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 ?

@RafaIsTheKingOfClay you can't compare the uk population density with that of Australia - it was much easier to implement a short sharp shock in a way you can't do with one of the worlds leading economies

Vaccines are now being given the end of the tunnel is in sight yes I’m happy to stick with rules for a few more months.

@AlwaysLatte

I don't blindly accept the restrictions. I have my eyes wide open and am seeing the devastation this virus is causing. So I'm following the restrictions and will do until it's safer. Years down the line we won't remember so much the lack of nights out at the pub for a year but we'll remember our loved ones' deaths forever.

I see what you’re saying but it’s not about losing ‘nights out at the pub’ for a lot people and shouldn’t be reduced to that. As a PP mentioned many people are losing their jobs, homes, livelihoods and the consequences are devastating. Mental health is declining for many. It can’t be minimised to people wanting a night out and complaining.

@PicsInRed

I think I'll be joining the unmasked in March - they don't seem to be challenged much anyway.

We've all done a year of this, we've done our bit and I'm done. Jan, Feb, but that's it, no more.

I think a year will be be the tipping point for most people. Particularly once the clocks go forward.

People will put up with it for the winter for the sake of the hospital capacity when it's bad enough in a normal winter.

It'll beca phased return to normal from Easter, but restrictions won't disappear, they'll slowly ease

I'm not ready.

I'm 2 staff down this week as they've had to isolate - both have got coughs, had tests Monday and are STILL waiting for results. I've got no idea when they will be back, and it's knocked our work schedule for shit at our peak trading time. I've not slept for days worrying about it all and have had month after month of stress trying to keep staff in employment and clients happy.

It's fucking miserable. And not what I signed up for.

@MarshaBradyo

The luck is timing on the curve. In the same way NZ shut down in same date with 105 cases.

It’s pointless comparing.

All of Western Europe and USA are in the same boat because we got hit earlier.

The UK had plenty of warning. It wasn't luck that led to us shutting down later in the curve in March it was incompetence.

It wasn't luck that caused us to ignore the fact that numbers were slowly creeping back up from mid July and carry on opening more stuff in August. It wasn't luck that led to us missing the curve badly this winter. It was waiting 6 weeks after being told we urgently needed a firebreak and then doing it. And it definitely wasn't luck that we unlocked into tiers on 2nd Dec when cases were falling, but still insanely high. All of those things were choices. Choices that governments in places that have got the virus under control wouldn't necessarily have made.

It's most definitely not 'just because you can't go to the pub'
Remember people work at these pubs and are losing their income !
It's also people going weeks without seeing a soul, no human touch, and loneliness.

@cherrypie790

I'm not ready.

I'm 2 staff down this week as they've had to isolate - both have got coughs, had tests Monday and are STILL waiting for results. I've got no idea when they will be back, and it's knocked our work schedule for shit at our peak trading time. I've not slept for days worrying about it all and have had month after month of stress trying to keep staff in employment and clients happy.

It's fucking miserable. And not what I signed up for.

I'd ask them to show evidence of when they received their results when they come through. At dh's work they had staff milking it and claiming they didn't get the results for days... Turns out most of them got them within 24 hrs and just said they hadn't.

Rafal what date would you have shut down and to what outcome?

I have already given up, my mental health has taken a massive hit, my partner has lost his job. My mum is no longer the person she use to be.

Maybe if the government had locked down earlier, told the students who came back from skiing to isolate, didn't encourage travel or eating out during the summer. Had actually got a world beating track and trace system in place after 9 months. An app that fucking works. Actually had a second lockdown. Cancel fucking Christmas. I could go on

It doesn't make me selfish to say I am willing to stay away from people, if they stay away from me, but I want to start living my life, as it is I am back on the waiting list for therapy and that list is only going to get bigger.

My opinion is that face coverings will probably still be required in many settings for several months, until all the priority groups have been largely vaccinated.

I think Chris Whitty made a valid point that restrictions will not all suddenly end but gradually be reduced.

Where I think restrictions may last months longer is on travel and quarantine, regardless of our relationship with the EU nations. I cannot see normal summer holidays being a certainty.

To answer the original point, yes I am prepared for months of restrictions. Though I am one of those able comfortably to wfh.

@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.

I was fed up with it in mid March, OP. But, yes, there are some people who would happily fester at home and never go out. They are welcome to carry on doing so, but I will continue to clutch at every tiny straw of life that's on offer.

The lack of questioning absolutely astounds me.

@cherrypie790 I don't know how you do this but can you check - DC had to be tested last week for school - test at 1pm results text to us 6am and I'm inner city tier 3.

I know some people would just love to carry on existing in their cosy little home bubble, living with hubby, WFH on full pay, Ocado deliveries and nice walks in the country.

@Wigisfashion83

Australia has effectively imprisoned its citizens.

simply not true

Dbro lives in Perth. Heavy restrictions for a few months, now he's going to clubs, working, socialising as usual. his FB profile is full of the fun he's having. He says yes, Perth locked down its borders, but it dealt with the cases there and now life continues as normal.

They are not able to take the cruise they'd booked - but are doing local holidays instead, that seems like a small price to pay for his life tbh. He's not complaining. The reason citizens can't leave is, he says, because they'd have to, legally, let them back in again - and that would risk the lives of all the other citizens, so he's happy with that. (been a citizen for 20+yrs, lived there for 30+)

DS lives in Sydney - he had a few weeks of serious lockdown, worked from home a lot, but now they are all back to work and living normal lives. He is in events, so they cannot have interstate or international events, they have pretty much gone digital for everything - but their own lives are normal. He'd like to come home - but there are no jobs here and his work and life there are stable. If he came home he wouldn't be able to go back. I'd rather he stayed there, happy, safe and employed.

No i dont think it will be normal. We might be coming out of another lockdown. I can see another one looming jan/feb time. Goodness knows when mask wearing will stop. Hate the things. (Of course I wear one).

Just like most people I have been fed up with the situation for months. I still cant see light at the end of the tunnel.

I just take one day at a time. And know on the few occasions I make plans you have to accept the likelihood they are cancelled is higher than usual.

@IceCreamAndCandyfloss

No I don’t think we will be normal by then and yes prepared to stick to the rules. We can see friends and family outdoors and there’s an abundance of technology to keep in touch with them as well.

I’d rather we didnt lose any more people to this virus and better people have an economy and less social mixing than no economy.

The thing is you are presumably seeing this from your own point of view, so seeing family and friends outside and using technology to stay in touch may not seem so bad. However if you were a young, child-free person whose social life revolved around clubbing/gigs/playing sport/partying etc. - basically mixing in large groups, you would consider it all a bit shit.

It’s not another six months, they’ve already said restrictions will ease and then wind right down after vulnerable are vaccinated. They are aiming to do those by end of March

I have so much stamina to keep going. I don't feel deprived of a life and I don't feel that I'm locked up and I feel like I'm still free.

I have so much stamina to keep going. I fear getting sick. That's what drives me. I also want to protect not only my health but the health of my family and my circle.

I also see benefits to the social distancing. I looked after myself well last winter and I never got a cold. I never got a cold this year either. I used to suffer badly with colds. So I'm seeing the benefits of social distancing.

@Hapixmas

Why do restrictions need to stay in place if people are vaccinated. Ludicrous
*
++++++
*
Because the vaccination allows your body to create resistance to Covid so that when you do catch it you a lot less likely to die. The vaccination doesn't prevent you from catching the virus, carrying the virus or infecting other people.the virus will not simply disappear - the genie is out of the bottle and it's here forever.

To be honest I'm struggling either the responses tonight.
If the goal is to stop excess deaths / long covid then yes we should all continue to wear masks, social distance and have periodic local restrictions/ lockdowns until everyone who wants to be vaccinated has been vaccinated, which could be some time.
If the goal is well some excess deaths / long covid are acceptable then why did we get £390 billion in debt, trash people's lives, trash the economy children's education cation, mental health etc etc in the first place.

Some days I forget that life isn’t like it was. Or I’m happy with it as it is. There’s lots of things I like better now.

I hate the chopping and changing of restrictions and rules and that always makes me feel rebellious and angry.

As time goes on I’m complying less and am no longer aware of the rules anymore- other than some things are shut.

Brexit is worrying me more now tbh

They also said we would not lockdown again and things would be normal by Christmas. Don't believe them any more.

I also see benefits to the social distancing. I looked after myself well last winter and I never got a cold. I never got a cold this year either. I used to suffer badly with colds. So I'm seeing the benefits of social distancing.

I would rather catch colds. I hate social distancing.

@Againstmachine

Not by march.

I am getting perturbed by, he story's that even next year long after we have all been vaccinated they are still wanting us to wear masks, social distancing ect, I go sort of think we'll what's the point.

There is no way I'll be wearing a mask if everyone is vaccinated! I wear one for the bare minimum amount of time now - on as I enter the shop, off as I leave. Even then I only go if I have to. I certainly won't be social distancing either.

But it will be another six months at least.

The vaccines won’t make a dent in this ‘pandemic’. I think they all might make it last longer or make it worse.