Coronavirus: social, economic and other changes as a result of the pandemic

[oddoneout]

Isn't that tricky to verify? Clearly if someone has definitely had Covid then if it takes a long time to recover that could reasonably be called Long Covid. In the relatively early days of what was known about the pandemic, some people reported what is now being called long covid, but they had not obviously had the coronavirus. Now we know that some people - a proportion of the total sufferers - have had asymptomatic or near asymptomatic Covid - so do some of these also now identify with what is being called long covid?

It could be that so-called long covid is viewed with some scepticism in some quarters, just as ME was years ago - and I still don't know whether ME is now generally accepted as a medical condition.

Are there any tests to verify that such people really have had Covid, and to justify the use of the term long covid? Perhaps not, as there are it seems few tests which can actually determine whether people have had such diseases in the past.

So - assuming that there really is such a thing as Long Covid - what diagnoses and what treatments are there for it? Another possibility is that it is yet another condition, and not directly related to Covid-19 at all.

I wasn't meaning shadow in the sense of "shadow on the lung" but rather that the initial infection, once overcome, leaves an ill-health shadow hanging over the patient. The fact that it is so common and occurs in connection with a single cause has meant that medical recognition is very different from the likes of ME/CFS , and so there is official NHS information https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/corona...us-long-covid/
This article is interesting https://www.bma.org.uk/news-and-opin...en-here-before

[teamsaint]

Spectacular lack of balance on vaccine passports from the BBC.

Being careful what you wish for was never more important.

“ It makes you feel safer” subtitle in big bold font. Well that kind of depends who you ask.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-56812293

[Anastasius]

....
“ It makes you feel safer” subtitle in big bold font. Well that kind of depends who you ask.
...

How so ? Still fussing about Big Brother, TS ? How would you propose to open up the country without some form of proof of Covid status ?

[teamsaint]

How so ? Still fussing about Big Brother, TS ? How would you propose to open up the country without some form of proof of Covid status ?

It is a ridiculously biased piece.

Open the country up .....Vaccine roll out for those who want it.( with hospitalisations for the vaccinated at almost zero) ....maybe some sensible distancing, testing where it really makes a difference.

And lets stop the appalling collateral damage, and start fixing the mess we have created.Covid is not the only health threat, not by a long way. If people can’t see through the government lies, EG Johnson’s claim that it is lockdown not vaccinations that are stopping serious illness, then we are in big trouble.
If vaccinations work, ( and they seem to) then the passports are unnecessary, as we will have personal protection plus herd immunity, and we are almost certainly better protected going forward than we are against, say flu.
We really don’t need digital surveillance infrastructure to “ keep us safe”. It a a dangerous illusion at best.

And talking of Big Brother, the speculation about as yet undiscovered variants is right out of 1984 and the permanent state of war.

[oddoneout]

Spectacular lack of balance on vaccine passports from the BBC.

Being careful what you wish for was never more important.

“ It makes you feel safer” subtitle in big bold font. Well that kind of depends who you ask.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-56812293

I don't know about lack of balance but what I read in that article simply suggests the pointlessness of using it as a validation of why we should have a similar system in this country. About the only point of similarity between the two countries is that both are N European. Nothing about what has happened in this country in recent years ( even without the pandemic) convinces me that there is the necessary competence and integrity to introduce such a scheme here. Even if Big Brother type concerns are set aside I can't see that the inevitable cock-ups, exclusions, inequalities etc would even be considered in the first place let alone be quickly rectified.

[Anastasius]

It is a ridiculously biased piece.

Open the country up .....Vaccine roll out for those who want it.( with hospitalisations for the vaccinated at almost zero) ....maybe some sensible distancing, testing where it really makes a difference.

And lets stop the appalling collateral damage, and start fixing the mess we have created.Covid is not the only health threat, not by a long way. If people can’t see through the government lies, EG Johnson’s claim that it is lockdown not vaccinations that are stopping serious illness, then we are in big trouble.
If vaccinations work, ( and they seem to) then the passports are unnecessary, as we will have personal protection plus herd immunity, and we are almost certainly better protected going forward than we are against, say flu.
We really don’t need digital surveillance infrastructure to “ keep us safe”. It a a dangerous illusion at best.

And talking of Big Brother, the speculation about as yet undiscovered variants is right out of 1984 and the permanent state of war.

Ok..so if I understand you correctly, it's 'Let's open up everything because we've got herd immunity now'. Excellent.

[teamsaint]

Ok..so if I understand you correctly, it's 'Let's open up everything because we've got herd immunity now'. Excellent.

How you got that from my post, I have no idea. You have missed most of the points.
(The government plan in any case actually is to open up completely in June, because of vaccination and a degree of herd immunity.)

[french frank]

(The government plan in any case actually is to open up completely in June, because of vaccination and a degree of herd immunity.)

Not so much "because of" as "in the hope of". And in any case it's "no earlier than 21 June", implying it might be later.

[Anastasius]

How you got that from my post, I have no idea. You have missed most of the points.
(The government plan in any case actually is to open up completely in June, because of vaccination and a degree of herd immunity.)

Oh no..I got all your points. Just don't agree with most of them. To say that "And talking of Big Brother, the speculation about as yet undiscovered variants is right out of 1984 and the permanent state of war." is ignoring the science. Viruses mutate. Fact. I'm stocking up on loo rolls for the Third Wave in September.

[teamsaint]

Oh no..I got all your points. Just don't agree with most of them. To say that "And talking of Big Brother, the speculation about as yet undiscovered variants is right out of 1984 and the permanent state of war." is ignoring the science. Viruses mutate. Fact. I'm stocking up on loo rolls for the Third Wave in September.

Not ignoring the fact that viruses mutate at all . Just pointing out that we don’t impose draconian , dangerous, authoritarian measures for other viruses that might mutate, and in the case of flu for example, mutate more slowly.

Happy shopping !

[LMcD]

Oh no..I got all your points. Just don't agree with most of them. To say that "And talking of Big Brother, the speculation about as yet undiscovered variants is right out of 1984 and the permanent state of war." is ignoring the science. Viruses mutate. Fact. I'm stocking up on loo rolls for the Third Wave in September.

Oh no! I've just heard that the personalized loo rolls that I ordered are still stuck in the Great Bitter Lake on that wretched supertanker. The strain is beginning to tell ....

[cloughie]

Oh no! I've just heard that the personalized loo rolls that I ordered are still stuck in the Great Bitter Lake on that wretched supertanker. The strain is beginning to tell ....

Too much information.

You could follow the Beatles lead:

https://youtu.be/p4E6KtQg_z0

[french frank]

Just pointing out that we don’t impose draconian , dangerous, authoritarian measures for other viruses that might mutate, and in the case of flu for example, mutate more slowly.

Has there been a comparably contagious/fatal virus - flu or otherwise - in your lifetime, team?

[LHC]

Not ignoring the fact that viruses mutate at all . Just pointing out that we don’t impose draconian , dangerous, authoritarian measures for other viruses that might mutate, and in the case of flu for example, mutate more slowly.

Happy shopping !

If influenza had a similar infection fatality rate as Covid19 (ie about 10 times greater than it is) we might well consider imposing similar measures to control infections and reduce deaths.

[Cockney Sparrow]

Over past weeks (months, actually) there have been a number of news articles about The Next Pandemic, and also Radio 4 programmes ("Jump" in the name).

Transmission via birds and poultry (esp. smallholder/domestic owner's poultry) has been the expected source of transmission into wider populations for some years, according to my listening/reading. But as with Covid, we can't be sure that flu via birds will be the occurence of the next highly transmissable and lethal pandemic.

I haven't mentioned these programmes because, well, its been depressing enough as it is.