To be really angry that seeing my parents is illegal?

[Snailsetssail]

My area is very likely to be locked down next week. I am so furious that it’s going to be against the law for me to see my parents, and my children to see their grandparents. We did lockdown properly last time, it was absolutely awful. My mental health plummeted and I don’t think I can do it again. I rely on support from family and friends.

Just feeling so incredibly angry about it all tonight. Poor people in Leicester have lived like this for 100 days so far with no end in site.

I’m so fed up and I know I’m going to be told to just get on it it. But I just need a space to vent.

This thread scares me. It seems a certain proportion of the public have lost the ability to use their own common sense and rational thinking skills. There is more to life than covid. There is more to life than this pitiful existence that we have trapped ourselves in. We are caught in a covid rut and need to find a way to get out of it. People need to be able to make their own judgment about what is right for their own family and their circumstances.
For those saying we should lockdown again and abide by all the rules - how long should we keep doing that for? Another 3 months? 6 months? A year? What if there is still no vaccine? What then? What about all the poor souls who will die alone in that time because they can't have family or friends visit? What about the children who loose opportunities to know their relatives? What about the kids education and prospects for the future? When do you say enough is enough?

@2pinkginsplease

But you are allowed to form a support bubble with your mum .so of course you would see her .

I know it’s confusing but as no one wants areas with low cases to be treated the same as areas with high cases it’s important to go to gov uk and check the restrictions.

Otherwise you could be missing out on somethings that you could be doing . You might not be able to visit someone’s house but you might be able to meet out for a walk or something .

@Planty13

So are figures going down ?

My partner and I live 100 miles apart. We're both on our own, no children. We are each other's support bubble. We both have had several hours of severe depression in our pasts. We have both stuck rigidly to the rules, we distance, we mask, we've neither of us even had other people in our flats since February. We see each other every weekend. If either of us were placed in a third tier that did not allow us to meet I think both of us would have significant mental health issues. The notion that we could go to work but could not see each other is scary but also total nonsense in our own situation as neither of us are customer facing and are barely even see other staff.

i’m another who will countinue to see my mum regardless of what laws are in place. She lives alone and relies on my support for things.

Even if I wanted to see my extended family I would do, everyone working from home and do food shops online and no one really goes out.

I do my food shop online, i have been out to eat ONCE since July and don’t go anywhere else, so why should I sacrifice my mental health or my mums mental health or not see my family for those who insist on cramming themselves into pubs/restaurants Or having to go on their foreign holiday cause god forbid they miss out for one year. These are the people causing the spikes and not giving a damn.

Not people who want to visit a vulnerable nan or any family.

@AyeRobot

All of those railing against the guidelines (and law), why don't you just crack on? Why the big drama?

Who will you rail against if your loved ones get sick, though?

Who will rail if my loved ones mental health gets destroyed, if they miss on a cancer diagnosis, if they can't put food on the table because they lost their job, if this happens to them www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/05/covid-19-causing-10000-dementia-deaths-beyond-infections-research-says ?

Covid is not the only health problem that exists.

17,000 new cases yesterday, double what it was a week ago. We all need to do our bit then it will be over quicker. If we don’t it will snowball again, the NHS will be overwhelmed, and it will all go on much longer. Short term pain, long term gain.

Madame but how many of those are on uni campuses and in halls of residence? A lot. Great chunks of the country have seen very little increase. Why is that? Are people in the south west sticking rigidly to rules but not those in the north east?

@kittensarecute

The British public are sheep to be honest, mindless sheep.

I don't want to be mean - but put it this way... I can't see most of the Covid minimalisers getting into Mensa. They appear to lack the basic ability to comprehend knock on effects on the economy and society of uncontained Covid.

Sheep, on the other hand, are intelligent.
www.bbc.com/earth/story/20170418-sheep-are-not-stupid-and-they-are-not-helpless-either#:~:text=Reality%3A%20Sheep%20are%20actually%20surprisingly,destructive%20creatures%20on%20the%20planet.
🐑

Come on we need to pull together.

Unless I’ve been having the longest nightmare we’ve been “pulling together for months” and nothing’s changed. In fact it’s gotten worse
“How long do we suck things up and pull together for”?

Hey, remember back in August when I said there was going to be a nasty second wave cos noone was bothering with the 2m rule anymore (even when there was literally 50 metres either side of me!)?

Remember when I said eat to help out was a blindingly stupid policy?

You’re right to be angry OP. Where lockdowns become necessary, they become so because of decisions incompetent people have made. Boris Johnson decided to encourage people to return to work, and pay them to eat out, when it was obvious that these were really bad ideas. Opening pubs was also stupid and naive: drunk people do not follow rules.

This government tells us that pubs and restaurants are important and necessary. Our families and mental health are not, apparently. Although grouse hunting must go on 🤔.

Don’t see why I should give up seeing family and my son not see other children (he is an only child who I’ve deregistered) so that someone else can get drunk / travel overseas etc.

Making school attendance compulsory again was also stupid but oh what’s the point, if anyone believes this government is anything other than a total disaster then there’s not much point talking to them.

Well done Corbyn, if you’d let someone electable stand, the country might not be in this mess.

@SheepandCow nobody is denying covid. Just because someone doesn't agree with your approach to covid does not mean they are unintelligent.
Please answer the questions I have asked in my previous post!

This thread scares me...

What's scary is the amount of people, not just on MN, now saying they will not follow the rules anymore, not even try.

In March we were told that this pandemic is extremely serious and that it is going to last a long time, and that there would be a series of lockdowns lasting many months or even years. They told us this right from the start

Why are people acting as if it was only supposed to last a few months and then it would all be normal again. Why are people surprised by another lockdown?

I dont get it

@Unsure33

No, figures are going up. But kids are back at school. Furlough is basically over. People need to work. People use family for childcare as there are no other realistic options. The people that carried on as normal throughout lockdown #1 are socialising as normal and never get bored of talking about how it is all a scam

@Flaxmeadow what don’t you get? Most people are back at work now. The kids are back at school.

@compulsiveliar2019
I'm tired today and find it exhausting repeatedly making the same points. I realise you might not have seen my many posts about this (not everyone is on here as often as I am!) so I'll try to explain again.

I don't think we should have long lockdowns. I agree that our half hearted dragged out on, off, on off, do one thing but not another similar thing, different rules from your neighbours up the road because they're in a different region etc is shit and not really getting us anywhere. It just goes on and on and drags out a shit situation.

However we can't just ignore Covid because, whilst there is indeed more to life, Covid is an infectious virus. It doesn't respect our wish to ignore it and it doesn't ignore us. It impacts on almost every aspect of our lives whether we like it or not. It affects the whole of economy and society.

Australia, New Zealand, and the Isle of Man showed us what to do. Their lives are now mostly normal. Schools, shops, hospitals, offices, gyms, pubs, bars, restaurants, sporting and entertainment venues. All open.
Short but strict initial lockdown WITH restricted borders (with proper quarantine for essential travel like imports). Then ease lockdown but keeping borders restricted. That's how you get a mostly normal life back during a pandemic.

Countries like South Korea, Singapore, Japan. Excellent test, track, and trace systems. Good well funded healthcare systems too.

Even most of Europe is doing more than us. Higher mask compliance, smaller school classes, better functioning test, track, and trace - with all contacts of positive cases tested (and sent home from school/work), not just those with symptoms. This is how you get on with life as best you can whilst also dealing with an infectious virus.

As for vaccines. There pretty much already are vaccines. It's just a matter of time for manufacturing and distribution. Time also allows for the development of better treatments. The medication given to Trump is a good example. Fairly experimental still and for now expensive but it shows how we've progressed in knowledge on how to treat Covid. At some stage that treatment might be more widely available.

In the meantime, how do you think society continues to function if we do nothing to contain Covid?

Get sick or fall over and break a leg? How do you get treatment when the hospital is full and staff off sick (sometimes for months with Long Covid)?

@compulsiveliar2019

I never said lockdown worked, but it did slow the virus down, now it’s ramping up again, and yes part of that is the young you believe they are invincible as well as those of other ages who simply dont believe they need to follow the rules to slow the virus down

Until such time as a vaccine we have a choice, follow the rules, however harsh you may think they are, slow the virus, try to keep the economy going, schools open etc, very much a balancing act

Or do what’s lots on MN want and just open everything up, let the virus run rife, hospital admissions go up and up and the nhs collapse, schools close again, jobs lost, and more deaths

As I said on another post I am past caring now. I am going to do what I can in my little bubble having seen the devastation this virus can cause first hand

You and everyone else can crack on doing what you want to do, and if that means don’t follow the rules then that’s up to you, all that will happen is this will continue for far longer than everyone just knuckling down now

what don’t you get? Most people are back at work now. The kids are back at school

I know that.

What I don't understand is why people are surprised that the virus isn't going away. Why they seem to shocked about it. When we have been told over and over again, since March, that these on/off lockdowns are going to last a long time and that the situation is still very serious and that will continue

People seem to be acting like it was a passing fad, like a summer fashion or movie they saw. That it would just fade away into the ether on it's own after a few weeks

Was anybody listening to the daily briefings at all?

Do what you like. COVID is part of an alien plot to weaken the human race prior to invasion. None of us will survive anyway.

Reptiles

One of the most ridiculous comments I've seen recently was

"I'm bored of this now"

Bored. Like a pair of primark shoes or a jacket potato

[quote movingonup20]@FatGirlShrinking

That's not the reason in Leicester, it very specific culturally sensitive issues. [/quote]
What are the ‘very specific culturally sensitive issues ‘ ? Everyone wants to spend time with their family - I haven’t stepped foot inside my parents home since March as my dad was shielding and even though this has been lifted as far as I can see nothing has changed to make him less vulnerable. I can entirely understand and accept that people in different situations with potentially less vulnerable parents have chosen to take a different stance and In different circumstances I would probably have taken a similiar view but what are the ‘culturally sensitive’ issues to which you refer ?

YANBU. I haven’t seen my mum since March, and she hasn’t seen her (now) eight-month-old grandson since he was five weeks old.

For the people saying “follow the rules”, I am minimising the spread of COVID. I’m not going to pubs or restaurants, I’m shopping online and I haven’t been to the gym since lockdown (I’m running outside instead where the risk of transmission is lower). I also wear a mask in public.

The problem here is the government. The government failed to contain the virus in March and failed to use the summer to get test-and-trace working properly. They are penalising ordinary, hard-working people by preventing them seeing their families and - instead - trying to ‘save the economy’ by keeping pubs, bowling alleys and restaurants open.

I agree with ‘saving the economy’, but the government wasted their chance to minimise the economic damage when they failed to contain the virus. No one wants to go to the pub or buy socks when they can’t see their friends or family, and the idea that people‘s only social role is as ‘consumers’ isn’t a society in which I - or anyone else - wants to live.

They shouldn’t be asking people to minimise their socialising. They should be testing, tracing, isolating and - if necessary - closing the pubs (with economic support for the publicans).

I literally just read a post where someone was married years ago but is coming to the UK from overseas to have a huge wedding party, as this is something they always wanted to do. Don't get why overseas people can come and party while residents have to self-isolate.

We haven't seen our daughter for 6 months, she lives on her own in another relatively COVID free country, her workplace has only started back full time about 4 weeks ago. None of us have been sick.

I worry about the mental health aspect. Now she has been told the landlords of the property she moved into at the end of January, is likely to be coming up for sale, 4 months before the end of her fixed term lease.