Covid tests

JaneJudge

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

Really expensive? About £7-8 max for a box of five.
Everybody I know still tests when necessary and no, we are not hypochondriacs, just responsible.

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.)
1) we test and the onus is on the “patient” to behave responsibly, self quarantining or at least avoiding group activities, hospitals, doctors, dentists, vulnerable people, care homes, new babies - need I go on?
2) it is not simply a case of “feeling unwell” or have you missed the point altogether?

It reads to me as if China is happy to send people with Covid out into the world.
A kind of biological warfare?

Why do our Govt want to stick their heads in the sand again?

I am one of the vulnerable people with chronic illneses that caught Covid Mar 2020.
I have never properly recovered. I now have almost zero energy and have far more trouble with Asthma and COPD.

I am afraid. The Govt not collecting data is very frightening as we will never know how much of a risk a trip outside will be.

From the information I have read the WHO have said that they are unable to make a comprehensive risk assessment about the situation in China because there is a lack of data, about spread, deaths, and circulating variants.

What is known is that their elderly population is under vaccinated and the vaccines commonly used in China appear less effective than the mNRA vaccines used elsewhere. What is also unknown is whether any circulating variants are different in response to vaccines.

We are obviously in a better situation in U.K. since widespread effective vaccination, and coronavirus generally is now a much less serious illness.

Viruses will always evolve, and it is not really overreacting to remain mindful of the possibility of more harmful variants appearing, not just of coronavirus, but really important to maintain a sense of balance, unless we want to live in a constant anxiety state.

Oh my goodness, I live in a tourist hotspot for the Chinese. Coach loads are dropped off at the local Chinese restaurants before or after visiting the Chateau. I don’t use these feeding places but the germs will be in the air to infect the local population. Don’t understand why Macron hasn’t put a covid test barrier.

Or it's going to hit us all over again.

Its really not.

Yes, bring back pre and post flight testing. Or it's going to hit us all over again.

Out of my friendship group, it isn't the Chinese natives that are the issue, they're staying put. But the ex pat's are travelling all over the world, then coming down with COVID. So far in the UK, Italy and Croatia. Talk about spreading it far and wide!

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.

I feel we're in groundhog day.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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 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’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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

Or, to paraphrase..

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

Aveline is right.