To think that we shouldn’t be coming out of lockdown for Christmas?

[LockdownForChristmas]

Yesterday we had the highest total of cases yet since the beginning of the pandemic. And the death rate is going up day on day. They’re attributing it not to mass testing but to the fact that when lockdown was announced people rushed to see each other and hence the virus spread more.

If we open up on the 2nd of December people will just rush out to the pubs and the shops and each other’s houses and we’ll be back here in the new year.

It would be far better to stay in lockdown until the new year and then hopefully start the year on a reducing case rate.

And yes, I know it’s Christmas, but tonight is Diwali, and nobody is suggesting we should come out of lockdown so people can celebrate that, so why should we just because it’s Christmas?

@kittensarecute
I hope to God you're wrong, my mental health won't cope if its extended. It needs to end on the 2nd.

What a ridiculous thing to say.
You've coped through as close to a proper lockdown as the politicians have the balls to lead in March.
You will have been what will be 4 weeks of a pathetic attempt at a lockdown by December. What exactly is it you cannot manage? As I see it, it's life as pretty much normal for 99% of the population. Most ignoring what's been put in place.
Shops are still open on the whole. So you can't ear and drink out, but can get a takeaway. Can go out as you like. Still exercise or visit places like parks, gardens etc.
You can meet up with another person. Form a bubble if applicable. Not home school. So why exactly won't you cope?

Releasing the UK for xmas would be stupid, especially as children and you g adults would be then spreading their xmas gift of covid around school and university.

Its Diwali today, we’ll be celebrating later, a huge plus of celebrating in lockdown is how much money I have saved! I don’t know why posters keep saying its a Hindu festival, it is also a Sikh and Jain festival, Muslims also celebrate Diwali.

Boris has already ready said we will go back into the tier system .
It'll probably be tier 2 or 3 which will still mean no mixing households so big a great deal of difference.
I'm in greater Manchester and we've been in local restrictions since August so no mixing households but of course people have been .
After so long not been able to spend time with anyone outside my household apart from work I need to be able to spend time with family over Christmas lockdown or not we will be .
For me it feels wrong that I'll be back in the office in December with my colleagues but I can't spend time with my mum unless I go for a walk on our own .

I'm in Greater Manchester as well and suspect it will either go back into tier 3, or they will create a stricter new tier for it. For us, I don't think Christmas will go ahead as usual. There have been restrictions for so long, I can't remember what normal is, it's been pretty strict all year bar a few short weeks. If we do see family, I'll try and do something like coffee or mulled wine and presents outside, on a nicer day as it is much less risky than meeting inside without ventilation. I have school aged kids and there have been several bubbles bursting due to covid in their schools, I don't want to pass it on to vulnerable relatives, even they don't consider themselves to be vulnerable. The transmission risk is much lower outside.

@SoloMummy bit insensitive. You have no idea whats going on in her life. For what its worth, I think you're right about it being extended but I hope to God you're wrong too.

For goodness sake, on the whole over 99% of these cases will survive after a week or two feeling crook.

As with any other illness some people will get it badly, and some will die. My friends daughter was in hospital with an horrific case of chicken pox and nearly died!! Flu kills, norovirus kills, lots of virus kill their hosts.

We are destroying the country because 1% might die, and of those a large proportion probably would have died of old age with 12-18 months anyway.

I'm not heartless, its gutting to lose a family member to any illness at any age. But our economy is VITAL for our country to survive, our children all deserve a proper, full time education the same as I suspect the majority on here also benefitted from as children themselves.

Lockdown needs to end and this government needs to start helping the citizens it stupidly terrified back in March develop some resilience and common sense.

[quote nothingcanhurtmewithmyeyesshut]@SoloMummy bit insensitive. You have no idea whats going on in her life. For what its worth, I think you're right about it being extended but I hope to God you're wrong too.[/quote]
She has a point. @kittensarecute is apparently finding lockdown very difficult to the point of expressing suicidal thoughts and has repeatedly said her mental health won't cope. It can't be improved by focusing almost exclusively on the Coronavirus threads on here but @SoloMummy is quite correct in pointing out that in terms of what society is allowed to do this is a half arsed lockdown at best.

For me it feels wrong that I'll be back in the office in December with my colleagues but I can't spend time with my mum unless I go for a walk on our own .

Do you still not understand the reasons for this? After eight months?

@MrsFezziwig

For me it feels wrong that I'll be back in the office in December with my colleagues but I can't spend time with my mum unless I go for a walk on our own .

Do you still not understand the reasons for this? After eight months?

No I need you to tell me !

@SpnBaby1967

For goodness sake, on the whole over 99% of these cases will survive after a week or two feeling crook.

As with any other illness some people will get it badly, and some will die. My friends daughter was in hospital with an horrific case of chicken pox and nearly died!! Flu kills, norovirus kills, lots of virus kill their hosts.

We are destroying the country because 1% might die, and of those a large proportion probably would have died of old age with 12-18 months anyway.

I'm not heartless, its gutting to lose a family member to any illness at any age. But our economy is VITAL for our country to survive, our children all deserve a proper, full time education the same as I suspect the majority on here also benefitted from as children themselves.

Lockdown needs to end and this government needs to start helping the citizens it stupidly terrified back in March develop some resilience and common sense.

We are destroying the country because 1% might die, and of those a large proportion probably would have died of old age with 12-18 months anyway. Glad you have a crystal ball and can see that these real human beings have 18 months of life left and as such are expendable. I presume that you're aware that 20% of those who catch covid end up in hospital, so you solely focussing on the death rate is irrelevant. Likewise, you're totally ignorant of those impacted by long covid, this sat at an estimated 30000 in July, so I wouldn't want to estimate the potential of sufferers by May 21. However, I suppose they're too irrelevant for you as don't comply with your narrative eh?

@Mixedupworld

I wish we would go back into full lockdown like march. Including schools. Until this shit ends..we are coming up to 12 months from when we first became aware of covid.

Are you serious? That is bonkers.

If people decide they would rather not celebrate Christmas with people outside their household that’s up to them. However for the government to prevent them is a whole different ball game.
If people are happy to access their own risk they should be able to.

Keating If only it was that easy. I don't always give in but sometimes I've taken extreme measures (early December c-section, broken dominant hand, torn knee ligaments) to avoid it. I used to bloody love Christmas! 🎄

Ta, Lazy! My resolution for 2021 is to book a holiday somewhere sunny for next Christmas and did the lot of them!

Nephew is a very junior assistant to a Labour MP,about as close to the decision makers as I am to becoming a supermodel so taking this with a vat of salt. He claims the whispers in Westminster are that we'll go back into the tier system on 3rd December and then back into strict lockdown on Monday 4th January, with schools closed until end of January and uni students told no return until after Easter at the earliest. Now he's an annoying little beggar who likes the sound of his own voice but food for thought there.

@Speedyspunker interesting! The only problem is I’m sure the tiered system will put most urban areas in a category that doesn’t allow household mixing and that just isn’t compatible with Christmas.

People just won’t follow it. Especially if we’re all seeing pictures of friends/family an hour away in a different tier having a merry old time together.

@SpnBaby1967 you do realise that 1% of the U.K. population is 678,860 people. That’s more than the population of the U.K.s 3rd largest city.

Also if 20% of people need to be hospitalised that’s 13.5 million people. That’s 4 million more than the population of London.

Though the percentages are small the numbers are massive.

I find it very difficult to believe they would close universities so early in the academic year.

@Stripesnomore

I find it very difficult to believe they would close universities so early in the academic year.

Yes but I could see a blanket ‘no school/college/uni’ in January and lockdown being an option

Very interesting speedy

If schools end up being closed and children miss out on even more vital education I'll be fuming. My DD won't be seeing grandparents (both sets live 300 miles away) and there's no need to have family gatherings just because it's Christmas. Why are t people happy to celebrate with immediate family?

Mental health is important, which is why those who can (have immediate families in their bubble) should sacrifice ONE Christmas so those who live on their own or have exceptional circumstances can have a safe, small gathering.

But it's pointless, people are individualistic and selfish.

Im only planning on going to one household. That of my parents all being well. Two households and three ppl. Possibly 3 households and six people if DB comes too though we all live in the same area.

People with no children have spent decades...............

a. being told they are entitled to less benefits when unemployed because they dont have kids.
b. being told they are not entitled to decent housing because they dont have kids (ive actually heard people say that its terrible how families are having to live in shipping containers but its ok for single people and those without children)
c. People without kids being told/made to work the shitty shifts over Christmas, e,g, Christmas Eve, Boxing Day, etc, There are threads about it on here going back years.

Im NOT saying all parents are like this...................but it does happen a lot. So some of those without children may well say No. Enough. A step too far

Couldn’t care less whether the lockdown ends or not,I am not complying with it.

Bloody ridiculous to bankrupt thousands upon thousands of businesses.Destroy Mental Health,the list is endless of the damage it is doing.

The only people wanting these lockdowns are the people who are financially stable.

One of the stupidest things I keep seeing,is suppressing the virus! It cannot be suppressed.

My family is having a normal Christmas end of.When the vaccine is available I will be having it as soon as I can.

The deaths are awful and I have lost one friend. But the other effects are also very worrying and affecting far more people that I know 2 people in their 40s have heart conditions as result of covid, 5 have long covid since the early days of the first lock down (one ten year old and two people in their thirties and two in their forties) and 1 has severe breathing problems (45 year old). That's a lot of fucked up people. I've lived with ME for years and it frightens the hell out of me.

I think so - people need to understand that if they don't see their extended family at Christmas, almost certainly just for this one year, they will see them sooner and more next year. If a large number of people see their family at Christmas, there will have to be lockdowns for at least Jan-end Feb, and possibly into April. If they can just delay their gratification, they will be able to be with their families sooner.

I'm Jewish and we have done three of our biggest family festivals with no one else or just two other people, the last two with very little warning. We have missed family gatherings that have happened every year for decades. It is a bit sad and weird but it's not unbearable or impossible, and people should be able to suck it up.

NB, for those going 'why can't we carry on as normal, hardly anyone dies and they're all old anyway?' Think through the implications for a minute.

The point has never been 'OMG, we can't let 83-year-olds die' it has always been that we mustn't let the NHS get overwhelmed, which is a complicated issue about beds, staffing, infection control, PPE and equipment availability etc. Hospitals can be 'overwhelmed' while looking 'half empty'.

The only way to 'carry on as normal' would be to refuse to treat, say, any over 70s for COVID to protect the NHS.

That would mean than hundreds of thousands of people would be forced to be palliative carers for their partners and family members as they slowly cough themselves to death at home. COVID death is not quick and it's not easy. The vaccine is not coming until at least spring realistically.

Not to mention the large numbers of people being off sick and those developing long COVID. My mum has had CFS/ME for 34 years, which long COVID is not unlike (as @Tootsietoot mentions). People cannot function with those symptoms for months or maybe years on end.