All restrictions to end this month?

[ElleGB]

Just saw this on breaking news.

That’s it - no more restrictions. Everything back to normal.

I’m not sure how I feel about it.

@TulipsGarden

Christ, what on earth is he trying to distract us from this time?

There’s another party pic - a boozy xmas quiz - out today!

Madness! We are doing IVF and if we get covid it gets cancelled and we still have to pay. Plus I’m vulnerable. So not even any supermarket trips now then, great

@Stripyhoglets1

Oh and he's only doing this so he can lie and say England is the first country to get through the pandemic - because isn't boris wonderful!

Well, I do think he's doing this to deflect, but Denmark have already dropped all restrictions.

@Stripyhoglets1

Oh and he's only doing this so he can lie and say England is the first country to get through the pandemic - because isn't boris wonderful!

But we'd all know it was a lie because we all know Denmark got there first.

It's time though.

Expected but nevertheless very pleased.
I know several people with heart, lung, conditions, people having chemo, in remission, two young people with very complex health needs etc who have had COVID and similarly others that are just getting on with life so not sure who people mean anymore by 'vulnerable'.

@user1497207191

1. Nothing to stop people continuing to take their own precautions if they're worried/vulnerable.

1. Has no effect on what restrictions other countries may wish to keep/impose on UK residents wishing to travel to their country.

Er...

How can the most vulnerable people 'take precautions' against that fact that Covid positive people might be right next to them on the bus, in the supermarket...?

@Phrenologistsfinger

Madness! We are doing IVF and if we get covid it gets cancelled and we still have to pay. Plus I’m vulnerable. So not even any supermarket trips now then, great

That seems harsh making you pay. Wishing you well with your ivf.

@sweetgingercat

This is much too soon. It really puts vulnerable people, hospital workers, care workers and teachers in the shittiest position.

And it will not help when the next variant emerges.

It doesn't take much to wear a mask. Why are people so selfish?

Agree wholeheartedly with this.

He's thrown the most vulnerable (those who needed four jabs) under a bus.

@Enzbear

Expected but nevertheless very pleased. I know several people with heart, lung, conditions, people having chemo, in remission, two young people with very complex health needs etc who have had COVID and similarly others that are just getting on with life so not sure who people mean anymore by 'vulnerable'.

@Enzbear - yes, I know plenty of elderly people with underlying conditions who before vaccine would have been classed as vulnerable but are no longer as a result of having had said vaccine. Most of these individuals have shaken Covid off pretty easily.

@edwinbear

Does it mean that if you test positive you can just go out and about, shopping, cinema, cafes etc., as if you didn't have it?

Yes, I expect so, much like you could if you have a cold, or a tummy bug, or chickenpox.

Do tummy bugs and colds kill 300 a day?

@hopeishere

England only though! Pity those in the nations!!

With leaders who care about their people you mean? There are still hundreds dying every day, but you know let's crack on. And before anyone mentions all the other illnesses that can kill. The single most important thing we could do for the NHS would be to drive COVID cases down as far as we can so that the NHS can properly focus on everything else.

@LazySaturday

Do you think that'll include an end to regular testing in workplaces and daily reporting of figures? I hope so, I think a lot of "cases" will disappear if we stop focussing on them.

@Tippexy

Er...How can the most vulnerable people 'take precautions' against that fact that Covid positive people might be right next to them on the bus, in the supermarket...?

It's up to them. They can do online shopping, go shopping at quieter times, use different transport modes, etc. We can't cripple the economy and ruin everyone else's lives for ever can we?

And I say that as someone who is vulnerable myself, with a husband who is ECV due to incurable cancer on permanent chemotherapy making him immunocompromised. There's nothing we'd love more than for everyone to stay away from us, wear masks around us, etc., but we know that's not realistic any longer.

We're just keeping ourselves as safe as we can, by minimising what we do, where we go, and avoiding anywhere that's busy/cramped and being fully jabbed. At the end of the day, it's down to us to keep ourselves as safe as possible and we don't expect everyone around us to take precautions to keep us safe.

@luckylavender

The single most important thing we could do for the NHS would be to drive COVID cases down as far as we can so that the NHS can properly focus on everything else.

But as we've seen with the lockdowns, all it does is kick the can down the road and prolong the inevitable. At first it was fine as we had no vaccines and we needed to "flatten the curve". More restrictions now will just mean the same people catch covid a little later, especially now everyone has had ample opportunity to be jabbed.

How can the most vulnerable people 'take precautions' against that fact that Covid positive people might be right next to them on the bus, in the supermarket...?

Wear a really good mask, I wear a FFP2 mask now and it's much more secure- tests show that that can stop a really high % of the virus getting near you, much more than the crappy masks most people wear. You can buy 10 and rotate them.

This makes more sense than trying to control what other people are doing. If you thought a supermarket or restaurant was 'safe' in the past 6 months, and now it's not, you have been ignoring the fact that covid is asymptomatic and so many people you are around may well have it and not know, and that the most infectious period is often the one before LFT's show something.

There wasn't a 'safe' before and now a 'risky' after- there was always risk in mixing with others given the holes in the testing system (and some people haven't been doing lfts for a while, or indeed isolating if they couldn't afford it) and the asymptomatic nature of the virus which means people can carry it unwittingly.

Terrifying

Good. Can't wait.

It’ll be interesting to see how hospitals react. I work in A&E and so many of our staff have been isolating lately - but will they really allow them to work with covid? I guess soon we won’t even know about asymptomatic cases.

I do support lifting the restrictions though, we are not seeing anything like the number of covid cases coming in now and almost all we do see are unvaccinated. The balance has tipped over into restrictions being the bigger risk imo.

I've been sat at home with covid for a week now, LFT still positive. Not ill, not been ill at all since getting a + result. 2 kids out of school +, neither are ill.

Trapped in the house for 10 days, no one is sick and we would all be at work/school if it wasn't covid.

It's time.

[quote user1497207191]@luckylavender

The single most important thing we could do for the NHS would be to drive COVID cases down as far as we can so that the NHS can properly focus on everything else.

But as we've seen with the lockdowns, all it does is kick the can down the road and prolong the inevitable. At first it was fine as we had no vaccines and we needed to "flatten the curve". More restrictions now will just mean the same people catch covid a little later, especially now everyone has had ample opportunity to be jabbed.[/quote]
I'm not asking for lockdowns. Just a bit of common sense. Because pretending it's gone away isn't terribly sensible.

Read for normal life to resume. Let’s go!

This is good news. Although I know lots of people who have had covid in the last 3 months, none have been other than mildly unwell or had no symptoms. The vaccines work and we need to start rebuilding our lives and economy.

Public health data and planning operates on a population level so posters' anecdotes about individual family members while interesting aren't really relevant iyswim.

The government says it will publish further 'plans' in a week or so - I'm foolishly optimistically assuming these will include policies for workplaces, allowing immune-compromised employees to separate themselves to some extent from workers known to have covid. This could piggy-back on to the existing policies of decent employers e.g. for workers undergoing chemotherapy being able to keep their distance from people with streaming colds etc.

People with cancer already get shat on enough financially.

The thing that concerns me about all of this is the long term effects of COVID. It's like the elephant in the room that no one is talking about.

COVID isn't just a cold, or the flu, or a tummy bug that appears and then goes. Quite a number of experts have warned that it appears to have an inflammatory response in the body and there could be significant long term effects. We don't know yet - and it appears that you can be asymptomatic or only mildly ill and still have long term complications.

I am very very keen to avoid getting COVID for this reason. Many many people I know have had COVID - some have had a really rotten time with it, others have just had cold-type symptoms. One friend's little boy was really poorly and now has been referred to paediatrics with Long Covid.

I don't believe that Boris Johnson is making the decision based on science. I think it's a massive distraction because he's under police investigation and been subjected to intense criticism for the false Jimmy Saville remarks he made to Keir Starmer. Still, let's wave a carrot around and the stupid public will forget about this stuff though, right?

I just don't understand the issue around wearing masks. Lift other restrictions but ask people to wear masks in shops, public transport etc. It's such a tiny thing but could really help to reduce the spread and doesn't impact on freedom, the economy etc.

I've got two DC aged 12 yrs old who won't get vaccinated (both autistic - lots of autistic DC refuse injections etc). I'm worried about their health if they get COVID because they don't have the protection of the vaccine. I don't want to hide away forever, but I'm quite keen to wait until general infection rates in the community are lower - but I'm not going to know by the end of this month if all testing is stopped.

I think what COVID has done is highlight how selfish many people are, and how they won't even do the smallest thing to help protect others.