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.

It will improve so that it is tolerable or better than tolerable for everyone. People will be able to see friends and family and work and go to school. Why is it a major problem if we can do all those things that make life enjoyable, but there are still some limited restrictions...mYbe masks in indoor public places, or measures to prevent over crowiding?

It won't be total lockdown or total pre.9,8: living. As another poster says it is all a spectrum and we move slowly along it towards total freedom. People are rather too dramatic in their right sponges the time thi

The end point is to protect politicians for blame and to keep them electable. Thats why theres almost no variation on message from any political party. The international comparison on death rates, when the calculations of covid deaths aren't even the same and the average age of death is so high, is so distasteful, I don't know where to start. It is literally being used by politicians worldwide to berate other leaders and other countries for not having lower death rates.

I also worry about how many people are going to die of flu when we go back to normal, given that there will be far less than usual levels of immunity to that due to social distancing. Does anyone know if one or two years of lack of community transmission tends to lead to lowered immunity which is measurable in a population? (since viruses such as flu and others killed such a high percentage of native Americans and other non-European groups in the past due to a lack of immunity).

@WombatChocolate. Normal people hate masks. Businesses cant cope with limited numbers. Glad you aren't suffering like the rest of is, but yes, it's really that bad.

Is it really that difficult to stay home with books, phone, internet, tv, yoga mat, perhaps a garden?

The sheer arrogance is staggering quite frankly.

IF it is not possible to control the virus with vaccines then we are fucked aren't we. It will be a constant battle between space needed in hospitals for covid patients and space needed for other illnesses and it will become survival of the fittest. As a healthy under 30 I will take my chances, others won't and will continue to stay in their household bubble forever. No point doom mongering, my personal deadline for this is June/July, after that I'm going to return to as much normality as I can, everyone else can do what they like.

Does anyone know if one or two years of lack of community transmission tends to lead to lowered immunity which is measurable in a population?

With diseases other than Covid (is there any such thing now?? ) I've been wondering that myself

Going on what happens each September when returning pupils come down with an absolute festival of bugs it wouldn't surprise me if, when the time comes, wider mixing does the same

Maybe some will want further lockdons for all of those too ...?

@TheWhiffThatKeepsOnGiving

Is it really that difficult to stay home with books, phone, internet, tv, yoga mat, perhaps a garden?

The sheer arrogance is staggering quite frankly.

Yes, it's effing difficult and unnatural not to have human contact or a change of scene over a long period of time.

"Does anyone know if one or two years of lack of community transmission tends to lead to lowered immunity which is measurable in a population? (since viruses such as flu and others killed such a high percentage of native Americans and other non-European groups in the past due to a lack of immunity)."

The native Americans hadn't had any type of flu I suppose. A bit different to not having had one for two years - I'm not sure I've ever had flu as opposed to a bad cold.

Frankly we have stuck to the rules thus far. I shall be happy with an easing of restrictions and to continue with some SD for the foreseeable. However, if there are people who have actively decided not to have the vaccine I think they should take their chances but should not expect to receive state funded health care, sick pay or any benefits arising from long covid. They have chosen to act irresponsibly and should personally take the consequences. Companies should inhibit them from receipt of sick pay.

And if you become asymptomatic spreaders, so what, right? Others you infect can just fuck off

If 20 million of the most vulnerable have at least some protection due to vaccination, I won't be able to infect and kill them, will I? I'm not going to stay home indefinitely in case I get a disease which affects me asymptomatically and is almost no risk to my children, it doesn't make sense to do that? I am all for social distancing in some forms, happy to wear masks, no plans to travel this year so far. I'm not going to live in some type of house arrest for ever though, because I don't believe it to be in the best interests of my personal family members, or wider society, I think it's storing up economic and other types of trouble which will be massively detrimental, so when the balance tips and the health-care services are not overwhelmed, I will be going out, just as I go out every year not knowing if I have asymptomatic flu which also is life-threatening to those who haven't had the flu jab and even those that have as it doesn't offer full protection.

I won't be abandoning social distancing, but I won't be staying home once the legal and guidance rules change, why would I?

@TheWhiffThatKeepsOnGiving

Is it really that difficult to stay home with books, phone, internet, tv, yoga mat, perhaps a garden?

The sheer arrogance is staggering quite frankly.

I'm talking about those who don't have to go out to earn a living.

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.

@Puzzledandpissedoff

Does anyone know if one or two years of lack of community transmission tends to lead to lowered immunity which is measurable in a population?

With diseases other than Covid (is there any such thing now?? ) I've been wondering that myself

Going on what happens each September when returning pupils come down with an absolute festival of bugs it wouldn't surprise me if, when the time comes, wider mixing does the same

Maybe some will want further lockdons for all of those too ...?

Yes, mainly with flu but with any viruses really that are transmitted throughout the community.

I know that I haven't had as much as a sniffle since early 2020, not even my usual 2 - 3 days of seeming to come down with something and then it clearing up. I work in a university and normally get something in October which sees me through the winter with a primed immune system!

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...

@RosesAndHellebores

Frankly we have stuck to the rules thus far. I shall be happy with an easing of restrictions and to continue with some SD for the foreseeable. However, if there are people who have actively decided not to have the vaccine I think they should take their chances but should not expect to receive state funded health care, sick pay or any benefits arising from long covid. They have chosen to act irresponsibly and should personally take the consequences. Companies should inhibit them from receipt of sick pay.

Agree. Anyone on record as declining the vaccine should be denied Covid-related medical treatment and public assistance. They chose it.

selfish weaklings

No that's you cowering in the house to save your own skin.

@TrustTheGeneGenie

Is it really that difficult to stay home with books, phone, internet, tv, yoga mat, perhaps a garden?

Yes, it is. All I want is to see family. It's very hard to not see family for 2 years. It's bizarre to suggest otherwise

This. The internet and the phone is no substitute for actually being in the same room with my family and friends. I miss them. I miss life.

And yes, all of us don't have a garden or outside space.

If this goes on for another year, I'm out. Disability is hard enough normally - with isolation it is soul-destroying.

@DumplingsAndStew

All of this "not allowed to see friends and family for a year" is highly dramatic. Yes, there are some rules and restrictions, but there's nothing stopping you seeing friends and family.

Well there's lots stopping me seeing my parents.

1. It takes 90 minutes to get there.
2. I'm not allowed to leave the house for "non-essential reasons".
3. I'm definitely not allowed to leave my local Authority area.
4. I'm not allowed inside their house.
5. It's January, and the temperature has been

They can fuck off with that.

People will stop obeying. Rightly so.

Vulnerable vaccinated: back to normal.

Don’t forget there was also record braking uptake of flu vaccine this year

I think it's too early to say 🤔

I've been pondering. Something akin to tier 2 by the spring/early summer I can cope with. If we have school back and leisure open I can cope with not having big parties. Rule of 6 was ok, I could do that for the year. Rates went really low in the summer, and I did hug my mum, she will likely be vaccinated by the end of February.

I think the new today is no good for people's mental health, but I really don't think when they say distancing or measures or whatever they mean like it is now.

I don’t agree that normal people hate wearing masks.

Most people would rather not, but for a trip to the supermarket for 45 minutes, most have found they can pretty easily cope with putting it in as they arrive and taking it off as they leave. It’s a minor inconvenience not something that is ruining their lives....for the majority of people.

Living under the restrictions now is hard for most people.
Living under very limited restrictions in a few months time hopefully will be far easier. The vast majority if people will be able to cope just fine with needing the occasional mask and things like perhaps a bit if queueing for the supermarket to prevent too many people being in there at once. It IS too dramatic to say that such very limited measures will ruin people’s lives.

Once people can see their friends and family, go to work, run their businesses and send children to school, things will be much much better for most. To suggest that once the big restrictions are lifted, any minor ones will ruin lives just seems daft to me.

I think normal people do hate wearing masks. Everyone I know is very keen to stop

WouldBeGood

“They can fuck off with that.

People will stop obeying. Rightly so.

Vulnerable vaccinated: back to normal.“

Everything I’ve read suggests that we really need to get the majority of the adult population vaccinated. Thankfully, if the current rollout continues at its brilliant pace - the one thing this Govt. managed to get right! - we’ll be there by summer.

Thereafter, agree with your sentiments 😁
People who decline the vaccine with no medical reason will have to live thereafter according to their decision and can’t expect others to accommodate that.

Surely the restrictions should all depend on how the nhs is coping, considering that is what we are doing now. Trying to stop it becoming overwhelmed. It is busier in winter anyway with normal flu etc so surely once many people have had the vaccine and the warmer months come, we dont need such severe restrictions if the nhs is coping okay 🤷‍♀️

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.