It's not going to get better for a long time, is it?

[MagicSummer]

After such uplifting news about the Oxford vaccine last week and the proposed 2 Million per week vaccinations, I was feeling a bit optimistic last week. I am in Group 5 so according to the calculator can expect to get the jab in late February. However, today's news is so bad, I feel extremely despondent today. I feel there is absolutely no way we will be back to a more 'normal' life this side of late summer. It makes you want to cry!

It’s a particularly miserable day out there today, which isn’t helping

@lightand

The world has to learn to live with the virus in my opinion.

What would this actually mean in practice though?

If it turns out that reinfection is the norm, then we are looking at a virus with the potential to kill or leave debilitated vast numbers of people, and which comes around like a common cold. If it leaves you unscathed on one infection, it might not the next.

I accept that ultimately we can't control whether science can come to our rescue, but we really had better hope it can, because in my opinion the alternative doesn't really bear thinking about. I think people who blithely say we just need to 'learn to live with it' haven't really thought through what living with it on a permanently ongoing basis would look like.

I get what you mean, it seems it’s just constant bad news, one thing after another. The reality though is we should be over the worst of this this by spring. With enough vulnerable people vaccinated the hospitals will be under much less pressure and more of a normal life will resume

And when furlough ends... there will be MASSIVE recession, MASSIVE unemployment, MASSIVE numbers of suicides... all exacerbated by those pleading for lockdown.

@MagicSummer
I certainly dont know all the ramifications of that. But the way I see it, only SARS as a virus was erradicated. The rest we have had to learn to live with.
The main stumbling block around the world, as I see it, is the capacity of an individual country's health service. Although most hate the idea, it may mean that yet more money needs to be pumped in, to increase nursing staff[which seems to be the logjam as regards covid?]. It may be that everyone trying to run around trying to stop the virus in the first instance will turn out to be a futile effort.

Eventually all of us may have to face a worse case scenario.

@viccat

Everyone under 50 is going to be thrown under a bus by April or so when the most vulnerable have been vaccinated and the restrictions will be relaxed.

When you say "thrown under a bus" did you mean "get back to living a normal life; allowing the economy to rebuild and allowing children to have some semblance of a childhood"?

No-one is forcing you to join in, but for goodness sake, don't say that you speak for everyone under 50 - I'm 47 and desperate for some sort of return to normality. I have no desire to prolong restrictions a nano-second longer than necessary.

@Anonanon12

Spring isn't far away, throw yourself into a hobby, redecorate maybe, de-clutter, get some good books and focus on getting through this week by week till it's a bit better. I'm also feeling a bit flat today and am having to make myself get on, think I'm going to look for something good to watch or read instead of watching the headlines!

spring is no good for me! at 48 i have to wait until Jan - June 2022 to get the vaccine.

@wanderings

And when furlough ends... there will be MASSIVE recession, MASSIVE unemployment, MASSIVE numbers of suicides... all exacerbated by those pleading for lockdown.

Yep. Totally agree. There is a massive lack of foresight in this whole "we need a lockdown now, not in 48 hours, NOW" "schools need to be shut NOT" hysteria that abounds on MN.

I certainly dont know all the ramifications of that. But the way I see it, only SARS as a virus was erradicated. The rest we have had to learn to live with.

It wasn't eradicated, it was contained back in 2003. Not the same thing. The only virus affecting humans which has been succesfully eradicated is Smallpox. It was the 40th anniversary this year in fact.

It will get better unless it gets worse.

@wanderings. I agree.
Sometimes, pushing the can down the road doesnt solve the problem entirely.
Great that so far deaths have been somewhat minimised. And financial hardship somewhat minimised. But furlough per month costs the same or more than the annual budget of the NHS. How long can that continue?

Just keep plodding on and we’ll get there eventually. What’s the alternative?

@IcedPurple. Fair enough.
The world's ability thus far to erradicate viruses is negligable.

[quote lightand]@IcedPurple. Fair enough.
The world's ability thus far to erradicate viruses is negligable.[/quote]
But they can be contained or managed to a level which makes them much less dangerous. The same thing will very likely happen with this virus.

I feel the same at the moment. It felt like we were getting there, but then the growth caused by the new variants has shown how much we can't really predict, it feels like we're on a knife edge a bit, not at all sure what's coming round the corner.

I've been pragmatic throughout and really did think that we would go "back to normal" with a vaccine. Now, like others here I'm less sure if how it was before is achievable. Which makes me incredibly sad.

Crying won't help.

So I hope this doesn't come across patronising, but my 13 year old DS had the holy mother of biblical, maths online work, related meltdowns this morning and he collapsed into a sobbing heap.
He said he feels like he is being punished, he likes school and hates doing online work. He feels like it's never going back to normal, all the negative came streaming out.

I told him, I wanted him to imagine we are in a dark tunnel. We know we can find a way out but it's been too dark since March to do that safely, so we've moved a little bit but not much. I then found the footage of the first Oxford vaccine online this morning. I said, now I want you to think that for every vaccine, a candle is lit in a person's hand in the tunnel. Just a little candle. But soon, those lights will grow in number and we will have more and more lights and we will leave that horrible dark tunnel together.
I said that out if darkness can only come light. We have to work together to get that though. So although everything has seemed so dark and hopeless and will carry on feeling that way for a bit longer, it is coming far sooner than way back last March.

It certainly helped calm him down so I hope it helps others. There has been and will be darker days but they will cease, sooner rather than later and all we can do is keep positive

@jessstan1

Crying won't help.

Neither does your post.

This virus is mild in under 50s!!

Anyone else think news channels should. Be made to have something on the screen similar to election results....

With numbers vaccinated / percentage of population etc... Would be a good visual without having to keep Banging on about it. We need to remember the positives even with the negative news.

OP the story bout the South African not relating to the vaccine is a non starter... One professor mentioned that the vaccine may now work as effective but would sti be over 50% and it would likely take a few weeks to tweak the vaccine to react to it if it needed to...

Sorry about punctuation big thumbs on a small Screen Ha

Feeling equally gloomy about this today. Is it just because we are in dreary January?
I am struggling to see any sign of positives!

It has made me very sad these last few days

I was ok until the news about the SA strain maybe being vaccine resistant. I’m so so fed up today

Why will we be thrown under a bus? I’m in this group and will be very happy when restrictions are relaxed, even if I’ve not yet had the vaccine yet. Under 50s with no vulnerable health conditions are not at much risk from the virus. I’m prepared to take my chances for a normal life!

Lovely. You taking your chances means that everyone else has to take chances. Because you could be spreading it even unknowingly.
I'm really happy for ppl to be so brave, but it's sheer stupidity. It is not only about the individual.
But ppl don't seem to get this in this country.

The very early benefit of the vaccination programme is that the NHS will be "saved" (i.e. no longer at risk of being overloaded). People with only the first vaccination will not be hospitalised even if they get ill. Those not vaccinated, i.e. the more robust ones, wouldn't have needed hospitalisation anyway. So even if infections stay high for a while, restrictions which were always mainly intended to save the NHS will no longer be necessary within the next few months.