Coronavirus (Covid19) Corner

[Stanley]

We are told that Johnson will announce the end of isolation and prevention measures tomorrow. At the same time we have Dr David Nabarro of the World Health Organisation saying this is a very bad idea. So who do we think is the most trustworthy and what happened to listening to the experts? Has Sunak won and taken over Covid policy?

"However, Dr David Nabarro, the World Health Organization’s special envoy on Covid-19, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme he did not support the ending of self-isolation. “I think it’s really very unwise and I don’t understand why that’s been introduced,” he said. “I appreciate their concerns about absenteeism … but at the same time, what we know about this virus is that it is not good for people and simply just treating it as though it is a harmless virus we think – that’s myself and colleagues in the World Health Organization – we think that’s unwise.”
He also warned against dropping face coverings and social distancing.
“The best way to prevent other people from being infected with the virus is the combination of a well-fitting face mask and physical distancing,” he said. “And that has to continue, especially in places where there’s a lot of virus around. it’s dropped, it is I believe, creating an unacceptable risk for people.”"

[plaques]

Get Partygate Done. The biggest driver of a pandemic is the availability of people to catch the illness. So far the vaccine rollout has reduced this figure to manageable numbers in terms of severity if not in quantity. Isolation reduces the numbers of people with the disease in circulation further reducing the potential to spread it. On the other hand travellers into the country may be replacing them and possibly bringing in new variants which may set the ball rolling from scratch again. Get Vaccines Done was a good booster for Johnson and was the correct thing to do but to try it again putting the population at risk is morally wrong and is looking very much like a smokescreen to cover his incompetence in other areas.

[Tizer]

We are told that Johnson will announce the end of isolation and prevention measures tomorrow. At the same time we have Dr David Nabarro of the World Health Organisation saying this is a very bad idea.

The NHS and most medical scientists here agree with Nabarro but Johnson is desperate to placate his supporters. Matthew Parris reminds us in The Times that everything Johnson does is for his own sake and no-one else's.

I see that Johnson this morning says that Russia is planning "the biggest war in Europe since 1945". Putin doesn't need to promote himself and Russia, he's got Johnson and Biden doing it for him. He'll be thriving on the Big Man image that's being painted by the West. Where are our diplomats when we need them? It's time we stopped playing to Putin and started addressing the Russian people, advising them to think what wonderful lives they could have if their leaders simply stopped trying to wage war and started building good relations with the rest of the world. A lot of Russians are already fed up with warmongering and the vast amounts of money going into weapons and everything military while they often have very poor lives.

[Tripps]

H M Queen has tested positive for Covid.

[Cathy]

I hope it’s only a very mild case.

[Stanley]

Can anyone tell me what 'vibrant good health' means. (It's what the Queen is expected to return to.....)

[Stanley]

Paul Hunter of the University of East Anglia any that any reduction in Covid restrictions in winter and the present conditions is "a very bad idea". But the Buffoon will no doubt tell us it's OK.

[plaques]

Be proud to catch covid but be careful which variant you're going to catch. Make sure you are double vaccinated or preferably triple vaccinated. Most young fit people will survive with mild cold like symptoms. If you drop into the vulnerable group be careful and try not to catch it at all. The results could be the end of your pension.
Covid to the right of them
Covid to the left
Coughing and spluttering.

Contagion is a thing of the past. Your resilience bucket may be empty (Thanks Tripps) but get back to work and spread the good news.

PS Vulnerable groups are lined up for a fourth vaccine shot. I wonder why if there's no danger?

[Tizer]

I suppose the present Covid variant will now have `By Appointment to Her Majesty The Queen' stamped on it!

[Stanley]

As usual Ken I agree.
I (and no doubt many others in 'vulnerable groups') will be ignoring the Buffoon's announcements. I give Dr Nabarro and Paul Hunter more credence than a man trying to please his backbenchers(and follow Rishi's instructions) rather than do his best for the voters.

[Sue]

As usual Ken I agree.
I (and no doubt many others in 'vulnerable groups') will be ignoring the Buffoon's announcements. I give Dr Nabarro and Paul Hunter more credence than a man trying to please his backbenchers(and follow Rishi's instructions) rather than do his best for the voters.

He isn’t saying don’t isolate, he is saying use common sense like all other highly infectious diseases. I think the biggest issue is not removing the restrictions but being unable to self test without paying if you think you have it. I worked in a world where someone with a sniffle took several days off work. I expect that to still happen . For every scientist that says removing restrictions is a bad idea you will find one that thinks its a good idea. Its time to credit people with common sense. You can carry on with whatever personal restrictions you want as many many will. However we have been stocking up on tests , now readily available for free, so that we have them when they are not. Then we can test when we meet vulnerable people or feel ill ourselves.

[plaques]

The question is are we following the science or the politics. The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) provides scientific and technical advice to support government decision makers during emergencies. V Partygate smokescreen. The trouble with 'common sense' is that its in very short supply. RE: Brexit 2019. The removal of ALL the measures will bring us back to the dark ages where all we have to go off is the numbers entering hospital and subsequently dying bringing the facts at least two weeks behind the curve. Boots is supposed to be offering a LFT at £6 a pop. How many people will buy these just to make sure before they visit a friend. The cut off age is not yet clear with some saying over 80 and others 75. so the whole business is up in the air.

[Stanley]

All the government wants to do is cut all expense on Covid, get people back in work and paying tax, in other words, 'get back to normal'. Question is, what is 'normal' now. Is the calculation that Covid is taking the people flu would have killed anyway? Or is there some more sophisticated formula for deciding on 'normal'.

[Sue]

It is contacts that do not need to isolate not people with the illness. That does not change till April. This is not the same scenario as two years ago. Now more than 90% of the population have antibodies, we have antivirals, and other treatments. Life has to move on, but if you don’t want that, that is your choice. I have talked to many people this week, or should I say listened to many and most , if not all, think we have reached a point where personal choices rather than legislation is the way forward.

[Stanley]

They are perhaps not as old and frightened as I am Sue. But as you say, chacun a son gout!

[Sue]

They are perhaps not as old and frightened as I am Sue. But as you say, chacun a son gout!

My brother has had covid, he has next to no immune system because of his medication He is in his late 70s, the antivirals worked, he had little more than a cold, in fact he said, like so many, he has had worse colds. My sister in law in a similar position and age, said the fear of the illness was worse than the illness itself. As I have said it is not what it was two years ago. So people who feel they are at risk are not being told to stop isolating, stop wearing a mask etc. Everyone is being given freedom of choice, like any other infectious disease.

[plaques]

'Nothing to fear but fear itself' is always linked to Franklin D. Roosevelt on the Great Depression which is different to facing a virus.

The problem with personal choice is the lack of information about what risk you are taking. Vaccinations are not giving total herd immunity but a reduce severity if you should get covid. When people with the illness were isolation the risk of catching it was reduced by this amount. Without isolation the risk has been increased to a level that hasn't been defined. For those who are vulnerable the choice becomes more binary either stop in or go out. My personal thoughts are that I will limit my exposure as much as possible and not rely on other peoples common sense.

[Sue]

Sorry I think there has been lots of information, it depends what you read and who writes it

[Sue]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-60408419

[plaques]

Thank you Sue for the charts. I agree that the vaccination has done a fantastic job in reducing the severity of the Omicron Covid virus and the number of deaths has dropped to around 0.4% per thousand most of which were probably unvaccinated. In the sense that the risk of dying from it is now very small the seven day average of new infections is still nearly 40,000, the daily numbers from Zoe are 156,400 per week, (R = .9) Under the old rules these new infections would be isolated reducing the spreading risk. If these people chose not to isolate leaving common sense and their brains in a locker the infection rate would increase accordingly. Therefore more people becoming ill and causing a rising 'R' rate. It's this potential increase in risk that I haven't been able to find.

[Big Kev]

My understanding is the legislated restrictions were in place to 'buy time' to get the majority vaccinated. Now they are any restrictions should be carried out the same way the sensible amongst us would behave if we had flu, a bad cold or a stomach bug. The sensible wouldn't go out socializing if they had norovirus. With regard to testing, if the coronavirus symptoms are similar to a common cold there probably shouldn't be a need to test, the sensible wouldn't socialize if they had a cold.

[Sue]

My understanding is the legislated restrictions were in place to 'buy time' to get the majority vaccinated. Now they are any restrictions should be carried out the same way the sensible amongst us would behave if we had flu, a bad cold or a stomach bug. The sensible wouldn't go out socializing if they had norovirus. With regard to testing, if the coronavirus symptoms are similar to a common cold there probably shouldn't be a need to test, the sensible wouldn't socialize if they had a cold.

My thoughts too

[Sue]

Thank you Sue for the charts. I agree that the vaccination has done a fantastic job in reducing the severity of the Omicron Covid virus and the number of deaths has dropped to around 0.4% per thousand most of which were probably unvaccinated. In the sense that the risk of dying from it is now very small the seven day average of new infections is still nearly 40,000, the daily numbers from Zoe are 156,400 per week, (R = .9) Under the old rules these new infections would be isolated reducing the spreading risk. If these people chose not to isolate leaving common sense and their brains in a locker the infection rate would increase accordingly. Therefore more people becoming ill and causing a rising 'R' rate. It's this potential increase in risk that I haven't been able to find.

Numbers of infections are meaningless, not every infection is recorded, that has always been the case. It is severity ie deaths hospitalisation that is relevant . This is now in line with if not less than many other diseases. Meanwhile deaths from other diseases like cancer increase as people stop seeking or are unable to get help due to fear of seeking help or legislation making it difficult


How many cases of flu were there daily, or colds or gastric bugs. We don’t know because it has not been counted the same however the deaths from theses have and covid is now inline. We need to STOP daily counts of cases. Deaths, hospitalisations are recorded weekly I am not sure that even this is now relevant knowledge to the ordinary person. The figures can be found online if you want them .

[Sue]

Here are the current mortality figures for the UK . There is of course no 5 year average for covid, but if you compare the one for flu with January figures for covid, I think the comparison shows covid is now inline with flu. The biggest causes of death are still Alzheimers and heart disease. Are we told those figures daily, no! Cancer is broken down into different types of cancer so difficult to compare, but as a whole it is very high indeed with present treatments seriously affected by covid .

7B7D441B-22D5-4BF3-B6A2-5F5D43F940FA.png

[Big Kev]