The Final FUCKDOWN

[bgmnts]

Now that feels somewhat negative.

I havent had it yet and i dont plan to.

[Pinball]

I also haven't had it and intend not to get it. The latter will get easier as the pandemic subsides and the virus fucks off, but the flatline persistence of UK cases is a concern. People are behaving now as if this is all over, but it patently isn't, hence the continuation of new infection cases, I guess. The UK is second only to the US in new cases now. Unimpressive.

[George Oscar Bluth II]

Yeah I wonder if there's a case for *some* kind of mitigation measures, ie half full events or table service only or something to get cases down. Far better to be bumping along at 3,000 a day instead of 30,000. The rest of Europe seems to be managing it, what's wrong with us?

[jobotic]

Hospitalizations are no longer decreasing and I expect they will start to increase as cases did a couple of weeks ago.

Still, fuck it.

[MojoJojo]

There's good reason to think hospitalizations won't go up, as most cases at the moment are school age kids. But yeah, it would be good if there were a fewer people in hospital.

[Ferris]

It seems really odd that the UK is bucking the trend of peaks and troughs in cases. Everywhere else is a mad roller coaster, Britain keeps on trucking at the same level for months at a time.

[jobotic]

40,000 again today. plus vaccination rates are pathetic

[olliebean]

Yeah I wonder if there's a case for *some* kind of mitigation measures

I don't. I know there's a case for it. You can hear the case every Friday in the Independent Sage briefings on YouTube. But it won't happen unless/until the number of hospitalisations and/or deaths reaches a level higher than the government thinks they can get away with brushing under the carpet.

[Old Thrashbarg]

40,000 again today. plus vaccination rates are pathetic

Worth pointing out that the government website dashboard doesn't show the third-jab boosters in their vaccination figures. 250k was yesterday's total for those.

[jobotic]

Oh okay. Thanks

[SpiderChrist]

It's not going to get any better than this. Unless you plan to live the rest of your life in a bunker you have to accept that covid is something that you are going to get.

That's a comfort. My underlying health condition (asthma) means that it might well kill me.

[stonkers]

Now that feels somewhat negative.

I havent had it yet and i dont plan to.

You might very well have had it and been asymptomatic, especially if you've been vaccinated.

It's not going anywhere, it's transitioning into being an endemic virus. Saying otherwise at this point makes about as much sense as being an antivaxxer. 

[Pinball]

UK vaccine rates are one of the lowest in the West now, and our cases are the highest, second only to the US. Boris is on holiday and everyone is behaving as if it's over. It is not over, and once again the UK government is failing badly on Covid.

Where's Wally? I mean Boris. Lazy fuck.

[bgmnts]

You might very well have had it and been asymptomatic, especially if you've been vaccinated.

It's not going anywhere, it's transitioning into being an endemic virus. Saying otherwise at this point makes about as much sense as being an antivaxxer.

As someone with breathing difficulties and a raging dry cough for years I dont want to take that chance to be honest.

[jamiefairlie]

As someone with breathing difficulties and a raging dry cough for years I dont want to take that chance to be honest.

Sensible. Can't believe how blasé people are about catching it, it's fucking horrible.

[Cloud]

It's a really tough balance.  I don't want it either, I've heard too many "I'm double vaxxed but it was the worst thing I've had" stories, plus concern for the folks.  But also I see the side that it's never going away, there's absolutely no sign of it dropping below 35k/day any time soon, 30k seems to be the floor without restrictions  (plus doubling time is now calculated at just over a month if you follow the Reddit boffins) and well... we've done pretty much all we can. I don't intend to avoid living the rest of my life just out of fear of getting ill / dying.  Of course, as I get more into bigger scale socialisation I'll be sure to offer to live alone, continue to be careful in shops, and honestly no one cares at work.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

UK vaccine rates are one of the lowest in the West now, and our cases are the highest, second only to the US. Boris is on holiday and everyone is behaving as if it's over. It is not over, and once again the UK government is failing badly on Covid.

Where's Wally? I mean Boris. Lazy fuck.

Also the whole 'cases are stabilising' based on a few weeks. Just untrue and seemingly motivated by wishful thinking. Cases have been volatile but worse is that general direction is up, just with the dip after the Euros.

All the same, hospitalisations are stabilising and deaths are potentially falling, though I am anticipating a big winter wave still.

I do think we should aim for a higher bar than 'well you didn't end up in hospital so its fine'. A crippling debilitating illness that's worse than flu isn't something to be blasé about even for a fit and healthy person.

[MojoJojo]

Is it worse than flu if you're vaxxed up though? I thought it general it wasn't, although it obviously varies person to person.

I'm not sure we will see a winter surge - yes, the seasons do have some impact, but it's relatively small. And to balance that out, the vast majority of cases now are in the under vaccinated school kids group. Once they've all had it (or preferably jabbed, but not much effort seems to be going into that), new cases should drop as pretty much everyone will have antibodies.

A winter lock down might be a good idea because of flu though.

[SpiderChrist]

Is it worse than flu if you're vaxxed up though? I thought it general it wasn't, although it obviously varies person to person

Next door neighbour got hospitalised with it last night (late 40s, no underlying health issues, double vaxxed, etc.).

I do think we should aim for a higher bar than 'well you didn't end up in hospital so its fine'. A crippling debilitating illness that's worse than flu isn't something to be blasé about even for a fit and healthy person.

Well, quite.

Got invited to a 50th birthday party at someone's house and was decidedly wary about going. Have now discovered that the hosts are currently holidaying in Gran Canaria with another couple who will also be at the party. Fuck that.

This pandemic has done a right number on my mental health.

[olliebean]

My mental health was never better during lockdown, but has taken a dive since we were all supposed to start pretending COVID can't hurt you any more.

[SpiderChrist]

My mental health was never better during lockdown, but has taken a dive since we were all supposed to start pretending COVID can't hurt you any more.

Yeah I think that's when mine took a nosedive.

[Big Mclargehuge]

Yeah I think that's when mine took a nosedive.

Mines on the way, not for the cognative dissonence. But just for the painfully repetative arguements im having to have with friends, colleagues and family about why Im still not going out and doing stuff. Im having quite a heated back and forth with my family at the minute around christmas arrangements. They want a knees up with the whole family for 2-3 days on the bounce and seem VERY offended when I told them that as early as last christmas I said that if things wernt "Done." I probably wouldnt be doing anything with them this year either.

Theres only so many times you can tell people that despite the fact they're happy to live by the understanding that "If your gonna get it, your gonna get it" I'd rather hold off getting it ideally at all...

[Chedney Honks]

Is it worse than flu if you're vaxxed up though? I thought it general it wasn't, although it obviously varies person to person.

A month on, my wife has headaches 24/7 and goes to bed at 7pm every evening.

Three weeks on, I can barely walk up or down stairs and I wake up out of breath in a puddle of cold sweat.

My mate is in hospital.

Feels great to be back to normal.

😂😂😂

[stonkers]

Vaccines don't work then, might as well just let 'er rip and get it over with.

[Chedney Honks]

Lol yeah imagine

[jobotic]

I went to the pub last night and I've been to a gig. I test two or three times a week and every time I go out socially. Wear masks in shops and at work when I'm not behind a screen.

So I don't know, am I cunt? Am I following the rules (I think so)? I've never had the option of furlough or working from home, been at work all through the pandemic working with the public. Is work the only time I should leave the house? Should I not see my parents? I didn't when you weren't supposed to or before they were jabbed.

Am I a hypocrite becuase it worries me a lot that we have 42,000 cases in a day and most European countries are in the low thousands but I'm going on holiday in a caravan park?

I don't fucking know.

[MojoJojo]

A month on, my wife has headaches 24/7 and goes to bed at 7pm every evening.

Three weeks on, I can barely walk up or down stairs and I wake up out of breath in a puddle of cold sweat.

My mate is in hospital.

Feels great to be back to normal.

😂😂😂

I'm sorry to hear that but it's not representative of most people's experience is it? Even pre-vax, a significant proportion of people had no symptoms at all.

Sympathy to those who are vulnerable, but it doesn't really change the basic fact this is as good as it gets. It's here now. You can live in a bunker for the rest of your life trying to avoid it or add it to the list of risks you accept every time you leave the house.

[Fambo Number Mive]

Not sure what CV and CEV people are meant to do though. The government is trying to force as many people back to the office no matter how vulnerable to covid they are, and using public transport is risky at the moment.

I'd feel a bit happier about "living with covid" if working from home wasn't being made out to be such a negative thing by the government and the media and if masks were compulsory on public transport and in shops (with windows locked open on buses as well). At the very least, it should be "Live with covid, but still take simple steps to reduce the risk of it spreading and to protect the vulnerable". If the government sent a box of N95 masks to every house and flat in Britain each week, and if it updated the criteria for testing to the 21 symptoms on the ZOE website, that would also help keep vulnerable people safe.

People who are CV/CEV must be terrified at the moment, and it does feel like the government is happy to kill off as many of them as they can.

[Alberon]

Not trying to stress anyone out further but there were a few reports that experts were bracing for a bad flu season and the risk of death doubles if you get both that and Covid at the same time.

I don't think we have to be careful forever, but at least lets get through this winter and then we'll really know where we stand.

[Uncle TechTip]

Not sure what CV and CEV people are meant to do though. The government is trying to force as many people back to the office no matter how vulnerable to covid they are, and using public transport is risky at the moment.

I'd feel a bit happier about "living with covid" if working from home wasn't being made out to be such a negative thing by the government and the media and if masks were compulsory on public transport and in shops (with windows locked open on buses as well). At the very least, it should be "Live with covid, but still take simple steps to reduce the risk of it spreading and to protect the vulnerable". If the government sent a box of N95 masks to every house and flat in Britain each week, and if it updated the criteria for testing to the 21 symptoms on the ZOE website, that would also help keep vulnerable people safe.

People who are CV/CEV must be terrified at the moment, and it does feel like the government is happy to kill off as many of them as they can.

I think the cost of N95 masks to everyone would be astronomical, even those who don't need them?

The government has no involvement in Zoe to my knowledge, it's a university project.

An upside to the masks situation is that low paid supermarket workers aren't forced into a position of defending rules, with all the conflict that surrounds it.

I get that the government's stance is to "force" us back to the office but they aren't trying very hard at the moment. My employer halved their hq size and aren't pushing us to attend more than once a month. If gov wanted to force people back, they would introduce some home working tax. Maybe that's still to come in the budget.

CEV people who are double jabbed shouldn't be worried, they have the best protection we can offer. Remember this virus is now endemic and isn't going to disappear; govs aren't going to pour billions into new treatment when we've already paid for some; you will catch it sooner or later unless you want to isolate from society for ever.