free lateral flow tests could end in weeks.

Covid will become endemic, but we need to remember a few important things.
One, it's not just humans who carry it so we will never be able to wipe it out.
Two, it doesn't matter how well vaccinated we are if great swathes of the world remain unvaccinated and a breeding ground for new variants.
Because of the above, we'll have to accept that non-medical preventative measures, such as masking and regular, routine testing, will be necessary to control the virus going forward.
Yes, we have vaccines and boosters and will be getting better remedies alongside the current monoclonal treatments and such, but it is the pandemic in the rest of the world that will impact us.
It's all well and good saying we have to learn to live with it, but we have to accept some restrictions and measures to be in place until we get a global grip on it.
The general tone of a lot of posts on here seems to reflect a very insular outlook, if not an outright selfish one.
 
But your missing the one additional thing you need . Money, you can't close the economy or restrict it, and then have the funding available to control this. Send surplus vaccines abroad, but we must keep the economy going, and by that I mean gdp must increase past pre pandemic levels and stay there
 
Where did I suggest closing the economy?
I've lost count of the number of times I've been washing my hands at work and people have left stalls or urinals and walked straight out.
I'm sure we can all provide anecdotal evidence of similar, even after 2 years of hand, face, space being messaged to us all.
Add in the reluctance to wear masks either totally or effectively and we are approaching the same sort of conditions that used to see colds and flu rife within our workplaces.
Again, we all have anecdotal evidence of people just 'popping into' places and not wearing a mask.
If you want a working economy then you have to have a fit and able workforce to operate it, one that is doing simple things to stay healthy both inside and outside work.
There are too many people who think we are out of the pandemic and far too many who can't grasp that we will need to change our habits a bit going forward.
 
dooderooni said:
Where did I suggest closing the economy?
I've lost count of the number of times I've been washing my hands at work and people have left stalls or urinals and walked straight out.
I'm sure we can all provide anecdotal evidence of similar, even after 2 years of hand, face, space being messaged to us all.
Add in the reluctance to wear masks either totally or effectively and we are approaching the same sort of conditions that used to see colds and flu rife within our workplaces.
Again, we all have anecdotal evidence of people just 'popping into' places and not wearing a mask.
If you want a working economy then you have to have a fit and able workforce to operate it, one that is doing simple things to stay healthy both inside and outside work.
There are too many people who think we are out of the pandemic and far too many who can't grasp that we will need to change our habits a bit going forward.
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Look i agree that basic hygiene, mask wearing , vaccination, are useful measures. But at this point, further measures are costing too much and do little to stem infection. Playing devils advocate and based on the theory of roughly 1 pandemic per half century I realise this is highly unlikely but I'll still ask. Say we have another pandemic, and one like ebola that kills roughly 30% of the people it infects, so we're talking terrible outcomes for a third of infections. What would we do? We have spent so much on this pandemic, that any serious situations that require large sums of money will be a major issue as money just won't be there. Now those sums were needed for a long time and neccesary, but we are now in a position where I believe it makes more sense to re coup some of that spend, so that we can deal with up coming issues such as the impending fuel crisis, which will kill a lot of old people who cant afford to pay a 50% increase in their heating bills. I know its isn't "over" but it is at a point where we need to think about what may be more serious, fuel poverty or billions of lateral flow tests, like it or not we don't have the money for both. Ask a family without many resouces if £570 towards tests or £570 towards heating next year is more useful and I think you will be surprised at the answer, and those people are not selfish and uncaring, they are poor and can't afford heat, like it or not we don't have the money to fund this!!
 
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