The loosening of the requirement to wear a face mask will really impinge on me being an antisocial twat. Not so much that I’ll stop, but just enough that people will stop being understanding about it.
SARS CoV-2 coronavirus / Covid-19 (No tin foil hat silliness please)
- Thread starter Don't Kill Bill
- Start date
Sorry for late reply on this. Exertional breathlessness is something that needs assessment by GP. Could be post-viral wheeze or something not covid related like a heart valvular issue. May need blood work up or investigations like spirometry. Might not be serious but best to get checked out by a doctor I think especially if not going away.
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattl...ccounts-for-more-u-s-deaths-than-delta-surge/
do european countries/canada have similar numbers?
do european countries/canada have similar numbers?
Thank you, as it happens that symptom was brief and only during the height of her illness with covid. She's now basically symptom free, spare the odd headache and feeling a bit more run down than normal. Still testing positive even after 12 days! But the LFT 'positive' line is becoming much fainter with each test. I will tell her to call her GP regarding the 'easily out of breath' symptom, but I believe it has now disappeared.
Off topic: Really appreciate that you replied, thanks. I should know better than to ask for your advice because I know how awkward it can be for you to speak off the record. A friend of mine is a doctor and he *never* gives medical advice outside of work unless he chances upon an emergency. So cheers.
As always, those numbers can be misleading as they can conflate “dying with” and “dying from”. Plus it can miss people dying with covid who didn’t get tested. Excess deaths a better way to gauge the impact and excess deaths during this wave are generally down on previous waves. Often by quite a lot. In a few European countries they’re actually down on pre-pandemic numbers. The countries with the most effective vaccine roll-outs have suffered the least, obviously.
https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/coronavirus-excess-deaths-estimates
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I assume that free access to testing will go next but, in the meantime, does this now mean that even if you’ve got Covid you can / should go into work unless you’re not well enough to work (like with a cold or similar)?
You can do loads of comparisons at:
https://ourworldindata.org/covid-deaths
As usual it's an it depends sort of formula. Some countries who had low deaths early in the pandemic are struggling because their vaccine rollouts have failed - Greece and most of Eastern Europe are in that category. Most of these countries have had more (confirmed covid) deaths since vaccines became widely available to risk groups than they did before.
Countries who did well early on and are now highly vaccinated like Denmark (and Ireland) have seen upswings in deaths as cases rise, but on nothing like the scale of the US Delta and Omicron waves.
Countries who did badly early on, but then ran successful vaccine campaigns like the UK, are seeing deaths but on nothing like the scale of previous waves.
The US look like they will have as many deaths since vaccines became widely available as they did before - they've been more or less unique in the official figures by being bad performers in every wave. But it's probably not fair to compare them to individual European countries - state by state comparisons are probably more meaningful. Some US states are like Eastern Europe, some are like the Western European countries - it's more or less entirely about vaccine rollout.
As Pogue suggests though, you don't get the whole picture from official stats. The US and Russia manage to do badly throughout the pandemic on those excess deaths stats. Most countries who did badly early on, did better later.
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I’m not sure but it seems like no more legal requirement to isolate. But they’ll probably reveal further closer to the time.
Wonder how employers will react to positive tests being done privately or with older unused LFTs.
Especially in sectors like healthcare and care.
my mum works for a health centre and put herself forward for some random swab testing they were doing just after a nasty cold she had, after she had omnicron. When the results came back it said she had a virus which basically mimics covid. That’s probably why colds we are getting are a bit nastier currently.
Incredible really… surreal how badly this has been governed from the very beginning, and you know there’ll be no kick back, no accountability for those responsible.
There are so many things that could and should’ve been taken from this - masking up when ill like in the Far East, not having people crawling into work when ill, working from home where possible to limit needless pollution etc.
Feels like we’re being led backwards.
Yes, and you know that a lot of people won't get paid if they’re off sick (or if self employed) so now they will be under pressure to go into work with Covid (but may not want to disclose the fact to colleagues or customers), infecting others who are oblivious to the fact, who may be vulnerable themselves or be visiting family, e.g. in care homes, who are vulnerable. It’s going to be a scary time for those who are vulnerable.
Exactly. It just baffles me that they get away with it - time and time again… you’d think there’d be absolute uproar.
Turkey’s voting for (or at least, accepting) Christmas.
It just makes me so seethingly angry tbh. How such despicable people can be elected to lead in this day and age is beggar’s belief.
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With todays announcement, we survived Covid then. Well done everyone
It was going to happen sooner or later. UK has a very high vaccination + booster rate. People have been compliant with the restrictions even when it turned out the government did not follow their own rules. A lot of people never had the choice of being able to work from home in the first place being essential workers or in work that cannot be done from home.
The government scrapping rules doesn't mean people who have followed them up to now are going to change tune instantly. Equally there is a section of society who never followed the guidelines in the first place. If most of the public have done everything they were asked to do and a small fringe of people have done nothing but obstruct this by refusing to wear masks and abusing retail staff over it, breaking lockdown rules when there was no vaccine (including the government) and remaining unvaccinated a year after they have been available, what more can you do? Vaccine passports or mandates? To be frank I wouldn't be against them because I didn't need prompting to go ahead and take the most effective protection for the virus and which has been free of cost.
The government scrapping rules doesn't mean people who have followed them up to now are going to change tune instantly. Equally there is a section of society who never followed the guidelines in the first place. If most of the public have done everything they were asked to do and a small fringe of people have done nothing but obstruct this by refusing to wear masks and abusing retail staff over it, breaking lockdown rules when there was no vaccine (including the government) and remaining unvaccinated a year after they have been available, what more can you do? Vaccine passports or mandates? To be frank I wouldn't be against them because I didn't need prompting to go ahead and take the most effective protection for the virus and which has been free of cost.
Are people really going to pay for LFT's? I just can't imagine many will.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-60486323
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-60486323
Luckily my work are now starting an LFT program where we can opt in to get free LFT tests fortnightly. However, if not, I would still pay. I go to my in laws for dinner every Sunday and my father in law is highish risk. I don’t see jamming a stick up my nose for a few seconds much of a hardship to keep him even a bit safer. Same with masks, I’ll probably still continue to wear mine on public transport and crowded spaces, even when people look at me like a weirdo
Boris and chums are dying to have another party, now they can
We’ve been paying for them in Ireland from day one. And it hasn’t stopped them being used in huge numbers. I do think the removal of masks/restrictions means they’ll be used a lot less now. Or indeed, not used at all.
But how else can you claim you were the first to beat Covid?
It's going to create a second class of citizen who cannot get vaccinated or are otherwise vulnerable.
Bloody hell it’s finally got us! Partner tested positive on LFT this morning. So far I’m negative. Minimal symptoms so far, she’s got a mild headache and a bit of a stuffy nose and I’m feeling a bit run down (despite negative test). Regardless of what Boris says, we WFH so will be isolating although if I am still negative and symptomless, I’ll go for some long walks out in the air.
Come down with it again, just as we're supposed to be all over it.
Had Delta in October and this version is nowhere near the experience that was. Sore-ish throat and general blur but that's all.
Work is insisting I treat it more seriously that the gov would lead us to believe. Only going in after 2 consecutive negative tests from day 5 onwards, if not do the full 10 day slog.
Imagine a lot of work places will insist on the same in spite of the new rules. Makes sense too given how quickly this variant can spread, especially if - like ours - we need to be in full-time.
Had Delta in October and this version is nowhere near the experience that was. Sore-ish throat and general blur but that's all.
Work is insisting I treat it more seriously that the gov would lead us to believe. Only going in after 2 consecutive negative tests from day 5 onwards, if not do the full 10 day slog.
Imagine a lot of work places will insist on the same in spite of the new rules. Makes sense too given how quickly this variant can spread, especially if - like ours - we need to be in full-time.
Saw this distancing, and the Macron table, and the reports of him being isolated...Obviously Putin is personally paranoid.
Also clearly, Russian covid policy has been a massive failure.
Did Putin's personal paranoia affect their policy, or was it distancing for him and not for the people?
Two new studies conckude SARS-CoV-2 isn't man made.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/26/coronavirus-wuhan-market-chinese-lab-studies
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/26/coronavirus-wuhan-market-chinese-lab-studies
Not sure if anyone could recall, but almost one year ago I said those suboptimal vaccines/testing kits would be the major obstacles to end this pandemic. Now, it comes back to haunt us in Hong Kong.
I'm never convinced this virus is man made. I'm more concerned if China covered up and delayed the reporting at the beginning.
Michael Osterholm i remember said this early on during the pandemic. It was too good a virus to be man made.
The pandemic is ending one way or the other. Its not going to happen all at once but gradually countries will just live with the pandemic.
Some like the UK are opting to rip the band-aid off while others will slow transition out of pandemic measures.
Unless vaccination rates have changed dramatically there over the last couple of months, HK would have a massive issue once covid hit, whichever vaccine it used. The highest risk group (the 60+) didn't seem to get nearly high enough percentage take-up, during the initial vaccine rollout.
Unfortunately, we can't choose to live with the pandemic because the great President Xi insists in "dynamic zero-COVID" strategy. Next month we are going to spend billions of dollars to conduct compulsory testing on the 7m population, 3 tests per citizen.
The recent vaccination rate is as follow:
Age Group/Rate/Rate Receiving CoronaVac
60-69/86.65%/50.48%
70-79/76.2%/50.14%
80+/47.85%/36.44%
I'm not sure if these vaccination rates are high enough, but a larger problem is CoronaVac offers little to no protection, and most elderly chooses to take this vaccine. Many show no seroconversion and very high viral load even after 3 recent doses of CoronaVac, and of course result in severe cases and deaths.
Those rates are pretty disastrous - the US have "only" managed 85% in their over 75s, and that's been a massive problem for them .
Countries like the UK, Denmark, Spain, Ireland are well over the 95% mark (pushing 100% in most areas) in these older groups. That immunity gap means massive potential hospitalisations/deaths as the infection rate rises - even with the Omicron variant.
For HK you'd be looking at something worse than the US ratios, given the lack of immunity (vaccine induced or from past infection) in the most vulnerable. You can get an idea of how much the vaccines and boosters have mattered in this Twitter thread.
Yes it's pretty disastrous compared to the countries you have mentioned, but given the resistance to vaccines among the local uneducated elderly, 75-85% has already been quite remarkable. Different regions have different sociopolitical backgrounds, and you can't always expect leading European countries can be easily matched elsewhere. What worries me is that most of the elderly here receive a useless vaccine, meaning the actual vaccination rate drops to 25-35%. To be honest I don't think much thing can be done right now, just sit tight and wait for the peak to approach.
I've had a sort throat the last few days, no other symptoms. Up until today antigens were coming back negative.
But I just did 2 antigens today and both had the T line, but it's very faint. I'm guessing that doesn't matter and a positive is a positive? Just wish it would be bloody clearer so it was immediately obvious.
But I just did 2 antigens today and both had the T line, but it's very faint. I'm guessing that doesn't matter and a positive is a positive? Just wish it would be bloody clearer so it was immediately obvious.
Anyone else plagued with a dry cough a month after having omicron? Legitimately been 31 days and the cough comes in attacks through the day, it's not like I'm coughing all day. Not once has any mucus or phlegm come up it's just dry. 28 years old an a non smoker.