To think it might be quite useful if they TOLD us if / what restrictions will be imposed from 26th

[RBKB]

I have guests coming for the 25th...but they need to know if they can catch the first trains home on the 27th.....

I was meant to be going to the ballet at the Royal Albert Hall on the 28th and they already mailed and cancelled the event, moving it to 2022.

Seems like they may know things we don’t…

@Mumoblue

Do I think they’re waiting for data? Mmm, not particularly. It’d a be a pretty big coincidence that the data will be ready right after Christmas. Who’s bringing it, Santa? I’m not saying it’s impossible, but I think it’s more likely they’re just waiting for Christmas Day to pass.

I love that haha!! Santa is bringing the data 🤣👏🏻

@Buddyboy ah no not that one, I cant afford his prices!

@Foolsrule

It’s ridiculous. Just look at the figures on the BBC news site this morning. More cases than any other European country, the WHO claiming Armageddon is coming and the UK carries on, merrily doing nothing (and reduces isolation times 🙄). Meanwhile, our European counterparts are taking action because as we saw in 2020, you need to act quickly…

Still - at least we’re world beating in something (well, 6th in the works for biweekly infections per 100k of population)

It’s frustrating but in this case I can see why they’re doing it. I’d much rather any restrictions were based on the omicron data and scientific conclusions that will hopefully emerge over the next few days rather than have policymakers try and make decisions now before the data and evidence is there.

@Chunkymonkey13

It would nice if they said:

If the daily cases go over x amount then this will be the restrictions.

Then at least we all know what the crack is?!

Agree with this - at least set out the general criteria. Then at least we can say, fair cop , we gave it a go, but now that 1 in [15] of the population has omicron, it’s time for restrictions

Yea, we’re due to go away on 30th, If it can’t go ahead I’d rather know sooner than later really.

@Waxonwaxoff0

YANBU. We go away on the 27th, I'd rather know now if I can't go.

I sympathise greatly. We’re booked to go away on 4th January and that’s awkward enough. Being uncertain about the 27th is tough.

@Whywonttheyletmeusemyusername

Who said there were restrictions coming in from the 26th? Have I missed a Boris speech ?

No people are assuming that no more restrictions before Christmas means there will be some immediately afterwards. I think they are wrong. They won’t be as early as the 26th or 27th. They said no more announcements before Christmas. Even if there is an announcement on Boxing Day, which I think is too early, it won’t be for the imposition of immediate restrictions starting the same day will it? Will it? 😟

Surely if you’ve got plans on the 26th or 27th you’ve been given the go ahead haven’t you? No more announcements before Christmas they said.

Surely if you’ve got plans on the 26th or 27th you’ve been given the go ahead haven’t you? No more announcements before Christmas they said.

Well Christmas is the 25th so not really as they could make an announcement on 26th effective from the 27th.

@Hellocatshome

Surely if you’ve got plans on the 26th or 27th you’ve been given the go ahead haven’t you? No more announcements before Christmas they said.

Well Christmas is the 25th so not really as they could make an announcement on 26th effective from the 27th.

Aren't there 12 days of Christmas, so no announcements until 5th January?

Suppose the Government were to tell us now what restrictions they intend to put on the public, what difference would that make to your plans? As the new variant appears to be spreading so quickly, perhaps people are ignoring common sense anyway. It is safer for you all to stay at home and not mix with others who live a long way away if they have to take the train, and it is possible that if the virus escalated, it would have spread to passengers on the train.
The bans last year led to people saving up all the instances of disobedience and bringing it up in Parliament a year later, instead of reporting it right away. If a crime has been committed and not reported immediately, covering up a crime should be equally punishable as the crime itself.
Now the Government is wary: if there are no restrictions other than the obvious, there can be no extra work imposed on the police forces. If you have to be told not to do something which after almost two years you should know, then there is something seriously lacking in the education system.
Those who have not been vaccinated have no right to travel anywhere. Most of the people draining the NHS resources are NOT VACCINATED. If unvaccinated people catch the virus, THEY SHOULD PAY FOR THEIR TREATMENT if it means hogging beds and putting off surgery for those who have been vaccinated.

''All we like sheep have gone astray'' comes to mind.

@XingMing

Another person here to say that 100,000 cases are largely irrelevant. Very few, unless unvaxxed or with serious underlying health conditions, are going to be hospitalised and fewer still will end up in ITU.

That said there's a million-odd people feeling dreadfully poorly, for whom the best advice is ancient wisdom: go to bed, drink lots of water and juice, take aspirin and paracetamol according to the instructions on the packet, sleep as much as possible, eat a little when you feel able. Eat, read, sleep and watch TV, rinse and repeat. Mostly this variant doesn't seem to need medical intervention -- unless the person affected is already unwell with a serious condition.

So Chris Whitty, CDC and WHO - that’s you told!

@Whattodonowill

If I'd made as many cock ups in my job, I'd have had the sack months ago. How he sleeps at night is a fucking mystery to me.

He sleeps the sleep of a man without a moral compass

@llizzie

Suppose the Government were to tell us now what restrictions they intend to put on the public, what difference would that make to your plans? As the new variant appears to be spreading so quickly, perhaps people are ignoring common sense anyway. It is safer for you all to stay at home and not mix with others who live a long way away if they have to take the train, and it is possible that if the virus escalated, it would have spread to passengers on the train. The bans last year led to people saving up all the instances of disobedience and bringing it up in Parliament a year later, instead of reporting it right away. If a crime has been committed and not reported immediately, covering up a crime should be equally punishable as the crime itself. Now the Government is wary: if there are no restrictions other than the obvious, there can be no extra work imposed on the police forces. If you have to be told not to do something which after almost two years you should know, then there is something seriously lacking in the education system. Those who have not been vaccinated have no right to travel anywhere. Most of the people draining the NHS resources are NOT VACCINATED. If unvaccinated people catch the virus, THEY SHOULD PAY FOR THEIR TREATMENT if it means hogging beds and putting off surgery for those who have been vaccinated.

''All we like sheep have gone astray'' comes to mind.

Spot on.

In fact any self inflicted injury or illness should be paid for by the person who made that choice. Fell down the stairs whilst under the affluence of incohol, pay up. Smoking illness, here give us £10,000 before we'll treat you, diabetes due to poor diet. Injured playing sport, well that was your choice. Injured riding your bike, pay, should have taken a car. Injured driving your car, well you should drive more carefully pay up.

Well, I won't cancel any plans on a rumour. I will cancel short notice if restrictions prevent the plans because then there will be no choice. Not going to waste brain space on trying to plan for endless eventualities. My plans will go ahead or they won't. Simple.

There is much conflicting and privileged information which I have no access to and even if I did it would just be like tossing a coin regarding deciding what is the most relevant in my situation. So I go on how I feel and this is it. 🤷‍♀️

LondonLadyy : you may have a point. In January last year I had a hospital appointment to be fitted for a new leg splint. When we arrived there was no one in the waiting room except us and when people came in they sat well away. Three rooms in the back were being used for patients one at a time, though there was no PPE or hand gel, nothing like that. We just thought there were not many people using that department. Not until March was it clear, and even then they were telling us masks were useless, which we later found out was because all the EU certified PPE was being saved for the NHS. (because people forgot that although we voted to leave the EU, we were bound by the rules until 31/12/20). Thousands of elderly people died because there carer's in care homes had no PPE. The EU countries which made it would not send it. They wanted it all for themselves, nothing wrong with that.

I wonder how many people realise that if the Government had called masks ''face coverings' last year, thousands of lives could have been saved.

@llizzie

Suppose the Government were to tell us now what restrictions they intend to put on the public, what difference would that make to your plans? As the new variant appears to be spreading so quickly, perhaps people are ignoring common sense anyway. It is safer for you all to stay at home and not mix with others who live a long way away if they have to take the train, and it is possible that if the virus escalated, it would have spread to passengers on the train. The bans last year led to people saving up all the instances of disobedience and bringing it up in Parliament a year later, instead of reporting it right away. If a crime has been committed and not reported immediately, covering up a crime should be equally punishable as the crime itself. Now the Government is wary: if there are no restrictions other than the obvious, there can be no extra work imposed on the police forces. If you have to be told not to do something which after almost two years you should know, then there is something seriously lacking in the education system. Those who have not been vaccinated have no right to travel anywhere. Most of the people draining the NHS resources are NOT VACCINATED. If unvaccinated people catch the virus, THEY SHOULD PAY FOR THEIR TREATMENT if it means hogging beds and putting off surgery for those who have been vaccinated.

''All we like sheep have gone astray'' comes to mind.

I'd be able to adapt. My (fully vaccinated) father is supposed to come and see me in Europe on the 28th, having put it back from the 22nd due to me catching covid. We booked it all before omicron was a thing, when things were looking up a bit. I'm autistic and really need time to adapt to plans changing if at all possible, so yes it would be nice to know if they're going to close borders on the 27th.

I'm autistic and really need time to adapt to plans changing if at all possible, so yes it would be nice to know if they're going to close borders on the 27th.

Ooh tricky. Would planning a couple of case scenarios in more detail help you? Then you could just do whichever one fits.

Also for people saying about higher rates in the UK - this is true, however in my region of Spain at any rate, they are doing absolutely minimal testing. Use of LFTs isn't commonplace, if you have symptoms they do an LFT at the clinic or you can buy one from a pharmacy. PCR only if necessary for work and LFT is inconclusive. People in the same household as positive symptomatic cases don't get tested unless they have symptoms. Generally there is very little education on the importance of testing when you have cold-like symptoms (hence why I have caught it despite being very cautious, and I know I have it much worse than the person i caught it off)

@glimpsing

I'm autistic and really need time to adapt to plans changing if at all possible, so yes it would be nice to know if they're going to close borders on the 27th.

Ooh tricky. Would planning a couple of case scenarios in more detail help you? Then you could just do whichever one fits.

This is actually a really good idea, thank you. I already had a contingency plan for if he couldn't come on Christmas day and now have that all planned out, but I should make plans for if he can't make it at all.

Happy to have helped.

Haha literally said this to my sister today... they keep making noises about something happening... they kinda need to hurry up with it almost being chritsmas eve

Looking at the papers today it would appear that scientists think that Omicron is not as severe symptom-wise (although it is more infectious)

So I can't see any stringent measures being applied.

I still think your guests might be hard-pushed to find a train - sorry.