[user104658]

Originally Posted by MTVN

What

So the majority of deaths are not in children yet they're the only ones being reported

Not to be brutally blunt but ... elderly people being finished off by strep is a regular occurrence and always has been, it's not really news.

Originally Posted by MTVN

But I imagine it's quite hard to know if something is just a nasty sore throat that will get better or something that urgently needs antibiotics, especially when access to healthcare is so poor right now

True that's why awareness is the big one here, and yes you're right the parts of this that I find really worrying are the issues with GP access in recent years, and the possibility of shortages of antibiotics. If parents know what they're looking for, can quickly get a face-to-face, and the antibiotics are ready and waiting at the pharmacy straight away then I don't think children are at huge risk. If they can't see a doctor, or can't get access to antibiotics quickly, then that can change alarmingly fast.

Ultimately the systematic destruction of healthcare/the NHS is going to be the major factor here. Again.

Postcode lottery will also come into play; e.g. I live somewhere that I'm confident that I could call my GP and have a phone appointment within an hour, face-to-face within a few hours, and a prescription in my hands today. The situation in large population centres (where some GP's have thousands upon thousands of people on their books per GP) isn't great. Days or longer to get a face to face appointment... if you can get though on the phone at all.