The inevitable impact of Covid19

[blueblueblue]

A freedom of information request to the Office for National Statistics has revealed that only 17,371 of the COVID deaths in England and Wales had no underlying conditions. Still a considerable number, of course, but a fraction of the total tally.

Just thought it was an interesting statistic and probably one you won't hear much in the media.

That doesn't mean it wasn't the main cause of death though.

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

If there really was a dangerous pandemic there would be no flights at all. In the meantime omicron can only be spread around the world by those that travel. We should have much stricter travel rules entering and leaving GB.

That didn't help much with the new variant.That stupid ban on flights to countries in Africa (recently lifted) on the red list.Much beter to insist that people are tested before boarding a plane or can prove they've been fully vaccinated.

 

[blueblueblue]

That didn't help much with the new variant.That stupid ban on flights to countries in Africa (recently lifted) on the red list.Much beter to insist that people are tested before boarding a plane or can prove they've been fully vaccinated.

I seem to remember Donald Duck shutting the borders straight away. It doesn't matter what you do, if it's already in a Country it's going to spread.

 

[RHB]

Interesting fact on tv just now, over 90% of people in ITU with Covid are unvaccinated.

 

[rigsby]

Interesting fact on tv just now, over 90% of people in ITU with Covid are unvaccinated.

They don't count if you have only had 2 or the booster in the last 14 days.

Even more interesting was figures for covid deaths in 2021 without any underlying health issues.

Under 65 years of age 425

Thats about the same as drowning and a lot higher than road deaths.

More children will die this year on the school run than of covid. yet some whinging teachers want the kids masked whilst they aren't.

 

[Massimo Giovanni]

Interesting fact on tv just now, over 90% of people in ITU with Covid are unvaccinated.

That may be an under counting with the figure closer to 100%.

And it also doesn't differentiate between the wilful unjabbed and the many who can't get vaccinated because of other serious health issues.
As such it is, largely, another bean counting statistic which makes a headline but has little use other than scaremongering and popularism.

 

[hlane17]

Even more interesting was figures for covid deaths in 2021 without any underlying health issues.

Under 65 years of age 425

The latest ONS source suggests it's 3,774 below 65 across the entire pandemic. 17,371 overall from just COVID in all age groups.

COVID is clearly an age-extrapolated and wellbeing-extrapolated illness.

I'd hope all my fellow Shrimpers will do as much as they can on the health + wellbeing side, as we can't do too much about the age side of things.

 

[pottster]

They don't count if you have only had 2 or the booster in the last 14 days.

Even more interesting was figures for covid deaths in 2021 without any underlying health issues.

Under 65 years of age 425

Thats about the same as drowning and a lot higher than road deaths.

More children will die this year on the school run than of covid. yet some whinging teachers want the kids masked whilst they aren't.

Unfortunately we exist in a bit of an echo chamber with covid and do not consider the alternatives, with also using out dated modelling. Wider questions need to be asked about the health of the country, and how to move forward with tackling obesity and type 2 diabetes.

 

[hlane17]

Unfortunately we exist in a bit of an echo chamber with covid and do not consider the alternatives, with also using out dated modelling. Wider questions need to be asked about the health of the country, and how to move forward with tackling obesity and type 2 diabetes.

The overall health of the nation has arguably made the last two years harder.

The COVID emergency will be declared over before long but the underlying issues that made it worse will probably be swept under the rug.

I for one don't expect HMG to run a health campaign and if they would, gym and healthy food subsidies is as far as I'd want it to go.

We all need to be a bit more personally responsible for our health (myself included at times!)

 

[Massimo Giovanni]

Unfortunately we exist in a bit of an echo chamber with covid and do not consider the alternatives, with also using out dated modelling. Wider questions need to be asked about the health of the country, and how to move forward with tackling obesity and type 2 diabetes.

Add the immense social and health issues related to abusive reliance on drugs, alcohol, tobacco, legal, prescribed or prohibited.

In some cases the "free for all" NHS nanny state is not helping with the problems but perpetuating them.

 

[rigsby]

Unfortunately we exist in a bit of an echo chamber with covid and do not consider the alternatives, with also using out dated modelling. Wider questions need to be asked about the health of the country, and how to move forward with tackling obesity and type 2 diabetes.

The very fact that its free is why we are so unhealthy. Imagine car insurance was the same no matter how many crashes or cars stolen you had.

Sadly though we cant discuss it as the usual suspects would want to blame certain political parties. The NHS is the laziest topic ever debated. The whole jab scam is perfect example

 

[Massimo Giovanni]

The very fact that its free is why we are so unhealthy. Imagine car insurance was the same no matter how many crashes or cars stolen you had.

Sadly though we cant discuss it as the usual suspects would want to blame certain political parties. The NHS is the laziest topic ever debated. The whole jab scam is perfect example

The SCAM is not, imo, a relevant accusation for the vaccination process BUT for sure many people have made huge, obscene, criminal profits on "track and trace" failures, poor testing kits, useless ppe, swift fraudulent claims to OUR tax payers money for furlough etc etc.

 

[Napster]

The very fact that its free is why we are so unhealthy. Imagine car insurance was the same no matter how many crashes or cars stolen you had.

Sadly though we cant discuss it as the usual suspects would want to blame certain political parties. The NHS is the laziest topic ever debated. The whole jab scam is perfect example

You can't really debate the NHS without debating funding. Which is political. And of course, the NHS is a Labour idea.

And you can't argue that we as a nation are unhealthy because the NHS is free at point of use. We're unhealthy as a nation because of cheaper fast food, less manual work, and low taxes on alcohol, cigarettes etc. You may believe that people want the NHS to "rescue" them, but logically it doesn't work like that.

By the by I'm not defending the NHS - it's badly mismanaged and slow to recognise problems.

 

[Napster]

The SCAM is not, imo, a relevant accusation for the vaccination process BUT for sure many people have made huge, obscene, criminal profits on "track and trace" failures, poor testing kits, useless ppe, swift fraudulent claims to OUR tax payers money for furlough etc etc.

And most of those are through the government themselves!

 

[southendkid]

The very fact that its free is why we are so unhealthy.

If that was true then America wouldn't be one of the fattest countries in the world.

Even in this country the dentist isn't free yet plenty of people don't look after their teeth.

 

[hlane17]

If that was true then America wouldn't be one of the fattest countries in the world.

Even in this country the dentist isn't free yet plenty of people don't look after their teeth.

Agreed. I've thought about this a lot and studied these socioeconomic factors, partially through my studies but also because it concerns me a lot. I think the biggest factors are the following:

Unhealthy office culture - most people are working long hours at a desk all week, using a car/public transport to get to and from work. This also combines with the lack of self-prepping lunches/snacks before work. This is a Western issue, not just UK. Without getting too political I feel this is a result of valuing GDP/earnings/productivity over tangible benefits of leading a less profitable but whole life.

Dissociation between nutrition and health - you are quite literally what you eat, not quite sure how we have forgotten/suppressed this fact. Eat rubbish and feel rubbish. Eat healthily and feel better. I think the 'food pyramid' is absurd, nobody apart from the busiest builder/labourer needs that amount of starchy carbohydrate! And we wonder why so many people become insulin resistant, bombing your system with glucose spikes like that is insane. Fibre is the lynchpin of a healthy diet, cannot remember the last time this was talked about. Not to mention the HUGE amount of vitamin deficiencies plaguing the world which has been proven to cause immunosuppression.

Unhappy nation self-medicating - we have a terrible relationship with alcohol, drugs and tobacco. Our nation is a miserable one, lots of people are coping through both legal and illegal means to numb their minds a bit. The unhappiness stems mostly through our work and personal lives, but no doubt supplemented by nutrition as well. The cheaper foods can cause inflammation which is linked to negative cognitions when the pain caused by such is processed by our brain. Add all these factors together and you have many unhappy people.

A lot of the above comes from the imbalance of time and money the UK is suffering from. We trade so much of our time for the money we get, and therefore might have the means to fund a better life but no time to live it through properly. The price of everything is going up too, so affording a varied and healthy diet might become more difficult.

Until we go some way to solving these serious issues (which IMO is an issue of far greater magnitude than the pandemic now) we will continue to be vulnerable to any new communicable disease that comes up. COVID won't be the last pandemic we see after all. The silence on such issues is deafening and it's absolutely shocking.

 

[Kris]

I'm a bit uncomfortable with some of the above posts. Obviously a poor lifestyle doesn't help but on the other hand many athletes at the peak of their health are also getting Covid.

This is a worldwide pandemic, not one that is limited to this country. The main reason we are suffering badly is because we didn't react quickly enough to the initial spread. Countries like Israel were already well on top of it by the time it reached the UK.

 

[hlane17]

I'm a bit uncomfortable with some of the above posts. Obviously a poor lifestyle doesn't help but on the other hand many athletes at the peak of their health are also getting Covid.

This is a worldwide pandemic, not one that is limited to this country. The main reason we are suffering badly is because we didn't react quickly enough to the initial spread. Countries like Israel were already well on top of it by the time it reached the UK.

But how many of said athletes are ending up in hospital or ICU. Very very few of them. As a communicable disease these athletes will catch COVID but that doesn't discount the high regard they have for their physical condition and how helpful that is when you're fighting infections.

An airborne virus so transmissible cannot be stopped, only slowed. Everyone will get it at some point, I did back in November. Once it was found it escaped China and settled worldwide, the pandemic scenario was inevitable.

 

[Kris]

But how many of said athletes are ending up in hospital or ICU. Very very few of them. As a communicable disease these athletes will catch COVID but that doesn't discount the high regard they have for their physical condition and how helpful that is when you're fighting infections.

An airborne virus so transmissible cannot be stopped, only slowed. Everyone will get it at some point, I did back in November. Once it was found it escaped China and settled worldwide, the pandemic scenario was inevitable.

Exactly and that was my point. Like I said, some countries called it way before we did and as a result were able to stem the tide in terms of reducing the rate and number of deaths. Our government was too dismissive and didn't react quickly enough.

 

[hlane17]

Exactly and that was my point. Like I said, some countries called it way before we did and as a result were able to stem the tide in terms of reducing the rate and number of deaths. Our government was too dismissive and didn't react quickly enough.

If retrospective assessment of medical records is to be believed, SARS-Cov-2 was in Europe in October 2019.

Early spread of novel viruses tend to go by stealth as the pattern needs to emerge before the illness and hospitalisations are investigated.

I would cast doubt on the fact we could have done enough early enough to detect this thing in the UK even on high alert, but that is my opinion!