Are you ready for another 6 months of restrictions ?

[Xtfc123]

Does anybody think that this will all be normal by March/April, no more masks or restrictions ?
Ready to 'do your bit' and not see family and friends and have restrictions on your lives until potentially summer ?

'LadyCatStark' absolutely agree that it is disgraceful the way that the North East has been on high restrictions for months on end and the promise of tests for all hasn't happened. But heaven forbid London should have to face the same. If we are not moved down to tier 3 next week and London up then fuck the lot of them I'm off to Yorkshire!

To be honest at this point I no longer care . Pretty sick and tired of the whole situation

• sticksticks I'm not that concerned about it TBH. Apart from missing family birthdays my life hasn't changed at all because of the pandemic. I’m alright, Jack*

No, not I'm alright jack but when your life is the same as before except you miss one or two meals out a year it's not like you are going to be bothered by it. My life is as lonely now as it has been for years.

We know who this effects, is it time to ask all over 65s to lockdown (and support them to do so)

Exactly what the authors and signatories of the great barrington declaration have been pushing for months, to no avail.

I think we have been a complete failure in all of this, the strong and well should have carried on and kept the world going. I’m sick of hearing people with no reason to fear covid whining on about keeping ‘safe’. We earn our place on this planet, evolving and adapting to survive various virus’, if members of our species need protection then those of us able to take the hit should have done /been allowed to do so.

Really? They can’t even control us now

My office is closed, so I can’t go to work. All of our local pubs and restaurants are closed, so the people who run them can’t make a living.
I can’t fly to see my family in Spain.
If I am identified as being a close contact of someone who has had a positive test, I risk a £1000 fine if I leave my house.
My children can be sent home from school for 2 weeks at a minute’s notice.

Even if I broke any rule I was able to (I’m not breaking any, by the way), my life would still be pretty ‘controlled’.

Am I ready for another 6 months? I'm struggling now. Not sure how I'm going to manage another 6 weeks. I know I will, but I'm really starting to feel it now.

Maybe its the dark, gloomy days. Maybe even if restrictions are still as bad come March/April/May and beyond it may be easier due to the longer days and the warmer weather. Right now, I am really really finding it difficult.

On paper I should be finding it great. I WFH and have done the whole time. Get the same incomings, but my outgoings have gone down. My children are all at school. The youngest is 9 so doesn't require as much attention as a toddler. My eldest is 15, but due to his Autism is not interested in going out anyway. However, my mental health has just deteriorated so much. I really don't know how much more I can take.

No. I'm done with them. I wear mask because I have to access shops sometimes..
I've made my Christmas plans and they're my business.
I mentioned to work and one started giving it large about the ROOLZ I said that's what I'm doing end of.
I've followed the rules and I've been questioning for month. They make no sense to me and so I'm not blindly following.

No, of course it won't be 'normal' in 6 months. Until we know how long vaccinations are effective for, masks and some social distancing will be a thing, but I think that provided they work for around 12 months we won't have to have any lockdowns after Feb/March.

Some social distancing and wearing masks doesn't mean to the same degree as now and not seeing our families all next year - I expect larger gatherings will be OK by summer, and masks may stay in place for crowded areas and I'm fine with that.

We’re all sick and tired of it, but it is what it is. I’m sure they were all sick and tired of it in 1918 with the killer Spanish Flu.
It’s affected my business hugely and then Brexit wow just what you don’t need.

But it will get better, people will be vaccinated, restrictions will change and lift, in time things will resume more normality. In further time this will all be in the past and be a moment in history but we are currently living through it and just have to find our own way through the horrible times. I’m not making light of it at all but sometimes fighting against it all just makes it all worse.

In time this will pass.

In other words, next year won't be 'normal', but it will be much less restricted than this year.

No, not I'm alright jack but when your life is the same as before except you miss one or two meals out a year it's not like you are going to be bothered by it. My life is as lonely now as it has been for years

My social life hasn’t changed either.
I’ve lost my job though, so yeah, that’s a change.

Well, I for one think we're all learning to cope with it in some ways. For instance, there was a point where every other post on a thread like this was someone wibbling on about the war, whereas it took until page 5 of this one. Progress!

I think that by Easter pretty much everywhere will be tier one, or even less, but masks will still be required in public places indoors.

Masks will not go until the vaccine has been offered to all adults.

Mass participation events like concerts and festivals - if they decide tha lateral flow tests are any good, maybe they could use those to enable them to go ahead.

@sticksticks

* sticksticks I'm not that concerned about it TBH. Apart from missing family birthdays my life hasn't changed at all because of the pandemic. I’m alright, Jack*

No, not I'm alright jack but when your life is the same as before except you miss one or two meals out a year it's not like you are going to be bothered by it. My life is as lonely now as it has been for years.

My life is much the same too though I don't feel lonely. I prefer being at home and not seeing people so for me there is no hardship.

I do understand how others feel and am sure you do too.

The rest of the world is grateful the UK is acting as a giant trial for the vaccine.

I'd rather be a giant trial for the vaccine than an enormous floating village of the damned. 😉

@Hardbackwriter

Well, I for one think we're all learning to cope with it in some ways. For instance, there was a point where every other post on a thread like this was someone wibbling on about the war, whereas it took until page 5 of this one. Progress!

This really made me laugh, thank you!

@RMRM

Fine with it tbh. I can do this for as long as it takes. It will take ages to vaccinate people to the numbers required and we still don't know how long the vaccines are effective for. I'll probably carry on wearing a mask too. You can't just decide a date it will all be over, it doesn't work like that.

^ This.

Masks don’t bother me at all. I don’t have any elderly relatives, so I am following the guidance for altruistic reasons (ie to save people I don’t know), and also so the whole country, economy etc recovers quicker from this pandemic.

I do miss human contact hugely, for lots of reasons, but I am a rational person and I can see that this is the largest crisis of my lifetime. I strongly believe that sacrifices must be made by all who can, and I’m lucky that I am able to make them.

I've sacrificed enough. Sorry.

@WouldBeGood

No, they can fuck off now

This

I think jan and Feb will be really hard while it's difficult to see people outside because its so cold. But I am fairly compliant and will continue to be.

If I lived alone or had mental health issues then maybe I would be able to justify bending the rules a little.

We just don't know how long it'll take to get back to anything like normal so I try not to think too far ahead. I'll be happy when those most vulnerable will have been vaccinated. Hope that's by Feb/March but again, who knows.

@Hardbackwriter

Well, I for one think we're all learning to cope with it in some ways. For instance, there was a point where every other post on a thread like this was someone wibbling on about the war, whereas it took until page 5 of this one. Progress!

Ha true. Especially around March time when it was all about ‘blitz spirit’ in press. Tg that’s passed (mostly).

There is a vaccine we are only isolating to protect the vulnerable which are currently been vaccinated

A few statistics

This priority list is as follows:

1) residents in a care home for older adults and their carers

A survey in 2018 suggested there are around 418,000 people live in care homes "This is 4% of the total population aged 65 years and over, rising to 15% of those aged 85 or more."

We currently have 800,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine - but everyone needs two so that's enough for 400,000 people (but remember we are also vaccinating care workers and key front line NHS staff). So we don't have enough vaccine for priority group 1 yet.

The NHS is aiming to vaccine 5000 per day. Each hub will do 200 - 500 vaccinations per day. There are currently 30 hubs. But remember the Pfizer vaccine requires two shots.

At that rate it will take 160 days just to vaccinate priority group one.

2) all those 80 years of age and over and frontline health and social care workers

90 and over 0.61million people
85-89 1.04 million people
80-84 1.72 million people

3) all those 75 years of age and over

75-79 2.33million

4) all those 70 years of age and over and clinically extremely vulnerable individuals

70-74 3.32million

5) all those 65 years of age and over

65-69 3.37million

6) all individuals aged 16 years to 64 years with underlying health conditions which put them at higher risk of serious disease and mortality

7) all those 60 years of age and over

60-64 3.76million

8) all those 55 years of age and over

55-59 4.41million

9) all those 50 years of age and over

50-54 4.66million

I'm kind of hoping they pull their finger out a bit. My dad has a serious heart condition and diabetes. He's priority 4. There about 10 million people or so in groups 1 - 4. At current rate thats 1600 days until they get all of group 4 done. Which is kind of nuts.

People aren't "blindly accepting it" they are doing what is humane and right. Hardly anything has been asked of most people. Our lockdowns have been nowhere near as strict as other country's

@Xtfc123

I am like many people fed up with endless restrictions and don't know why more people don't question it. I honestly believe that some people on here would be willing to have years of restrictions if it were to come to that and would blindly accept it all.

Some people are genuinely terrified and are scared that they and their family will die. They would do anything to help keep their family safe. They can't help feeling that way any more than you can help the way you feel. They can't understand why some people are fed up with the restrictions and are refusing to abide by them.

We are in a relatively low risk area, but there is a town about 20 miles away with one of the highest infection rates in the country. I have several friends who live there, and they are extremely concerned - far more worried that we are here.