Fortunately, we have LFTs/RATs available easily here... order online from the NHS and get them delivered to your door 24-48 hours later (if not sooner), and all for free. And there is even stalls in the street where you can just pick them up - I got 2 packs of seven from the train station on Monday. (It angers me, though, that the UK government are toying with the idea of scrapping free testing altogether, as if their fat cat contracts are not already enriching them and their cronies anyway...)
That said, I'm very uncomfortable about the way things are headed with long COVID and infections among the young - HUGE numbers of young people are getting infected now and hospitalisations among children and babies are rising... although proportionally they are still far lower than other age groups, the idea that we know much (or indeed anything at all) about the long term implications of childhood SARS-CoV-2 infections is a complete fantasy, and yet it is something that so many so-called experts and loudmouth nutjobs all over the world seem to know SO much more about than the entire scientific community... and, alas, many governments including the UK seem delighted to take the chance that infections amongst children are effectively meaningless - even though the evidence is growing that this is far from the truth.
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On a separate note, my friend has still not returned from her Xmas holidays as her boyfriend's brother is critically ill with COVID right now. I don't know how old he is, but he must be mid to late 20's/early 30's, but has been in ICU for several days. So much for "mild".
