Doom and gloom. ENDLESS

[Florelei]

I have had enough of all this doom. Just when you think there might be a bit of hope you see headlines such as ‘the vaccine won’t work’ ‘mutant strains’ and what has actually TIPPED ME OVER THE EDGE TODAY ‘lockdown until June’

WHAT ON EARTH.

How can we be locked in our homes and isolated for six months when we are vaccinating over 200k a day AND lots more are getting immunity through recovery from infection.

I understand things are bad and I have always done everything I can to protect the vulnerable but seriously we can’t be locked in our homes until June can we?

Can anyone talk some sense into me please because I feel like going into my garden and lying on my lawn screaming.

Sorry I have no words of hope. Hope is only for those on the vaccine priority lists (don't read the articles online about how they are looking forward to going to the pub/have just booked their summer holiday to France/looking forward to a haircut).
We would all like those things - but hope and happiness reserved for the elderly and vulnerable (and those who know the right people or can fly abroad for a private vaccination).

Rest of us stuck in virus-land forever. Plenty of cash for EOTHO and throwing money at unviable businesses that no-one wants anymore. But government will try to ration the vaccine.

[quote LegoAndLolDolls]@Allispretty MN is doing my head in more than normal this week.

We need to all get into a room with rubber bats and try some anger management therapy.

Maybe MN needs to be added to the news ban. I dont know anyone half as angry in real life 😉

I do think some people are coming on just to wind people up for a reaction.

On that note I might start a AIBU on " Who's life and finances has benefitted from covid as much as mine?" just to set off the mushroom cloud of imploding rage. Because if not that far off that now anyway.

JOKING![/quote]
😂😂

My worry we are now in a situation were we are expected to lockdown every winter because every life matters and we can't accept older and vulnerable people will die when there are treatments that could save them as long as the NHS isn't overwhelmed.

Covid will still be around in some shape or form, the vaccines won't protect everyone, flu is a massive killer - 50,000 excess winter deaths in England and Wales in 2017/18. We didn't lockdown then but now we've done it for covid I'm certain no one will stomach excess deaths from other respiratory disease.

@supercatpowers there are enough vaccines on order for every adult to have one. I thought matt hancock had confirmed they would be offered?

I think there will be far more awareness of infection risk and we might have a big fall in flu numbers therefore- until people feel safe again! and then we might be into the roaring twenties

@makingitupaswegoon

My worry we are now in a situation were we are expected to lockdown every winter because every life matters and we can't accept older and vulnerable people will die when there are treatments that could save them as long as the NHS isn't overwhelmed.

Covid will still be around in some shape or form, the vaccines won't protect everyone, flu is a massive killer - 50,000 excess winter deaths in England and Wales in 2017/18. We didn't lockdown then but now we've done it for covid I'm certain no one will stomach excess deaths from other respiratory disease.

Now that is a very sensible worry to have. Especially if you read some threads.

Luckily the government will never listen to the people that much

I do agree with the rest though

[quote LetItGoGo]@supercatpowers there are enough vaccines on order for every adult to have one. I thought matt hancock had confirmed they would be offered?[/quote]
That would be good. But will it be before the existing formulation needs reformulating for new variants and they have to start from the beginning again with the elderly and vulnerable.

Also if I were looking for a trustworthy, non-corrupt, competent, truthful, decent source of good news, Matt Hancock would be very very far down my list.

@Nousernamesleftatall

I am not callous. I cannot stop living indefinitely to protect those that have already lived their life. Most people dying are end of life. My duty is towards my children, feeding, socialising, educating them and making sure they have a roof over their head. People die every day and that will not stop if I hide away at home.

More people will die this year from hunger. The cure is food. So unless you donate every spare penny to others you are a hypocrite.

I can see your point .

June! Dd is driving to her boyfriend's house tomorrow and I don't blame her. They've both had covid and its a nightmare for her being stuck here. I hope she has a lovely time.

I feel like the light is at the end of the tunnel. Far away but on. The worst is yet to come for the nhs in the next month and that is going to be very hard but new infections are dropping and this time we have the vaccine roll out too. We are also heading towards spring with the weather on our side.

No one knows when we can lift lockdown yet, it's all speculation and will depend on the response. There will always be experts with different views - some extreme. Bad news sells too- remember that.

That's a very depressing thought OP, that this could go on until June. Just remember that no one really knows and chances are that things will improve gradually and that by March things will start to ease.

I admit I'm struggling to stay positive today, my roof is leaking and it feels like outside problems are invading into my sanctum. I understand how hard it is. I think everyone has said, at some point, "I can't do this anymore", but here we all are still doing it. We are stronger than we think and it will end. I'm just focusing on that.

If you're really struggling, it's better to just say so than lashing out at people or blaming "lockdown". Covid is the cause of all this (yes, our Govt are inept, duplicitous bastards, but even they didn't create this problem).

I am feeling really down about all this. Not because I want lockdown to end as such, but because I want the world to get better.

One thing that is keeping me going is that in less than 6 weeks is March. What happens in March? Spring. Spring is on its way. That means longer days, warmer weather (hopefully better weather, but being in the UK this is certainly no guarantee). This alone, will make me feel better. Its just so dull, dark and glum ATM (and that's without Covid), but lets get to spring. Even if things are still just as shit with covid - which BTW I'm not convinced they will be as cases and hopefully deaths will have come down and the vaccine will be full speed ahead - it will feel better than now in the cold, winter days of January.

@Nousernamesleftatall - it's not about that. Alert 5 means that the NHS is on the point of collapse. It affects all of us. And we should always judge a society by the way it treats the most vulnerable.

Restrictions will lift bit by bit I reckon.
As soon as pressure on hospital beds eases, so will The Rules.
I doubt that by June we’ll be in the O2 watching Lady Gaga but we’ll be allowed in pubs and restaurants (with social distancing). We’ll be quietly extending our circles (compliance here will crumble I think). Gyms will reopen and hairdressers and libraries and what have you.

And with each small increment we can regain the joy of living normally.

@TheYearOfSmallThings

At this rate we will all be building 'dens' under the table with ample supplies of junk food and copious amounts of drink, and emerge with cave woman legs and armpit hair down to our fat bums.

I'm already there, my friend.

Well I was there even before the pandemic so...

@murbblurb

it is a really miserable time of year anyway, normally people can spend time buying crap, socialising indoors etc etc but of course none of that is possible. (although at least we are doing a little less damage to the planet at the moment, not that anyone actually cares)

Some flowers are coming, daylight hours are lengthening, a better season IS on the way. (and sodding Christmas is gone until September - always good).

ideally the government will give targets based on maths and science; 'when cases are below 'x' we can do 'y'....' But we are ruled by crooked arts graduates so I'm not holding my breath.

@murbblurb

(although at least we are doing a little less damage to the planet at the moment, not that anyone actually cares)

That's actually not true. The short-sighted and ill-evidenced universal masking policies have created an environmental crisis whose grave effects will be felt by humans and wildlife for at least 450 years. There are more masks than jellyfish in some seas now; they are literally and figuratively choking the oceans. See environmentjournal.online/articles/the-environmental-impact-of-abandoned-face-masks/

This will likely be the most lasting legacy of all this insanity. When people in the plastic- and disaster-ridden future look back on the Covid mania of today, they will condemn our folly; I feel sure of it.

I wish the mainstream news would run emotionally manipulative stories about "saving the dolphins" by not wearing or discarding plastic masks for a bit of counterbalance...

Agree.. I was doing ok up until recently but now mental health is beginning to suffer with panic attacks and can sense depression rearing its head.

June?! JEEPERS. Out June - October then back in our boxes until the following June. Gosh.

I am the same OP getting me down too

The only headlines I can find that talk about lockdown till June are from last May, talking about June 2020! So I think this is untrue. Mercifully!

My worry we are now in a situation were we are expected to lockdown every winter because every life matters and we can't accept older and vulnerable people will die when there are treatments that could save them as long as the NHS isn't overwhelmed

I've sometimes thought the same, but honestly don't think it'll happen
By the time "future winters" roll round, the financial and collateral health damage of this period will be so obvious that I don't believe they'd be able to do it

As I've said, sooner or later - and especially if the vaccines don't work well enough - we'll have to accept that we simply can't cure everyone of everything all the time

@Nousernamesleftatall

I am not callous. I cannot stop living indefinitely to protect those that have already lived their life. Most people dying are end of life. My duty is towards my children, feeding, socialising, educating them and making sure they have a roof over their head. People die every day and that will not stop if I hide away at home.

More people will die this year from hunger. The cure is food. So unless you donate every spare penny to others you are a hypocrite.

Brilliant.

Just all of this.

So spot on.

As mothers we are feeling incredibly protective of our young right now. We need out of this.

My worry we are now in a situation were we are expected to lockdown every winter because every life matters and we can't accept older and vulnerable people will die when there are treatments that could save them as long as the NHS isn't overwhelmed

No we won't, because this has never been about saving lives. It's been about avoiding the breakdown of society and in the long term trying to avoid least damage to the economy as economists in the vast majority agree that in these situations the best way back to a working economy is to contain the virus by locking down. The Tory government is not in the least interested in saving lives or in all lives mattering.

Honestly, it's baffling that some on here seem to think that the Tory government desperately want to keep tanking our economy by keeping us in lockdown for as long as possible, even to the extent of manipulating death figures to scare us so that we will do as we're told. Nobody actually asks the question why; for what possible reason would this right wing capitalist government want to keep the country from running at its best in terms of economics? Do you think it's because they want to 'control' us?

Just ludicrous thinking.

As it is, they just want to stop the NHS being overwhelmed so more people of all ages stop getting sick as well as dying, so people with other conditions can access treatment, so society can keep ticking over.

Yes, it's rubbish and everyone is struggling, but those saying they're fed up and are going to start breaking the rules are the ones who will stretch thing thing out for much longer. Cutting off your nose to spite your face.

I seriously doubt lockdown will continue til June. Vaccinations are going well and cases are coming down. Be optimistic OP, there is some good news out there.