When is the tiers announcement due today?

[DownRightAmazing]

Anyone know? All I can find is Matt Hancock to announce 'later'.

@TicTacTwo

Are English hospitals less busy because they aren't treating a lot of people with other conditions like cancer? How quickly can Noghtingales be "switched on"?

Errr they ARE. And they are being used for recovery rather than acute cases. In part because of staff shortages meaning they can't be used for extra ICU beds.

@userxx

As expected we are tier 3 now. I'm sorry for everyone who is upset but cases are rising in my area (Bucks) and I do think it's for the best.

Do come back and tell me how you feel about it in May. See what 5 fucking months of living like a fucking hermit does to your head because I'll be honest, I'm ready to blow.

Me too.

It's rubbish isn't it? I was so hopeful of us being put in tier 2. I feel absolutely deflated.

I'm in Newcastle-upon-Tyne where we've been under stricter restrictions since mid-September. If these three months of not being able to see our friends and families still haven't achieved enough for us to be granted a bit of a reprieve then I can truly understand why so many people I know locally have finally had enough and are at breaking point. Without any realistic end in sight why bother living this misery any longer?

It seems clear that the only way to really drive infections down sufficiently (for the NHS/government/SAGE to feel confident in allowing us some freedoms again) is a national lockdown as lengthy, severe and well-adhered-to as the first one, and the government has squandered so much of the goodwill they had from us earlier in the year that too many people simply won't accept that again. I couldn't do it again.

It's misleading to quote that some hospitals are less full than they were at this time last year.

So much routine surgery isn't happening, those patients are at home with worsening conditions that are going to be more complex cases when they do get in to theatre, or sadly untreatable.

Also people are staying away for fear of catching Covid in hospital, a family friend has just died as a result of contracting it in the local hospital.

Our local hospitals declared themselves at capacity weeks ago and asked the public to think carefully/seek all other alternatives before heading to A & E. I spent 40 mins on hold, 2 days in a row, waiting to speak to anyone at our GP practice. I'm still waiting for a call back a week later.

@SueEllenMishke Yep, deflated and defeated. I feel like crawling into my bed and staying there until the world wakes up again.

Now I need to have a serious conversation with a client about closing his business, he needed the Xmas trade to survive. There will be 7 staff made redundant next week, I could cry.

completely agree @dallafela

I feel so sad today.

[quote userxx]@SueEllenMishke Yep, deflated and defeated. I feel like crawling into my bed and staying there until the world wakes up again.

Now I need to have a serious conversation with a client about closing his business, he needed the Xmas trade to survive. There will be 7 staff made redundant next week, I could cry.[/quote]
That's heartbreaking.
So many businesses were relying on the Christmas trade to keep afloat.