Relaxation of Restrictions, Part XII *Read OP For Mod Warnings*

Any inkling as to how he caught it? If he caught it off you (or off anybody else he was meant to be spending Christmas with) ye might as well all spend an infected Christmas together.

Get some antigens done for yourselves maybe, anybody else who tests positive should be safe to join him

The alternative is join him for Christmas dinner regardless and isolate for 10 days afterwards as a presumed close contact

Yeah, that was based on those who had already been infected by another strain who subsequently became infected with omicron. As you say, not yet peer reviewed and I would assume that that becoming infected with omicron would give some protection from further infection from omicron. Still, not good news for those who assumed that by getting infected by one strain would provide immunity against new strains. If that report does prove to be correct it shows little or no protection from this strain due to being previously infected.

Yeah and yet the boosters, which are vaccines based on the first known variant, provide a good protection from omicron

Not bad for a vaccine that was not designed to combat delta let alone omicron. It doesn`t add too the argument of those that say they are useless.

They do report them though?

I hope not. And I’m pretty sure outdoor transmission is pretty impossible based on that study that came out during the summer.

I mean to the letter of the law nobody should be meeting up with infected family members on Christmas day, I fully accept that

I also fully accept that if an elderly member of my family came down with it today I'd certainly offer to be there for him or her on Christmas Day and I'd be perfectly happy to spend the suggested 10 days in isolation so the spread would not go any further! Furthermore if I was infected already what's the point in avoiding an infected person?

I'm not an idiot who will willingly go off and spread the virus, nor am I somebody who assumes I'll get a mild cold from it but I'll make such a weighted decision on balance

This guy and John Burn-Murdoch on Twitter are brilliant if you’re looking for detailed analysis. It seems that more time is needed to see what happens with Delta - Co-existence or displacement.

Spend Christmas with your dad. Might have to pause for thought if you were infected and he wasn’t. Presumably you have no severe underlying conditions.

For me is absolutely crazy that perfectly healthy vaccinated people need to get tested to meet perfectly healthy vaccinated relatives just in case they could transmit a cold... The new normal they call it...

If, as it looks from early data, it transpires omicron isn't the big bad variant Nphet claim it is, I suspect there will be many people who will be looking back on their behaviour over Christmas 2021 with bewilderment and wondering what they were actually thinking/doing.

What are we doing here? It’s madness. Protect the health system so beds are available for the sick and vulnerable - all for it but this is an example of the cure being worse than the disease;

If someone at end of life in one of four counties needs palliative care they will die at home without the resources to ease their passing, or die in hospital with no option to go home.

We’ve gone badly wrong.