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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask: will Johnson’s gamble pay off?

97 replies

foxandbee · 19/07/2021 15:22

I thought it might be interesting to have a vote for posterity on how people think Johnson’s experiment will pan out. Personally, I have one or two reservations.

YABU - it’s going to be a great success and other countries will follow England’s lead.

YANBU – it will be a shit show with backtracking galore as well as many casualties of Johnson’s cavalier decision.

OP posts:
RumblyMumbly · 19/07/2021 16:42

Glad you had a nice day @Pottedpalm My friends children have abruptly missed the last days of primary school, or are missing out on seeing family and friends again. My own DC are isolating again from school(despite only ever having negative tests and never having Covid in the household (yet!)) .

I have homeschooled while wfh to protect others, been double vaccinated (as has DH and rest of my family) and still my children's education is disrupted. No catch up at all for the 6months DS was not in school.

I've been responsible for myself and my children and still the children are getting the shit end of the stick!.What's there to celebrate when Boris and his (too important to isolate) cronies allow cases to skyrocket and jepardise the next academic year and my UK summer holiday! I think there are plenty of people and businesses with legitimate cause for complaint.

Lemonmelonsun · 19/07/2021 16:42

Well it's a bizzare situation... Open clubs where now precautions can be taken at all, let us breathe all over each other..

ChequerBoard · 19/07/2021 16:44

It's going to be a game of snakes and ladders. There are ao many unknowns ahead of us with regard to vaccines and variants it really is like a big old board game - a roll of the dice and a chance card or two will make or break us.

RumblyMumbly · 19/07/2021 16:48

Polls suggest there are very few in favour of enclosed clubs reopening with no testing.

Especially when we know how that ended in swiftly reimposed restrictions in the Netherlands
www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/easing-restrictions-holland-sets-covid-24514995

SpringRainbow · 19/07/2021 16:49

I want it to pay off, I really really hope that it does work out ok in the end.

I am just not convinced it will. I hope I am wrong.

RumblyMumbly · 19/07/2021 16:54

Looking at the number of hospital admissions and people on ventilators the climb is looking very much as it did in October which is scary since so many of the population are vaccinated and they've told us that the vaccination programme was our ticket out of the worst of it.

I would be happy to be proved wrong on this occasion and in September the children get back to school for an uninterrupted year (although we already are facing a delay to Autumn term start at secondary to allow for testing)

DrManhattan · 19/07/2021 16:59

Thing is some people don't take personal responsibility- that is why we have laws against drink driving and ensuring seat belts are worn etc

LakieLady · 19/07/2021 17:08

All those saying it's fine don't seem to recognise that the more a virus spreads, the more likely it is that a vaccine-resistant strain will develop.

If that were to happen, not only would more people get ill, but a new variant could cause more serious illness, and maybe even affect children.

Do we really want to see the sort of scenes we saw last spring and at the start of this year, with hospitals overwhelmed and 1,000+ people a day dying?

I think restrictions should have been lifted slowly, so that the impact of each increase in contact could be evaluated before moving on to the next step. Ease off one thing at a time, wait 4 weeks to see if cases rise, then if they don't, ease off a bit more or ease off another thing.

If that had been done last year, we may have escaped the huge rise in cases, and deaths, at the start of this year.

Zilla1 · 19/07/2021 17:11

Lockdown should end when the infections are well-controlled. What do the currents rates say?

Not surprised vaccination rates are reduced given the government's efforts to sabotage PCN vaccination in England. Good luck Massvac. Currently planning for 'flu and COVID booster in September. Let's see how well the government can sabotage that.

BlatantlyNameChanged · 19/07/2021 17:15

Proof of vaccination will be required for nightclub entry and entry to crowded events.... but not until the end of September Hmm

AlternativePerspective · 19/07/2021 17:24

The thing is that viruses mutate all the time. COVID is always going to be here. People will always catch it, and people will always die from it.

The problem is that we’re feeding a culture of hysteria by publishing daily numbers, because we can sit here and watch how many people are being tested positive.

But we don’t get these daily figures for other viruses such as flu, if we did then I suspect that people would call for similar restrictions during the flu season

It’s not realistic to suggest that we never open up. It just isn’t.

But we can’t keep blaming the government when individuals aren’t taking personal responsibility. Nobody needs to flock to a nightclub. Nobody needs to go and cram on to a beach with half a million other people. If people want to do that then they should do so acknowledging that they are mostly responsible for the spread.

Original poster
foxandbee · 19/07/2021 17:32

But we can’t keep blaming the government when individuals aren’t taking personal responsibility. Nobody needs to flock to a nightclub. Nobody needs to go and cram on to a beach with half a million other people. If people want to do that then they should do so acknowledging that they are mostly responsible for the spread

And in the meantime the rest of us live (or die in some cases) with the consequences? Would you apply the same logic to road safety? Some people will drive dangerously and ignore the law, so should we get of driving laws?

OP posts:
StoneofDestiny · 19/07/2021 17:37

The guy is a total tool. Who the f votes for these people?????*

Agree

ThatLibraryMiss · 19/07/2021 17:40

Think we’re almost at the peak of this wave.

We're at or past it, according to the Zoe app.

ThirdElephant · 19/07/2021 17:42

@MarcelineMissouri

Your options are too black and white.

I think it’s going to be bumpy but hopefully end up ok…..

Fingers crossed anyway!

This. Ultimately, the British public will not carry these measures on indefinitely, and if there has to be an end point it's better that it's in the summer so that ICUs aren't coping with flu at the same time.
Calmdown14 · 19/07/2021 17:44

Nightclubs opening will probably help universities no end. The mixing is inevitable once term starts.
School’s finishing will make cases look better. Scotland’s case numbers are way down now but funnily enough so is testing

ThirdElephant · 19/07/2021 17:46

If that were to happen, not only would more people get ill, but a new variant could cause more serious illness, and maybe even affect children.

You could say that of literally any virus though. Aside from keeping social distancing going forever, with intermittent lockdowns until the end of time, there's nothing that can be done about it.

Demelza82 · 19/07/2021 17:58

Whatever happens will be twisted into a positive/made out to be our fault. I just don't want my family to die and to not lose my job tbh and

Pottedpalm · 19/07/2021 18:10

@RumblyMumbly
‘Glad you had a nice day..’
Really? You don’t sound glad! I mentioned where I had been to illustrate that people are being responsible. There was no point in my day where anything was different to last week.
My ( adult) DS is self isolating for the third time and DD has taught full days on Zoom (private school) during lockdowns and while isolating as a member of her household tested positive. We are all affected, and all doing our bit.
And yes, I had a nice day.

RumblyMumbly · 19/07/2021 18:38

@Pottedpalm I am glad you had a nice day as we all deserve those at the moment. What I was taking issue with was your comment:

Yet another Boris-bashing thread in disguise. We should take responsibility for ourselves.

I have been as responsible as can be, followed all the (sometimes contradictory) rules and still my children end up not being able to go to school. Can't you understand why people are fed up with how the Government are handling things?! I

Original poster
foxandbee · 19/07/2021 19:05

So Johnson is worried about nightclubs, less than 24 hours after allowing them to open. But it is OK as from September only double vaccinated will be allowed in. I am guessing covid has agreed to stay away from nightclubs until then?

Shit show incoming.

OP posts:
gwenneh · 19/07/2021 19:07

It will be OK enough so that certain people will feel justified in going “I told you so!” while the ones who get impacted by the problems mourn.

Original poster
foxandbee · 19/07/2021 19:11

@gwenneh

It will be OK enough so that certain people will feel justified in going “I told you so!” while the ones who get impacted by the problems mourn.
I have don't want to be able to say "I told you so". I want Johnson to behave in a rational manner. Sadly for us all, he seems to thrive on chaos.
OP posts:
BillyShears · 19/07/2021 19:16

I tend to catastrophise but my husband doesn’t- he’s very sensible. Has been in work as a keyworker throughout all the lockdowns (I haven’t, I have some health issues) and he has just been getting on with it. After that press conference tonight he said “mate, we are so fucked”.

He’s my barometer of sense and even he is worried.

Jackgrealishscurtains · 19/07/2021 19:20

But we don’t get these daily figures for other viruses such as flu, if we did then I suspect that people would call for similar restrictions during the flu season

Wasn't it in 2018 that there was shit loads of flu deaths because they got the strain of wrong for that winters flu jab?

No one gave a fuck if I remember rightly.