[user104658]

Originally Posted by Mystic Mock

So it's more than one person then.

My bad.

A serious question that I have TS, why are the Media and some Scientists coming forward trying to say that this variant is "milder" if there isn't even any real data to suggest that's the case? Honestly not meaning to be confrontational it's just a genuine question.

There are indications that it causes fewer cases of serious illness and fewer deaths per case. It is still unknown if this is because it’s a less severe strain or because of protections from a combination of vaccinations and past infections.

In terms of the effect on the NHS - it also doesn’t matter if the transmission rates are sufficiently high. If the severe illness rates are 5x lower but the number of new infections at one time are, let’s say, 7x higher then the cumulative effect of that on the already-strained NHS could be devastating.

But that’s only taking Covid numbers into consideration. When you add general NHS staff sickness on top, and the massive understaffing problem that already exists, on top of that it looks even worse.

Staff are leaving the health service at unprecedented rates because of the pressure that the public is happily lumping on. Career switching, early retirement, etc. and the UK does not have the capacity to train replacements fast enough. A combination of Brexit and Covid means we can’t source staff from abroad either. It’s a ticking time bomb.

So what irks me about all of this “ahh it’s all fine people are overreacting!” Rhetoric is that people will believe it’s super mild and safe, go about their business and fail to bring down transmission rates, and the already-struggling NHS will not be able to take the strain. More staff will go on long term sick. More will change careers. More will simply burn out.

I wonder how many of those declaring it all hunky-dory have actually been seeking hospital treatment lately? 12+ month waits for scans, 7+ hour A&E waits, access to things like physio or routine checks is in the gutter.

Yes the issues stretch back years but that’s the point. The NHS was not prepped and ready for a global pandemic… it was already operating near capacity. People are adopting this “well if it’s more mild we have to just get back to normal!” Attitude on the assumption that these systems can take the strain of it. They cannot. If hospital cases do continue to rocket, and they may well do just that if infection rates are high enough mild strain or not, and you get hit by a car… you’re probably going to bleed out lying on the road, because we’re playing silly buggers with NHS capacity and there’ll be no ambulance to pick you up, and no one available to treat you at A&E even if you do get there.

Again this isn’t doomsday pondering it’s already happening. Ambulance waits are through the roof and A&Es country wide are bursting at the seams.