Social distancing to last all year

[Santastealer]

The media this morning are reporting on a report given to government saying social distancing will need to be in place all year and rules remain until December.

But what then? What do they expect to be different by September?

Last August I was able to go on holiday with my family as a group of 8, are thy suggesting this year this won’t be possible? If not why was it ok last year when we didn’t have vaccines but this year it’s not ok when we do?

I’m thoroughly fed up of not being able to see my family and I need to feel an end point is in sight.

I need to board a plane or boat to see my family. There are definitely things stopping me, and from looking at comments on mumsnet, many would be happy if my parents dont meet their grandaughter til she is 3.

missing the point

when we were allowed on holiday with 8 people?

I don’t mind masks. May well don one in ‘flu season too in future, as I age, probably won’t be the only one.

I too think that this summer will be very much like last summer. Pubs and restaurants will be reopened and people will be able to go on holiday (unlikely abroad though) - things will feel relatively normal. As a trade off for this I expect WFH to continue for a long time to come - possibly into 2023 and no mass events taking place, such as concerts or sports. The government will be want to be ultra cautious about schools, in that once they open them again, they know they won’t be able to close them again. So if things get a bit hairy in the autumn I think we’ll be expected to give up more things like restaurants and seeing too many people, so that schools will remain open. Having said this pandemics are usually over within a two year window, so hopefully we’ll be back to normal sooner rather than later.

@Pink98

I can’t do it

Oh God @Pink98 me neither!! I've worked so hard to stay positive all through but this article has had me in tears today. Frankly I'm not surprised that suicides are sky high, I can't carry on with the constant fear and terrible news.

I think we will do something similar to NZ in as much as vaccinate ‘our own’ population then maintain strict border control and enforced quarantine on arrival to prevent new outbreaks/variants. It would mean travel abroad is less likely but perhaps we could live more ‘normally’ within the UK. Social distancing from strangers and masks inside wouldn’t bother me if I could see family and have friends round.

I will tolerate a mask in a shop, just.

I think of the spanish flu 1918 - 1922, which killed 20 to 50 million, 500 million infected one third of the planet, so we are doing better so far with 103 million affected, 2.2 million dead. We cannot rest on our laurels yet. We are in for a hard slog I fear.

@GabsAlot

missing the point

when we were allowed on holiday with 8 people?

I don’t think this was ever allowed? And let’s not forget that some areas had much tighter restrictions over the summer than others!

@CaughtInTheCovid

I think we will do something similar to NZ in as much as vaccinate ‘our own’ population then maintain strict border control and enforced quarantine on arrival to prevent new outbreaks/variants. It would mean travel abroad is less likely but perhaps we could live more ‘normally’ within the UK. Social distancing from strangers and masks inside wouldn’t bother me if I could see family and have friends round.

to do it like Australia and New zealand are doing it would be ridiculously hard work as we have food coming in and out of the EU constantly for starters. Very little comes in by anything other than air to Australia/new zealand so you can't really compare. Most of Western Australia has just started a FIVE DAY LOCKDOWN for ONE reported case. can you imagine. I honestly think the bets we can hope for is to keep cases at a really low manageable level. Eradication just isn't realistic at least not for a long time.

Surely some research has been done into it by the government before ordering all these lockdowns? Flu death have been massively reduced this year, by something like 90%, its not going to be fun if hordes of people suddenly start dying of flu the first winter these restrictions are removed. Which would lead to the NHS being overwhelmed yet again...

I worry about this. I had flu once and it was horrible - I’m worried this suppression of all the usual germs floating around will be devastating when everything eventually gets back to normal. Hope I’m wrong.

I would rather not wear a mask and SD indefinitely obviously but if it meant things could get back to some semblance of normality I’d comply. Starting with schools going back.

@Poppingnostopping

Those who can't get along without group hugging and parties and recreation are selfish weaklings putting the rest of us at risk and prolonging the pandemic. You'll reap what you sow for a long, long time

I don't want any of these things. What I want is to be able to hug my own mum, to have lunch out with one friend (happy to wear a mask til we eat), have a few friends in my garden for drinks one evening, meet colleagues once or twice a week for work/meetings, basic everyday type stuff. My children to be able to mooch around town with a couple of friends.

Nothing hedonistic, nothing group, and nothing weird. Everyday banal social interaction which it turns out most people need at least a little of if they are to remain mentally healthy.

Which was all allowed last summer within the context of continued social distancing.

Fuck that, quite frankly. Once all my family and friends are vaccinated I'm not social distancing from them any more
Totally agree.
My parents are vaccinated (second jab was three weeks ago so visiting them today for this first tim in almost a year. Hallelujah!

I wonder whether there will be restrictions for those who won't have the vaccine (excluding those who have medical exemptions). I assume vaccines will be required for travelling abroad (like some vaccines already are), exclusion from certain venues, might be required for certain jobs, requirements for masks and COVID tests (although I assume that might still apply for most of us for a while)

redsquirrelfan Which was all allowed last summer within the context of continued social distancing.

But the rules we had in the UK last summer were still far more restrictive than nearly all of the rest of Europe. As I said, I could hardly believe the freedom when I went to Switzerland in July and families weren't required to socially distance from other families, but they were all out enjoying themselves in the sunshine, lakeside.

Meanwhile, here, the media was full of photos of people being too close on the beach, and government ministers were berating us for the same. We were only allowed out in groups of no more than 8. And in Scotland, inexplicably, pubs were open and you could meet strangers there if you sat down but didn't laugh or sing, but you couldn't go to a swimming pool or a gym!

Life was really incredibly restricted in the UK last summer, compared to other countries, and it sets the bar so low for summers to come. Meanwhile, we can't even escape abroad on holiday so as to compare it, and its not as if the British media is going to report on comparitive restrictions, is it!

@ineedaholidaynow

I wonder whether there will be restrictions for those who won't have the vaccine (excluding those who have medical exemptions). I assume vaccines will be required for travelling abroad (like some vaccines already are), exclusion from certain venues, might be required for certain jobs, requirements for masks and COVID tests (although I assume that might still apply for most of us for a while)

I think the EU (assuming they get their vaccinations up to speed) will have a foreign holiday season. But no 3rd counties nationals will be allowed in for tourism purposes.

We are a long way from a european let alone a internationally recognised vaccine passport.

"And in Scotland, inexplicably, pubs were open and you could meet strangers there if you sat down but didn't laugh or sing, but you couldn't go to a swimming pool or a gym!"

I don't think that's totally inexplicable. Singing we know is a big risk. Was laughing really banned and how was that enforced? I've always thought that swimming pools were a hive of germs, but I don't have anything concrete to back that up.

Well if the vaccine is only 65% effective and if there are 500-1500 deaths a day the govt are just going to have to fund the nhs to deal with that. No fucking idea how they manage that by summer/autumn/winter though as you really need a load more ICU nurses and drs.

@Santastealer I get very impatient when I read posts like yours. None of us like what is happening to us. I haven't seen my family since December 28th 2020. I'm booked for my first vaccine this Thursday, and I'm very grateful for it. But it will make no difference to my life. We will still be staying home, still isolating as much as possible. You ask what has changed since last year? Nothing. You and your family were idiots to get together for a holiday. My husband and I were in a holiday cottage in September, because it was booked and paid for the year before. But we were literally just in different accommodation, still isolating, still just watching TV and watching the world go by through the window.
The government and Health authority keep changing everything BECAUSE THEY DON'T KNOW! They can only react and try to control the situation day by day. The best thing those of us who aren't in control can do is to use common sense. So stay home if you can, and be sensible if you can't. And I'd say that means forget any situation like a holiday where you can't socially distance.

"Those who can't get along without group hugging and parties and recreation are selfish weaklings putting the rest of us at risk and prolonging the pandemic. You'll reap what you sow for a long, long time."

I don't need group hugging, or any hugs actually, but I need to see people face-to-face regularly and more than just my bubble. I don't care if you think I'm selfish and weak. I call it being human. We're not meant to be in solitary confinement, even with Netflix.

@Gwenhwyfar

"And in Scotland, inexplicably, pubs were open and you could meet strangers there if you sat down but didn't laugh or sing, but you couldn't go to a swimming pool or a gym!"

I don't think that's totally inexplicable. Singing we know is a big risk. Was laughing really banned and how was that enforced? I've always thought that swimming pools were a hive of germs, but I don't have anything concrete to back that up.

Banning both singing and laughing was unenforcable but still encouraged and officially banned by Nicola Sturgeon herself and much referred to in her daily briefings on tv. Although I could imagine licenses not being renewed because too much laughing or singing was not cracked down upon in a certain pub. So it is perhaps enforcable through the licensing regime.

Swimming pools are full of chlorine to kill germs and the cleaning regime (when they eventually reopened in September only to close again in January) was so rigid that I felt as if I was in the cleanest possible environment. Disinfectant sprayed everywhere after each session. No lingering in showers, etc.. Far cleaner than supermarkets.

Its not just swimming and gyms, most other competitive sports in Scotland were banned too whilst allowed in every other European country in the summer, and in England. Except football of course. Football has always been allowed.

People’s opinions are based on what hardship the restrictions put on them. If for example you can work from home or on some kind of benefits it may not have had the same impact than if you’ve lost your job and can’t keep a roof over your family’s head or put food on the table. I can never understand the “I’m alright Jack so everyone else must be Covidiot.” People forget that this country runs on people paying taxes if more and more people become unemployed then there will be even less money for the NHS, emergency services, councils and benefits. Not everything is as easy as stay at home with your yoga mat.

Anyone seen the pictures of the hotels in Sharm el sheikh abandoned or the beaches in Mexico overrun by alligators, this will be Europe at this rate.

@MiddleParking I love you