Whitty saying we'll still have restrictions next winter

[bathsh3ba]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-55542393

Fan-fucking-tastic. And I don't swear. Honestly don't know how I'm going to get through this.

Yes, it's like all the vaccine posts saying that AstraZenecca wasn't going to work and linking to dubious Twitter 'experts'.

I think that a kind of 'opposition' should be set up to keep the government under pressure on this (I know we already have political party opposition, but I mean an opposition set up with the explicit intention of questioning restrictions decided upon.)

These restrictions are so monumental and so life-changing; they deserve forceful and vigorous scrutiny. You wouldn't have a court process where punishments were handed out without a defence for the suspect, no matter how obvious guilt is. The political process in this country depends on opposition - it's necessary to have the highest quality debate and challenge in order to hold people and decisions to account.

Why is that not happening with this? Why has a committee not been proposed to deliberately challenge government policy and represent all the other interests that are at stake here?

I'm not even saying that the government aren't making the right decisions - I really don't know about that, but I think there should be a formalised adversarial process really aimed at looking at alternative ways forward, and holding the government to account.

@Mousehole10

I’ll join you in the saying no. I’m not prepared to live under restrictions after spring.

@Mousehole10 do you not think you'll be browbeaten/shamed into it by peers/family/society?

Not saying I disagree only in my experience if you go against the grain, you are ostracised......

@MiaMarshmallows

Oh come on. It will be pretty much over by March. Kids will be back end of February/beginning of March, back into school and life will be pretty much back to normal by then. Rough few weeks ahead but then better times for sure.

I very much doubt it will be pretty much over by March especially if so many people keep ignoring the rules.

Last March so many people were saying it would all be over in a couple of months and yet here we are getting on for a year later and it is not over is it? In fact it is worse now than it was then.

@Bluntness100

God I hate these scaremongering threads. He didn’t say that. Why do people post links to things they haven’t read or don’t understand.

He absolutely did not say we would still have restrictions next winter. Nor does the bloody article you linked to say that.

I feel so sorrry for these guys. They get asked questions about worst case, and they say something like we hope and think this will be enough and we should be fine, but if something goes wrong then worst case could occur

And someone screams “worst case is going to occur” then runs round their house with their pants on their head, before starting a thread on mumsnet so others can join in with the pretend stuff said.

100% agree.

Many teachers in MN were campaigning for safer conditions in schools rather than closing schools (see previous threads by noblegiraffe).

One of the proposals was rotas, half of the students in the other half remote learning, so that they could properly social distance in school.

Many people, and the government seemed against it, but wouldn't that have been better? As not doing anything and keeping the schools open all this time only helped to spread the virus and the new variant to a point that it became unsustainable to keep schools open; and now schools are operating with about half of the students in (vulnerable and critical workers' children), but with no possibility for the rest of children to be back in the classroom in the foreseeable future.

I think in the end the idea of rotas would have been preferable to keep the schools open but safer.

The most sensible thing to do would be the announce now that schools will be closed in January 2022 with teaching moved to August 2022 in order to both protect education by moving it to a period of lower threat and also reduce the numbers of economic restrictions that will be needed.

Cynical me wonders if there's an element of self-interest with Whitty. Presumably he's getting paid for all this advice. Will he be losing out when things are 'normal' again?

Oh for Christ's sake don't be so bloody stupid, you do realise that he is a well paid consultant in his 'normal life' they didn't just keep him in a cupboard to wheel out in case this day ever arrived, jesus wept.

@bathsh3ba

www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-55542393

Fan-fucking-tastic. And I don't swear. Honestly don't know how I'm going to get through this.

I just heard him on the news.

He said we may have restrictions next winter.

He did NOT say the current restrictions will still be here by then.

He said things may get back to normal-ish by summer, but we may need to be careful next December/January, as people become more vulnerable.

I agree with other posters, people need to stop the scaremongering. It's not helpful.

@Drogonssmile no I don’t think so. All my friends and family (me included) have stick to it all year. Some haven’t seen family since March, none went off on holiday, everyone stuck to the Christmas rules. Mix of key workers, NHS, teachers, professional jobs, mat leave. Absolutely everyone has said that’s it after spring. No one is prepared to not see family anymore. We’ve all agreed that’s what’s happening.

@StatisticalSense

The most sensible thing to do would be the announce now that schools will be closed in January 2022 with teaching moved to August 2022 in order to both protect education by moving it to a period of lower threat and also reduce the numbers of economic restrictions that will be needed.

Eh, no that would be daft. Considering it’s highly likely kids will be back early March,

We're just going to have to put up with it for the time being.

WTF do you want the government to do - get their special big magic wand out and make the virus go away?

Some of the comments about Chris Whitty are absolutely disgusting, you might not like what he's; saying but there is absolutely no need to be so vile. He's enormously respected by peers (& many others).

I agree with other posters, people need to stop the scaremongering. It's not helpful

Honestly I think there is no point in asking them to stop. People will Wade in with more and more fatalistic projections to scare people who are anxious about it and think it might be true.

Have they ever said they will vaccinate everyone? Is it not going to just be the 9 categories listed?

He is absolutely preparing us for many months, possibly another year or two, of restrictions. He doesn't want to panic us and cause even more rule breaking and public disorder and I expect more relatively subtle preparation comments from him over the next few months because yes there are people who do really believe we're going to back to a non-restricted life by Easter. I also think he's being disingenuous with his 'collective effort' remark because he must be fully aware of lockdown fatigue.

MerinoFroggie

If everyone did what we are being asked to do, we could probably resume back to some sort of a life. It's not happening. A sizable portion of the population probably do care and follow the public health guidelines but others don't care and they are putting others at risk and are contributing to rising covid cases and spread. If everyone settled down and relaxed instead of rushing out and about, we would probably get infection rates under control.

Couldn’t agree more. Today I am feeling particularly angry at those ignoring the rules needlessly. It’s making me furious.

Friend of a friend had to wait 2.5 hours for an ambulance - struggling to breathe.

ICU departments are full. People in their 40s, 50,s and 60’s are dying. People are coming round from ventilation to find that their family members didn’t make it. Staff are being traumatised by what they are having to deal with.

But some people are putting their desire to socialise above peoples right to live. It’s selfish. Totally selfish - and I’m mad as hell today!

A logical and natural consequence for deliberate and unnecessary ignoring of the rules would be that you are not entitled to receive healthcare. I could never support that but wouldn’t that focus people a little more?!

Hoping I wake up less angry tomorrow!

@CharlotteRose90

I personally think its going to go on for atleast a year if not more. People aren’t getting vaccinated so it will spread and mutate. Plus with the airports and ports opening people will be bringing it in again. There’s countries that have refused to vaccinate yet. It’s a complete shit situation

Ummm.... yes, people are getting vaccinated. 1.3 million so far, including nearly 1 in 4 of the over 80’s. One of the journos asked Whitty if the plan to vaccinate the 13 million highest priority by mid February was realistic, he said it was (as long as everything goes well). The caveats are what you would expect from a scientist, as against a politician.

There is a long way to go, certainly, and many countries haven’t started yet. But, eventually, they will.

@CoronaIsWatching

He's always wrong so I wouldn't pay much attention

He's not though is he.

@bluntness100
Chris Whitty has quite clearly said that even if things get much better for the rest of this year it is likely that some restrictions will be needed this time next year. Given that schools are only open 38 weeks a year it makes sense to move this to the times of year that are lower risk as this could well reduce the need to close other venues without impacting on the education recieved (which would be just as good in August as it would in January).

For a who have posted on this thread, how many of you actually watched the broadcast in full?

*all

@ArtemisBean

Cynical me wonders if there's an element of self-interest with Whitty. Presumably he's getting paid for all this advice. Will he be losing out when things are 'normal' again? 🤔

Don't be silly. They've not just contracted him in from nowhere to do a bit of work. This is his actual job. Even a quick search on Wiki tells you that.

Christopher John MacRae Whitty CB FRCP FFPH FMedSci (born 21 April 1966) is an English physician and epidemiologist who serves as the Chief Medical Officer for England (CMO), Chief Medical Adviser to the UK Government, Chief Scientific Adviser (CSA) to the Department of Health and Social Care, Head of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and Gresham Professor of Physic.

Here is a novel idea no point in worrying what might or might no happen
Scaremongering is unhelpful and not based on any facts most of the time. Most if not all of us have no control on what happens

Chris Witty is one of the few people that have reassured me in all this. He’s calm, professional, realistic, intelligent and actually answers the questions he’s asked. It’s pathetic and unkind to mock his manner or question his morals.

Maybe some of you should actually watch the briefings instead of picking up snippets from here or elsewhere online and blowing them out of all proportion.