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Do you still 'feel' like you're in the Covid-19 Pandemic?

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adc82140

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It's projected to replace Delta as the variant du jour within a short space of time, a situation not helped by what appears to be a robust resistance to existing vaccines.
These are very sweeping statements. The WHO, UKHSA and other official bodies have said nothing of the sort. Even Ferguson has said "wait for the research".
 
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yorksrob

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The latest news has certainly put me in a bad mood.

I shall be ensuring that I maximise my pub time in the coming weeks.
 

Silver Cobra

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The latest news has certainly put me in a bad mood.
You're not alone there. My mental health has taken a massive tumble in the last 24 hours. I know it's still early doors with this new variant and it may materialise to nothing like a lot of others have, but I'm very fearful that this will prove to be as bad as they say it could be, and bring about the misery of lockdowns/restrictions again.
 

adc82140

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I draw your attention to the c 1.2 variant found in August. Very similar, and was short lived. It barely even made the news. But back in August, they weren't trying to push booster uptake.
 

yorksrob

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You're not alone there. My mental health has taken a massive tumble in the last 24 hours. I know it's still early doors with this new variant and it may materialise to nothing like a lot of others have, but I'm very fearful that this will prove to be as bad as they say it could be, and bring about the misery of lockdowns/restrictions again.

I just think it's about time the b****y thing turned into a cold and had done with it.
 

nlogax

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These are very sweeping statements. The WHO, UKHSA and other official bodies have said nothing of the sort. Even Ferguson has said "wait for the research".

Only 20 days since emergence B.1.1.529 is the already the dominant variant in SA. Hence red list fun,.WHO emergency meetings etc.
 

yorksrob

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Only 20 days since emergence B.1.1.529 is the already the dominant variant in SA. Hence red list fun,.WHO emergency meetings etc.

Only twenty days since they noticed it - to be more accurate. Who knows how long its been sloshing around.
 

Class 33

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You're not alone there. My mental health has taken a massive tumble in the last 24 hours. I know it's still early doors with this new variant and it may materialise to nothing like a lot of others have, but I'm very fearful that this will prove to be as bad as they say it could be, and bring about the misery of lockdowns/restrictions again.

I had a quick check of the news channels/programmes just now, and every channel - BBC Breakfast, Good Morning Britain, Sky News, GB News has got this new variant as their top headline. I switched off. Please god NO, we had better not have another variant that stuffs things for up us yet again and we have these bloody restrictions reimposed on us again. Even just mandatory face mask wearing again would be too much for me. Utterly utterly depressing, and really effected my mental health all those months before we had that nonsense, along with the social distancing nuisancing nonsense. I really can't be doing with those coming back again.

I'm going to avoid checking the news websites and channels today. They may be as bad as they were back on May 15th & 16th.

If there's a Downing Street News Conference today or within the coming days with Johnson, Whitty and Vallance, I expect it to be bad news this time.
 

Smidster

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Only twenty days since they noticed it - to be more accurate. Who knows how long its been sloshing around.

Realistically this particular cat is out of the bag now and as we saw with Delta it is now too late to do get on top of it.

Honestly I would advise people to make the most of this next weekend as this seems to be as bad as it can get in terms of something that can out compete Delta and has the features of other variants that have, at least to some extent, evaded the vaccines.

We won't be all the way to square one, as much of the base research is done, but it is an awful position to be in.
 

Xenophon PCDGS

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Why do you think we'll be back in lockdown? I believe two doses of the vaccines work.

The "vaccine resistant strain" is something from Eric Fingledingle or whatever his name is. He's worried that no one has taken any notice of him for a while. There have been thousands of isolated cases of different strains throughout the last two years that haven't developed. Delta has the evolutionary edge.
Yesterday. much was being discussed about the newly-discovered strain in the southern area of the African continent. Already there are a number of countries in the affected region appearing on the Government travel embargo list.
 

adc82140

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Only 20 days since emergence B.1.1.529 is the already the dominant variant in SA. Hence red list fun,.WHO emergency meetings etc.
Is is NOT the dominant strain in South Africa. It is responsible for a cluster of cases in one South African province.

Realistically this particular cat is out of the bag now and as we saw with Delta it is now too late to do get on top of it.

Honestly I would advise people to make the most of this next weekend as this seems to be as bad as it can get in terms of something that can out compete Delta and has the features of other variants that have, at least to some extent, evaded the vaccines.

We won't be all the way to square one, as much of the base research is done, but it is an awful position to be in.
We won't be in lockdown by next weekend as you imply. That's just a bit silly. Vaccines will still work, just perhaps not quite as well for preventing symptomatic infection. The immunity conferred by previous infection, which is now 1 in 6 of us in the UK, is much wider ranging against variants.
 

Bantamzen

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B.1.1.529 is not 'rumours on Twitter'. South Africa is now the only country on the UK's red list. Governments and global organisations have suddenly sounded the klaxons about this variant, its 30-something mutations and rapid transmission. It's projected to replace Delta as the variant du jour within a short space of time, a situation not helped by what appears to be a robust resistance to existing vaccines.

Of course it's too soon to say if B.1.1.529 will lead to more, the same or fewer hospitalisations and deaths. Right now is a very definite feel of nearly normal life that is in no way similar to the hell of much of 2020 and early 2021. I feel we'll deal with this new strain in a much more measured and rational way. But no, we're not out completely out of it yet.
There is no clear evidence that it has "robust residence to existing vaccines" yet, that will not be known for weeks at the very least.

Only 20 days since emergence B.1.1.529 is the already the dominant variant in SA. Hence red list fun,.WHO emergency meetings etc.
In areas where there are low vaccination rates. You are just being an echo chamber for the hysterical media right now, how about waiting until there is more evidence? And even if it does prove to be more transmissible, that doesn't suddenly make it something to be frightened of. Being easier to spread doesn't make it more dangerous, viruses mutate all the time as a result of naturally and artificially derived immunity. Look at the common cold, there are more than 200 viruses believed to be responsible & they continually mutate as our immune systems react to them.

During the last 36 hours, in the very early morning when frost coated the roofs of parked cars, I took to wearing a good quality disposable mask solely because it has the benefit of keeping the very cold air from entering my lungs.
A scarf would be far more effective than a mask at keeping cold air from your lungs.
 

yorksrob

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Realistically this particular cat is out of the bag now and as we saw with Delta it is now too late to do get on top of it.

Honestly I would advise people to make the most of this next weekend as this seems to be as bad as it can get in terms of something that can out compete Delta and has the features of other variants that have, at least to some extent, evaded the vaccines.

We won't be all the way to square one, as much of the base research is done, but it is an awful position to be in.

Well, it depends on its effect on serious illness and death. Afterall, as you say, other varients have evaded vaccines to an extent but the vaccines have so far held out against those two.

But definitely, get down the pub this weekend just in case !
 

DustyBin

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Personally I don’t feel at all like I’m living through a pandemic. I do however feel like I’m living through complete madness imposed on us in the name of public health.
 

Smidster

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Is is NOT the dominant strain in South Africa. It is responsible for a cluster of cases in one South African province.


We won't be in lockdown by next weekend as you imply. That's just a bit silly. Vaccines will still work, just perhaps not quite as well for preventing symptomatic infection. The immunity conferred by previous infection, which is now 1 in 6 of us in the UK, is much wider ranging against variants.

From the data it does look like it is dominant in South Africa although I will concede that there wasn't an awful lot of Delta in SA to start with.

I am not saying that we will be back in full lockdown next weekend, or even at any point, however even a small reduction in the effectiveness of the vaccine against hospitalization and death would lead to a significant increase in the number of people who are at risk and in those circumstances it would appear highly likely that some restrictions would be introduced.

We will hopefully know more in the next few days.
 

DustyBin

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Do you ever notice the number of Covid-related deaths still taking place now on a daily basis?

Yes, as well as the other 1,400 or so that nobody bats an eyelid over!

In regard to the covid related deaths though, what does this actually mean? “Within 28 days of a positive test” isn’t good enough, did covid kill them or not? It does kill people of course but I’d like to see a more accurate way of recording covid deaths.
 

HamworthyGoods

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All the ills with my daily life right now are due to COVID-related policies and narratives rather than COVID itself.

Might that not be because the Covid related polices are doing their bit in stopping you catching it….
 

DustyBin

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Might that not be because the Covid related polices are doing their bit in stopping you catching it….

People are catching it though, and for the overwhelming majority it means feeling a bit unwell for a couple of days (at worst). Everybody is going to be exposed to it at some point, it’s not going to disappear. Disrupting (and in some cases ruining) people’s lives in a futile attempt to delay the inevitable is completely unacceptable.
 

adc82140

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Might that not be because the Covid related polices are doing their bit in stopping you catching it….
But they are not stopping anyone catching it. Unless you have lockdown forever, all you're doing is delaying the inevitable.

Edit: posted the same time as @DustyBin
 

Smidster

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Javid is to make a Commons statement at 11am.

Hopefully nothing more than those countries being placed on the Red-List.
 

kristiang85

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Might that not be because the Covid related polices are doing their bit in stopping you catching it….

Well I caught it in September; I don't know how many times I have to say this - we cannot prevent spread of an infectious respiratory virus. It is futile. The best thing to do is make sure people are best protected to face it, eg good mental health helps the immune system, which is the antithesis of what restrictions do.
 

Freightmaster

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I don't know how many times I have to say this - we cannot prevent spread of an infectious respiratory virus. It is futile.
Agreed. There are an awful lot of people with a 'King Canute' attitude to Covid on this thread/forum/social media in general... :s






MARK
 

david1212

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What for? It shouldn't even exist right now. It serves no purpose.

They making planning a day out or a holiday a total pain. I'm going to York in a few weeks and having to minutely plan every single thing I want to do to the last second is a royal pita. Part of the joy of going to museums is being able to wander in whenever you fancy, or turn up. If you're going to have to book everything maybe I just won't bother.

.... or it is raining !

Likewise.

For privately operated places with maybe a bit of e.g. lottery funding maximising income both entry charges and sales is crucial. For these in time logically walk up entry subject to crowding / capacity will return.
Where entry is free i.e. funded by government, council etc ( so ultimately by Joe and Joanne Public ) there is no incentive but rather potentially the reverse to make life easy for staff.
 

yorkie

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The latest news has certainly put me in a bad mood.

I shall be ensuring that I maximise my pub time in the coming weeks.
We have heard this scaremongering before. The virologists and immunologists I am listening to are not particularly concerned; there is no evidence yet that we have anything to worry about in terms of new variants.

Don't forget that the vaccines induce a very broad immune response; unlike influenza, there is only one strain of SARS-CoV-2; T cells are key to fighting an infection and the T cell epitopes are not changing in any of the variants.

'Cases' are largely irrelevant in vaccinated individuals; we need to get away from testing vaccinated people and stop fussing over 'cases'.

I agree with @Watershed that my day to day life is normal but it's the appalling media reports that are difficult to ignore which can cause anxiety that are the remaining issues.
 

bramling

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We have heard this scaremongering before. The virologists and immunologists I am listening to are not particularly concerned; there is no evidence yet that we have anything to worry about in terms of new variants.

Don't forget that the vaccines induce a very broad immune response; unlike influenza, there is only one strain of SARS-CoV-2; T cells are key to fighting an infection and the T cell epitopes are not changing in any of the variants.

'Cases' are largely irrelevant in vaccinated individuals; we need to get away from testing vaccinated people and stop fussing over 'cases'.

I agree with @Watershed that my day to day life is normal but it's the appalling media reports that are difficult to ignore which can cause anxiety that are the remaining issues.

I just hope any extra “fear factor” that gets whipped up by this isn’t enough to get us tipped over into plan B.

It isn’t deja-vu yet, but “new improved Covid version released just in time for Christmas” does seem depressingly familiar!
 

yorksrob

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We have heard this scaremongering before. The virologists and immunologists I am listening to are not particularly concerned; there is no evidence yet that we have anything to worry about in terms of new variants.

Don't forget that the vaccines induce a very broad immune response; unlike influenza, there is only one strain of SARS-CoV-2; T cells are key to fighting an infection and the T cell epitopes are not changing in any of the variants.

'Cases' are largely irrelevant in vaccinated individuals; we need to get away from testing vaccinated people and stop fussing over 'cases'.

I agree with @Watershed that my day to day life is normal but it's the appalling media reports that are difficult to ignore which can cause anxiety that are the remaining issues.

Things are looking more cheery now from the pub !
 

DustyBin

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We have heard this scaremongering before. The virologists and immunologists I am listening to are not particularly concerned; there is no evidence yet that we have anything to worry about in terms of new variants.

Don't forget that the vaccines induce a very broad immune response; unlike influenza, there is only one strain of SARS-CoV-2; T cells are key to fighting an infection and the T cell epitopes are not changing in any of the variants.

'Cases' are largely irrelevant in vaccinated individuals; we need to get away from testing vaccinated people and stop fussing over 'cases'.

I agree with @Watershed that my day to day life is normal but it's the appalling media reports that are difficult to ignore which can cause anxiety that are the remaining issues.

I agree with you, the problem however is that the media (and others) are able to make this into whatever they want it to be, as people seem incapable of critical thinking or even asking basic questions. Based on what we know at this point, any imposition of restrictions will be the result of hysteria as opposed to actual supporting evidence. But then this is nothing new....
 
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