Coronavirus - how is it/has it affected you?

[Ethan]

Thanks all. I did understand all of it, but was thrown a little by suggestion - my poor reading of what was posted - that the vaccination would somehow prevent me from picking up the virus. It doesn't directly - but does indirectly by the fact of most others being vaccinated and hence I would be unlucky if I was in contact with someone who was infectious and who passed it to me. ?

If someone sneezes in your face, the little beasties can still land on you and go into your lungs.

If you hadn't been vaccinated, there was a decent chance that the little beasties would then commander cells in your lungs and start making more little beasties, some of which you would later sneeze onto somebody else, and so on.

Now, the little beasties will still get onto/into you, but you have a force of immune special forces that will appear and terminate them. Now they won't take be able to take over your cells and you won't sneeze their descendants onto somebody else, even if they are unvaccinated.

You win, someone else wins too.

 

[clubchamp98]

We got an email today that a child in our sons reception class got tested and that in line with policy we are told. Happened a few times before, followed by an email the test was negative. No idea what happens if a test comes back positive.

They shut down their bubble.
Lots of it going on atm.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

If someone sneezes in your face, the little beasties can still land on you and go into your lungs.

If you hadn't been vaccinated, there was a decent chance that the little beasties would then commander cells in your lungs and start making more little beasties, some of which you would later sneeze onto somebody else, and so on.

Now, the little beasties will still get onto/into you, but you have a force of immune special forces that will appear and terminate them. Now they won't take be able to take over your cells and you won't sneeze their descendants onto somebody else, even if they are unvaccinated.

You win, someone else wins too.

Does this not then all mean that in the end we are all going to be carrying the virus, and would test positive for its presence - but that having been vaccinated we will have most likely fought off covid and it will not be replicating within us. Or has the virus itself got a ’shelf-life’ after we pick it up after which it becomes inactive and will not result in covid or indeed be transmittable - at which point we would test negative for the presence of the virus. Must go read more.

 

[Ethan]

Does this not then all mean that in the end we are all going to be carrying the virus, and would test positive for its presence - but that having been vaccinated we will have most likely fought off covid and it will not be replicating within us. Or has the virus itself got a ’shelf-life’ after we pick it up after which it becomes inactive and will not result in covid or indeed be transmittable - at which point we would test negative for the presence of the virus. Must go read more.

The virus will eventually die out if unable to replicate at a reasonable scale. It needs some sort of reservoir to survive, and that will become unvaccinated or vaccine non-responders. We will all end up with immunity or at least evidence of previous exposure, just as we do for numerous other infectious agents, some of which we never knew we had ever encountered.

 

[Tashyboy]

16,000 new cases ?

 

[SocketRocket]

16,000 new cases ?

Jeez

 

[Tashyboy]

One of the lads I know through the RBL Branch vice chair has been on east midlands news. He was the longest patient with covid in the local hospital and has been taken out of ICU. A good day.

 

[Slime]

16,000 new cases ?

But how many are ill and how many are having to go to hospital.
Aren't they the relevant figures?

 

[road2ruin]

But how many are ill and how many are having to go to hospital.
Aren't they the relevant figures?

Correct. Cases were always expected to go up and they’ll continue to do so however it doesn’t mean anything as long as hospitalisations and deaths don’t follow. So far it appears that the vaccines are doing the job and there hasn’t been the surge in the more important numbers especially since it’s a few weeks after the Delta variant got all excitable. Vaccine centres around us all appear to be walk in’s pretty much so the speed of vaccinations should be rapid as long as there is the supply. Roll on July 19th.

 

[ColchesterFC]

Correct. Cases were always expected to go up and they’ll continue to do so however it doesn’t mean anything as long as hospitalisations and deaths don’t follow. So far it appears that the vaccines are doing the job and there hasn’t been the surge in the more important numbers especially since it’s a few weeks after the Delta variant got all excitable. Vaccine centres around us all appear to be walk in’s pretty much so the speed of vaccinations should be rapid as long as there is the supply. Roll on July 19th.

RE the bit in bold, that's true to a degree as long as the virus isn't present in the population to such an extent that it can mutate into a variant that can evade the vaccine. If that happens we're in deep doo doo until they can tweak the vaccine to make it effective against the new variant.

 

[road2ruin]

RE the bit in bold, that's true to a degree as long as the virus isn't present in the population to such an extent that it can mutate into a variant that can evade the vaccine. If that happens we're in deep doo doo until they can tweak the vaccine to make it effective against the new variant.

Aren’t further mutations inevitable though? It may not be from our country however with the amount of unvaccinated around the world it’s almost certain that there will be.

 

[BubbaP]

As often, it's difficult to gain a clear picture. Of course agree if hospitalisations and deaths stay low then a good sign, but the case rate suggests a concern especially when compared with the countries on the continent - typically lower than when the UK was low. But is there more testing going on here which could be skewing?

From here, seems Scotland did log the most tests in one day
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-57580118

 

[SocketRocket]

Aren’t further mutations inevitable though? It may not be from our country however with the amount of unvaccinated around the world it’s almost certain that there will be.

The more cases in the population the more chance of it happening. High infection rates are not good news.

 

[road2ruin]

The more cases in the population the more chance of it happening. High infection rates are not good news.

It’s not good news however it was inevitable given restrictions were lifted whilst large numbers of the population were unvaccinated. As long as hospitalisations didn’t follow suit that was the important thing. As things stand the numbers going into hospital haven’t shot up and those that are going in are younger and, in the main, aren’t staying in as long and don’t end up in ICU.

 

[Ethan]

But how many are ill and how many are having to go to hospital.
Aren't they the relevant figures?

It isn't all about deaths and hospitalisations. Long Covid cases and people who get subclinical damage despite "mild" Covid will occur when case numbers are high. That means future renal, liver, heart failures and other bad stuff. Covid is a nasty condition to be avoided even if hospitalisation does not occur. The 'its just a flu' narrative is still wrong.

 

[PJ87]

It isn't all about deaths and hospitalisations. Long Covid cases and people who get subclinical damage despite "mild" Covid will occur when case numbers are high. That means future renal, liver, heart failures and other bad stuff. Covid is a nasty condition to be avoided even if hospitalisation does not occur. The 'its just a flu' narrative is still wrong.

I'm not disputing what your saying I'm interested how can we be sure it will cause future liver, heart and renal failures when its still a new illness?

 

[Tashyboy]

It isn't all about deaths and hospitalisations. Long Covid cases and people who get subclinical damage despite "mild" Covid will occur when case numbers are high. That means future renal, liver, heart failures and other bad stuff. Covid is a nasty condition to be avoided even if hospitalisation does not occur. The 'its just a flu' narrative is still wrong.

Furthermore, will countries allow us to travel there if we have high rates esp Delta
?☹

 

[Swinglowandslow]

As often, it's difficult to gain a clear picture. Of course agree if hospitalisations and deaths stay low then a good sign, but the case rate suggests a concern especially when compared with the countries on the continent - typically lower than when the UK was low. But is there more testing going on here which could be skewing?

From here, seems Scotland did log the most tests in one day
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-57580118

Exactly. More testing gives more positives. There has been quite a lot of surge testing. Descending on an area and testing people without symptoms.
The results are bound to show more positives than previous testing levels which were done when people suspected they may have it, because they had symptoms. ( and how many of them didn't go for a test, for various reasons)
It is recognised that up to a third of positives have no symptoms. In surge testing they are being revealed, are they not?
So the level of positives has always been higher than the test results reveal.
Also, a high number of the positives now are schoolchildren and young adults who basically, in the main, "shrug off a cold"
AS Slime says it is the hospital cases figures which are important. And the vaccination figures.
Incidences of Covid are never going to disappear.
Yesterday's briefing spelled out re vaccinations. That is the answer.
People must vaccinate.

 

[Tashyboy]

Furthermore, will countries allow us to travel there if we have high rates esp Delta
?☹

Edit to say, Merkel has suggested that travellers from the UK to the EU should have to isolate.

 

[road2ruin]

Edit to say, Merkel has suggested that travellers from the UK to the EU should have to isolate.

For me that's just political gesturing, the Delta variant is already in Europe (albeit at low levels at the moment) and based on previous figures Europe are a few weeks behind us. On that basis they'll likely face a similar rise in infections in the coming month as the Delta variant takes hold.

Thing is as soon as Delta becomes the norm it'll be Theta, Iota or Kappa next up......