Covid-19 - over played, got it right or total overreaction?

[Crimson Dynamo]

Looking back to March do you feel that we have reacted to this virus well or do you think we have totally gone over the top?

DO you know many folk who got it?

Is anyone still getting ill or are they just testing positive? poll included

[Niamh.]

I'm not sure, I suppose a lot will be told in the next few weeks after the kids have been in school. I probably wouldn't say it was the wrong choice to Lock down though either way, just because we didn't know what was going to happen, so I think erring on the side of caution was the safest move, gambling with peoples lives would not have sat right with me. From an Irish perspective and seeing and hearing those scenes and stories from Italy, Doctors having to choose between patients to put on ventilators etc, i think our only correct option was to Lock Down, our health system just would not have coped with a situation like they had in Italy.

I only personally know around 4 people who tested positive and none got sick with it. Although a colleague of Gavins husband died from it

[bots]

if people had actually social distanced and wore face coverings in March we probably wouldnt have needed to lock down.

I think we will get a better picture over the next few months. Not wishing to be callous, but the initial death rate was always going to be the worst as it infected the most vulnerable in society

[Crimson Dynamo]

Yes totally agree about face coverings

[thesheriff443]

Considering 24 thousand people die in this country from the flue each year

And something like 43 thousand have died from Covid

I think been a massive over reaction to it.

[Crimson Dynamo]

I dont really have any faith in the numbers of deaths and i feel that will be exposed at a later date?

[thesheriff443]

I dont really have any faith in the numbers of deaths and i feel that will be exposed at a later date?

You mean higher?

[Crimson Dynamo]

You mean higher?

no lower

[bots]

I dont really have any faith in the numbers of deaths and i feel that will be exposed at a later date?

we know what the excess death figures were taken against previous years, so we know a lot of people died when covid was rife. That is the only reliable figure. A proportion of those deaths will be because people stayed away from hospital or were not able to be treated for other illnesses, i have no idea how large or small that figure is.

I've said this before, but the reason we were more affected than other countries was because our health system had kept people alive longer than they would have lived in other countries. The virus itself doesn't discriminate, like for like populations would be affected equally

[thesheriff443]

no lower

I see

But people will have died thru not going to hospital in the wake of COVID or having their operations cancelled.

[Liam-]

I don’t think we’ve fully grasped how dangerous it can still be, what with the leaderships constantly confusing messaging, viral conspiracy nuts like David Icke and Piers Corbyn manipulating people into believing insane, easily disproven theories, it’s never going to go away because unlike the flu, it’s not seasonal, it won’t just disappear and come back, the more people that are lackadaisical about the spread of infection, the longer people will die and more people will be left with severe health issues.

[Mitchell]

I don’t think we’ve fully grasped how dangerous it can still be, what with the leaderships constantly confusing messaging, viral conspiracy nuts like David Icke and Piers Corbyn manipulating people into believing insane, easily disproven theories, it’s never going to go away because unlike the flu, it’s not seasonal, it won’t just disappear and come back, the more people that are lackadaisical about the spread of infection, the longer people will die and more people will be left with severe health issues.

This

[Crimson Dynamo]

I don’t think we’ve fully grasped how dangerous it can still be, what with the leaderships constantly confusing messaging, viral conspiracy nuts like David Icke and Piers Corbyn manipulating people into believing insane, easily disproven theories, it’s never going to go away because unlike the flu, it’s not seasonal, it won’t just disappear and come back, the more people that are lackadaisical about the spread of infection, the longer people will die and more people will be left with severe health issues.

I cant remember the last time I saw a news report from a hospital and they dont ever mention if anyone is actually ill just that people test positive?

maybe i am tuning this out however

[Nicky91]

it is a very dangerous virus what we should take serious at all times

[Crimson Dynamo]

it is a very dangerous virus what we should take serious at all times

do you know anyone who got it?

[Ammi]

I don’t think we’ve fully grasped how dangerous it can still be, what with the leaderships constantly confusing messaging, viral conspiracy nuts like David Icke and Piers Corbyn manipulating people into believing insane, easily disproven theories, it’s never going to go away because unlike the flu, it’s not seasonal, it won’t just disappear and come back, the more people that are lackadaisical about the spread of infection, the longer people will die and more people will be left with severe health issues.

...all of this completely, Liam...just speaking to any of the front line NHS parents at school, through it...there was definitely no overreaction and nothing has changed with that, it hasn’t lost any ‘power’ in how deadly it is...and we are just learning about those ‘recoveries’ as well, how far reaching the impact is and will still have through their lives...?..and how it’s still impossible to know about reinfection etc and whether the health issues of any ‘recoveries’ will become very serious and possibly life threatening in either the short term or long term ...

[Nicky91]

do you know anyone who got it?

no, and i hope it stays like that (but i read and see enough horrible things about this virus on the news)

[Crimson Dynamo]

no, and i hope it stays like that (but i read and see enough horrible things about this virus on the news)

have you seen anything lately on the news of ill people?

[bots]

Hospitals are pretty much empty of covid patients here in the uk, its been that way for at least 2 months now. They are identifying those that have it quicker now than pre march because we are testing for it, and those that have become infected are younger and much less vulnerable. That doesn't however mean we are out of the woods yet. With the summer ending, the uv levels decreasing and people heading indoors, the infection rate is likely to increase quickly soon if people don't stick to the guidelines. I personally think it will be worse this winter than it was in March, but time will tell

[joeysteele]

I don’t think we’ve fully grasped how dangerous it can still be, what with the leaderships constantly confusing messaging, viral conspiracy nuts like David Icke and Piers Corbyn manipulating people into believing insane, easily disproven theories, it’s never going to go away because unlike the flu, it’s not seasonal, it won’t just disappear and come back, the more people that are lackadaisical about the spread of infection, the longer people will die and more people will be left with severe health issues.

All I'm going to say, as I've said loads on this before.
Also from the losses to this detestable virus personally.

Is I agree with all your post Liam.

[DouglasS]

At first definitely was a big issue and was a massive cause of death and worry.

At the moment around 1-5 people in the U.K. are dying with it in their system... seems a bit extreme that people aren’t sending their kids in and people aren’t going to work because 1-5 people out of 70 million people are dying with it in their system. More people a day in the U.K. are dying from car accidents, suicide, amongst other things. It’s a bit excessive right now imo

[DouglasS]

And it’s been so overplayed now that people are scared of this ‘invisible killer’ despite it not actually really being a killer.. the 0.00001% of the population that die each day are already very unhealthy and ill. When it was at its peak sure maybe a few odd people a day dieing was not a vulnerable death - but that’s the same with the flu and other resporatory diseases

[user104658]

I don’t think we’ve fully grasped how dangerous it can still be, what with the leaderships constantly confusing messaging, viral conspiracy nuts like David Icke and Piers Corbyn manipulating people into believing insane, easily disproven theories, it’s never going to go away because unlike the flu, it’s not seasonal, it won’t just disappear and come back, the more people that are lackadaisical about the spread of infection, the longer people will die and more people will be left with severe health issues.

I think we had better HOPE it isn't seasonal. I have a strong suspicion that, in fact, it very much is seasonal and the huge drop in cases over summer was because of... summer... more than any other factor. As we go into winter, we'll start to see whether or not it's seasonal. I suspect that we may in for a grim confirmation that it is.

[Tom4784]

Anyone who is minimising it is a fool.

Boris ****ed it all up, he should have wrote measures into law earlier, masks should have been mandatory when it was known that they actually had a positive effect and not weeks/months later. Most countries that have handled it well so far have taken decisive action and have stuck to it. The tory government was wish washy until it was too late and have given out advice that's often proved contradictory ever since. It doesn't help that you have senior members of government openly flouting the rules to absolutely no consequences....

[thesheriff443]

No one gets out alive in the end.

You can die any time from conseption or any time there after

From killing yourself to being murdered from disease or by accident.

In this country alone 43 thousand odd so far compared with something like 68 million population the numbers are tiny.

I know it’s someones life, but like experts are saying there is more chance of getting hit and killed by a bus than dying of Covid.

[Crimson Dynamo]

Anyone who is minimising it is a fool.

Boris ****ed it all up, he should have wrote measures into law earlier, masks should have been mandatory when it was known that they actually had a positive effect and not weeks/months later. Most countries that have handled it well so far have taken decisive action and have stuck to it. The tory government was wish washy until it was too late and have given out advice that's often proved contradictory ever since. It doesn't help that you have senior members of government openly flouting the rules to absolutely no consequences....

So any member who does not agree with you is a fool.

Sorry but why are you so aggressive??

[bots]

I think we had better HOPE it isn't seasonal. I have a strong suspicion that, in fact, it very much is seasonal and the huge drop in cases over summer was because of... summer... more than any other factor. As we go into winter, we'll start to see whether or not it's seasonal. I suspect that we may in for a grim confirmation that it is.

i don't think it is seasonal, it's just that people are outdoors more and that uv levels are higher in summer making the virus less infectious. I also think the next few months are going to be grim. People must social distance when meeting indoors

Having said that, i caught swine flu in the middle of summer in Cyprus, when you are shivering uncontrollably in 35C heat, you know you have a problem

[Kizzy]

Remember the advice when AIDS was discovered? 'Don't die of ignorance'?
Well that slogan needs reviving!

[Rob!]

Where's the option for "The goverment did awfully" amongst the options that are pretty much all the same?

[Ammi]

...I don’t think it was ‘got right’...but then, any new virus couldn’t have ever been ‘got right’ first time because of the unknowns, obviously...and those will be continued into the future as well/it’ll be ever evolving for a while yet, I think...and as sad as it is with so many deaths worldwide and so many families/loved ones grieving...and so many restrictions and adaptions and so many people without incomes etc..?...with something like this..‘getting it wrong’ has to be an essential as well, surely...to be able to advance in knowledge/in medical care/in vaccines and immunities etc...that’s how we and medical science learn and that’s how medical science will overcome/or control, by learning from some wrongs..?...I guess, in how much any individual country got it wrong...it’ll be seeing how wrong, though, each one got it in their own fights against it...and whether ‘all wrongs’ weren’t necessary and some could have been avoided and looking at the reasons they weren’t etc...

[bots]

the biggest lesson from this is that we could get another virus that could come along at any time and be even more devastating than this one. If we don't learn lessons from this, it genuinely could be the end of humanity. This to me more than anything has been a big wake up call

[user104658]

i don't think it is seasonal, it's just that people are outdoors more and that uv levels are higher in summer making the virus less infectious.


... But that is (largely) what makes the seasonal flu seasonal. Different human behaviour patterns and different environmental conditions over winter than in summer. As you said, you can get the flu year round; someone, somewhere must have it or else it would be extinct, it just gets a better foothold in winter.

The circumstantial evidence that Covid "isn't seasonal" in mainly based on the fact that it's active and spreading in hotter countries but as above, that's sort of based on a misunderstanding that flu isn't active at all in summery conditions, when it is, just at lower levels.

[bots]

... But that is (largely) what makes the seasonal flu seasonal. Different human behaviour patterns and different environmental conditions over winter than in summer. As you said, you can get the flu year round; someone, somewhere must have it or else it would be extinct, it just gets a better foothold in winter.

The circumstantial evidence that Covid "isn't seasonal" in mainly based on the fact that it's active and spreading in hotter countries but as above, that's sort of based on a misunderstanding that flu isn't active at all in summery conditions, when it is, just at lower levels.

it's always winter somewhere in the world which is why it survives. The BLM protests were a good indicator that we were pretty safe outdoors early summer. Equally, the fact that the deep south of the USA was badly affected was largely due to indoor interactions in the height of summer with zero social distancing. I call that an all year round virus. We have never had to social distance in summer with the flu

[Crimson Dynamo]

'There is NO second wave': Oxford expert says rise in UK Covid cases is because of 'increased testing' and those infected are 'young, healthy, symptomless people' who are unlikely to die or be hospitalised


Mr Hancock spoke to MPs in the House of Commons for the first time since Parliament's summer break
He said case numbers are rising 'exponentially' in France and Spain, and hospital cases are up, too
The numbers of people testing positive for the virus in the UK are rising but hospitalisations and deaths aren't
Experts say case numbers increasing is linked to mass testing and not to a second wave of infections
Data shows the test positivity rate has remained relatively stable, suggesting more tests are causing rise


https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8685651/England-Wales-announce-Covid-19-deaths-NONE-reported-Scotland-Northern-Ireland.html

[MTVN]

There's no doubt imo that it was real bad in late March and April and that it would have been worse if we hadn't locked down, obviously the lockdown came at a massive cost though. I don't know how people can see that there were over 50,000 excess deaths over what is normal and not think the virus was a big danger. Lots of mistakes were made which hopefully wouldn't be made again, and that combined with much greater testing, track and trace, better drugs/knowledge to treat the virus, the means to impose restrictions locally, greater public awareness etc should mean that we don't witness a second wave like the first

[joeysteele]

Where's the option for "The goverment did awfully" amongst the options that are pretty much all the same?

I agree.
There was no option I could vote for in the poll either really.

There was danger realised, however, we as a Country and particularly the government, didn't get it spot on, otherwise we'd have had far less deaths and should have had far less too.

Whatever the current likely manipulated and understated figures presented may look like.

[user104658]

it's always winter somewhere in the world which is why it survives. The BLM protests were a good indicator that we were pretty safe outdoors early summer. Equally, the fact that the deep south of the USA was badly affected was largely due to indoor interactions in the height of summer with zero social distancing. I call that an all year round virus. We have never had to social distance in summer with the flu

1) Human beings have a high level of population immunity to the various seasonal flu strains which is why we don't have to social distance with flu... we are (as a species) generally quite resistant to it. When "novel" flu strains pop up they become problematic, just like novel coronavirus.

2) The observed drop in cases being associated with social distancing measures is correlational; we implemented social distancing and cases began to drop. We were also entering summer. We ASSUME that social distancing was the cause of the drop in cases because there is also fairly robust lab science behind social distancing effectiveness, but because there are confounding variables, we actually have no solid idea of whether the drop is mostly down to social distancing, or mostly because of changes in conditions. If cases shoot up over winter with no changes to social distancing, we'll be able to say with some certainty that there is a seasonal element. The likely scenario, then, in let's say a decade (assuming no effective vaccine) when the general human population has a much higher resistance to Covid-19 (no longer novel) is that it will become - predominantly - a seasonal thing with cyclical outbreaks that affect mainly the elderly.

[thesheriff443]

There's no doubt imo that it was real bad in late March and April and that it would have been worse if we hadn't locked down, obviously the lockdown came at a massive cost though. I don't know how people can see that there were over 50,000 excess deaths over what is normal and not think the virus was a big danger. Lots of mistakes were made which hopefully wouldn't be made again, and that combined with much greater testing, track and trace, better drugs/knowledge to treat the virus, the means to impose restrictions locally, greater public awareness etc should mean that we don't witness a second wave like the first

Most of those that died had under lying issues and elderly.

If the flue kills roughly 24 thousand people each winter and every winter it puts Covid into perspective

[user104658]

Most of those that died had under lying issues and elderly.

If the flue kills roughly 24 thousand people each winter and every winter it puts Covid into perspective

I mean, we know the mortality rate of both quite conclusively now - seasonal flu is 0.1% and Covid-19 is 0.7%. So it's 7x worse than flu for the time being (that number is likely to drop as healthcare professionals get better at treating it) which isn't apocalyptic, but it isn't "nothing", it is significantly worse than flu.

[MTVN]

Most of those that died had under lying issues and elderly.

If the flue kills roughly 24 thousand people each winter and every winter it puts Covid into perspective

And Covid killed more than twice that in basically two months with the strictest controls ever imposed in this country so yes that does put into perspective how bad it was

[Ammi]

...things that are specific to COVID...certain ethnic groups more vulnerable and also males more vulnerable than females..?....that wouldn’t seem to apply to things like seasonal flu...

[user104658]

And Covid killed more than twice that in basically two months with the strictest controls ever imposed in this country so yes that does put into perspective how bad it was

To be frrrrrrr

The majority of those who died (when it was peaking at 800+/day) would have caught it before the lockdown was imposed, also a flu season (excluding the head and tail) lasts about 3 months, so you're not comparing 2 months of Covid to a whole year of Flu, Flu deaths are very clustered in December - February.

[user104658]

...things that are specific to COVID...certain ethnic groups more vulnerable and also males more vulnerable than females..?....that wouldn’t seem to apply to things like seasonal flu...

On the more positive side though, the very young (babies and toddlers, even healthy ones) are very vulnerable to complications from flu but are almost entirely asymptomatic with Covid unless they have other conditions.

In short, I guess, it's just important to say that they're totally different illnesses and there's not really much point comparing the two at all.

[Strictly Jake]

I think it is too early to tell. But I do think they didnt act as fast as they should have done

What I do find interesting is with all the social distancing, masks etc etc in place whether things like other colds, flu, sickness bugs can be passed around, certainly in schools it will

And if those things can still be passed around then of course so can coronavirus

Hopefully we may be in for a winter where non of us get as ill as we usually do

[user104658]

What I do find interesting is with all the social distancing, masks etc etc in place whether things like other colds, flu, sickness bugs can be passed around, certainly in schools it will

There's a cold going around here (my wife and both kids have had it) so apparently it doesn't do **** :joker:.

Then again we know where it came from - my eldest daughter was off playing merrily with a friend a few weeks ago on a Saturday, then her friend's mum casually messages us on the Monday to say that she got her kid tested for Covid on the Friday as she had a sore throat, and the result came back (negative) on the Monday. She was letting her play with my kid on the Saturday! :facepalm:.

[AnnieK]

I think we are in for a winter where we will all get more regular illnesses than normal simply because our immunity will have been affected by social distancing. I have cleaned and bleached everything that doesn't move (and a lot of things that do), kids haven't mixed the same and so now they are doing they will pick up things from each other that they wouldn't necessarily have done before because they develop an immunity to each other under normal circumstances

[Cherie]

There's a cold going around here (my wife and both kids have had it) so apparently it doesn't do **** :joker:.

Then again we know where it came from - my eldest daughter was off playing merrily with a friend a few weeks ago on a Saturday, then her friend's mum casually messages us on the Monday to say that she got her kid tested for Covid on the Friday as she had a sore throat, and the result came back (negative) on the Monday. She was letting her play with my kid on the Saturday! :facepalm:.

:umm2: don't let your kid play with kids with stupid parents is the moral of the story

[bots]

there are 100k children off school in Scotland with only a small % covid related. So, either the kids are sick or parents are keeping them away ....

[AnnieK]

there are 100k children off school in Scotland with only a small % covid related. So, either the kids are sick or parents are keeping them away ....

Mine has gone back in today.....they lined them up and marched them off like they were on some kind of chain gang. I'll bet my house that social distancing lasted about 10 minutes :eek:

[armand.kay]

well everyone in my house got it and my uncle died

[user104658]

there are 100k children off school in Scotland with only a small % covid related. So, either the kids are sick or parents are keeping them away ....

There are a couple of local council areas that are saying to keep kids off if they have any sign of any illness... so a little sniffle or feeling a bit tired, and they'll send them home. Really a pointless exercise going into winter - half of the school would be off.

[AnnieK]

There are a couple of local council areas that are saying to keep kids off if they have any sign of any illness... so a little sniffle or feeling a bit tired, and they'll send them home. Really a pointless exercise going into winter - half of the school would be off.

That's what I'm worried about. My son gets a cold every September....it lasts for months, he's never ill with it but is sniffly and coughy....he'll be mortified if they send him home.

[thesheriff443]

And Covid killed more than twice that in basically two months with the strictest controls ever imposed in this country so yes that does put into perspective how bad it was

No it doesn’t it killed the vulnerable in the same flue has been doing for hundreds of years if not thousands it’s a new disease that has caught the health care out because there was no vaccine.

We will have vaccine and the death rate will come down.

This is not the end of the world disease and more people will have died has a result of the restrictions that Covid brought rather actualy dying of Covid.

[thesheriff443]

If Covid killed everyone that caught it then it would be a super disease but it’s not.

[bots]

There are a couple of local council areas that are saying to keep kids off if they have any sign of any illness... so a little sniffle or feeling a bit tired, and they'll send them home. Really a pointless exercise going into winter - half of the school would be off.

this coming winter is going to be surreal in so many ways. They will be rushing out a vaccine and encouraging people to have it ... but to me thats a whole new level of risk

[The Slim Reaper]

If Covid killed everyone that caught it then it would be a super disease but it’s not.

And?

[thesheriff443]

And?

Cancer kills around 165 thousand every year around 450 a day every day.

Death is inevitable, Covid is just another risk and like the experts are saying you are more likely to get hit and killed by a bus than dying of Covid.

[Kizzy]

Do you know what I've noticed? It's the gammons who are anti mask.. There's a whole swathe of them at work who don't even think covid is real!

They also happen yo be your average farage loving brexiteer... coincidence?

[Crimson Dynamo]

Do you know what I've noticed? It's the gammons who are anti mask.. There's a whole swathe of them at work who don't even think covid is real!

They also happen yo be your average farage loving brexiteer... coincidence?

Thats not a nice way to talk about co-workers and if they read this they would be upset?

:shrug:

[Kizzy]

Thats not a nice way to talk about co-workers and if they read this they would be upset?

:shrug:

They are not my coworkers just your average joe the driver from across the UK.

[user104658]

the experts are saying you are more likely to get hit and killed by a bus than dying of Covid.

Well that's just statistically wildly false, even right now with low deaths. There are only 5 road traffic deaths per day in the UK and that's all causes - getting hit by a bus would be much rarer than that. So when we were at a few hundred deaths per day you were at least 100x more likely to die of Covid than being hit by a bus.

[thesheriff443]

Well that's just statistically wildly false, even right now with low deaths. There are only 5 road traffic deaths per day in the UK and that's all causes - getting hit by a bus would be much rarer than that. So when we were at a few hundred deaths per day you were at least 100x more likely to die of Covid than being hit by a bus.

Just for you ts.

Was just driving and saw lots of police and ambulances, a bus has left the road on a roundabout and smashed into a wooded area with just the back of the bus showing.