How can we stop Covid lockdowns.

But we're not 90% protected here in the UK.  Less than 90% of people have been vaccinated at all, and current evidence is that 2 doses of AstraZeneca are of limited use against the omicron variant.  Maybe once all the boosters have been administered it will be better.  It seems that the boosters are approximately 80% effective (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-59696499).  Only about 82% of the population is double-jabbed at present.  So if all of those get the booster, then we will be about 65% protected.

The "R" number for omicrom is believed to be about 3 to 5, which is really high.  So even once everybody has got their boosters, it will still keep spreading.

It may well end up like seasonal flu.  Some variant of it goes around every year, and we have to keep giving booster jabs against the latest variants every year.  Those who refuse to get vaccinated will have to take their chances, while those who have had regular boosters may only get a mild infection.

Yes, I can see a point where track and trace becomes pointless, as it's never going to stop the spread of something so contagious.

There is always the risk of a really serious virus developing either evolving from this or a brand new one at some point. Be thankful that at the moment this one and its siblings are remarkably manageable compared to what it could be.

Consider if it had had a high R factor for airborne transmission say like measles (R 15 to 20, L ~ 0.02%) combined with say the lethality of ebola( Not airborne, needs contact with fluids,  but really high lethality L ~ 0.3- 0;8) we would by now be extinct as a species or getting pretty d. close to it.

Actually that new virus evolving risk has been there and more or less the same every day  for the last few 100,000 years or so and we are very fortunate to be in a century when we can understand and perhaps mitigate things to a degree, though to counter that,  modern  travel patterns work against us in spreading things faster.

I think that the original poster has a point - there is an element of the inevitable about this, we can alter the rate of initial spread perhaps.

It has highlighted, if we did not already know it, that we turn away too great a fraction of those leaving schools and colleges who would like to study medicine, and we could do with rather more qualified at all levels, even if they are not needed all the time, like the TA they can be mobilised as a relief  force at times of stress. 'Overload the NHS' makes it sound like it is the patient's fault, but perhaps it is  a planning shortfall based on some rather lucky previous decades.

So accept more students on medical course, realize the risk is always present, and be ready to mobilise if the big one every comes.

Mike.

There is always the risk of a really serious virus developing either evolving from this or a brand new one at some point. Be thankful that at the moment this one and its siblings are remarkably manageable compared to what it could be.

Consider if it had had a high R factor for airborne transmission say like measles (R 15 to 20, L ~ 0.02%) combined with say the lethality of ebola( Not airborne, needs contact with fluids,  but really high lethality L ~ 0.3- 0;8) we would by now be extinct as a species or getting pretty d. close to it.

Actually that new virus evolving risk has been there and more or less the same every day  for the last few 100,000 years or so and we are very fortunate to be in a century when we can understand and perhaps mitigate things to a degree, though to counter that,  modern  travel patterns work against us in spreading things faster.

I think that the original poster has a point - there is an element of the inevitable about this, we can alter the rate of initial spread perhaps.

It has highlighted, if we did not already know it, that we turn away too great a fraction of those leaving schools and colleges who would like to study medicine, and we could do with rather more qualified at all levels, even if they are not needed all the time, like the TA they can be mobilised as a relief  force at times of stress. 'Overload the NHS' makes it sound like it is the patient's fault, but perhaps it is  a planning shortfall based on some rather lucky previous decades.

So accept more students on medical course, realize the risk is always present, and be ready to mobilise if the big one every comes.

Mike.

Thanks Mike, the media hype is also not helping as it causes anxiety to everyone for no useful reason.  If we were to stop testing and issuing the results that would help immeasurably.

Another thing that needs to be addressed is the requirement to self isolate if you have been near to an infectious person.  This is causing many sportsmen in particular to miss fixtures unnecessarily.  If a covid tests shows them clear then let them play and leave the team medics to keep an eye on them.

To me, everyone is infectious anyway and is carrying the virus but because they have been vaccinated do not develop the flu. Isolation for me is totally unnecessary unless you have tested positive to covid in which case it should be mandatory to stay at home and is common sense anyway. Medical staff should be the very first to receive any vaccinations and booster treatment and again they should not self isolate unless they have a positive covid test result.

You want to stop testing, and people should only isolate if they have tested positive?