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Are there still major pandemic restrictions in Britain? Lots of quotes in this piece seem to imply there’s ongoing issues here but everything I see in Europe or

by rtpg 4y ago

Are there still major pandemic restrictions in Britain? Lots of quotes in this piece seem to imply there’s ongoing issues here but everything I see in Europe or the US from abroad seems to heavily imply that people are “back to normal” (at least in terms of movement). The idea here (treatment delays lead to excess deaths) seems ok, but is it really the restrictions? Isn’t it more that hospitals are still extremely full? Or is that no longer the case. The main claim of this article feel a bit… odd to me. There’s a heavy implication about this being from the lockdowns, but in the middle there are 3 lines with a much simpler explanation: Covid infections increase risk of other health issues.

nicoburns 4y ago
There are no longer any pandemic restrictions in Britain. But there is still a huge backlog for health treatment, which was largely caused by access to non-urgent healthcare being partially shutdown over the pandemic.
chrisseaton 4y ago
Our healthcare system was in a very big mess before the pandemic. Now it’s in even more of a mess. So it was a case of restrictions tipping it over the edge.
- binbinbinbin 4y ago
  It's bitterly ironic that everything we as the populace sacrificed since March 2020 has been to "Save the NHS".
jajahusjsna 4y ago
All restrictions ended in April I think. And prior to that the last “lockdown” was first half of 2021 when we were hit with Delta mid-vaccination campaign.
detaro 4y ago
> Are there still major pandemic restrictions in Britain? No. My impression is that in the UK (just as in other countries to a degree) the healthcare system hasn't really gotten out of the overload-state ever since the COVID waves. So while delays due to lockdowns certainly happened, it's also an ongoing crisis independent from that. (and if I'm being cynical, advocating for fixing those issues doesn't fit various pundits' agendas because that would mean spending more resources on the healthcare system, so it gets ignored - certainly the silence about this here in Germany has been interesting)
- cameronh90 4y ago
  The medical industry still hasn't got out of the covid mindset. Doctors are still working from home. Hospitals are still refusing visitors and requiring a week of self isolation before a patient comes in. Staff are still isolating for two weeks if they test positive. They still haven't put back full seating in waiting rooms and refuse to let you in the hospital if you're 10 minutes early for your appointment. Frankly, dealing with the medical establishment right now is a pain - and I suspect people are avoiding it. I know people will say covid is still around, which is true, but we are ~all vaccinated. This is as good as it's going to get. Either it's time for hospitals to return to normal and stop using covid as an excuse, or we have to admit as a society that our risk tolerance for infectious disease has dropped considerably, stop treating this as temporary and reorganise things to be efficient again.
  - binbinbinbin 4y ago
  - Dagger2 4y ago
    Dropped considerably? I'd say our risk tolerance has gone up, not down. On top of that, the underlying risk has gone up. This is not a good combination for our healthcare systems. They can't get out of the COVID-19 mindset, because they're still dealing with COVID-19. > I know people will say covid is still around, which is true, but we are ~all vaccinated. This is as good as it's going to get. We can do much better than this. Something like 80% of the population has been vaccinated, which is far lower than it could be, and we aren't giving regular booster doses like we do with the flu. Almost nobody is wearing masks in public spaces. We should be improving ventilation in all public buildings, but we aren't. Things could be a lot better -- but our tolerance for risk has gone up, so we're not doing any of this.
    - cameronh90 4y ago
      Covid is low risk now, due to less lethal variants and immunity. It still kills people, typically unvaccinated, elderly and unwell. However, so does seasonal flu and bacterial pneumonia and yet, prior to covid, the hospital never required a negative flu or bacterial pneumonia test, generally didn't wear masks, allowed visitors and would see you in person rather than just a phone appointment. It still remains to be seen how many people Covid will kill annually over the long term, but currently most of the people dying from Covid are the same people who would usually die of flu or other usually minor illnesses. Flu deaths have been significantly lower than typical, and until recently, we had negative excess deaths. It's now positive again, but as the article says, the current view is that's due to the medical backlog and not deaths from covid. > because they're still dealing with COVID-19. They're not really. My partner is an ICU nurse, and the nurses and doctors themselves largely don't think about it much now unless they're treating it, which isn't that common. Covid used to be something they'd be talking to me about every day, now I'm not sure they've mentioned it in the last month. Doctors and nurses are having work parties with none of them wearing masks. Only about 10 patients a day are admitted to the ICU due to covid across the whole country, and most of them are for reasons other than covid. Again, those are usually the patients who would be very ill from flu. Think 85 year olds with comorbidities. They are still dealing with it in the sense that any time a patient tests positive for covid, they still send a bunch of the staff who had contact with them away for two weeks. Sometimes some of them end up very slightly ill with covid, and a few others test positive without symptoms. Which, again, nobody ever did for flu, despite it killing more than ten thousand people a year. Many of the staff think this is silly, but given the pressure they're working under due to staff shortages, few complain about two weeks off. > We can do much better than this. Something like 80% of the population has been vaccinated, which is far lower than it could be, Rising up to about 95% in vulnerable populations. It could always be theoretically better, but if the remaining people are unwilling to take the vaccine, then that's where it's going to stay. The covid vaccine uptake is approximately the same as the seasonal flu vaccine uptake overall, and by demographic, is higher. Overall uptake has wildly exceeded expectations. If you just look at antibodies instead, 96% of people have detectable antibodies and 70% (likely more) have actually had covid already. > we aren't giving regular booster doses like we do with the flu. We don't give everyone the annual flu booster. Most healthy people of working age don't get the flu booster each year. So far, everyone has been offered the vaccination and one or two boosters. We also currently have a new autumn booster programme being prepared for the Omicron variant. That means that by the end of this year, Covid will have been around for three years, and vulnerable people who would be eligible for the annual flu vaccine would have been offered five Covid vaccinations. I haven't had covid and don't want to get it.
eastbound 4y ago
> much simpler explanation: Covid infections increase risk of other health issues. Or even a simpler one: The discouragement from doing sports that was lockdowns and curfews, encouraged asthma, obesity, breathing interior paints too much, couch potating, mental breakdowns, social isolation, lack of parties, lack of pleasure in life, looping on negative thoughts, eating butter and sugars by buttloads, and not being able to see doctors when needed. Also, loss of work, stress of uncertainty, requirement to change careers for hospitality people. It’s incredible how much we neglected humans during this whole “let’s protect humans from THAT ONE DISEASE” psychotic episode.
- kergonath 4y ago
  > Or even a simpler one That is not simple at all, and really far-fetched. Lockdown and inactivity won’t turn a fit human being into a diabetic obese and kill them in 2 years. There are much more compelling explanations (again, mis-funding, burn-out, decay due to malice or incompetence, amongst others). The problems were plain to see before COVID. The pandemic just pushed the system closer to the edge.
- CTDOCodebases 4y ago
  I think it was a “let’s stop the hospitals from getting severely overloaded now and we will figure out the rest later.” episode. It’s also worth mentioning that certain fatalities went down as a result of the response.
- scrollaway 4y ago
  This isn’t a “simpler explanation”, no. I’d elaborate but I’m getting the feeling you’re not interested in nuanced debate.
- rtpg 4y ago
  I do not believe your explanation is simpler. At least not without more evidence. The main reason is that all of the lockdown and curfew stuff was 2 years back now! Most people have just signed out of the covid discussion and are not doing any mitigation. The "psychotic episode" (your words) ended in like... mid-2021. Why is it all falling apart now? We are mid-2022. Hospitals are still a mess worldwide, because _they are all still getting a sickness that knocks people on their feet for a couple of days to a week_. People whose bodies get hit by this end up being weaker and more susceptible to other issues. Seems pretty simple!

by rtpg 4y ago

nicoburns 4y ago

There are no longer any pandemic restrictions in Britain. But there is still a huge backlog for health treatment, which was largely caused by access to non-urgent healthcare being partially shutdown over the pandemic.

chrisseaton 4y ago

Our healthcare system was in a very big mess before the pandemic. Now it’s in even more of a mess. So it was a case of restrictions tipping it over the edge.

binbinbinbin 4y ago
It's bitterly ironic that everything we as the populace sacrificed since March 2020 has been to "Save the NHS".

jajahusjsna 4y ago

All restrictions ended in April I think. And prior to that the last “lockdown” was first half of 2021 when we were hit with Delta mid-vaccination campaign.

detaro 4y ago

> Are there still major pandemic restrictions in Britain? No. My impression is that in the UK (just as in other countries to a degree) the healthcare system hasn't really gotten out of the overload-state ever since the COVID waves. So while delays due to lockdowns certainly happened, it's also an ongoing crisis independent from that. (and if I'm being cynical, advocating for fixing those issues doesn't fit various pundits' agendas because that would mean spending more resources on the healthcare system, so it gets ignored - certainly the silence about this here in Germany has been interesting)

cameronh90 4y ago
The medical industry still hasn't got out of the covid mindset. Doctors are still working from home. Hospitals are still refusing visitors and requiring a week of self isolation before a patient comes in. Staff are still isolating for two weeks if they test positive. They still haven't put back full seating in waiting rooms and refuse to let you in the hospital if you're 10 minutes early for your appointment. Frankly, dealing with the medical establishment right now is a pain - and I suspect people are avoiding it. I know people will say covid is still around, which is true, but we are ~all vaccinated. This is as good as it's going to get. Either it's time for hospitals to return to normal and stop using covid as an excuse, or we have to admit as a society that our risk tolerance for infectious disease has dropped considerably, stop treating this as temporary and reorganise things to be efficient again.
- binbinbinbin 4y ago
- Dagger2 4y ago
  Dropped considerably? I'd say our risk tolerance has gone up, not down. On top of that, the underlying risk has gone up. This is not a good combination for our healthcare systems. They can't get out of the COVID-19 mindset, because they're still dealing with COVID-19. > I know people will say covid is still around, which is true, but we are ~all vaccinated. This is as good as it's going to get. We can do much better than this. Something like 80% of the population has been vaccinated, which is far lower than it could be, and we aren't giving regular booster doses like we do with the flu. Almost nobody is wearing masks in public spaces. We should be improving ventilation in all public buildings, but we aren't. Things could be a lot better -- but our tolerance for risk has gone up, so we're not doing any of this.
  - cameronh90 4y ago
    Covid is low risk now, due to less lethal variants and immunity. It still kills people, typically unvaccinated, elderly and unwell. However, so does seasonal flu and bacterial pneumonia and yet, prior to covid, the hospital never required a negative flu or bacterial pneumonia test, generally didn't wear masks, allowed visitors and would see you in person rather than just a phone appointment. It still remains to be seen how many people Covid will kill annually over the long term, but currently most of the people dying from Covid are the same people who would usually die of flu or other usually minor illnesses. Flu deaths have been significantly lower than typical, and until recently, we had negative excess deaths. It's now positive again, but as the article says, the current view is that's due to the medical backlog and not deaths from covid. > because they're still dealing with COVID-19. They're not really. My partner is an ICU nurse, and the nurses and doctors themselves largely don't think about it much now unless they're treating it, which isn't that common. Covid used to be something they'd be talking to me about every day, now I'm not sure they've mentioned it in the last month. Doctors and nurses are having work parties with none of them wearing masks. Only about 10 patients a day are admitted to the ICU due to covid across the whole country, and most of them are for reasons other than covid. Again, those are usually the patients who would be very ill from flu. Think 85 year olds with comorbidities. They are still dealing with it in the sense that any time a patient tests positive for covid, they still send a bunch of the staff who had contact with them away for two weeks. Sometimes some of them end up very slightly ill with covid, and a few others test positive without symptoms. Which, again, nobody ever did for flu, despite it killing more than ten thousand people a year. Many of the staff think this is silly, but given the pressure they're working under due to staff shortages, few complain about two weeks off. > We can do much better than this. Something like 80% of the population has been vaccinated, which is far lower than it could be, Rising up to about 95% in vulnerable populations. It could always be theoretically better, but if the remaining people are unwilling to take the vaccine, then that's where it's going to stay. The covid vaccine uptake is approximately the same as the seasonal flu vaccine uptake overall, and by demographic, is higher. Overall uptake has wildly exceeded expectations. If you just look at antibodies instead, 96% of people have detectable antibodies and 70% (likely more) have actually had covid already. > we aren't giving regular booster doses like we do with the flu. We don't give everyone the annual flu booster. Most healthy people of working age don't get the flu booster each year. So far, everyone has been offered the vaccination and one or two boosters. We also currently have a new autumn booster programme being prepared for the Omicron variant. That means that by the end of this year, Covid will have been around for three years, and vulnerable people who would be eligible for the annual flu vaccine would have been offered five Covid vaccinations. I haven't had covid and don't want to get it.

eastbound 4y ago

> much simpler explanation: Covid infections increase risk of other health issues. Or even a simpler one: The discouragement from doing sports that was lockdowns and curfews, encouraged asthma, obesity, breathing interior paints too much, couch potating, mental breakdowns, social isolation, lack of parties, lack of pleasure in life, looping on negative thoughts, eating butter and sugars by buttloads, and not being able to see doctors when needed. Also, loss of work, stress of uncertainty, requirement to change careers for hospitality people. It’s incredible how much we neglected humans during this whole “let’s protect humans from THAT ONE DISEASE” psychotic episode.

kergonath 4y ago
> Or even a simpler one That is not simple at all, and really far-fetched. Lockdown and inactivity won’t turn a fit human being into a diabetic obese and kill them in 2 years. There are much more compelling explanations (again, mis-funding, burn-out, decay due to malice or incompetence, amongst others). The problems were plain to see before COVID. The pandemic just pushed the system closer to the edge.
CTDOCodebases 4y ago
I think it was a “let’s stop the hospitals from getting severely overloaded now and we will figure out the rest later.” episode. It’s also worth mentioning that certain fatalities went down as a result of the response.
scrollaway 4y ago
This isn’t a “simpler explanation”, no. I’d elaborate but I’m getting the feeling you’re not interested in nuanced debate.
rtpg 4y ago
I do not believe your explanation is simpler. At least not without more evidence. The main reason is that all of the lockdown and curfew stuff was 2 years back now! Most people have just signed out of the covid discussion and are not doing any mitigation. The "psychotic episode" (your words) ended in like... mid-2021. Why is it all falling apart now? We are mid-2022. Hospitals are still a mess worldwide, because _they are all still getting a sickness that knocks people on their feet for a couple of days to a week_. People whose bodies get hit by this end up being weaker and more susceptible to other issues. Seems pretty simple!