Is anyone actually going to follow the rules from spring?

[Cloudsurfing]

It will have been a year since being allowed to properly see friends and family. Even in summer last year you still had to social distance so seeing family was difficult, and some areas had tighter restrictions throughout. Everyone I know is going to see family and friends from spring, regardless of what restrictions there are. I am too. The government do know that most people won’t stick to it from then, right?

Is anyone on here actually going to not see family at that point? I know Mumsnet seems to be full of people who are happy to isolate for years if need be, but are you actually going to?

On of the things that is having the worse impact on my already fragile mental health is the amount of people who are starting to take such a selfish approach and don’t realise the wider impact their behaviour could easily have.

We finally have light at the end of the tunnel but the people not willing to buckle down for this last stretch risk making that stretch longer.

Vaccines are going well coupled that with numbers in hospitals going down we are finally making progress. Yet people seem to want to just mess that up now

A healthcare system cannot be expected to be prepared for a once a century pandemic

It can be expected to make provision for unusual events. It was supposed to have done this several years ago as part of the governments pandemic planning initiative that was never acted upon.

And while hospital systems elsewhere are under strain, I don’t believe any other country has had parts under more or less constant lockdown for a year as some parts of the U.K. have been.

@Caplin

My dad died of covid a couple of weeks ago. I sat with him in his final days in the covid ward. I wore full ppe but still caught covid.

The ward was full, the staff were exhausted, everyone in there looked haunted and petrified, waiting to see if they or anyone in the ward would suddenly go downhill.

I can’t get the fear in my dad’s eyes out of my head.

For everyone banging on about liberty and personal freedom, you are lucky not to have lost someone. I would love to see friend’s and family. If things relax then I will, outdoors in small groups. Otherwise I will stick to the rules for the sake of the poor exhausted doctors and nurses.

Here are the names of just some of the nurses who have died. Look at their faces before you put your head back in the sand.

rcni.com/nursing-standard/features/covid-19-remembering-nursing-staff-who-have-lost-their-lives-160011

The BMJ have got their own list of remembrance for doctors too.

They all had friends and family who they couldn't see too.

So I get people saying it's just a bit longer but if it's not? What happens if we get to May and restrictions are still in place. We get to October, December, 2022...

How long are we expected to sacrifice our lives for?

I doubt people will . It’s all a bit much now people are struggling. Once people are vaccinated I doubt it

@GetOffYourHighHorse

'A healthcare system that only works if everyone is locked down at home, unable to see their loved ones, quite clearly isn’t fit for purpose.'

Oh what rubbish. Germany, Italy etc etc have all had very similar restrictions and they had 'world class' healthcare.

A healthcare system cannot be expected to be prepared for a once a century pandemic, to run with double their capacity just in case. ICU, maybe have 25 beds in a busy city hospital have had 3 times the amount and more of critically ill patients, ditto respiratory wards.

All these people saying by Spring they'll have had enough, I bet they've been seeing family and friends throughout, mn is a magnet for flakey flouters seeking validation and backslaps.

There are bubbles and support allowed for disabled people and those with genuine mh problems.

👍

Really clear from this discussion that a lot of people don’t think the government has a plan, don’t know what the end point of all the restrictions is meant to be, and worry that the government is moving goalposts and will just keep doing that.

I don’t think “just follow the rules for as long as it takes you selfish fuckers” is going to win any of them over. Government setting out a clear plan with a clear end in mind might do, though.

Posters commenting along the lines of 'we should all be doing this tiny, easy thing to protect society, the vulnerable, our institutions' etc. are often the posters most unable or unwilling to consider the micro human cost of repeated lockdowns, social isolation, boredom and forced lethargy.

Nope. You're assuming that the people saying we need to obey the rules are having an easier time of it.
I live alone and can't bubble. This has been the hardest year of my life and I'm really, really struggling.
That is why it thoroughly pisses me off that me and other people who are struggling to cope are going to have to struggle even longer. This whole nightmare is going to drag out because some people have decided that the rules shouldn't apply to them.

@BellaBella36

Here are the names of just some of the nurses who have died. Look at their faces before you put your head back in the sand.

rcni.com/nursing-standard/features/covid-19-remembering-nursing-staff-who-have-lost-their-lives-160011

The BMJ have got their own list of remembrance for doctors too.

They all had friends and family who they couldn't see too.

From a doctor on a covid ward, thank you for reminding people of this. Lots of people who were clapping for the NHS last summer now don't seem to care. We don't want people to clap, we just want people to follow the rules.

glitter thank you for all you are doing now and have been your whole carer. Some of us do appreciate it and will do our tiny bit to help.

'It can be expected to make provision for unusual events. '

Which it has done, excellently! It is called surge capacity. However obviously routine work has been halted so in order to get things back to any semblance of normality the flouters need to do what many are doing and follow the rules. Honestly, mn is like pulling teeth sometimes. Bleating on about not 'doing it anymore' when only last week deaths were 1700 a day.

We are all arguing over something that we don't know , very likely restrictions of some kind will be lifted slowly , yet there are some on here that will still stay locked away, which is fine if that is their decisionx
Some of us want some of our lifes back , thats not wrong either , yes we know people have died and many if us may of lost friends and families too, but its not wrong to be struggling with this either.
Likelihood is we will have restrictions lifted slowly and lets face it , if its outside only meeting day one household at first this is still better than what we have and will give some brief realease, then hopefully another restriction will be lifted. Then another
Goverments and professionals know you can't keep people in the current restrictions for years and many more months and months.
They need to have the vast population on their side

I can't do this anymore, the effect on my mental health is really starting to weigh me down, it's too long now

Of course I am as I don't want me or my parents to catch covid. I deliver their shopping weekly but stay at the door.

It's 1941 ffs, I have had enough of blackouts now.

If people are going to see parents who have been vaccinated will you be seeing other people too, will you meet up at your parents and have your siblings there at the same time? So parents will hopefully be protected by the vaccine but you will be mixing with unvaccinated households.

If you are seeing your parents, will you then see friends as you may as well throw all caution to the wind. Ignoring the fact that if you haven't been vaccinated you can be spreading the virus. If the rates stay high schools won't open or stay open.

@TheMerrickBoy

It's 1941 ffs, I have had enough of blackouts now.

Excellent metaphor.

Except we've put strong measures in place to stop the war.
But for some reason this isn't enough.

@noimnotdoingit

Huh?

Some of the comments here baffle me. I don't apologise for calling time next month and putting my kids and my family first. We've done a lot for strangers and "our NHS" who have frankly let us down badly over the last 5 years but that's another story.

I'm not going to carry on putting others before my family, it's utter BS.

What if someone else who thought the same way you do passed COVID on to your family member? How would you feel then?

'don’t think “just follow the rules for as long as it takes you selfish fuckers” is going to win any of them over. Government setting out a clear plan with a clear end in mind might do, though.'

Look, they aren't sat there with all the facts thinking 'nah let them whistle for any information'. They don't have a crystal ball so plans cannot be made! Data is assessed and reviewed as they get it. I mean we could all make predictions, mine would be the vaccines will keep a lid on it and we'll go back to how things were last aug with everything open. Who knows though and there is no point gov and scientific advisors umming and ahhing publicly about what might happen 🙄.

Megan2018 I agree with you.

I just feel for a year we've heard nothing but lockdown and precious little about staying healthy or treatments/supplements. India introduced a $3 covid kit and Spain were shit hot on Vit D supplementation to good effect. What do we get here? Screamed at for wanting to see our loved ones after a year and nothing but negative, terrifying press articles. The human psyche is not primed to soldier on under these condition.

www.nutraingredients.com/Article/2021/02/08/UK-PM-urged-Look-to-Andalusia-s-vit-D-use-for-COVID-19

timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/patients-in-home-isolation-to-get-free-covid-care-kits-rane/articleshow/78068444.cms

@TheMerrickBoy

It's 1941 ffs, I have had enough of blackouts now.

That did happen though? People were fined for breaking blackout all the time. And lots of people went “no, I’ve changed my mind I’m not doing this now” about other things, like bringing child evacuees back again from the country during the Phoney War.

And in 1941 we had four more years of war and blackout to go. We don’t have four more years of social restrictions to go in this pandemic. If you imply to people that they have to suck this up for years and are selfish and stupid for wanting any sort of end (‘the virus doesn’t care about dates!’), you’re not going to chide them into following the rules, you’re going to make them think ‘fuck it then, I’m going to hug my mum now.’

If you really really care about people following the rules for a few months longer, why talk to them in ways that’ll make them less likely to do it?

@StealthPolarBear

Except we've put strong measures in place to stop the war. But for some reason this isn't enough.

Yes that's right. And the war is shit and nobody likes the war, but you can't actually just predict what will happen or how long it will be before we are relatively safe, and the bombers won't decide not to notice you however unhappy you are. And also you live in a street full of other people's houses.

I mean, the metaphor doesn't stretch indefinitely, and I don't like Johnson et al using battle language to frame this crisis, but the point I am making is that the fact that something is awful and has gone on a long time doesn't mean it will stop when you want it to or that your actions won't put others at risk.