Anyone else find this slightly dystopian now ?

[Whitechocolatemarshmallow]

We may be 'allowed' to see families etc. Over Christmas but should be expected to 'pay' for this with subsequent lockdowns, and hugging will be banned.

Now, there's talk of a 'freedom pass' for people who test negative twice a week to allow them to live a more normal life, which they will be able to present should they be stopped and questioned.

What's coming next, having to show proof of vaccination status ?
I'm no conspiracy theorist and i'm fully aware that Covid is real.

Why are we willing to give up our old lives like this ?

But the cost of death is inevitable - you can delay it but sooner or late we'll all cost money when we die. If all those people die in ICU then they're particularly expensive deaths but a lot weren't - they were community and care home deaths.

But the actual reason that I don't think it's appropriate to apply the normal quality adjusted year price, and why a much higher 'price' per life is appropriate, is because of the very different dynamics of a pandemic, and the societal and economic effects of uncontrolled deaths. But it's because of the impact of mass deaths, not because a death from Covid is somehow so special that treatment and prevention shouldn't be subjected to cost-benefit analysis in the same way that we accept for every other disease.

Has the government said the infringement on civil liberties will cease with advance of a vaccine?
I don't believe they have...

Honestly, ive had E.nough!!

I hate that half the conversations i have with DP are that 'its all a load of bollock' to , look, those people are clearly visiting from London, thays why it will never work" bla blafucking bla.

Forgetting my mask half way to shop, either go back or wait another day for a cup of tea.

I want to see my mum, shes had to go into nursing care, shes petrified and die to another hospital stay, isolated for two weeks. I cant even see her after this time, she thinks i dont want her to come home, i cant even reassure her. She doesnt understand zoom, she cant hear me properly even when i can call her. She must feel abandoned. I just want to see her, fuck covid, shes not got long anyway. I csnt bear it i applied for an antibody test but didnt get one.

I want to go to a resturant and sit in nice surroundings with my family and eat a nice dinner, nice wine. Pudding and esspresso.

I want to go and sit in the pub with DP and have a pint in front of the log fire after a walk with the dogs.

Im not much of a socialite so i dont miss friends (dont have any) but christ i need a change of scenery.

Everything seems pointless

Oh, get a grip. If these passes are introduced, no one will want to check them as what business would want to turn potential customers away? And anyway, staff will not have any powers to enforce those rules. Same as with face masks rules, no one will care! These passes are actually a way for all the society to get back to normal while giving it a veneer of 'Covid-security'.

@Flaxmeadow cut off the rather relevant next sentence of my post, presumably so she got one more chance to be sanctimonious:

Not sure what's sanctimonious about

"You would have hated the 1970s, when we were bombarded with TV public health and safety warning adverts."

Some of those 1970s public health and safety adverts, "Dark Waters" etc, were frightening. They worked though

@TheoriginalLEM

Honestly, ive had E.nough!!

I hate that half the conversations i have with DP are that 'its all a load of bollock' to , look, those people are clearly visiting from London, thays why it will never work" bla blafucking bla.

Forgetting my mask half way to shop, either go back or wait another day for a cup of tea.

I want to see my mum, shes had to go into nursing care, shes petrified and die to another hospital stay, isolated for two weeks. I cant even see her after this time, she thinks i dont want her to come home, i cant even reassure her. She doesnt understand zoom, she cant hear me properly even when i can call her. She must feel abandoned. I just want to see her, fuck covid, shes not got long anyway. I csnt bear it i applied for an antibody test but didnt get one.

I want to go to a resturant and sit in nice surroundings with my family and eat a nice dinner, nice wine. Pudding and esspresso.

I want to go and sit in the pub with DP and have a pint in front of the log fire after a walk with the dogs.

Im not much of a socialite so i dont miss friends (dont have any) but christ i need a change of scenery.

Everything seems pointless

Absobloodylutely !

"Slightly"? "Now"?

...they even used horror film actor voice overs

@Ihopeyourcakeisshit

Surely the whole worth the risk philosophy could apply to any number of things that people find important? Loads of people must have missed out on important family events this year that they could have covid budgeted for? It's all a fucking nonsense.

Of course it could. But Christmas will be a state-sanctioned use of your budget. It’s obviously all nonsense.

@Gingernaut

Now???

It's been like some dystopian nightmare from March.

Every time I walked across a train station concourse and saw every shop shut, all the signboards displaying ads relating to key workers or Covid-19 and the station announcements thanking key workers and telling all non essential travellers to stay home and let the key workers travel, it felt like some weird dystopian world where those who worked were valued and people who didn't/couldn't were facing restrictions.

You're only getting that vibe now????

Ha ha! This. I've felt like

...

We've been living in a dystopian film since early March!

Yes @Hardbackwriter that’s been the big problem all along with Covid really, the raw numbers.

Interesting point made earlier about the cost of saving very elderly Covid patients; I'd also wondered about the usual (QALY?) guidelines about what can be treated

I guess it's a question of what the alternative is - home based palliative care perhaps? Obviously that's a big issue in itself, and thank god there are better brains than mine looking at the answers - because it seems to me answers are sorely needed in a situation where nobody can expect to live for ever

I actually think the Tories did want to let it rip - much like effectively the us are doing.

However they fell to the emotional blackmail of the left wing mainstream and social media and the hand ringing about the numbers of dead.

It’s a bit like the number of people who just follow the rules without agreeing with them - if we speak out or try to argue against - the phrases “granny killer” and similar are brought out.

Probably also linked to why polls under estimate the Tory vote. People don’t speak for fear of social pressure

I think the restrictions are more to do with curbing peoples freedoms than they are to do with stopping the spread of a disease. I'm not saying Covid is a conspiracy or a deliberately made virus but I do think governments across the globe are using it as a convenient tool to push for an oppressive agenda.

I honestly believe that whilst the vaccine probably won't be compulsory in the UK I think it's only a matter of time before you will need to provide proof of vaccination to be allowed completely free movement. I can see future employers etc demanding vaccination before offering a job etc.

Yes but so far the "freedom pass" and restriction free Christmas for 5 days, paid for with a month's lockdown is nothing but speculation. These things have been discussed, it doesn't mean that they will happen.

@Flaxmeadow

The alternative would be closer to dystopia

If the virus was left to run wild and we had no restrictions, then services would start to collapse. Health care, police, social services, food retail. This would mean strict curfews, food rationing, severe penalties, armed military patrolling the streets.

This is ludicrous. Why on earth do people go along with such nonsense.

There aren't many obese over sixties with health conditions working in Health care, police, social services, food retail. Every sector might experience higher than normal staff absence due to sickness but not a lot higher given the demographic of working age people.

If the NHS is overloaded with very ill very elderly people then maybe they will finally accelerate the plans to allow people to die with dignity at home or in care homes. Increase the palliative care of the very sick who won't ever recover to good health instead of dragging their death out for months. It doesn't have to destroy the NHS. It might force them to change though.

I completely agree with you, OP.

I’m curious

Those who are finding it dystopian now

What would you have said to those who predicted this in March?

Though I, too, would ditch the 'now'. It has been dystopian all along, but has become even more so with every new decree.

What would you have said to those who predicted this in March?

I would have accused them of scare-mongering, but I'd partially have been angry as I was afraid they might be right.

Why is this kind of topic coming up now when we have just heard that there are likely to be highly efficacious vaccines available very soon and it's likely the situation will start to improve very soon?

If the NHS is overloaded with very ill very elderly people then maybe they will finally accelerate the plans to allow people to die with dignity at home or in care homes. Increase the palliative care of the very sick who won't ever recover to good health instead of dragging their death out for months

A worthwhile point about "dignity" there, StrippedFridge
I realise the answer to "who wants to live to 100?" is "someone who's 99", but I've long thought the current system of treating those near the end of life just enough to discharge them, and then leaving them to suffer again helps nobody

I guess the question would be who's to do the palliative care - because at a time when more were dying, I guarantee the cry would immediately go up about "not enough community nurses"

Those who are finding it dystopian now ... what would you have said to those who predicted this in March?

Not a lot, because I'm afraid I'm another who predicted it

Sadly, if those in authority are given more power, they'll always, always abuse it