It is impossible to say with any certainty exactly what would have happened had the country chosen a different path. Still for what its worth on R4 a few moments ago, the alternative Sage spokesman said "If we (UK) were in the same position as we were at this time last year (unvaxxed). with the current levels of infection, we would have four times the number of hospitalisations and ten times the number of deaths right now". So maybe totally true and maybe not, but there must be something in it?
If you choose to believe the figures, which have in the past been manipulated to suit the narrative, then that's good news. However (IMO) concentrating on these numbers is far too reductive and myopic. The collateral damage is way more damaging and is constantly being ignored. Missed cancer scans to name but one, I can't even imagine the lasting damage being to do children that are being raised to believe there's something out there that's going to get them. Not properly seeing learning to communicate because of a face covering. Domestic violence, debt, the biggest wealth transfer in human history, on and on it goes. Sugar kills more people than gunpowder now, let's ban coca cola and Mr Kipling, that'll save more lives. The biggest cause of death in men under 45 was, probably still is, suicide. Let's turn the walk in Covide jab centres into walk in counseling centres for these poor souls. Because they'll be bloody lucky to actually see a doctor and even then it'll be through a face covering. The 'cure' is far more damaging than the remedy, and this latest draconian announcement from the government is going to put more and more people in the awful position to decide between this state injectable or their income. Not a position I'd want to be put in.
Can’t be true mate. Media and experts on here say they are overrun with covid and have been for nearly two years. Yours is the wrong evidence.
A week on, I’m now deaf in one ear due to mucus pressure, according to the chemist as I can’t actually see a doctor or any kind, am sat here still having cold sweats, am now on decongestant for that plus co-codomol as the pain is 8/10 at times and very little energy. I was ill the Xmas covid kicked off and wiped out for a few days at home but was off work anyway. I had a few weeks in hospital bed with my heart the year before. And I’ve had a look back and the last time I took a day off, bear in mind my round trip is 100-300 miles per day depending on the job I was in at the time, was Jan 2014 when I had bad sinusitis which meant I could not drive for a couple of days. Before that a few years again before o took a day off. my wife has started to feel a bit low today, 6 days after I became unwell. If it wasn’t the vaccine how come she hasn’t caught it sooner?
I believe there is an incubation period of 3 days from an infected person @bradders You may be able to count back to an interaction with someone that had a cold or was feeling under the weather. Have you called 111 they can get you a doctor should you need one. You have underlying health issues and I don’t think a pharmacist is your route
Thankfully my underlying issues are fixed. Except obesity. 111 is simply something I haven’t the patience for. Suspect I’ll need a sick note, never had one in my life, so Doc will have to do something next week
Also homelessness, which is terrible for someone’s mental and physical health, not to mention that they often become economically inactive and/or seek advice, assistance and housing from local authorities whose services have been hollowed out by a decade of austerity measures. Since most of the Covid related protections afforded to tenants were withdrawn recently I’m seeing a big increase in enquiries from both tenants and landlords seeking representation in possession proceedings. Loss or reduction of employment due to Covid is a factor in most of these cases. Obviously the economy is bouncing back now, but if someone has built up £10k’s worth of rent arrears in 2020/21 they’re not going to be able to clear them by getting a job in a bar and working a bit of overtime.
You still have to be mindful Bradders even though your fixed They are fit notes now it will just say your not fit for work. Gotta be pro active
You are right, all these are valid points, and Covid is not the only bad thing around. Though to give some perspective, the male suicide rate last year was 3925 or about two weeks covid at the current euphemistically described in the MSM as "low level". Male & female annual deaths from suicide in 2020 were sadly 5224. As tragic as that is, its a long way from 87,000. https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopula.../suicidesintheunitedkingdom/2020registrations
Is that 87,000 figure people who died from Covid (ie: with it being a signifiant cause of death), or people who had a positive Covid test within 28 days of or after death, regardless of the cause? How many of them were people at the end of their lives anyway where Covid was just the straw that broke the camel’s back? Obviously, every death is tragic in its own way, but the suicide of a 35 year old father with a wife and children could well leave that entire family’s lives ruined whereas the death of an 80 year old is sad but a natural and expected part of life which their family will generally get over. And as for other knock on effects, my 85 year old neighbour nearly lost his legs due to not being able to get to see a GP for 12 months while his ulcers festered. Thankfully the medics managed to save them but he spent months in hospital, is no longer able to live independently and will be putting his house up for sale.
Absolutely. When the UK figure hit the much publicized 100k, the actual real number was <5k. The FDA started revealing the same, many, many of their deaths were among people in hospices in palliative care, and/or people with severe pulmonary issues. Still tragic, but not the headline numbers we're being force fed.
Of course I do/did. We used to regularly sit outside in the yard and have a socially distanced cup of tea together. I could see (and, sadly, smell) that his legs were in a bad way and I did ask about them but didn’t want to embarrass the man by telling him he needed to go to A&E ASAP. Tbf, he did once get a visit from two adult services social workers around this time last year but he didn’t let them into his house and he told me later that he’d let the place get into such a terrible state over the previous 7 months due to his infirmity that he was both embarrassed and also afraid that they might get a court order and put him in a home. He has a son but he didn’t visit due to Covid and they Skyped instead (I suspect he may have been keeping him at arm’s length for the same reason he did with the social workers). Around Easter this year, I’d not seen him or heard him moving around for a while and he’d not replied to two notes that I’d left on his back porch (our shared yard is at the rear and both his letterboxes were screwed shut), so I started to ask around the village if anyone had his son’s phone number. However, at the same time I was doing that, one Sunday the son turned up after not hearing from his old fella for a while and found him, barely conscious, on the kitchen floor.
