Flu admissions are up

Statistics aren’t always the whole truth.
If you’re interested in numbers this is interesting.

www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002nhk1

fancythat

LaCrepescule

Are you serious - get everyone to wear masks again? Get vaccinated and just get on with it. I don’t know a single person who’s had flu so far and I have a big social circle.

I am the same as regards your last sentence.
Makes me wonder where all these people are supposed to be.

When I wrote this earlier upthread, I was expecting a whole help of people to come on and say they knew however many of people with it.
But they havent.

So I am carrying on wondering what is actually happening?

This article makes sense to me. From various angles.

I still only know of 2 people who likely have flu.
And they are both under 20.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cr7lpmkl9r1o

MayBee70

I thought that, because of the pandemic, people in this country would adopt the eastern approach of wearing a mask to protect others but, alas, it never happened.

I have been so disappointed by our own society in the UK and the Isle of Man over this, I didn't realise that we had so many antisocial people. I sometimes wonder if we had them during WW2 to, ones deliberately leaving lights on etc.

Which former nurse?
Not Kate Shemirani I hope.

Yes, that is what I understand too Casdon.

No, it’s not business as usual CariadAgain, because it’s two months earlier than the average year’s flu peak.

Comment online I read from a former nurse re "Every single year for 5 years" (which would have been presumably the 5 years immediately preceding 2020 and all that) it was the same story "flu....flu....very bad flu....overwhelmed....etc" in the very busy hospital she worked in. The tale every winter was exactly the same.....

In other words "It's business as usual for this time of year"....topped off by basically reminding us "You do know this is an apres 2020 year.....(ie reminding us that they have "cried wolf" every winter for years now and this is just more of the same.....)

My friend/neighbour who is a matron at a large, general hospital in the SE, has said that they are ‘busting at the seams’ with ambulances queuing outside. Everyone needs to be aware and to take necessary precautions.

TBH - visitors should not be allowed in a ‘Flu Ward.

I thought that, because of the pandemic, people in this country would adopt the eastern approach of wearing a mask to protect others but, alas, it never happened.

love0c

I will not be wearing any mask. If I am ill I will not go into any shops etc until I am well. If for any reason I had to visit a medical setting and it was compulsory, I would obey. Otherwise, a definite no from me.

But you’re doing what any sensible person would do. Not going out if you’re ill and wearing a mask if it was compulsory in a medical setting.
So well done.

I will not be wearing any mask. If I am ill I will not go into any shops etc until I am well. If for any reason I had to visit a medical setting and it was compulsory, I would obey. Otherwise, a definite no from me.

Mollygo

TiggyW
Many people consider it an infringement of their liberties in the same way that smoking bans, bans on the use of phones whilst driving and the obligation to use a seatbelt are regarded that way by those who object to the bans or obligations.

Yes, they are the antisocial rump of our society. Sadly emboldened these days.

TiggyW
Many people consider it an infringement of their liberties in the same way that smoking bans, bans on the use of phones whilst driving and the obligation to use a seatbelt are regarded that way by those who object to the bans or obligations.

IOMGran - well said!👍

fancy that - our local hospital (Greater Manchester) is asking all visitors to wear masks because of flu. We visited our baby grandson in there a few weeks ago and heard that the children’s flu ward was full (November).
You’re lucky if you’ve avoided catching flu - it can be very serious. I had a bad dose when I was only in my (healthy) early 20s and it floored me for a fortnight! I wouldn’t hesitate to have the vaccine and can’t see an issue with wearing a mask. What’s the problem if it may help? 🤔 Apart from steamed up glasses! 🤣

Would just like to say - I am one of those people that cannot have a flu vaccine, cant have the shingles one either so it is not always as easy as having your jab, I have had every Covid one that has been available apart from one when I actually had Covid, mildly I might add. So I am one of those that will be wearing a mask as I have already said..

SueDonim

Sorry. IOMgran I should have clarified that I meant the ordinary flat masks most people wore during Covid, not the FFP2 ones.

Even those aren’t easy to get right. My medic dd is very petite and the NHS struggled to get one that fitted her small bone structure. She graduated from med school in Spring 2020 and worked in hospitals all through the pandemic (including without any PPE to begin with) but didn’t get Covid until 2022.

My daugfhter is an anaethetist and she worked the Covid wards intubating people. She wore FFP3 masks and managed to avoid Covid. I have COPD and also wore FFP3 masks before we had vaccines, and for quite a while after. I did not get Covid until 2 years ago at a party as I had abandoned masking by then. I got it again this year in the summer, it did not go to my lungs that time. I have had every booster offered and paid for one a month ago too as I have under 75. As far as I am concerned FFP3 masks work well, the science is well understood. I have a science and engineering background and both the masks and the mRNA delivery mechanisms of the vaccines made perfect sense to me. I spent 2020 being very concerned about my daughter as they were struggling to get decent PPE and she was working in the hot wards in close proximity to patients and doing aerosol generating procedures like intubation. I have zero time or respect for antibvaxxers and the awkward squad who wouldn't even wear a mask to help other more vulnerable people. Their behaviour was and is abhorrent to me.

I last had what I would call full blown flu at the beginning of January 1987 when I was 31. I could hardly lift my head off the pillow for 10 days. I was mortified as the previous day I had started a new job and thought I’d be sacked but my employer was fine.

I’ve had fluey colds since but nothing ever as bad again.

Let’s face it. If you didn’t want to wear a mask, you’re going to decry the wearing of masks and you can produce a string of reasons why they were unnecessary. The same reasons Novax use about refusing to have vaccines.
On the other hand, if you never caught Covid, it may well be thanks to all those people who did sneeze and cough into their super strong or even cheap masks, and who got themselves vaccinated to try and protect themselves and others.
Equally, you might have spread your germs among those who couldn’t afford the super strong masks, but did their best with what they could afford.

The school of thought is ….. wear a mask if you have cold symptoms or feel one may be coming on.

Sorry. IOMgran I should have clarified that I meant the ordinary flat masks most people wore during Covid, not the FFP2 ones.

Even those aren’t easy to get right. My medic dd is very petite and the NHS struggled to get one that fitted her small bone structure. She graduated from med school in Spring 2020 and worked in hospitals all through the pandemic (including without any PPE to begin with) but didn’t get Covid until 2022.

I do and I don’t.

The whole use of masks thing was often most peculiar during Lockdown.

Cue for a (already planned) visit to my dentist shortly after the start of it all. So I duly rang him and said "I can see I count as priority 2 - ie I'm not in pain...but I do have an appointment I'd made anyway before all this. I understand if someone else is priority 1, ie in pain, and that's fair enough if they get my appointment instead and I have to make another one". He agreed I was priority 2 and no-one was in pain waiting and I still got my appointment.

Cue for one of them was at front door handing out masks people were being ordered to wear. It was nowt short of daft...as I put it on and literally ran the 20 seconds it took to reach the surgery room and whipped it straight off in there (as that was allowed there). Had my treatment (obviously it would have been literally impossible to wear a mask if I'd wanted to during that) and then literally ran the 20 seconds it took to get back to the front door. So 40 seconds of wearing a mask during my hour or so visit. Duh! I didn't even stop around at the reception desk to pay them - I'd already agreed with them over the phone before I went there that I would ring up after my visit and pay them by card over the phone (so I couldnt be forced into a mask for an extra couple of minutes).

The buses were still running to some extent and I'd normally take one of them to get there and back (as it's 15 minutes away by car). But I didnt wish someone to start an argument with me and thought there was a chance someone might be in a bad mood and do so - so I booked a taxi both ways (knowing they'd tell me to sit in the back seat that time...rather than chatting to the driver upfront...and they had a plastic "curtain" thing they'd put up between those seats). It all felt a bit farcical all round.

Like 40 seconds of forced mask-wearing was going to make a scrap of difference...

I cant say I am reading or following all the posts on the site today.
So no idea whose "side" I am on.

But dont people who wear masks reuse them?

I cant remember from 5 years ago, but thought I reused mine.
But there again, if a person is using them for a full day, that is a different matter.

^ If they do decide to buy masks and want more than those blue flimsy paper ones - they're not that dear. The more expensive type can be bought for less than £1 each (assuming buying a large pack from Amazon). £1 per day they choose to go out = £7 per week if they choose to go out every day.^
Fine for you if you live alone, but working on your maths, 5 masks per day (2 parents, 3 children,)
Thats £5 per day or £35 per week. Easily affordable? Even if you’re not poorly paid and your children are not below the poverty line? That’s a sizeable amount.

Options - go out without. You don’t care either about whether you’re spreading your germs to others or whether they’ll pass theirs on to you.
You won’t expect to be treated by the NHS staff not wearing masks and certainly not if you’ve got Covid.

Stay indoors. You can’t work and earn money, but after all, you are restricting yourself.

Buy expensive masks. If you can afford it you get the double bonus of being better protected and feeling virtuous.

Or . . . Wear a lanyard.