To think some people are ‘enjoying’ the pandemic

[Flynnqwer]

I’ve noticed an attitude amongst some people where they’re nothing short of praying for a new, more lethal, variant.

I’ve noticed it amongst people I work with and people I do a hobby with. Any discussion about going back to our workplace (we can work from home but not easily or particularly effectively) once the Government ends the restrictions on waiting from home, or back to our hobby in real life instead of on Zoom (the hobby is controlled by a central board who are following the WFH advice until it is lifted) are met with cries of ‘No! We can’t do that! It’s dangerous!’ and it anyone points out that, thankfully, it looks like the vaccination programme is working and Omicron is less severe, they come back with ‘but what if there’s a more lethal strain that appears and kills millions?’

My workplace has one element which has legally got to be done in person. I have had emails today from managers begging us to cancel said work thing and do it online. We cannot do it on line lawfully (it’s along the lines of witnessing signatures). We have told them no, we must go into the building for an hour to fulfil this function. They are saying that that is breaking the working from home directive, that it’s unsafe, and what if a deadly variant is discovered? Then we’d have to find a way around the law.

AIBU that some people are actively hoping that the situation worsens and we are locked back down? Why would anyone want this to happen?

@3scape omg I do apologise I totally @ the wrong person. It wasn’t you at all I was aiming it at, I’ve just double checked, that will teach me to check carefully. I’m so sorry.

Bloody widow brain, I can’t think straight

@LizzieSiddal

They want to speculate on what terrible new variant could be discovered

But they are entirely reasonable to talk about something scary that could well happen.

There is still planning and catastrophising!! BCP is planning for something that might happen, but you don't operate continuously in BCP mode. Life has to go on!!

[quote AllThePogs]@Hrpuffnstuff1 I have seen fallouts and real issues caused by people becoming friends with their colleagues. If I and a friend have a fallout it has zero issues for the workplace.[/quote]
i will agree with this 100 per cent , the person i wrote about im friends with although i really dont feel we are anymore , im really hoping in some ways she just carries on getting herself signed off so i dont have to work with her , i worry i wont know how to bite my tongue if she comes back and the moaning starts

"Perhaps those who furlough bash would like to live my life for a while"

Who is bashing furlough though? Furlough was a great way to keep people at home without being impoverished (in most cases). Most of us just wish we'd had it too. And obviously yes, not the risk of losing our jobs, just the paid time off.

There was a poster or two who did (not the poster I mentioned, that was totally a mistake on my part)

Lots of us did end up losing our jobs, yes we did get the paid time off but at what cost.. I would have far rather have continued working throughout at least I would have had a job to go to. I spent the whole time on furlough worrying about my job as it was made clear to me that a quarter of the workforce were going to be made redundant. Not nice at all.

Offmyfence

Sorry but I disagree. This variant is weak and we're learning to live with it.

But we are not learning to live with it. The government and various people are not learning at all and just want ot go back to how things were.

If we were learning from this schools, clubs and pubs etc. would have ventilation in place, people would stop moaning about wearing a mask in enclosed spaces.

And people would realise that we could do more to prevent the spread without having to go in to a lockdown or closing schools which very few people want.

various people are not learning at all and just want ot go back to how things were.

But of course people want to go back to how things were. People liked living their lives the way they were before this. Being willing to change things for a temporary emergency doesn’t mean people signed up to changing things permanently - did you really expect people would keep happily wearing masks indoors for the rest of their lives?

@FrippEnos

Offmyfence

Sorry but I disagree. This variant is weak and we're learning to live with it.

But we are not learning to live with it. The government and various people are not learning at all and just want ot go back to how things were.

If we were learning from this schools, clubs and pubs etc. would have ventilation in place, people would stop moaning about wearing a mask in enclosed spaces.

And people would realise that we could do more to prevent the spread without having to go in to a lockdown or closing schools which very few people want.

Yes I'm loving getting back to normal.

Attended a very busy funeral on Thursday (very sad) and a west end theatre on Friday.

... did you really expect people would keep happily wearing masks indoors for the rest of their lives?

I think some people do actually expect this. At least, there doesn't ever seem a point when they'd be happy getting back to life pre-2020.

And people would realise that we could do more to prevent the spread without having to go in to a lockdown or closing schools which very few people want.

I mean, what? I presume you mean shutting down all leisure and entertainment and sports and hobby clubs and things like that.

But that basically is lockdown. And I don’t want my whole life to be going to work, dropping kids at school, collecting kids, bringing ten straight back home to sit in their rooms playing quietly, and the grand highlight of sitting outside mil’s house one Sunday a month waving with our own travel mugs of tea.

@treeflowercat

... did you really expect people would keep happily wearing masks indoors for the rest of their lives?

I think some people do actually expect this. At least, there doesn't ever seem a point when they'd be happy getting back to life pre-2020.

Not in the west end auditorium on Friday! No mask were worn.

I was jealous of furlough, as lockdown caused my precious 7hr workday and 1hr lunch break, to turn in to 12-15 hour days with barely the time to pee let alone eat.

Meanwhile my wonderful best friend was baking, sunbathing, having lie ins and late movie nights etc (she also did a lot of volunteer work) and generally had a much more relaxed time of it than I was having. I couldn't even book annual leave as work was too mental.

I dont blame people on furlough though, but I am horrified and disgusted knowing my grandchildren will still be paying off the debt caused by it.

I think Mathanxiety's comment about "red states" has perfectly demonstrated why the US will never be able to find equality. The polarisations there along political lines are shocking. If anyone actually cared about their fellow man in the US, they wouldnt have a healthcare system that has the costs associated with it as the number one cause of suicide and people too afraid to go to to hospital for help in case they cant pay the fees.

Also, its mathS as in mathematicS

@Nidan2Sandan

I was jealous of furlough, as lockdown caused my precious 7hr workday and 1hr lunch break, to turn in to 12-15 hour days with barely the time to pee let alone eat.

Meanwhile my wonderful best friend was baking, sunbathing, having lie ins and late movie nights etc (she also did a lot of volunteer work) and generally had a much more relaxed time of it than I was having. I couldn't even book annual leave as work was too mental.

I dont blame people on furlough though, but I am horrified and disgusted knowing my grandchildren will still be paying off the debt caused by it.

I think Mathanxiety's comment about "red states" has perfectly demonstrated why the US will never be able to find equality. The polarisations there along political lines are shocking. If anyone actually cared about their fellow man in the US, they wouldnt have a healthcare system that has the costs associated with it as the number one cause of suicide and people too afraid to go to to hospital for help in case they cant pay the fees.

Also, its mathS as in mathematicS

@Nidan2Sandan

This is exactly what my problem was with the comments by @mathanxiety. How dare anyone try to implant their own country's toxic domestic political polarisation in another country. The quarantine we actually need is on US political coverage.

We have enough ridiculous politicisation of covid here, we really don’t need to import the US model. Antivaxxers vs. the respirator-masks-on-toddlers camp

@FrippEnos

Offmyfence

Sorry but I disagree. This variant is weak and we're learning to live with it.

But we are not learning to live with it. The government and various people are not learning at all and just want ot go back to how things were.

If we were learning from this schools, clubs and pubs etc. would have ventilation in place, people would stop moaning about wearing a mask in enclosed spaces.

And people would realise that we could do more to prevent the spread without having to go in to a lockdown or closing schools which very few people want.

"Endemicity was written into this virus," says Dr Elisabetta Groppelli, a virologist at St George's, University of London.

"I am very optimistic," she says. "We'll soon be in a situation where the virus is circulating, we will take care of people at risk, but for anybody else we accept they will catch it - and your average person will be fine."

""We're almost there, it is now the beginning of the end, at least in the UK," Prof Julian Hiscox, chairman in infection and global health at the University of Liverpool"

@FrippEnos

"Learning to live with covid" will mean gradually less severe strains, and continuing to vaccinate those who are most at risk. It won't mean vaccinating the entire world every six months, ongoing lockdowns, and permanent masks.

I'm more or less living my life as before already. I wear a mask where obligated, and that's the extent of it.

It was so uncomfortable to see my more hysterical friends seemingly praying for any lifting of restrictions to result in mass deaths, just so they would be "right" and the government would be "wrong and evil".
@AllThePogs

And you say these aren’t shit friends?

I think if employees enjoyed lockdown it’s a sign of sheer exhaustion and inflexible bosses. Maybe it was a relief, for some, to drop the commute and see more of their kids. Lockdowns were terrible for others. However, maybe the lesson can be that employers can be more flexible. More home working will help many, especially working mums.

I know a few people who quite frankly didnt have much else going on and being a full time Covid worrier has given them both a purpose in life and an excuse not to do anything, rolled into one.

But we are not learning to live with it. The government and various people are not learning at all and just want ot go back to how things were.

Well, yes of course they do. I'm not sure why you would think they wouldn't?

@HarrietteNightingale

But we are not learning to live with it. The government and various people are not learning at all and just want ot go back to how things were.

Well, yes of course they do. I'm not sure why you would think they wouldn't?

I think everyone understands why they would want to, it is just that it is a bit silly to think we can just make that decision for the virus. Wishing isn't going to fix it.

The fact is it is here to stay and the CMOs have advised government it will take time to get to a stable endemic state. So what is the plan? Oh, er, 'live with it'.

The fact is, rrhuth that you and others are going to have to accept that you can't mandate what choices others make, which you may or may not approve of. You're going to have to learn to manage your feelings about what other people are doing. It's clear we are moving towards removing some restrictions and people will be getting back to normal as far as possible, as many people have been for much of the last year and a half during the periods when restrictions were relaxed.

There are no interventions/mitigations which are cost-free, and pragmatic decisions will need to be taken by all of us up to and including political leaders.

But of course people want to go back to how things were. People liked living their lives the way they were before this. Being willing to change things for a temporary emergency doesn’t mean people signed up to changing things permanently - did you really expect people would keep happily wearing masks indoors for the rest of their lives?

I think there genuinely are some people who think this.

@HarrietteNightingale

The fact is, rrhuth that you and others are going to have to accept that you can't mandate what choices others make, which you may or may not approve of. You're going to have to learn to manage your feelings about what other people are doing. It's clear we are moving towards removing some restrictions and people will be getting back to normal as far as possible, as many people have been for much of the last year and a half during the periods when restrictions were relaxed.

What on earth does this mean??

I have never suggested I can mandate anyone else's choices, and I am perfectly able to manage my feelings.

I am well aware that the restrictions are being removed, my point is that this is not going to help the country move forwards with regards to covid. Getting to endemic covid is a biological process, not a decision a (lying) politician makes from the despatch box.

With regards to this: people will be getting back to normal as far as possible, healthcare is nowhere near normal and looks unlikely to be for many years. Life expectancy is goingt o be lower for our children than it was estimated to be in 2019. You can't make it normal by making it look 'normal' (much as we all wish that were possible).

The healthcare system is indeed not ‘back to normal’, but that’s not because it’s overwhelmed with covid. It’s because it’s dealing with a huge backlog built up during the past two years, plus covid, plus covid-related staff absences, plus a mess of a social care sector creating extra load on the NHS, plus the legacy of years of being underfunded and run on an idiotic model of ‘efficiency’ where slack in the system was seen as a problem.

While all of that is indeed a problem closing nightclubs and wearing masks is not going to make it not be a problem. We may as well make everyone wear T-shirts saying ‘Gosh What A Shame About The NHS’ to demonstrate we’re taking it seriously.