Omicron No more than a cold ?

[Taunton Blue Genie]

Re: Omicron No more than a cold ?

My son has tested positive for Omicron this week - symptoms not as bad as a winter cold, any other virus he would go to work and get through the day. so everyone I know who's had it say's it's fcuk all.

The data coming in seems to indicate that the Omicron virus affect the windpipe more than other strains of Covid, which makes it more contagious - but affects the lungs less than other strains and which means it is not generally so debilitating.

[Hilts]

Re: Omicron No more than a cold ?

My son has tested positive for Omicron this week - symptoms not as bad as a winter cold, any other virus he would go to work and get through the day. so everyone I know who's had it say's it's fcuk all.

Thats been the case with all the variants though for the majority.

Signs are though that this is going to be milder.

[UNDERHILL1927]

Re: Omicron No more than a cold ?

Huge overreaction, power hungry fear mongering.

[Trigger]

Re: Omicron No more than a cold ?

My very basic and non professional level of understanding based on what I've read and heard is that this would be the natural life cycle of this sort of disease.

That there is only so much that it can mutate, that it would eventually weaken itself. The higher the transmissibility of most diseases the weaker they generally are.

With vaccines, new treatments and perhaps, fingers crossed a milder variant spreading then is this the next phase in the pandemic?

We certainly can't keep closing businesses and having massive handouts from central government each winter.

I'd like to think out of this horrible disease comes reform for the NHS, the extra funding it needs and better working conditions and wages for its staff. Robust plans for future pandemics and a continued boom in the research and development of new treatments for all diseases.

Imagine cancer treatments had the funding and energy that covid has had.

[Whisperer]

Re: Omicron No more than a cold ?

Thats been the case with all the variants though for the majority.

Signs are though that this is going to be milder.

This is not a majority this is a tsunami fecking landslide.

[UNDERHILL1927]

Re: Omicron No more than a cold ?

My very basic and non professional level of understanding based on what I've read and heard is that this would be the natural life cycle of this sort of disease.

That there is only so much that it can mutate, that it would eventually weaken itself. The higher the transmissibility of most diseases the weaker they generally are.

With vaccines, new treatments and perhaps, fingers crossed a milder variant spreading then is this the next phase in the pandemic?

We certainly can't keep closing businesses and having massive handouts from central government each winter.

I'd like to think out of this horrible disease comes reform for the NHS, the extra funding it needs and better working conditions and wages for its staff. Robust plans for future pandemics and a continued boom in the research and development of new treatments for all diseases.

Imagine cancer treatments had the funding and energy that covid has had.

Great post mate. Sadly the response to Covid is (in my opinion) now causing more long term damage to lives than the virus itself ever did. Completely disproportionate response.

[Dave Blue]

Re: Omicron No more than a cold ?

Frustrating though it is that I can’t go here and can’t do this or that, I’d rather be under a government that prepares than one that crosses its fingers and hopes.

[dml1954]

Re: Omicron No more than a cold ?

Im really hoping its milder than the flu.

I also dont know the comparison on the transmission comparisons between flu and omicron.

The problem is if its the equivalent of flu this virus is spreading so fast then the NHS is going to be in trouble quickly.

Not just the NHS with staff of sick and isolating but all businesses including essential public services.

If this was a flu pandemic with the same data, can you really see the UK Government's taking this kind of action. I cant. It would be lucky to get a mention.

[Citizen's Nephew]

Re: Omicron No more than a cold ?

My very basic and non professional level of understanding based on what I've read and heard is that this would be the natural life cycle of this sort of disease.

That there is only so much that it can mutate, that it would eventually weaken itself. The higher the transmissibility of most diseases the weaker they generally are.

With vaccines, new treatments and perhaps, fingers crossed a milder variant spreading then is this the next phase in the pandemic?

We certainly can't keep closing businesses and having massive handouts from central government each winter.

I'd like to think out of this horrible disease comes reform for the NHS, the extra funding it needs and better working conditions and wages for its staff. Robust plans for future pandemics and a continued boom in the research and development of new treatments for all diseases.

Imagine cancer treatments had the funding and energy that covid has had.

I think this is a really good post, especially the part about extra funding and resources. This is especially true when the biggest hit to the NHS over the next 10 years will be the long-term effects of Covid 19. That's the key part for me. That's the difference between Covid 19 and a cold virus. They may both present similar risks (although the risk of respiratory complications is significantly higher for Covid) for a lot of patients but unlike a cold virus, there's a sliding scale of immune responses in a wider variety of people. This would mean that for those who are predisposed to autoimmune triggers then Covid is a massive contributor and it's in these people that high risks of developing autoimmune diseases i.e.neurological diseases, that we should be preparing our services for in terms of long-term, chronic conditions.

None of our politicians are even talking about it let alone preparing. They're kicking the can down the road as they usually do with everything that's going to hit us badly in the future.

We're not training doctors, nurses, and other medical staff in anything like the numbers we're going to need them. We have no recruitment policy. All these positions and all this training should be free. The money that's been wasted could have been invested in people and training. Science has been politicised and the politicians have been weak. The media badly report the data and confuse the public and then we end up with the nightmare of conspiracy on social media. I've said before it's a mess and the real travesty is that nobody wants to be the one to say 'we got it wrong' in certain areas when that's exactly the kind of candid discussion we need to move forward.

[goats]

Re: Omicron No more than a cold ?

Would you have preferred the flu as a comparison?
Apparently kills 25,000 people each year.

Not that much, in a bad year like 2017 I think

[bobh]

Re: Omicron No more than a cold ?

This virus hits different people in different ways.
My daughter and I had covin last Jan - I thought it was just a winter cold, my daughter had it only slightly worse.
But her boyfriend also had it, and started to have trouble breathing, was on the verge of going into hospital before he started recovering.
There were a load of hospital admissions back then and deaths were mounting up.
Yes, the omicron mutation appears to be less serious, but people have died with it.
But while seemingly having less serious symptoms, it seems to be far more transmittable - and a high trandmission rate means it is more likely to mutate further - into what? 80% fatality maybe?
We'd all be thanking Duckford for his cautious approach then.
We need EVERYBODY to get vaccinated to stop this- and that means "third world" countries, as well as the UK, or further mutations are inevitable, and one of those mutations could be the nightmare that effectively ends civilisation.


Rant over.

[goats]

Re: Omicron No more than a cold ?

I think this is a really good post, especially the part about extra funding and resources. This is especially true when the biggest hit to the NHS over the next 10 years will be the long-term effects of Covid 19. That's the key part for me. That's the difference between Covid 19 and a cold virus. They may both present similar risks (although the risk of respiratory complications is significantly higher for Covid) for a lot of patients but unlike a cold virus, there's a sliding scale of immune responses in a wider variety of people. This would mean that for those who are predisposed to autoimmune triggers then Covid is a massive contributor and it's in these people that high risks of developing autoimmune diseases i.e.neurological diseases, that we should be preparing our services for in terms of long-term, chronic conditions.

None of our politicians are even talking about it let alone preparing. They're kicking the can down the road as they usually do with everything that's going to hit us badly in the future.

We're not training doctors, nurses, and other medical staff in anything like the numbers we're going to need them. We have no recruitment policy. All these positions and all this training should be free. The money that's been wasted could have been invested in people and training. Science has been politicised and the politicians have been weak. The media badly report the data and confuse the public and then we end up with the nightmare of conspiracy on social media. I've said before it's a mess and the real travesty is that nobody wants to be the one to say 'we got it wrong' in certain areas when that's exactly the kind of candid discussion we need to move forward.

Whichever government runs this country for the next 10/20 years we really need to invest in the nhs, more doctors, nurses, hospitals etc…the amount we have compared to a country like Germany is woeful…..

[Citizen's Nephew]

Re: Omicron No more than a cold ?

Whichever government runs this country for the next 10/20 years we really need to invest in the nhs, more doctors, nurses, hospitals etc…the amount we have compared to a country like Germany is woeful…..

[the other bob wilson]

Re: Omicron No more than a cold ?

Whichever government runs this country for the next 10/20 years we really need to invest in the nhs, more doctors, nurses, hospitals etc…the amount we have compared to a country like Germany is woeful…..

Agreed, but that will almost certainly mean increased taxes, will people vote for any party that runs on a ticket of taking more of their money?

[az city]

Re: Omicron No more than a cold ?

Whichever government runs this country for the next 10/20 years we really need to invest in the nhs, more doctors, nurses, hospitals etc…the amount we have compared to a country like Germany is woeful…..

https://data.worldbank.org/indicator...ocations=GB-DE