Living with COVID: Experts divided on UK plan as cases soar

First, it was "living with Brexit", then it's "living with Covid", but it's living with the boot of Bozza and Tories stomping on their face that makes life for folk on "Plague Island" even more insufferable.

Some scientists argue it’s the right time to accept that “living with COVID” means tolerating a certain level of disruption and deaths, much like we do for seasonal flu

There is nothing more to say...

*They warned that deaths and hospital admissions could keep rising because more people over 55 — those who are most likely to get seriously ill from COVID-19 — *are now getting infected despite high levels of vaccination.

That says all about taking the vaccine and getting not infected.

Though no longer mandatory, many people are still wearing masks in crowded indoor environments.

While the principle is right, I tend to feel that a more gradual removal of restrictions would have given more time for the disease to settle down and become more endemic. It is still a more damaging illness than flu so a modicum of care is justified though not the stringent measures justified before effective vaccines and treatments were available. Also both people and the economy can’t afford to remain in the emergency measures for ever.

We have lived with 'disruption, disease and sadly, death' for centuries, every winter and every disease outbreak. This isn't the first virus to hit humanity. It may be the first that we have had a rapid response to from pharmaceutical companies.

Vaccination we can do, to reduce the most severe symptoms. Ventilation is rarely an option in the UK. You can't keep the windows open in school classrooms in the UK in winter- the kids get too cold to work. Very few places (and almost no homes) have air con. The daftest solution came from Scotland - sawing the bottom off school doors - not advisable as most are fire doors with asbestos in them. Masking we can do. Hiding from the virus with lockdowns, won't help, as it will just delay the spread.

The UK numbers have spiked and are now plateauing, initially with kids, but now with adults too. That means the variant is passing through available hosts.

The alternatives would require repeated homeprisonment (China) or endless often random/quasi restrictions (Japan). Because if you suppress a virus, you just slow it down and it stays longer. Virus suppression costs time and lots of money - time away from climate change action and money that could be spent on green projects. Covid has already delayed responses to climate change by more than two years and the clock is ticking.

The overwhelming majority of people in the UK are happy to get on with life after seeing their finances impacted or their jobs vanish during lockdowns. Those that want to take more care or hide away from the virus can. The antivax minority was always small here and mask use wasn't politicised. Some folk need to still take more care and are wearing masks (including me) and that's understood.

For those looking for data models, remember the UK is dealing with Brexit as well as Covid. We are short of staff everywhere. Nothing is working properly - the airports, the ferries, the buses, the trains or healthcare. If you didn't kick out/repatriate all of your migrant workers, you should pull out of Covid with far fewer problems than the UK. But if you keep trying to suppress the virus, it will spread slowly and stick around.

englisc aspyrgend.....

Though no longer mandatory, many people are still wearing masks in crowded indoor environments.

On a recent trip to the UK, this was not the case. In shops you can see one or two people wearing masks but the vast majority of shoppers and staff are now de-masked. Same on trains, at the time of my visit the mask mandate was still in place in Wales but about 20% were wearing masks.

The day Boris said "You no longer need to wear a mask" was heard as "You must not wear a mask."

"It's just like the flu" is fanciful thinking. Actually it's not and constantly repeating this does not change reality.

"There’s no reason to believe that a new variant would not be more transmissible or severe,” he added.

and with so many people in the developing world not vaccinated its only a matter of time.

Who said it's for 'experts' to control people's lives like a perverse puppet master?

“I prefer my medical advice to be dispensed by unqualified morons.” - Very smart poster Wobot.

Mr Kipling, I don’t know where you visited but my comment was based on my observations and around here it is as I said.

London, Birmingham, Manchester, Hereford, Cardiff and south Wales... all the same, hardly a mask in sight in March. Where is this mysterious mask wearing paradise "around here". :)

I wish all places took easy sensible precautions. Its not hard is it. Pop a mask on in the crowded train and while in the shop.