Coronavirus (COVID-19)

[Katharine]

With Covid now, I think the most important figures are those of people in hospital because of Covid, and they seem to be reasonably low at the moment. I'd be interested to know how they compare with figures for people who would usually be in hospital with other respiratory conditions.

I know a fair number of people who have had Covid within the last month or so, and they've all said that they've had worse colds/flu in the past, although Covid does seem to present a slightly different set of symptoms to a 'normal' cold, I think fatigue seems to be a common factor. If this is to be the future of Covid, then I don't think there's any point in having restrictions. Although I hope people carry on with sensible behaviour when visiting vulnerable people, ie not going into care homes if feeling unwell, which I think is common sense anyway.

I would imagine that the plastic screens that many shops and businesses have put up to protect their staff are here to stay, which makes sense to protect people from airborne germs in general, and also in what appears to be an ever increasing violent society, from physical harm.

I am still wearing a mask when shopping, although I'd say it's probably getting to be a 50/50 split as to whether other people are wearing them. In general it appears to be younger people who don't have them on.

John, I hope Enid has a lovely birthday - lovely to hear that you are able to see your family after such a long wait.

[Wolfgang]

As long as the majority of people will boost, I don't think the numbers of hospitalisations will rise, but if they grow tired of it the numbers will rise again. The vaccination won't prevent you from getting it, but it will reduce the risk of having to be treated in hospital. So yes, I don't see any chance of getting rid of it, but we'll have to live and deal with it.
I'm afraid that Lauterbach, the German minister for health, is right - despite all his administrative flaws - that there'll be restrictions quite soon again.

[Anita Bensoussane]

I agree that the most important Covid figures are the hospitalisations - and deaths - though the figures would be of more use if we knew the percentage who were admitted to hospital or died solely because of Covid.

Have a lovely time with your daughter and grandchildren, John (Boatbuilder)!

[Katharine]

I agree that the most important Covid figures are the hospitalisations - and deaths - though the figures would be of more use if we knew the percentage who were admitted to hospital or died solely because of Covid.

Oops, yes, of course deaths because of Covid are obviously a very important figure to be monitored when considering any restrictions.

I wonder if if years to come there will also be information about less obvious victims of Covid? For example, how many small businesses failed, and did their owners manage to find alternative employment, or did their health (physical and/or mental) suffer? Did people lose their homes and/or family relationships because of the impact of Covid, whether that's the stress of home schooling/working from home/loss of income etc.

Were there any positives? I know some people who found the daily commute into the office draining, and are now loving the new hybrid working that they feel gives them a better work/life balance, although of course the downside of that is that many town centres have suffered from the lack of office staff popping out at lunch times to pick up a few items from the shops or grab a spot of lunch.

Has the community spirit that seemed to appear in the early days, with people shopping for elderly neighbours, and appreciating the beauty of local areas continued? From comments I see on social media etc., it seems that the majority of people can't wait to ditch 'boring old Britain' and get back to 'proper' holidays abroad - so any improvement in pollution due to the lack of planes taking off seems to be short lived. Although I appreciate that the resumption of holiday flights etc is good news for those people who work in that industry.

[Boodi 2]

On the downside of the Covid restrictions, I never used the voucher for a six-course meal for four people in an Indian restaurant in Stuttgart that our son and his girlfriend gave me for my birthday in October and it was due to expire on 17th. of this month (Easter Sunday). Hence despite my pandemic-induced fear of "eating out", our son booked a table for 19h00 on Thursday evening as the voucher was not valid on weekends and he is due back in Munich next week. I need not have worried about being in a crowded place as we were the only guests and the atmosphere was rather dead, especially as the waiter was not very talkative. However, we later spoke to the manager (or owner), an elderly Indian gentleman with a large turban and my husband asked him if it was always this quiet and he said it has been like that since the start of the pandemic, adding that if it continues he will go out of business, as at present he is making a huge loss by keeping the restaurant open. We have no great desire to return to that restaurant in the event that it does remain open. As we had more than enough food in four out of the six courses (the first and last course were smaller), there was so much left over that we asked if we could take it home and the waiter provided us with special containers, of which my son's girlfriend filled two, while I filled one (the contents of which we heated up for lunch yesterday!) and even at that there was still food left over. A disappointment for me was that there was not much choice as the voucher that they gave me was based on a set/fixed menu with few alternatives and the rather silent waiter did not really make clear what we would be having, thus each course was to some extent a surprise!

[Hannah]

I hope anyone here who just has Covid recovers soon and fully.

Within in the last two month many people I know caught Covid. Some just felt a ill for a few days but others say that they never felt so sick before. And some are still only able to work part-time (or in one case not to work at all) several weeks after the infection.

I think it is very difficult to decide how to count Covid deaths. There will be obvious cases where it is clear that Covid was the reason - or not. But what about people with pre-existing conditions who probably wouldn't have died at that point in time without the infection? Maybe someone with cancer? Or people who need urgent surgery during or shortly after the infection? Research starts to show that for some weeks after the infection you have a higher risk for complications during surgery.

And there's another group that isn't counted: Those who die (or at least get a worse prognosis which will make them die earlier than "necessary" some time later) because their surgery gets postponed again and again. That's still the case in Germany due to patients with Covid (which means a lot of work because of isolating - no matter if they are there "with" or "because of" Covid) and staff shortages. I'm relieved that my father was ill with cancer before the pandemic so he could have the operation at the optimal time and without the risk of catching Covid in hospital while being especially vulnerable.

I'll continue to try to avoid an infection at the time being. We're back to "normal" at my university without even a mask mandate. So I'm giving my lectures with an FFP3-mask as I agree with my doctors that catching Covid should be avoided. I already have several of the symptoms that can show up with Longcovid (since long before the pandemic started) and if they get only a bit worse I probably wouldn't be able to work anymore.

I'm putting my hope into research. There's some promising research regarding better vaccines that might be able to prevent infection altogether. And there's research regarding the treatment of acute illness and Longcovid which hopefully will bring results in the not too far future.

It is a difficult situation for many businesses of course. But as long as there are many cases many people will be careful and not go indoor dining etc. even if it is allowed without any restrictions.

Official numbers are going down in Germany but it gets more and more difficult to get a PCR (only PCR-confirmed cases are counted). Once a week they publish the percentage of positive PCR tests. It's over 50% now which means that probably many cases aren't making it into the statistics.

[Boatbuilder]

I took my wife, Enid, for her fourth jab (2nd booster) this afternoon. Unfortunately I can't have mine until late June when I'm 75 which, to me, seems a bit stupid as Enid is classed as 'clinically extremely vulnerable' and I am her 24/7 sole carer.

[Machupicchu14]

After two years of taking precautions and now that I had come for holidays to Peru after 6 years I tested positive for Covid today Apart from feeling quite bad and feverish I am truly annoyed that I'll have to remain inside the hotel for a whole week, thus leaving the remaining time I have here in Peru at less than two weeks. But I guess that's life and we have to face it as it comes. The important thing is following the rules and hoping I haven't spread the virus to other people, especially given the fact I've been close to my grandparents these past few days

[Bertie]

Boatbuilder, I've only just seen your post from April - we're currently having similar issues with my mum.

She's been housebound for the last 3 years, and has only left the house in that time for hospital visits. She turned 75 in very early June but trying to get our doctors in the village to come out to give her booster at home has been a nightmare. Her health makes her definitely in the vulnerable group, and leaves her housebound -
but they've just repeatedly said if she can't make it to the surgery to have it then she'll have to wait until they do the home visits at some point in July. So making a vulnerable category patient wait many weeks after she was due the booster just because she's too ill and housebound to be able to go to the surgery.

Finally they've contacted to say it'll be this Friday - 5 weeks after she could have had it - but that's the one day she has an important hospital appointment and an ambulance is picking her up at 11 and she won't be back for hours. We've explained, and asked can they arrive with the booster early on Friday so she doesn't miss out having waited so long already - but they've just said they can't guarantee that and if she's gone when they arrive she'll 'just' have to wait until the next round of home visits, which will probably be August at the earliest!

It's madness that a vulnerable and housebound patient, who should be amongst the very first to get the booster, is being made to wait so long.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Sorry part of your holiday is being spoilt by Covid, María Esther. I hope you won't be too ill with it and that your grandparents manage to avoid it. When I caught it I'd just spent a few days in the company of friends and relatives, some of whom were in their seventies, but thankfully none of them went down with it.

I hope all the over-75s get their fourth jabs soon. I've had four jabs because of being on an immunosuppressant medicine, which I'm glad about as I work in a large workplace.

[Boatbuilder]

Bertie, that must be so frustrating having been given a date for the booster, only to find it clashes with another appointment on the same day. Let's hope they do turn up early before her hospital transport arrives.

I'm grateful that at the time I was able to take Enid for hers. I did get my own appointment a couple of weeks before my 75th birthday, which surprised me somewhat. In fact I received a text message from our surgery in mid-May inviting me to make an appointment and was able to get it for the 8th June - my birthday was the 25th.

Sorry to hear about your Covid, Maria-Esther. I hope you make a full recovery fast. Take care.

[Fiona1986]

Covid finally caught me a few weeks ago. I'm very glad I was fully vaccinated as I felt pretty rough - but no doubt it would have been worse if I wasn't.

[Boodi 2]

Same here Fiona! My husband and I finally became infected about three weeks ago and while I recovered fairly quickly my husband was quite ill and is only due to return to work today. There seems to be a huge number of infections at present, especially among people like ourselves who escaped it up to now.

[Lenoir]

All restrictions were removed a few weeks ago here. It felt odd not to be going out with a mask on at first.
I hope there is no sudden increase in infections It has been much better for some time.
This time last year I was in bed with it and glad not to be in hospital, as they were busy at the time. Like most people, it took months to recover from the after effects of it, but the worst "flu like" part lasted about 2 weeks.

[IceMaiden]

My friend whom I work with has got covid last week so as I can't go to to my workplace I'm on a sudden unexpected holiday! I was with her when she started feeling bad and did a test so just hoping I haven't caught it as well. So far, I feel fine and have no symptoms. I'm using my free time to catch up on old journal issues !