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Why are there around thirty thousand new COVID-19 cases reported every day in the UK?

(149 Posts)
ElderlyPerson Wed 22-Sep-21 16:31:43

I may be missing something that is well-known to others or perhaps seen as obvious, but I am genuinely puzzled as to why, with the pandemic having been a top public concern for 18 months now, there are around thirty thousand new cases being reported every day in the UK.

Is there an answer?

growstuff Sun 26-Sep-21 23:20:24

effalump

'Cases' and Transmissability' doesn't really mean much. We all know how flawed the PCR test is so a 'case' could be a false positive or even if a true positive it doesn't mean the person is going to end up in ICU on a ventilator. Again 'transmissability' just means it easily caught, as is the common cold, but doesn't necessarily mean 'deadly'.

No, we don't know how flawed the PCR test is - maybe you should stop spreading myths. It's highly unlikely that a PCR test is a false positive.

I think most of us know the difference between transmissible and deadly. I'm not sure you understand what either means.

effalump Sun 26-Sep-21 21:16:13

'Cases' and Transmissability' doesn't really mean much. We all know how flawed the PCR test is so a 'case' could be a false positive or even if a true positive it doesn't mean the person is going to end up in ICU on a ventilator. Again 'transmissability' just means it easily caught, as is the common cold, but doesn't necessarily mean 'deadly'.

Mamie Sun 26-Sep-21 06:06:42

Same here MOnica. Our unvaccinated 15 year old granddaughter in England now has Covid. There are 93 cases in her year group. Our younger grandchildren in Spain went back to school fully vaccinated. The vast majority of 12-17 here in France have been vaccinated. Why has England been so slow?

Callistemon Sat 25-Sep-21 20:01:59

All the people I know that have it have caught it from schoolchildren.

The people I have heard of recently have caught it in hospital, where they went for unrelated treatment.

MayBee70 Sat 25-Sep-21 19:58:26

Why on earth didn’t they start vaccinating the 12 year olds in the school holidays? All the people I know that have it have caught it from schoolchildren. My daughter is going on holiday at half term but her son isn’t getting his vaccination for 2 more weeks. She gave a lift to a boy who came down with it but she thankfully didn’t catch it.

growstuff Sat 25-Sep-21 19:01:42

I don't know how the vaccinations for 12-15 year olds are being organised. I have two 15 year old (online) pupils. One goes to an independent school and is being vaccinated next week. The other goes to a state school about five miles away from the other school, but her school hasn't been notified of any plans.

M0nica Sat 25-Sep-21 18:06:49

Having had no one we know catch COVID, so far. This week we have been caught up with. Our vaccinated DDiL is down with it, caught from one of DGS's friends and today our unvaccinated 14 year old DGD has gone down with it as well.

She was set to have the vaccination, the moment it was offered to her, but vaccinations had yet to start at her school.

MayBee70 Sat 25-Sep-21 13:24:03

Even India seem to be dealing with covid very well now.

Juicywords Sat 25-Sep-21 11:18:57

Tim Spector from the Zoe Study is concerned about the UK’s management of Covid (“do you have a cough or cold”).

He says our hospitalisation rate is 2 to 5 times larger then other European countries and we need to significantly reduce this to deal with the massive NHS backlog.

He’s worried about our vaccination rate. We’ve been overtaken by many European countries. Although Germany has a lower rate of vaccination their hospitalisations are much lower. They have taken a “double approach” with medical grade masks required in shops and on public transport, and also vaccination passports for restaurants, hairdressers, events etc. Tim says both theses are required, rather than rely just on one measure, and we should learn from the successes and failures of countries, rather than being complacent.

lemsip Sat 25-Sep-21 08:32:41

I will continue to wear a mask in shops, I won't wait to be asked too!
My singing group has started meeting again with chairs all 2 metres apart and masked (yes you can sing masked)....but, I am shocked at how slack adults are at ignoring the rules. One person coming right up to me to show photos unmasked... I told her to go away. I won't go back......

growstuff Sat 25-Sep-21 06:52:38

They do.

www.gov.uk/government/statistics/weekly-national-flu-reports-2019-to-2020-season

They have also compared deaths from flu and Covid.

www.gov.uk/government/statistics/weekly-national-flu-reports-2019-to-2020-season

In a bad flu year on average around 30,000 people in the UK die from flu and pneumonia, with a loss of around 250,000 life years. This is a sixth of the life years lost to COVID-19.

www.health.org.uk/publications/long-reads/one-year-on-three-myths-about-COVID-19-that-the-data-proved-wrong

Kim19 Sat 25-Sep-21 03:23:56

Wish they would give a reciprocal list as to how many new cases of flu we have every day so we could get this into some kind of perspective

growstuff Sat 25-Sep-21 01:58:55

1 in 98 of 10-14 year olds tested positive in the preceding week. It's just over 1.5 in 100 in Oxford and just under 3.5 in 100 (ie over 1 in 30) in Kettering.

That's why case rates are still so high.

Margiknot Fri 24-Sep-21 23:11:06

I read a helpful paper written for nurses explaining the statistics. If absolutely every one was fully vaccinated ( bearing in mind no vaccine is fully effective for everyone- although the Covid vaccines are remarkably effective for most) then all the cases of infection would be in people who have been vacccinated. The second point was that people with good immunity to Covid ( however acquired) can get infected but infection does not necessarily mean getting the disease. Most people with good Covid immunity when exposed to the infection may get the infection but will then start to fight it off- either getting just a bit of tiredness as their body gears up or mild illness. This happens when we get colds. Mostly we are used to colds and our bodies mostly fight them off in a week or so, but populations unused to colds can get very sick when first exposed.
So fully vaccinated people can get infected but most will not get fully affected by the disease. A small percentage of people will get the disease because vaccines are not 100% effective. In addition immunity to some disease can fade with time if we don’t get a top up.
I don’t know if that helps!

Alegrias1 Fri 24-Sep-21 08:11:21

I think you've got the wrong end of the stick M0nica.

51,000 people died of covid in England in the first six months of the year.

Of those, 458 were fully vaccinated, less than 1%

Of those 458, 59 had no underlying comorbidities the exact opposite of what you said. So your 1:760,000 is not a useful measure.

Of course the proportion of people who died when fully vaccinated is impacted by the fact that the proportion of vaccinated people changed so greatly during the period of the assessment, so it is likely to go up.

Alegrias1 Fri 24-Sep-21 07:59:06

Choosing not to be proactive.

That's an odd way to run a country.

Urmstongran Fri 24-Sep-21 07:43:47

At least the Scottish government attempts to be proactive, something the English government is incapable of

Not ’incapable’ MayBee. Try ‘chose not to’. There, fixed that for you.

Actually the Scottish hospitality industry are incandescent at Sturgeon’s ruling.

growstuff Fri 24-Sep-21 05:05:24

This graph with data from gov.uk up to 25 September shows very clearly that the big rise in cases is in under 14 year olds, who haven't been vaccinated. The increase became steeper when schools in Scotland and some in England returned after the summer break. 15-19 year olds, many of whom have had at least one dose of the vaccine, show a steep decrease. Maybe it's a coincidence, but I doubt it.

I hope that answers the OP. Take under 14 year olds out of the equation and the number of new cases would be almost halved. Vaccinate them and the country really would be in a situation where Covid was a relatively rare condition and maybe, with a couple of precautions, the country really could get back to normal.

Callistemon Thu 23-Sep-21 22:52:55

Constant reminders over the loudspeaker in Aldi (in Wales) today to put on a mask, or you would be escorted from the building.

growstuff Thu 23-Sep-21 22:47:59

MOnica Once again, over 38% of the cases in the UK (10,770 cases) are in the 10-19 group. Over half of the people in that group haven't even been offered a vaccine to date. Most of the ones in the 16-19 group have only been offered one dose so far. Another 13.45% of cases were in under 9s. That means that over half the UK cases are currently in under 19 year olds. You can't really claim that they have been voluntarily indulging in risky behaviour, unless you count being forced to go to school or college, where there almost no mitigations.

Josianne Thu 23-Sep-21 20:56:39

M0nica

I put on a mask when requested. At B&Q this afternoon the man on the door was handing out masks if you wanted one. In other words B&Q, or my local branch wanted me to wear one. So I did.

Brewers, Waitrose, Sainsburies and others were clearly not bothered, so I didn't.

If the staff are wearing masks or there is a notice on the door encouraging customers to wear masks, then I think it is only courteous to them to wear yours.

M0nica Thu 23-Sep-21 20:52:32

No vaccination is 100%. Both my DC had all their vaccinations but both had whooping cough and one had measles.

Both illnesses were very mild and the doctor was unfazed saying that a proportion of those vaccinated always got these illnesses.

The reason 30,000 people get COVID every day is because so many people have not had the vaccination and such people are usually those who indulge in risky behaviour, going to packed venues, not keeping a distance and other dangerous behaviour. 80% of those getting COVID are not vaccinated and only 59 vaccinated people have died of the illness and all had underlying health conditions that predisposed them to getting the disease seriously.

45 million people have had both vaccinated and anothe 4 million have had one and await the second. This gives a death rate of 1:760,000.

M0nica Thu 23-Sep-21 20:36:30

I put on a mask when requested. At B&Q this afternoon the man on the door was handing out masks if you wanted one. In other words B&Q, or my local branch wanted me to wear one. So I did.

Brewers, Waitrose, Sainsburies and others were clearly not bothered, so I didn't.

Hellsbelles Thu 23-Sep-21 19:49:07

Masks no longer compulsory in indoor places , less social distancing , people being told all is ok because of vaccines , complacency . Put them all together = high numbers .

Kryptonite Thu 23-Sep-21 19:41:37

I am one of the few people still wearing a mask in the large secondary school where I work. Feeling rather outnumbered, but will continue since I wear a mask in all other public indoor settings. It may be my imagination, but I think I am getting better treatment from shop assistants (for example) who see me wearing my mask. Being 'different' at school feels a bit more difficult ironically, even though it's a crowded environment. It's funny how others seem to find me odd for doing this. I was never one for following the crowd anyway.