Coronavirus - the new strain XXIV

[gavreid]

An unexpected twist:

Hospital admissions with COVID in England have risen by 6% in-week. Our R estimate has risen to 1.04. Admissions rose in every English region. The largest increase was 20% in the North West. Bed occupancy has risen by 2%.

https://twitter.com/COVID19actuary/status/1633768113534558211?cxt=HHwWhoCzya7cp6wtAAAA

 

[flatpopely]

Covid’s effect on mental health not as great as first thought, study suggests
Pandemic resulted in ‘minimal’ changes in symptoms, according to review led by McGill University researchers

The pandemic resulted in “minimal” changes in mental health symptoms among the general population, according to a review of 137 studies from around the world led by researchers at McGill University in Canada, and published in the British Medical Journal.

Brett Thombs, a psychiatry professor at McGill University and senior author, said some of the public narrative around the mental health impacts of Covid-19 were based on “poor-quality studies and anecdotes”, which became “self-fulfilling prophecies”, adding that there was a need for more “rigorous science”.

[not to belittle the impact on some people]

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/mar/08/covid-effect-mental-health-study-mcgill-university

Try telling that to my daughter and her year cohort! Lockdowns robbed them of a pivotal stage in their lives.

 

[paulfromcamden]

‘Commenting on the McGill study, Gemma Knowles, from the Centre for Society and Mental Health at King’s College London, said the findings echoed other research, including her own, showing that some people’s mental health improved and others’ deteriorated during the pandemic, which could mean no overall increase.

She added that the study, which takes a broad view and includes limited analyses broken down by subgrouping, “risks obscuring important effects among the most affected and disadvantaged groups and, from that, obscuring possible widening of inequalities in mental distress that occurred because of the pandemic”‘.

That would fit with the larger picture of the role of inequality in determining outcomes.

That sounds about right Sean. Though I think it's also not quite a clear cut as some people's mental health increased and some worsened. As a fairly introverted person with a nice home and a degree of financial security there were some aspects to lockdown that I found quite tolerable. Though there was also a lot that was traumatic - the effect it had on other people's health and finances, and losing people we care about in pretty horrible circumstances. I'm starting to realise that the effect it had on me was more profound than I'd previously thought.

 

[gavreid]

The truth is that lockdown was relatively short-lived (especially for kids) and its impact transient too in most cases, so the new report is unsurprising to me. Lockdown is still being blamed in some quarters for every playground cold even now. Mental health in the UK has been worsening for a long time and the cuts to provision deep, therefore it is in the interests of some to attach this all to the pandemic. It's interesting to have a broader, international perspective here.

 

[flatpopely]

The truth is that lockdown was relatively short-lived (especially for kids) and its impact transient too in most cases, so the new report is unsurprising to me. Lockdown is still being blamed in some quarters for every playground cold even now. Mental health in the UK has been worsening for a long time and the cuts to provision deep, therefore it is in the interests of some to attach this all to the pandemic. It's interesting to have a broader, international perspective here.

From first hand experience and that of others with kids your statement is incorrect.

 

[Seeker_UK]

Lockdown is still being blamed in some quarters for every playground cold even now.

Lockdown and associated measures to reduce transmission of the virus also reduced exposure to more benign cold viruses. As a result immunity has waned so 'common colds' have hit harder. Whether this immunity has been 'recovered' since measures were relaxed, I've not seen any evidence.

 

[jimbob75]

The lockdown's have had a profound impact on many young children's social and emotional development. To think otherwise just betrays how self-centred certain posters on here are

 

[gavreid]

It's worth quoting more of the piece:

“Claims that the mental health of most people has deteriorated significantly during the pandemic have been based primarily on individual studies that are ‘snapshots’ of a particular situation, in a particular place, at a particular time. They typically don’t involve any long-term comparison with what had existed before or came after.”

The researchers at McGill said their findings were consistent with the largest study on suicide during the pandemic – which found no increase – and applied to most groups, including different ages, sexes, genders and whether people had pre-existing conditions. Three-quarters of the research focused on adults, mostly from middle- and high-income countries.

The Charity MIND reported:

"Our research with almost 12,000 people found that those who were more likely to struggle with their mental health before the pandemic have been most affected.

They urgently need tailored support."

https://www.mind.org.uk/coronavirus-we-are-here-for-you/coronavirus-research/

 

[gavreid]

The lockdown's have had a profound impact on many young children's social and emotional development.

I don't think anybody here believes otherwise. The objective should have been to minimise the duration of the lockdowns for precisely that reason, through the development of sound public health policies. To use the argument to say lockdown is wrong in all circumstances is the stuff of the rabid right.

 

[Seanm]

The truth is that lockdown was relatively short-lived (especially for kids) and its impact transient too in most cases, so the new report is unsurprising to me. Lockdown is still being blamed in some quarters for every playground cold even now. Mental health in the UK has been worsening for a long time and the cuts to provision deep, therefore it is in the interests of some to attach this all to the pandemic. It's interesting to have a broader, international perspective here.

Unbelievably blithe and blinkered statement. Short lived. In your 50s maybe, and predisposed towards lockdown. If you’re 6, or 18?

 

[gavreid]

Unbelievably blithe and blinkered statement. Short lived. In your 50s maybe, and predisposed towards lockdown. If you’re 6, or 18?

I'll quote it again :

“Claims that the mental health of most people has deteriorated significantly during the pandemic have been based primarily on individual studies that are ‘snapshots’ of a particular situation, in a particular place, at a particular time. They typically don’t involve any long-term comparison with what had existed before or came after.”

 

[Seanm]

I'll quote it again:

“Claims that the mental health of most people has deteriorated significantly during the pandemic have been based primarily on individual studies that are ‘snapshots’ of a particular situation, in a particular place, at a particular time. They typically don’t involve any long-term comparison with what had existed before or came after.”

Oh well that settles it.

 

[flatpopely]

I'll quote it again :

“Claims that the mental health of most people has deteriorated significantly during the pandemic have been based primarily on individual studies that are ‘snapshots’ of a particular situation, in a particular place, at a particular time. They typically don’t involve any long-term comparison with what had existed before or came after.”

And yet the wellbeing team at my daughters school have said that mental health problems have more than trebled in the last year amongst 11-16 year olds.

 

[Paul R]

Lockdown, and especially what happened in schools, was wrong in these circumstances.

Hopefully, objective analysis will be possible of the impact of all interventions, without the immediate resort to trivial insults.

 

[gavreid]

This is pre-pandemic:

Reduced community services and rising mental health issues among Britain’s youth have fuelled a 330 per cent surge in crisis admissions at hospital emergency departments.

A crackdown on the use of police cells for youngsters needing a specialist mental health hospital bed has also meant hospital A&E departments are increasingly the default option, The Independent has been told.


Since 2010 the number of children and young people admitted to an A&E and diagnosed with psychiatric conditions has increased 330 per cent.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...-health-hospital-suicide-nhs-ae-a9255626.html

 

[tiggers]

And yet the wellbeing team at my daughters school have said that mental health problems have more than trebled in the last year amongst 11-16 year olds.

And yet the wellbeing team at my partner's kids' school say lockdown has had little impact with mental health problems about the same as they were pre-lockdown. I fear there is an element of everyone seeing what they want to see to support their agendas here and/or there being other factors in play such that lockdown was a catalyst. The truth as in all these all things probably lies somewhere in the middle as sure some kids will have been affected, but a lot of others haven't. At the end of the day the world was dealing with a virus the likes of which we had never seen before and lockdowns were one way to buy some time... the death toll (already staggeringly high in the UK) would have been a lot higher without them, but if you think that doesn't matter as you're more pre-disposed towards the country's agenda being driven by the children's welfare at the expense of anything else then fine, you are absolutely entitled to that opinion. Mine is different and my first had experienced of three kids (9, 12 and 13) and their friends is they have suffered no long term issues which to me indicates it's not as simple as 'lockdown caused kids mental health issues' and perhaps we should be looking at a more wider scoped enquiry as to why some have suffered and others haven't as I fully expect there are more reasons than just lockdown although it is likely a contributory factor in some cases.

 

[Seanm]

The report isn’t even about the effects on mental health of lockdown it’s about the effect of *the pandemic*. So sure, it’s pretty clear from the slippage what some people want out of this study and why it was brought up here.

 

[gavreid]

The report isn’t even about the effects on mental health of lockdown it’s about the effect of *the pandemic*. So sure, it’s pretty clear from the slippage what some people want out of this study and why it was brought up here.

It was brought up here as a story of interest from today's news that I thought was worth adding to the narrative of the pandemic. It seems that it was..

 

[tiggers]

And it was flatpopely and paulfromcamden who framed the story into a lockdown focus rather than the pandemic as a whole (posts 1602 and 1603).

 

[Seanm]

OK lads, let's call it an interesting contribution to knowledge, with some very obvious limitations that should discourage anyone sensible from drawing far-reaching conclusions.