A significant number are now ok with restrictions remaining indefinitely

[Delphinet]

Firstly, this is NOT making any judgement either way, simply an observation. It seems to me from reactions on here and publically in general that there are a significant and possibly growing number of people who would not be discontent with restrictions at the level they are in place at the moment continuing indefinitely.

Nope.

You are just making this up. Next.

I think the number of people who actively want this situation to continue is vanishingly small.

I've been called a "lockdown lover" for not actively opposing lockdown, though. Despite my having pointed out that I haven't seen my extended family for a year either, I have a Y13 whose mental health is in the toilet and a Y12 who doesn't "do" remote learning, and we can't fucking wait for it to be safe enough to lift the restrictions.

I think some people are angry, frustrated and lack critical thinking skills. They think anyone who is just getting on with it instead of wailing "it's not fair" must be enjoying lockdown and want it to go on forever.

I think the opposite. And I think that people who are vaccinated won't give much thought for young people who aren't

We’ve had it pushed down our throats for a year that young people are at practically no risk from Covid. Why would the vaccinated need to give them any thought whatsoever?

So I think we’ve safely established that the OP is spouting absolute bollocks. It’s given a load of people a chance to froth against an imaginary threat though, so some cathartic good’s come out of it I suppose.

I cannot wait for this lockdown to end, but to be honest I didn't mind tier 1 all that much. I wouldn't choose it indefinitely, but I could carry on like that for a while if I had to. Keeps certain family members at bay...

On MN maybe. In real life, no way.

I think people have lost the will and are too drained now. I'm utterly fed up and want to make plans. I want to go to the theatre and then out for dinner. Meet up with my friends again and I'm missing the joy in life.

What rubbish. People are keen to return to normality, they just know that if we do it too fast we’ll be back to square one. I can endure this a bit longer if it means we really can combat this virus effectively.

Oh yes op, we all all fine and dandy with all the restrictions. Absolutely blooming.

I'm one of the people on here who see the point of the guidelines and follow them. I cried over a loaf of bread this morning. That's how much I'm loving all this. It's not an interesting story, so I won't bore you with the details.

I know that we will get through this and life will get back to a normality that we all recognise. Despite that positivity my mental health has bombed this week. The mind numbing monotony is horrible and I need something to look forward to.

Threads like this are so pointless and I'm sick of them

What I've grasped is that the life I've been living during lockdown is scarily similar to the life which people lead when their mobility fails. What do frail elderly people do? They sit in a chair most of the day. They get bored of watching shite on telly, so they fall asleep. A trip to the supermarket or a garden centre is a day out for them.

I have been better placed to cope with this than many, for which I'm grateful. But no, I don't want it to go on forever. I'm not a natural law breaker, I will abide by the rules. But I want to have my Mum to stay, I want to see my sisters, I want to browse in bookshops and drink leisurely coffees in Costa, and I want concerts and theatre and festivals back, if you please.

It's just that I'm willing to do without them until the SCIENTISTS say that the virus is sufficiently contained by vaccination to make that possible without lighting the fire again.

Oh look, the op hasn't been back to comment. What a surprise.

@PuzzledObserver

What I've grasped is that the life I've been living during lockdown is scarily similar to the life which people lead when their mobility fails. What do frail elderly people do? They sit in a chair most of the day. They get bored of watching shite on telly, so they fall asleep. A trip to the supermarket or a garden centre is a day out for them.

I have been better placed to cope with this than many, for which I'm grateful. But no, I don't want it to go on forever. I'm not a natural law breaker, I will abide by the rules. But I want to have my Mum to stay, I want to see my sisters, I want to browse in bookshops and drink leisurely coffees in Costa, and I want concerts and theatre and festivals back, if you please.

It's just that I'm willing to do without them until the SCIENTISTS say that the virus is sufficiently contained by vaccination to make that possible without lighting the fire again.

Perfectly worded. Thank you.

Everyone I know is following the restrictions because they understand why we have then and realise what could happen if the lockdown is lifted too soon.

I would rather live with mild restrictions than live with the risk of coming in and out of big lock downs due to new variants.

Though obviously I'd rather coronavirus feck off completely. I just thinking living with some social distancing, and avoiding big gatherings is a lesser evil of the two.

A different perspective on why people might be more willing to stay inside, apart from 'loving lockdown'. My Mum was pretty blase about the restrictions before December, but then she has had a friend die and another now in ICU (in their 50/60s) now she is scared and less willing to go out and understand why we might have to stay locked down a little longer.

Also the same for my boyfriends group of friends, they were breaking the rules ALOT and sceptical of lockdown but then one of their Dads got sick and sadly died, now they are all adhering strictly and are definitely more worried.

Could be as lots of people now have close connections who have been very ill or died, they can see the importance of staying in/are scared, thus would support a longer lockdown. Just a thought!

Chickenqueen - totally agree. The husband of a friend died at the start of December. No underlying health conditions, early 60’s and died two hours after the ambulance took him to hospital.

Being resigned to restrictions to be in place as long as necessary, and being willing to stick to them, is not the same as being content with them!

@Chickenqueen absolutely. I also know a lot of otherwise young, fit people who are really suffering from Long Covid - can’t even climb the stairs without getting out of breath, even months on and following actually quite a mild initial infection.

So I always give the side-eye to people scoffing about death rates because they are conveniently ignoring all the other ways this disease fucks with people’s lives.

I work for a utility company. Our operational teams are absolutely decimated and we’re barely able to provide minimal coverage to keep things ticking over. God knows how we’d have been without any restrictions, we probably wouldn’t have been able to cope.

Could be as lots of people now have close connections who have been very ill or died, they can see the importance of staying in/are scared, thus would support a longer lockdown. Just a thought

I think you’re right @Chickenqueen. I’ve worked NHS back office throughout (no HW for us but that’s another discussion) with face masks all day and distancing. There was recently an outbreak in my department. Out of ten people no one was back immediately after their isolation period and three are still off over a month later. One is now part time because she just can’t make it through a full day at the moment. For me it clearly illustrates just how this can impact workplaces and that the economy wouldn’t survive intact without restrictions. We’ve all seen the headlines when statisticians figure out the day of the year people are most likely to call in sick and what the cost to the economy is. Three weeks (to take an average) off sick for a large number of employees would be devastating and much harder to recover from.

Unless you have some hard evidence, I think this is very much not the case.

Everyone I know is following lockdown rules. Everyone I know cannot wait for lockdown to be over.

Oh crap, this is another one of those goady wind 'em up and watch 'em go threads where the OP never comes back. Why do I fall for them!

That's rubbish. It's completely different accepting that we have restrictions now & may need them for a while longer in order to put this thing to bed as much as we can so we don't have to do it again. Whilst simultaneously acknowledging the damage to education, mental health, the economy...

Wind them up & watch them Go...,

Also, so much depends on the 'mood music' broadcast by the govt. What people tell pollster now, when we're still being scared with dark talk of 'new variants' may well change when a more optimistic tone is introduced.
THIS. It's one thing the government is being extremely conscientious about, to the exclusion of all else: the spin. Micromanaging the public mood. Since they don't have the police numbers to enforce lockdown, they try to control our thinking instead. I'm sure many of those "YouGov" polls are government plants. A pupil in Grange Hill once made a fascinating observation, about teachers: "they only call a referendum when they're sure they'll get the result they want" (oh, the massive irony!). The government has been peddling an agenda of fear since December. They're now making the tiniest of prods towards a post-Covid world: the BBC (one of the government's main orifices) is making tiny mentions of the consequences of lockdown, such as unemployment, and the effect on children.

And with all this talk of "oh, the young 'uns are dying of Covid...": a small handful of under-60s have, yes. Many, many, many more have NOT.

I like perspex screens in shops, gives assistants some protection from germs and spit so I'd be quite happy for them to stay. And I certainly don't miss being nudged and budged in queues and areas of heavy foot traffic. I'd also be happy to wear a mask in hospitals, surgeries and similar areas to reduce contamination. Has anyone else noticed they have had less coughs and colds this past year?