How long do you think the public majority (IRL) will put up with this for?

[Quit4me]

How long do you think public opinion and action will continue to support not seeing friends and family?
I’m asking based on your real life experiences (not mumsnet views)
I’m not after ‘I’m giving up my life for as long as it takes’ views here, or ‘I’m happy watching tv and hugging my yoga mat for years.
I’m asking for realistic views of 2021 and public opinion as the year goes on.

In reality, what can you do?

It's all very well to talk of refusing to follow rules, but there is nothing to do and nowhere to go round here. I live in a very rural area and nothing is open bar the supermarket. And I'm not fussed about shopping at the best of times.

What will stamping my feet achieve? Family are a very long way away. I'm not travelling 500 miles to visit an octagenarian, frankly. Nowhere to stop off and have a coffee on the way (or a wee, presumably, which is more important).

Friends are sensible, resigned and not interested in meeting up whilst there is a pandemic on.

As long as lockdown lasts there is little you can actually do to break the rules.

[quote luckylavender]@TwirpingBird - if we don't exercise self control we could be back in this situation next winter. [/quote]
If you think we still have some control over what's happening and what will happen you are very naive. We have no control. It will happen anyway. We will be facing this situation again next year. They are already preparing us for it.

How so, Bird?

Please explain how they are preparing us.

I have followed the rules so far but il be honest it’s come to the point it’s more out of not being able to do the things I want anyway - travel for example rather than a moral decision

If there was some loophole by wich I could visit my family over seas I’d go tommorow

@OverTheRainbow88

Most people I know are being careful and sensible but not following all the rules

This

I am fed up I am waiting for protests to start I will join them. I would like a petition for a start.

Have you not been looking at the news? Whitty said weeks ago that restrictions will need to be in place next winter, experts have been telling us how the NHS is going to face these issues every winter for at least 2 or 3 years, the news today was saying how life wont return to normal for again another 2 or 3 years until every country is on top of its vaccinations, there are mutterings about vaccines possibly not being effective against current and future strains. Did you all really think that this is ending soon? That this is us "getting control". This is survival, not solution. It's not going to fix anything. Nowhere near it. We will be sitting here next year in the same situation with ICUs overwhelmed. The question will simply be will we be as willing to lose more time with family, spend more time struggling and existing, to help that overwhelmed ICU? Time will tell I suppose.

@Embra

I am fed up I am waiting for protests to start I will join them. I would like a petition for a start.

Why didn't you join in summer then?

I'm sorry, I promise not to go on another rant

But I will calmly restate....many of us have tried to act against lockdown, we were a tiny minority, ignored, laughed at, at best asked "what's the point, lockdown has finished" when it wasn't finished.

We had to give up. To reverse the Shelley, "they are many (the pro lockdowners), we are few."

I've seen a few MNers since Jan asking "where are the protests". Where were you when we needed you?

When the money runs out.

Don't know anyone who is following the rules.

Luna, I have never protested before. I have never broken the law before. It's a difficult shift in thinking, and last summer it seemed that things were settling down. Even this current lockdown hasn't quite got me to the point of feeling very angry as it does seem only fair to give the most vulnerable the chance to be vaccinated.
But enough will be enough, and I fully intend to protest (peacefully) if this continues after the spring.

Most people I know are following the rules, though I do know a couple of friends are seeing people at their house / going to others houses socially.

We've stuck to the rules so far but I won't continue after Easter, I will begin to see friends who want to after that. For garden visits & country walks.

As long as necessary. We have had 106k deaths so far and and many thousands more likely. I’m not going to make it any worse than it is by being selfish.

Bless you jam. You carry on.

I absolutely hate lockdown but am following the rules besides being a bit more free and easy with going to the shops for not-strictly-essential things on occasion. Parmesan for a recipe last week, then wine, flowers, and cake (one trip) this week. DP is seeing MIL who lives alone. I’ve not seen anyone other than DP except the dentist for a checkup!

I know it isn’t possible, but for me it would be MUCH easier if there was a timeline that we knew we were following. If someone could say, okay, sorry, but this is it until April, then you can see your friends, sit in a cafe, get your hair done, I could manage it better mentally. And I know no-one can say that, but it’s the not-knowing, the back and forth, the up and down that is so, so difficult for me personally.

Not RTFT but I don't think there's much else we can do. If everything is shut and nothing is happening, apart from going to somebody else's house, how much can you rebel, really?

Bird.

No, I havent been reading the news. Whatever gave you that impression?

Tbh I’ve spent most of the last year watching ‘Homes under the Hammer’ with a plate of toast. Has anything happened?

I imagine MN is filled with white, middle class, middle aged women so they are less likely to be concerned about COVID and more worried about soft play opening or grammar school opportunities.
Outside of the MN bubble, in real life, I think people are worried and will support the safety restrictions as long as they are needed to protect lives of the vulnerable.

@tokyosushi yeah that's the thing. Can't go to school, work, holidays, look around shops, swimming, music, national trust places, parents live far enough away that we would get stopped. People might protest in the spring but I think 90% of the population are terrified and read about the 40 year old with the five kids who died. So as we can see from this thread, they don't want freedom, they want safety from a risk that has in fact always been with us, we just had 50-70 years off because of clever big pharma making vaccines. They don't realise safety was always an illusion, and freedom was hard won and lost overnight.

Once people are vaccinated, I don't think there will be much compliance.
If my grandparents have had the vaccine and so have I, the risk of us meeting up is tiny (especially if reduced transmission is proven which is looking more likely) and I know we would be willing to take that risk.
More and more people will feel the same. And before someone jumps in and calls me selfish, it's not, because if the vaccine stops transmission and stops me getting ill I'm putting nobody else at risk.

@WoodpileHouse

I imagine MN is filled with white, middle class, middle aged women so they are less likely to be concerned about COVID and more worried about soft play opening or grammar school opportunities. Outside of the MN bubble, in real life, I think people are worried and will support the safety restrictions as long as they are needed to protect lives of the vulnerable.

Funny, I perceive it the opposite - that MNers are privileged and much more scared of Covid than less privileged people.

So much paranoia here. I'm following the rules because there are thousands of people dying a week, 30k in hospital, I'll stop following the rules when case numbers have settled, hospitals can run as usual and I am less likely to contract or infect others with covid. Fortunately I believe that this will be about the same time as restrictions are relaxed anyhow. Yes there might still be some social distancing and masks etc to keep case numbers small for while but am not bothered about that, will just be happy when a good chunk have been vaccinated, I dont believe there is some master plan to keep us locked up forever for no good reason, were under a tory government, they want businesses running and people spending asap.

I think 23rd March will be a tipping point, exactly 1 year since this all kicked off.

I don't know anyone who is not following the rules. But I am confined to my house and village, so the stuff I know about what is going on around me is rather limited.

I've booked a week off work for half term, but I really don't what we are going to do. My energy for good ideas is waning.

In an ideal world everyone would put up with it for as long as necessary for the common good/society's vulnerable/the NHS etc BUT people are fucking selfish arseholes soooooo......