Stats on the up

Saetana

Covid is here to stay - just like flu and colds (and no I am not comparing severity of the various rhino and coronaviruses) - we have to learn to live with it as we cannot keep locking down every time there is a crisis. I know the numbers are smaller in Australia and New Zealand but what they are doing (locking down for a week or two every time there are a few cases) is NOT sustainable. We are double vaccinated and still wearing masks on buses and in shops. I honestly do not see the point of any more lockdowns - all they did was help to slow the progress, they did nothing to stop the disease in its tracks.

What do you mean by "learn to live with it"?

rosie1959

We do still have a big Covid problem LovelyLady but having had both vacinations life has to go on.
I may still catch it but if the vacination is doing its job I shouldn't end up pushing up daisies
I enjoy holidays life has to be worth living been away 3 times this year and still here to tell the tale
Everyone has to make their own choices I didn't feel any more at risk in a hotel than going about my daily life

What do you mean by "life has to go on"?

Saetana You are implying that it is inevitable that everybody will eventually be infected, which is not true.

growstuff

Saetana

Covid is here to stay - just like flu and colds (and no I am not comparing severity of the various rhino and coronaviruses) - we have to learn to live with it as we cannot keep locking down every time there is a crisis. I know the numbers are smaller in Australia and New Zealand but what they are doing (locking down for a week or two every time there are a few cases) is NOT sustainable. We are double vaccinated and still wearing masks on buses and in shops. I honestly do not see the point of any more lockdowns - all they did was help to slow the progress, they did nothing to stop the disease in its tracks.

What do you mean by "learn to live with it"?

For some reason it suddenly made me remember,, decades after reading Catch 22 , ‘he decided to live forever or die in the attempt’. There is a sort of insanity about the pandemic imo.

Israel has 78% of age 12 years and over double vaccinated and have started booster vaccines (3rd dose).

It is a clever virus - that's nature - how to avoid detection.

Would we go out of the house of we had measles? Or chicken pox? - both transmissible diseases that occasionally have side effects but quite often make us so ill, we don't want to go out. - Unlike Covid.

It’s a bit of a Typhoid Mary situation isn’t it. Lots of people not feeling particularly ill infecting other people and possibly killing them. On top of that is the Russian Roullette aspect of the virus whereby none of us know whether it will affect us mildly or badly.

I thought it a simple statement Growstuff life does have to go on I woke up this morning grateful for another day. There have been times in my life many years ago when this wasn’t true.
Yes there is Covid but it’s not the most important thing looking after yourself mentally as well as physically is just as important

The double vaccination rate in Israel is 60.4% according to the data I found Ro60, which is lower than UK rates. (Our World in Data).

One point I am trying to make is that as a country we are in a bad position with the colder months approaching. The media messages are contradictory, some even saying this week we are post Covid. If only. Our rates are climbing steadily when they should be so much lower. Or could have been if it had been better managed.

Gwynyth I too am very worried about these mass gatherings. My dear son in law and a couple of his friends are off this weekend to a music festival which they missed out on last year. I’m praying he doesn’t catch anything however I’m confident he’ll take all the relevant safety precautions. Still, I’ll not be comfortable until he returns home safely.

What’s a MIL to do but worry about her SIL

Elizabeth my son is off to the Isle of Wight festival they have mitigated all they can by booking a tent in the Premier area so less people further apart and better toilet facilities
But as he would point out he could catch it anywhere work socialising or off his school age children
He takes regular lateral flow tests anyway so he will do this before he arrives and on his return
He is double vaccinated

growstuff

Saetana You are implying that it is inevitable that everybody will eventually be infected, which is not true.

Well, I think you'll find...

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-58334835

...we need to get used to Covid circulating.

Experts have been clear we should expect to be infected repeatedly over our lifetimes.

But each reinfection should be milder than the previous one.

Hence - life goes on and we have to learn to live with it.

Same answer, no matter how many times you ask.

My son is attending the IoW festival too. Luckily he is renting a little apartment over there. For those few days he says he won't be dreading catching covid. He will be living the life he wants to alongside it. Most of us are programmed to put the bad things to the back of our minds.

MayBee70 Typhoid Mary exactly!

Casdon I looked again and find Israel data does vary but so does the way it's analysed.
Our data looks at adults; theirs is whole population so this is why 60%/ 78% is higher & Israel mooted as being one of the most vaccinated countries.
Doses per 100 population is interesting. So many countries ahead of us even Spain I see.

You’re right Ro60 it does vary by data site - I think UK and Israel are broadly comparable, they approved vaccinating secondary school age children last week as well. This was the whole population information I found.
ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations

Covid has always been a disease of the poorer people but even at music festivals people can do more to minimise their risk of catching it. I don’t know what to think about that. Sensible, yes, but fair? I have visions of them carrying little bouquets of flowers and herbs to lessen their risk of catching the plague #notrocknrollisit

We heard yesterday that an elderly neighbour’s 2 siblings, one of whom lives with him, have been taken to hospital with Covid. Neighbour himself tested positive and is isolating, alone. He’s now not answering the phone so we don’t know whether he’s too ill or has followed siblings to hospital. Luckily someone has a key and will check.

Apparently all 3 were unvaccinated, because they ‘weren’t sure’ about having it. ?

Alegrias1

growstuff

Saetana You are implying that it is inevitable that everybody will eventually be infected, which is not true.

Well, I think you'll find...

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-58334835

...we need to get used to Covid circulating.

Experts have been clear we should expect to be infected repeatedly over our lifetimes.

But each reinfection should be milder than the previous one.

Hence - life goes on and we have to learn to live with it.

Same answer, no matter how many times you ask.

I'm a bit at you using the BBC as your QED, Alegrias.

I see 'learning to live with it' as doing everything possible to mitigate the risk of infection, not letting it wash over you, several times...

Anecdote, not data, but most people I've spoken to who have had Covid have said it's awful and they wouldn't wish it on their worst enemy. I really don't want to experience that first hand.

MaizieD neither do I. A young lady who works the bar for us had it three weeks ago having had the first vaccine, and felt so ill she thought she would end up in hospital. Her friend was the same. They went to a nightclub for her 18th birthday which she says is where she got it. She said it was nothing like flu but far far worse.

Last night she was working the bar there was a party of about 70 for someone who died of Covid a year ago. No face masks, crowding the bar, and hugging. Dd was on the bar too but escaped to the kitchen as much as possible and now doing lateral test in case. She has been very careful and sensible. Others think it’s all over.

Gb is falling behind Europe in the Covid stakes. Well that’s no surprise with the way too many people here just throw caution to the wind and think we are back to normal. Their complacency is staggering.

I think the figures are going up because people are dropping their guard. I don’t agree with any further lockdowns unless the winter seriously affects things, but I do think that going into the winter months there should be an advertising campaign to remind people that Covid hasn’t gone away and to maybe reiterate the most sensible precautions to take.

I have noticed that the BBC news has, for some reason, changed the stats it uses to report the percentage of the population who have had just one then both doses of a vaccine.

This happened over a week ago and now the percentages are slightly lower (although still increasing of course).

I’m not sure what the reasoning was behind this, unless anyone can throw light on it?

JenniferEccles

I have noticed that the BBC news has, for some reason, changed the stats it uses to report the percentage of the population who have had just one then both doses of a vaccine.

This happened over a week ago and now the percentages are slightly lower (although still increasing of course).

I’m not sure what the reasoning was behind this, unless anyone can throw light on it?

16 and over instead of 18 and over? Larger pool of people.

The data is pretty consistent over time, but you have to read the explanations. Also the data was updated recently to take account of people who had moved into the next age group up, if necessary.

MaizieD

Alegrias1

growstuff

Saetana You are implying that it is inevitable that everybody will eventually be infected, which is not true.

Well, I think you'll find...

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-58334835

...we need to get used to Covid circulating.

Experts have been clear we should expect to be infected repeatedly over our lifetimes.

But each reinfection should be milder than the previous one.

Hence - life goes on and we have to learn to live with it.

Same answer, no matter how many times you ask.

I'm a bit at you using the BBC as your QED, Alegrias.

I see 'learning to live with it' as doing everything possible to mitigate the risk of infection, not letting it wash over you, several times...

Anecdote, not data, but most people I've spoken to who have had Covid have said it's awful and they wouldn't wish it on their worst enemy. I really don't want to experience that first hand.

Well let me explain MaizieD

I quote Nick Triggle, who is pretty much the only journalist from the BBC or anywhere else, normally, who doesn’t think that they are there to parrot the government's message, or alternatively to terrify us into hiding in our houses for evermore. His reports throughout this pandemic have been measured and realistic, and any predictions have usually been shown to be accurate. He also stays away from triggering and provocative phrases like “letting it wash over you”. He quotes several "experts". Now there's a word that can get me going.

Data, not anecdote. 1/3 of people who have Covid have no symptoms at all. Its stands to reason that nobody wants to catch a potentially serious disease, but if “living with it” means curtailing my life for the next 20 years, that ain’t going to happen.

I find it best to read what someone is saying, apply some critical thought, check the sources and decide for myself, rather that thinking its questionable just because its the BBC/Sky/Mail/Guardian/GB News.

Although I know people who have had relatives die from covid. Those I know in my age group 45-55 who have had it (and their children adult and younger) MOST have said it wasn't very nice but no one has said it has been the most ill they have ever been. My one relative has some sort of long covid though, which seems worse than the initial infection and I think it is the randomness of illness/infection/long term outcomes which is the most worrying. I must admit I've started to do more stuff but witnessing others behaviour maybe not as much as most people but I guess my adult children live the life I'd like to be leading...

*but if “living with it” means curtailing my life for the next 20 years, that ain’t going to happen.^

'Curtailing' is a highly subjective concept Alegrias. Perhaps you could clarify what you mean by it, then we can see why you're getting wound up by other people's desire for caution.