Healdplace
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- 12 May 2013
- Messages
- 15,983
Yes, I noted this lack of briefings earlier. I expect they have done this on purpose and they are attempting to create a sense of normality as the plan now is in effect to hope the vaccines keep Covid as a disease we can cope with this Winter. They are seeking to regain some kind of economy as I expect we could not just keep pumping money into lockdown after lockdown and our economy shrinking as the rest of the world decides to open up and live with it.Booster roll out has had nothing like the press and governmental push the original rollout had. People knew exactly when they’d be eligible for their first and second jabs; it was widely advertised; the booster programme seems to have disappeared off the public radar. Can’t remember last briefing from Government, Whitty etc. Mind you, that would involve a bit of ministerial forward planning...
So to a degree we have to accept the hit we will still have despite all the mitigation of the vaccines.
Plus, of course, there is some natural erosion of Covid because of its heavy bias towards serious impact on the elderly. Whilst people age one year at a time a very high proportion of the eldery have been sadly killed by Covid in one go and that is inevitably on its own a faster erosion rate than new vulnerable people replace them especially thanks to the vaccine. Though the disappearance of flu last Winter will probably minimise that if it returns alongsde Covid this year now Covid is minimised.
I suspect there will be some redefining of what is a Covid death and what is a flu death over coming months as it will be something that will be a factor we never faced last year.
Unless that is this new strain of the Delta variant being reprted today which is a bit (10% I think they said) more infective suppresses flu again this winter as it might - especially given the wider flu jab programme for all vulnerabe and over 50s this autumn.
I am not talking suppression via herd immunity just a multi factored reduction of the vaccine protection and the reducing number of potential easy targets and some cases that will be reassigned as flu that last year were probably assigned as Covid just becase the patient tested positive.