Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Covid

Mumsnet doesn't verify the qualifications of users. If you have medical concerns, please consult a healthcare professional.

Original poster

Social distancing to last all year

502 replies

Santastealer · 31/01/2021 08:23

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.

OP posts:
justasking111 · 01/02/2021 14:00

@DenisetheMenace

colouringindoors

“I can cope without holidays, pubs, footie.

I'm not sure if i can cope with another year without a hug.”

Flowers

I want a hug so badly from my sons now married, their children. We are in such a low area of the country 20 max positives a day which includes the hospital and numerous nursing homes who are having covid tests regularly. It hurts.
lindyloo57 · 01/02/2021 17:47

I think people shouldn't of been allowed to go on holiday last year, that why this is dragging on, all flights should of been grounded, don't get me started on Christmas flights, I don't understand how people were allowed to fly in December I thought we were in lockdown .

Beverley71 · 01/02/2021 18:06

@Fuckinlonely

All the doom-mongerers are on this thread! Hang in there op, sanity will return with the warmer weather I hope! The people on this thread are very welcome to lock themselves away till 2024 but noone else will xx
Totally agree. Once everyone is vaccinated what are we waiting for? Yes no international travel but I’d rather hug my mum and get my kids back into school
grifffendor · 01/02/2021 19:44

honestly going abroad is on my bottom list of priority or standing in socially distance que or going to football match .
I got terminally ill grand mother who is on borrowed time , I have not seen over year and I praying she hangs on . I have already lost my auntie two weeks ago who died suddenly from a fall , going to a a love ones ceremony during pandemic with social distancing is really hard . I don't whats worse losing someone suddenly or going through grief with out able to be around family and friends , not to be able to hug . the worry about having self isolate time and time again when you can't afford anymore time off work and having child that full time education worrying about the impact of having to self isolate thats going to have negative impact on my child on top of consent lockdowns . . I read measures are going to last over two years . I really hope not covid done enough damage both directly and in directly and its been bloody disruptive to people lives .
I am looking forward to time when cases of corona goes back to beening beer again and that the covid police goes back to being over hyped xenophobic curtain twitches.

WouldBeGood · 01/02/2021 19:49

I cannot wait to go abroad

DenisetheMenace · 01/02/2021 20:10

Countrygirl99

I've suspected it for a while but that post utterly convinced me that you are a bored teen looking for a bit of fun.”

Nope, clearly a yoga mat manufacturer touting for business Grin

LizFlowers · 01/02/2021 21:13

lindyloo57: I think people shouldn't of been allowed to go on holiday last year,
.......

:-) :-)
Well we are paying for it now. Hopefully the government will be firmer about restrictions from now on, people more responsible and we can gradually emerge.

Not a good idea to even think of travelling abroad this year, definitely. It won't kill us!

GreenlandTheMovie · 01/02/2021 21:15

@lindyloo57

I think people shouldn't of been allowed to go on holiday last year, that why this is dragging on, all flights should of been grounded, don't get me started on Christmas flights, I don't understand how people were allowed to fly in December I thought we were in lockdown .
Why not? Every other country allowed foreign travel too.

Although I suppose it would have been useful to stop people seeing how heavily the UK was locked down all last summer and into this year in comparison to other European countries at the same time, and thus not believing the line that the UK still hasn't locked down harshly enough.

Switzerland was a revelation. The only obvious restriction last summer was wearing face masks on public transport, otherwise life was pretty normal there.

grifffendor · 01/02/2021 21:56

@ElectraBlue

just like in the film WALL-E when the captain says I don't just want to survive , I want to live .

once vaccines roll out and take effect you can't expect people to stay barricade up at home to help ease some people anxiety about uncertainty and insecurity about a virus . There is big difference to just surviving and just living . people don't want to just to survive like they been doing all year , they want to live even with uncertainty of covid 19 vaccinations and the virus . when the government gives the green light then normality can begin , but slowly at first .

redsquirrelfan · 01/02/2021 21:59

@Gwenhwyfar

"Last April I was screamed at by 99% of people on a big thread because I said I was going for a solo dog walk in the morning and a solo bike ride in the afternoon. I explained I live rurally, wasn’t seeing anyone. And apart from those 2 things wasn’t leaving the house."

We didn't have the info of the low risk of transmission outside at the time. And there had been advice to only go out once a day.

We did know that outdoor transmission was minimal at that time, and there was no rule about only going out once a a day - it was one form of exercise.

Dog walking is animal welfare, not exercise.

Rockingrambo · 02/02/2021 00:15

I know thousands have had their 1st vaccination but how many have had both? My sister was told she would have the 2nd one within 3 weeks, 7 weeks later she still waiting🤔

BungleandGeorge · 02/02/2021 00:24

@Rockingrambo

I know thousands have had their 1st vaccination but how many have had both? My sister was told she would have the 2nd one within 3 weeks, 7 weeks later she still waiting🤔
8.5 million have had the first dose, second dose isn’t until 10-12 weeks.
LizFlowers · 02/02/2021 00:26

@Rockingrambo

I know thousands have had their 1st vaccination but how many have had both? My sister was told she would have the 2nd one within 3 weeks, 7 weeks later she still waiting🤔
It's eleven to twelve weeks for second shot.
mapofeasterireland · 02/02/2021 12:06

The vaccines are supposed to stop 100% of deaths even if they do not stop 100% of covid cases. THAT is something to focus on.

You might get Covid but you won't die. Our society can't continue like this. More people will die from the isolation, the effects on their businesses, their existing diseases that are not Covid. Our children's education is not to be trifled with once the vulnerable are vaccinated. Not all of us are lucky enough to stay at home forever sadly.

Sharww · 02/02/2021 12:27

@WeirdLoverWilde

Thanks to people who didn't suck it up and stay home last year, the virus is beating us. If you think a few more months of distancing is bad, brace yourself: This will be raging for the next several years. Get used to it

@PerveenMistry it's not thanks to the people who didn't suck it up and stay home. What a ridiculous thing to say. Millions upon millions of people had no choice to go to work and school, or live in care homes, or need hospital treatment for non covid conditions. Millions of people didn't have the option to stay home, as opposed to the minority who flouted the rules.

The virus is doing what viruses do. Stop apportioning blame. And while you're at it, stop it with the groundless doom mongering - you have no idea how long this will be 'raging' for. We have vaccines, we have better treatments and understanding of the disease every day. Those are facts; plucking an arbitrary timeframe out of the air and saying it'll be shit for that long is not.

👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 I’d buy you a cuppa for this if I could ❤️
Beline4u · 02/02/2021 12:39

Why were you holidaying with 8 people while the virus was still active?

The Virus is living because people arent following regulations and using common sense.

Government says it is ok to travel if its essential. New Zealand stopped that. Look at them. Australia is also living a type of normal because travel has been controlled.

Government are bloody useless, surely you have established that!!

MadMadaMim · 03/02/2021 18:49

We're all fed up. Not only with lockdown but with people who can't seem to grasp how a virus spreads and why rules (whether advisory or in law) are needed.

The end to this current way of life will come quicker when people stop being selfish and think more 'bigger picture' as opposed to their own 'needs' (what you describe as needs are not) and wants.

colouringindoors · 03/02/2021 19:18

Vaccines will massively reduce deaths. But will they massively reduce hosputal admissions? Or the 1 in 10 who develop Long Covid? It's so hard...

Iremembertheelderlykoreanlady · 03/02/2021 19:33

Vaccines will massively reduce deaths. But will they massively reduce hosputal admissions? Or the 1 in 10 who develop Long Covid? It's so hard...

Since they cut transmission by over 60% and long covid is widely thought to be related to severity of disease, the answer should be yes to both those things.

BungleandGeorge · 03/02/2021 19:37

@colouringindoors

Vaccines will massively reduce deaths. But will they massively reduce hosputal admissions? Or the 1 in 10 who develop Long Covid? It's so hard...
Look at the definition of ‘long covid’ attached to that figure. A whole range of symptoms (including headache) within 5 weeks of having covid. It really means very little, which is a shame as it would be good to have some idea of how many people are actually affected to a meaningful degree
BMW6 · 03/02/2021 19:44

Something occurred to me today - as the virus keeps evolving/mutating, what are the chances of a new strain attacking the young?

IIRC from my history, Plague and (particularly Sweating Sickness) had a massive death rate amongst the young.

If that were the case, Social Distancing plus Vaccination would be inarguable even among the most diehard anti Lockdown advocates?

DenisetheMenace · 03/02/2021 20:50

I believe the Spanish ‘flu pandemic took many more young lives during the second wave in 1919.
Thankfully, we now have vaccines which I’ve heard countless experts saying can be “tweaked” in a matter of weeks.

There’s a really interesting documentary about The Spanish Flu pandemic, narrated by Christopher Ecclestone (BBC 4 maybe?). Those poor doctors were treating people with bovril and morphine, they had no idea what a virus was because their technology wasn’t sophisticated enough to detect one, because if it’s size. Nonetheless, they emerged from it two and a half years later.
I’m so thankful that my family are here now!

Bluethrough · 03/02/2021 21:26

Something occurred to me today - as the virus keeps evolving/mutating, what are the chances of a new strain attacking the young?

Cheery thought!

Vaccines still have to be administered, tweaked or not.

But CV already attacks the young, its a new virus, no one young or not has any immunity.
It would need to become more deadly but even if it did, we'd have many more vaccinated and have caught Cv naturally, so we'd have more immunity to this new deadlier strain.

Why does everyone focus on the most morbid of outcomes?

BMW6 · 03/02/2021 21:33

I tend to prepare for the worst and hope for the best. I don't see that as morbid - just realistic.

Bluethrough · 03/02/2021 21:59

@BMW6

I tend to prepare for the worst and hope for the best. I don't see that as morbid - just realistic.
but its not, because even if CV killed 90% of those infected, there is zilch you or i can do about it.

No coronavirus has become particularly deadly in its previous hosts, so no realistic possibility it will in humans.

i just can't go about worrying about something i can't alter.