COVID-19 (Coronavirus) discussion

Puzzled · 2 May 2022 at 12:10

Shanghai lockdown: The hard life of a homeless deliveryman

Many riders face a lack of shelter and safety while delivering supplies in a locked down city.

www.bbc.co.uk

Does seem crazy, imagine having to sleep on the streets just to do your job. The Chinese people seem to be highly submissive at the moment but they must have a limit on how much they'll take and for how long.

Rroff · 2 May 2022 at 12:14

Puzzled said:
Does seem crazy, imagine having to sleep on the streets just to do your job. The Chinese people seem to be highly submissive at the moment but they must have a limit on how much they'll take and for how long.

Seems to be a lot more pushing back against it in recent days and weeks but they are often kind of symbolic forms of protest for want of a better way to put it such as https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aa-QUptKfOI

omnomnom · 2 May 2022 at 12:17

Got Covid in feb. 3 chest infections since, back on steroids and limited capacity in my lungs. Used to run 10ks...can barely run 10m now.

Tephnos · 2 May 2022 at 14:07

Rroff said:
I do have to wonder about the Chinese reaction to COVID - I'm not sure if it is just an institutional lack of knowing how to deal with it or they know something we don't :s

To me, it just screams consequences of not letting it spread. The population is vaccinated, but with a crappy vaccine that does minimal at preventing Omicron putting you in the hospital.

If China let it spread now, they'd have a major problem on their hands. All because they don't want bad western medicine Pfizer jabs.

Tephnos · 2 May 2022 at 14:07

omnomnom said:
Got Covid in feb. 3 chest infections since, back on steroids and limited capacity in my lungs. Used to run 10ks...can barely run 10m now.

Jabbed?

pimper · 2 May 2022 at 16:48

Well, after two long years, COVID finally got me. Triple jabbed, noticed a slight tickle in the throat on the Saturday, a small cough began through the weekend and by Monday it felt like a mild to fairly decent cold. By Wednesday I felt miles better and by the weekend was perfectly fine, barr a small cough that remained. Tested positive consistently from day one thru to day eight and was clear by day 10.

My mother caught COVID the same week as me and I feared the worst given her chronic health issues, COVID could very easily kill her... turns she felt nothing, just lost her sense of taste and smell! Thank god for that!

ljt · 2 May 2022 at 17:33

woppy101 said:
Well my wife had her paxlovid last week, finished on Friday morning, tested negative on Saturday night and Sunday, and has tested strong positive this morning, worried sick now

Is she symptomatic still? You can still test positive even after being symptomatic, but it doesn't mean it's detecting live virus any more. Those 2 negatives could have been false readings as well.

woppy101 · 2 May 2022 at 18:14

ljt said:
Is she symptomatic still? You can still test positive even after being symptomatic, but it doesn't mean it's detecting live virus any more. Those 2 negatives could have been false readings as well.

She says she feels ok and hasn’t really had any symptoms since the day after the antivirals started, I thought that was only with PCR tests, didn’t think LFT detected dead virus, the intensity of the T line was getting less and less and barely noticeable by Saturday morning and then gone by Saturday night and Sunday which is why I don’t think they were false negatives

ljt · 2 May 2022 at 18:38

woppy101 said:
She says she feels ok and hasn’t really had any symptoms since the day after the antivirals started, I thought that was only with PCR tests, didn’t think LFT detected dead virus, the intensity of the T line was getting less and less and barely noticeable by Saturday morning and then gone by Saturday night and Sunday which is why I don’t think they were false negatives

Both can still detect, it's just the pcr is more sensitive.

It could also be a false positive or contaminated sample from food or drink she had.

I'd do another test and see what that shows and ring GP/111 and see what they suggest.

woppy101 · 2 May 2022 at 18:59

ljt said:
Both can still detect, it's just the pcr is more sensitive.

It could also be a false positive or contaminated sample from food or drink she had.

I'd do another test and see what that shows and ring GP/111 and see what they suggest.

She has done 3 different tests today and the line has got brighter each time

ljt · 2 May 2022 at 20:34

woppy101 said:
She has done 3 different tests today and the line has got brighter each time

Then yeah, definitely get in touch with a GP/111 and see what they say. Fingers crossed she stays symptom free and they say it's normal.

Things change I've changed · 2 May 2022 at 20:38

So what's the plan now regarding the vaccine rollout in the UK?, I imagine a lot of peoples boosters are wearing off now, moving forward are we only issuing vaccines to the vulnerable?

This is the numbers of admissions at my local hospital, as you can clearly see it's been a lot worse recently, how come it's getting ignored now?

james.miller · 2 May 2022 at 20:48

Things change I've changed said:
moving forward are we only issuing vaccines to the vulnerable?

Vaccines are being offered to 5+ now. Now idea about further boosters though.

Puzzled · 2 May 2022 at 21:44

Think the next booster shot is expected in autumn

Minusorange · 2 May 2022 at 21:54

Rroff said:
I do have to wonder about the Chinese reaction to COVID - I'm not sure if it is just an institutional lack of knowing how to deal with it or they know something we don't :s

Maybe they're just really paranoid about mutations, so prefer zero covid to boostvid

Werewolf · 2 May 2022 at 23:00

Minusorange said:
Maybe they're just really paranoid about mutations, so prefer zero covid to boostvid

Might also be they're very aware of how fast it can spread through their population, the demographic of their population, and the sort of conditions in which their population live and work, and how it could utterly mess up their health system and their economy if left uncontrolled.

People may be upset about how strict the rules are now, but that's probably nothing compared to how upset they'll be if large numbers of their family and friends die because it's just allowed to rip through the population, and it likely would given how crowded the big chinese cities are.

They'll also be very aware that their vaccine is less effective than the western ones (from memory), and that they've had a fraction of the uptake for the boosters etc compared to the west and seen how our numbers are and how our policies have led to a lot of continuing disruption.

Rroff · 2 May 2022 at 23:07

Werewolf said:
Might also be they're very aware of how fast it can spread through their population, the demographic of their population, and the sort of conditions in which their population live and work, and how it could utterly mess up their health system and their economy if left uncontrolled.

People may be upset about how strict the rules are now, but that's probably nothing compared to how upset they'll be if large numbers of their family and friends die because it's just allowed to rip through the population, and it likely would given how crowded the big chinese cities are.

They'll also be very aware that their vaccine is less effective than the western ones (from memory), and that they've had a fraction of the uptake for the boosters etc compared to the west and seen how our numbers are and how our policies have led to a lot of continuing disruption.

To be fair it does seem in certain parts of Asia there are a higher percentage of people more vulnerable to it than the global average for some reason.

Blackjack Davy · 3 May 2022 at 00:24

South Africa going thru a 5th wave at present, its their winter. Its also where omicron originated so make of that what you will the omicron B.4 and B.5 variants have the ability to evade antibodies so expect another surge at some point, likely our winter.

Things change I've changed said:
This is the numbers of admissions at my local hospital, as you can clearly see it's been a lot worse recently, how come it's getting ignored now?

Politics. Deny, ignore, bury.

Puzzled said:
Think the next booster shot is expected in autumn

Over 75's can get a 4th shot now, over 50's in the autumn thats the situation last time I heard

Rroff · 3 May 2022 at 00:42

Things change I've changed said:
This is the numbers of admissions at my local hospital, as you can clearly see it's been a lot worse recently, how come it's getting ignored now?

One thing which has changed is that the number of people being admitted to hospital with COVID back in the 2020 and early 21 peaks were mostly there because of COVID while that has dropped a lot as a percentage. Although as an infectious disease of this nature that still puts a lot of pressure on the health services. For my local district hospital only about 40% of those admitted with COVID are there because of COVID itself. It does leave me wondering what the long term is going to be though - even now my local district hospital is just about coping and it is turning into a marathon to deal with rather than the seasonal sprint.

We are seeing a massive up-tick at work in sickness, currently no one with COVID, so far in 2022 at work. Yesterday at work there was 1 regular person and 2 managers trying to cope in what should have been a team of 5-6 (4-5 regular and 1 manager) - I do wonder if we are starting to see the consequences of people not getting timely medical attention for issues and/or struggling to get medical help for problems that would otherwise be non-issues. My local GP is still sending out messages that they are struggling to cope and to avoid using them unless it is an emergency.

Tephnos · 3 May 2022 at 00:53

Blackjack Davy said:
South Africa going thru a 5th wave at present, its their winter. Its also where omicron originated so make of that what you will the omicron B.4 and B.5 variants have the ability to evade antibodies so expect another surge at some point, likely our winter.

Politics. Deny, ignore, bury.

Over 75's can get a 4th shot now, over 50's in the autumn thats the situation last time I heard

Going to be annoying if they won't just fully approve the jabs so anyone who wants a booster can get it at a pharmacy. Under 50s being screwed out of a booster with zero alternative is not going to go down well in the slightest.