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Coronavirus

Coronavirus - The Poll

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I found this really interesting article from The Telegraph talking about COVID responses, and it asks; was Sweden right about COVID all along?: https://apple.news/AxDPKe6dYQCyYL8tKWEgoNA

For those of you that don’t know, Sweden did not lock down like a lot of other countries did. Anders Tegnell, Sweden’s state epidemiologist, said that he could not recommend an unproven public health intervention.

Many decried Sweden’s strategy as too risky, but 2 years since COVID first began to change the world, their stats compared to those of the UK and other European countries are interesting, to say the least:
  • They have one of Europe’s lower COVID death tolls, even when adjusted for population, at 1,614 per million. For reference, the UK’s is 2,335 per million.
  • Sweden’s GDP fall was also lower than others, with a larger bounce back compared to others too. Sweden’s GDP fell by 2.9% in 2020, while the UK’s fell by 9.4%. Their economy is expected to be 5% larger than pre-pandemic times this year, compared to 2% for Germany and 1% for the UK.
  • COVID measures added an extra £3,000 per head of government debt in Sweden, while they added an extra £8,400 per head in the UK.
  • Sweden is not talking about educational disruption; there were no full-scale school closures, and aside from absence rates of a third or even half the class at times, as well as some suspected slight grade inflation (the average Maths grade became 10.1, compared to 9.3 pre-pandemic), the country’s education system is relatively unaffected. In the UK, on the other hand, the effects were more pronounced; the percentage of A Level grades marked at A or A* jumped to 45% (this was 26% pre-pandemic), educational inequality is said to have been set back 10 years in some studies, and Britain’s pupils are estimated to earn £40,000 less in their lifetime each, and £350billion less overall. The equivalent figure in Sweden is £800million overall.
  • Hospital waiting lists have grown less in Sweden than in Britain, even when adjusting for population. Sweden’s hospital waiting list hit 170,000 in October 2021, compared to 130,000 pre-pandemic, while the UK’s hospital waiting list will continue to grow for another 2 years according to NHS modelling and eventually hit 9.2 million, compared to 4.4 million pre-pandemic.
What do you guys think? Was Sweden “right” about COVID? I’ll admit that I don’t think there was really any right or wrong answer about how to deal with COVID (each approach has benefits and drawbacks), but those stats are intriguing, I’ll admit, and different to what I’d have expected.
 
No great feelings either way. If the Swedes are happy then good for them.

Important to acknowledge there are major cultural differences in how close Swedish and Scandinavian people get to one another compared to Britain and France. A friend lived over there and she said it was like everyone socially distanced anyway.

With respect, any study which shows children are going to be better or worse off is questionable, putting a £ value on it is laughable.
 
Apparently the government are going to announce next week that free testing will be ending.
So if you do care about not passing the virus to family/friends best to order some lateral flow tests now!

I expect many workplaces will keep testing (many universities have their own testing schemes for example) at least for the next few months.
But I expect cases will jump up again if fewer tests are done, but then without the testing will be actually know infections have gone up!
 
jon81uk said:
I expect many workplaces will keep testing (many universities have their own testing schemes for example) at least for the next few months.
But I expect cases will jump up again if fewer tests are done, but then without the testing will be actually know infections have gone up!
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With regard to the bolded; for what it’s worth, my university announced yesterday that the Department of Health & Social Care has banned them from providing free COVID tests (LFTs) after 18th February (this Friday), so I’m not sure that universities and workplaces are necessarily allowed to do their own thing.

I grabbed an extra box yesterday just to make sure I could have some about, as they’re certainly not a bad thing to have. Particularly seeing as I’m probably going to need some to get into Germany in just over 2 months…

Do we expect the guidance of “lateral flow test twice a week” to change following this new development?
 
Matt N said:
With regard to the bolded; for what it’s worth, my university announced yesterday that the Department of Health & Social Care has banned them from providing free COVID tests (LFTs) after 18th February (this Friday), so I’m not sure that universities and workplaces are necessarily allowed to do their own thing.
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The university I work with has been offering saliva based PCR tests. Therefore even if they stop handing out the LFT kits I expect the saliva PCR to continue as they are nothing to do with the government.
 
I would expect a lot of testing, even private testing to reduce as rules relax. Once self isolation ceases to be a legal requirement, then there's not a great deal of incentive for businesses to continue it as staffing is no longer as heavily impacted. Certainly the government guidance of test twice a week would go, as it's difficult to encourage that went tests are not readily provided free of charge.
 
Craig said:
I would expect a lot of testing, even private testing to reduce as rules relax. Once self isolation ceases to be a legal requirement, then there's not a great deal of incentive for businesses to continue it as staffing is no longer as heavily impacted. Certainly the government guidance of test twice a week would go, as it's difficult to encourage that went tests are not readily provided free of charge.
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My guess is that yes they will only want employees to stay at home if they are turly too sick to work, same as pre-covid.

The odd area will be universities and similar where the students can spread the virus but there is no impact the university if the student doesn't attend as they aren't paying them. So in that case I expect some testing to remain at least for this term (ie through to Easter) and then will be reviewed how things are over the summer and what is needed for September.

Of course some workplaces may see general sickness absence go up anyway as people get colds and other viral infections if they are working in person more.
 
Can't have a high number of positive tests if no one can test anymore.

It'll just cause problems when people go into workplaces positive but not ill enough to feel like staying at home and then suddenly the entire office is sick.

Not learned a single thing from the pandemic really. Really good opportunity to look at the workplace and general public behaviours but instead it's back to pre pandemic lifestyle.
 
In other COVID news, children aged 5-11 who are not already eligible through vulnerability will be offered a low-dose COVID jab during April in England: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-60406155

Sajid Javid has described this rollout as “non-urgent” and “focused on parental choice”.
 
jon81uk said:
The university I work with has been offering saliva based PCR tests. Therefore even if they stop handing out the LFT kits I expect the saliva PCR to continue as they are nothing to do with the government.
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We have been doing these in work for the past year. Ours are LAMP tests where they shine a special light through samples and positive ones illuminate yellow.
 
Alsty said:
I won't miss completing that form. It was nothing but a load of bureaucracy.
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At least it got a bit easier last year with it moving to an online form. The one in 2020 where you had to fill it out with pen and paper (iirc) was dire, but yes, glad to see it go.

I'm off to Germany in 3 weeks for a week at Europa, and been looking at their restrictions. Whilst masks seem to be FFP2 or above still and the 3G/2G/2G+ system remains in place, they now don't require us to fill out their pre-departure digital registration, as we're no longer classed as a high-risk country. :)
 
I'm hoping the Netherlands follows suit. Flying into Amsterdam in May and I'm now kind of wishing I'd flown into Germany instead.
 
argh, opening weekend, tickets booked, gorgeous weather forecast…. And Covid has struck the household. Got the missus and little one in bed at the moment poorly with it. My test so far was negative but I’d be amazed if I don’t come down with it by the end of the week.

Talk about timing!!!

Managed to do quite well and escape it for two years though!
 
GaryH said:
argh, opening weekend, tickets booked, gorgeous weather forecast…. And Covid has struck the household. Got the missus and little one in bed at the moment poorly with it. My test so far was negative but I’d be amazed if I don’t come down with it by the end of the week.

Talk about timing!!!

Managed to do quite well and escape it for two years though!
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Ah no, sorry to hear that mate. Hope you all feel better soon! 🙂
 
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