It simply boils down to 5 options

[whyarepeoplesostupud]

1. You know no one vulnerable or anyone who has died of Covid therefore hate ALL restrictions as an infringement of your civil liberties.

1. You know someone who has 'had it' and think it's a mountain out of a molehill. They had a sniffle and got over it .. stop restricting our lives ..

1. You know someone who has had it.. in hospital or very ill at home and still recovering months later ... and are taking strong precautions. A rule follower

1. You have had personal interaction with someone /friend /family who has died and are not taking risks /socialising unnecessarily. Don't want your kids at school /don't want to travel to work.

1. Don't know anyone who has died but follow the science and am sufficiently worried to go out and about at an absolute minimum.

Human beings have a 'self preservation' gene. We tend to respond to things that affect us directly .

Which are you. ?

No these options don't fit for me.
I think there is a loose link between knowing someone that died and how seriously you take the restrictions, but not in the rigid way you suggest.

I know someone who has died, very early on. I am not a keen follower of the rules, although I have mostly followed them. I am fairly bored of the restrictions and want my life back. I have no fear of Covid, but I do worry about endangering vulnerable relatives. I go to work even though I can work from home. I go out and about pretty much as normal (I'm not in a lockdown area), I have been on holiday and my child is going to school for sure.

None of the above. My reasoning is too complex to explain here - so I won't add no 6 7 8 9...

I am working - teaching 5 & 6 year olds & with other whole school responsibilities, so definitely no social distancing. My almost-adult son was on the shielding list (several letters, consultant & GP phone calls, the works). He refused to shield. Said he’d rather go out as much as possible, live his life & enjoy it & catch it and die than sit at home & wait for it to get him. I disagree but he IS old enough to choose. I stick to guidelines as far as I possibly can, push my school to follow guidelines as closely as possible, read as much of the science as I can bear without being totally overwhelmed with worry & fear. My work RA puts me at 0 (out of 12) because it explicitly only assesses me. My son doing the same RA falls on 9 - 10. It’s a road to madness. 😢

None of the above.

I know people who are extremely vulnerable, but noone who has died from it. I'm 99% sure I had it in March, I've tested positive for antibodies. It was mild, I would have worked through with the same symptoms pre-Covid.

I think resources should have been used to protect and provide for the extremely vulnerable, coupled with short, sharp lockdowns where needed to protect the NHS.

@waitforitwaitforit When you go out for coffee, do you notice how the safety of the staff in the coffee shop/cafe is being compromised? I watch them behind the counter in Costa, practically touching each other and leaning over each other, no masks on and think how ridiculous it is that they impose stringent measures on customers but nooone seems to care about the staff. Same goes for a number of restaurants I have been to.

My feeling is this...

If you are vulnerable to Covid (full disclosure.. I am on the CEV list - (lung condition, plus no spleen) ,, then we need to lock OURSELVES down and let everyone else get on with their lives... get it, get over it ... whilst we wait for a vaccine.. .. Make it 'Law' that All CEV's who are employees /self employed are protected and ABLE to WFH are required to do so.. for those that aren't , 100% furloughed.. (about 300k ) but better than 7 m .. the rest just get on with life. ,,,

I know people who have been very ill or died, also some with mild symptoms. We’ve stuck to the rules, I’m semi isolated so I could continue to work and not infect others if possible (nhs).

[quote BunsyGirl]@waitforitwaitforit When you go out for coffee, do you notice how the safety of the staff in the coffee shop/cafe is being compromised? I watch them behind the counter in Costa, practically touching each other and leaning over each other, no masks on and think how ridiculous it is that they impose stringent measures on customers but nooone seems to care about the staff. Same goes for a number of restaurants I have been to.[/quote]
I know that's how I feel in my own workplace. I wonder how many people go to work and feel totally covid secure? (Another phrase that ill happily see consigned to history.)

@whyarepeoplesostupud

My feeling is this...

If you are vulnerable to Covid (full disclosure.. I am on the CEV list - (lung condition, plus no spleen) ,, then we need to lock OURSELVES down and let everyone else get on with their lives... get it, get over it ... whilst we wait for a vaccine.. .. Make it 'Law' that All CEV's who are employees /self employed are protected and ABLE to WFH are required to do so.. for those that aren't , 100% furloughed.. (about 300k ) but better than 7 m .. the rest just get on with life. ,,,

What do you suggest for the CEV who live in overcrowded or shared or temporary housing?

When a family member is CEV, what do other household members do? Their children? Would you keep them off ? Their partner or spouse to stay off work? Including those who are doctors or nurses or other HCP or teachers?

How do the CEV get medical treatment or receive social care with Covid running unchecked through the general population? How does anyone, CEV or not, get hospital care when the hospitals are full of Covid patients and the HCP are themselves ill?

Separately, what do you think people should do if they want to avoid the Russian Roulette risk of potentially permanent heart, lung, or brain damage (Long Covid)?

1. Swaying from one extreme to the other as I feel totally confused and like I'm being used as pawn in some unknown long term plan by the powers that be.

3+4

1. My DM died age 69 yes she had underlying conditions some typical to her age though non with immediate consequences.

I am definitely worried about a second wave in winter, there has been 6 cases in my DC school.

People are far more complex than you give them credit for.

I can't get my mind round the fact that you sat and plotted these five things out in your head. And missed about a dozen other possibilities while you were at it.

I know people who've had it and put of 10, 8 had a very minor illness. One died but she was very ill and moved to a covid ward. Her daughter thinks they're using covid to avoid an autopsy to cover up.neglect. The 9th person was laid up in.bed for a week but recovered.
But now I'm seeing people lose their jobs and businesses because of lockdown. People suffering with depression because of lockdown. I'm seeing more suffering due to lockdown than the virus so it's skews my attitude.

Who exactly do these people think is going to feed the country and maintain vital infrastructure (including the soft stuff like IT systems) whilst everyone is huddling in their homes?

Some of this frothing disaster stuff is so, totally delusional. If we don't leave our homes, our country will collapse and cease to exist as a functional state. Why don't these people understand this?

Personally, I blame the tv show "Doomsdays Preppers".

OP - which of the 5 options do you align with? Sorry if I missed that.

As much as the term new normal is annoying it is true we must get on with it. DP has worked throughout the DC are back in school, it is scary but so was lockdown.

@PicsInRed
For the sake of those who feed us, nurse us, and keep the infrastructure going, the rest of us need to do our bit by taking the necessary precautions. The risk to essential workers is reduced when everyone else is limiting their movements.

Many countries are taking effective action to halt and contain the spread. They've managed to do this whilst keeping essential services going. In fact, it helps to ensure these services can continue to safely operate.

The economic consequences of failing to deal with Covid are dire. The Bank of England has warned of the dangers of letting Covid run unchecked through the population.

@winetime89

I fit mainly with one and two. I know no one who has officially had it but I was poorly for six weeks end of March. I'm a healthy 30 year old. The government should never have wasted all that money on everyone for furlough, they should have used it just for the vulnerable/ health problems/ people over a certain age( if they wanted to) and let the rest of us get on with life.

Why do you not think that approach would have led to the NHS being overwhelmed with so many people becoming infected though? Plus many other services struggling to keep going with loads of people off ill? Genuine question.

SheepandCow

If we carry on with lockdowns, there won't be the tax income to pay the NHS wage bill. There won't be an NHS.

We now know that the majority of COVID infected are not seriously ill, so either this is mass hysteria, or there is something we aren't being told about long term effects.

Perhaps "wartime censorship" is in place.

1. You are a vapid idiot, who somehow, mystifyingly, after world-wide coverage of the coronavirus all through this year, has still not managed to grasp the most basic facts or implications of this pandemic.

1. You were born out of your time, and have missed your calling as a member of the SS.

I assume the Bank of England knows about the economy. They've warned about the economic danger if Covid cases keep on increasing.

With coronavirus running unchecked through the population, we definitely won't have tax income to pay for the NHS. Which wouldn't be able to run anyhow, what with the beds full of Covid patients (many won't die but still require hospitalisation, which they won't get if beds fill up) and staff too ill to work (again, many won't die but will need weeks off work).

We now know the majority of Covid patients aren't ill??? How can we possibly know that yet? We still have much to learn about Long Covid. With at least 10% of patients affected (many young previously healthy) that's already quite a lot of people and a fair sized proportion of the workforce (including HCP).

The economy, the NHS, schools, etc can't run or be funded with unchecked coronavirus spreading through the population.

Wartime censorship? Possibly. We very rarely hear reports on how most other countries are dealing with Covid. We only ever hear about another country when it's bad news, and if they get on top of things it's quickly dropped from our news. When New Zealand had a tiny outbreak a month ago it was all over our news. But they took swift effective action to deal with it so now we don't hear about them.

Put me down under

A. Understands how exponential curves work and that we're on one. Again.

B. Understands that you can't lock down the known vulnerable and let the virus rip through the population because the numbers of ill and dead rapidly become too big to cope with. (See A.)

C. I have NHS friends and have read the NHSers thread on here and I have no wish for any more of them to die, get life limiting post covid conditions or suffer PTSD like in the first wave.

@cbt944

6. You are a vapid idiot, who somehow, mystifyingly, after world-wide coverage of the coronavirus all through this year, has still not managed to grasp the most basic facts or implications of this pandemic.

1. You were born out of your time, and have missed your calling as a member of the SS.

Covering your bases there CBT