Perhaps our situation with covid is looking up

Alegrias 1. Who? No £5 I'm afraid. Try a lucky dip on the Lottery tonight. Better odds. :-)

The figures can be misleading. My granddaughter was admitted to hospital yesterday with an orthopaedic issue and although she had done a rapid flow test before going and was negative, when she had her PCR test in hoist all she was positive. Presumable she will count as someone admitted to hospital with covid. She was - but that wasn’t the reason for her admission. Presumably there are others in a similar situation.

if the government had made it compulory that every one had to have the jasb by law we would be in the situition we are now 0r follow the hong kong way if you are offered the jab and refuse it you will have to get over it at your home they will not be taken to hospital the covid is only spreading due to rhe minority of selfish people in the uk I still see people without a mask in some supermakets and supermarket staff wake up uk stop blaming the gocernment we should be advertising the number of deaths in the media and on television every day and prosicute body who states the covid is not a problem

I believe Covid will always be problematic but as time goes on will affect far fewer people . The knock on effect though will take many years to stabilise. The economy,the health service as we previously knew it, the management of long term health issues, education and the healthy development of young minds sadly have all suffered. Its going to take a very long time to heal that and scars, I fear will always be there

micmc47

Reality check needed here, I think. Didn't know that ostriches could whistle in the dark, but some most certainly are...

You are Deepti Gurdasani and I claim my £5.

Most doctors are saying that people are going into hospital but being discharged a few days later. So the numbers are going up for admissions but not recording discharges.

If all hospital appointments and procedures return to at least what they were, and they were by no means great, two years ago; if GPs can hold face to face consultations without a 3 week wait then I will
agree Omicron is no longer a threat to us all living our life as normal. Until then the daily barrage of stats mean nothing to me. I have spent nearly two years helping DH with his phone Drs and Oncology Consultant appointments (he is hearing impaired) which basically turn into my appointments as I have to relay questions to DH and then relay answer to professional. Two very major issues not spotted as medics didn't actually see DH. Needed ambulance and hospital treatment. So, when folk start debating whether the information provided by the media on Covid is accurate I find it so juvenile I have to laugh.

Reality check needed here, I think. Didn't know that ostriches could whistle in the dark, but some most certainly are...

Yes we too watched the Royal Institution Lectures and they were very good. We'll done to JVT for his New Year Honour.

Might be worth considering that some areas are much worse than others. We are living in the South East and we know a number of families suffering at the moment. It seems to be everywhere and far higher numbers than in the last couple of years.

I have been watching with great interest, a scientific programme with SIR Jonathan Von Tham who has explained in plain terms to an audience of younger people, among other things how a PCR test is done ,showing models full scale ones, also the LFT. The PCR test takes three hours to process, so I think with the amount they are testing a 24 hour result would be very optimistic, however we must stay positive and optimistic.Incidentally I learnt a great deal from this programme well done Sir Jonathan.

Died from covid - died with covid - simple distinction that isn't being made in the way this government is choosing to publish figures. Died from covid is one thing - but died with covid is quite different and in many cases the death is totally unrelated.

The reporting of these figures on a daily basis, totally crowding out other important news is disgraceful - we've never behaved like this with the common cold or even flu so the question is why are we being given this information - even on this thread there is confusion about such a simple matter as to whether deaths are rising or falling. All of this is a smokescreen to stop the lobbies that still want to raise the issue of NHS funding, of staff shortages, of Brexit, of government sleaze - all we can talk about is deaths from something (omicron) which may be less harmful in the big picture than flu. I think we are all losing the plot here.

Two things.

I'd feel a lot more optimistic if Johnson had the backbone to resist the pressure from his rebellious backbenchers, not to mention the ever-growing clamour from the anti-vaxxer mobs led by the likes of Piers Corbyn - who, according to a news report, recently stormed a vaccination hub and attempted to assault the staff. I quite understand people's personal hesitancy about subjecting themselves to a novel vaccine and who are worried about possible side effects, but these gangs of thugs are something else.

IMO Johnson is trying to 'keep the peace' by appeasing them and at the same time placate the rest of us through appeals to 'personal responsibility', thus avoiding having to take any decisions which might affect his popularity and the popularity of the party. He has, I believe, taken the easy way out. And it's pointless speculating whether any other leader would have done better - or worse - because we simply don't know. The Tories are in charge and the buck stops with them.

... and if the media would stop its sensational 'shock-horror' headlines and report in a more sober and less dramatic manner I think people would feel more confident about the future. It does seem that although Omicron is more contagious, its effect is, generally speaking, less virulent.

We need the more thoughtful considerations of the scientists, published without drama... not some media hack's startling interpretations...

Personally, I am optimistic - mostly because it seems the majority are acting responsibly, and because of the dedication of those who work in the NHS. And because of the sober, measured language of the scientists who mostly seem to want to simply present the facts without the drama.

Sorry, posted to wrong thread.

‘There’s lies, damn lies and then there’s statistics’- who said that? I think they are right! Statistics can always be massaged to prove pretty much any point of view! Covid is here to stay. We must deal with it as best we can; vaccines and antivirals make a huge difference especially for the vulnerable. We must accept the fact it will become endemic, like ‘flu, and prepare to deal with it as we do that virus. And stop the scare stories, the misleading ‘information’ and statistics constantly churned out by a gleeful media (who incidentally has MANY other serious stuff to report on, Ukraine and Taiwan being just two!). Then perhaps this national obsession with Covid will be ramped down, many poor souls will no longer live in fear and the economy and country can begin to recover from this episode in history-which put into context, is what it will be remembered as a century from now.

there are some medicines that stop covid developing further now so that might help, rates will also appear to fall if there are no tests available, this gov't have managed this situation badly, it isn't just boris, how can we have insufficient tests when Wales has many? More needed to be ordered months ago, this sooner we get rid of these self-serving liars running our gov't the better

I ordered some tests last week and received them within three days.....

How about Germany Milliedog?

@Barmeyoldbat
This is when it's useful to have an Italian speaking husband and a brother in the States. They've run out of tests in the area all round where my brother lives in Georgia and hospitals are full of Covid patients. Italy has soaring cases. France has huge numbers of Covid cases. Our government isn't alone at not handling some things well, but I've yet to hear if any country with similar demographics to ours that has done better.

I might be wrong but I thought the nightingale tents were to be used for recovering Covid patients prior to discharge or mild cases in order to free up the ICUs?

They don't test all the PCR tests to see what strain of the virus you have only a percentage so the figures could be higher for Omicron. I am carrying on with my life as usual taking precautions and I have been boosted. I work in a theatre and some audience members are not wearing masks when seated, they take them off when the lights go down which is not acceptable. It is very difficult to control. I wish you all a Happy New Year and lets hope we are over the worst of this pandemic.

Well said Grecian girl.

Micmac
You stay in your gloom and doom oh woe is me world, I’ll move forward to broad sunlit uplands.

Try to stay optimistic it’s all we’ve got at the moment to keep us going. Statistics are all ok if their right and it seems there different on different feeds. Remember people die with flu every year and that’s not reported and the statistics weren’t always right during the first COVID as it was put on most death certificate wasn’t it?

That’s a terrible idea pce612 as there would be no ICU, and no doctors who weren’t immune compromised in the fictional covid deniers hospital, so it wouldn’t save anybody's lives - or was that the idea the person writing to the Times had maybe?