08-09-2021, 06:15 PM
Thank you for the warm welcome back everyone, felt nice to post something instead of just having a perve.
I actually agree with you on several points Gaff, I'll get to them in a sec.
Regarding Flu and Covid, Flu is an umbrella term for multiple viruses. There will be more prominant versions each season but it's not the case where it is one sole virus like Covid. Whilst Covid does have multiple strains others die out leaving the one prominant one as we saw over the past 18 months from O.G Covid to the Alpha (Kent) variant and where we are now with Delta (Indian). The equivilant for Flu would be a mutation into a new strain such as we saw with Bird or Swine.
In terms of the Covid deaths being overstated, this just isn't true. I've already done the maths in my previous post and looking at excess deaths paints an even clearer picture when used in conjuction. Even in a bad flu season we get away with between 25-30K flu deaths, and with Covid as the primary cause of death we have over 130000 so far in just 18 months.
There are many reasons why Flu numbers dropped last year, but the suggestion that they magically disappeared is again a falsehood. We still had a large number of cases and deaths but they were reduced by our own modified behaviours and by the retrictions put in place. As per an ONS FOI there were 20,523 deaths due to Flu and Pnuemonia. Flu viruses are respiratory viruses that is (mostly) transmitted via air. It's common sense that measures such as social distancing, increased hand washing, masks in confined spaces and an increase in Flu vaccinations are the reason why these numbers fell. Just on the Flu vaccine for a sec, last years campaign saw the highest ever number of Flu jabs administered since the program started in 2002, it stands to reason that we could reduce the numbers we see even more if more people got the vaccine.
Onto the thng I agree with you in regards to quarantine hospitals. In principle I agree and this ties in with a broader argument of infrastructure. The phrase "live with Covid" has been thrown around so much it's starting to lose meaning as people don't seem to have an idea what living with Covid would entail regarding how they act, and what the government should be doing in terms of regulations/infrastruture.
Whether people like it or not things change, you are not the same person you were yesterday, and we cannot go back to exactly the way things were before 2020 kicked off, it's basic physics of time at that point. There are simple measures we as people can take which will limit the spread of the virus, handwashing with soap regularly, isolating if testing positive and I know this one grates people but wearing a mask in a public and busy place (emphasis on the "busy"). No need to where one if you're out for a jog and you're the only one on your route. To be honest masks don't bother that much, it's a small inconvenience when looking at the bigger picture. If there was a winter mask mandate on shops and public transport from say October to March and that is what it took to keep life moving then so be. Obviosuly the scenario isn't as binary as that but you understand my point. I'm sure if people across the entirety of East Asia in all age groups can manage it out of sheer politeness so can we, but I suppose this may be naive thinking from me. There is small and unfortunately growing number of people who took the message to wash their hands more often as a personal insult so expecting them to wear a mask for the benefit of other people through winter may be wishful thinking.
Onto what the governemnt should be doing, investment in other treatments especially home remedies, think like a Covid equivilant of Lemsip. We need to stop starving researchers and facilities of funds, we saw what they can do when they are given the money without having to beg cap in hand. We also need to look at drastically upgrading the ventilation and filtration of a lot of buildings. You cannot expect the air to be clean when the filters get changed once every 5 years and the most of the windows don't open. We should also be looking at eliminating all mass farms. You know the ones where it's 100 chickens in a 1m squared coop. These are breeding factories for diseases and have been the location of where all of our previous animal to human mutation problems have arisen. Swine Flu, Bird Flu, SARS COV 1 and even spanish flu (which originated in America the Spanish were the first to acknowledge it) were all viruses that started in these sort of wet markets/battery farms. If we wanna stop these mutation happening we have to stop providing such ample condition.
It's a team effort, there is stuff we can and stuff the government must do if we are to live with Covid and the next ineviatable one. We had 3 warning shots between 2000 and 2020 before we actually got hit. This won't be the last either.
And on that positive note lol PLAY UP POMPEY!!!
I actually agree with you on several points Gaff, I'll get to them in a sec.
Regarding Flu and Covid, Flu is an umbrella term for multiple viruses. There will be more prominant versions each season but it's not the case where it is one sole virus like Covid. Whilst Covid does have multiple strains others die out leaving the one prominant one as we saw over the past 18 months from O.G Covid to the Alpha (Kent) variant and where we are now with Delta (Indian). The equivilant for Flu would be a mutation into a new strain such as we saw with Bird or Swine.
In terms of the Covid deaths being overstated, this just isn't true. I've already done the maths in my previous post and looking at excess deaths paints an even clearer picture when used in conjuction. Even in a bad flu season we get away with between 25-30K flu deaths, and with Covid as the primary cause of death we have over 130000 so far in just 18 months.
There are many reasons why Flu numbers dropped last year, but the suggestion that they magically disappeared is again a falsehood. We still had a large number of cases and deaths but they were reduced by our own modified behaviours and by the retrictions put in place. As per an ONS FOI there were 20,523 deaths due to Flu and Pnuemonia. Flu viruses are respiratory viruses that is (mostly) transmitted via air. It's common sense that measures such as social distancing, increased hand washing, masks in confined spaces and an increase in Flu vaccinations are the reason why these numbers fell. Just on the Flu vaccine for a sec, last years campaign saw the highest ever number of Flu jabs administered since the program started in 2002, it stands to reason that we could reduce the numbers we see even more if more people got the vaccine.
Onto the thng I agree with you in regards to quarantine hospitals. In principle I agree and this ties in with a broader argument of infrastructure. The phrase "live with Covid" has been thrown around so much it's starting to lose meaning as people don't seem to have an idea what living with Covid would entail regarding how they act, and what the government should be doing in terms of regulations/infrastruture.
Whether people like it or not things change, you are not the same person you were yesterday, and we cannot go back to exactly the way things were before 2020 kicked off, it's basic physics of time at that point. There are simple measures we as people can take which will limit the spread of the virus, handwashing with soap regularly, isolating if testing positive and I know this one grates people but wearing a mask in a public and busy place (emphasis on the "busy"). No need to where one if you're out for a jog and you're the only one on your route. To be honest masks don't bother that much, it's a small inconvenience when looking at the bigger picture. If there was a winter mask mandate on shops and public transport from say October to March and that is what it took to keep life moving then so be. Obviosuly the scenario isn't as binary as that but you understand my point. I'm sure if people across the entirety of East Asia in all age groups can manage it out of sheer politeness so can we, but I suppose this may be naive thinking from me. There is small and unfortunately growing number of people who took the message to wash their hands more often as a personal insult so expecting them to wear a mask for the benefit of other people through winter may be wishful thinking.
Onto what the governemnt should be doing, investment in other treatments especially home remedies, think like a Covid equivilant of Lemsip. We need to stop starving researchers and facilities of funds, we saw what they can do when they are given the money without having to beg cap in hand. We also need to look at drastically upgrading the ventilation and filtration of a lot of buildings. You cannot expect the air to be clean when the filters get changed once every 5 years and the most of the windows don't open. We should also be looking at eliminating all mass farms. You know the ones where it's 100 chickens in a 1m squared coop. These are breeding factories for diseases and have been the location of where all of our previous animal to human mutation problems have arisen. Swine Flu, Bird Flu, SARS COV 1 and even spanish flu (which originated in America the Spanish were the first to acknowledge it) were all viruses that started in these sort of wet markets/battery farms. If we wanna stop these mutation happening we have to stop providing such ample condition.
It's a team effort, there is stuff we can and stuff the government must do if we are to live with Covid and the next ineviatable one. We had 3 warning shots between 2000 and 2020 before we actually got hit. This won't be the last either.
And on that positive note lol PLAY UP POMPEY!!!