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. ?

I have close personal friends who have contracted Covid and survived, acquaintances who contracted it and did not survive.

Throughout I have obeyed the rules for the most part, am happy to wear a mask in public etc, but I am not in any way terrified to leave the house, a shopping washer, or actually all that frightened at the prospect of contracting the virus even though I know people it has killed.

My adherence to SD, mask wearing, not breaching lockdown etc stems from the fact that I have no desire to contract it and unknowingly, and asymptomatically pass it to friends and other members of my community.

I am parts of your #3 and #4, but they don't adequately describe me either as I'm less concerned by and preoccupied with Covid restrictions than either of the people you describe there.

I was on the shielding list so am very cautious about how much I am interacting with others. I do recognise I have a responsibility to keep myself safe no matter what others do and I may have to lockdown tighter than others.

A couple in my village died, a friend was in hospital (not ICU) and is taking a long time to recover. My friend is currently infected and has lost her taste and smell and is a bit tired so I have seen it ranges from trivial to very serious.

I worry about what lockdown is doing to the economy and the physical and mental health of loads of people including the vulnerable we are trying to protect.

I know a few people who have had it and nobody who has been hospitalized or died.
I followed the original lockdown from March to May strictly. Since then I have been using common sense. E.g. seeing my parents who havent been anywhere and neither have I, was not going to be high risk and therefore was worth it. Going to the pub in my opinion was not worth the risk. I can do my own risk assessments but clearly many people arent intelligent enough to do that and are either ridiculously cautious or ridiculously blasé.

134
Where was all this fuss when 50,000 people died from flu two years ago despite a vaccine.

We are not gods. Humanity has a dire track record on eliminating viruses.

We live. We love. We grieve. We die. As a society we are poor at accepting our own mortality. I got that lesson at 11 when my dad died suddenly. We don't know when we might die, or our health may fail so live life well while you can.

Society will suffer, but it's suffering more from fruitlessly trying to fight the virus, and the effects will be felt far longer the harder we fruitlessly try to fight it.

I respect sensible, logical rules, keeping my distance. Keeping interactions outdoors. Being protective around more vulnerable people. But making it a crime to go for a walk with another family is utterly, utterly disproportionate to the risk.

We are being led by headless chickens.

None of the above.

I think it's an impossible, no win situation. All the armchair experts who think they have the solution either way are talking out of their arses.

The truth is probably that if we just let Covid rip through the population unchecked it would have dire consequences.

But if we keep going into lockdown and closing down society as we know it. That will have equally dire consequences.

The government have to try not to tip the scales. Yes they're probably making a hash up of it. We did elect a clown, but plenty of other countries are making a mess of it too.

It's a mess and nobody knows what to do.

I don’t know what I think anymore. I’m ground down. I’m tired. I guess if I’m anything I’m starting to believe the guys with the tin foil hats.

My husband and I have different views about this - I would like people to properly Social distancing & not sure about the masks - I can’t quite work out whether they help or hinder. After watching a man in a mask blow raspberries on his baby face not sure people do either. My husband ready to lock down again and be restricted.
I miss my family, I resent the fact that I can’t spend the quality time with them. My children haven’t seen their Grandma (mil) since new year. She terrified of her own grandchildren ‘killing her’ husband has had social distancing visits but it’s a 6 hour round trip.
I have had a series Ill health in the past and very nearly died - I want to LIVE a life not this. Maybe I’m more accepting of my own mortality having been close before - lock down wasn’t living it’s like everyone living & been controlled by fear.

@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. ,,,

Yup this. This is what they should have done

Absolutely none of the above!

None of the above. I know three people who have had it, all early thirties, all said the same - they felt rough for a week then recovered with no issues. I have no fear of getting it myself - I'm mixed race but early thirties and slim, in good physical health - but I'm very concerned about passing it on to older family members or to my best friend, who has a heart condition. My mother would probably be fine - she's in her late sixties but very fit and healthy - but I'd hate to take that chance, and I have other older relatives who are not in good health at all.

None of the above. What gives you the right to decide that this is how the entire population is broken down OP. How callous.

I'm z) I'm clinically vulnerable but I've chosen not to shield. I don't want to. I'm a key worker. I don't worry about corona. I've already lost a child (not to corona, long ago) so my world view is screwed and it's going to take a lot more than a virus to worry me now. I go to work. My children go to school. I don't willingly put people at risk but I hate the rules and regulations and although I cover my face I don't do it gladly.

Everyone, OP, everyone has their own circumstances. Not many posts on this thread enrage me. Some of them I think are a bit silly but I appreciate people's worries. But this - how bloody dare you OP, try to simplify everyone's lives to fit your own world view. Grow up and think about the wider picture than just your own

None of those.

Dh is definitely a 1 but is the only person I know who takes such a simplistic view things.

@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. ,,,

It also makes me not less angry that you are CEV. So that makes you able to speak for the entire population? No. It doesn't. Again. Grow up

I know a few who've had it, 2 have died. ( but were very ill prior)
However it still doesn't scare me. I'm not going to live my life in fear.
OK so I'm not going to party and I won't go to pubs etc. But if I want to bump into anyone I know at the park and make it 2 families of 4 or whatever I will.
Same as I will go to inlaws for dinner on a weekend and make 8 of us.
More chance of my kids picking something up from school. Or pre school than seeing my inlaws in their house.

@BogRollBOGOF

134 Where was all this fuss when 50,000 people died from flu two years ago despite a vaccine.

We are not gods. Humanity has a dire track record on eliminating viruses.

We live. We love. We grieve. We die. As a society we are poor at accepting our own mortality. I got that lesson at 11 when my dad died suddenly. We don't know when we might die, or our health may fail so live life well while you can.

Society will suffer, but it's suffering more from fruitlessly trying to fight the virus, and the effects will be felt far longer the harder we fruitlessly try to fight it.

I respect sensible, logical rules, keeping my distance. Keeping interactions outdoors. Being protective around more vulnerable people. But making it a crime to go for a walk with another family is utterly, utterly disproportionate to the risk.

We are being led by headless chickens.

Whereabouts in the world are you? I ask because two years ago 1,692 people died of flu in the UK. Admittedly, that was a very low number compared to the average rate, but deaths to flu never reach 50,000.

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/839350/Surveillance_of_influenza_and_other_respiratory_viruses_in_the_UK_2018_to_2019-FINAL.pdf

So I am none of the above

I know nobody who has (knowingly) had it.

My mum is vulnerable and shielding so I am worried for her. I know it can be very serious for those in the vulnerable category.

My kids aren’t vulnerable so I’m not at all worried for them. I’ve read the statistics and science and it’s not a danger. I’m more worried about their education from school being disrupted and their mental health etc.

a friend in the adoption team of my local social services department has told me that they had as many referrals in the three months of lockdown as they would normally have in a year

But is that a direct consequence of covid or has covid highlighted situations that already existed? I believe the latter and it could be argued that situations that would have gone otherwise unnoticed are now on the radar and could potentially improve people’s lives long term.
......
I don’t really fit into any of the OP’s categories definitively. I’m concerned about lots of things at the moment and any confidence I may have had in the government (which wasn’t much - they’ve never been my preference) is rapidly diminishing. We have limited resources and they need to be used wisely and protected by an open and transparent government.

The NHS is put under pressure almost every winter (And has been for decades) by increased need caused by flu, cold and a general decline in people’s health during the winter months. Adding corona to that pressure exposes us all to risks because healthcare simply won’t be there if we need it. For anything.

I’m less worried about covid itself but the thought of not being able to access healthcare terrifies me in the worst case scenario. Covid is survivable but in some cases only with intervention, that’s what needs protecting. It’s great that we’ve identified treatment options but they’re all finite resources.

The truth is probably that if we just let Covid rip through the population unchecked it would have dire consequences.

But if we keep going into lockdown and closing down society as we know it. That will have equally dire consequences.

Well yes. It’s a novel virus to which none of the population had immunity with a natural R of >3 and which can be transmitted before symptoms develop, and which makes a statistically significant % of people ill enough to need hospital treatment or die. Apparently a worryingly large number of people are too unintelligent to grasp the implications to the economy, healthcare, society etc. of taking no mitigation measures. It would be significantly worse.