AIBU to think that if covid is that serious time of year (Xmas) be irrelevant?

[Treatscatscrave]

That's it, really.
I'm not a lockdown supporter BUT this talk of 'saving Christmas' annoys me. If covid IS that much of a threat, what's the time of year got to do with influencing restrictions?

Well, suicide could also take a hike at Christmas, but it doesn't, it gets worse. Have you missed the memo on mental health, OP?

Having said that, I do think some of the proposals are extreme. Two households meeting for two days surely allows people to make sensible choices without going nuts with four households for five days?

Who really knows anyone that has a whole extended family ready to mix indoors for Christmas day all under the same roof? Surely lots of people would be wary coming out of lockdown to mix in large groups with no distancing?

You cant move Christmas either. It's a set religious based day.

It's just shit. In a shit year it's just another shit thing to chalk up. If I can see my best mate and sister I will. Not on the same day. I doubt my elderly mum will want to see us. She has only seen her grandkids once out of fear this year.

It's just another thing now that I expect to be not what what I would have planned for. Low expectations all the way. I was hoping spring might be better but I think that's when the vaccinations will be starting to get into full swing.

Sono expectations here until mid 2021. Right or wrong we cant change anything. Seeing family feels like it wont be possible in any form of normality

Well, suicide could also take a hike at Christmas, but it doesn't, it gets worse. Have you missed the memo on mental health, OP?

But relaxing things too much at Christmas will lead to a big spike in cases in January, which means tougher and longer restrictions, increased job losses, food poverty, partial or full school closures which impact on kids emotional well-being and parents ability to work etc etc. So although I think everyone can agree that restrictions on households mixing isn't great for Mental Health, surely opening everything up again is going to lead to poorer MH outcomes further down the line?

FWIW I agree with you OP but I don't think you can underestimate the importance of Christmas in the popular imagination, partly as a chronological punctuation mark. All the way back in 1914 it was widely reported that WW1 would be over by Christmas. The government are, I suspect, trying to balance the public health risk without removing Christmas as a beacon of hope. They would be widely portrayed as the first government to cancel Christmas since Cromwell.

I don't necessarily agree with their strategy but I can see their reasoning.

Are things going to be as last year? I don't think. Rules & restrictions will be relaxed but there will still be some.

Third wave here we come.

The virus doesn’t care what day it is so Christmas should follow the rules we have no, own households only bar the single people in a support bubble.

Perfectly possible to celebrate it like that and speak or video chat with others.

Letting free mixing go on with likely copious amounts of alcohol and no distancing will make for an awful January. I don’t get why it’s even being considered or why people would want to risk infecting family and others.

I'll be interested to see just how bad things turn out in America post-Thanksgiving. I know things are already pretty terrible over there (and there is lots of resistance to lockdowns/masks etc) but the feeling is that a lot of people are going to travel and/or meet up with extended family and friends. I fear that the numbers are going to rocket in 2-3 weeks time.

It could be an indicator of how things will look here in January? I do think that there is a recognition by the Government though that people who have pretty much stuck by the rules so far, will go and visit family even if its not allowed, so they don't want to have to crack down too much. My parents, who are in their late 70's, are very much of the feeling that they are happy to take the risk if it means being able to see their GC.