printer

That's the thing, since this latest fast spreading variant general mask use has been brought into question and many shouting about using N95 specific masks as these are the "gold standard" among masks. The teachers here were all over this a short while back yet i don't know if many were aware just how wearing a properly fitted N95 all day was going to feel. The one thing that seemed to be talked about was the protection the wearer got from these masks and therefore those that were concerned could wear one and those that weren't as concerned could choose not to wear a mask and we would all be happy bunnies.

BristolUK

It might go down well but I prefer the idea of listening to experts rather than the public.

For all that Omicron is supposed to be mild, when footballers at the peak of fitness get heart lesions after suffering with it I'd sooner play safe for a while.

NB specific and further to my comments above, we just had twice as many covid deaths in 6 days as in March to December 2020.

This 'mild' variant killed twice as many people in 6 days than were killed in a 9 month period when there were no vaccines.

Danny B

Well that is what has been bothering me about all these deaths, there is no data anywhere that I can find on the internet that says what percentage of the deaths in Canada were from Delta vs Omicron, vs vaccinated vs unvaccinated.
I think it would help for the media to release these figures to the public, especially when they are saying that Omicron is 91% less likely to kill you than delta.

https://nypost.com/2022/01/13/omicro...lta-cdc-study/

JamesM

I don't think they know the data you speak of.

The Province of Ontario stopped publishing variant data when it was clear it was under tracked and they had no clue.

BristolUK

It's certainly a weird one. I've been going back over our reports and in December actual Omicron numbers seemed a minority over the overall number of cases. Though I imagine that any snapshot was just covid cases with some/many yet to be identified as Omicron.

As the month went by figures were disappearing and replaced by things like 'rapidly increasing' and then it was just called the dominant strain and that's what they're using now.

Of course it doesn't necessarily follow that the majority of deaths are Omicron but if they're not, someone would need to explain why earlier variants have suddenly become so fatal.

Almost Canadian

On the issue of covid deaths:

printer

It's interesting that back in June UK daily deaths were in single figures on a 7 day average yet now they are hovering around 280 yet restrictions (In England anyway) are being stripped away and Bojo is running with the idea it can be managed and they can live with it. Of course even 280 a day is a world away from last January where there was almost 2000 deaths a day at one point. So what is an "acceptable death rate"? We know that prior to COVID a bad flu season could kill many but it was something we just accepted, there was never any push to mandate flu jabs or force people to wear masks even though those steps may have reduced hospital cases and deaths.

Paul_Shepherd

Yes this is it exactly, it seems certain governments have lost there way... if we had ever "locked down" because of a bad case of flu in the past there would have been riots, which really is what Omicron is.

The big question here is are all these deaths really down to omicron covid? or were there underlying health conditions and covid just tipped the balance, a lot like what pnemonia does to sick hospitalised people. My Dad died from a brain tumour, but that was the primary cause... he actually died from pneumonia in the end... of course I don't say he died from that it anyone asks. In the same way, did all these people actually die from covid?

It seems to me that covid figures are clouded now more than ever. And as I have said before case counts are totally irrelevant now, and of of no use what so ever, recording deaths and hospitatisations only of healthy vaccinated people with omicron covid would give us the data we need to see how much of an actual threat the latest variant is..

dbd33

In the UK? Everyone but Johnson would be an acceptable death rate, to Johnson.

Mordko

Lockdowns happen when hospitals are about to run out of capacity, particularly of ICU beds. That is the primary reason rather than the death rate. Regular flu season is something that healthcare planned for and comparisons to “flu seasons prior to Covid” are misguided.

For the other variants, patients admitted with Covid had much higher mortality, ICU usage and duration of stay, compared to flu. And flu admissions as well as other types of admissions still happened.

Right now in Ontario ICU usage is about 1300 for non-Covid patients and 600 for Covid. Spare capacity is about 500. The Covid number is still growing but slowly and stabilizing. Which is why restrictions can be eased although the trends will have to be monitored.

The above are facts. My guess: would have been no need for this latest lockdown if all eligible people were vaccinated. Over 200 ICU beds are taken by Covid patients not fully vaccinated, but also the spread would have been slower.

UK restrictions are based on the capacity of British hospitals and vaccination status of the British public. Politicians’ hands are forced in this respect. Alberta was a good illustration and so was Britain in spring 2020. Politicians have no choice whether they want to lock down or not.

BristolUK

I think we 'accepted' it because it really wasn't many.

When I was first in Canada I was struck by queues for flu jabs as it was never really a thing in the UK. So I did a bit of research for the two countries and prevalence of flu and its effects in Canada was completely out proportion to the UK.
Here's something that I found from my posting history on it.


I think that 600 a year flu deaths is so out of whack with covid deaths of 280 daily or 2000 daily that the only reason for comparing flu and covid is to show how different they are.

BristolUK

Interestingly England is alone in the UK in lifting the mask mandates.

dbd33

The Welsh FM was entertainingly scathing about the reasons for that. He doesn't seem to hold the PM in high regard.

Danny B

Ireland has just scrapped almost all of the covid restrictions except wearing a mask

https://news.sky.com/story/covid-rep...tions-12521991

bats

Well I have the Dreaded Lurgy, allegedly. The covid triage nurse said that 90% of cold, fluey symptoms are COVID so I'm isolating for 5 days. I started with a stonking headache on Wednesday, then sore throat, hot and cold etc, I felt pretty yuck on Wednesday night and yesterday. I think today is Friday and I'll be fine by tomorrow. Fully vaxed and boosted thank goodness.