'Lockdown 'til Spring'

[Caspah]

Why? The Goverment won't even tell us their definition of spring or summer - surely there's some scientific involvement in deciding when spring/summer occurs? This third lockdown is going to be the longest of the lot. In my area I'm hopefully going to get a vaccine soon, but what difference does it make to me if I can't go anywhere?

YABU, there’s nobody official who has suggested it’ll be lockdown until spring. I expect restrictions such as; masks indoors, will be in place but there’s not any current suggestion of an ongoing full lockdown.

So what if there's lockdown til Spring? Spring is only 3 weeks away!

I think it's delberately left vague.

There is no way to guarantee when hospitals will empty out enough and transmission be low enough.

There would be little worse than specifying dates when the ability to meet them is not something within governmental control.

So at the moment, we have 'no move before' 8 March firnschools (three weeks after completion of first jabs of first 4 priorities) with expectation of further steps after that, once impact of schools opening has been assessed, and once the first 4 priorities get their second jabs, and next levels get their first.

It would be imprudent to try to guess beyond that - too many unknowns

March is spring, isn’t it ?

Boris has said the earliest schools will go back is March 8th. If schools are the the first thing to open up then yes, we are locked down until spring.

If you can, just worry about the week in front of you. We'll have 30-60 yrs after this for it to be just a memory.

So, my snowdrops are out in my garden. Does that mean I'm out of lockdown..?

As a CV teacher I seriously want my vaccines before I have to set foot in a classroom again. I've been lucky to be teaching from home

Spring starts on the 20th March this year doesn’t it?

I thought I’d read that the 7th April was a possible date for non essential shops, pubs and restaurants to reopen?

There isn't even agreement on when spring begins:

Meteorological spring is 1 March
Astronomical spring 20 March (vernal equinox)

Do we add a third - Boris Spring, an annual celebration of the return to tiers?

Why get hey up over something that actually hasn’t been agreed. Why not just wait until the next update and take it from there

Part of the issue is that people read all these stories, get themselves wound up and in a state

Just do t give it headspace, just wait for official announcements, that’s all I am doing

I found this article helpful www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/06/when-can-britain-reopen-this-spring-summer-and-autumns-covid-calendar?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

CV single parent. I doubt my steroid inhaler will be flagged up for a vaccine before schools go back. I'd appreciate schools not fining parents for non attendance when the 8th of March passes. Homeschooling is working out great for us with what is provided, luckily. If we have to go back into the mix and I catch it, I'm unlikely to be able to walk the 2 miles each way on the school run, which is the very minimum of potential worries here.

Next review is 15 Feb, roadmap out of lockdown published week of 22 Feb and schools may reopen on 8 March. Government keeps on saying that schools will reopen first so I'd be crossing my fingers that there's something different for March.

@NiceViper

I think it's delberately left vague.

There is no way to guarantee when hospitals will empty out enough and transmission be low enough.

There would be little worse than specifying dates when the ability to meet them is not something within governmental control.

So at the moment, we have 'no move before' 8 March firnschools (three weeks after completion of first jabs of first 4 priorities) with expectation of further steps after that, once impact of schools opening has been assessed, and once the first 4 priorities get their second jabs, and next levels get their first.

It would be imprudent to try to guess beyond that - too many unknowns

All good points!

Pandemics usually take between 2 - 5 years to fully finish. We should have been told the truth at the beginning of this, so our expectations were realistic. The government are trying to appease people and not be the baddies giving rotten news.

DillyDallyDoodle not sure where you have heard that but my DS2 is a manager in hospitality and they have been told that it will be unlikely to open until May at the earliest.

@Redsquirrel5

DillyDallyDoodle not sure where you have heard that but my DS2 is a manager in hospitality and they have been told that it will be unlikely to open until May at the earliest.

The article I linked to above implied May too.

Furlough ends 30 April so 1st May would make sense.

@SunsetSenora if we are still doing this for 2-5 years I will kill myself. Fucking 2-5 years, just let it rip rather than have us live in pointlessness forever!

@PokemonTrainerRed

Furlough ends 30 April so 1st May would make sense.

Is that the same furlough that was going to end on 31 May 2020, 31 August 2020 and 30 November 2020?

There's no guarantee what's going to happen when and even after restrictions are eased, they may be brought back again.

Plus you have to factor in the impact of opening up the sectors that haven't even thought about reopening or getting back to normal for nearly a year now, such as mass gatherings like weddings, conferences and festivals and also international travel.

The hospitals are still full although new case rates are dropping significantly. I'm assuming schools will reopen after Easter, so mid April, and hospitality by May.

But I'm taking each day at a time. The first snowdrop, first daffodil, Valentine's Day. We're nearly there with vaccine rollout. All positive.

1 May is 2 weeks after latest date for second jabs for those done up to weekend of 23/24 Jan - that's the end of the first week of CEV and over 70s.

I think they're realised saying things like "we can all go out a 2.34 on the 4th of whatever" is utterly pointless and makes them look like dicks when it doesn't happen.

I think things will start to ease once cases are below 10 thousand a day, hospitalisations stable and deaths in the low hundreds, at worst, with the vaccine roll out strong.

That'll likely to be some point in March and it'll mostly be schools to begin with. The government every step of the way have waited till it was untenable to lock down (which is why the two long lockdowns have had to last so long). They have their concerns over the variant which will keep them more cautious this time.

Fucking 2-5 years, just let it rip rather than have us live in pointlessness forever!

What government is going to let it rip? It would be political suicide.