If so, then don’t just look at the positive tests but at the graph that shows tests performed. Positive tests goes up but tests performed is relatively the same. That tells you it is a real increase in positivity. It could be the start of another big peak, or not. Time will tell, but you’d think going through the last years one should pay attention to such statistics. Because if you start taking measures only when you are back to 100.000+ cases a day you are a bit too late.
I “admit” committed is funny because that’s what COVID and all of the “I did my own research” hoopla has made me feel like. That I’ve been committed to an insane asylum with all of the loonies spreading their theories justifying their behavior without impunity thereby making COVID more deadly as it lasts longer given such time to continuously mutate…
Okay, I’m looking - it clearly is going up and down in cycles but progressively the peaks are smoothing out. Can you explain the need for a stronger response now than we had in March? Are we just going to just go insane every 3 months and declare “omg, covid is back!” because a seasonal disease has peaks and troughs?
No, because if hysteria would be an appropriate response it wouldn’t be hysteria. The good news is: no one is calling for hysteria, there’s just a recommendation to wear masks.
I’m not saying that there isn’t an increase in cases of COVID, I’m sure there are - it’s just that it is still such a small number of cases that it doesn’t matter. The big spikes we had originally in 2020 and 2021 will not reoccur. There are little bumps here and there but nothing significant.
You mean to tell me that we’re looking at this chart:
and we’re meant to be concerned about the growth of COVID? We need to chill out, seriously.
Right back at you. Please show me where I am not “chill” here? There is one person who is not chill and its certainly not me.
You can still choose to wear a mask or not, theres no law yet or is there? So just don’t, I guess?
The smaller bumps by the way occur because people kept getting vaccines and boosters. How does that look like where you are? When was the last time you got a shot or a booster? From the sound of it a while ago.
I don’t have a problem with wearing a mask, honestly I’d like to see it become more commonplace in flu season. But I do have a problem with the article being total bullshit. The source is complete bunk, there’s nothing special about the data trend that I can see, there’s no official guidance from SAGE or anyone notable that we should be wearing masks, just some random Twitter user. So why make that headline? For clicks, clearly, right?
This is really harmful stuff because it means if there genuinely IS a reason to wear masks again then it’s harder to get that message out because of all the noise - I’m reminded of the boy who cried wolf story. It’s also anxiety-inducing and just harmful for people’s mental health.
I’m interested for your source about the boosters/vaccines thing - I have taken every vaccine/booster I’ve been offered but the last one was a year ago I think and I haven’t been offered one since, and it seems like the bumps occur every three months, which seems far too frequently to coincide with booster rollouts - my guess was that the virus was seasonal like the flu, but if you have a source for that I’d love to be proven wrong because it sounds very interesting.
BTW, I didn’t mean to imply that you, personally, weren’t chill - it was more of a general statement aimed towards everyone in the comments, but I wrote it poorly, so apologies for that, you’ve been completely level-headed.
Clearly there’s no medical reason AGAINST wearing a mask, that’s never the argument. Masks aren’t going to make things worse, obviously. They will definitely reduce infection rates and it’s sensible to wear them. However, I don’t think there’s a particularly compelling reason to encourage everyone to wear masks everywhere they go anymore since transmission has dropped dramatically and remains fairly low. I think the guidance should be, if you’re not feeling well, stay home, or wear a mask if you must go out.
you’re right, i’m sorry. it’s just downplaying a deadly and ongoing virus and dismissing the most effective method of protection against it as not necessary.
it’s just that it is still such a small number of cases that it doesn’t matter.
To the best of my knowledge there is no meaningful surveillance in the USA or EU. Some places are still doing wastewater testing but it’s difficult to make solid determinations from wastewater.
This is an article about the UK. I don’t have a strong understanding of what the situation is like anywhere else, but in the UK, the numbers are quite low.
Is there still surveillance in the UK? Afaik Wales is still doing wastewater testing, but I’m not aware of any other systematic surveillance being conducted now.
in England, yeah, there is - it’s not as good as it once was and it’s getting dialled back more and more, but we still have some reporting & surveillance - you can see the dashboard here.
If I’m reading that right they did 30k tests and got 6k positives, about 17%. I would consider that enough infection going around to be very concerned. Am I misunderstanding those numbers?
Well, most people wouldn’t get tested unless they have a reason to, e.g. displaying symptoms, so that skews the numbers significantly - there’s no broad testing happening anymore, really. Number of infections per 100k population is a more interesting metric - I was curious and put together a line graph of that over the last 12 months.
I think the little uptick that we’re seeing recently, is just seemingly part of the pattern of steadily reducing number of cases - there’s a little bump, followed by a drop. I’m not sure what causes the pattern, though.
Anyways, the more in-depth reports have lots of information, one I think is particularly interesting is for google trends in COVID symptoms - that hasn’t really increased recently. In general, cases, hospitalisations, deaths, and positivity (i.e. the number of tests coming back as positive) are significantly lower now than they were.
You mean this data? https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/
If so, then don’t just look at the positive tests but at the graph that shows tests performed. Positive tests goes up but tests performed is relatively the same. That tells you it is a real increase in positivity. It could be the start of another big peak, or not. Time will tell, but you’d think going through the last years one should pay attention to such statistics. Because if you start taking measures only when you are back to 100.000+ cases a day you are a bit too late.
and patients committed
I “admit” committed is funny because that’s what COVID and all of the “I did my own research” hoopla has made me feel like. That I’ve been committed to an insane asylum with all of the loonies spreading their theories justifying their behavior without impunity thereby making COVID more deadly as it lasts longer given such time to continuously mutate…
Okay, I’m looking - it clearly is going up and down in cycles but progressively the peaks are smoothing out. Can you explain the need for a stronger response now than we had in March? Are we just going to just go insane every 3 months and declare “omg, covid is back!” because a seasonal disease has peaks and troughs?
No, because if hysteria would be an appropriate response it wouldn’t be hysteria. The good news is: no one is calling for hysteria, there’s just a recommendation to wear masks.
This is the article’s source for “recommendation to wear masks”
A single tweet from a university researcher. And yet, we have a sensationalist headline about it.
I’m not saying that there isn’t an increase in cases of COVID, I’m sure there are - it’s just that it is still such a small number of cases that it doesn’t matter. The big spikes we had originally in 2020 and 2021 will not reoccur. There are little bumps here and there but nothing significant.
You mean to tell me that we’re looking at this chart:
and we’re meant to be concerned about the growth of COVID? We need to chill out, seriously.
Right back at you. Please show me where I am not “chill” here? There is one person who is not chill and its certainly not me.
You can still choose to wear a mask or not, theres no law yet or is there? So just don’t, I guess?
The smaller bumps by the way occur because people kept getting vaccines and boosters. How does that look like where you are? When was the last time you got a shot or a booster? From the sound of it a while ago.
I don’t have a problem with wearing a mask, honestly I’d like to see it become more commonplace in flu season. But I do have a problem with the article being total bullshit. The source is complete bunk, there’s nothing special about the data trend that I can see, there’s no official guidance from SAGE or anyone notable that we should be wearing masks, just some random Twitter user. So why make that headline? For clicks, clearly, right?
This is really harmful stuff because it means if there genuinely IS a reason to wear masks again then it’s harder to get that message out because of all the noise - I’m reminded of the boy who cried wolf story. It’s also anxiety-inducing and just harmful for people’s mental health.
I’m interested for your source about the boosters/vaccines thing - I have taken every vaccine/booster I’ve been offered but the last one was a year ago I think and I haven’t been offered one since, and it seems like the bumps occur every three months, which seems far too frequently to coincide with booster rollouts - my guess was that the virus was seasonal like the flu, but if you have a source for that I’d love to be proven wrong because it sounds very interesting.
BTW, I didn’t mean to imply that you, personally, weren’t chill - it was more of a general statement aimed towards everyone in the comments, but I wrote it poorly, so apologies for that, you’ve been completely level-headed.
this proves you don’t understand what you’re talking about at all. there was never a compelling reason to stop masking according to the data. period.
Clearly there’s no medical reason AGAINST wearing a mask, that’s never the argument. Masks aren’t going to make things worse, obviously. They will definitely reduce infection rates and it’s sensible to wear them. However, I don’t think there’s a particularly compelling reason to encourage everyone to wear masks everywhere they go anymore since transmission has dropped dramatically and remains fairly low. I think the guidance should be, if you’re not feeling well, stay home, or wear a mask if you must go out.
that’s nice. it’s also tantamount to covid denial, so you can just take it and shove it right back up your ass where it came from.
It isn’t even slightly close to COVID denial. You are overreacting, I’m sorry, but that’s the reality.
you’re right, i’m sorry. it’s just downplaying a deadly and ongoing virus and dismissing the most effective method of protection against it as not necessary.
don’t talk to me, you’re disgusting.
To the best of my knowledge there is no meaningful surveillance in the USA or EU. Some places are still doing wastewater testing but it’s difficult to make solid determinations from wastewater.
This is an article about the UK. I don’t have a strong understanding of what the situation is like anywhere else, but in the UK, the numbers are quite low.
Is there still surveillance in the UK? Afaik Wales is still doing wastewater testing, but I’m not aware of any other systematic surveillance being conducted now.
in England, yeah, there is - it’s not as good as it once was and it’s getting dialled back more and more, but we still have some reporting & surveillance - you can see the dashboard here.
If I’m reading that right they did 30k tests and got 6k positives, about 17%. I would consider that enough infection going around to be very concerned. Am I misunderstanding those numbers?
Well, most people wouldn’t get tested unless they have a reason to, e.g. displaying symptoms, so that skews the numbers significantly - there’s no broad testing happening anymore, really. Number of infections per 100k population is a more interesting metric - I was curious and put together a line graph of that over the last 12 months.
I think the little uptick that we’re seeing recently, is just seemingly part of the pattern of steadily reducing number of cases - there’s a little bump, followed by a drop. I’m not sure what causes the pattern, though.
Anyways, the more in-depth reports have lots of information, one I think is particularly interesting is for google trends in COVID symptoms - that hasn’t really increased recently. In general, cases, hospitalisations, deaths, and positivity (i.e. the number of tests coming back as positive) are significantly lower now than they were.