Coronavirus - the new strain XXII

[IanW]

And Woolhouse is emphatic that further lockdowns are not the way to deal with future waves of Covid-19. “Lockdowns aren’t a public health policy. They signify a failure of public health policy,” he states.

We have been saying that in this thread for some time now.

Instead, the country needs, very quickly, not to be surprised by new variants and not to respond each one in an ad hoc fashion. “We should agree a sliding scale of interventions and trigger points for implementing them. With omicron it all feels a bit chaotic. We need better planning and preparation for when the next variant arrives, as it surely will.”’

Having a set of published interventions and trigger points is something else that has been asked for on here.

Discussion has polarised to the point that because “protecting the vulnerable” was the fig leaf for actual denialists, it’s become a questionable sentiment in its own right. Clearly not enough was done to protect the vulnerable - or the poor. Lockdown chiefly served the well off and those who could manage their own vulnerabilities - and that’s why it was such a big hit politically: this is the only constituency that matters, politically.

I don't remember the lockdown as being popular but did gain the country some time to get effective vaccinations developed.

What will be interesting to see post Covid will be maths modelling studies of what was done, what could have been done and what should have been done. As if the graph that @paulfromcamden presented showing damage doe by the virus and damage done by government choices to the economy in 2020 is similar for 2021, then our government has made poor choices all round. But we need more time for more data and more extensive modelling studies to look at potential outcomes.

Yes it seems to have made the well off richer and the more vulnerable and poor, poorer.

 

[Wayne C]

I’m now at the day 6 stage and did a test and it’s still as positive as it was on day 2 (ie, quickly showing both lines strongly). I feel that I’m not going to get away with this early release from isolation at all and will have to do the full 10 day stint. I am really amazed that others who spent significant time with me in the same room have thankfully and hopefully got away with it. My partner has a cough but has tested negative daily and is also triple jabbed herself, just to be on the safe side she is staying in doors for a week at her place as she feels that’s the right thing to do.

Could I ask what happens if I have a similarly quick positive result on the LFT on day 10 , what do I do then?. Thanks.

I’m also running low on the LFT tests and the .Gov website seems to always be short of them.

It would have been great if the government automatically sent a box of tests out to people who are positive as we surely need them.

 

[paulfromcamden]

Lockdown chiefly served the well off

As a slight aside, I wouldn't consider myself spectacularly well off in PFM terms, but it's been very strange to watch my pension increase by double figures annually during the pandemic in response to government economic stimulus.

Meanwhile friends suddenly found themselves out of work and struggling to get by on universal credit.

It does feel like the pandemic has increased inequality. Or at least made the division even clearer.