Provaton

Sobering read from a medic on the front line treating Covid patients. One of many who are day-in, day-out having to deal with the consequences of this conspiracy theory cra*p, i.e. the vast majority of posts on this thread:

Completely misleading and basically not true. First of all, this is not "breaking" news, as it was reported back in July.... https://www.cdc.gov/csels/dls/locs/2021/07-21-2021-lab-alert-Changes_CDC_RT-PCR_SARS-CoV-2_Testing_1.html And several fact-checkers have investigated: "The post on Facebook was published at around the same time we saw a number of posts falsely claiming that an announcement made by the CDC meant that PCR tests were “fraudulent” and “not fit for purpose”. As we wrote at the time, the CDC announced that it was withdrawing the request for emergency authorisation of one type of PCR test. This, despite claims otherwise, does not amount to the CDC saying the tests don’t work generally, and again they were not revoking all PCR tests. At the time, a CDC spokesperson told Full Fact that the PCR test in question—the CDC Novel Coronavirus (2019 nCoV) Real-Time RT-PCR—is “a highly accurate test” and the decision to discontinue the request for emergency use authorisation was not due to performance issues but because more PCR tests have become available from commercial manufacturers. These are “faster, have higher throughput [quicker processing] and are designed to be more efficient” and mean demand for the CDC’s PCR test has “declined significantly”. The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) confirmed to Full Fact in July that the brand of PCR tests in question was not used in the UK." https://fullfact.org/health/fda-covid-tests/

It's a constant stream of stuff that's been debunked many times, but he just keeps going. I suggest everybody just ignores this thread for the sake of your sanity. It goes against what the entire scientific and medical community is saying day in, day out - especially those on the medical front line who must be tearing their hair out with the cr*p posted here.

Bad news: ☹️ U.K. Study Finds No Evidence Omicron Cases Are Less Severe Than Delta A previous Covid-19 recovery provides little shield against infection with the omicron variant, a research team from Imperial College London showed in a large study that underlines the importance of booster shots. Having had Covid probably only offers 19% protection against omicron, the study showed on Friday. That was roughly in line with two doses of vaccine, which the team estimated were as much as 20% effective against omicron. Adding a booster dose helped dramatically, blocking an estimated 55% to 80% of symptomatic cases. The Imperial College London team analyzed all the PCR test-confirmed Covid cases in England between Nov. 29 and Dec. 11, making it one of the most expansive examinations yet at omicron’s potential to evade the body’s defenses. The results were in line with the picture emerging of the variant’s capacity to elude protection from previous infection or inoculation and spread faster than previous iterations of the virus. There was no evidence of omicron cases being less severe than delta, based on the proportion of people testing positive who had symptoms or went to the hospital, the team said. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-12-17/omicron-gets-around-previous-covid-infection-u-k-study-warns

Worth a watch as Tory MPs and others turn on Chris Whitty:

That chart really shows how well the vaccines are working by preventing deaths! In other news, UK Government releases report on vaccine safety: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-vaccine-adverse-reactions/coronavirus-vaccine-summary-of-yellow-card-reporting 4. Conclusion At the time of this report, over 146,135 people across the UK have died within 28 days of a positive test for coronavirus. Vaccination is the single most effective way to reduce deaths and severe illness from COVID-19. A national immunisation campaign has been underway since early December 2020. In clinical trials, the COVID-19 Pfizer/BioNTech Vaccine, COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca and COVID-19 Vaccine Moderna have demonstrated very high levels of protection against symptomatic infection. Data is available on the impact of the vaccination campaign in reducing infections and illness in the UK. All vaccines and medicines have some side effects. These side effects need to be continuously balanced against the expected benefits in preventing illness. Following widespread use of these vaccines across the UK, the vast majority of suspected adverse reaction reports confirm the safety profile seen in clinical trials. Most reports relate to injection-site reactions (sore arm for example) and generalised symptoms such as a ‘flu-like’ illness, headache, chills, fatigue, nausea, fever, dizziness, weakness, aching muscles, and rapid heartbeat. Generally, these reactions are not associated with more serious illness and likely reflect an expected, normal immune response to the vaccines. The expected benefits of the vaccines in preventing COVID-19 and serious complications associated with COVID-19 far outweigh any currently known side effects. As with all vaccines and medicines, the safety of COVID-19 vaccines is continuously monitored and benefits and possible risks remain under review. We take every report of a suspected ADR seriously and encourage everyone to report through the Yellow Card scheme.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/g7-statement-on-the-omicron-variant

South Africa’s health minister said on Friday that the government believes that vaccines and high levels of prior Covid-19 infection are helping to keep disease milder in a wave driven by the Omicron variant. Anecdotal reports suggests that the Omicron variant driving the fourth wave, which saw the country report a record number of daily infections earlier this week, is causing less severe illness than previous variants in South Africa – but scientists say it is too early to draw firm conclusions, Reuters reports. “We believe that it might not necessarily just be that Omicron is less virulent, but … coverage of vaccination (and) … natural immunity of people who have already had contact with the virus is also adding to the protection,” health minister Joe Phaahla told a news conference. “That’s why we are seeing mild illness.” South Africa has given 44% of its adult population at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine, more than many African countries but well short of the government’s year-end target. But among the over-50s vaccination coverage levels are over 60%. Addressing the same news conference, Michelle Groome from the National Institute for Communicable Diseases said there had been an uptick in Covid-19 hospital admissions and deaths. “Starting to see a slight increase in deaths nationally, but once again this level is very much lower even than the baseline period we were seeing between the second and third waves,” Groome said. Phaahla said early indications were that infections might have peaked in the most populated Gauteng province, where cases initially surged. He added that in the coming week the health department would report back to the National Coronavirus Command Council on whether Covid-19 restrictions should be adjusted.

This is what the NHS is facing day in, day out:

More coverage from the Chief Medical Officer, with video from the testimony. Worth listening to the experts:

More from Chris Whitty, to people who say Covid lockdowns have somehow set back cancer or other care:

That's one headline and the "most read" stories, so what? If you check now it has 2 stories and many more if you scroll down (no idea how that is relevant to anything though!):

oh please, I have numerous friends who have/are suffering from this....IT IS REAL!!!!! https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/long-term-effects-of-coronavirus-long-covid/ Long-term effects of coronavirus (long COVID) For some people, coronavirus (COVID-19) can cause symptoms that last weeks or months after the infection has gone. This is sometimes called post-COVID-19 syndrome or "long COVID". About long COVID How long it takes to recover from COVID-19 is different for everybody. Many people feel better in a few days or weeks and most will make a full recovery within 12 weeks. But for some people, symptoms can last longer. The chances of having long-term symptoms does not seem to be linked to how ill you are when you first get COVID-19. People who had mild symptoms at first can still have long-term problems. Symptoms of long COVID There are lots of symptoms you can have after a COVID-19 infection. Common long COVID symptoms include: extreme tiredness (fatigue) shortness of breath chest pain or tightness problems with memory and concentration ("brain fog") difficulty sleeping (insomnia) heart palpitations dizziness pins and needles joint pain depression and anxiety tinnitus, earaches feeling sick, diarrhoea, stomach aches, loss of appetite a high temperature, cough, headaches, sore throat, changes to sense of smell or taste rashes

Sensible to cut down on less important events, says Whitty Prof Chris Whitty is up in front of MPs right now, speaking at the Health Select Committee. Asked about Christmas plans first, he says everyone can see the Omicron variant is moving really fast and is highly transmissible. This time of year, people have things on that really matter to them, including family events - and Prof Whitty advises people again to choose what is most important to them. In practice it's "sensible" to cut down on work or other interactions, like social events, that might be "less important" to you. Prof Whitty says he doesn't want to tell people to "do this or that" but to prioritise. And the best route out of all this is boosters, he stresses, asking people to get them when they can.

Only half of people in UK with Covid ever get tested, says scientific adviser, who predicts 'huge wave of infection' A UK government scientific adviser has said that only around half of people who have Covid ever get tested and predicted that Omicron would lead to “a huge wave of infection”. Prof Andrew Hayward, a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), told BBC Breakfast: “Only about half or maybe even fewer of people who do have Covid ever get tested.” He said the doubling rate of new variant Omicron would lead to an “extraordinary number of cases” and “a huge wave of infection”. He added: If you think about getting a year’s worth of rain over a month, then you’re going to get flooding and potentially severe flooding, no matter how much you’ve shored up your defences. And that’s the concern here - that that huge wave is going to cause lots of people to be off work having to isolate, which is going to cause disruption, and it’s going to spill over into people going into hospital. Now the rate at which it spills over is uncertain because we don’t know exactly how severe it is yet, but we’ve no particular reason to think that it’s less severe than previous strains. We know that Covid is always going to be less severe if you’ve been immunised but it may be that rather than the strain itself that’s making a lot of cases look less severe. He said that by Christmas or new year there should be more data about the severity of the new variant, but said that by then it would be too late to take action. Asked about current restrictions, he said: I think the scale of the potential problem that we’re looking at here does mean that we need to bite the bullet and we need to tell people that there’s two really important things here. One is to get boosted, the other if we want to slow it down now... Then what we need to do is reduce the number of contacts that we have, we need to avoid crowded spaces with lots of people in and unfortunately, yes, that does mean parties etc. And so that’s a difficult message.

Covid: Businesses hit by new wave of sickness https://www.bbc.com/news/business-59674616 My experience: hearing more and more friends/family getting Covid with so far quite mild symptoms (they are young and healthy). I really fear for the consequences of long covid though, many will be dealing with this for years...☹️

News changing by the minute as borders close, and more restrictions announced. Sweden now tightening its borders:

More detail: France will ban non-essential travel to and from Britain from the weekend to slow the spread of the Omicron Covid-19 variant that is causing record numbers of cases on the other side of the Channel, the government said Thursday. From midnight Saturday (2300 GMT Friday) there will be a “requirement to have an essential reason to travel to, or come from, the UK, both for the unvaccinated and vaccinated... People cannot travel for touristic or professional reasons,” the government said in a statement. “Faced with the extremely rapid spread of the Omicron variant in the UK, the government has chosen to reinstate the need for an essential reason for travel from and to the UK,” the statement said. It added that French citizens and EU nationals could still return to France from the UK. “We will put in place a system of controls drastically tighter than the one we have already,” government spokesman Gabriel Attal told BFMTV channel. Attal said the policy was aimed at “tightening the net” to slow down the arrival of Omicron cases in France and give time for the French vaccination booster campaign to make more ground. “Our strategy is to delay as much as we can the development of Omicron in our country and take advantage to push ahead with the booster drive,” he said. In addition, returning travellers will need a negative test less than 24 hours old, and a blanket quarantine would be enforced on return to France. “People (coming back) will have to register on an app and will have to self-isolate in a place of their choosing for seven days - controlled by the security forces - but this can be shortened to 48 hours if a negative test is carried out in France,” he said.

Governments becoming more concerned about the Omicron spread. British tourists to be banned from France from Saturday: https://www.cityam.com/breaking-france-introduces-tougher-restrictions-for-uk-travellers/

Yes, it's very clear, you are fully vaccinated from 2 weeks are your 2nd dose. It's also very clear that the vaccine is preventing hospitalisations. Re: you bar chart, remember this?

Interesting chart from Chris Witty, not surprisingly the unvaccinated are much more likely to end up in hospital:

UK: 78,610 people tested positive for Covid today - the highest daily total since the pandemic began. Hopefully many of these will recover quickly with mild symptoms however many will also suffer for many months -talking to a friend today, she got Covid 18 months ago, has had a terrible time since and is now just getting back to full strength ☹️

That can't possibly be correct, the actual source, which she mentions, says 0.24% MRC Biostatistics Unit COVID-19 Working Group Report: https://www.mrc-bsu.cam.ac.uk/now-casting/nowcasting-and-forecasting-9th-december-2021/ No idea how the MP could have made such a mistake!

Haha, yeah it's funny that our health system is underfunded and struggling... Typical flu IFR: 0.1% COVID estimates of IFR: 0.5 - 1% COVID-19 is 5 to 10 times more deadly than the flu.

It just shows how underfunded the NHS has been for years. It doesn't mean that the system can't be under pressure now.