Is anyone applying actual LOGIC to Christmas or just blindly following covid rules??

[Christmasisallaroundus]

I’m not changing my Christmas plans. I’m due to go to my parents 50 mins drive away. Myself & DH WFH full time. No DC. We’ve been isolating for 2 weeks in advance of Christmas. We are getting private covid tests on 21st - waiting for presumably negative results on 23rd then will travel home. Parents also not working and have been isolating pretty much since March. Will be home 24th-27th. No plans to leave the house. Then straight back to our house to isolate again for the foreseeable as no plans to see anyone.

Why would we change our plans and not go just because ‘it’s against the rules’. I don’t understand those saying they can’t go how due to rules changing.

If you are working out and about you shouldn’t have been mixing in the 1st place as you’re higher risk! Why are the rules influencing what you do - surely you should be using common sense!

We can all cook up good reasons why the guidelines don't apply to us, just to everybody else. Just follow the damn rules FFS.

Come on Op would you seriously want everyone making judgments on Christmas based on their own risk assessment? Humans are notoriously bad a risk assessing and very good at justifying poor choices.

I hope you enjoy seeing your parents. They must be desperate to see you or anyone if they've been locked in their house since March.

No need to show off about all your clever plans though. Lots of us can't lock the door and wrap ourselves in clingfilm for 2 weeks before Christmas

How are you getting your private test? Isn't that going to breach your isolation?

@Janonomouse

I'm in Vancouver, by far the most populated city in British Columbia (a province with a population of about 5m).

We haven't been hit as hard as the UK. We had an initial spike where we were having about 300 cases per day in BC, then got it down to low double digits for months.

Then Halloween and Thanksgiving happened in quick succession and a lot of people decided to employ what they considered common sense. We very quickly went up to around 1,000 new cases per day (although it's now closer to 6-700). As a consequence, we have tougher rules for Christmas.

Advocates of 'common sense' ought to acknowledge that, allowing everyone to make their own 'common-sense' judgments is not really a common-sense approach.

Winter virus. Hence, Halloween amd thanksgiving rise.

Can i ask where society and unity was last December?

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3764459-Boris-Johnson-refuses-to-look-at-photo-of-child-on-hospital-floor

It's this kind of attitude encouraging others to no longer give a shit. I am seeing more and more openly declaring that they actually do not care anymore. People are starting to resent each other more.

I am risky with(NHS) face to face patient contact. I have planned xmas accordingly to keep people safe.

This post has pissed me off.

Winter virus. Hence, Halloween amd thanksgiving rise.
Well there seemed to be a hell of a lot of Covid about in the US, other parts of Canada and Europe in the summer, when we were sometimes getting around 10 new cases per day. It's also dropped since the Thanksgiving spike (partially because tougher measures had to be introduced).

Additionally, the parts of the Greater Vancouver Area with larger Chinese populations (who are less inclined to celebrate Halloween and Thanksgiving) dont seem to have experienced spikes of anything like the same magnitude around the holidays.

Can I add in that I hate the way you've written "actual LOGIC" in the title as if we're all clearly lacking in brain cells.

Anyway you've definitely been handed your arse on a festive plate here so I'll wish you a merry Christmas.

Well, we've been "following logic" and disregarding the rules in so far as we had decided to stay at home this year and not see anyone. We deemed the risk to be too great, so we weren't going to suddenly start socialising just because Boris said we could.

However, I would not "follow logic" if that involved breaking the law. If everyone starts making their own risk assessments and deciding to ignore the restrictions, then it just becomes a slippery slope and the virus will just keep spreading. Many people have very poor judgment, as we have seen. So I would uphold the law, even if it felt illogical for me to do so.

'Common' sense is not common at all.
My common sense tells me to stay home. My MIL's common sense tells her to blackmail us emotionally to travel 4 hours and stay with her for Christmas.
This is why we need rules that are not open to interpretation.

I'll be seeing DD & DGS's as planned.

Enjoy your time with your DP's 🎄

I'm afraid I'm another rule breaker and nothing anyone says will stop me from breaking them.
I've followed every rule at every stage but I've taken every last day of annual leave from my patient facing role and removed the DC from school early so that we'll have isolated for two weeks to be safe to travel on boxing day to visit DM who has just been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. DSis needs a break from caring for her and DM needs to see her DGC.
So I'll suck up the name calling and the fine should we get one but I've risk assessed a crappy situation and will be breaking some rules.

@windturbines an excellent post. The OP has made for some very unpleasant reading.

What would have been better was to keep Tier 4 isolated but also allow people in Tier4 to decide what’s safe for 1 day then penalise those who intermingled from other tiers.
Right now those who normally break the rules will break them thus more likely to spread the virus and those who don’t and have prepared to mix will suffer

@middleager

I can't believe this post

Thank you.

Another one who's done the Melbourne lockdown, worth remembering that it was stricter than Tier 4, and I also believe it's about the common good, being seen to keep to the rules that helps others to hold it together. It was not pleasant at all but holding the line, and not relying on "common sense" was so important.

What hasn't helped in the UK has been the government's vacillations and crowd-pleasing tactics which have people all geed-up and now so very disappointed.

Back to you OP. You are being irresponsible beyond belief. I have vulnerable family and friends in the UK. Your actions, fuelled by your preening self-regard, give the green light for similar fuck-witted behaviour that increases the risk

Grow up, why don't you and just follow the rules.

No, Im currently watching covid ril its slimy little ass through a family that didn't bother to stay apart, and I'm not doing that to my family, so we are all staying at home this year.

Thats my common sense, because its people breaking the rules and doing their oen thing that got us here!

Nah I agree with op she is using common sense

This is starting to get on my tits now , I’m working Xmas day so will be having a brief visit with my parents ( in my bubble and already had Covid ) on Boxing Day as planned - yes it’s against the rules ( starting to hate that word ) but can someone please explain why I’m such an horrific granny killing cunt just because I’m doing this and not on the allowed Christmas Day ?!?

As a family we agreed to not do the big meet up we had planned even when it was allowed because common sense said this was a stupid idea , but the same people who would have happily done this back when boris was saying it was ok ( despite common sense saying it is a terrible idea ) would no doubt now be blaming people like me for the third wave .

To throw the granny killing argument back out there there are many grannies who will lose the will to live because of this, heart attacks broken heart syndrome giving up the fight to live that will all come with cancelling Christmas in Tier 4

@Janonomouse

I'm in Vancouver, by far the most populated city in British Columbia (a province with a population of about 5m).

We haven't been hit as hard as the UK. We had an initial spike where we were having about 300 cases per day in BC, then got it down to low double digits for months.

Then Halloween and Thanksgiving happened in quick succession and a lot of people decided to employ what they considered common sense. We very quickly went up to around 1,000 new cases per day (although it's now closer to 6-700). As a consequence, we have tougher rules for Christmas.

Advocates of 'common sense' ought to acknowledge that, allowing everyone to make their own 'common-sense' judgments is not really a common-sense approach.

I agree with this and the pp who mentioned the Melbourne lockdown, and the importance of everyone following the rules for social cohesion. I have been isolating since March. I haven’t been into a shop, or a cafe, or indoors anywhere apart from my own home. I can assume that I do not have the virus and I am probably right, but I get deliveries, a few days ago a delivery driver was very close and would not move back enough. This kind of thing happens, unless you live somewhere remote, and you do not come into contact with any other humans in any way, then there is always a chance you could catch the virus. Very unlikely, but still possible.

Also Australia has their lovely lockdown success based on no one needing to go there but babies died because the lockdown rules stopped them being transferred to hospitals that could help them and children missed saying goodbye to dying parents the feck do I think they got it right

Who’s common sense are we going by? Yours? Cummings? Bob next door who doesn’t believe the virus is real?

OP, I don’t think that you’ve used common sense when you’ve planned your Christmas. BillysMyBunny did a really good description what could go wrong with you during your journey/visit. Also as some of PPs pointed you would be setting a bad example for others ( e.g. neighbours) who wouldn’t know your circumstances (WFH, isolation, private tests) and could decide to do the same and eventually it might affect you and your parents.

The government was wrong to allow people to mix over Christmas, they acknowledged this already. November figures were down just because we were in lockdown. December is always a busy shopping/ socializing period. NHS is always overwhelmed over winter months. The virus spreads exponentially. Given all these the only logical decision is to stay at home. I can’t understand why you couldn’t see this and planned to see your parents. By the way I don’t think you’ve answered how you are getting your Covid test.

And it’s not really relevant what your sister tells you, I don’t approve quite a lot of what my sister does but don’t tell her about this, it’s pointless so maybe your sister feels the same.

@WhoseThatGirl

Who’s common sense are we going by? Yours? Cummings? Bob next door who doesn’t believe the virus is real?

Right Cummings broke the rules believing he was protecting his son If you think he was wrong fine don’t do as he does if you think he’s right to protect his child safely adapt or mitigate to protect a loved one It’s quite obscene to drag him back in with this what about Margaret Farrier and Ian Blackford their rule breaking was more grotesque following Cummings to protect a child yes travel to claim expenses and infect the HOc your community health spa, shops a train full of people a dinner party and hotel not so much common sense there

Also Australia has their lovely lockdown success based on no one needing to go there but babies died because the lockdown rules stopped them being transferred to hospitals that could help them and children missed saying goodbye to dying parents the feck do I think they got it right

What on earth are you on about?