Will this ever end? Dark thoughts today

[Lissy23]

I’ve just read an article stating that this South African variant may be able to be caught again, by people who have already had and recovered from the virus...so where does that leave us if true? And that it also may evade vaccination.

I was feeling more optimistic the last few days with the excellent and efficient vaccine roll out and the infections coming down...however I’m now having some very dark thoughts, my DP and I are in a long distance relationship, I haven’t seen him since December due to our individual living and work situations meaning we cannot form a bubble. I’m missing him desperately and we were going to see each other end of March (he has provisionally booked an air b&b to stay in near to where I live) I have no idea if that’ll go ahead now, if lockdown is still in place and travel restrictions still an issue. I also haven’t seen my parents in 7 months and counting, due to the distance between us (200 miles) and the fact my parents are frightened of catching it, despite not having any co-morbidities or anything, but convinced they’ll end up on a ventilator if they catch it.

I have a 2 year old and it’s very difficult being stuck in the majority of the day with him. I miss playgroups.

I’m starting to feel like there’s no point in going on...there will be new variants coming up all the time surely? How will we ever get out of this mess? Lockdown will never end and there will always need to be a trade off between schools returning and other things opening.
I just really miss going to the cinema on a whim, popping into a cafe to escape the rain to read my book and have a coffee & piece of cake...playgroups, soft play, seeing people in person opposed to on a screen

Don’t know how to go on much longer...if it wasn’t for my DS.

@Dontforgetyourbrolly

I'm struggling to understand what people want the government to do ? It's pretty obvious, stay indoors and the numbers go down , resume normal life and the numbers go up . We have a vaccine and so far the programme is a success so far as getting people vaccinated goes . That's pretty much all they can do , they are not wizards . I think people are just finding it really hard to accept that there is a risk to everything and there always has been . I'm afraid that's life

Since the government makes the law, and it's the law that's preventing anyone from having a normal life, none of us can decide to make our own assessment of our personal risks and crack on, unfortunately.

We thought vaccination might make that possible, but now the goalposts have moved.

I'm sure the government, with their well-oiled spin machine, are throwing news of "new variants" at us to keep us on our toes, to keep the compliance through fear going, for a new calendar month. Yes, it is odd to see "schools reopening" and "new variants" in the same newspaper.

The government spends vast amounts of energy on BLUFFING, to try to influence the public mood. They were underselling the vaccine so people don't fight over it, and start living breaking the roolz as soon as they've been jabbed. I'm sure all this talk of "new variants" is the next bluff to keep the public on edge. Funny how there was that "new variant" just before Christmas - how convenient.

With all this bluffing, we just don't know what is a real danger, and what is crying wolf.

What was on the news?😨🙈

I think once the vaccine program has been completed we are just going to have to deal with it being part of life.

I don't mean that as in endless lockdowns and continual erosion of economy, but we are just going to have to live with the risk. I'm not prepared to live the rest of my life in an endless cycle of lockdowns for new strains, and no country or economy could cope with that long term. I'd rather all those who want the vaccine have had it, we get some kind of mild protection, and then we just get on living alongside this thing. This is my endgame - sit tight, eyes on the vaccine and try not to think about the fact my business has failed, I have no income and the government help is pitiful.

Comparisons with Isle of Man / NZ are useless because the UK is such an international hub, we can't close borders and live insular island life until the end of time either.

But we could close them for a bit. And the quarantine EVERYONE who came in.

@wanderings

I'm sure the government, with their well-oiled spin machine, are throwing news of "new variants" at us to keep us on our toes, to keep the compliance through fear going, for a new calendar month. Yes, it is odd to see "schools reopening" and "new variants" in the same newspaper.

The government spends vast amounts of energy on BLUFFING, to try to influence the public mood. They were underselling the vaccine so people don't fight over it, and start living breaking the roolz as soon as they've been jabbed. I'm sure all this talk of "new variants" is the next bluff to keep the public on edge. Funny how there was that "new variant" just before Christmas - how convenient.

With all this bluffing, we just don't know what is a real danger, and what is crying wolf.

That's my hope too. They know complacency is building and rebelliousness might not be too far away. And with falling rates and an excellent vaccine roll-out, they need something to keep us in check. Long Covid is a bit last year, so time for 'new variants'. Note I'm not saying they aren't a concern, but they were always going to happen. Yet they're acting as though it's some major shock.

@ArseInTheCoOpWindow

But we could close them for a bit. And the quarantine EVERYONE who came in.

What's going to magically change 'in a bit'?

The goal is for the healthcare service to cope.
All viruses mutate/ even if the vaccines are a bit less effective they’ll still have an impact on the spread. They’ll still help reduce hospital admissions and deaths.

I do think this virus will always be with us and we need a long term strategy now.

I accept we need to be in lockdown now whilst we whizz through vaccinations. But that’s it once the vulnerable are done. No more in and out of lockdown.

I suggest all the money that has gone to furlough, eat out to help out and all the impact of lockdown should be redirected towards the health service. So that if next winter cases go up again then we can cope. We all need to think long term now. What’s the strategy?

Theres definitely a fear agenda with the media today. Oh they’re all getting sick of lockdown let’s go on about all these new mutations. Of course viruses mutate. We have to live our lives eventually.

We need to just decide we're living normally or we're going in hard to stamp this out.

Yes to this.

I think we'd be better off if the government set out a plan A and plan B very clearly (and maybe a plan C) because at the moment nothing is clear and that adds to the stress.

When the cases are practically zero. Still need to quarantine people. It’s the only option apart from the vaccine.

What government is going to say, ‘Ok let it rip through the population’ and then have blood on their hands?

@ArseInTheCoOpWindow

When the cases are practically zero. Still need to quarantine people. It’s the only option apart from the vaccine.

What government is going to say, ‘Ok let it rip through the population’ and then have blood on their hands?

Does the government have blood on its hands every time there's a bad flu season? This is a communicable disease, doing what viruses do. At some point, brutally, someone's got to decide what constitutes an acceptable level of deaths and hospitalisations to enable everyone else to start living again. Because what we have now - lockdown, school closures, loneliness, job losses - has costs too, but they don't make for dramatic footage from a hospital ward.

@ArseInTheCoOpWindow

When the cases are practically zero. Still need to quarantine people. It’s the only option apart from the vaccine.

What government is going to say, ‘Ok let it rip through the population’ and then have blood on their hands?

There's not going to be mandatory quarantine for all arrivals. This isn't NZ. And the idea that any alternative to hard lockdown is 'letting it rip' is as old as the idea that Britain is the same as an island with 5 million people in the middle of the South Pacific. I don't know why people keep going on about this. It''s just not going to happen.

But this isn’t a flu season. This is much more deadly than flu. How are they going to open up society with it everywhere? When you can catch it more than once? Will everyone just keep catching it until they die?

Any government who decides that is curtains forever.

@ArseInTheCoOpWindow

But this isn’t a flu season. This is much more deadly than flu. How are they going to open up society with it everywhere? When you can catch it more than once? Will everyone just keep catching it until they die?

Any government who decides that is curtains forever.

Have you missed the vaccines which have already been administered to 10 million people?

You're clearly terrified of what is a mild illness for the vast majority. Nothing stopping you barricading yourself at home for 'as long as it takes' but you can't demand that of everyone else indefinitely.

No people won’t keep catching it until they die. It’s a mild illness for most. 30% don’t actually have symptoms. For those that are vulnerable they will be vaccinated. Have people missed the vaccine news?

Cases is South Africa are falling a lot...

I think what many of the comments on this thread have shown is the media obsession with fear has worked. We are all utterly terrified of something that kills a tiny percentage of people, like it waiting outside our front gate will definitelyk kill us. Yes, it's bad for those people, but I think we have lost our perspective a little. We have all let it get a bit ..... out of focus. I think of someone said you had less than a 1% chance of dying when you got in your car to drive up the motorway, or when you cross the road, you would go anyway. We take lots of risks every day. This virus will inevitably become another one of those risks. Eradication isnt an option, so we will just have to accept it.

@Noodle765

Cases is South Africa are falling a lot...

How does that fit in with the scary new variant line?

Some of us are totally unbothered by the risk of catching the virus but are finding lockdown unbearable, but the Government isn't interested in that perspective.

@TwirpingBird

I think what many of the comments on this thread have shown is the media obsession with fear has worked. We are all utterly terrified of something that kills a tiny percentage of people, like it waiting outside our front gate will definitelyk kill us. Yes, it's bad for those people, but I think we have lost our perspective a little. We have all let it get a bit ..... out of focus. I think of someone said you had less than a 1% chance of dying when you got in your car to drive up the motorway, or when you cross the road, you would go anyway. We take lots of risks every day. This virus will inevitably become another one of those risks. Eradication isnt an option, so we will just have to accept it.

This is one of the reasons I'm struggling tbh. If I thought there was a genuine risk to a large percentage of people then I would be all for the restrictions but it feels like the whole country has put their life on hold and for what?

@ArseInTheCoOpWindow

When the cases are practically zero. Still need to quarantine people. It’s the only option apart from the vaccine.

What government is going to say, ‘Ok let it rip through the population’ and then have blood on their hands?

Quarantining cases will continue to be sensible. Locking up the whole country won’t be.

I don’t think having caught the virus once offers any immunity does it? Or only 5 months.

Oh FFS. Someone posts here at the end of their tether and not only do you wish to add to their misery, but what you are saying is not true.

They don't know how much immunity a covid infection gives people because covid has barely been around for a year, so they cannot say that we will get two years immunity, for example, as the data is not there.

However we now know that reinfection is extremely rare and there are no cases of people with reinfections being more sick than the first time. Which means that no-one will die from a reinfection.

Can I ask why borders aren't closed? It's probably been done to death, but I just don't understand it. It could cut down infection rates by a lot, and it just makes sense.