It;s over

[Mr_Simnock]

WHO state the emergency is over, I did think at the start it would take another year to reach this point. - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-65499929

[BlodwynPig]

Feel like pure shit, just want covid back

[Huxleys Babkins]

OPEN THE PUBS

[scarecrow]

"The worst thing any country can do now is to use this news as a reason to let down its guard, to dismantle the systems it has built, or to send the message to its people that Covid-19 is nothing to worry about,"

Interesting to note that Anders Tegnell was an advisor on the WHO COVID19 International Health Regulations Emergency Committee. He has caused so much harm, as this thread explains: https://twitter.com/NDLoubere/status/1639734354426359810

[Glebe]

I've only just finally stopped wearing a mask out anywhere this past couple of weeks... the new announcement is encouraging, at the same time this new 'Arcturus' strain has arrived and is apparently extremely transmissible, some doctors have actually been suggesting a return to mask-wearing:

Experts warn of worrying Covid symptom as new strain sweeps world at 'fast pace'.

[BlodwynPig]

I was surprised to see the South Korean starting wastewater monitoring for SARS-CoV-2 (something I spoke to them about last year)...it felt like an action from a different time...perhaps they know something we don't.

[shiftwork2]

Thanks and appreciation to those who got up and went to work in healthcare during the pandemic.  It's now time to lay this sub-forum to rest.

[jamiefairlie]

Until the next time

[shiftwork2]

I've always thought you were a particularly miserable prick about the forum.  Always trying to kill the energy of anything vital or worthy.  No spark of anything interesting, funny or creative from your posts.  The absence of life.

Already dead.

[shiftwork2]

On a three-year old forum doom-mongering  until next time

[shiftwork2]

Yeah anyway you continue to make your valued contribution about...what was it?

[centristmelt]

Some people have enjoyed the pandemic far too much.

[ZoyzaSorris]

It's still killing and disabling millions of people, and continuing to mutate at accelerating speed into an ever wider range of variants that are getting better and better at evading vaccines and testing.  All the while excess deaths continue to blast upwards and loads of people are complaining of being ill this year like they've never been ill before (nothing to do with a virus that has been destroying everyone's vascular, immune and nervous systems to a lesser or greater degree). Seems a bit of a George bush on the aircraft carrier type of energy.

[scarecrow]

It's still killing and disabling millions of people, and continuing to mutate at accelerating speed into an ever wider range of variants that are getting better and better at evading vaccines and testing.  All the while excess deaths continue to blast upwards and loads of people are complaining of being ill this year like they've never been ill before (nothing to do with a virus that has been destroying everyone's vascular, immune and nervous systems to a lesser or greater degree). Seems a bit of a George bush on the aircraft carrier type of energy.

Exactly. I can't understand how it's become a fringe position to acknowledge the facts which are staring us in the face. I get pandemic fatigue, and have it myself, but fucking hell, I keep seeing articles like this one from the Mirror in which journos refuse to join the dots between shockingly high excess deaths and the ongoing pandemic. What is happening?

[MojoJojo]

Where are you getting "shockingly high" excess deaths from? They are a little elevated, but not hugely so.
For example, the last week there is data for, the week ending the 28th April, excess deaths are at 108% the expected number. The week before they were at 95%. Deaths are slightly elevated, but not blast upwards or shockingly high.

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/excess-mortality-in-england-and-english-regions

[scarecrow]

Figures are obviously going to vary month to month, and whether they're 'shockingly high' or not is dependent on your tolerance of increased illness and death. Previously, anything 5% over the average was considered very concerning. This is why national newspapers are currently writing stories on the excess deaths we're seeing, if not attributing them to COVID.

This data, which admittedly isn't up to date, shows how younger age brackets are being hit by the virus:



Given the lack of mitigation measures and effective treatments, not to mention what we are beginning to understand about the virus's effects on the immune system and various organs, and capacity to cause mounting damage over the course of repeat infections, why would the situation improve? At best, we might see a sustained drop in excess deaths while we experience the chronic conditions that ultimately kill us.

[Huxleys Babkins]

Forgive me if I'm not reading that right, but that data's about non-COVID deaths isn't it? So how does it show how younger age brackets are being hit by the virus?

[MojoJojo]

@OutsideAllan retweets a lot of covid deniers and anti-vaxers. Replies to that table tend to see it as evidence of the vaccines being damaging.
5% excess over a year would be worrying, but as you can see from that table there is quite a lot of variation month.

[scarecrow]

Forgive me if I'm not reading that right, but that data's about non-COVID deaths isn't it? So how does it show how younger age brackets are being hit by the virus?

Because COVID is being viewed as a 'live or die' infection. The focus has been on whether one survives the acute stage of infection, rather than the damage caused by the virus. We know that amongst other things a COVID infection increases your chance of having a heart attack or a stroke, however fatal heart attacks and strokes aren't counted as COVID deaths (unless the deceased was testing positive at time, possibly).

Of course, when an individual has a heart attack we can't say for sure whether they would have experienced this anyway. So, we would look instead at numbers of heart attacks on a population level. If there is a population-wide increase in heart attacks coinciding with the unmitigated spread of a virus known to pave the way for them, then we can surely blame the former on the latter, no?

@OutsideAllan retweets a lot of covid deniers and anti-vaxers. Replies to that table tend to see it as evidence of the vaccines being damaging.
5% excess over a year would be worrying, but as you can see from that table there is quite a lot of variation month.

There are many ropey excuses for the high rate of excess deaths at the moment, most of which blame the mitigation measures halfheartedly enforced at the onset of the pandemic. In failing to honestly discuss the health implications of COVID infection (even in mild cases), our media is creating room for people to blame poor health outcomes on the vaccines, lockdowns etc.

[MojoJojo]

There is a slightly increased level of excess deaths at the moment. It's late and I'm drunk so I'm going to just call you a scaremongering cunt and leave it at that. Present credible evidence of "shockingly high" excess deaths or accept lack of credibility, chump.

Long covid is a thing, but if anyone is claiming anything with certainty at this point, they want your money.

[scarecrow]

I would argue that I'm not a scaremongering cunt, because it's been established that COVID causes multi-organ damage. I'm not making this up, it's been reported in a number of mainstream news sources.

The WHO has said that an estimated one in ten infections result in some form of lasting symptoms. Every infection is a roll of the dice.

Excess deaths have risen since the onset of the pandemic. You can minimize this all you like, but it's significant enough a story for papers to cover, though they are treating the cause as a mystery. Similarly, papers are reporting mysterious rises in health conditions linked to the virus.

Anecdotally, everyone seems to be ill all the time. There are reports of high levels of work absenteeism.

The vaccines are the only protection we have at the moment and we can say with certainty that they aren't as effective against the most recent strains of the virus, which continues to mutate. Beyond this, most people are well over a year on from their last booster, with no indication that more will be forthcoming.

I think we should be cautious about unmitigated spread of the virus at the very least, but the current strategy is to never mention it at all and hope for the best while shouting down and ostracising anyone who has valid concerns and would like to have a good faith discussion about the situation. While a lot is uncertain regarding the long term impact of repeat reinfection, what we do know isn't promising, and the vast majority of people aren't aware of their risk.

I'm not sure who you think wants my money. Independent SAGE? There's more money to be made by denying the severity of the ongoing pandemic and the threat it poses.

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

Oh Mother, I can feel
The COVID falling over my head

[MojoJojo]

"Shockingly high"

[idunnosomename]

Desperately fucking every type of animal I can find so we can have Eat Out To Help Out again

[ZoyzaSorris]

Mojojojo has a history of 'the register'-adjacent libertarian tech bro tendencies when it comes to anything like this, so do take that into account when he calls you a 'scaremongering cunt' for pointing out that a virus that has been shown to damage blood vessels throughout the body and cause damage to the nervous system and immune system (and is still running rampant) might be cause for ongoing concern and is not a 'mission accomplished' scenario at all.

[MojoJojo]

Oh for fucksakes, I don't know where you get the libertarian tech bro shit from, but you can take your ad hominem attacks and shove shove them up your arse. When out of the last four recorded weeks, excess mortality is negative for two and positive for two, describing excess mortality as "shockingly high" is as about objectively scare mongering as you can get. And I quite clearly labelled the "cunt" as jokey and not sincere.

I'm sorry not as many people are dying as you'd like.

[shoulders]

Focusing on the semantics of 'shocking' over the direction of travel isn't helpful. There's no need for this discussion to be held with that tenor either, from either side.

If we're talking about whether Covid infections have caused increased mortality due to the secondary conditions and infections brought on by the damage caused by the virus, then that will manifest (or not) over the years to come.

4 weeks doesn't prove shit either way.

I'd be interested to learn a wider context. Some of the news about what Covid has done to people's bodies has shocked me, but I'd also like to know if other common viruses do the same or similar, not least in order to make rational choices about helping minimise infection at times of the year where prevalence is higher.