SOT:SWMBO wheelchair

Has anyone died from Omicron, anywhere? There is such a lot of fixed position argument going on that I can't establish whether or not it is a disaster because its so infectious, or it is a saviour because its so non lethal it will give immunity without killing people.

No, but they're starting to show up in hospital beds, AIUI.

It might be a double edged sword. It may well be just too infective to be able to halt its progress without draconian measures. The least bad option is to vaccinate with boosters as fast as possible. I think they should have stuck to the age and vulnerability first rollout strategy. Doing everyone by the end of the month is a pipe dream.

There hasn't yet been enough time for it to have killed anyone much.

It is pretty clear that it is extremely infectious and this Xmas will likely be a re-run of last year. The moment when it will all go pear shaped will be when students from London, Glasgow and Edinburgh go home taking the novel strain back with them across the country (about now).

Give it another week with all the pubs and clubs open and we will be looking at an even steeper exponential rise than last year. They haven't learnt a damned thing from previous prevarication. This time they may be only a week too late to do any good rather then a whole month.

Interesting that they don't know their own rules. They have raised the Covid threat level to level 4 which has an implied social distancing requirement from when it was drafted. But *NO* social distancing!

Even with the factor of ten protection that the triple vaccination might afford the numbers infected could get very high indeed and very quickly. Exponential growth takes no prisoners.

The Natural Philosopher snipped-for-privacy@invalid.invalid wrote

The BBC is currently claiming that one has in the UK but with no details.

There is such a lot of fixed

All that is really known yet its that it has a lot of mutations. around 50.

No - the BBC is stating that the Prime Minister has said so.

Apparently one person in the UK has died [of/with] omicron now.

Unfortunately, without knowing if that person died of, or with covid and that person?s vaccination status, there?s virtual nothing useful we can deduce from the information provided.

The BBC?s source hardly reputable either.

Tim

I don't think any of the stats available to the public reveal the "of vs with" for *anyone* appearing on the covid death graphs ...

The ONS monthly reports distinguish between deaths where the certificate in E&W showed Covid as the cause from where Covid was mentioned anywhere. Of course that's not a simple. But the figures for excess deaths show Covid ain't just harvesting people who had only little time left to them.

But how do you separate them - is there any real difference between someone dying OF Covid and someone, with a pre-existing condition, but expected to live for decades, dying of that condition because they ALSO caught Covid? In both cases, they'd have lived, if they hadn't caught Covid.

Well what we all want to know is, do we need to be a bit scared of omicron or a lot scared? If the death was in someone who was unvaccinated or unboostered, that would not concern me as much as if it was in a previously well and fully vaccinated person.

As it is, being told that one person has died who had omicron doesn?t inform me in any way that?s useful.

Tim

Indeed. I simply plan to play it safe (especially as my wife is clinically vulnerable) until we have time to know a bit more.

Our household is not socialising; I am WFH (although they want is in the office 5 days out of 10 and I have said that in the run-up to Christmas, as so many people are mixing socially, if I cannot WFH on the "office" days, I'll take the time off, unpaid); our children are finishing school for Christmas; and, other than for perishables that cannot be kept, we are shopping online.

We plan to keep my wife safe and to know that we are clear for Christmas, so that we can visit my parents.

Hopefully by New Year, more will be known.

Quite. Peak number was about 800,000 in a day. When centres were awash with volunteers on furlough, etc.

Only BoJo could think he can snap his fingers and exceed those numbers the very next day. But think changing it to 'offer' makes all the difference. Like 'we have this 3000 quid TV on offer for 2000' But it won't be delivered for 3 years.

;-)

A branch of my family in Scotland have just caught Covid. But not, I think omicron.

A 10 year old first got it at school (likely) then passed it on to brother and mum. Dad not, luckily. Then passed it on at a birthday party to the grandmother. Then a couple of weeks later the grandfather tested positive.

All were fully vaccinated (where possible)

Luckily, so far none very ill- nothing more than the common seasonal illnesses like mild flu. Let's keep our fingers crossed omicron is no more harmful to those who are vaccinated.

Although I only took to my bed for a couple of days, a month later I'm still getting tired and can't walk as far as I used to. Carrying heavy things, which I could in September, is not easy.

Yes - sorry to hear that, Charles. Have another pal in London - much younger than us - who got Covid early on, and although not hospitalised, is still suffering after effects. The so called Long Covid, I suppose.

It's so sad those that think they'll never get it, and even if they did, not that bad, ignore the results of possible Long Covid or the knock ons of the NHS being tied up with it.

Any vaccine delivered today, is mostly focused on Delta. We likely have some good quality statistics on that one.

Even seasonal flu has the ability to fill up ICU beds. That's why there are seasonal flu vaccine campaigns, to try to keep seasonal flu under control. Some flu seasons are worse than others. I've already had this years seasonal flu shot. And two pneumonia shots. And two COVID shots.

While Omicron might not be the Andromeda Strain, it still has the ability to kick all sort of other medical issues to the curb. It's the increased transmissibility of Omicron, and the rate it's going to spread through the population, that we collectively have to fear. There will be nobody to even look at them, let alone treat them, administer a steroid or whatever.

It's not that you don't want to get it because you will die.

It's that you "don't want to get it, period". The further away from the medical system you stay this winter, the better off you will be.

That's why I would get the booster, for the same reasons I get my seasonal flu shot. If you saw all the seats occupied in the emergency waiting area at my local hospital (a ten minute walk from the house), you can just imagine the lineup out the door with Omicron.

Paul