Covid-19 discussion thread

[Pamplemousse]

No doubt this will get pounced upon by the deniers and sceptics:

Alcohol deaths highest for 20 years in England and Wales

Last year, around 80% of those deaths were from alcoholic liver disease, 10% from mental and behavioural disorders due to alcohol use and 6% from accidental poisoning by exposure to alcohol.

So, long-term conditions then.

The UK had some of the highest levels of alcohol-related harms in Europe even before last year's lockdown.

[Lencoboy]

No doubt this will get pounced upon by the deniers and sceptics:

Alcohol deaths highest for 20 years in England and Wales



So, long-term conditions then.

Well for years now we've been labelled 'Booze Britain', after all!

[Lencoboy]

The point of testing, even in the absence of symptoms, is to make an attempt at halting the spread of infection from those who simply don’t know they have the virus. This has been one of the biggest problems with Covid and why it spreads so easily.

SARS and MERS are two other coronaviruses that infect humans but they both present very early with very strong and suggestive symptoms. Therefore, it’s far easier to isolate these people to prevent them infecting others. That’s just not the case with Covid, unfortunately, so removing the ability to test would lead to nothing more than an increased risk of spreading infection.

I personally feel that increased testing, in both symptomatic and asymptomatic cases, is one of best things that’s been done. If it had been done from the get go we would most likely have had far less infections, hospitalisations and ultimately, deaths.

I agree, Gary.

I also reckon one of the likely reasons why cases seem to have suddenly increased again over the past 2 days is because overall community testing figures are at their highest levels for over a week, back above 1 million, whereas much of last week they were below that range, which might have meant an artificial dip in cases, rather than a genuine explosion in infections right now.

[Pamplemousse]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-englan...shire-56988415

[MyNameIsTerry]

It seems to be a postcode lottery. It's unfair that much younger people are getting vaccinated before their official call up date when older people have to wait for a supply to become available in their area.

I hope you can get a slot very soon, Terry.

Pulisa, I've been to the surgery today on another matter so I thought I would ask about this. They said they are only doing 2nd jabs and 1st have to be booked through the hubs.

Sadly the hubs are even worse now. It's so bad if it continues like this it may mean a 10 mile journey out of this city to another town or further.

This has been the case since they started the >45s. The NHS might have dropped it (44, 42 and now 40) but how are any of them going to book in when there have been no hubs with slots for most of this city? The max has been slots at 3 hubs and they are quite a distance for a lot of us. So I can only guess there are a lot of people like me checking several times a day to get nowhere. And then they will drop it to the next group

[Pamplemousse]

Sadly the hubs are even worse now. It's so bad if it continues like this it may mean a 10 mile journey out of this city to another town or further.

With respect Terry, that is the norm for those of us outside major conurbations - my trip was to a centre nine miles away, in another town. Government guidelines say that ideally no-one should be more than ten miles from a vaccination centre but there have been exceptions; I have heard of people being offered vaccinations in locations two counties apart.

I'm at the GP surgery on Monday having my diabetic retinopathy screening: I might bang on the surgery door afterwards and see if anyone will confirm I'm getting my second dose within the week from the day after onwards as so far there has been radio silence.

Oddly, I got my first dose before my brother and sister-in-law: they had their second doses a week or so ago.

[MyNameIsTerry]

With respect Terry, that is the norm for those of us outside major conurbations - my trip was to a centre nine miles away, in another town. Government guidelines say that ideally no-one should be more than ten miles from a vaccination centre but there have been exceptions; I have heard of people being offered vaccinations in locations two counties apart.

I'm at the GP surgery on Monday having my diabetic retinopathy screening: I might bang on the surgery door afterwards and see if anyone will confirm I'm getting my second dose within the week from the day after onwards as so far there has been radio silence.

Oddly, I got my first dose before my brother and sister-in-law: they had their second doses a week or so ago.

Yes, it is for my brother being in a village in Yorkshire thesedays. However for me being reliant on public transport I can get to some of these places with a similiar level of effort as taking the train into another city because it takes hours with the long bus routes & changes (quoted distance 10 miles being straight distance also means going 5 miles into the city centre to link up with the route out). I might have to pick a day for a hike to one to get around the public transport to get it done.

The closest hub to me is about 1.2m. There are plenty of others within 4 miles. Sadly, they have no slots and haven't for weeks. It seems there was a mad rush to book when they moved to my group. That might mean slots start to appear as the weeks move on.

Not sure I would want to go two counties apart. It's starting to sound like the job centre

Well my dad ended up getting his 2nd only a week late in the end. Hopefully yours won't be far off. The protection offered is showing to be very impressive.

[Lencoboy]

Whilst I don't intend to scare anyone on here, I read an article today in the BBC website about the Indian variant actually being more widespread in this country than originally thought.

Although they mentioned that so far there's no evidence that said variant is detrimental to the efficacy of existing vaccines, it does seem a bit concerning.

I keep wondering should we have a fourth national lockdown ASAP in order to nip a potential third wave in the bud while we still can, or would that be overdoing it, and would it be unwarranted, at least at this stage?

Any thoughts?

[Gary A]

Whilst I don't intend to scare anyone on here, I read an article today in the BBC website about the Indian variant actually being more widespread in this country than originally thought.

Although they mentioned that so far there's no evidence that said variant is detrimental to the efficacy of existing vaccines, it does seem a bit concerning.

I keep wondering should we have a fourth national lockdown ASAP in order to nip a potential third wave in the bud while we still can, or would that be overdoing it, and would it be unwarranted, at least at this stage?

Any thoughts?

Every other variant from other countries have been quite well managed with surge testing. A national lockdown when there’s no evidence of community transmission and only a few cases detected would be a total overreaction and should only ever be considered as a last resort.

[Lencoboy]

Every other variant from other countries have been quite well managed with surge testing. A national lockdown when there’s no evidence of community transmission and only a few cases detected would be a total overreaction and should only ever be considered as a last resort.

I agree with you wholeheartedly that a full-on fourth national lockdown might be a bit of an unwarranted knee-jerk response from the govt as things currently stand, and should only be pursued as an absolute last resort if all other avenues explored beforehand prove to be completely ineffective.

Plus they do believe (at least until further notice) that the Indian variant whilst allegedly having similar properties of contagion to the Kent variant (and most others apart from the original), is no more deadly nor resistant to current vaccines than the Kent variant.

They have mentioned about surge testing being ramped up in areas currently seeing general Covid spikes (irrespective of variants) such as Bolton (NW), Moray (Scotland), parts of Leicester and Nottingham, Long Eaton (East Mids), parts of Gtr London, etc, rather than imposing lockdowns willy-nilly.

I think lockdowns being reimposed anywhere right now in this country would certainly be met with derision and futility!