Why do people keep saying that others are prolonging this?

[Raiseny]

It’s driving me mad! It’s a virus! Socialising isn’t prolonging it or setting us back, it’s making it risky for the nhs to manage. Of course that’s something we need to consider but wake up! There’s other illnesses, mental health being key here, that matter.

The virus isn’t going away. Tiers or no tiers. It’s a virus! It mutates, as all Coronaviruses do. I’m so sick of the virtue signalling like meeting a friend for a coffee has caused the virus to stay around longer. It hasn’t.

Stop making people feel bad for needing their friends and family enough to risk transmission. Am I really on my own with this?!

Okay. I'm done. Enjoy.

Honestly amazed people think the virus will disappear if nobody socialises. You do realise that literally everyone would have to isolate? Literally everyone? Do you see that’s not possible? Your food your medicine your water your electric...need I go on. It is impossible. Spreading it doesn’t make it last longer.

"My mental health would be much better if we hadn’t been put in T4. But thanks to people who think like you, my social options have been severely restricted and I can’t even meet my family for a socially distanced walk. Thanks a lot, I hope your coffees were worth it."

In many areas we haven't been having coffees for many many months despite low cases here. Nobody seemed to give a shit when they were mixing before in the areas that are now tier 4. We've been doing this for ages.....

The only thing it makes a difference to is the impact on the nhs.
Well no. It makes a difference to the individuals who catch it. If it spreads more then I have more chance of catching it before I’m vaccinated. Keeping numbers low makes it more likely that I’ll be vaccinated before I catch it. Of course it makes no difference to the timescale during which Covid is a problem - but it makes a difference to whether an individual lives or dies.

@DonkeyMcFluff yes that’s true. But we cannot sustain living as we are. The impact on health and economy is yet to be seen. Covid is not the only threat.

I am not getting your point. Yes it’s a virus. Yes it won’t ever go away. The aim is to stress it as much as possible to minimise hospitalisation s and deaths until other methods such as better treatments or vaccine can do this for us

I really hope you understand this

Btw at least half the people I know who caught this outside of home know pretty well where they got it. Low and behold it was from not social distancing etc.... funny that.they are honest enough to acknowledge that

I am not saying that this is always the case. The safety of many situations is dodgy to say the least

But the basics of hands face space do count for a lot

Suppress not stress....

Yeah I dunno.

Viruses mutate. That's what they do.

The flu jab, they pick the top 10 or something strains that they think might include the one that ends up dominating.

Vaccines for viruses are pretty tricky I think and I've not been convinced that's the answer.

We can't carry on like this indefinitely.

And yes the governments love it. Anything goes wrong they can blame the virus. And people's attention is diverted. Having a fearful population who are suspicious of each other, lots of new laws to control (demonstrations banned now I think!!), It's not a good thing.

I am really worried. Just about everything really.

But we cannot sustain living as we are
Why not?

To survive, any virus needs hosts in order to carry on.

When we socialise with others, we provide the perfect opportunity for the virus to find new hosts.

If we had all locked down 'properly', the virus could have run its course without finding new hosts.

Of course, a large enough portion of the general public have been fucking morons and didn't do that.

So yes. People have prolonged the course of this virus, the actions of people have caused the Christmas fiasco and people will probably be responsible for a really shit New Year too.

Stay away from people. Maintain good hygiene. Wear a fucking mask over your nose. Don't complain about how shit life is when you are partly responsible for the virus spreading.

I hear you OP.

Unfortunately many people dont understand viruses and how they have been around long before us. People find comfort in thinking we can control everything and we can bend nature to our will if we just behave the virus will be kind.

Human beings aren't meant to live like this.

It's been 9 months. Christmas has just been cancelled where I live. My work mate watsapped me gutted. He's only 25. It's just not right especially for young people and teens. We're going to lose so much. And we won't get it back.

I was talking to DH last night and saying I find it weird how most people at work etc seem so fine with it. They're middle aged and have houses and families and etc though. For people in shit accommodation. Young people. It's awful.

I don't know what I would have done at 17 if this had happened.

I also find the comparisons to the Isle of Man etc just. Silly.

London has something like 8 million people living in a circle with a 15 mile diameter. Roughly.

What's the point comparing to the Isle of Man? It's silly.

@Gingernaut we would never have been able to ensure everyone was simultaneously virus free. Please think this through.

@DonkeyMcFluff because some people’s jobs mean they have to interact to some extent. Indeed you would be unable to eat unless they did. So the virus will spread inevitably. And it’s not sustainable as it is because people are suffering mentally and physically, not to mention the devastation to the economy. I say that as someone who is perfectly happy working from home and has decent income and security. But I’m not oblivious to what’s going on outside my home.

I live in Singapore. We had one major lockdown and then a slow process of relaxation, coupled with fantastic tracking and tracing, good use of technology, and strict border controls. We can now have close to normal lives (masks everywhere, but able to work, eat out, socialise in groups up to 8 from the 28th) with a healthcare system which is not under strain at all and on most days has 0 cases (and the detection is so good here that you can trust it really is 0 cases). We’ve also got the worlds lowest death rate- 29 people in total have died of COVID. We’re likely to have restrictions for the next year or so as the vaccine is distributed, but life can continue much as normal in the meantime, apart from travel. Yes, the population is substantially smaller here, but our example shows what could be possible.

No one is saying the virus will disappear - that’s a ridiculous straw man.

We do know, however, that lower transmission rates mean more businesses can stay open, fewer people lose their jobs.

If there was no hope of a vaccine you might have a (weak) case around herd immunity and safe rates at which to build it.

But given we are actually already having vaccines rolled out, that argument disappears. And we’re back to ‘what rate of transmission does the least societal harm, and how can we support it?’

With a side helping of ‘we all want to see our bloody families, actually.’

Brats?

Why do you use that term, out of interest?

Stay at home.
Because its become quite obvious that anything over and above the minimum of supermarkets open, mail and deliveries, clinics running and schools face to face is causing this thing to spread.
If your kid is in school thats not a reason to say fuck it, the risk is too great; its a reason to say we're at the limit of the risk we can take so we wont go to see granny, cousins, animals at the fucking zoo.
Stay at home.
Its not that hard.
I can't work until this is under control.
Funnily enough i dont give a shit if your kid cant go to a panto.

Why are people saying it? Because they've got to blame something, so other people will do.

Bluebells are you particularly angry with children?

First brats.
Now some kids panto thing.

I'm interested why children seem to particularly feature in your posts with quite nasty language.

They're just children. Can you explain why you are so particularly pissed off with them?

I used it as another, more provocative word for kids. .brat used to mean spoilt, obnoxious, precocious.
Angelica from rugrats is a brat.
I hope most children are not those things but I think I would be disappointed.
My own has to have reminders to be grateful and pull his weight.

because some people’s jobs mean they have to interact to some extent. Indeed you would be unable to eat unless they did. So the virus will spread inevitably.
But we can make it safer for the people who do have to interact by reducing the spread. For example, me staying at home makes it safer for my postman when he inevitably has to interact with me.

Also we need to reduce the number of people who catch it before getting vaccinated. Let’s say they can vaccinate everyone in 2021. If 10m people catch Covid before being vaccinated and 1% die, that’s 100k deaths. But if only 2m catch it before being vaccinated, that’s only 20k deaths. That’s before you even consider how treatment saves lives - the 2m might all get hospital treatment but the 10m won’t. When people talk about “not overwhelming the NHS” what they actually mean is “reducing the number of sick people so the NHS can treat them all, because if there’s only capacity to treat half of them then there will be more deaths”.

And it’s not sustainable as it is because people are suffering mentally and physically, not to mention the devastation to the economy
But what’s the lesser of two evils? People suffering or people dying?

Blubellsarebells brats? You sound lovely!
If you are on furlough, how are you losing a fortune?