Coronavirus (COVID-19)

[TheScarf]

7 hours ago, Todd_is_God said:

And there we have it. To the surprise of absolutely no-one, people do not catch Covid from being close to people who don't have Covid.

Amazing that isn't it.  I've been told for 13 months that Covid is this new type virus that you can catch from someone who doesn't even have it.

[craigkillie]

..well, if the express says so...
Your Spanish Flu patter yesterday deserves more respect than using that rag as a reference. 

When there's an actual fact-based story like this it doesn't matter which paper happens to be reporting it.

[vikingTON]

1 hour ago, Snafu said:

If we just go back to where we were having learned nothing then we are doomed to repeat this shite again.

This isn't a way to live, this is horrible. The last year has been the worst, spending most of the pandemic alone is, ....I want to be done with it.

We are getting a taste of what its like living under an authoritarian government. Personally when things get back to whatever normal we are allowed, it won't be taken for granted, I don't know how others will look at it. I think there will be a lot of anger as well.

There are things that have changed already, it's a surprise no one has noticed.

I suppose changes for some are a matter of opinion.

So we shouldn't return to normal but living under restrictions is shite; we're getting a taste of authoritarianism and so should therefore be grateful for what we are allowed to do in the near future?

You're all over the place here. 

[madwullie]

1 hour ago, Snafu said:

News like that just picks you up.

My mother is currently receiving end of life care at the care home. Last week nil by mouth and looked like she had just a few days left, this week see is taking fluids and food such as soup, yoghurt and ice cream even though her medication has stopped including her tacrolimus which prevents her immune rejecting her liver. Its a losing battle, but her body keeps fighting back. She is so tough having been through so much in her life including surviving COVID.

I'm sitting at home waiting for the worst.

Love and strength to your mum mate ♥ 

Edited April 22, 2021 by madwullie

[Elixir]

Is the South African variant actually a bit shit?

 

[The Master]

30 minutes ago, oaksoft said:

The world has not changed FOREVER.

Once all restrictions are removed in the next few months and everyone is vaccinated, things will be back to full normal in the blink of an eye. Make no mistake about that. There is nothing permanent about this whatsoever.

While I agree in general, I do think there's certain things that will be different, but all for the better.

I hope that people do now realise they should stay off work (or at least away from their workplace) if they have cold/flu-like symptoms rather than "fighting on". Especially men, who have always felt the social pressure of being accused of having "man flu *giggle giggle*" by the "live, laugh, love" brigade ("man flu" as an expression should have been booted into the sea long ago).

I also wouldn't mind seeing the back of almost universal hand-shaking, especially with people you've literally just met. 

[scottsdad]

In terms of the "world has changed forever" thought, my worry is the next pandemic in 4-5 years time. Since 2000 we have had SARS, MERS, swine flu, avian flu and Covid. Only the flu ones came to the UK. But come, say, 2026 and Badger Flu or whatever emerges - how will we deal with it? Will we let it run its course like bird flu and swine flu? Or will the fact we've been through this lockdown pish with Covid mean that the government will be trigger happy with the restrictions?

[effeffsee_the2nd]

4 minutes ago, scottsdad said:

In terms of the "world has changed forever" thought, my worry is the next pandemic in 4-5 years time. Since 2000 we have had SARS, MERS, swine flu, avian flu and Covid. Only the flu ones came to the UK. But come, say, 2026 and Badger Flu or whatever emerges - how will we deal with it? Will we let it run its course like bird flu and swine flu? Or will the fact we've been through this lockdown pish with Covid mean that the government will be trigger happy with the restrictions?

Pandemics don't come round that often, sars & mers were not pandemic as the case numbers never really took off & swine flu was too mild to cause much in the way of concern . if it wasn't for the lengthy inclubation period, covid wouldn't have been the massive event it is. all the conditions have to be right for a pandemic on this scale not just a new virus infecting someone

[George Parr]

7 minutes ago, scottsdad said:

In terms of the "world has changed forever" thought, my worry is the next pandemic in 4-5 years time. Since 2000 we have had SARS, MERS, swine flu, avian flu and Covid. Only the flu ones came to the UK. But come, say, 2026 and Badger Flu or whatever emerges - how will we deal with it? Will we let it run its course like bird flu and swine flu? Or will the fact we've been through this lockdown pish with Covid mean that the government will be trigger happy with the restrictions?

I suppose that will largely depend on whether any new virus sees carriers wander about for days symptomless but also infectious.

[scottsdad]

1 minute ago, effeffsee_the2nd said:

Pandemics don't come round that often, sars & mers were not pandemic as the case numbers never really took off & swine flu was too mild to cause much in the way of concern . if it wasn't for the lengthy inclubation period, covid wouldn't have been the massive event it is. all the conditions have to be right for a pandemic on this scale not just a new virus infecting someone

I'm not arguing that Covid isn't worse than these other ones, or more widespread. What I am saying is that when the BBC news in 2026 talks about Badger Flu or whatever the next (mild) virus is emerging in the Far East, the government will go straight to Covid mode.

[101]

4 minutes ago, scottsdad said:

In terms of the "world has changed forever" thought, my worry is the next pandemic in 4-5 years time. Since 2000 we have had SARS, MERS, swine flu, avian flu and Covid. Only the flu ones came to the UK. But come, say, 2026 and Badger Flu or whatever emerges - how will we deal with it? Will we let it run its course like bird flu and swine flu? Or will the fact we've been through this lockdown pish with Covid mean that the government will be trigger happy with the restrictions?

Depends what kind of pandemic is next one is.

There are outbreaks of bird flu or suspected bird flu fairly often, I think there would have to be sustained human to human transmission before restrictions such as the ones we are living under were brought back into force.

I think we should have learned how to cope far better once we have the inquiry and pick out some key things that went wrong and things that can be done safely. Hopefully businesses take the government risk registers more seriously and have proper contingency plans.

[Dons_1988]

You'd like to think the NHS won't be left so woefully unprepared in any future outbreak.

Also an increased consciousness of infectious disease and simple steps to avoid spreading them amongst the general public would be no bad thing, such as reminding people that good hand hygiene isn't limited to a pandemic, for example. 

 

[Elixir]

This is a once in a century event in terms of scale and clearly things like SARS, MERS, and bird/swine flu don't even come close. I'd certainly like to think this will never happen again...

[Michael W]

I think if there are suggestions that there's another such illness floating around a particular country that governments will be very quick to bar travel at short notice. There will almost certainly be a lot of jitters about these things given the damage Covid has caused. 

And if China is telling everyone that the virus isn't passed on through human to human transmission, hopefully this will be treated with more scepticism next time. 

Preparation of the Health service is another thing. This is the first such event that the NHS has ever faced so hopefully a lot has been learned about that. Keeping the health prepared for future pandemics will in time become a hot button issue. I recall there was a lot about out of date PPE etcas part of some small preparations in the past and couldn't help but think how much the NHS/government would've been crucified for wasteful spending had thus been publicised widely when pandemics hadn't happened. That'll need to be revised going forward to a base level of preparation and stockpile. 

Edited April 22, 2021 by Michael W

[renton]

23 minutes ago, Elixir said:

This is a once in a century event in terms of scale and clearly things like SARS, MERS, and bird/swine flu don't even come close. I'd certainly like to think this will never happen again...

I suspect there is an increasing risk of more viruses crossing over from animals to people as a combination of population growth, urbanisation and destruction or altering of wild space forces wild animals into the same spaces as people. 

Whether that translates into further epidemics is obviously a different question but I don't feel like it's a trend that will go away.

[WhiteRoseKillie]

2 hours ago, craigkillie said:

When there's an actual fact-based story like this it doesn't matter which paper happens to be reporting it.

When there's an actual factual storywith a relevant headline, I quite agree. What are these new freedoms, then?

[craigkillie]

6 minutes ago, WhiteRoseKillie said:

When there's an actual factual storywith a relevant headline, I quite agree. What are these new freedoms, then?

The headline wasn't being discussed on this thread at all, just the underlying story.

[ayrmad]

35 minutes ago, Elixir said:

This is a once in a century event in terms of scale and clearly things like SARS, MERS, and bird/swine flu don't even come close. I'd certainly like to think this will never happen again...

We'll not know if it's once in a century until it happens again, weather cycles have certainly sped up in the last few decades so who knows what our ever expanding population and misuse of the planet will do for the severity of viruses etc. 

[WhiteRoseKillie]

2 hours ago, oaksoft said:

The world has not changed FOREVER.

Once all restrictions are removed in the next few months and everyone is vaccinated, things will be back to full normal in the blink of an eye. Make no mistake about that. There is nothing permanent about this whatsoever.

Of course it has - it changes every day, every hour, etc.

Even in the context we're looking at there, it's ridiculous to deny the changes over the last year. From the new language of wet markets, lateral flow, fomite transmission, and the rest, to the rise of the anti-vax movement and the apparent acceptance of its "logic"  by many on and off FaceBook, to the exploration of the deeper corners of online streaming series and forgotten/missed movies, to the realisation of a lot of us that some stuff, like shopping, can be done more conveniently from home, to the increase in people taking up exercise and generally working on their fitness, to the change in working practises as workers and boses realise that office working may not be the best way forward, the world around us, and our part in it, has changed massively - and while many of the changes which have happened will fade witrh a resumption of social interaction, most will remain to at least some extent.

Personally, I'll be happy enough if manky tw@s just continue with the handwashing/sanitising. I've no proof, but I feel that general awareness of hygiene has massively improved i the last twelvemonth.

[The Moonster]

Just now, WhiteRoseKillie said:

the rise of the anti-vax movement

What rise is this?