free lateral flow tests could end in weeks.

Warwickboro said:
It astounds me just how many people think that the complete loss of enjoyment and future life chances of young people is a price worth paying in order to stem a virus which has now vastly reduced in severity, but as previously stated, we have different opinions, I now believe the most important things on the agenda are the Impending fuel crisis, and focusing on those at school age and in their 20s.
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How is testing causing loss of enjoyment or future life changes for anyone?
 
JM14 said:
How is testing causing loss of enjoyment or future life changes for anyone?
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Testing itself doesn't, the cost involved in 2 million people per day without symptoms is huge, and affects investment in recovering from overbearing restrictions we had in place previously. E.g look at the sums invested back i to education compared to test and trace costs
 
Warwickboro said:
Testing itself doesn't, the cost involved in 2 million people per day without symptoms is huge, and affects investment in recovering from overbearing restrictions we had in place previously. E.g look at the sums invested back i to education compared to test and trace costs
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What do you think the cost of that is compared to entire places of work having to close when someone unknowingly goes in with covid? Hospitalisations and treatment from covid? Deaths from covid? Staff absence in key sectors? It really doesn't just go away if you don't test

You mention education but take away the testing and it will be rife in schools/collages. How do they handle high levels of staff absence and what will that do to the quality of education offered? What about vulnerable people who attend school/collage? With no testing it makes it almost impossible for them to attend
 
JM14 said:
What do you think the cost of that is compared to entire places of work having to close when someone unknowingly goes in with covid? Hospitalisations and treatment from covid? Deaths from covid? Staff absence in key sectors? It really doesn't just go away if you don't test

You mention education but take away the testing and it will be rife in schools/collages. How do they handle high levels of staff absence and what will that do to the quality of education offered? What about vulnerable people who attend school/collage? With no testing it makes it almost impossible for them to attend
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OK, so schools and colleges being rife with covid. My answer there is (like it or not), we know that covid doesn't affect children as much, with regards to work places, we are now talking about a weaker varient spreading through a highly vaccinated population at a rate of knots, I'm sorry but I don't think the outcome will be catastrophic (I know it will be for some but on the whole ) and this will peak and go back down very quickly. We have a difference in opinion on this, I understand people are still scared and I wish them and their mental health well. But we feel differently about the best way forward here. And by saying this, please note I do not want Boris at the helm, I'm just glad we are starting to spend less money and resources on this now due to all the reasons I have stated.
 
If we decide to close down the test and trace infrastructure that has been developed over the last 2 years (not to mention those employed directly from it) then we completely leave ourselves open if a new wave or variation hits.

Learning to live with Covid is not ignoring it, though some people still haven't even learned the basics of the virus 2 years in.
 
Warwickboro said:
OK, so schools and colleges being rife with covid. My answer there is (like it or not), we know that covid doesn't affect children as much, with regards to work places, we are now talking about a weaker varient spreading through a highly vaccinated population at a rate of knots, I'm sorry but I don't think the outcome will be catastrophic (I know it will be for some but on the whole ) and this will peak and go back down very quickly. We have a difference in opinion on this, I understand people are still scared and I wish them and their mental health well. But we feel differently about the best way forward here. And by saying this, please note I do not want Boris at the helm, I'm just glad we are starting to spend less money and resources on this now due to all the reasons I have stated.
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Chris_Boro said:
If we decide to close down the test and trace infrastructure that has been developed over the last 2 years (not to mention those employed directly from it) then we completely leave ourselves open if a new wave or variation hits.

Learning to live with Covid is not ignoring it, though some people still haven't even learned the basics of the virus 2 years in.
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I learned the basics of the virus very well. I have looked at all the risks involved and decided that I will wear a mask indoors and take jabs, and if I feel ill I will get a pcr test. And from all the evidence I have seen, I believe that this is the extent of what is neccesary based on the severity of omicron and the high infectiousness of the diaease, others don't agree and I respect that.
 
Warwickboro said:
I learned the basics of the virus very well. I have looked at all the risks involved and decided that I will wear a mask indoors and take jabs, and if I feel ill I will get a pcr test. And from all the evidence I have seen, I believe that this is the extent of what is neccesary based on the severity of omicron and the high infectiousness of the diaease, others don't agree and I respect that.
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So you're happy to protect yourself, but are equally happy to let Covid run rife through schools? Also you don't seem to get that schools full of infected children lead to contact with the vulnerable and wider communities?

Your thinking is at best, short sighted and filled with danger.
 
Warwickboro said:
OK, so schools and colleges being rife with covid. My answer there is (like it or not), we know that covid doesn't affect children as much, with regards to work places, we are now talking about a weaker varient spreading through a highly vaccinated population at a rate of knots, I'm sorry but I don't think the outcome will be catastrophic (I know it will be for some but on the whole ) and this will peak and go back down very quickly. We have a difference in opinion on this, I understand people are still scared and I wish them and their mental health well. But we feel differently about the best way forward here. And by saying this, please note I do not want Boris at the helm, I'm just glad we are starting to spend less money and resources on this now due to all the reasons I have stated.
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Yes it probably wont impact children as much but what about the staff? It wont take many to be off before education is compromised? Same as any business will struggle with high levels of absence which it inevitably will when people are coming into work not knowing if they are positive or not

Its not about being scared of anything but you have to be realistic about this, yes most of us will be fine but clearly some wont. And despite that this will still cause significant disruption if its just allowed to spread. No one is calling for any restrictions but stopping the majority of testing at this stage will set us back significantly

I would be more concerned on the money gone towards dodgy contracts throughout this pandemic over whatever is being paid for testing which is doing a vital job. As Chris said, what do we do when we close off our testing infrastructure when another variant appears?
 
Chris_Boro said:
So you're happy to protect yourself, but are equally happy to let Covid run rife through schools? Also you don't seem to get that schools full of infected children lead to contact with the vulnerable and wider communities?

Your thinking is at best, short sighted and filled with danger.
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My thinking is based on a highly infectious respiratory virus that is currently almost impossible yo stop. And based on 140 million jabs, a varient that has reduced in severity, and that the risks of any further mitigations including huge sums being spent are now potentially more damaging than the virus spreading. Trying to stop this is like trying to catch the wind, and my honest belief is that this will peak in weeks and drop very quickly, and we should not consider blowing up the economy and education once again. I think we will get through this wave, not unscathed, but far quicker, and I look at the Welsh mitigations and what they have achieved, and I honestly believe only a full scale lockdown would work, and with a lockdown we are simply delaying the spread not stopping it. This varient is not one we can control I'm afraid, but we have a reprieve in terms of its severity.
 
Warwickboro said:
My thinking is based on a highly infectious respiratory virus that is currently almost impossible yo stop. And based on 140 million jabs, a varient that has reduced in severity, and that the risks of any further mitigations including huge sums being spent are now potentially more damaging than the virus spreading. Trying to stop this is like trying to catch the wind, and my honest belief is that this will peak in weeks and drop very quickly, and we should not consider blowing up the economy and education once again. I think we will get through this wave, not unscathed, but far quicker, and I look at the Welsh mitigations and what they have achieved, and I honestly believe only a full scale lockdown would work, and with a lockdown we are simply delaying the spread not stopping it. This varient is not one we can control I'm afraid, but we have a reprieve in terms of its severity.
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But they are not stopping free lateral flow tests.
 
I see a minister has come out and said they aren't removing the free LFT's. This is good news. Now if they could do the same for the travel industry and stop companies charging for tests to travel abroad that would help the travel industry get back on its feet quicker.

news.sky.com

COVID-19: 'Absolutely' no plans to scale back free lateral flow tests, Zahawi says

Both the Labour Party and Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon have warned Boris Johnson against the move after it was reported tests could be limited to care homes, hospitals and schools, and to people with symptoms.
news.sky.com news.sky.com
 
Warwickboro said:
My thinking is based on a highly infectious respiratory virus that is currently almost impossible yo stop. And based on 140 million jabs, a varient that has reduced in severity, and that the risks of any further mitigations including huge sums being spent are now potentially more damaging than the virus spreading. Trying to stop this is like trying to catch the wind, and my honest belief is that this will peak in weeks and drop very quickly, and we should not consider blowing up the economy and education once again. I think we will get through this wave, not unscathed, but far quicker, and I look at the Welsh mitigations and what they have achieved, and I honestly believe only a full scale lockdown would work, and with a lockdown we are simply delaying the spread not stopping it. This varient is not one we can control I'm afraid, but we have a reprieve in terms of its severity.
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The reason this wave was not worse than it potentially could of been is due to people changing their behaviour and mass testing, this is a basic mitigation, a option that would be removed without access to mass testing.

Noone is advocating we "control" the virus, it can't happen but if we do nothing then the virus could end up controlling us and we would be near powerless to stop it, with children being on the front line.

You are advocating we remove our early warning system in a blind hope that Covid will become weaker in the future. We simply do not know if that will happen, therefore dangerous.
 
Chris_Boro said:
The reason this wave was not worse than it potentially could of been is due to people changing their behaviour and mass testing, this is a basic mitigation, a option that would be removed without access to mass testing.

Noone is advocating we "control" the virus, it can't happen but if we do nothing then the virus could end up controlling us and we would be near powerless to stop it, with children being on the front line.

You are advocating we remove our early warning system in a blind hope that Covid will become weaker in the future. We simply do not know if that will happen, therefore dangerous.
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Well I honestly don't think lateral flows are stopping the spread this time, I'm not against the tests themselves but they aren't free, they come at a huge cost. This virus is going to rip through the nation, as an example, the only reason I wear a mask now is a) its the law and b) it makes others feel better, but in all honesty with omicron I think the use of masks is futile against what has been described as the second most infectious virus in human history. I extend that to the "early warning system" this virus is absolutely tearing through the population, and all we are doing is spending billions to confirm that. However, I do acknowledge that taking these tests are also good for peoples mental health so I can see why people would want them to continue.
 
Warwickboro said:
Well I honestly don't think lateral flows are stopping the spread this time, I'm not against the tests themselves but they aren't free, they come at a huge cost. This virus is going to rip through the nation, as an example, the only reason I wear a mask now is a) its the law and b) it makes others feel better, but in all honesty with omicron I think the use of masks is futile against what has been described as the second most infectious virus in human history. I extend that to the "early warning system" this virus is absolutely tearing through the population, and all we are doing is spending billions to confirm that. However, I do acknowledge that taking these tests are also good for peoples mental health so I can see why people would want them to continue.
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Some positive news, cases were as high as 221000 the other day, and we've now had 2 days below 150000. Today was 141,000. That is a big drop so we could and I state COULD be on the downward curve already, we certainly are in the capital
 
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