Relaxation of rules

Mike1
Mike1 Member Posts: 1,992
in Coronavirus (COVID-19)

I was gobsmacked yesterday to find out that the Covid rules are out of the window, no masks from next week and even no self-isolation if you are infected. I think this has been done purely for political reasons to save the PM's bacon, every medical expert on the TV this morning has said that it is too early and will send out the wrong message to a large proportion of the public who will consider that it is over. Give it a fortnight after next Thursday and I expect there will be a huge surge in the number of infections, for goodness sake it is already 1 in every 20 of the population! For once I am glad that I am virtually housebound and I will certainly continue to wear my mask on my weekly visit to the Village shop!

Comments

  • sunnyside2
    sunnyside2 Member Posts: 131

    yes a sop to the back benchers .. and who cares about vulnerable?

    the mask thing is what annoys me - that and talk of no isolation after end of March. And its no good people saying oh wear a mask if you want as masks protect others more then the wearer. I feel like its like having a peeing corner in the swimming pool and saying those who don't want to be in pee swim in other end

  • KazandNoo
    KazandNoo Member Posts: 133
    edited 20. Jan 2022, 13:12

    I agree totally with you both. As a person who on biologic medication whose job isn't possible to do from home this pandemic has been a nightmare giving me anxiety issues and high BP on top of my condition. With the easing (too soon) of restrictions next week I feel the vulnerable have been thrown under a bus.I know we are vaccinated now but do we have as much protection as the younger/not immunosuppressed?I'll still be wearing my mask for some while to come it's one of the few ways I feel a little safer.Just wish others would be too.Sorry,having a moment.

  • Rhomac
    Rhomac Member Posts: 3

    I've just joined this community to try and find out if other immunosuppressed people feel the same as me - I have now had 4 vaccinations but have no confidence in changing my behaviour. I'm fortunate I can work from home but don't feel safe to go to pubs or restaurants or socialise indoors. People are still dying everyday and thousands of others suffering from health complications, so for me the risk still feels considerable. I'm glad I'm not alone in feeling concerned.

  • anneb82
    anneb82 Member Posts: 317

    Hello @Rhomac

    Welcome to the online community and thank you for joining us!

    I hope that you will find this a safe and friendly space where you can share more about your own story. Please do keep joining in and posting on the forum - it is lovely to see that you are already joining in!

    I've included a couple of links below that may of be interest to you.

    https://www.versusarthritis.org/news/2020/april/coronavirus-covid-19-and-arthritis-where-to-go-for-information/
    https://www.versusarthritis.org/get-help/


    Look forward to hearing more about you and once again, welcome!

    Take care

    Anne (Moderator)

  • Arthuritis
    Arthuritis Member Posts: 452
    edited 22. Jan 2022, 23:28

    Omicron virus evades antibodies and eliminating it requires a strong T cell response, both of which are suppressed by our meds. The boosters reduce the load the T-cells have to deal with, not because they are meant for omicron, but their sheer numbers crowd out the virus. In healthy people.

    @Mike1 @Rhomac @sunnyside2 @KazandNoo Completely agree.

    We have no scientists or expert accountants in govt, instead we have operationally useless classics grads & lawyers, nobody numerate who can quickly work out that prevention is better than cure, or that the value of NHS clinicians & patients vote should count for more than shouty pub landlords & restaurant chain owners bleating about their loss of profits, the consequence being limited future party donations.

    If we had numerate financially literate MPs (except the self serving ones) & scientists in charge they’d quickly realise prevention is a lot cheaper than lifelong expensive treatment, and funding research into delivering cures should be tax favoured and better for the nation than maintaining disease. They have no scientific background, so can’t challenge the industry sponsored “expert advice”.

    Instead successive govts get lobbied by big industry, accept political donations and the public purse funds an endless merry-go-round.

    There is no real protection for whistle blowers, let alone rewarding altruistic forensic investigators.

    Few really bright scientists or financiers will work for the govt as its a poorly paid thankless task, which is why so many clinicians defect to the private sector & pharma as salespeople. Scientists like Profs Chris Whitty & Tim Spector are heroes, but we show little respect for their efforts & courage. They are not brash shouty CEOs, so get largely ignored.


    Apologies for the rant! This is the only place where people know our pain & danger.

  • Arthuritis
    Arthuritis Member Posts: 452

    —And it gets worse, as rules are relaxed the following types of disgusting behaviour become more common as there is no real punishment:

    “NHS worker knocked out and stamped on after moving away from man without mask“

    (google it to see the full story). However this is the tip of the iceberg. A well known supermarket mgr’s response to me complaining that one of their staff on customer facing duty had that distinctive classic incessant dry covid cough was “You can’t prove its covid, I talked to him and he said its not, and he didn’t cough at while I talked to him” of course cough suppressants in his world don’t exist, nor the concept of getting a negative test to protect the hundreds of customers he passed while stacking or giving him a couple of weeks off to fully recover.

    Couriers are also similarly thoughtless, I had 2 from different firms turn up no mask, no distancing & demanded I open the door immediately as they could not wait for me to mask up. This includes the national post provider.

    Remarkably, the private online shop that the media loves to knock, has been well, Amazingly customer focused. They were the first to acknowledge the immunosuppressed customers would depend on them, and adapted to contactless delivery.

    The supermarket delivery drivers seem to have gotten better, but some are better than others. Eg typically supermarkets want to unload the immediately expiring stuff first, which is fine if you shop in person everyday, but in our case we have to minimise exposure, so we need food that will reach expiry over a week, not the whole lot in 3 days. To my knowledge only 1 really understands this.

    Other people’s experiences or tips?

  • Nim
    Nim Member Posts: 5

    Totally agree with you guys. People who are healthy just don’t get it. People think I’m ott, why wear a mask? Our government especially BJ he’s a joke he doesn’t care the guy should do the right thing and resign. Our government acted too late at the start of the pandemic and are now saying it’s an endemic it’s easy for healthy people to now think 🤔 oh it’s over. It’s not over.

  • Nim
    Nim Member Posts: 5

    It’s crappie living half a life isn’t it. Yes they are not bothered about us. The worry and stress doesn’t help especially with out health issues 😔

  • Daphne17
    Daphne17 Member Posts: 2

    I couldn't agree more with all your comments. Life is about to become very risky for immunosuppressed people and the general public are unaware of this because the government have stopped talking about us. There is nothing in the media any longer about the vulnerable needing protection and people believe what is in the media. I have this issue even with my own family who think I am fanatical and can't understand why I don't want to attend large gatherings, go to the restaurants etc. I will continue to wear a FFP3 mask and only go to small gatherings in a private room where everyone has taken a lateral flow test beforehand even if it means alienating friends and family, because my health and life are at stake.

    Every piece of scientific research indicates that we are at risk of 'complications' if we acquire Covid even Omicron. The only drug that is likely to prevent this happening is Paxlovid and I am not sure if that is now available. Does anyone know?

  • chrisb
    chrisb Moderator Posts: 757

    Hi @Daphne17  

    I see this is your first post so a warm welcome to the Versus Arthritis forum. 

    Having a quick google, it’s not entirely clear but it ‘appears’ that Paxlovid is available now:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/news/oral-covid-19-antiviral-paxlovid-approved-by-uk-regulator

     

    Perhaps other forum members will be in possession of more up to date information on its availability. 

    Good to see that you have already engaged in a discussion. I hope that you find joining the forum useful and interacting with others who share your views on minimising exposure to Covid reassuring. 

    Best Wishes

    ChrisB (Moderator)

    Need more help - call our Helpline on 0800 5200 520 Monday to Friday 9am to 6pm

  • Rhomac
    Rhomac Member Posts: 3

    @Daphne17 I know none of us are in the best position, but your post, and the others on here has made me feel like I'm not the only crazy, fanatical person living a half life(probably more like a quarter). So glad to have found this community.

  • scotleag
    scotleag Member Posts: 84

    Neither I nor my wife drives so we've been stuck where we are for almost two years now. No buses, no trains. In the summer we started to venture out into local shops but the onset of omicron put a stop to that. Whilst cases are falling (thankfully) the rate of drop seems to have stalled. In my locality cases, hospitalisations and deaths have started to rise again. It may be a blip, maybe not. We'll have to wait and see.

    It strikes me that the dropping of the mask mandate was a poor decision to make. I understand perfectly well people want to get back to 'normality.' I dare say none more so than those of us with battened down hatches. But the message this sends out is 'it's over.' If the government isn't telling you to wear a mask then not unreasonably a lot of people will conclude there's no need to. This is what we saw after July last year. Each week fewer and fewer wearing masks. It really is the mildest of inconveniences to wear a mask indoors. And if Johnson had seriously wanted to continue with it he'd have got it through the Commons with the support of opposition parties. That he chose instead to appease a section of his backbenchers in order to protect his job is IMO a dereliction of duty.

    It looks with the downward trend in cases slowing that we're in for a period of between 50-80K cases daily. More if forcing people back to their work on crowded trains & buses with no masks prompts a rise. In other words a far higher number of daily cases than was the case after 'Freedom Day' and many, myself included, thought the case count was too high even then.

    I'm not a zero covid fanatic. I know this thing is here to stay. I know we must - to use that awful phrase - learn to live with it. But the baseline for ending restrictions really should be a lot lower than 80K cases daily, 12K hospital admissions weekly & 1,500 deaths each and every week.

    I wish I had more optimism about the future but it really does seem the clinically extremely vulnerable have not so much been forgotten as ignored. Thankfully some supermarkets have retained their 'priority' status for us so at least we won't starve.

  • Daphne17
    Daphne17 Member Posts: 2

    Has anyone got any information about Evusheld and whether the government have decided to buy it to give vulnerable people better protection?

  • Jona
    Jona Member Posts: 406

    Does anyone really believe this or any govt has any concerns for the vulnerable or disabled definitely not the elderly either in all honesty it’s appalling and disgusting we are faced with heating or eating yet the royals are on tours at our expense politicians are on tours at our expense poverty in this country is near Victorian levels and all they do in parliament is discuss utter rubbish, laws are passed that we pay our taxes they find ways of not paying theirs I think we have become too tolerant and afraid to speak out we should demand better arthritis not only affects us physically but strips away our confidence i hobble around with my stick people huffing and puffing behind me as I’m in the way pushing in front of me and rolling eyes when I’m slow one thing I think is one day you might be me

    stay safe and strong everyone

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