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Original poster

Why can't people see that it is stupid to mix at Christmas?

472 replies

MagicSummer · 26/11/2020 18:36

I know that the Government had to relax the rules for the 5-day period because so many people would have broken them anyway, but can people not see that mixing families, travelling and close contact is going to cause another spike in the New Year? It makes me so cross - why can't people just knuckle down and have a quiet Christmas this year without endangering the lives of their older relatives?

OP posts:
cantkeepawayforever · 26/11/2020 22:54

@Sandyplankton

I do hope that your families will remain healthy, and that none of them are children who will return to school to infect their teachers, their classmates and the vulnerable relatives of both.

So I have many friends and some relatives who are teachers, and every last one of them is intending to see family over Christmas.

You must know a very odd cross-section of teachers.....

I know none. As in not one. And I work with a LOT.

Nicknacky · 26/11/2020 22:54

cantkeepawayforever will you have any regret if they pass away before then?

BefuddledPerson · 26/11/2020 22:54

Even if respecting my relative's view, I still wouldn't find it easy to deal with them becoming very ill as a result of Christmas.

The whole situation is just grim.

SheepandCow · 26/11/2020 22:54

@Nicknacky

cantkeepawayforever You are kidding yourself if you think teachers aren’t also going to enjoy Christmas with their extended families, so stop with the guilt trip.
Well, apart from the ones who are too ill or grief stricken to enjoy Christmas. So many are off sick at the moment.
TheKeatingFive · 26/11/2020 22:54

It is not 'infantalising' my extremely elderly parents - who are sharply intelligent and well educated - to discuss with them the completely obvious fact that they are at risk

No it isn’t.

It would be infantilising to make the decision for them though.

Sandyplankton · 26/11/2020 22:55

cantkeepawayforever

Not really sure what your point is tbh, given what I said about my own grandmother.

My point was that it infantilising to assume the elderly can't make decisions for themselves, even if that decision means they see family and put themselves at higher risk of covid.

AxMan76 · 26/11/2020 22:55

What if two of the families had covid in the last two months, now recovered, no doubt with antibodies present, is that OK?

Nicknacky · 26/11/2020 22:56

cantkeepawayforever Well, you can’t speak for them all!! I have a teacher coming to my house, two if you include a trainee teacher.

katienana · 26/11/2020 22:57

I dont have any older relatives. Parents are in their 60s and we've been seeing them indoors for months. None of us has caught covid. If anyone was exposed then I follow the rules and isolate. But so far its been OK and has made everyone's lives easier a d happier.

Sandyplankton · 26/11/2020 22:57

You must know a very odd cross-section of teachers

Of the teachers I know:

Two are BAME, female and in their early forties
One is a 56 year old male type 1 diabetic
Two are women in their mid thirties with DC of their own. One of these has vulnerable elderly parents
One is a man in his early twenties living with flatmates

I'd say it was a fairly representative cross section actually.

cantkeepawayforever · 26/11/2020 22:58

@Nicknacky

cantkeepawayforever will you have any regret if they pass away before then?
Due to their age, they are due to be vaccinated in January should a vaccine be approved.

I accepted in March, at the start of the lockdown, that i might never see them in person again. I have been lucky enough to see them once.

My chances of being the vector that carries the virus to them is too high to make it remotely acceptable for me to see them at Christmas, with a last day of term on 18th December. Ditto brothers (one in education, 1 with school-age children)

Bayleaf25 · 26/11/2020 22:58

Because in some cases it’s the older relatives that want to mix? I really want to just have a quiet no mixing Christmas but my parents are the ones who want to see us despite Dkids being at secondary school and likely spreaders.

Finding it hard to be the one who looks like I want to back out of Christmas x

Nicknacky · 26/11/2020 22:58

SheepandCow According to our local authority there are 12 teachers off with covid or symptoms.

cantkeepawayforever · 26/11/2020 22:59

@TheKeatingFive

It is not 'infantalising' my extremely elderly parents - who are sharply intelligent and well educated - to discuss with them the completely obvious fact that they are at risk

No it isn’t.

It would be infantilising to make the decision for them though.

Of course. But as I say, they are intelligent and well educated. So they can calculate and understand the risk, and the conclusion is obvious.
BefuddledPerson · 26/11/2020 22:59

@Dongdingdong

My view is this is a public health issue and so I don't think people should be able to choose

Perhaps you should go and live in a dictatorship. It sounds like it’d suit you down to the ground!

Nonsense this, it is easy to throw around bullshit remarks.

These arrangements are going to result in a spike of covid deaths and I think that's a shame.

I'm also worried about the greater restrictions needed afterwards to compensate.

Nicknacky · 26/11/2020 22:59

cantkeepawayforever that’s entirely your choice but having lost a parent then not a chance will I have only seen my dad in 9 months. And I’m in a high risk occupation too.

SheepandCow · 26/11/2020 23:00

People clearly don't think much of our healthcare workers.

The BMA has warned about the consequences of Spread Covid for Christmas.

Too many HCP are already dead from Covid. Then there's the traumatised icu nurses who were sectioned after the first wave.

What a way to repay them for caring for us and our families...Promising them yet more stress and pressure in the new year.

dietcokeandchill · 26/11/2020 23:00

Because people are lonely. And you never know what is round the corner. The vaccine may not work - we could have years more of this!

Nicknacky · 26/11/2020 23:01

SheepandCow Nonsense.

Sandyplankton · 26/11/2020 23:02

People clearly don't think much of our healthcare workers.

I do actually, given I have a much loved cousin who is a midwife, a best friend who is an ICU doctor and two aunties who work in care homes.

Every single one of them will be seeing family over Christmas. They won't be holding parties, they won't be seeing vulnerable relatives, but they will be seeing family.

cantkeepawayforever · 26/11/2020 23:02

@Nicknacky

SheepandCow According to our local authority there are 12 teachers off with covid or symptoms.
According to our local authority, there are 5 schools with Covid cases. According to the local paper, there are over 60. According to ears on the ground, there are none without Covid cases.....

Most schools are down to the bare bones of staff (about a third of ours are out, and we are a primary in an ex Tier 1 area)

SheepandCow · 26/11/2020 23:03

@Nicknacky

SheepandCow Nonsense.
What's nonsense? The advice from the BMA? The WHO? The scientific experts from SAGE? Economists at Deutsche Bank?
islockdownoveryet · 26/11/2020 23:03

@Bayleaf25

Because in some cases it’s the older relatives that want to mix? I really want to just have a quiet no mixing Christmas but my parents are the ones who want to see us despite Dkids being at secondary school and likely spreaders.

Finding it hard to be the one who looks like I want to back out of Christmas x

Yes I've found that because they're not working . Social occasions cancelled No pubs or clubs open Not needing for childcare so not seen grandchildren much . They want no need to see their family . Think about it ,your ok with work and the school run no time to miss people as much but the elderly and retired have plenty of time to think and miss their family . We are all so convinced we need to protect them maybe they don't want to protected like this .
Nicknacky · 26/11/2020 23:03

cantkeepaway And many schools aren’t on their bare bones. I have two in school. What’s your point?

Sandyplankton · 26/11/2020 23:03

My son goes to a primary in a high case London Borough and there's only been one covid case there since the start of term.