your second vaccine dose (or have recently recovered from Covid), you won't have to quarantine. You'll have to wear an FFP2 mask in public for 10 days and take a test on day 5. People who had their second vaccination more than 4 months ago will have to quarantine for 7 days. Unvaccinated people wll have to do it for 10 days.
This is in line with the trend here to differentiate between people who've done as advised by the Government (i.e., had the vaccinations and booster), and the minority who have chosen not to do so.
If you've had your booster or are no more than 4 months after your second vaccine dose (or have recently recovered from Covid), you won't have to quarantine. You'll have to wear an FFP2 mask in public for 10 days and take a test on day 5. People who had their second vaccination more than 4 months ago will have to quarantine for 7 days. Unvaccinated people wll have to do it for 10 days.
This is in line with the trend here to differentiate between people who've done as advised by the Government (i.e., had the vaccinations and booster), and the minority who have chosen not to do so.
Right, help me out with a situation here lads…
Basically, I got my booster on the 22nd, felt like shit for a number of days and then on 26th I felt a whole lot worse, with a sore throat and minor cough added to my fever and headache.
Since I had nowhere to go in Boxing Day anyway, I decided to just wait it out and see how I felt the next day but I’d already decided that I probably actually had covid.
Felt the same the next day, had no LFTs available but I had pretty much self diagnosed myself with covid at this point so I didn’t see the need for a PCR and just decided to isolate anyway.
Since then, I’ve discovered friends who I saw on the 23rd have had symptoms over Xmas and they have had PCR tests confirmed positive and have to isolate till Jan 4th. It’s likely we all got it at the same time.
Myself on the other hand, I now feel fantastic with just a slight tickle in my throat. My plan tomorrow providing I feel as if I hadn’t have had a virus in the first place, is to take some LFTs and if all is well I will stop isolating.
Question is, am I being a dick? I don’t want to isolate longer than I have to tbh and I feel like that although I’m not following the rules, I’m not really breaking any rules either as I’ve never tested positive in the first place.
The grey area is I don’t really know when my symptoms started because of my booster.
Basically, I got my booster on the 22nd, felt like shit for a number of days and then on 26th I felt a whole lot worse, with a sore throat and minor cough added to my fever and headache.
Since I had nowhere to go in Boxing Day anyway, I decided to just wait it out and see how I felt the next day but I’d already decided that I probably actually had covid.
Felt the same the next day, had no LFTs available but I had pretty much self diagnosed myself with covid at this point so I didn’t see the need for a PCR and just decided to isolate anyway.
Since then, I’ve discovered friends who I saw on the 23rd have had symptoms over Xmas and they have had PCR tests confirmed positive and have to isolate till Jan 4th. It’s likely we all got it at the same time.
Myself on the other hand, I now feel fantastic with just a slight tickle in my throat. My plan tomorrow providing I feel as if I hadn’t have had a virus in the first place, is to take some LFTs and if all is well I will stop isolating.
Question is, am I being a dick? I don’t want to isolate longer than I have to tbh and I feel like that although I’m not following the rules, I’m not really breaking any rules either as I’ve never tested positive in the first place.
The grey area is I don’t really know when my symptoms started because of my booster.