michaelc
Member of DD Central
Say No To T.D.S.
Posts: 5,709 
Likes: 2,985
|
Post by michaelc on Jan 5, 2022 15:28:16 GMT
Yeh, why bother taking them in the first place? Fail an LFT, no symptoms? Hey-ho. No need for a PCR to confirm it. So why bother even taking the LFT? It certainly solves the problems of rapidly rising numbers of cases... <gibber> Unlike previous variants, most people are likely to get omicron and soon unless they live an isolated existence. So why test for what we already know? Just to prevent keyworkers getting to work?
|
|
adrianc
Member of DD Central
Posts: 10,019
Likes: 5,147
|
Post by adrianc on Jan 5, 2022 15:29:54 GMT
Because why on earth shouldn't "keyworkers" go to work while infected...?
And it makes the numbers look smaller. Bonus! Boris is winning against the lurgy!
|
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 5, 2022 15:35:31 GMT
Florida's surg gen has decided to stop testing so the numbers don't look so bad. You just have to love those guys.
|
|
keitha
Member of DD Central
2024, hopefully the year I get out of P2P
Posts: 4,594
Likes: 2,624
Member is Online
|
Post by keitha on Jan 5, 2022 17:08:08 GMT
Yeh, why bother taking them in the first place? Fail an LFT, no symptoms? Hey-ho. No need for a PCR to confirm it. So why bother even taking the LFT? It certainly solves the problems of rapidly rising numbers of cases... <gibber> I'm thinking of wasting being those taking them daily or more, heard someone on radio before christmas who had covid saying she was doing 3 a day and as soon as she got a negative she was off to join her family
|
|
Mike
Member of DD Central
Posts: 651
Likes: 446
|
Post by Mike on Jan 5, 2022 17:25:37 GMT
They're certainly not cheap - the FT once reported "Lateral flow tests cost in the range of £5 to £30 each" in Nov 2020 www.ft.com/content/07f76b06-73db-4647-97b6-ef0a9a58626dBy now it should be nothing like £30 but nevertheless, even a few quid a go.. I wonder if people would be so keen on doing so many tests if they realised the cost to their future taxpaying self (or covid tests cost expressed as a %age of NHS funding) |
|
benaj
Member of DD Central
N/A
Posts: 5,620
Likes: 1,741
|
Post by benaj on Jan 5, 2022 17:27:09 GMT
|
|
Greenwood2
Member of DD Central
Posts: 4,385
Likes: 2,784
|
Post by Greenwood2 on Jan 5, 2022 18:02:50 GMT
Denmark and UK seem to be following similar patterns of cases and deaths, both are high on cases and comparatively low on deaths currently.
|
|
|
|
Post by bernythedolt on Jan 5, 2022 18:28:38 GMT
Yep, we have a veritable case-demic on our hands. Of that there can be no doubt.
|
|
Greenwood2
Member of DD Central
Posts: 4,385
Likes: 2,784
|
Post by Greenwood2 on Jan 5, 2022 20:33:41 GMT
Yep, we have a veritable case-demic on our hands. Of that there can be no doubt. Although deaths are rising in some countries, France is one where deaths are steadily rising and Italy to an extent so no reason to be complacent yet.
|
|
|
|
Post by bracknellboy on Jan 5, 2022 22:25:59 GMT
Yeh, why bother taking them in the first place? Fail an LFT, no symptoms? Hey-ho. No need for a PCR to confirm it. So why bother even taking the LFT? It certainly solves the problems of rapidly rising numbers of cases... <gibber> I think that has fundamentally misunderstood the point of the new direction. You are meant/told to report the test failure. You are instructed to isolate for the requisite period (7 days from initial symptoms or test failure contingent on -ve test on days 6 and 7). [and test and trace will work (insert wry smile) on the basis of the failed LFT not a subsequent PCR result The point being: with a failed LFT now consider yourself as having covid, period: don't bother confirming it with PCR. The major reason for doing a PCR to confirm an LFT (aside allowing for genome sequencing) is that when infection rates are relatively low it helps to weed out FALSE +ves (thereby releasing people earlier because they are recategorised as -ve). The reason for this change is because when infection rates are high, the incidence of false +ves in %age terms is significantly lower - just because a larger number of those taking tests will be +ve. So there is much less societal benefit in double checking. This is about not wasting 'precious' PCR testing capability and instead assuming you are +ve based on the LFT; not about assuming you are -ve despite a failed LFT because you have no symptoms. you have inverted the sense of things here.
|
|
|
|
Post by bernythedolt on Jan 6, 2022 1:09:34 GMT
Yep, we have a veritable case-demic on our hands. Of that there can be no doubt. Although deaths are rising in some countries, France is one where deaths are steadily rising and Italy to an extent so no reason to be complacent yet. Not complacency, just a personal observation from the published figures for England & Wales. Sorry for the length, and at risk of being torn to shreds, here goes… ‘Weekly deaths with COVID-19 on the death certificate’
- Have remained below 1,200 for the whole of the past nine months. (For context, both waves 1 and 2 peaked at 9,000 per week, in Apr 2020 and Jan 2021 respectively). - There was a relatively minor peak of 1,100 in late September, followed by another of 1,200 in mid-November, since when deaths have been steadily falling week by week. The latest weekly death toll in this category is 591. - Omicron arrived on these shores on 27th November, and so far there’s scant evidence that it’s changed that positive direction of travel. Reference: Fourth chart on this page - coronavirus.data.gov.uk/details/deaths‘Weekly deaths with flu or pneumonia on the death certificate’
- Have outstripped Covid deaths every single week for those same nine months. By quite some margin, being typically two or three times larger. The latest weekly death toll in this category is 1,692. Reference: www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/datasets/weeklyprovisionalfiguresondeathsregisteredinenglandandwalesWhy are we SO transfixed by Covid still?
Have we ever taken the steps for flu/pneumonia, at any time in our history, that we are currently taking for Covid which is far less lethal? The frantic, almost fanatical, level of testing, the nightly scaremongering bulletins… they just don’t seem warranted now, by comparison. I can only rationalise this by thinking it's deliberately designed to scare us into (rightly) getting vaccinated, in order to keep the impact low. Covid has become a tiny and insignificant proportion of all deaths
So much so that it should barely merit a mention now. See weekly deaths chart…. www.ons.gov.uk/visualisations/dvc1738/fig1/index.htmlRemember that every week in England & Wales, broadly 10,000 people die from all causes (varies seasonally by +/-4,000). Of all the deaths registered in Week 51 – the latest available figure – 591 involved Covid. That’s just 4.5% of all deaths that week. Whereas flu/pneumonia accounted for 13%. Conclusion
People often say Covid is no worse than flu, and I’m now beginning to think they have a fair point as time goes on. The figures certainly support that over the last few months, since the majority were vaccinated.
|
|
Greenwood2
Member of DD Central
Posts: 4,385
Likes: 2,784
|
Post by Greenwood2 on Jan 6, 2022 7:33:21 GMT
Although deaths are rising in some countries, France is one where deaths are steadily rising and Italy to an extent so no reason to be complacent yet. Not complacency, just a personal observation from the published figures for England & Wales. Sorry for the length, and at risk of being torn to shreds, here goes… ‘Weekly deaths with COVID-19 on the death certificate’
- Have remained below 1,200 for the whole of the past nine months. (For context, both waves 1 and 2 peaked at 9,000 per week, in Apr 2020 and Jan 2021 respectively). - There was a relatively minor peak of 1,100 in late September, followed by another of 1,200 in mid-November, since when deaths have been steadily falling week by week. The latest weekly death toll in this category is 591. - Omicron arrived on these shores on 27th November, and so far there’s scant evidence that it’s changed that positive direction of travel. Reference: Fourth chart on this page - coronavirus.data.gov.uk/details/deaths‘Weekly deaths with flu or pneumonia on the death certificate’
- Have outstripped Covid deaths every single week for those same nine months. By quite some margin, being typically two or three times larger. The latest weekly death toll in this category is 1,692. Reference: www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/datasets/weeklyprovisionalfiguresondeathsregisteredinenglandandwalesWhy are we SO transfixed by Covid still?
Have we ever taken the steps for flu/pneumonia, at any time in our history, that we are currently taking for Covid which is far less lethal? The frantic, almost fanatical, level of testing, the nightly scaremongering bulletins… they just don’t seem warranted now, by comparison. I can only rationalise this by thinking it's deliberately designed to scare us into (rightly) getting vaccinated, in order to keep the impact low. Covid has become a tiny and insignificant proportion of all deaths
So much so that it should barely merit a mention now. See weekly deaths chart…. www.ons.gov.uk/visualisations/dvc1738/fig1/index.htmlRemember that every week in England & Wales, broadly 10,000 people die from all causes (varies seasonally by +/-4,000). Of all the deaths registered in Week 51 – the latest available figure – 591 involved Covid. That’s just 4.5% of all deaths that week. Whereas flu/pneumonia accounted for 13%. Conclusion
People often say Covid is no worse than flu, and I’m now beginning to think they have a fair point as time goes on. The figures certainly support that over the last few months, since the majority were vaccinated. I agree, in the UK at least we seem to be over the worst of Covid (touch wood) and we will have to live with it in varying severities in the future like flu. I think BoJo is thinking in that direction, not wanting to react to the high number of cases. I hope the NHS can tough it out till the spring. There are still high death rates in some countries, eastern Europe is an example, low vaccination rates and Delta still dominant there so maybe not surprising.
|
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 6, 2022 10:02:43 GMT
Boris is doing anything to avoid mandated vaccines, that would split the party.
Now if only there was an opposition?
|
|
|
|
Post by stevepn on Jan 6, 2022 11:35:30 GMT
Boris is doing anything to avoid mandated vaccines, that would split the party.
Now if only there was an opposition?
It would also split the country.
|
|
agent69
Member of DD Central
Posts: 6,048
Likes: 4,438
|
Post by agent69 on Jan 6, 2022 11:55:06 GMT
Boris is doing anything to avoid mandated vaccines, that would split the party.
Now if only there was an opposition?
Italy announces compulsory vaccinations for over 50's
|
|
