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

I mentioned upthread a colleague who has several underlying conditions, caught pneumonia and then got Omicron on top. I'm pleased to say he has been discharged from hospital and seems to have shrugged Covid off.

Anyone else feeling gaslit at the moment? solid few weeks of ‘it’s just a cold’ from all sides of the media, people told to crack on with Christmas and NYE as normal, No tests available anywhere, no extra mitigations…

whilst the NHS is building wards in car parks, and the govt now putting contingency plans in for 25% staff absences ( how does anywhere run properly with a quarter of staff missing? Hospitals? Transport? Food supply?

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/01/boris-johnson-asks-ministers-to-plan-for-covid-workplace-absences-of-up-to-25

solid few weeks of ‘it’s just a cold’…

That pissed me off, as if having a cold enable you to continue going to work.

Edit - deleted chart based on incomplete data

Only England posted data yesterday. All the others are still showing exponential growth as of the 31st.

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Glad to hear this, big up that guy.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-59849605

Highest case rate per 100k

Hospitalisation luckily not super high but it's gone from school age > 20-39 group now.

Still 10% of hospital occupation is COVID so not "just a cold".

Out and about so can't check but thought that was why the data on the chart only goes up to 28th, I'll remove it to avoid confusion though if it's wrong

No idea what's its going to be like when I get back to work on Tuesday, last big wave had had me on the hospital redeployment hub to go help out on the wards etc,

Never came to that but looking at things the way they are going with NHS staff being off might happen in the next couple of weeks.

2 years in and they are putting up tents in car parks with not enough staff to work in them.

i wonder how long it takes to design/build/fit-out prefab facilities and train a nurse up to IC level?

we have 350 million a week to spend on this.
Don’t we?....

TBH, in Luxembourg we had army tents in hospital car parks in April 2020. The canteen at the hospital I had to go to a couple of times last year was still a day ward as recently as November.

I do think it's definitely doublespeak to say it's not serious whilst rushing to expand your capacity.

Is the correct term gaslit? I'm wondering where that south African specialist that went on TV news making the claim is and what they based their claim on.

Then again was it a plan to prep to us to discredit science. The brexit term of experts, soothsayers and astrologist being the same thing sticks in my mind.

Is this a worse case scenario but then announcing that would cause panic in the population.

we have 350 million a week to spend on this.

Don’t we?...

They'll be paying their mates a lot more than that to privatise these services...

The tragedy of this is the impact on the NHS and their patients waiting for treatment could have been reduced a bit if the government had listened to their advisors. There was no need for it to be quite this bad. Imagine what it's going to be like with schools back next week.

Part of me is amazed that COVID came along to bail brexit issues out.

No not a conspiracy theory just a perfect Scape goat.

Also, and I'd appreciate it if people could fact check this for me, I believe roughly the same number of people died of Covid after freedom Day in 2021 than did in the first half of the year including the worst of the Delta wave. Mind boggling. We could have done better.

I think about 50k deaths Jan to Jun 2021 and 20k deaths Jul to Dec.

https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/details/deaths?areaType=overview&areaName=United%20Kingdom

Yeah, I got totally mixed up.

I make it 19,732 deaths from July 20th (day after freedom day) to 31st December and as you say, about 50k deaths before then.

I think I was misrembering a stat about deaths after the Delta wave ended.

Not sure in the UK, but in the Netherlands you need a nursing degree and then do two years on top to become an IC nurse.

And I assume people to train you during an internship, which is tricky if everyone is already ultra busy.

In theory you can train the not-IC nurses to become one and replace the not-IC nurse with a fresh starter so you don't need to add it all together. Assumes training capacity as you say and that not-IC nurses want to work in IC, which I assume lots don't for loads of reasons.

Thanks, yes I’m doing well, cycled up Box Hill on Thursday so feeling much stronger.
It was a journey, I’m thankful for so many blessings . Yes I’m grateful that we have a fantastic healthcare system made up of wonderful men and women who have come from far and wide to care for us.
Happy to share my experience or pray for anyone who may be in the position I was in. DM.
I certainly was supported and carried through by many who prayed, after being on max oxygen c pap for 2 nights it was assumed I had made sufficient progress, 3 days later I was not progressing (sats not improving)and having been told I’d be going back to the other ward, I prayed for a breakthrough and started exercising in my bed and drinking hot green tea. This helped clear the lungs sufficiently to increase oxygen. 2 days later I was off oxygen and had to have 24 hours off it before I could be discharged. There are more details I won’t share but I did get home and got on a high protein diet and carried on clearing my lungs for about 10 days. Having spent most of my time in hospital on my front I had to retrain my balance too, that took about a week.
I’d rather pray to a God I know and who listens, than cross my fingers as 2 consultants told me to do.
I genuinely hope no one reading this has to go through what I did.
My wife managed amazingly well considering the situation and worked through. She did visit me 3 times which was like having an angel turn up. Having her push me out in a wheel chair into fresh air to the car was just like a dream.

Thanks, appreciated. Stay safe.

I’d rather pray to a God I know and who listens, than cross my fingers as 2 consultants told me to do.

Basically the same thing, isn’t it?

Either way, even if that’s actually what the consultants told you to do (I doubt a verbatim quote), you can guarantee they weren’t crossing their fingers but actually using science and hard work to save your life.

Maybe pray for them if you’ve got some time on your hands… hopefully they won’t have to deal with too many more people who rely on deities over proven vaccinations.

clapping is a similar hand movement to praying just repeated a few hundred times, not sure how effective it was at helping the NHS or saving lives though?

It's making me a bit uncomfortable reading the negative replies to this man's faith. I'm not religious but I don't begrudge anyone who is. You may not be happy with somebody refusing vaccines but whilst it's still a free choice and on the understanding that snide comments aren't going to change his mind, I don't see the value in this line of conversation on this thread.