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UK authorities ease COVID testing requirements amid surge

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By DANICA KIRKA and MIKE CORDER

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Prime Minister Boris Johnson told the House of Commons that pre-departure tests for people traveling to England will no longer be required because the omicron variant is so prevalent that travel restrictions meant to contain its spread are now meaningless.

This. Now remove all other restrictions and requirements so that everyone can get on with their lives. If I get sick, I will stay home and do whatever else I have to do to get better. Until then, I want to live life as much as possible.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

The health service problems are due to staff shortages (pre-pandemic from Tory funding cuts, worsened by the Tories' Brexit) and staff being 'pinged', rather than to a huge rise in serious cases.

Any lockdown will just spin things out for longer. South Africa had 4 weeks of Omicron before the cases fell away, and their vaccine stats were lower. The UK and Israel will provide more data on this. We should be living with Covid by now, not failing to hide from it.

As with flu, the motile and socially promiscuous chunk of the population is much more likely to get Covid. That's why some people are getting it for a second time (despite being vaxxed), and some people have never had it. There are plenty of cases of only one person in a family getting it (and in the UK, we isolate at home). More work needs to be done on why some people don't get it.

According to the CDC, Covid transmission occurs generally in the 1-2 days prior to onset of symptoms and the 2-3 days after. So only 3 days of isolation would be necessary after you exhibit symptoms, and 5 days max after close contact with a confirmed case. [https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2021/s1227-isolation-quarantine-guidance.html]

Being transmissive before symptoms suggests that there is little point in sending people to hotels, as their families will already have been exposed to the virus. It won't be feasible or necessary to send Omicron patients to hotels as the numbers should be high and most will be fine. Short home isolations are the best option with basic triage identifying those at potential/developing risk.

Omicron is becoming globally dominant. This is a good thing as it is replacing Delta and moves faster. Prepare adequate care facilities in advance (based on data from SA, UK and Israel) and get the boosters deployed. The faster you can allow it to move through your population, the better. High case numbers are actually a good thing. The only stats to worry about are hospital bed numbers/staff availability. That is usually stressed by seasonal flu outbreaks at this time of year, so hospitals should be prepared for it.

Anyone is free to lock themselves down through this if they feel the need to reduce their personal risk. Support should be available for those in this position.

Be sensible, lose the panic and get on with life. Humanity has dealt with far worse problems than this, with much less panic, drama, restrictions and economic destruction before now. Get a grip, everyone.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

Many weeks ago I stated that Omicron was not a threat and that is now patently obvious.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

The health service problems are due to staff shortages (pre-pandemic from Tory funding cuts, worsened by the Tories' Brexit) and staff being 'pinged', rather than to a huge rise in serious cases.

Staff sickness is a big issue. People are burnt out, they’re broken.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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