Originally Posted by
Dubbag
Was listening to a good discussion yesterday at work. A number of consultants were talking about the recent turn for the worse regarding Covid-19 here.As Ireland is about to introduce more stricter restrictions...it is becoming clear to the medical profession that two main points seem to be in play now.
1. Apathy to the ongoing pandemic.
2. The long Covid-19 implications from a medical/business point of view.
The first is well documented by now...people are fed up and want to return to normal....they have done what has been asked and lets move on...While apathy may very well grow i the world population.....it means nothing to the virus....it will continue spreading along side indifference to it.
2. This I found the most interesting...it appears that there is mounting scientific and medical evidence that people who were infected with mild symptoms early on, are just as likely to suffer severe after effects from the disease as someone who was actually in an ICU setting and on a ventilator...This is becoming clearer each day as more and more evidence comes in from GPs up and down the lands...It seems it may very well be, behind the sudden shift away from the herd mentality that seems to be in vogue for a while in some places...
Younger people and by default healthier people are presenting with symptoms akin to relapses months after an initial mild infection. More worrying is the fact that many people have never been tested and have endured the mild symptoms early on and so thee for are not even registered in the actual numbers. These include increased effort at breathing for simple tasks, liver function issues and headaches taste and smell not returning and elevated fatigued symptoms, to mention just a few signs...Here we are talking about healthy young people for the most part...Many are unable to return to their normal work practices or have to do reduce hours....many months after a mild infection..
Governments are likely to have to address this as the evince grows. I know recently the UK put £10M into help...I believe this is not even a drop as this develops..
So it has started to become evident that a herd immunity is not without huge risks, seeing as many people could be economically unable to return to proper work. This is not shown up in the death column.
It can be seen as a worrying development at this stage in the pandemic...A bit like realizing that the WWII was not going to end after a few months of endurance...
One last thing I have noticed as well...which is different from last March.....now with testing and tracing......if anybody is contacted regarding been in close contact with an positive indivual...you now have to isolate for 14 days....Only this week we had a patient that had been cleared of the disease only to be quarantined after somehow contacting the disease....in one fell swoop...4 members of our staff had to go into isolation....the following day at least two other staff members had tested positive from community transmission...
This is taking a huge toll on our bedside staffing numbers.......Last March...when testing was scarce...many has symptoms but had to carry on working as the wards were filling up and no one was been tested.....
Cant' do that today.....an interesting winter ahead for sure...