So I had the mildest of throat irritation today morning, and wouldn't have even bothered testing if not for my 5 month old. Turns out I am positive. 10 hours since the onset I feel nothing but that prickly feeling in throat. Wonder if it's really this mild (I had the original variant in September 2020 which did result in 3 days of fever and a persistent cough) or is it because of the vaccines (AZ 2nd dose June 2021).
SARS CoV-2 coronavirus / Covid-19 (No tin foil hat silliness please)
- Thread starter Don't Kill Bill
- Start date
I had it recently (I’m double-jabbed but not had the booster) and it was incredibly mild - just a dry feeling in the throat.
Everyone’s experience of remote learning is different. His may have been a lot less negative than many others (even though it was obviously negative) All that closing the schools would achieve is deferring the “chaos” anyway. Omicron is going nowhere (until the next variant arrives) and is benign to the point of irrelevance in this age group.
There comes a point where life has to normalise as much as possible and I think we’ve reached that point. My kids school is similarly strained. Absent teachers and pupils galore. But whatever short term impact this has on learning (and let’s not pretend that remote learning isn’t an absolute disaster for many kids) is outweighed by the benefits of socialising with their friends every day and getting back into a familiar routine. Even a return to school sports (a rarely mentioned casualty of closing them down) has been hugely beneficial for mental (and physical) health.
Last edited:
My 13 year old hasn't gone back to school this week, as they changed plans at the last minute. But what they did do is to get him and all the other pupils to go in at scheduled times today and yesterday to have a covid test (which we think was just a lateral flow) before returning to lessons next week - by which point the results of tests this week will be utterly irrelevant. They are more likely to have caused cases with this plan than picked any up and prevented them. Who's coming up with these ridiculous ideas?
Been feeling a bit rough the past few days so took a lateral flow test that came back positive, I’ve been and taken a pcr test today and I’m awaiting results (I’m double jabbed)
Weird that a few days ago I was getting heart palpitations it feels like I get an extra beat every so often then the flu like symptoms hit. Strange I hadn’t read about the heart palpitations but doing some research it’s a common effect.
Weird that a few days ago I was getting heart palpitations it feels like I get an extra beat every so often then the flu like symptoms hit. Strange I hadn’t read about the heart palpitations but doing some research it’s a common effect.
To be fair that's true of many infections and illnesses as your heart works a little harder. I often get them when I'm a bit under the weather.
Got the virus in June last year, the week before I had my vaccine appointment, and it wiped me out for 4/5 days.
Took a lat flow on Tuesday before heading back to work and it was positive. No real symptoms, but I did have a dry throat although I didn’t think anything of it. PCR confirmed it and still no symptoms. Got boosted on the 20th, so hopefully nothing as bad as the first round
Took a lat flow on Tuesday before heading back to work and it was positive. No real symptoms, but I did have a dry throat although I didn’t think anything of it. PCR confirmed it and still no symptoms. Got boosted on the 20th, so hopefully nothing as bad as the first round
We don't learn. People forget that in the US, businesses started the lockdown, because this is exactly what happened. Maybe this variant is mild enough that everyone should just get it and keep going, but the point is the same. *If* you're going to require people who test positive to isolate, then you need to go remote as much as possible, because you're going to run out of people as everyone gets ill at the same time.
Even if it is mild, some staggering of the spread seems in order. Masks and no big Indoor gatherings for a month would go a long way at minimal "cost". Subsidize the sports teams if necessary.
We haven't been back to UK/Ireland for about 5 years and then it was better than before but still very poor quality in comparison to Italy and Australia. The US is worse and even finding a not filter coffee is a challenge. A good one even harder.
I have to say, I never knew Australia had a good reputation for its coffee but I was pleasantly surprised when I had a cup at a random cafe in Sydney.
Agree with you that coffee in the US is horrible.
Both Melbourne and Sydney had large scale migration from Italy so now the average small Cafe has a proper machine and tend to make a drinkable cup. The better cafes are world class. Coffee is a bit of a national obsession now.
Intersting fact: Starbucks failed here as their coffee was garbage. There are now only a handful left mainly at airports and the like.
Covid admissions might be rising. But a lot of that is to do with incidental infections.
Overall bed occupancy is fairly level. What's really needed is NHS staff availability.
Apparently, the number of cases in London is now going down. So hopefully the same will get reflected across the country in the next week or two.
(Data taken from here)
Friend of mine is in his 5th day of Covid (i guess Omi), no fever so far, cough, bodyache, he says his eyes are burning, he is a smoker and he got booster in September.
I like how the anti-vaxx crowd have taken this one anaesthetist’s opinion as gospel and are sharing it far and wide because he’s a doctor and therefore a medical expert. But are choosing to wilfully ignore the doctors and immunology experts who are in fairly unanimous agreement that vaccines work and are essential in our battle against the virus.
I'm all jabbed and boosted myself. So certainly not an anti vaxxer.
I personally think him being unvaccinated is not good but he has a point about the boosters for NHS staff being regular, maybe?
Im hoping those more in the know can shed some light on it.
Always good to listen to alternative views and discuss.
This is awful though, I saw this straight away in doctor forums,facebook groups and medtwitter. All in disbelief how the anti-vaxx movement would have a field day with this, but this is a fringe opinion from a doctor that has a private clinic in the woo-woo junk science that is "functional medicine"
http://www.thebreathlessnessclinic.com/about-me/
He charges £250 for a thirty minute consult. I think he's earnt himself a Karol Sikora's esque spot on either talkradio or GB news that will see his private practice boom
"breathlessness clinic"
Being unvaccinated amongst clinical staff is a fringe opinion and belief. NHS employs a lot of non-clinical staff too, majority of unvaccinated are represented in the BAME group within that - unfortunately. We had emails way earlier regarding getting boosters so well enough time to sort.
Its a mandatory requirement just like hepatitis B, TB and providing other serology results to occupational health. No different.
Regarding boosters as with the first two, we were practically climbing over each other in my hospital trust to get it done.
Thanks for the reply. Appreciate it.
I'm not a doctor/nurse etc but do have a background in health and development (mainly academic) but work with people in the health field).
As I said earlier I'm not an anti vaxxer and have had the jabs and booster and I've had covid about 8/9 months back.
Where I live I have contact with people in the care and health sector (so from care workers in homes to nurses to doctors etc) and it suprises me how many I come across who are not vaccinated and say they don't intend to. In the care homes especially there is currently a shortage of workers. Some due to time off for contracting covid but increasingly those not willing to get the vaccine.
The takeaway point for me from that video wasn't not to get vaxxed but if immunity is quickly diminished then whether folk need to have boosters more often on the front line?
I'm not saying it's right it wrong, just know that there are some folk on here who are very knowledgeable and hoping to learn.
How quickly immunity is diminished is still up for date.
I've seen this UCL study cited a lot from July last year pre-booster suggesting reduction in antibody levels in 2-3 months but high degree of variability and also only 600 people studied
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2021/jul/vaccine-antibody-levels-start-wane-around-2-3-months
A ton of other studies around transmission, T cells, including crucially in immunocompromised
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.12.27.21268278v1
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.12.20.21268128v1
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(21)02717-3/fulltext#seccestitle380
I mean I get the annual flu jab. I don't know what it'll mean with regards to covid vaccines in the future
What I will say is that I work in the East Midlands with high levels of omicron, and post-booster so far with some behavioural adjustments I didn't contract it. Which has meant being someone available to give vaccines in clinics, help out in A&E via locums and work in my usual day job as a GP with high staff absences. I honestly think I would get it at some point as I've only had surgical masks to work with in my hot clinics with covid patients face-to-face. During the busiest time of the year for our service and with services stretched, dunking on the booster vaccine is not right.
And I stress that most clinical staff I know as with the first two jabs were absolutely clamouring over each other to get this thing.
It looks like infection protection against Omicron does fall fast - from 70%+ a week or so after the booster, to around 50% at 3 months. That's significantly worse than the waning against Delta infection. Infection protection against the next variant is anyone's guess.
In terms of broader immunity though - protection against hospitalisation is much higher. It remains higher, even after the infection protection fades.
As a compulsory requirement for hospital and care workers, it's a tough issue. I don't know what's making the unvaxxed in those situations hesitate. Fear isn't always a rational thing, nor is a belief in natural remedies (nature used to kill roughly half of us in childhood), but it is a thing worth understanding.
Yeah, just to add to this I’m in a whatsapp group with my med school classmates. Loads of them got covid during the first wave, then vaccines seemed to protect them up until another bunch of them got sick right before the boosters were rolled out (which was annoyingly late for Irish HCWs but before the rest of the country) and they seem to have mainly avoided omicron after their third jab. Certainly much less frequent than among friends who weren’t yet boosted. Some of them even swerving household transmission. Obviously loads of people who were boosted still caught covid but it definitely seems to provide some level of protection. Totally unscientific “study” obviously!
Once this wave is over and we have clarity on exactly how “mild” omicron is there’s a discussion to be had about booster jabs vs letting natural immunity do its thing (for everyone below a certain age anyway) but it’s downright irresponsible for the guy in that video to say what he said in the middle of this current wave. Actually pisses me off. Especially his need to go public with his thoughts. What a prat.
Based on that link @Wolverine sent - at £500 for a first consult plus another £500 for the physical assessment tests at his clinic - I guess he's happy to get the advertising opportunity.
Also why not remove the requirement for unvaccinated people who have had contact with Covid but no symptoms themselves to isolate at all? There are anti vaxxers in my wife's work who have hardly been in lately (on full pay) due to this, despite not actually getting Covid themselves
Really impressive the way the health secretary didn't even attempt to have a real conversation here. He just accepted everything your man said.
Would you feel comfortable having a medical discussion with a consultant, being a non-medic yourself? I've got a lot of criticisms of Javid and the Tories, I don't think this is one of them.
And actually watching back, I disagree. He said what a non-expert could say. I respect what you're saying and that's your view and we've weighed things up but we've made the decision based on advice from vaccine/ ID/ public health experts (of which this anaesthetic consultant is not, for any of those areas).
This was always going to be an impossible situation for Javid. The consultant is going to be able to drop facts and statistics, even if they're misrepresented and do so in an authoritative manner. Frankly, you don't become a consultant in any specialty (especially a senior one) without developing supreme confidence in what you're saying and doing, even if sometimes thats incorrect.
On the surface, he's talking purely about mandatory vaccination for NHS staff but the consultant knows exactly how his comments were going to be interpreted at large. I note as well that he's the only one wearing a surgical mask, while the others are all wearing FFP3 masks. Whether that's a conscious decision or not, who knows. The other staff members said nothing, likely knowing that he'd butt in at some point (and I'm sure having made his views known). I also laughed at the manager in the background clearly sweating.
Though to be honest, I'm not really sure why he even asked the question in the first place?
Would you feel comfortable having a medical discussion with a consultant, being a non-medic yourself? I've got a lot of criticisms of Javid and the Tories, I don't think this is one of them.
And actually watching back, I disagree. He said what a non-expert could say. I respect what you're saying and that's your view and we've weighed things up but we've made the decision based on advice from vaccine/ ID/ public health experts (of which this anaesthetic consultant is not, for any of those areas).
This was always going to be an impossible situation for Javid. The consultant is going to be able to drop facts and statistics, even if they're misrepresented and do so in an authoritative manner. Frankly, you don't become a consultant in any specialty (especially a senior one) without developing supreme confidence in what you're saying and doing, even if sometimes thats incorrect.
On the surface, he's talking purely about mandatory vaccination for NHS staff but the consultant knows exactly how his comments were going to be interpreted at large. I note as well that he's the only one wearing a surgical mask, while the others are all wearing FFP3 masks. Whether that's a conscious decision or not, who knows. The other staff members said nothing, likely knowing that he'd butt in at some point (and I'm sure having made his views known). I also laughed at the manager in the background clearly sweating.
Though to be honest, I'm not really sure why he even asked the question in the first place?
That's the problem with politicians I suppose. They're unqualified for practically every role they take on. I get that he may have been reluctant to get into a conversation with a health prefessional but I'd expect a health secretary, during a pandemic that's been going on for two years, to be clued up enough to be able to have a conversation around waning antibodies and why vaccines/boosters are recommended and to discuss whether his immunity from getting covid, however long ago, is on a par with someone who had just had their booster.
I noticed that about the mask alright. It was nearly off his nose at one point. The whole set up was a bit bizarre. Do they not vet who'd be on camera or did he just wander in to give his two cents? If Javid was asking, expecting kick-back, he didn't seem very prepared and has ended up allowing this message go out which will be lapped up by anti-vaxxers.
Would you feel comfortable having a medical discussion with a consultant, being a non-medic yourself? I've got a lot of criticisms of Javid and the Tories, I don't think this is one of them.
And actually watching back, I disagree. He said what a non-expert could say. I respect what you're saying and that's your view and we've weighed things up but we've made the decision based on advice from vaccine/ ID/ public health experts (of which this anaesthetic consultant is not, for any of those areas).
This was always going to be an impossible situation for Javid. The consultant is going to be able to drop facts and statistics, even if they're misrepresented and do so in an authoritative manner. Frankly, you don't become a consultant in any specialty (especially a senior one) without developing supreme confidence in what you're saying and doing, even if sometimes thats incorrect.
On the surface, he's talking purely about mandatory vaccination for NHS staff but the consultant knows exactly how his comments were going to be interpreted at large. I note as well that he's the only one wearing a surgical mask, while the others are all wearing FFP3 masks. Whether that's a conscious decision or not, who knows. The other staff members said nothing, likely knowing that he'd butt in at some point (and I'm sure having made his views known). I also laughed at the manager in the background clearly sweating.
Though to be honest, I'm not really sure why he even asked the question in the first place?
As per @Wolverine ‘s link on the previous page he seems like a bit of wellness (er, sorry, holistic medicine) crank who saw an opportunity to raise his profile.
The smear campaign already started. Surely he’s more concerned with the fact that he’ll be losing his job?
Smear campaign. Good one.
I think with his side hustle he should be ok. To be honest Im holding back with him.
There are vaccine hesitant who will see this clip and not take their jab. And ive seen many, too many die from what is a preventable illness.
we have a drastic shortage of anaesthetists in this country but as Ive got less sympathy for him now.
Most trusts from the comms arent firing unvaccinated clinical staff but changing their job to minimise face to face contact. Hard to see how its going to work with a cardiothoracic anaesthetist but basically feck him.
After what he would have seen with the trauma done with tubes, lines, ECMO, deaths of many (all ages) to say what he has said, with clear intent on sky news.
could have easily published an op-ed in BMJ where debate could have been had around pros and cons of mandatory clinical vaccination policy but did this knowing full well how it will play with vaccine hesitant. Feck him.
I don’t think this doc is claiming they don’t work though, or that they aren’t essential in the battle, is he?
He appears to simply be questioning the wisdom of how often vaccination would be required in order to maintain protection in all nhs staff. Prof Sir Andrew Pollard who helped develop the AZ vaccine is also now saying we can’t conceivably expect to vaccinate the entire population every 4 to 6 months, so demanding all staff be “fully vaccinated” or be fired when the NHS is already ridiculously short staffed does seem a little shortsighted to say the least.
To be clear, based on that clip he’s not querying frequency of boosters, he’s saying he isn’t vaccinated at all. He’s also focussing on efficacy vs transmission and completely ignoring protection vs serious disease. Which is astonishing coming from someone who has surely been exposed to severely unwell covid patients. There’s no way you can spin what he said into anything other than dangerously misleading nonsense. Absolute shit-housery on his part.
At his prices I’m sure he will be fine
The fact he lists “Advanced Practice Modules in GI and Detox in Nashville in 2018” as credentials on his website is a huge red flag. That and “Wellness lead”.
Charging people with breathing problems £500 to sit in a room him for an hour, unvaccinated and wearing inadequate PPE. Cnut.
Yep, that’s a good summary and an appropriate name.
Well for his sake I do hope so. If he is raking in the money outside of his traditional job, you have to believe he must enjoy his traditional job somewhat of coming to work and helping sick people. But fcuk him right let’s sack him and try and smear him just for having the audacity to ask why. Let’s not query why the man responsible for this decision ultimately could barely look him in the face or string a sentence together like the useless weasel he is. At a time where the NHS is struggling for staff too it beggars belief.
Also for NHS workers government policy kicking in first of April this year.This means that they will need to have had the first dose by 3rd February at the very latest and the second by 31st March, unless "clinically exempt".
The booster is not included in the regulations.
The booster is not included in the regulations.