When will covid end ? Please be nice and respectful to others

[zero000]

1 hour ago, TheSheriff said:

Watched his press conference at lunchtime, it took a lot not to throw the remote at the TV

I found it quite frustrating also. He completely fudged the question on why our infection rate is worse than England’s and instead spoke about the importance of looking at specific areas infection rate instead, ignoring the fact that England’s rate is also an average of several areas. 
 

Some more significant restrictions may have had an impact on the level of infections, hospitalisation and deaths in Wales, but it seems that it’s becoming apparent that we’re in the worst of both worlds. Restrictions which are too weak to impact the wave in a meaningful way and instead do significant damage to our hospitality industry with limited health benefit. Bleak. 

[steviewevie]

 

[BobWillis2]

Surely we’re well past the point in believing lockdowns make a huge difference? 
 

Is there a commonly believed myth that the vast majority of people were at home? 
 

Roughly 50% of people in employment were still going out to work during lockdown 1. 
The other 50% would have contained a good percentage that went to the supermarket on a weekly basis. 
 

It didn’t stop covid spreading, it only prolonged the pandemic. 

 

 

 

[tigger123]

 

This thread very encouraging and suggests that if future variants follow omicron in being less severe then the pandemic as a lethal killer is basically over.

[zahidf]

4 minutes ago, tigger123 said:

 

This thread very encouraging and suggests that if future variants follow omicron in being less severe then the pandemic as a lethal killer is basically over.

Tbh if it started of as Omicron, we wouldn't have locked down 

[zahidf]

Makes more sense to time a 4th dose for before winter next year

 

[hodgey123]

1 hour ago, zahidf said:

Tbh if it started of as Omicron, we wouldn't have locked down 

No basis for saying this at all, I'm afraid. At least part of the reason why Omicron is presenting as milder is because of the huge immunity wall that is now in place via vaccination or prior infection. That immunity wall did not exist in March 2020, hence the carnage and the lockdowns to avoid it. Omicron may be less virulent than Delta but Delta is a lot more virulent than the 'original' COVID, so we would have locked down regardless (though the impact of it may have been reduced given Omicron's transmissibility, meaning even more loss of life). 

[BobWillis2]

 

[zahidf]

They went well

 

[zahidf]

Omicron wave may not be as 'severe as we had initially feared' says Mark Drakeford. 

 

 

Drakford still not as dumb as Ireland mind

[Fuzzy Afro]

Fake SAGE say don’t socialise with teachers 

 

[mcshed]

14 hours ago, BobWillis2 said:

 

It didn’t stop covid spreading, it only prolonged the pandemic

Which was the exact point, Lockdown 1 was when we were faced with a new deadly disease that we didn't understand and there was no natural immunity to, see we did what we could to slow down the initial wave and yes "prolong the pandemic" but in such a manner as to save lives. The shilly shallying about in Autumn 2020 was less well defined but the January 2021 Lockdown was when we had vaccines but needed time to get them in arms so we slowed down the spread with a lockdown and yes "prolonged the pandemic" so that more people had a vaccine when they were infected. 

Honestly lockdowns "prolonged the pandemic" is one of the weirdest criticisms out there, it's exactly what lockdowns are for to slow down the spread of the disease. Not sensible at the moment and probably not needed again this pandemic but a totally sensible tool against that saves lives by slowing the spread.

[BobWillis2]

34 minutes ago, mcshed said:

Which was the exact point, Lockdown 1 was when we were faced with a new deadly disease that we didn't understand and there was no natural immunity to, see we did what we could to slow down the initial wave and yes "prolong the pandemic" but in such a manner as to save lives. The shilly shallying about in Autumn 2020 was less well defined but the January 2021 Lockdown was when we had vaccines but needed time to get them in arms so we slowed down the spread with a lockdown and yes "prolonged the pandemic" so that more people had a vaccine when they were infected. 

Honestly lockdowns "prolonged the pandemic" is one of the weirdest criticisms out there, it's exactly what lockdowns are for to slow down the spread of the disease. Not sensible at the moment and probably not needed again this pandemic but a totally sensible tool against that saves lives by slowing the spread.

It only makes sense to prolong the pandemic is you are drastically changing the outcome of it. 

[mcshed]

36 minutes ago, BobWillis2 said:

It only makes sense to prolong the pandemic is you are drastically changing the outcome of it. 

Which we were at the start by slowing the initial catastrophic wave that could have completely overwhelmed the health service and which we were last January when we were jabbing hundreds of thousands a day pushing infections back to when more people were vaccinated.

A lockdown now would be mad but it doesn't mean lockdowns aren't useful. Hopefully they will never again be used in my lifetime they are awful but prolonging a pandemic is what they are designed to do.

 

[lost]

This time last year it was pretty fact that masks worked and closing nightclubs worked in reducing cases. Now each of the nations of the UK have started to diverge on policy over the last few months we can see they make no difference.

I don't think Sturgeon or Drakeford will now put Scotland or Wales into lockdown but from a numbers point of view it would be interesting to see if it made a big difference in deaths rates between nations.

[zahidf]

4 minutes ago, lost said:

This time last year it was pretty fact that masks worked and closing nightclubs worked in reducing cases. Now each of the nations of the UK have started to diverge on policy over the last few months we can see they make no difference.

I don't think Sturgeon or Drakeford will now put Scotland or Wales into lockdown but from a numbers point of view it would be interesting to see if it made a big difference in deaths rates between nations.

Well they wanted to put Wales and Scotland into lockdown pre Xmas but the Givt refused to reinstate furlough

[BobWillis2]

39 minutes ago, mcshed said:

Which we were at the start by slowing the initial catastrophic wave that could have completely overwhelmed the health service and which we were last January when we were jabbing hundreds of thousands a day pushing infections back to when more people were vaccinated.

A lockdown now would be mad but it doesn't mean lockdowns aren't useful. Hopefully they will never again be used in my lifetime they are awful but prolonging a pandemic is what they are designed to do.

 

You’re missing the point again. Prolonging the pandemic but not significantly changing the outcome is completely counter productive. 
 

In particular the decision to close schools and limit young peoples social life made virtually zero difference to hospital rates and deaths but delayed their exposure to the virus and in fact probably it MORE dangerous for them to mix with the elderly when restrictions were relaxed as they were more likely to be infected as they had no immunity. 

 

[efcfanwirral]

So it seems vaccination numbers are more important than anything making the remotest bit of sense. People in this situation have just recovered from the very infection they're getting an injection to stop a severe outcome against. 

Of all the things Tony Blair and his lot are campaigning for this one seems the most pointless.

Edited January 8, 2022 by efcfanwirral

[zahidf]

I think pre vaccine, lockdowns where a reasonable response to stop the spread. Alpha was a lot less infectious than Delta and omicron and I think it did clearly work

 

Post jabs being rolled out, there are no more excuses for restrictions.

[BobWillis2]

13 minutes ago, efcfanwirral said:

So it seems vaccination numbers are more important than anything making the remotest bit of sense. People in this situation have just recovered from the very infection they're getting an injection to stop a severe outcome against. 

Of all the things Tony Blair and his lot are campaigning for this one seems the most pointless.

It’s a bit optimistic to think people are waiting for the 28 days. If you’d had 2 doses and then had covid and it was just a cold, on what planet would you be eager for more doses? 
I would say most are waiting to see if/when a booster is needed for their freedoms. 

[efcfanwirral]

1 hour ago, BobWillis2 said:

It’s a bit optimistic to think people are waiting for the 28 days. If you’d had 2 doses and then had covid and it was just a cold, on what planet would you be eager for more doses? 
I would say most are waiting to see if/when a booster is needed for their freedoms. 

Yeah that sounds about right. Get it as late as possible before that comes in. 

Then for the 4th!

[Leyrulion]

17 hours ago, zahidf said:

Makes more sense to time a 4th dose for before winter next year

 

Also gives the manufacturers time to rejig the vaccine to work better against Omicron and the next variant.

[zahidf]

2 hours ago, BobWillis2 said:

It’s a bit optimistic to think people are waiting for the 28 days. If you’d had 2 doses and then had covid and it was just a cold, on what planet would you be eager for more doses? 
I would say most are waiting to see if/when a booster is needed for their freedoms. 

Also... why would you need a booster if you just had Covid? May as well wait a couple of months more. There's a reason they don't want you to get the vaccine after u just had covid

[efcfanwirral]

5 minutes ago, Barry Fish said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-59920379

I am finding this baffling...

Regardless of what anyone thinks about the rights or wrong of entry requirements to various countries its pretty dam clear that you MUST be vaccinated to enter Australia and previous infection is not good enough. 

I can only presume Djokovic was looking to cause this problem by traveling as his lawyers are now arguing something which is clearly not in the rules.

It's really strange. If he wanted to make a stand surely him not going to the tournament has a more powerful effect than him turning into a laughing stock.

I totally get not having the booster within 6 months of infection as up until recently that length of time gave you a covid pass to do things as "proof of natural immunity" That's what the girlfriend's doing (and me as there's no point taking them at different times - it's not like I'll go abroad or to gigs on my own). But you accept you can't do those things until you take the vaccine. Not just travel there anyway 

[BobWillis2]

56 minutes ago, zahidf said:

There's a reason they don't want you to get the vaccine after u just had covid

Isn’t it so that there’s no overlap of symptoms that could be attributed as a vaccine side effect?