Perhaps our situation with covid is looking up

Sadly misplaced optimism?

Is optimism not allowed? Well I've got some and I'm holding on to it. Because if we're not allowed optimism, we may as well all lie down now, turn our faces to the wall and give up the ghost.

I think everybody is aware that the NHS is in trouble, that there are difficult weeks ahead, but we're not children who need to be warned that things are difficult and so we'd better behave.

Absolutely Alegrias. if we have no optimism at all then we have no hope. If we have no hope, then mental health suffers. There is a tsunami of mental health problems out there and in order to prevent ourselves from falling down into that hole we need to have hope for the future. We will get through the next couple of months by taking as much care as possible, and then spring and summer will arrive. There’s always less virus in the summer. I shall use the next couple of months planning a holiday or holidays for next summer. Just maybe New Zealand will open up as planned and we’ll be able to visit our daughter and family out there.

I think the biggest problem at the moment is shortage of NHS staff due to isolating, either because covid positive themselves or one of their family. I know 2 nurses and 3 doctors who have all been off work recently because their children had it. It's so transmissible at the moment.

This is an aside from the main thread but still valid, I think.
There was a letter in The Times a week or two ago suggesting that there should be a separate hospital for anti vaxers that catch the virus and need hospital care, staffed by NHS unvaccinated staff.
If I was hospitalised (for any reason) I would not want to be looked after by anyone who was not fully vaccinated.

I'm on my 5th day of isolation with Covid. My symptoms are mild, I have had my 2 vaccinations and my booster. I'm extremely thankful for that as I believe if I'd got Covid last year I may not have been so lucky. Yes, cases may be rising but I do not believe deaths are.

Myself, husband and two sons were all positive over Xmas, DH ended up in hospital for three days with it, stuck in a white tent being fed and seen only a couple times each day, I couldn’t get through on ward phone so had no idea what was happening to him, if he’d have had some clothes with him he’d have walked out. He had no idea what was happening until a matron came on duty gave a few people a telling off and he was discharged few hours later. I know they’re under stress but I was in complete meltdown as I thought it was more serious than it was. He’s home now and ok but exhausted as he had no sleep for three days. We’ve now all tested negative thank goodness. Everyone needs to get their jabs and boosters to keep all safe.

I'm not for or against Boris, but we will never know how anyone else would have handled things. The saying goes something like 'don't criticise anyone unless you've walked a mile in their shoes.' I certainly wouldn't have liked to have been faced with his problems!

We do know though. We know how the leaders of every other country in the world have handled it. That gives us a clue.

I thought the nightingale hospitals were built last year to cope with pandemic.

The reason they were not used is because shortage of staff to man them.

This time around it seems there will probably be even less staff .

As usual, the government are too little, too late.

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?

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?

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

Well said Grecian girl.

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.

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?

@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.

How about Germany Milliedog?

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

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

‘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.

Sorry, posted to wrong thread.

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.

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.

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.

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.