Another Covid post...

My 34 year old daughter is, it can be said, cautious, almost to the point of paranoia, due to having a 5 year old daughter, a husband who is a head teacher and, as part of her workload, monitors compliance at work for all her staff when it comes to distancing, mask wearing etc. She has been doing lateral flow tests every day whilst working at the office or before going out.

On Sunday, she was phoned by a colleague to say he had tested positive . Two lateral flow tests one negative, one positive later it was confirmed by a PCR test that she has contracted Covid .

She is now symptomatic with very congested chest and feeling unwell.

Worse still, on Sunday before the call they had a small gathering for the annual Christmas lunch with sister in law, mother in Law and a couple of others who will now have to probably isolate. She has confined herself to a single room and in spite of having booked 2 weeks leave and had all sorts of thing planned like family outings to see Santa is now in quarantine for several days hoping not to have passed it on. Christmas is cancelled.
The reason I post this is because if my daughter can catch it No-one is safe given how careful she has been. This new strain (which I suspect it must be) is obviously highly contagious given she had both vaccines and her also her booster jab. Fat lot of good they seem to have done.

It makes you wonder of there is something Governments are not telling us regarding the efficacy of the booster and this latest variant. Hopefully she will only have minor symptoms and things won't get any worse.

We are lucky we made our twice cancelled trip to the UK in September before all this all kicked off again as I don't see driving to the UK via Switzerland/France or Germany/Austria being remotely viable at this time.

Happy bloody Xmas!!

 

Sorry to hear that mate. My partner's son and his wife have both got it despite both being boosted. We're just hoping that we can steer clear till after Christmas...

Sadly, I think that just about everyone is going to get Omicron

 

I got the booster then tested positive via lateral flow and pcr whereas my partner, who is double vaccinated and her 3 year old son have both tested negative. I'm no conspiracy theorist but there is something strange about it

 

I'll stand corrected. The others at the xmas gathering, Do not have to isolate. But be told and be wary of any symptoms. To have tests if so.

 

Completely anecdotally, I've managed to get through the best part of two years with pretty much nobody I know coming down with it. Over the past couple of months it seems to have hit all at once - friends, employees, their friends, parents etc. Luckily nobody with serious symptoms yet, but this omicron is definitely making the whole thing a lot more present to me...

 

Nothing strange at all, Omicron is a COVID variant that spreads rapidly and sadly the vaccines are not as effective against it as they are against Alpha and Delta. Me and my partner were boosted in early November, we have so far not been infected (had a PCR test after returning from Madeira 6th Dec and a couple LFTs since prior to family events, all negative). My anecdotal "evidence" is just as significant as that provided by you, your partner and son. It's all a matter of chance.

 

The vaccines are, it is believed, still good at preventing serious illness. Given the numbers catching Covid in London and the South East that had better be the case or we’re all doomed, doomed I tell you.

 

Bump!
Only because following up on the OP after 4 days it is is increasingly clear that Omicron IS much more contagious (our experience both from my daughter's and people we know in UK and also here in Italy) but also much milder. My daughter says her symptoms have been like a bad cold (something many people we know have also said.)

The numbers of positive tests here are increasing dramatically and the number of admissions to hospitals has increased (our region has hit an all time high, albeit the threshold for triggering triggering more restrictions and yellow zones is 15% ICU beds Covid occupancy which is quite low) .

However this increase in hospital admissions is not proportionate to the number of positive tests since the majority are asymptomatic or only have minor symptoms partly due to the fact it is the younger healthier age group that now seem to be contracting Covid. Also, the hospital admissions (non-ICU and ICU ) are around 70% un-vaccinated.

ALL the recently recorded deaths in our area have been very elderly and/or with existing medical conditions. We are keeping a low profile as our boosters are booked for the 27th as we had our flu jabs recently and unlike UK they have to be 3 weeks apart from the Covid booster.

One huge major difference though between UK and Italy is that Italian GPs have been 'business-as-usual' throughout. I simply cannot understand why UK GPs have shut up shop especially as it is a bit piecemeal and some have been doing face to face consulations. It is self evident the extra strain on the NHS is the major contributing factor to why the UK health system is overloaded compared to most of Europe , certainly in Italy, which is coping. Headline Positive test daily figures only show a small part of the overall situation.
I understand science and Govt being cautious due to the delay in data when new variants appear, but I also think there has been a bit of a knee jerk overreaction with Omicron. Just because positive test numbers are high, given that so many are now carrying the virus, the vast majority , whilst they are feeling unwell, it is akin to shutting everything down because everyone is catching colds and, for a small number, that turns into something more serious like severe chest infections or pneumonia. The money spent on millions of Antigen test kits could be better spent now given the numbers (1 in 45 in UK apparently reported by media today) to simply assume everyone is potentially carrying the virus. Why not spend the money on the NHS to enable them to cope with it. Millions and millions of daily tests do NOT stop the virus like testing does not improve schoolkids grades. It does, however, stop additional resources being provided. It is here to stay, widespread and mutating like flu viruses which we live with. We are rapidly reaching the point where we need to accept that.

 

We have a Tory government that is hell-bent on privatising the NHS. It neatly falls into their plan to make the publicly funded NHS look inadequate to justify it's demise, so that is not going to happen any time soon I'm afraid.

 

My 9 and 12 year old kids both currently have COVID which has knacked our plans to come to Barnsley and stay with family at Christmas.

I’m triple jabbed and haven’t copped for it yet, testing negative all week.

It is a real shame we can’t come home for Christmas, but the kids aren’t unwell with it and having lost a brother to the wretched disease last year we’re just going to make the best of a bad job.

 

I suspect it has got more sinister than that, Brush. All recent Tory governments have proclaimed loyalty to the NHS and that it is "safe in our hands". There certainly doesn't seem to be any appetite at the moment for wholesale privatisation. But there has been creeping privatisation of ancillary services such as housekeeping and catering at many Trusts. The pandemic has provided them with huge new opportunities to hive off commercial opportunities for their cronies in providing masks, PPE and testing facilities. I expect them to accelerate this process wherever they can find a corner, and it will be creeping. That way, they need never have the fight about blanket privatisation, but the costs for all of us will increase and the service provided for those who cannot pay will deteriorate. Physiotherapy, the effects of which can be life-changing seems to be unavailable to NHS patients unless they are able to pay privately.

 

The vaccines help your body to give an immune response when coming into contact with the virus but no vaccine will entirely protect everyone. When the spike protein in the virus comes into contact with your body it’s basically sending millions of different key lock codes at a time to interact with the spikes on the virus so it’s completely normal for multiple people in a household to test positive but then one person doesn’t… it’s just because the person who tested negatives immune response has successfully triggered the lock with that protein. It’s not because the tests are just giving random results if that’s what you hint at.

 

I cannot add to that or deny it as I simply do not have information. I also vowed not to get involved in political debate. I do feel I can add to teh argument that personally privatisation of theNHS along US lines i.e. insurance based would be disastrous. Nevertheless, public services in UK have increasingly become profit/money driven at te taxpayers expense and huge sums of taxpayers money diverted to shareholders in PLCS etc. Here in Italy teh Public Health services GPS, Hospitals are for everyone. However, certain elements, blood tests, scans (other than those as part of a general screening campaigns like mammograms for over 60s) are chargeable, albeit heavily subsidised e-g- Ecodoppler ultrasound scans 60 euros. I have one annually having had two incidents of Thrombosis (one DVT with my GP sending me to the consultant and the resulting scan meaning I was sent straight to AE at the hospital). Major consultations are aroun 100 euros but if they are the start of a long medical process like cancer treatment they cover the entire cost even down to iwgs for women who are concerned at loss of hair during Chemo). The downside is that costs are less predictable than NI monthly deductions but NI contributions as such do not exist here so people allow for these payments in their budgeting. The upside is consultations appointments are fast, diagnosis is instant (you are given your own records to maintain, and there is no appointment system for GPs or a time limit. (this can mean sitting in the waiting room for your turn whilst someone may be half an hour with the GP). But everyone gets as long as is needed. Treatment time are fast as well.