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.

My fear is why would 2022 be any better? I think people won't be happy until we continue lockdowns forever

YANBU, it’s also the children I feel sorry for. It “only” 2 years out of our lives as adults but it’s 2 years out of every child’s childhood that they can never get back. They only get 18 years of childhood and no matter what stage they’re at, they’re missing out on it.

[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]
I do think we will open up a lot more for the summer (June-August) but with distancing measures and restrictions still in place. Autumn/winter will be vaccine/variant dependent.

Most of the first half of 2021 looks barren.

@AvocadosBeforeMortgages that's awful :( it's not like you can plan a wedding quickly if things improve either!

Do you mind me asking when people are postponing from? Mine is November as I have accepted we will have a small guest list I think!

I think the same too.

@Porcupineintherough

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.

Agree with you. The risk to most people of school or working age from covid is very low - places like MN are full of long covid stories, because those are the people with (understandably) the most to say, but remember that a third of people with covid are totally asymptomatic, let alone severely ill. Most of those at higher risk will be vaccinated by end April. After that it will be far more open, at least over summer.

Of course this is still crap for those with a vulnerable child who is too young for the vaccine, or who are one of the unlucky few who ends up severely ill despite being in a low.risk group, but as a society we do accept a certain level of risk, that is why we don't lock up our children every flu season or forbid casual driving.

This may not be a year of back to normal, but all signs are pointing to it being a lot better than 2020 for most of us.

Agreed. It’s got the air of another shite year. Hopefully it’ll improve as it progresses but I won’t hold my breath.

I agree with those saying it's not about the virus disappearing. Anyone with a brain cell surely knows by now, lockdowns are to stop hospitals getting overwhelmed, to save some lives, but not to save all lives as that's just impossible

Infections need to be brought under control, and vaccinations given to those most at risk - once that's done, we will have to live with this virus the same way we do the flu. And hospitals will still get overwhelmed as they do every winter but not to the levels we have seen the past few months

To those saying they won't cope if it goes on for another year, pls don't give up hope. I have confidence that June onwards we will be out of the other side of this, it's all about getting those vaccinations to the over 50's and the vulnerable. I really hope the Government don't let us down on the vaccine side of things, when I feel we've been let down on so much other stuff

I feel on reflection that I was naive - I genuinely didn’t think we’d have another national lockdown, let alone one that didn’t have an end date (like the November one). Feeling very very hopeless.

I'm hoping that just as 2020 didn't really turn to shite until March, so 2021 will get better from March.

You're right OP

my poor mother had to deal with me in a state of ...I don't know what to call it, the most hopeless tears, last week....it was because the arrival of something to do with dad's estate, which I wasn't expecting, shattered my facade of being able to cope with another year+ of this bullshit.

There is a reason they put the Act in place till March 2022. God knows what they have in store for us after that.

I hate, hate, HATE the false hope that gets peddled on MN - and probably other social media.

the only way this can possibly end if is people ignore what they can en masse. I am very grateful to those who are still going round visiting friends and family. Sadly none of my friends want to break rules!

If this is a surprise to you, you haven't been paying attention.

Times are hard now, but I'm still optomistic for life feeling better from Easter.
If it happened in 2020, then there shouldn't be a reason for it not to happen in 2021. Restrictions should ease earlier and quicker. Orgnaisations have "Covid Secure" measures in place. We understand risks better. We are rapidly working towards vaccinating the most vulnerable proportion of the population.

I'm not expecting "normal" and it will be a happy day when social distancing and masks are dropped, but I do think that we will have a much better summer and less disrupted autumn/ winter than the one we're existing through now.

Having come out of November lockdown into tier 3, life has had very few options since the end of October and its worn more than a little thin, but better days are coming. The government can't screw spring up and many regions are approaching their peak or passing it now.

looking at 2020

lockdown came into law on March 26th

"Stay Alert" came in on May 10th

I would expect a similar timeline this year. There is no point looking at this logically. They change the goalposts. There is no point saying "but infections have fallen". They don't care about that.

Parts of the country have been almost in perpetual lockdown the whole year.

I agree with you.

The ease in which the government have implemented these restrictions, and the generally high compliance so far, makes me think there could very well be lockdown 4.0 next winter and I wonder if that’s what Whitty was on his mind the other week when he said there could be restrictions next winter. I think we’ll all be in tiers for most of this year and even being in tier 3 again would feel like winning the lottery to me.

I'm planning on enjoying the longer days.
I expect to be able to travel to see family.

Next winter we will take it as it comes.

@AcornAutumn I hate, hate, HATE the false hope that gets peddled on MN - and probably other social media

With the exception of a few of those awful 'isn't this a lovely opportunity to slow down' threads in the first lockdown (and which have been pretty much absent ever since), I've found mn more negative, more full of people judging others on their covid purity and being more depressed than the media, than anyone I've ever talked to in daily life or heard from on social media. What threads are you reading that are positive?!??!

I also think "Stay Alert" won't happen this year because it was so heavily criticised last time. And Shitty Whitty won't allow it.

Parts of the country have been almost in perpetual lockdown the whole year.

I think this is a key part so many posters seem to skirt over when people complain about the monotony, relentlessness and sense of ground hog day. For some parts of the country there had been almost no respite since before last summer. Whether it was through an official lockdown, local lockdown or tier 4 etc some places really have been completely ground to a halt for almost a year now.

If we get back to Tier 3 by April and schools open, I will be over the moon.

I’m hoping I can see my family this year. That’s about as far as I am thinking. I honestly can’t understand how people are thinking about holidays abroad this year

@MirandaWest

I’m hoping I can see my family this year. That’s about as far as I am thinking. I honestly can’t understand how people are thinking about holidays abroad this year

Millions went on holidays abroad even last summer.

There was a sense last summer among many of 'winter is going to be awful, so let's make the most of the summer'. And there'll be a similar mindset again.

Just from a selfish point of view, I haven't seen my family including elderly parents for nearly a year now. My mental health is at rock bottom and it seems there is no light at the end of the tunnel.

Only last week they were saying current restrictions could ease in March, but now could go on for months.

Many businesses will never reopen.

The Government and scientists do not care about mental health and the increasing amount of suicides.

Those begging for lockdown to remain until summer must be loaded, have no job worries, big houses and live with or near loved ones.

I agree that things are going to be difficult (crap) for the next couple of months, but things will gradually open up again over the spring and summer . Ok you might not be able to attend a rock festival, but things will reopen, at least as much as they did in areas of the country without higher restrictions last summer .

And I don't think we will be back in the same situation we are in now next winter . Lockdown is to save lives and save the NHS. Once the vulnerable and older adults have been vaccinated then this should mean that for most people, if they catch Covid it won't be life threatening . There are plans for all adults to be vaccinated by the Autumn . Yes, some risk will remain , we have all heard by now that there are some deaths through flu each year , but we don't lockdown because of it .

We may have to continue with distancing and masks in shops for a while longer but that doesn't mean we won't be able to get out and about or see our families .