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@1goodtern We had students flying in from Wuhan to the University in December 2019 and our whole office (except maybe 2 people who managed to avoid it) then got very sick with the "flu" that winter holiday - certainly the worst flu I ever had. Who knows??

A quick thread about the 'horrible illness' that a load of people have described having in late 2019/early 2020...

@Nicole_Lee_Sch Ex-colleague told us in a meeting that her 8 -year-old daughter had been sick EVERY MONTH over the last year. Mum didn't seem too bothered and said the doctor kept dosing her up with antibiotics each time and she sent her back to school. Is this the new normal?

It is wild to me that there are walking pneumonia outbreaks and people are getting sick multiple times a year and still going "this is normal." Like pls keep a diary. Put a sticker on the calendar every day youre unwell. Learn to recognize a pattern.

@LauraMiers In what other profession would we accept a so-called (and highly paid) "expert" or specialist who completely ignores recent research in their field, to the detriment of their clients? It's like having a lawyer who lands you in prison because they hadn't bothered to read the law.

Today is the neurology appointment I’ve been waiting for since Covid ate my brain in early 2020. It has taken doctors almost 5 years to acknowledge my neurological complications. I’ve been hearing these last few Covid waves have led to a dramatic increase in complications, & wait lists for specialists & LC clinics are dramatically increasing. I’ve been doing this since 2020, so I know to keep my expectations low, & to expect nothing. Good luck & Godspeed folks.

@Conservatives @KemiBadenoch 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

ANNOUNCED: @KemiBadenoch has been elected Leader of the Conservative Party

@1goodtern It's literally become "the virus which must not be named" - the Voldemort of viruses.

It's just amazing that we've now reached the stage of terminal non-curiosity that people will accept 'illness outbreak' as a suitable explanation for the closure of a whole school district. Check out this quote...

@broadwaybabyto Interestingly, here in the UK, people who were originally diagnosed with Long COVID are now having their diagnoses changed to things like "chronic fatigue". It's a handy way to hide the fact that COVID caused the problems in the first place.

Them. “I don’t know anyone with Long Covid!” Me: “Didn’t you say you’ve been feeling unwell & having a lot of Dr appointments?” Them: “Yeah but my doctor says it’s just my heart and stress. I’m tachycardic, fatigued, high BP & new allergies! But it’s not Long Covid!” 🤦‍♀️

@brownecfm The other interesting situation is: Person: Describes what sounds like COVID symptoms and how sick they feel. Me: Have you tested? Person (suddenly very angry and defensive): No, it's not COVID. Me: How do you know if you haven't tested? Person: Because it won't be COVID!!

This perfectly describes a phenomenon I've been talking about for quite some time now, namely, that if Covid was truly normalised in society, people would readily say its name. The widespread use of euphemisms for the disease demonstrates that quite the opposite is the case.

@KristieDeGaris Had the COVID vaccine recently and sat in a waiting room opposite massive wall display of NHS posters warning you what you might catch this winter - RSV, flu, whooping cough - about 20 posters. ANY mention of COVID? Of course not. The omission is becoming dystopian.

@brownecfm Had the COVID vaccine recently and sat in a waiting room opposite massive wall display of NHS posters warning you what you might catch this winter - RSV, flu, whooping cough - about 20 posters. ANY mention of COVID? Of course not. The omission is becoming dystopian.

@Haggis_UK Frost: "Which comes off worse, Rachel Reeves or Liz Truss's budget?" Davies: "Rachel Reeves'". Frost: Gives some actual facts about both budgets. "So you still think Rachel Reeves' comes off worse?" Davies: "That's not what I said." You literally just did!! 👆👆👆👆👆

Wilfred Frost: Who comes off worse if you compare Liz Truss' mini-budget & Rachel Reeves budget? Gareth Davies(Tory MP): "I think Rachel Reeves comes off worse.." 👀 Wilfred Frost: Sorry... #KayBurley

@Sheep_in_fog I've also noticed that some senior managers are putting in Annual Leave days for days when they were actually off sick, which I don't think happened that much before and will mask the overall sickness figures. I'm not sure where the pressure to do this is coming from, though.

@Sheep_in_fog Pre-2020, if you were absent from work due to sickness more than 3 times in a 6-month period, HR would get involved. Now they don't pursue this at all (as they'd be talking to the vast majority of the workforce all the time).

@1goodtern What did he reply to this? Did he accept, by his logic, that he must have had multiple asymptomatic COVID infections?

"Oh, so you think you've actually had it about another seven or eight other times?" I said innocently.

I had a chat recently with someone (a medical professional) who couldn't believe that I hadn't had Covid. He said that I must have had it. He said that two thirds of cases are asymptomatic.

@bmay He's one step away from "They're EATING their PETS."

Sorry I don’t understand this at all. Pensioners have woken up with illegal migrants in their bedrooms? Evidence please, this is huge if true.* *It won’t be.

@AdamBienkov google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbc.…

Oh

@a_lil_bow I'm SO TIRED of work colleagues who go on and on now about how they're constantly sick, fatigued, have a cough but if you even mention COVID, they shut you down and say it's a "mild cold". Major cross-organisation meetings cancelled every week due to "sickness". Not before 2020!

Meetings at my work be like Me: 😷 Everyone: “back during covid when we wore masks….” *slight glances in my direction* 👀👀👀 Me: 😷

@wesstreeting Take. COVID. Seriously.

Thank you for your contributions to change.nhs.uk. Your suggestions are already being turned into memes. No, we won’t be taking up the suggestion that I’m fired out of a cannon, but the brilliant ideas and experiences being shared make the memes worthwhile.

@drseanmullen I think that "Long COVID" is another very problematic term. It suggests just someone who has acute COVID for longer than normal, when it is, in fact, SARS-2 damage, which appears to be permanent (according to recent heart studies).

The name "Covid" was chosen to downplay the fact that this virus is actually a betacoronavirus, related to the SARS outbreak that hit China and Canada hard in 2003 (SARS-CoV-1). SARS-CoV-2 is even more dangerous, but branding it as "Covid" diverted attention from the need for a stronger public health response. What we need is to educate people. Period.

@SteveTheBookGuy It's mad. Faced with 100s of studies showing COVID damage, the minimisers say that it's all made up because not EVERYONE is dead or disabled. By that logic, presumably they don't believe cancer is a real thing either?

If the minimisers were right, we wouldn't be in year 5 of this. They have no arguments worth listening to anymore, not that they ever did as evidenced by the reality we're in.

@LBC @wesstreeting @ShelaghFogarty Ask him what his stance is on COVID. Does he think it is a threat or just a "mild cold" that nobody needs to worry about?

Tomorrow, Health Secretary @wesstreeting joins @ShelaghFogarty to take your calls. Got a question, submit it below ⬇️