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Will disruption over the October half term be the final straw?

309 replies

beanburgerandcheese · 28/09/2020 11:58

Just that - will it be the point that people say enough is enough with this? Summer plans already disrupted, millions have planned for UK breaks through the October half term just to face potential disruption again. ow long will people patience last with this?

OP posts:
DameFanny · 06/10/2020 21:08

But ignoring the pandemic won't make the Continuing Weird go away...

A Universal Basic Income would however be an EXCELLENT thing to come out of this all

Vinomummyinlockdown · 06/10/2020 21:10

Haven’t seen my parents for a YEAR thanks to covid and shielding and definitely not had or planning any holidays!!! People really need to get a grip! 😖🤬

ListeningQuietly · 06/10/2020 21:11

UBI is a pipe dream with housing at 500 per person per week in western cities

lets just learn to live with a not very dangerous disease

DameFanny · 06/10/2020 21:26

UBI and rent control then

And a lot of people would love to know how you propose learning to live with a disease that would shut down the NHS if left to its own devices.

Seriously, you keep saying that, what do you actually mean?

ListeningQuietly · 06/10/2020 21:50

And a lot of people would love to know how you propose learning to live with a disease that would shut down the NHS if left to its own devices
(a) nobody proposes leaving it to its own devices
(b) Germany has properly funded healthcare

What I mean is that lockdowns are stupid

YogiBearcub · 06/10/2020 22:07

Final straw before what? What is going to happen if this final straw has been reached? There is not much we can do really apart from try to be sensible and avoid the virus spreading even more than it already has. We voted for these jokers (not me though) and there won't be another chance to vote again before in many years....

DameFanny · 06/10/2020 22:11

You haven't explained what you mean by learning to live with? And we're not in lockdown - haven't been for months - so I don't what that's supposed to have to do with it?

andIdidntliketheending · 07/10/2020 00:07

I think if they were going to initiate a stricter lockdown, they'd have done it by now. I don't think anything will be changing or closing over the half term.

MeandT · 07/10/2020 01:19

Biggest message that has gone unexplained throughout in this country is WHY the distancing, mask, and smaller contacts list measures need to work. Clearly Boris and his mates have done a rubbish job of that as all the #thinkingformyself brigade are just randomly running around spreading infection at a rate that is going to fill the ICUs anyway.

I've not heard anyone that has said 'learn to live with it' explain a way of doing that with a disease which is spreading exponentially, but will stop the NHS from functioning in a couple of months if that goes unchecked.

Boris lost the room on this back in April. But the answer isn't to allow pubs and gigs and theatres to open at maximum capacity.

Whether or not people have individually 'had the last straw', we are less than 15% of the way through this. Hopefully a vaccine will accelerate the last 40-50%.

In the meantime, understanding that following proper distancing and mask measures, along with knowing your weekly contacts list, is the only known way to help isolate those who can spread it further.

But it appears that nationally there aren't enough people prepared to do that to keep a lid on it.

So at the moment, we just have a map of local areas of people who can't be arsed.

Learning to live with it IS shoving a mask on so you don't spread it, not hanging around for ages in groups inside, and staying apart outside. It is mostly working in those parts of the country which aren't bright pink of the map. As it is in Germany, Italy, Thailand etc.

It's all the folks that won't follow the basics who are jeopardising this for all our doctors & nurses across the country. What IS your proposal for learning to live with it, and how does it differ @ListeningQuietly?

Libbyloo174 · 07/10/2020 05:21

Seems like the reason cases are exploding is because the government didn’t bother locking down the borders and letting people travel so soon after a major lockdown.

Australia (with the exception of Victoria) locked down their borders, no one in and no one out either interstate or international and have barely even had a first wave.

Maybe if people had patience to ride it out til it was safe instead of rushing off for a week in the sun, you wouldn’t be worried about xmas.

CountessFrog · 07/10/2020 07:56

I don’t think the reason for outbreaks is people not being arsed. I live in a ‘red’ area and everyone is very arsed, and then again I don’t know anyone with Covid at all. My postcode has very, very few cases (4).

I think some people can’t be arsed, but it’s not the whole picture is it? Overcrowding, extended family units, cultural issues, manual work. Then it spreads to kids, who cant remember the rules outside the house and who have a natural inclination to socialise. In our area, our children can go to school and can see friends outside in small groups. They can’t go shopping together or into a cafe. It’s cold and wet - their social lives have been destroyed.

It’s not just ‘people can’t be arsed’ is it?

DameFanny · 07/10/2020 09:25

Agree it's not just 'people can't be arsed' but there have been articles recently on research showing that most infections come from a small percentage of carriers - so if one of those super-spreaders is an anti mask 'muh freedomz' warrior you've got a problem right there. And if that idiot's also infecting people with covidiocy that's undoing a lot of the effort regular people are making Sad

rookiemere · 07/10/2020 09:57

@DameFanny or indeed if any super spreader was entirely lawfully in a restaurant/pub with 1m distancing and then got the packed 10pm bus home - again with not much distancing.

It's a virus which is pretty good at spreading.

DameFanny · 07/10/2020 10:06

Yes, and from what I see pubs and restaurants aren't keeping people far enough apart or checking that people sitting together are in the same bubble - but then it was always an unrealistic plan

LadyofTheManners · 07/10/2020 14:54

@DameFanny

Yes, and from what I see pubs and restaurants aren't keeping people far enough apart or checking that people sitting together are in the same bubble - but then it was always an unrealistic plan
No "some" pubs aren't. Not all. And the transmission rate for pubs was tiny compared to other settings. It was 5% combined with restaurants. What has caused the new cases is people ignoring going to other people's homes, people going abroad and not isolating and schools all simultaneously going back- kids are more likely to not display symptoms so can easily and unknowingly spread it. Sorry but I work in events and I'm seeing more and more mates in the hospitality and events industry, so photographers, DJs, singers, caterers, make up artists you name it, lose their livelihood. I've lost mine too. And it's not pubs in the main doing it. To close them all when already today two major pub chains are announcing over 100 pubs will no longer trade (and will be flats or a Tesco by next year), leaving many more in doubt is the wrong priority. It's about time we all calmed down, shielded those who need it and got on with it, allbeit with distancing and masks. We can already see lockdown doesn't work, it's kicking a can further down the road, the minute you unlock it's off again. If the police was actually dealing with the North, who seem to be flatly disregarding their local Lockdowns, we would be far better off. If the Police are incapable then yes get the army involved, give out fines not warnings.
ListeningQuietly · 07/10/2020 15:00

Social distancing is
1m in Germany
1.5m in France
2m in the UK

Mask rules are based on hysteria not science

Wiping down surfaces is creating pollution to deal with a non existent risk

The millions who work in industries that are still very firmly closed are really struggling now

The Leicester lockdown was caused by illegal overcrowding in a clothes sweatshop that also broke MNW laws
NOT because people sat near their friends in a pub

becauseIcare · 07/10/2020 15:11

You are a very selfish person if all you can think about is a holiday !!!
The situation is awful
Please consider
suffering from a loved dying or being very ill. Loss of job ....can you pay the bills
home educating while working.
Working from home in cramped spaces
Shielding because your in remission from cancer
Shielding because you are old with underlying conditions
Awaiting life saving operation
I could go on but hope you are getting the picture!!!!

Redcups64 · 07/10/2020 15:20

A lack of common sense to book a holiday in October whilst a global pandemic is happening.

myrtilles · 07/10/2020 20:04

@becauseIcare

You are a very selfish person if all you can think about is a holiday !!! The situation is awful Please consider suffering from a loved dying or being very ill. Loss of job ....can you pay the bills home educating while working. Working from home in cramped spaces Shielding because your in remission from cancer Shielding because you are old with underlying conditions Awaiting life saving operation I could go on but hope you are getting the picture!!!!
Indeed people have been working in difficult conditions since March and may have suffered bereavement and that is why they yearn for a change of scene ie a holiday. some people with cancer would like to go on holiday and many people who are elderly or who were asked to shield earlier this year would also like to go away. None of these people are selfish for hoping to have a holiday. I do not know anyone in real life who would judge people as selfish for wanting a holiday as long as they followed the rules and quarantined on return if applicable.

Family holidays to self catering accommodation are lower risk than many other activities eg. going to restaurants, bars, socialising with friends.

DameFanny · 07/10/2020 22:24

@ListeningQuietly

Social distancing is 1m in Germany 1.5m in France 2m in the UK

Mask rules are based on hysteria not science

Wiping down surfaces is creating pollution to deal with a non existent risk

The millions who work in industries that are still very firmly closed are really struggling now

The Leicester lockdown was caused by illegal overcrowding in a clothes sweatshop that also broke MNW laws
NOT because people sat near their friends in a pub

So your considered plan for 'living with' the virus is to ignore it completely and somehow this time people won't flood the ICUs and graveyards.

Gotcha.

Hmm
Cam2020 · 07/10/2020 23:26

Yes, there are people in worse situations and any plans are risky, but I think people will be entitled to be pissed off if they can't get the break they've been hoping for or face more family etc. being cancelled.

This has been a difficult year for everyone and who's to say that that some of those people looking forward to a holiday haven't been home schooling, lost jobs or have been living on reduced wages, have health problems or are a full time carer for someone and have had very little help?

grifffendor · 08/10/2020 00:33

waves are natural produce of lockdowns . IF and when they do approve a vaccine , things won't go back to normal in a click of button. I don't think the country can afford another lock down , but I would not be booking holidays abroad this year or next year knowing that . I decide to save my money , put it aside for starting up a small enterprise and moving house things to forward to and planing for , its quite exciting . holidays for me are luxury and not essential . days trips are quite nice , so I guess I am going to do that if thats possible . good things come to those who wait .

DameFanny · 08/10/2020 12:04

Evidence builds that face coverings make a difference - www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02801-8 - what's hysterical is calling them 'muzzles'

wanderings · 08/10/2020 12:23

The muzzles and face nappies (I have no shame in calling them that) create lots of plastic waste and landfill; it feels like only yesterday we were told to use fewer disposable single-use products. Every day, I see at least a dozen of them lying on the ground. As the lockdown lovers love fines, how about fines for littering too? Have Boris's Covid marshals arrived to police this, or have their unicorns got Covid?

SoUtterlyGroundDown · 08/10/2020 12:44

@wanderings

The muzzles and face nappies (I have no shame in calling them that) create lots of plastic waste and landfill; it feels like only yesterday we were told to use fewer disposable single-use products. Every day, I see at least a dozen of them lying on the ground. As the lockdown lovers love fines, how about fines for littering too? Have Boris's Covid marshals arrived to police this, or have their unicorns got Covid?
I’ve started taking photos of the single use face masks I see thrown in the streets/hedges etc. I have an album of 53 so far.