British Expats - Coronavirus

British Expats (https://britishexpats.com/forum/)

- The Maple Leaf (https://britishexpats.com/forum/maple-leaf-98/)

- - Coronavirus (https://britishexpats.com/forum/maple-leaf-98/coronavirus-930602/)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mordko (Post 13089374)

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 â€œflu seasons prior to Covidâ€ 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. Politiciansâ€™ 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.

There is a very interesting and thought provoking documentary on the BBC about UK hospitals that i think has now had three series and the last one was covering some shocking stuff in hospitals due to influx of COVID patients and the extreme measures required to treat them. However it is also interesting to note that from the first series prior to COVID hospital over capacity is a given EVERY flu season and one such bad season was reflected in the program with patients waiting for hours in Emergency, ambulances stacked up outside and operations being cancelled, some at very last minute due to no critical care beds which are needed after surgery. There were qualified surgeons unable to operate and whole theatres empty because there was nowhere to put the patient after surgery. All this was pre COVID, nobody had heard about the virus at this point in time. The NHS were in crisis in certain areas yet there was never any discussions about any stringent preventative measures. It was a stark reminder that the NHS is running at close to capacity most of the time

Quote:

Originally Posted by bats (Post 13089499)

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.

My boss has the covid. She looks like she's at death's door. She keeps just losing track and is working agonizingly slowly. She had a big presentation today which I was very glad not to watch, usually she's great at that but I doubt she'd have coped well with heckling today. I'm dreading my turn at sickness.

Heard the one about chap who would do anything for love but he won't get vaxxed?

Quote:

Originally Posted by dbd33 (Post 13089513)

https://scontent-lcy1-1.xx.fbcdn.net...xg&oe=61EFFC64

Quote:

Originally Posted by JamesM (Post 13089520)

https://scontent-lcy1-1.xx.fbcdn.net...xg&oe=61EFFC64

I once met Meatloaf when I was working as a car salesman in the UK.He came in looking for a small coupe for his wifeâ€™s forthcoming birthday. He found one he liked and we completed a test drive together. The car was listed at Â£28,000 plus tax. He was deep in thought looking around the car but unfortunately for me he decided not to buy it. I was in my 20s, had a young family and working a commission only job so a couple of days later I rang him to see if anything could be done. He was keen on the car but didnâ€™t like the Â£28,000 plus tax price tag. I assured him that this was a great price for the car, however he said that it wasnâ€™t so much the price of the car, it was more the tax. He said, â€˜Iâ€™d do anything for love, but I wonâ€™t do VATâ€™

Quote:

Originally Posted by dbd33 (Post 13089513)

Did she drop loads of stuff? There was a definite clumsy as hell element that's been missed off the symptoms lists. I've been rigorous about avoiding this plague as husband has a dicky ticker and i have ropey lungs plus a dicky ticker so was expecting a shitstorm. It's been fine.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bats (Post 13089541)

Did she drop loads of stuff?

Glass of water, messily.

My sister in law is, or was, a hospital nurse in Montreal. She was on a Covid ward and naturally got it. Full-on and she still has no sense of taste, two year on.

Recently, she and her bloke went to Florida. On the way back, she was randomly pulled for a test at the airport. It was a quick swab round just inside of the nostril. Utterly useless as a test, in her opinion (which is based on lots of experience). If that's how tests are being done, they will almost certainly come back negative.

The plural of anecdote is not data. Rapid antigen tests correctly detect cases of Covid 80% of the time. This accounts for variability in how the tests are taken. If taken within 3 days of symptom onset the accuracy is higher, at 96%. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...rticle/2783550

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mordko (Post 13089628)

The plural of anecdote is not data. Rapid antigen tests correctly detect cases of Covid 80% of the time. This accounts for variability in how the tests are taken. If taken within 3 days of symptom onset the accuracy is higher, at 96%. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...rticle/2783550

you sure about that?
That article is old., has authors with competitive interests, doesn't take into account testing on vaccinated people as it's pre vaccine, is for self administered tests, blah, blah.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bats (Post 13089667)

August 2021? Pre-vaccine? Are you sure about that and the rest of blah blah?

I appreciate that people like Bristol have earned pensions that will give them a predictable and even generous income in their later years. I must admit I always wondered about the perennial moans of teachers... "We can't live on salary X, but we cant wait to live on pension of half X".

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mordko (Post 13089669)

August 2021? Pre-vaccine? Are you sure about that and the rest of blah blah?

Data collected over a 6 month period. Accepted for Publication: July 26, 2021 .
First vaccines were what? February 2021? Papers don't get written quickly - data analysis, charts, edits, review so it's likely the data was collected overlapping with vaccinations. There's no mention of this nor the actual dates of data collection.

Cool. Its also irrelevant.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mordko (Post 13089791)

Cool. Its also irrelevant.

Do you mean that this old paper is irrelevant to the situation now? I tend to agree.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JamesM (Post 13089520)

https://scontent-lcy1-1.xx.fbcdn.net...xg&oe=61EFFC64

Brilliant :rofl: