Annoying to start a thread discussing covid again but it looks like we're facing a very intense wave of infections over the next couple of weeks. If you believe some of the comments around doubling time of Omicron cases you would theoretically end up with around half the population infected over the next 10 days or so. I'm sure boosters and natural immunity will blunt the spread somewhat but would be interested in views on how it may affect the season. Will it be a relatively quick wave due to the transmissability or will it drag on? What will the situation be come the 10th February and the season start? Will the stadiums be closed/are we in for more postponements and uncertainty?

Rugby league matters little when compared to public health of course but it is concerning to think about further financial strain on the sport. Stay safe regardless.

I think it a bit too early to speculate. Omicron will continue to spread like wildfire but we won’t know how deadly it will be until a few weeks have passed. The start of the season is eight weeks away so there is still hope.

Am I right in thinking that outdoor gatherings over a certain number now require Covid passes? If so, our crowds are already going to be hit even under these relatively light constraints.

Seems to me that all we can do is expect the worst ... and maybe we'll be pleasantly surprised.

On the upside, for example, reports from South Africa suggest that Omicron, while very infectious, is mostly mild. If so, that might lead to more stringent restraints being prevented. But before anything like that, we need to get through the 'time-lag' between infection and hospitalisation/death etc ... and it appears to be anyone's guess how long that's going to be.

Covid passes for crowds over 10k. I would hope that if they do end up putting restrictions on stadiums then they'll do it by percentage of capacity rather than an arbitrary figure.

From what I can tell from estimates of the doubling times of now cases, there could end up being a peak by around Christmas. The latest is they're estimating 300-400k Omicron cases today - double that every couple of days and you theoretically end up with more than half the population being exposed to it in a week. Boosters and any new restrictions might change things a little but all pointing to a short but very intense wave for the NHS.

Im double jabbed caught covid .Symptoms started monday. All i can say is so glad im fully jabbed. Feel bloody awfull. Shivers headache runny nose cough absolutley no sense of taste and smell! Stay safe The Cherry and White Army!!

I have had all 3 jabs but i am really none the wiser as to what the next step is,i took a 1 season holiday from my season ticket and have bought it for this season but I'm really not sure whether i will be attending with this latest outbreak

It’s certainly a worry and you just have to hope they can get a grip of it by the start of the season. The owners/directors of clubs will say it’s impossible financially but we surely should’ve been looking to do away with loop fixtures and going with a 23 game season. We could’ve pushed the season back then or started in Feb and leave a couple of weekends free to juggle things around.

To say how skint all the clubs are meant to be, they’ve not done a bad job of spending money on new players.

The way the virus is spreading around the premier league football clubs is a worry as it could be an indication of what could happen in RL - the one saving grace is that the season doesn't start for quite a while and it might have burned itself out a bit by then.

What might be a sensible precauiton might be for the game to put back pre-season a bit or for the clubs to run pre-season sessions in smaller bubbles to try and limit the potential spread around the players. A big unknown is the vaccination status players as it is emerging that a fair number of footballers have not been vaccinated which is not a good situation.

In the same boat, but I was planning to get my season ticket on Monday. Might give it a bit longer

I’m double jabbed but declining the booster. I honestly don’t see why we’re having to go through this rigmarole again. COVID19 is going nowhere, what do we do? Restrictions everytime a new variant comes around? Which it will repeatedly.

I’m no conspirator or anti vax, I’ve had all my inoculations and the vaccine, but they went on about a low uptake in the booster jab and now suddenly there’s a wave of infections and vaccine passports despite saying they wouldn’t be brought in, have been brought in?

Throw in the complete disregard this mob have for their own laws, how little they think of is common people and now they lie like it’s going out of fashion is it little wonder there’s such disdain for these corrupt clowns in No10? And therefore anything they say COVID wise? Why anyone follows what these clowns are saying anymore is beyond me.

Me and my family are fully vaxed, mainly for the reason that we love to travel. Whilst it does feel a bit like last Christmas with things changing on a daily basis (announcements.. Etc) we are pretty much open and free to do whatever we want as yet.

We went to Empire cinema last night watching Spiderman and it was absolutely packed, possibly the first time I've been somewhere with so many people in such a small space indoors. Walked in and out masked up but watched the film without (it was cold as air con was being blasted). A little apprehensive at first but then that went away pretty quickly.

We simply have to try and live our lives as normal as possible as Covid is here to stay for a few years at least and we need to live with it.

I know these things change daily, but Whitty said this morning that he was optimistic we'd see the peak just around or after Christmas, and that he was expecting a rapid decline in infections afterwards. He explained this with booster numbers, immunities and people taking precautions etc. Couple that with the supposed mildness of the strain, and it might not all be bad news.

Im currently suffering from covid after being fully vaccinated. Wouldnt wish covid on anyone.Even with being double jabbed i have felt awfull. No taste or smell at all. Was just going to get my booster before i caught it bit now have to wait 28 days. Imo get all jabs offered to you!!

Don’t know if anyone remembers the film they played on the big screen at the first match back at the DW….I was struck at the number of fans who’d lost their lives to Covid.
I know we are in a difference space now, what with the vaccine programme. But our attitude of being blasé about having 25k+ cases for so long has been wrong, scientist were warning at the time this was the petri dish for mutations.
Anyway its now a numbers game with x% of those that get covid needing hospitalisation, even if they don’t die, the NHS may be overwhelmed.
What happened to the ‘Nightingale’ hospitals? Surely it time to get them ready again?

I don’t think the ‘I’m bored with all this…..pretend it isn’t happening’ policy is the right one. Its seems the Government is ting its pants and realising itself….
Have a good, safe Christmas. Choose to take precautions, or cross your fingers….whatever method you’ve chosen.

My Christmas wish is that it doesn’t impact too much on the new season.

per FT...
[urlhttps://www.ft.com/content/d69a0a68-d5ac-4ac3-98ac-1bbceec513b6[/url

"Health secretary Sajid Javid sent shockwaves through parliament on Monday when he revealed that an estimated 200,000 people in the UK had been infected with the Omicron coronavirus variant that day.

If Omicron infections continue to double every 2.5 days, as current estimates suggest, there will be a million people infected this coming Sunday alone."

Million infections on Sunday and another 6 days to Christmas.....it's beginning to look a lot like...... a dystopian horror film

All 4 of us here have it. Me and my sone are out of isolation on Christmas Eve and my wife and daughter are out of isolation on Christmas Day. we were cutting it fine.
None of us have been really bad at all. I've had worse colds.

I’ve also had COVID and it wasn’t pleasant but neither was actual flu when I had that. In fact I’d argue the flu was far, far worse. I appreciate though that that is subjective. Sincerely hope you feel better soon pal.

My issue here is that a week or so ago the newspapers had headlines like “100,000 could die from Omicron”. There’s been 1 death. Now as sad as that is and I’m not wishing to dumb down the impact that’ll have on all who knew that person, it’s 1 death. There’s 15 hospitalisations from Omicron - how many is there year in year with flu? I almost sound like a conspirator here and trust me that’s not what I am but seriously what are we panicking about? It’s all ‘ifs, coulds, mights’ when the facts are clear; omicron is mild, hasn’t caused a surge in hospitalisations or killed nearly as many as the media scare mongered people into believing it had.

Couldn't agree more tbh.

1 death so far is irrelevant. They’ve already said it takes a while for the deaths to show because it takes longer for serious illness to develop and then the unfortunate happen. Same with hospitalisation but to a lesser extent.

You need to educate yourself a bit more.

Will come back to this post in a few weeks and ask if you admit you were wrong.

Spot on. Same as you, double jabbed but aint getting the booster. Can't be that bad ifnthe powers that be are having parties whilst we can't have parents round for Christmas dinner. Seems funny the peak day of infections will land on Christmad day, just in time eh? So people will either be scared into getting the booster or not seeing people. Well the Gov and covid and fork right off.

I'm hoping the club don't bring in the vaccine passports, this will all blow over by the seasons start.

My husband had Covid a few weeks back,rough for a couple of days and it did seem to take him awhile for it to fully go but he said the same thing he got dose of flu a couple of Christmas ago and he said that was far worse than Covid,but everyone is different of course

200,000 with omicron, but only 10 in hospital with it and 1 death. Look at the odds and stats, forget what the government say and make your own mind up. In the Delta wave out of 1000 people with it 100 needed hospital treatment, with Omicron out of 1000 with it 38 need hospital treatment, and not ICU treatment just oxygen. Over the years of doing medical gasses for Lancashire Teaching Hospitals where we had wards with flu every year its similar to that yet we carried on, albeit with infection control procedures in those wards with flu.

Either way, whilst everyone stops going out, stops seeing friends or relatives (who they may never see again due to death from illness or suicide) and lives miserable lonely scared lives the people that are making these rules and spreading the fear will be partying, socialising, eating out and laughing at you.

Have you been told of its Delta or Omicron? Do they give you that information?

Whilst I can understand people ignoring rules and citing all these Tory rule breaks as reasons but what logical reason can you give for not getting the booster?

The evidence is right in front of you.

Note - any reference to severity of Omicron is premature. We’ve been told countless times it takes a while for hospital figures and deaths to come through in the numbers.

There are a few people in this thread who are clearly picking and choosing which information they do and don’t want to absorb. Very worrying.