NHS under pressure from new Covid wave across England, says Chris Whitty

[Northerner]

The NHS is coming under “significant” pressure amid a rise in Covid cases in virtually every area of England, the chief medical officer has warned, with hospitalisations likely to continue increasing at least until April.

Prof Chris Whitty said the mounting numbers of people becoming infected was likely to be largely driven by the new Omicron variant, BA.2. The sharp resurgence of the coronavirus underlined that the crisis “is not over”, Whitty added.

Speaking at the annual conference of the Local Government Association and the Association of Directors of Public Health, Whitty also said those hoping for an “end point” should not expect one, with coronavirus likely to remain a threat to public health for decades.

Whitty raised concerns that other areas of public health had “gone backwards” in the last two years, including obesity and alcohol. Child obesity rates in particular were now “significantly worse” than they were at the start of the pandemic, he warned.

NHS under pressure from new Covid wave across England, says Chris Whitty

Increasing numbers of people needing hospital treatment for coronavirus, says chief medical officer

www.theguardian.com

But that's OK, the government have declared it over and moved on...

 

[Northerner]

No they haven't. They've said we have to learn to live with it.

Same thing really What they really mean is the significant proportion of the public that remain at risk are of no importance. The 250 who died from it yesterday failed to live with it. And the NHS is still treating record numbers of patients with it, which means resources are taken from other concerns

 

[Bruce Stephens]

And the NHS is still treating record numbers of patients with it,

With lots of infected staff not able to work.

(I think they expected Omicron to be over fairly quickly, but then BA.2 surprised everyone and that seems to still be growing. And there are suggestions that Omicron is reinfecting people rather quickly, though I don't know how much to believe that.)

 

[Robin]

With lots of infected staff not able to work.

(I think they expected Omicron to be over fairly quickly, but then BA.2 surprised everyone and that seems to still be growing. And there are suggestions that Omicron is reinfecting people rather quickly, though I don't know how much to believe that.)

Anecdotally, three pupils at the school my great niece attends have caught Covid again a month after they previously had it, and one of my daughter’s work colleagues has it again, within 5 weeks, having tested negative in between. The colleague is feeling worse with it second time round. So yes, the reinfection rate might well be true.

 

[Bruce Stephens]

Couldn't barely believe it when I read this in the finance section of our daily newspaper:-

Dignity says lower excess Covid deaths could impact business

Dignity shares tumbled today as the group warned its bottom line could be hit as the pandemic eases. However, the group returned to a profit over the past 12 months.

www.dailymail.co.uk

"Dignity said easing Covid-related death rates once the pandemic subsides further could hurt trade".

Wonderful, and (read in the right way) is beyond satire.

On the other hand it's just describing reality, isn't it? (They're not actually saying they'd like more deaths, just reporting the facts as they see them, explaining why they expect profits to fall a bit? Indeed, I think such disclosures are sometimes required by publicly traded companies.)

 

[Bruce Stephens]

I just wondered who would buy shares in a funeral company at the start of a pandemic then sell them when the pandemic subsides? Same as investing in arms manufacture when a war breaks out, I suppose.

Yes, a bit strange. Especially now that we're going in to a period where surely lots more people will be dying from poverty. (Though I guess those deaths aren't as good for funeral companies as those during a pandemic.)

Even so, I suspect they're making the announcement because they have an AGM where they'll have to explain their business performance, and I suspect there are extra requirements if they know of circumstances which will increase or decrease profits by more than some margin. (Having it reported in the Daily Fail in this way is probably not ideal but I doubt it's more than a short term story.)

 

[nonethewiser]

Hi Martin,

Anecdotally speaking, do you happen to know if your sister had been jabbed, jabbed and vaccinated through infection, vaccinated through infection (had covid before), or not jabbed and not vaccinated via infection? (not had it before)


Do you happen to know if the tutor had been jabbed?

Discussion on Jeremy Vine radio show last week, people phoning in about covid saying they had virus 3x, all said they were vaccinated, in all cases symptoms were mild they said.

It was said that all those dying in hospital didn't have covid when they went in, don't know how true that is.

 

[mikeyB]

That’ll be 4 weeks of wishing he’d been vaccinated.