Chat about Novel Coronavirus - 2019-nCoV - COVID-19

Because not everyone is a self absorbed ignoramus.

I’d suggest anyone who hasn’t taken a test in the last 18months probably is.

I went to a meeting a few weeks back which covered a few of my colleagues here in Luxembourg and a load more from around Europe. I was in the minority of people who've done self-tests or even had PCR tests. I'd guess between the mass-test programme here, contact tracing and self-tests at the office I've had 50 or so in 18 months so I'm at a loss how some of them have had none at all unless they just don't give a shit.

If you're under 30 why would you be remotely concerned about COVID as a personal health risk?

1) 10 to 15% of people who have Covid, even asymptomiatically, go on to develop long Covid to some degree.

2) There are increasing concerns about organ damage caused by Covid. A variety of studies have shown that even asymptomatic Covid infections in young people can cause damage to the brain, heart and other organs. One study suggests this might be as many as 10% of all infections. Most of the damage is minor, and depending on the organ and extent can be reversible, but its still a worry.

3) Even in under 30s, Covid can be a serious infection. Especially if you have underlying health conditions, such as diabetes, asthma and obesity.

Some cautiously optimistic info from Denmark. They're starting to see a lot more admissions from Omicron which means they are starting to gather enough data to start to draw conclusions. As things stand yesterday, about 0.6% of Omicron cases led to admission, which is a lot better than Delta was for them (1.5%).

Its not super great news. 0.6% of a lot of cases is still a lot of admissions, but lets hope the number either stays like this or drops further. Still might be worth waiting another week or two before cracking the bunting and balloons out. It has only been three weeks since their first cases. Denmark is also about 8% more vaccinated than us.

Two- the Telegraph is not a creditable independent source of anything

Yep. It's very much the house paper of the anti-restrictions Tory back benchers and you can really tell at the moment. So many incredibly tenuous 'Covid is fine' stories and not reporting the news of the day (i.e. yet another BoJo failure/scandal) is standard.

Edit: Everyone else already said this, do keep up ;)

But they’ve had far fewer excess deaths.
Somewhat speculative and many factors but that would make this better news.

“ I'm at a loss how some of them have had none at all unless they just don't give a shit.”

€5-15 for each test. Would imagine that’s a significant factor.

Lets not over look this.

They're free in the UK

Once again social media keeps giving, latest from a friend that an LFT test does not pick up the omicron variant. The confirmation by a doctors receptionist.

Fully fact resistant.

Seems like the test are hard to source.

EDIT: Many EU countries are charging.

But they’ve had far fewer excess deaths.

I haven't seen any excess death data for Denmark covering the last few weeks. I thought they reported their excess deaths with a 30 day lag. Will see if I can find what you are referring to.

They're not at all. It takes 2 minutes online and they are through your letter box the next day. They've been unavailable for about an hour, approximately twice, in the pandemic.

I picked up 4 boxes of LFTs this week, got codes, popped by 2 different pharmacies.
No hassle at all.

Due to go to France by ferry this afternoon. Did approved supplier LFT yesterday afternoon, scanned online on their portal, haven't got a response back yet, so starting to feel a bit anxious.
Test result within 24 hours is pretty short notice...

https://www.imperial.ac.uk/mrc-global-infectious-disease-analysis/covid-19/report-49-Omicron/

Probably a repost, apologies.

They're not at all. It takes 2 minutes online and they are through your letter box the next day. They've been unavailable for about an hour, approximately twice, in the pandemic.

It's quite a bit more than that. There have been whole 12 hour blocks where they've been available (with me checking every hour).

For example, right now they look available but when I get to the final stage of ordering them I get a "There seems to have been a problem" page, and no order is submitted.

One box I ordered last week (yes I got the order confirmation email) has simply not turned up. The other box took at least 3 days.

What used to work fine (always available, arrived within 24h, etc) has slightly fallen apart in the last week or so.

Friends have had a different experience, that none on line and none in chemists. Chemists were rationing them as people wanted multiple boxes.

Royal Mail are not exempt from staff getting sick, and they are doing stuff like delivering Amazon packages too (thanks Obama Amazon!) along with the usual Xmas post surge.

My thinking being, it stands to reasonable reason that a more infectious variant will have a greater impact on a country with lower excess deaths currently. As they will have a higher number of the more vulnerable population still alive and therefore more likely to be hospitalised.

What used to work fine (always available, arrived within 24h, etc) has slightly fallen apart in the last week or so.

Sure but we are talking about people that have never done an LFT ever, not just the last week or so. They have been generally available since at least March.

My thinking being, it stands to reasonable reason that a more infectious variant will have a greater impact on a country with lower excess deaths currently. As they will have a higher number of the more vulnerable population still alive and therefore more likely to be hospitalised.

I guess we're about to find out. We also have more long term pre-existing conditions and a lower vaccination rate than Denmark.

Recently there seems to be a problem with getting tests either delivered or chemist having tests.

Indeed. Its certainly a more complex picture than we portray :-)

I believe it's delivery issues (both to chemists and to homes) due to sudden upsurge in demand.

We ordered some online and they arrived in a couple of days.

I'm finally testing negative after 6 days so am hopefully less infectious now.