Local lockdowns in the UK
#8986
Moderator, Iberia Airlines, Airport Lounges, and Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
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Right now it's essential people self isolate and past experience is that if you move too quickly from statutory controls to guidance then at least some of the public won't get the point of it. So it's not on the cards now. Larger companies and educational institutions will want their staff to follow guidance fairly strictly, amd we really should be keeping away from unnecessary contacts if we have flu, RSV, that's probably a good learning point for all of us. But while it's too soon to do it now, I do see it as part of how we unwind ourselves from the pandemic.
#8987
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 3,839
Deaths from COVID-19 with no other underlying causes
From an FOI request:
Please see below for death registrations for 2020 and 2021 (provisional) that were due to COVID-19 and were recorded without any pre-existing conditions, England and Wales.
2020: 9400 (0-64: 1549 / 65 and over: 7851)
2021 Q1: 6483 (0-64: 1560/ 65 and over: 4923)
2021 Q2: 346 (0-64: 153/ 65 and over: 193)
2021 Q3: 1142 (0-64: 512/ 65 and over: 630)
From an FOI request:
Please see below for death registrations for 2020 and 2021 (provisional) that were due to COVID-19 and were recorded without any pre-existing conditions, England and Wales.
2020: 9400 (0-64: 1549 / 65 and over: 7851)
2021 Q1: 6483 (0-64: 1560/ 65 and over: 4923)
2021 Q2: 346 (0-64: 153/ 65 and over: 193)
2021 Q3: 1142 (0-64: 512/ 65 and over: 630)
#8988
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2014
Programs: Top Tier with all 3 alliances
Posts: 11,666
It is time to get back to normal, and if any of you had pandemic parties or work meetings with wine and cheese during the lockdown it does not matter anymore, since life is getting back to normal and we are dropping those restrictions anyway, it is all in the past, so can we all move on and have a general amnesty is the point....
#8989
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: GLA
Programs: BA Silver
Posts: 2,962
In one sense it is only a matter of timing, surely? We don't normally mandate self isolation for flu, RSV or other respiratory disease, accepting that COVID-19 is more generally more lethal. Having said that the various statutory instruments that regularly get mentioned in this thread are enabled by some primary legislation enacted in 1984, the Public Health (Control of diseases) Act. So there remains some general provisions to mandate certain courses of quarantine restrictions, though they generally require a magistrate to sign them off for the individual concened. It's hardly ever been used in the original form.
Right now it's essential people self isolate and past experience is that if you move too quickly from statutory controls to guidance then at least some of the public won't get the point of it. So it's not on the cards now. Larger companies and educational institutions will want their staff to follow guidance fairly strictly, amd we really should be keeping away from unnecessary contacts if we have flu, RSV, that's probably a good learning point for all of us. But while it's too soon to do it now, I do see it as part of how we unwind ourselves from the pandemic.
Right now it's essential people self isolate and past experience is that if you move too quickly from statutory controls to guidance then at least some of the public won't get the point of it. So it's not on the cards now. Larger companies and educational institutions will want their staff to follow guidance fairly strictly, amd we really should be keeping away from unnecessary contacts if we have flu, RSV, that's probably a good learning point for all of us. But while it's too soon to do it now, I do see it as part of how we unwind ourselves from the pandemic.
Obviously that doesn't apply to all jobs.
#8990
Ambassador, British Airways; FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Leeds, UK
Programs: BA GGL/CCR, GfL, HH Diamond
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We may very well get to the point of no longer imposing a legal requirement to self-isolate, but I am convinced that culture has changed for good - it will no longer be socially acceptable to drag yourself into the office unnecessarily with a heavy cold, when you can work from home. We've all done it - I did it in January 2020 a few weeks into a new job with what in hindsight may very well have been COVID. Wouldn't dream of it now, and wouldn't expect anything other than complete support from my employer.
Obviously that doesn't apply to all jobs.
Obviously that doesn't apply to all jobs.
Also to my mind if you are not well enough to go to the office you should not be working at home.
#8992
FlyerTalk Evangelist
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Location: where lions are led by donkeys...
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A strange way to ignore the 15m+ people in the UK with multiple comorbidities who haven’t fared quite so well. I’d suggest reading alongside Rory Kinnear’s heartfelt article about why his severely disabled sister could have continued to live a full life for years, rather than the “underlying conditions” narrative that in one fell swoop makes a third of the adult population akin to a fully depreciated asset being written off with minimal societal loss. It’s in The Guardian, you might need to hold your nose.
#8993
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Vale of Glamorgan
Programs: BAEC Gold
Posts: 2,991
Of course you could just look at the figures and use it as part of the the bigger picture, perhaps use it as a "warning" to people that could actually do something about their overall health rather than focussing on deaths, deaths, more deaths, and more sob stories, without trying to go any deeper. We've all got sob stories as it relates to this so no, I don't need to read anyone elses.
#8994
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: UK
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 1,021
Well there was a reason for that which was employers typically penalised those who stayed at home when ill by various means such as use of Bradford scores etc. I am not convinced that has changed as much as you suggest, we are already seeing several major employers in the UK reducing sick pay for those who have not been jabbed for example which is a great incentive for those who may feel unwell or think they have covid to go to work.
Also to my mind if you are not well enough to go to the office you should not be working at home.
Also to my mind if you are not well enough to go to the office you should not be working at home.
Your last sentence wouldn’t apply to those with asymptomatic covid, who are clearly able to work, being symptomless, but you wouldn’t want them in a crowded office.
#8995
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 3,839
Of course you could just look at the figures and use it as part of the the bigger picture, perhaps use it as a "warning" to people that could actually do something about their overall health rather than focussing on deaths, deaths, more deaths, and more sob stories, without trying to go any deeper. We've all got sob stories as it relates to this so no, I don't need to read anyone elses. If we come out of this and have learned absolutely nothing and made no changes, whether individually or at a societal level then this has all been for nothing.
#8996
Most pre-existing conditions are not the fault of the individual but rather chronic conditions such as asthma, diabetes, cystic fibrosis, Down syndrome and dementia. Many are a natural consequence of getting older. Most people who died with a comorbidity would still be alive today were it not for covid, and trying to differentiate between the "innocent" victims of covid-19 and those with comorbidity "sob stories" is unhelpful and heartless.
#8997
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Kent, UK
Programs: M&S Elite+
Posts: 3,654
Today's travel story from the Telegraph:
The research found any travel restrictions could only delay the peak of a new variant by between two and eight days – but this would only be effective if they were imposed as the variant was first brought in.
Each additional day of delay after that reduced the impact to the point that, by day six, it only held back the peak by a day, according to the modelling by Edge Health and Oxera, a specialist research consultancy that works with the NHS.
It took 16 days for the UK to detect and react to the omicron variant after it had already arrived, suggesting any tests would only be introduced long after they could have any effect in delaying the peak of the virus.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/202...ovid-variants/
No surprise to many of us...
Travel tests have almost no impact on spread of Covid variants
Travel tests have virtually no effect in preventing the spread of Covid variants from abroad unless restrictions are introduced within a day of the strain first being imported to the UK, according to a scientific analysis.The research found any travel restrictions could only delay the peak of a new variant by between two and eight days – but this would only be effective if they were imposed as the variant was first brought in.
Each additional day of delay after that reduced the impact to the point that, by day six, it only held back the peak by a day, according to the modelling by Edge Health and Oxera, a specialist research consultancy that works with the NHS.
It took 16 days for the UK to detect and react to the omicron variant after it had already arrived, suggesting any tests would only be introduced long after they could have any effect in delaying the peak of the virus.
No surprise to many of us...
#8998
Moderator, Iberia Airlines, Airport Lounges, and Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Feb 2010
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#8999
Ambassador, British Airways; FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Leeds, UK
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Reducing contact when you have a bit of a cold? Yes, it does seem that some people don’t actually want to return to normal at all.
Of course this again throws under the bus those who can’t work at home and I imagine will have to survive on statutory sick pay under this new “zero germ” utopia.
Of course this again throws under the bus those who can’t work at home and I imagine will have to survive on statutory sick pay under this new “zero germ” utopia.
#9000
Moderator, Iberia Airlines, Airport Lounges, and Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Feb 2010
Programs: BA Lifetime Gold; Flying Blue Life Platinum; LH Sen.; Hilton Diamond; Kemal Kebabs Prized Customer
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Well as you know I'm "moderation in all things" so I think that's a harsh reading of the scenario. It's all above getting a good balance between working in person and working for the common good. If someone goes into a 10 person office with a mild bout of RSV, an entirely plausible outcome is that 6 co-workers also get RSV, 1 person passes it on tp a child who then can't go to school, 2 people in the office are laid out flat by it, and in one case it has a serious impact on other health conditions. If person1 had spent a few days at home doing paperwork then it's for everyone's advantage, including the employer. The alternative is that you get 12 days of absence from the others infected. I do see the point that we need to get out of a COVID psychosis, but we've actually learned a lot of valuable things recently. Like, for example, the thousands of deaths from influenza each year can be massively improved upon.