Covid - newsworthy

[weeksy]

When I am old and gaga

When?

[irie]

Enquiries are not supposed to have teeth. Neither are lessons learned exercises. They're not supposed to be trials.

Just tell that to Hugo Keith KC who is leading the Covid Enquiry, who doesn't know what a QALY is.

https://unherd.com/thepost/what-qalys-r ... lockdowns/

In a key section of Rishi Sunak’s evidence to the Covid inquiry yesterday, the Prime Minister explained that studies based on quality-adjusted life years, or QALYs, found that the first Covid lockdown generated costs that were greater than the likely benefit. It was a striking admission, perhaps the first time that a senior member of the Government has admitted that lockdowns may have been the wrong policy choice.

A disconcerted Hugo Keith KC responded by saying, “I don’t want to get into quality life assurance models [sic].” With that dismissive reference, Keith revealed his lack of familiarity with the most basic approach to health policy analysis.

That's a really interesting one. Fundamentally that's saying 'older people will die' and the cost of preventing it isn't worthwhile in £ terms. Now, I know that old folk dying reduces the pension bill and I know that they try to develop and use metrics about 'life quality' and I'm acutely aware of QALY metrics but, fundamentally he's saying that it cost too much to keep these non-productive drains on society alive. That's a valid PoV, I'm just surprised he was so blatant about it.

Nothing "blatant about it".

Because there are not unlimited resources in the NHS, QALY is a metric widely used in the NHS to help decide where to allocate these limited resources. The use of QALY's in the NHS has nothing to do with "reducing pension bills" or keeping "non-productive drains on society alive".

[wheelnut]

Covid ... Seems to vary a lot.

Wasn't the theory that as it mutated it would get more transmissable but less virulent?

That doesn’t seem to have happened. I managed to avoid it until a couple of months back. And it was horrible.

Still haven't got my sense of smell back yet.

It does seem to have become less virulent. It does seem to wipe people out but it doesn’t appear to be turning into hospital admissions as yet.

[Mr. Dazzle]

The nutters were so close! It's actually big Parma who are putting microchips in people.

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2023/a ... chips-rind

[Skub]

The nutters were so close! It's actually big Parma who are putting microchips in people.

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2023/a ... chips-rind

Mmmm chips and cheese.

[Greenman]

Come back to work and 4 or 5 people at 2 schools are out with Covid. Looks like it on the rise again, better got get another 15 jabs!

[Dodgy69]

Since I've had the jabs my immune system has gone to shit. Last 3 month's I seem to have had virus after virus. Nothing mega bad but one after the other.

[DefTrap]

Every time I go to the docs he says COVID is rife in the village, he should know I suppose, however reasonably recently it hasn't been compulsory to wear masks in the surgery* - I know this because it's the first time I've seen his whole face (it turns out he looks a bit like my son-in-law).

Anyway, I'm getting my booster tonight. If I hadn't got COVID twice last year (the second being nasty and doing a decent job of ruining my Summer) I was considering swerving it.

* (you'd assume the two go hand-in-hand with levels of infection - unless the advice about mask wearing has changed)

[Noggin]

I so wanted access to masks on Saturday. Seven tourists returning to GVA and 4 of them spent the 2.5 hours coughing and spluttering. I'm told that me wearing a mask wouldn't help, but TBH, I would happily have passed a handful over to them and got them to splutter and cough into their own mask instead of sharing all the lurgy with the driver

I do have a sore throat and don't feel fab, but I'm just knackered from the first few weeks of the season and probably have a cough from the bastard tourists

Fully vaccinated, but since I've never had symptoms with covid, I would guess this is just a cough! Probably!! Two days off to sleep

[Saga Lout]

Since I've had the jabs my immune system has gone to shit. Last 3 month's I seem to have had virus after virus. Nothing mega bad but one after the other.

I got two jabs in 2021 when the powers that be were telling us if enough of us got vaccinated we'd get to herd immunity and everything would go back to normal. Once they changed their tune with a never ending series of boosters I decided enough was enough. My immune system was already compromised but all I've had during the last four years is a cold.

[Horse]

all I've had during the last four years is a cold.

I managed to avoid it - assuming I've not had it without symptoms - for three and a half years.

When I did get it (late September) it was very unpleasant and I'm still experiencing loss of taste and smell.

[Yambo]

Shouldn't have stopped washing your hands . . .

[Horse]

Shouldn't have stopped washing your hands . . .

I know where - more specifically, who - I caught it. Washing hands wouldn't have made any difference when they've been breathing in the same room for hours ...

[DefTrap]

I got two jabs in 2021 when the powers that be were telling us if enough of us got vaccinated we'd get to herd immunity and everything would go back to normal. Once they changed their tune with a never ending series of boosters I decided enough was enough. My immune system was already compromised but all I've had during the last four years is a cold.

I'm fairly sure I avoided it by avoiding people (I'm lucky in that I could because I live fairly remotely and I don't need to leave the house for work) when the vaccinations were unavailable. But it was lonely, and it was hard, and the vast majority of my nearest and dearest did the same. As far as I'm concerned we're "back to normal" - it's been forever since I've seen daily deaths front and centre on The News, my movements aren't restricted, I can leave the house without paperwork (I can hardly believe that was real FFS), I haven't worn a mask for over a year, I hardly think about COVID on a day-to-day basis. I'll happily take further boosters to protect myself, individuals can choose whether they do or don't. But I don't want to go through lockdowns again, so yeah there's also the herd immunity to think about. I'm not sure vaccs were ever intended to be single-jab-fixes-you-forever.

[Mr. Dazzle]

From my POV Covid is all over and in the past and everything is back to normal.

I fully appreciate this ain't the case and more people are dying than were before, hospitals are more stretched etc. But, as I said, from my POV it's just like 2019 again.

[Yambo]

I haven't had covid. I followed the isolation rules at home, wore a mask, had 4 jabs and a booster ( had the jabs as I wanted to travel to UK), played the game. Had a couple of tests (probably 3) all negative.

Tough old critters us Brexiters. In control.

Covid's an EU thing I think. For the soft remainers

[DefTrap]

I fully appreciate this ain't the case and more people are dying than were before, hospitals are more stretched etc.

Are more people dying? Or even hospitalised? I've not seen much on The News about it (unless the fickle bastards just don't care any more), only anecdotal stuff - mainly on here to be honest. Everyone is cracking right on, I doubt most of us are even bothering to do a COVID test when we come down with something. The COVID Worldometer stats make it look like it COVID has died right back, or at least the stats aren't really being gathered / supplied any more.

[Noggin]

I haven't had covid. I followed the isolation rules at home, wore a mask, had 4 jabs and a booster ( had the jabs as I wanted to travel to UK), played the game. Had a couple of tests (probably 3) all negative.

Tough old critters us Brexiters. In control.

Covid's an EU thing I think. For the soft remainers

Don't think Covid is that keen on this soft remainer! I've had it at least twice that I know of despite following rules and having all the vaccines (five I think now!) - but I don't get symptoms, so who knows if I've had it more!!


The downside tho of two big weeks of holidays for the UK and France is that all the tourists mix and get lurgies. So the chances are that there's a fairly big level of Covid in resort, but no one is testing any more

I did cancel a physio appointment yesterday because I felt rough, but more because I got home from work and into my PJs before I remembered I had to go back out two hours later and I was just too tired to deal with that. I don't believe I have Covid cos I have symptoms. But if I have, it was being in a minibus with coughing tourists that caused it, and I can't avoid that - best get immune asap!

[irie]

I fully appreciate this ain't the case and more people are dying than were before, hospitals are more stretched etc.

Are more people dying? Or even hospitalised? I've not seen much on The News about it (unless the fickle bastards just don't care any more), only anecdotal stuff - mainly on here to be honest. Everyone is cracking right on, I doubt most of us are even bothering to do a COVID test when we come down with something. The COVID Worldometer stats make it look like it COVID has died right back, or at least the stats aren't really being gathered / supplied any more.

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lane ... 1/fulltext

... The UK Office for National Statistics (ONS) has calculated that there were 7.2% or 44,255 more deaths registered in the UK in 2022 based on comparison with the five-year average (excluding 2020).1 This persisted into 2023 with 8.6% or 28,024 more deaths registered in the first six months of the year than expected ...

Add in 'excess deaths' in 2020 and 2021 so perhaps a couple of hundred thousand excess deaths so far ...

[Saga Lout]

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lane ... 1/fulltext

... The UK Office for National Statistics (ONS) has calculated that there were 7.2% or 44,255 more deaths registered in the UK in 2022 based on comparison with the five-year average (excluding 2020).1 This persisted into 2023 with 8.6% or 28,024 more deaths registered in the first six months of the year than expected ...

Add in 'excess deaths' in 2020 and 2021 so perhaps a couple of hundred thousand excess deaths so far ...

What is magical about five years? Why is the media and the PTB so obsessed with the five year figures? Is it because the death rate in 2020 was about the same as the death rate in 2008 and, if I remember correctly, lower than every year before that? Is it because the people wouldn't have been so compliant if they'd been told the truth?