Several months have passed by. COVID rate dropped; restrictions were lifted. No longer a daily bulletin about COVID on the evening news. We seemed to be returning to normal.
I took the lateral flow test a few times in April, in connection with attending an event - all negative.
Lately however, through friends, I have heard of a few new cases of people becoming infected. Once again I consulted the useful web link at the start of this thread. Sure enough, rates are starting to rise again. This could be a seasonal effect but I suggest we stay alert. Perhaps re-visit this web link a few times and monitor the situation. If there is a continued rise, take precautions before the situation gets out of hand again.
Hi Denis, cases on the rise where we are. Several folk off at work with it, including one family carer who is extremely careful as her son has a life limiting condition and he is too anxious to be vaccinated.
Cases started to rise around a week after the Jubilee celebrations: from what I’ve heard they started to rise in those areas that had parties or other events. And of course there have been other events where large numbers have got together. Expect a Glastonbury spike in the next few days. Allegedly.
Yes, these celebrations may have had an effect. Officially we are told that we don’t need to wear mask (at the moment, anyway) but they are still advised if we visit places like hospitals, doctors’ surgeries or pharmacists. There are often people in poor health in those places. Keep a stock in case we need to use them more regularly again. Don’t worry too much if you briefly pass within two metres of another person, but don’t linger too close to someone else. Simple and easy precautions like these could make the difference between COVID multiplying again or not.
Thanks Charles very interesting article. I had wrongly assumed people were in hospital WITH Covid rather than FOR it. No easy answers. A couple of vaccinated friends have had it recently and both have been quite poorly.
No easy answers but for me isolation is a killer. So I will keep socialising but have got a new pack of masks and will make sure I wear them now in taxis and even the Co-op and Morrisons Daily although I do tend to shop at quiet times and do a lot online.
I would not be surprised if we get a partial lockdown come Autumn so will get out whilst I can but will look carefully at options to socialise outdoors.
The rise of ICU admissions for the over 75’s if a worry too but it would be useful to know if they had been vaccinated. I would hope that Carers would be offered a vaccine in the Autumn but who knows?
They don’t seem to be putting out the vaccinated vs. unvaccinated hospitalisation figures any more. Three possible reasons:
There’s no point because the antivaccine core won’t change their mind anyway.
The antivaccine lobby misinterpret the figures anyway and it becomes a science vs. pseudoscience argument where pseudoscience spreads faster
The government has taken their eye off the ball.
Choose any one or all…of course, the antivaccine lobby will be convinced that they’ve stopped producing those figures because they would show the vaccine “doesn’t work”.
The over-75s figures underline what we already knew: people with compromised immune systems are more vulnerable.
To put it simply, we already know that the vaccine has a greater effect in the first few months, and that effect tails off. People with a compromised immune system will automatically have two problems:
Their response to the vaccine will not be as strong as that for someone who is fit, so their level of protection will be reduced by comparison - but still better than without the vaccine. A friend of mine has virtually no immunity to anything following fairly extreme cancer treatment. She’s had 4 vaccine doses and is about to receive a fifth. She did catch covid a few months ago, but fortunately she wasn’t affected so badly that she needed hospitalisation.
Over time, their immunity will reduce further. How fast depends on their age, other conditions, and whether or not they’ve had their boosters. Some people have decided that after their second or third dose of vaccine they would not have more. I haven’t seen the figures recently, but from the start there was a significant gap in numbers between those having the first dose and those having the second. Sometimes this was because of discomfort or minor side effects from the first dose. I’d expect a further tail off with the third and fourth vaccines.
Gill found out right at the end of the last lockdown that her doctors think she should shield. Well, while we took extra precautions for some time and still limit contact with others, we still see family and friends when we can, and Gill comes shopping when she’s up to it. Mostly I get her out to parks, arboretums and botanical gardens in the area when I can - and the occasional meal out. I really want to get her out to Bradgate soon, as it’s always been a favourite haunt and selfishly I can usually get some decent photos of the deer. The fresh air does her more good than anything.
COVID is back in the news again. Cases are continuing to rise. Rates are nowhere near as they once were, but maybe it is time to take precautions again, even if official advice has not caught up. We have resumed wearing our masks, in shops and other public places and at home when we have visitors. We want to buck the latest trend, not contribute to it. Also, my caree has various health issues and is more vulnerable than most, so we feel the need for extra care.
I still wear a mask. Having said that I was so hot on a bus last week I didn’t. Didn’t feel comfortable although only one other person was wearing one. The windows were open. Wish the government/ medics would advise strongly that it would be in the best interests of all to wear them again. Doubt that will happen x
Yes back to mask but a few others are wearing them too now locally. Also just found out one of my Book Club ladies has Covid . One of my Admins of my local Friendship Group has it so wont be running the Coffee Event tomorrow but I will step in. So it is prevalent locally as my friends are very careful especially the latter one as she was a Ward Manager for the NHS before she retired plus her husband is vulnerable. I am now wearing masks in the taxis, and in my local shops and avoiding crowded places as always. I have a feeling it will get worse before it gets better and Italy is already saying that anyone testing positive with Covid has to self isolate for 7 days. How long before other countries follow? But will people test now the free tests have stopped? I have a supply and may well start testing every 2 weeks or after I have been to a restaurant.
In fairness Pet, didn’t Jenny Harries say that we needed to start wearing masks again in enclosed spaces?
Helena
I don’t know, re Jenny Harries. I will check it out. I’m not listening to news so much these days. I do of course keep an eye on it. Found it was depressing me and I have learned to guard against that.
Just checking. She is now going to wear a mask more frequently if not all of the time.
I was shocked to see them removing the mask mandate in hospitals 2 weeks ago with cases already rising. I thought it was just a jubilee fall out scenario but it seems these 2 new variants are more contagious than the one we thought was already more contagious before. I know Southampton and several other hospitals have returned to compulsory masks but as far as I know Portsmouth hasn’t. They even removed the masks from their doors and you could only get them in specific clinical areas but most people didn’t bother. I over heard some nurses talking about which patients they could breathe near in order to get a positive test to finally get some time off.
My Dad was already in hospital but now he has covid and his ward has been shut (with people inside who hadn’t yet tested positive…) They’ve said I CAN go in but they’d rather I didn’t and I’d have to learn to don and doff (which I know anyway). However I’ve had symptoms since Sunday myself (2 1/2 days since very close contact including my dad coughing in my masked face…) but I’m still testing negative. I’m outraged that carers don’t count for free tests and wonder how many people don’t know they have covid because they don’t test. I’m told that the current figures are from sewage tests so should be accurate but I’m sure that’s not where they came from previously so I’d be interested to see a comparison.
Boris has been trying to stay popular, given the mess he’s in, and is ignoring covid. The government as a whole seems to be in bunker mode (except for the latest resignations), and I won’t comment beyond the fact that everyone seems to have taken their eyes off the ball.
It’s interesting that masks seem to be making a bit of a comeback currently, and at Gill’s meeting yesterday everyone was masked, for the first time in months.