Do shielding people think a magic wand will wave on 30th June?

[yearinyearout]

I know three people close to me who are in the shielded group, they've all had texts to say their shielding period is extended to 30th June.

One says as soon as that date is up she's off out for a big long walk in the countryside (she could actually do that safely now as long as she didn't touch anything, but she's following the text to the letter and not leaving the house)

The other can't wait to meet friends for coffee ASAP after that date, she seems to think the corona fairy is making it disappear on 30th June.

Next one can't wait to go out for a drive as she's sick of the same four walls, and will be off out 1st July!

[Mawbags]

You’re all heart, OP

[dottiedodah]

I feel for Shielders. and am grateful I can still go to the shops once a week and out for my daily dog walk .No one knows what will happen .But I thought the point of sheilding was to protect vulnerable people at the peak rate of Infection ? So if numbers go down ,then surely they are safer (not 100% safe obv,no one is !) and can meet up go for drives and so on ? Their mental health after 3 months in Isolation will need a big boost!

[Potentialmadcatlady]

Thanks for your wonderful attitude!
Just for one moment why don’t you try and think about what is is like for ‘shielded people’... Imagine what it is like to be sent two letters,three txts and various phone calls all telling you that if you get this disease your teenagers will mostly likely die. On their own in hospital in a particularly nasty way. Your adult teenagers who have an active life normally, who are at Uni and college training to be active productive members of society.
We aren’t stupid and we totally understand what is going on. We totally get that this isn’t going away anytime soon and we have already been told shielding will have to be extended.
We are also listening and watching other members of society breaking the ‘rules’ day and daily and making this worse for everyone. We are listening to people complaining about not being with their friends. Complaining about how one period of exercise just isn’t enough...
Right now we aren’t looking past the End of June on purpose because we can’t and still stay sane

[nicky7654]

And the issue is????????

[mrsbyers]

The wave of second letters this week are still open ended it just creates a date at which we all expect it to be reviewed as the whole 12 weeks from date of initial letter has everyone ‘ending’ at staggered points

[ifonly4]

I'd really hope by that date numbers will be really low. There's always a risk, but hopefully with distancing, hygiene and special measures taken by employers, those shielding will be able to go out for a walk, have a distance chat with friends, work etc.

[Roselilly36]

I am shielded till 30 June, I started before the official guidance started, I won’t be going out 1 July, I will wait and see what happens with the infection rate, as I am concerned about a second wave.

[Potentialmadcatlady]

Same here Roselilly..

[catsandlavender]

What are they supposed to do, ignore it? If they did, people would probably criticise them, and yet you’re having a dig at them for following the guidance. This is quite patronising.

[LastTrainEast]

"they've said that for most of the shielding group including the over 65's, the vaccines aren't going to be very effective. Similar to the flu vaccine"

What 'they' said is that in the US the record recently for picking which flu strain would be dominant has been poor. Not the same thing. If there has been some development recently. I'd be interested to see the source.

[NaturalBornWoman]

However I’ve already prepared my husband for the fact he won’t be going very far at the end of June

Does he have a learning disability or dementia or something?

[trappedsincesundaymorn]

However I’ve already prepared my husband for the fact he won’t be going very far at the end of June

I'm assuming you married an adult. Why can't he decide for himself what he does/does not do when shielding ends?

[BetsyJameson]

What a lovely person you are OP. Keep your opinions to yourself as if you haven’t got a child you are shielding or shielding yourself, you have no idea what you are talking about or how people are feeling.

[BeforeIPutOnMyMakeup]

@bookworm14 telling someone they don't have a right to comment isn't going to help them understand how ignorant their post is.

[Mullikins]

God these patronising threads are getting tedious now. No, most people know a magic wand isn't going to be the cure to this problem. But you can't expect people to stay in forever. And if they've managed to stay at home for 3 months, which is better than most people have managed, then why begrudge them a walk in the fresh air. Just mind your own business.

[SnoozyLou]

I take it you’re not shielding OP so have no clue what they’re going through and zero imagination or empathy. It is the hope of it being lifted that is getting them through. Yes, it’s unpleasant to keep moving the goal posts but by imposing lockdown in increments rather than actually telling people from the outset they won’t be able to go out for months, it’s easier to cope with mentally. Baby steps. I think your attitude stinks.

[iVampire]

‘ I agree with you in principle, which is why I think that people should safely visit the over 70's for Birthdays etc,‘

The over 70s as a whole are not in the shielding group - only those with the specified medical conditions are.

And no, we are not advised currently it’s OK to go out for a socially distanced walk as OP suggests. Because we are exceptionally vulnerable

But perhaps, when Rnumber is even lower, and ad more becomes known about the disease, the risk/benefit balance might stack up differently for the shielding group, or at least for some of us

I was in the first wave, and so had the message that it was for ‘at least’ 12 weeks (which was then until mid-June). It’s been extended to end June and might be extended again.

It’s tough, not being able to go out at all. But even though it might have MH consequences for some/many of us, it is not reducing our cognitive power. I was quite unhappy to read the opening post, as it seemed to suggest we are all a bit thick, or not paying attention to what the government and our medical teams are telling us. Which is a ridiculous thing to suggest

[crustycrab]

"If we have a hot summer it won't last long on outside surfaces."

We never have a hot summer. The virus did ok in Singapore

[daisychain01]

By then we will have antibody tests, so a clear picture on immunity

Having antibodies does not necessarily give a cast-iron guarantee that a person who has contracted COVID19 is immune in the future. Not enough is known yet. So it doesn't yet give a clear picture on immunity. Thats not to say that clinical trials cannot be run to test whether injecting serum from a recovered COVID19 patient into a person who hasn't yet had it, has any role to play in protection against the disease, but it isn't yet fully conclusive.

This is why people need to continue to be cautious, depending on their personal risk profile. It's still out there, so reasonable precautions even if lockdown ends at some stage will be needed for a long time to come.

[BlueBrian]

The shielding period will go on far longer than three months, it'll just keep getting extended, it could easily be a year or longer.

[lifestooshort123]

I am not shielding but have been sticking to the 'rules'. My expectations for the future have dwindled to being able to hug my grandchildren and to sit on an English beach and listen to the sea before the summer is over. I no longer hanker after my 2 Spanish holidays (both cancelled), meals out, shopping or the cinema. If I had been shielding I think my expectations would be the same so I support the OP's friends on this one.

[MereDintofPandiculation]

DH is shielding. Therefore I am too, since otherwise we will have to keep to separate rooms within the house. We're only too aware that shielding will continue until there is an effective vaccine, or a cure, or the virus has reduced to low levels. Which means both of us have lost the voluntary job which occupied 2-3 days a week, neither of us will be able to participate in the groups we run. And in two years time who knows if we will be able to build our social lives up again?

Once everyone is back at work, the shielded group will be forgotten, there will be no political imperative to make it safe for them to get out and about.

And meanwhile we've been brought up short to realise that most of our compatriots couldn't give two hoots about whether we live or die. OK, I realise that's true - most of us do find it hard to care about the fate of someone we don't know and have never met, but the social contacts you do have makes it easy to forget. At the moment it's all thrown into relief.

[pigsDOfly]

Not entirely sure of the point of this thread OP.

Out of all the people in the country that are shielding you know three, and all three have stated, really rather reasonable hopes, for what they'd like to do once the current shielding period comes to an end.

If you're asking are you being unreasonable to come on here, bitch about their wishes and talk about 'the corona fairy' then yes, you are.

Like most people, I'm sticking to the rules. I go to the supermarket every ten days or so and I go out to walk the dog once a day.

If it weren't for that once a day chance to get out of the house and into the fresh air and have a change of scenery I think I'd be feeling really, really down by now.

As it is, like a lot of people, I'm finding it hard enough. Can't imagine how hard I'd find it if I knew that I couldn't leave the house for the foreseeable future.

I very much doubt any of them think that, as you so charmingly put it, the corona virus fairy is going to make it all disappear on 30 June.

[AbsentmindedWoman]

Gosh you're a cunt OP.

Being charitable, you're probably using cuntyness to cover your own anxiety (that you will roundly deny having) because your mind boggles at the shit options shielded people will have available to them.

[Dreamersandwishers]

Absentmindedwoman, you took the words from my mouth.

I notice OP has run away...