Perhaps our situation with covid is looking up

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.

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'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!

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 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.

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 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.

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.

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.

It was great when the only people who had access to all the data were those directly involved with it. In winter more people die for all sorts of reasons and have done for centuries, often related to flu in the past, anyone remember good old flu? It also seems to be the case that no-one can die of anything other than Covid these days. In winter there are always more people absent from work so has the virus taken the place of flu? No-one ever made a great thing of being off with it.

Well said you.

Quite a few cases of sadly misplaced optimism here. We're far from out of the woods yet, and even if this latest virus appears less extreme than the Delta variant, its much-increased infection rate may well cancel out any overall reduction in either hospitalisation or death rates. I worry that some of the more upbeat assessments may encourage people to let their guard down, which is the last thing we should do just now. Stay safe out there.

I'll post it again to make it clearer!

growstuff posted: I don't understand why any parent would want to put their child through that. My children were vaccinated for everything going as soon as they could.

The 'mumps party' was 40+ years ago, before there was a vaccination for mumps. Mothers of boys were keen for them to catch it at a young age as it was thought that if they caught mumps at teenage or older, it could cause sterility.

growstuff: PS. Measles hasn't been wiped out and there have been some severe outbreaks because children haven't been vaccinated.

Exactly what I said, growstuff.
There was an outbreak of measles at a city near us pre-Covid and notices in hospital outpatient clinics about it, warning patients.

Are you getting confused with what I quoted from EllanV?

Things are looking up?? A hospital local to us is converting the staff canteen and the physio gym into bedded wards in addition to the Nightingale 'Tent' on the car park. Unfortunately , they don't have enough staff in normal times so just hope none of you are admitted to this hospital.

The ^^ don't seem to be working - the first paragraph is quoting your post, growstuff.

I don't understand why any parent would want to put their child through that. My children were vaccinated for everything going as soon as they could.

The 'mumps party' was 40+ years ago, before there was a vaccination for mumps. Mothers of boys were keen for them to catch it at a young age as it was thought that if they caught mumps at teenage or older, it could cause sterility.

PS. Measles hasn't been wiped out and there have been some severe outbreaks because children haven't been vaccinated.

Exactly what I said, growstuff.
There was an outbreak of measles at a city near us pre-Covid and notices in hospital outpatient clinics about it, warning patients.

Are you getting confused with what I quoted from EllanV?

I agree and I am feeling optimistic now ?. Symptoms don't appear to be too bad now and I think it is losing it's hold. I don't believe everything on the news or what the politicians say, but I have my own thoughts.
Here's to a healthy and happy 2022.

Any immunity we have from being exposed to viruses in the past is negated by the fact that out thymus(sp) gland shrinks as we get older and it’s the gland that protects us. It’s why there were so many deaths from covid amongst older people. I only know this because I read an article about it before the pandemic and it said that that the only way to have a thymus gland as effective as a young person was if you did a lot of sport, the best being cycling. It stuck in my mind because my ex is a keen cyclist and cycled from John’o’Groats to Lands end when he was 70 and I thought to myself ‘well, he’s ok then!’ As for measles the vaccine is only effective if a certain amount of children have it, something like 80% (?) so if many people don’t let their children have it it endangers everyone. This is all from memory and I’m happy to be corrected.

Gwenisgreat1

I do feel if -everyone- and I mean -everyone- was vaccinated and wore masks this would die out quickly, but since some choose not to, the disease will produce another variant, milder than the last. then another milder than the previous and so on until it's just a mild inconveniemce. it could take another year or two for this to happen. That's my feelings on the matter.

Unfortunately, mutations don't work like that. Thankfully, it does appear that Omicron is causing fewer deaths, although it doesn't mean that it's not causing problems with staff absences, etc.

Mutations are happening all the time. Many of them aren't viable and just disappear. It's very likely that a new one will appear which is more transmissible than Omicron. It would be great if it causes milder symptoms than previous variants, but unfortunately there is no guarantee of that. It's just as likely that a new variant could cause more severe symptoms.

Calistemon

^No vaccinations against any of these illnesses then, until measles reared its ugly head and a vaccination programme helped to wipe it out and that's been on-going since as the virus/ bacteria which caused it mutated and created an unwanted illness in children of modern day age.^

I remember my neighbour sending her children round to play with mine when mine had mumps.

However, I don't think measles was ever eradicated and it was the scare about the MMR vaccine which resulted in more cases of measles as so many parents were frightened to have their babies vaccinated.

I'm a bit confused about the claims being made about childhood vaccinations. I had a fairly lengthy stay in hospital as a child, after developing encephalitis as a result of mumps. I don't remember that much about it, because I was very seriously ill, but I know my parents were worried and I was lucky to survive without brain damage.

I don't understand why any parent would want to put their child through that. My children were vaccinated for everything going as soon as they could.

PS. Measles hasn't been wiped out and there have been some severe outbreaks because children haven't been vaccinated.

EllanVannin I'm afraid you are wrong that older people have built up an immunity to Covid by being previously infected with other viruses.

Immunity and the different ways the body fights infection is very complicated, which is why people react in different ways. However, it just isn't possible to build up immunity to a novel virus without vaccination or infection with the same virus.

Research is suggesting that Omicron uses different pathways from other variants to infect vital organs, which is possibly why children are being more severely affected by Omicron than by Delta. It seems to attack different organs, which is why symptoms are being reported as different.

EllanVannin I was very interested in your post about people’s previous vaccinations and immunity.
Since the beginning of the pandemic I have wondered whether the variety vaccinations that people have had for travelling would have any affect on the Covid virus.
Only a small observation, but people I know who have had a wide variety of other vaccines have either avoided Covid altogether or have had very mild infections.

Have I got the wrong end of the stick, Ellen or are you arguing that vaccinations against childhood diseases are a bad thing? The children that died, and are still dying of measles today in some countries, aren’t here to make their case for vaccination.

I also don’t understand what you mean about having typhoid and yellow fever vaccinations still in your body after six months. Isn’t that what they’re designed to do, in order to protect us?

We're still in for a bumpy ride in the New Year after people have mixed/ celebrated---even after vaccines, in fact after Christmas travels too as some vaccines begin to wane. I think I'll feel much safer having my second vax next month than having had it weeks ago.

No vaccinations against any of these illnesses then, until measles reared its ugly head and a vaccination programme helped to wipe it out and that's been on-going since as the virus/ bacteria which caused it mutated and created an unwanted illness in children of modern day age.

I remember my neighbour sending her children round to play with mine when mine had mumps.

However, I don't think measles was ever eradicated and it was the scare about the MMR vaccine which resulted in more cases of measles as so many parents were frightened to have their babies vaccinated.