2021 starting to feel like another write off

[User133847]

Looking like lockdown until around Easter time and then back to tiers for a while. Maybe open up more as the summer goes on (like last year) and then hope for the best over winter.

I hope I'm wrong. I'm going to enjoy the summer as much as I can this time. Within the rules before anyone starts.

Agree. This is becoming a total absolute joke now and you're right 2021 is going to be shit. This isn't easing before March/Easter time and even then it'll just be tiers.

Any hope of normality people ought to wait for 2022 to be a better year.

I fear you might be right. IF we meet the target of vaccinating every adult by September (ooh look at that pig up there!) autumn/winter might not be like 20/21.

Yes I think it's almost certainly now going to be very much like last year. Bad winter/spring then things easing enough over summer to spend more time with family, then back to tiers (hopefully not lockdown) at Christmas time then a more normal year in 2022. Pandemics usually last around 2 years and I think new mutations will likely cause problems for the vaccine though hopefully the vaccines will still result in getting less severely unwell in the most vulnerable.
Who knows though? If you could have told me we'd still be living like this last March I never would have believed it.

Yep. I wish I had someone I could have a go at for it, I feel so frustrated about it all. Surely businesses aren’t going to survive this long in lockdown/tiers?

I know a lot of people who aren’t really coping in this lockdown and we’re not even a month in yet, I’m so worried about the effects we’re going to see from this in the months and years to come.

You’ve got to love a positive thread on this dull, cold, wet ,January morning.

TheRaccoon some parts of the UK have been in lockdown for a month now.

It's realistic, though Mindymomo. Prepare for the worst and hope for the best etc.

Why would you even want to think like that? We’re not even out of January and a few million people are already vaccinated. Feel free to wallow in your despair but I’m not going to be joining you.

I don't think you're wrong, sadly. In autumn last year I think I was feeling really hopeful for this spring but as times goes on, it just seems like it could still be on going this winter.

Really starting to feel sad for our DC now, the way this is affecting them, not only missing school, but missing days out etc.
I have no doubt they will adapt when things re open but I do feel sad I'll have missed out on his last 1-2years before starting school to go on day trips etc.

I've just about had it, I'm afraid, and I agree with you that there isn't going to be any significant improvement any time soon. This isn't living, it's existing, and quite frankly I don't see the point. I am cut off from everyone significant in my life other than DH. Some close members of my (very small) family I am unlikely to see before 2022 now. Every day is the same: get up, have breakfast, work, have lunch, work, have dinner, watch tv/read. Weekends we get a food shop and go for a walk (woohoo!). We have nothing left to do in the house. It has essentially been fully renovated whilst we've been stuck inside. I have no motivation for online museum visits etc. and in any case, I can't concentrate on anything these days. Another year of this is unthinkable

Why would you even want to think like that? We’re not even out of January and a few million people are already vaccinated

Personally, I'd rather assume it's going to drag on this year so that I'm not disappointed if it does.

@tinselearedcow I'm talking about the official lockdown which started on 6th January.

I live in a part of the country where we've been under tighter restrictions than most since summer so I realise that some areas have had it much worse than others.

Agree, I reckon we might get an early autumn lessening of restrictions just in time to start revaccinating for new variants.

No Way!

It's only the 20th January. Vaccine is rolling out and things will get better.

2021 has barely begun.

@tinselearedcow

I fear you might be right. IF we meet the target of vaccinating every adult by September (ooh look at that pig up there!) autumn/winter might not be like 20/21.

That's the hope, but even if they miraculously get every adult a vaccine by autumn (a huge task in itself) then younger adults will have only had the one dose. It'll spread as soon as the schools and colleges open up in September at the start of respiratory virus season. Result = panic and more restrictions.

Make the most of your summer because we don't know if winter will be bad again.

@TheRaccoon

Yep. I wish I had someone I could have a go at for it, I feel so frustrated about it all. Surely businesses aren’t going to survive this long in lockdown/tiers?

I know a lot of people who aren’t really coping in this lockdown and we’re not even a month in yet, I’m so worried about the effects we’re going to see from this in the months and years to come.

You've got to wonder what we'll have left by 2022. Hospitality is going to be crippled.

@covetingthepreciousthings

Why would you even want to think like that? We’re not even out of January and a few million people are already vaccinated

Personally, I'd rather assume it's going to drag on this year so that I'm not disappointed if it does.

Part of the problem has been the government over-promising and under delivering. This leads to more despair when their promises and assurances can't be met (Boris said back to normal by Easter only recently).

At least now it seems like they're starting to level with us.

@User133847 I think the government care too much about the economy to do that.

Once the risk of the NHS being overwhelmed is gone, it will be BAU.

They won’t wait for zero risk - they don’t care if you die, or I die - it would just be inconvenient for us to all die at once.

Divebar

Why would you even want to think like that? We’re not even out of January and a few million people are already vaccinated. Feel free to wallow in your despair but I’m not going to be joining you.“

Agree. Things will be very different by summer. The vaccine programme is fantastic.

[quote TheRaccoon]@tinselearedcow I'm talking about the official lockdown which started on 6th January.

I live in a part of the country where we've been under tighter restrictions than most since summer so I realise that some areas have had it much worse than others.[/quote]
Where I am (Wales) we have been locked down since 20th December!

I dont agree. It's not people getting the virus that's a problem, it's the numbers getting seriously ill and needing hospitalization. Once the numbers of these people drop sufficiently, life can return to something a lot closer to normal. So I think this year will be a whole lot better.

[quote botoxbetty]@User133847 I think the government care too much about the economy to do that.

Once the risk of the NHS being overwhelmed is gone, it will be BAU.

They won’t wait for zero risk - they don’t care if you die, or I die - it would just be inconvenient for us to all die at once.[/quote]
This

YANBU. I'm in the wedding industry, and already couples are postponing (cancelling altogether, sometimes) weddings that are months away.

And I'm still one of the 3 million people who have fallen through all the cracks of government support

That's the hope, but even if they miraculously get every adult a vaccine by autumn (a huge task in itself) then younger adults will have only had the one dose. It'll spread as soon as the schools and colleges open up in September at the start of respiratory virus season. Result = panic and more restrictions.

But all of the CEV and CV groups will have had the jab. So the numbers being seriously ill and needing hospital treatment will be very very low!
We don't need the virus to disappear. We need it to be a low enough number to be manageable by the NHS.
When the numbers getting seriously ill are low, the risks and negative impacts of lockdowns etc would outweigh the impact of the virus. So why would you need restrictions?
We may need to give the CEV or CV groups an annual vaccination. That's doable though.