England will have no further Covid restrictions until after the New Year.

Yes, nanna8, I have friends in Australia, it's been tough. At least now, the medics know what they're dealing with and you've had peace of a sort while we've been watching the bodies pile up. Good luck to all of you.

Thanks - they must have been more up to date than the online version! The rate has gone up really quickly here after Christmas, so my friend must have been lucky to get hers today before the rush.

Casdon

Where did you hear there’s a problem booking PCRs in Wales GrannyGravy13, as I know somebody who booked and had one this morning?
The infection rate is high here now so it wouldn’t surprise me, but I can’t find any reference to that being an issue, although there is with availability of lateral flow tests.

It was on the BBC2 news at lunchtime Casdon

Where did you hear there’s a problem booking PCRs in Wales GrannyGravy13, as I know somebody who booked and had one this morning?
The infection rate is high here now so it wouldn’t surprise me, but I can’t find any reference to that being an issue, although there is with availability of lateral flow tests.

Here you really didn’t have a choice not to be vaccinated. Not that that worries me, for once I think they were right. They wouldn’t let you into libraries, restaurants, cafes, clothes shops, general stores without a certificate. I only know of one person my age who is unvaccinated and they won’t let her come to Probus meetings, go on holidays with a group or do anything much.

Whitewavemark2

It appears that there isn’t a test to be had in England.

I seem to remember that we spent £37billion on a test and trace system.

It seems criminal to me quite frankly.

£37billion would probably vaccinate the entire world.

Not just England Whitewavemark2 there are currently no PCR tests available to book in Wales either.

We have been able to get LFT’s delivered last week.

As for vaccinating the world ideological as it may seem there are still many Countries who have vaccines but their population is reluctant to be jabbed. As I see it there needs to be more education readily available worldwide regarding the benefits of vaccination as opposed to being hospitalised with Covid-19.

?

nanna. I think the reason for the change in attitude towards the virus is the realisation that now Omicron is in Australia it will sweep through the population no matter what you do and it shouldn’t be too much of a problem given that the symptoms are quite mild in most cases and the vaccination programme is going well. You may feel that Australia used draconian methods to control the virus but your death rate is minuscule compared to ours.

No problems getting test kits in my area either.

We still offered tests every time we go to the chemist. There appears to be no problem getting tests here yet.

It appears that there isn’t a test to be had in England.

I seem to remember that we spent £37billion on a test and trace system.

It seems criminal to me quite frankly.

£37billion would probably vaccinate the entire world.

For the first time I know several people including a close family member,who currently have Covid here in Australia. For all our very harsh isolation we have got more here in Victoria than anywhere else in the whole country which poses a few questions about the shocking 2 year isolation and curfews we had to put up with, not to mention not being able to see or visit our own families. We got it in the end with bells on. Unfortunately it seems to have become very political with the different parties slating each other whinging and whining whilst we cannot even get tested without hours and hours waiting times because they haven’t organised things properly.

This is worth taking note of:

New Omicron Variant fills up Children's Hospitals (NY)

edition.cnn.com/2021/12/27/health/covid-kids-hospitals/index.html

I believe there are children in hospital here too.

If you wear a mask yourself- just ask them to put down the crate- and pick it up after he has turned away.

It is frightening Maddy. I haven’t had covid but I too take steroids for asthma and am frankly terrified of being hospitalised and unable to breathe. I’m annoyed that the Tesco delivery drivers don’t always wear masks and it’s difficult to keep your distance when you’re unloading things from a crate and they’re standing on the doorstep waiting to put the next one down. I expect a lot of people will say I’m silly and unnecessary fearful but it does make me feel vulnerable and expecting them to be required to wear a mask surely isn’t too unreasonable.

Aveline I know many people are not experiencing severe symptoms with this new variant, but because I had serious Covid last January, pre my vaccinations, and was taken to hospital, I’m very afraid of getting it again. I’ve tried to live as normally as possible, taking all proper precautions and we achieved a near normal summer, but I’m now getting very frightened again. I’m on steroids right now, for my asthma, and my lungs have scar tissue from the Covid pneumonia I suffered last year. It’s very frightening.

Whitewavemark2

I think that there may be more restrictions in January.

Oh I so hope this will not affect schools- it has been so hard on the kids. DGS is doing GCSE mocks after Christmas.

I try not to be scared by reported numbers in my area. Three members of my family have had it recently. Most likely caught while out shopping or in the course of daily life. They were reported as cases but truly were no worse than a cold. In one case a very mild one indeed.
The serious cases are, of course, serious and deaths are all tragedies for the families involved.
Interesting to read yesterday that many of the Covid cases in hospital were not admitted due to Covid but discovered on routine testing. It's infuriating to hear that so many serious cases are among the unvaccinated. The staff looking after them must be so exasperated by them.

I think that there may be more restrictions in January.

Yesterday I looked on the BBC Covid in Your Area website, which I’ve looked at all through the pandemic to check rates in the area I live in, and the area that many of the members of my husband’s family live in, which is in the north west. I was truly shocked, my own area has a rate of nearly 2000 cases in the week ending 24th December, and the area where my husband’s family live was nearly 5000 cases in the week up to the same date. These rates have never seen before. It’s frightened me again, because I truly do not want this awful illness again. We managed to avoid it by being careful up now, but what when we need to go shopping? I’ve always advocated trying to live as normally as possible within reason but I’m beginning to think I may need to become a hermit again for a while.

Here is a similar article if not the exact one:

www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01827-w

"The quest to find the genes that drive severe Covid". From the journal Nature, July 2021.

I’m also so sorry to hear of the loss of your son’s friend’s wife and baby Hetty.

There are many vaccinated people who have died of Covid and many people with illnesses which continue to make them vulnerable. Some people who are immunocompromised have been shown to have no antibodies even after being vaccinated.

I saw some research earlier this year about the genetic susceptibility of some to serious complications from Covid. I believe Neanderthal genes are involved and more recently, a gene common in South Asian peoples. I know people like to have a reference and the best I can find on a quick search is this one, it's a systematic review:

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34016183/

If anyone wants it, I'll find the article I remember which I discussed with a medical friend in the autumn. I feel sad and shocked that attitudes in the UK are complacent if not directly careless to those who are not lucky enough to be able to just shrug off the virus.

Hetty sorry for your DS’s friends loss, Covid devastated so many lives in the early days, and in some instances continues to do so.

Vaccinations are the main tool in the worlds toolbox thank goodness for the worlds amazing scientists.

I’m so sorry to hear of the loss of your son’s friend’s wife and baby Hetty. He must be in pieces. It must be so difficult for pregnant women to decide whether or not to be vaccinated. First they were advised against it, now doctors urge them to do so. I can’t imagine how hard it must be to know what to do, whether there will be any as yet undiscovered effect on the baby as with thalidomide. Between a rock and a hard place.

MayBee70

If this mutation is actually quite mild and will bring about the end of the pandemic as it will be more like a seasonal cold, we mustn’t forget the millions of people the virus has infected to get to this state. Many of whom are suffering from long covid or have, sadly, died. Heartbreaking to hear of the young mum and her unborn child losing their lives.

Furthermore, this mutation could (and almost certainly will) mutate again, in addition to mutations of the Delta variant ... and mutations of those variants ... and so on. There are no grounds for complacency.