How can we tell the UK/local prevalence of Covid these days?

I'm still shielding from Covid, 3+ years on.

I'm wondering if there are any valid, regularly updated estimates of prevalence in the UK now that the ONS survey has stopped (?).

 

They are still updating the data at https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/

I'm not sure how complete it is, of course.

The Zoe study is also still updating (here: https://health-study.joinzoe.com/data)

 

What I'm getting from that is that we have no clue!

 

I agree that the sewage testing is the best indicator but I'm not sure what it's indicating. As a person who is shielding, I'd like to know the odds of meeting in the street a person who has Covid, and sewage testing doesn't tell me that. I don't see how I will ever know if it's safe to meet people at close quarters, or to ever go into a shop. I've only been into hospitals and my GP surgery in the last three and a half years.

 

It must be so incredibly hard to shield for that long, I really feel for you.

I eventually gave up the precautions, because I got to the stage of wondering whether getting Covid was likely to be worse than spending over two years working as hard as I was at not getting it. I'm only moderately affected by ME and I came to the conclusion that for me, there's a good enough chance that it wouldn't be. I'm now just making sure I take every jab I'm offered and hoping for the best.

I've been offered treatment if I get it, though I'm not sure about taking antivirals. But to be honest I don't think it'll be very long before even this programme, where at-risk people are offered ongoing access to tests and treatment if they get a positive, quietly disappears too. It's very worrying that (apart from the enquiry) Covid seems to have dropped off the government's agenda altogether.