Covid tests

I think it's complete madness. There are so many places where staff are absent through illness at the moment, including hospitals and surgeries.

Two weeks ago my vet's practice (which is large with over 20 staff) had to close down completely for 3 days because a Covid outbreak had swept through the whole establishment. Pets were having to be taken elsewhere.

The current "lurgy outbreak" is wiping people out and overwhelming hospitals, there will be more cases of Long Covid affecting sufferers for years, and all we need is another variant from China (which has floored the population there) and we will have to have another lockdown.

When will there be some common sense?

I think some people might just be over-reacting a bit...

“What could possibly go wrong?”
Horses, stable doors, and bolting spring to mind.

(I despair, will we/they never learn?)

No over reacting. No, none at all....

We've had the benefit of the vaccinations that people in China have not had. Let's not panic or let the media panic us.

From that well known sensationalist rag, the FT

Chinese officials estimate about 250mn people, or 18 per cent of the population, were infected with Covid-19 in the first 20 days of December, as Beijing abruptly dismantled restrictions that had contained the disease for almost three years
The estimates — including 37mn people, or 2.6 per cent of the population, who were infected on Tuesday alone — were revealed by Sun Yang, a deputy director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention in a Wednesday health briefing, said two people familiar with the matter.
Sun said the rate of Covid’s spread in the country was still rising and estimated that more than half of the population in Beijing and Sichuan were already infected

Or, to paraphrase..

"All physical restrictions lifted suddenly in under-vaccinated population after three years and disease spreads thought it"

Aveline is right.

I agree with Volver (it’s becoming a bit if a habit🤣) and Aveline

China has had a zero Covid policy for over two years, so no real chance to build up any natural immunity along with low levels of vaccinations. Those at the top of the Chinese Government have begun to realise that they cannot cage the population any longer.

Must be a slow news day.

I guess we'll get a helpful demonstration of the effectiveness of vaccination.

If China has been so cautious, why didn't they vaccinate?

Whilst I think you’re right volver in that there is a tendency to overreact, perhaps in particular in the demographic that reads Gransnet ( and not being ageist here, just speaking from the experience of reading previous Covid threads) I still think there is a valid point in that our government appears to be dragging its feet yet again. To test people arriving from China would seem to be a sensible way forward, whilst continuing to encourage the population to take up the offer of vaccinations and boosters. I read a while ago that the over 75s were not taking up the offer of the fourth booster in the desired numbers, I forget the actual percentage who had availed themselves of the booster but it was, whilst a majority of the age group, still leaving a very significant number of over 75s who had not accepted the offer.
This is happening against the background that the government are stopping the reporting of the number of Covid cases as from January. I believe the data will still be available from the ONS but people will need to search for it. The likelihood is that most won’t bother and complacency could set in within the general population even if not amongst Gransnetters. Complacency among the population means fewer wearing masks, fewer sanitising, fewer testing, and most importantly fewer staying up to date with their vaccinations, set alongside complacency from our government which could lead potentially to another big wave of Covid cases and even more worryingly, the development of another more serious variant.

Must be missing something.
Currently if any of us tests +ive we stay away from groups and particularly the vulnerable for a minimum of 5 days. As those who have missed Christmas with their family know only too well.
Yes, most of us are vaccinated but we know that doesn’t prevent infection, just minimise the risks and effect but 1) for very good reason, some people till have to take special care and 2) for their own reasons, not everyboy is vaccinated.
All I am raising an eyebrow at is unrestricted and untested travel to other countries. How is that over reacting??
We might as well throw our LFTs in the bin and forget testing altogether.
Oh, but we did that back in the early days of the pandemic didn’t we because the system couldn’t cope with the number of tests?
The vaccine has made a difference of life or death for the vast majority of those who catch Covid - but wouldn’t it be better not to expose swathes of the world population to it altogether?
Not forgetting the possibility of new variants where COVID is running virtually unchecked through the population of China.

FarNorth

I guess we'll get a helpful demonstration of the effectiveness of vaccination.

If China has been so cautious, why didn't they vaccinate?

That’s a question for the Chinese Government.

From what I have read no matter how long you lock up any population when restrictions are lifted Covid finds a way through.

Vaccines are not 100% effective regarding transmission. If you are vaccinated and catch Covid they do help with the severity of the symptoms.

I’m in New Zealand at the moment (visiting family) and Covid is pretty rife here. For all the locking up, or down, however you choose to look at it, as soon as NZ opened up, Covid let rip. Their (very limited) ICUs are full and there are deaths every day. However, nothing like the scale it happened in the UK. Then again, there’s nothing like the size of the population here either. I think I’m correct in saying about 90% of their population is vaccinated but they’re not as on top of the booster programme as the UK. Nonetheless most people get Covid mildly as is the case in the UK. Up to now, we’ve avoided it here.

I can see little point in testing arrivals for Covid so they test positive then what we have no rules for isolation on positive tests.
We already have Covid here it's not as if we are trying to keep it out.
We in the UK are well vacinnated in the main so this will deal with any cases homegrown or otherwise.
We are now living with Covid along side all other transmissible viruses.

I think we have to understand that we are not in the same situation we were three years ago. Covid is not the scourge that it was. Some people will be affected badly if they get it, same as flu, Strep A and many other things. We can't keep treating Covid differently to everything else forever, just because of folk memory.

China thought, for some reason, they could keep zero Covid forever. They were incarcerating people in their homes, in department stores, in schools, if just one person tested positive. Even the Chinese people, who I believe are more amenable to the diktats of their government than we are, were getting fed up of that, when nearly every other country in the world is relying on vaccination.

About half a dozen countries have decided to test travellers from China. Which means a couple of hundred haven't. This country hasn't ruled it out, they have said they are not doing it right now but they are keeping an eye on things.

But here we are, talking about lockdowns and new variants. Its not proportionate. I think it is a function of the demographics of contributors to this forum, I agree maddyone. I hope you are having a fabulous time in New Zealand!!

I don't know anyone who is still testing, is this commonplace? The tests are really expensive to buy too

My bigger issue with anything coming out of China is whether or not it is true. Remember way back when the rest of the world was dealing with the epidemic and China announced total deaths of just over 3,500? Yeah right.

FarNorth

I guess we'll get a helpful demonstration of the effectiveness of vaccination.

If China has been so cautious, why didn't they vaccinate?

I think they were determined to use their own vaccine which didn’twork very well until they realised it did work well but only after three doses. So they’re playing catch-up.

Here we go again, burying our heads in the sand. Even though the majority of the population has had the jab we are still getting covid. What is wrong with taking precautions so that we don’t end up in the mess like we did before

Because we won't end up in the mess we were before.

If people want to believe that we will, then they can. But it is entirely unfair to spread doom, gloom and despondency about something that will not happen. It negatively affects people's mental states and those rending their hair and prophesying doom should remember that.

Not forgetting the possibility of new variants where COVID is running virtually unchecked through the population of China.

I read, I think in ‘The Atlantic’, that a new variant is unlikely to emerge from China. That’s because it would have to be even more virulent and widespread than the current variant, which given the numbers right now would be extremely difficult.

volver

I think some people might just be over-reacting a bit...

I'm almost always in agreement with you Volver. But all of my friends in China have COVID. I think we should be testing anyone coming in from China and quarentining positive cases.

I feel we're in groundhog day.

maddyone told us above that Covid is rife in New Zealand. Should we be testing and quarantining everybody coming in from New Zealand?

Are we quarantining anybody in the UK that tests positive for Covid? (No, we're not. We're telling them to stay at home for a few days if they feel unwell.)

Now we may or may not agree with all this, but those are the rules.