SAGE say lockdown cycles could last several years

[IesuMariJoseff]

I can't believe I suddenly live in a world in which our human rights have become conditional based on hidden calculations around hospital capacity.

The first lockdown, I understood. The second, ok. Even now, I'll bare it. It's hard but the vaccines are being rolled out, it felt like the last leg.

Years? Fucking years?

@Aixenprovence

"How exactly are people meant to meet potential partners etc ."

Agree. Another of the great lockdown divides - those who have partners, or who have already had children - versus those who want to form a relationship, even a family.

I am not sure this gets enough attention (apart from semi-jokey chat about it being illegal to have sex if you don't live with your partner,). A 3 week break on being able to date is one thing; but this is quite different. (And yes I know they can go for a walk or a bike ride - but how do they meet them in the first place? OLD ok, but work, after work, clubs, societies, none of that is now feasible.)

Yeah this is a big deal the longer it goes on for. I'm late 30s and am trying to reconcile myself to the fact I'll never meet anyone to have children with (recently moved back in with elderly parents so can't date atm).

After what has happened this year I doubt there will be thousands of people wanting to take a job in the NHS for starters and its been plagued by staff shortages long before covid came along.

Actually there's been a big increase in applications for nursing degrees. It might be that this cohort have a higher attrition rate - some of them might have rose-tinted ideas about being 'heroes' and others will just be looking for a job that seems quite stable (teacher training applications have also gone up, as they always do in tough job markets) - but lots of people did look at the last year and fancy working in the NHS.

@Aixenprovence

"You could also fly into Dublin, take the train to Belfast and fly anywhere in the UK from there. People have been doing it so much that the British govt has now taken measures to close this loophole."

Iced that's interesting - what measures has the UK government taken? How would it go about it, I wonder - passenger declaration on any flight or ferry from NI to UK?

NI is part of the UK. I think you mean NI to GB.

"We are extremely unlucky to be going through this."

I wonder, nugget - or maybe it was bound to happen at some point, simply because of how viruses work? Or, reading the rest of your post, maybe that's what you meant?!

In a way one might say it could have been even worse, in the UK at least - could have been a virus with much higher death rates but the same asymptomatic transmissibility for instance. And maybe this one will prompt governments to invest in 'spare' health capacity, so that 'next time' lockdown isn't necessary. (That's up to us, ultimately government will do that if public opinion wants it.)

It'll fall on deaf ears. Not rtft but I'm sure it's the same "aren't you selfish" Spiel as usual, with a bit of random "but they're scientists" thrown in. People have lost so much they have to believe it was all worth it.

@MaxNormal

Oh ffs, so raging I got that back to front. Shit in my own hands and clap. But yeah, anything really would be better than the dreary hell that is a UK holiday.

Don't forget there are some people who don't even want us to have UK holidays 'in case we spread the virus'.

To be fair there are some beautiful places in the UK. Back in 2018 we went to Florida and it pissed with rain the whole sodding time and the heat and humidity was unbearable. We had a holiday in Cornwall the same year and the weather was beautiful and the scenery was amazing.

Underthewestway yes - sorry! Of course. I (sort of) meant RoUK, though I realise that isn't a much (if at all) used term.

Anyway, I didn't listen to Matt Hancock today - did he address this point ? Is the plan to have a location declaration form for all journeys from NI to GB?

Need context not screenshot

So irritating to read this I have no words

"Not rtft but I'm sure it's the same "aren't you selfish" Spiel as usual, with a bit of random "but they're scientists" thrown in."

Not wholly, in fact! It is interesting how some of the threads end up being almost entirely that, and others are more open-ended/discursive. So join us, if you have time!

@Aixenprovence

"How exactly are people meant to meet potential partners etc ."

Agree. Another of the great lockdown divides - those who have partners, or who have already had children - versus those who want to form a relationship, even a family.

I am not sure this gets enough attention (apart from semi-jokey chat about it being illegal to have sex if you don't live with your partner,). A 3 week break on being able to date is one thing; but this is quite different. (And yes I know they can go for a walk or a bike ride - but how do they meet them in the first place? OLD ok, but work, after work, clubs, societies, none of that is now feasible.)

That’s exactly the thing. I’d like to meet someone but if don’t have a car, so how am I supposed to get to the walk/meeting place?

@Aixenprovence cool well if it doesn't make me want to blow my own head off maybe I'll stick around.

@Aixenprovence

"How exactly are people meant to meet potential partners etc ."

Agree. Another of the great lockdown divides - those who have partners, or who have already had children - versus those who want to form a relationship, even a family.

I am not sure this gets enough attention (apart from semi-jokey chat about it being illegal to have sex if you don't live with your partner,). A 3 week break on being able to date is one thing; but this is quite different. (And yes I know they can go for a walk or a bike ride - but how do they meet them in the first place? OLD ok, but work, after work, clubs, societies, none of that is now feasible.)

A colleague of mine said recently that, given she's 38, she feels that her chances of meeting someone and having a family have been taken from her by this - obviously we all made reassuring noises but the truth is that they might have been, which is so sad.

We are forgetting that there will also be advances in treatment as well as vaccines. So with these combined there is definitely hope.

those of us who are just basically treading water but not missing anything very much; versus those who are losing an experience they won't get back. I think a pp on another thread put it that things are not 'on pause' - for some people, opportunities have gone for ever. (Dramatic)

I actually teared up a bit reading this

I fall into the latter . This situation has likely irreversibly changed something for me and it’s been hard to come to terms with

It’s annoying when people throw about the “ quit whining because you had to stay home for a couple of months “ line as though it’s that simple

@Hardbackwriter if I were your colleague I would be on tinder (or perhaps somewhere a bit classier 😁) trying to meet someone. I'm sorry but that's just right, that's too big of a sacrifice. I'd be dating in that position- yeah it's crap with places shut but I'd be doing outside walks or whatever. And to be frank, once I knew I wanted to see someone exclusively, I wouldn't be distancing. It's hardly the same as attending a rave with hundreds of people.

@citrusshowergel that must be so tough. Are your parents likely to get their vaccines soon?

Slightly different to meeting someone new, but I saw the other day about care homes visit bans breaching human rights- the right to a family life- and I think banning partners who don't live together from seeing eachother almost fits into this category. I'm not against taking measures and putting some restrictions in place but they went too far; there was a limit to what was acceptable to ask people to do and it crossed a line IMO.

@WannabemoreWeaver Better send EON that memo then because if people keep losing their electric through no fault of their own or sent round several shops to get electric keys when EON could send them out through the post (which renders the possibility of customers on pre pay meters being without electric till postie turns up with the key, they WILL have to decamp to relatives. THEY WONT HAVE A CHOICE. Why the fuck are the public being blamed for putting ppl at risk while some companies are merrily behaving like this. Why arent these companies being fined. Why arent THEY being prosecuted.

IF my electric goes, so will my lockdown compliance. I wont have a choice.

www.independent.co.uk/news/business/eon-customers-gas-electricity-data-b1791496.html

And it really fucks me off that ppl are being treated like this while being told that we are all in this together and we must all wear masks to protect each other. Im starting to think that some of us are expected to do these things to protect our "betters"

Taken from their fb page. Obvs EONs idea of #protecttheNHS

Skoly Skolz
Absolutely nasty company...still waiting for a call and 7 days later nothing and now no electricity again...what on earth kind of service are u running...I'm on home oxygen and suffer from chronic suicidal headaches and this is how u treat people... someone needs to sort this out before I take this further today

Seems basically we are going back to the 1950s - stay at home, holiday at home and be thrifty. The Queen should abdicate pass over Charles and King William and Queen Kate can get us all forelock-tugging again whilst waving the flag and putting up statues to Captain Tom.

I think I could cope with 'fire breaks' for up to a month twice a year, for example.

Lockdowns that go on for several months, not so much.

People flying less is what we need right now, from a climate change perspective, so I can also tolerate uk hols only for the next few years (in theory).

I am still trying to come to terms with the whole 'herd immunity' debarcle.

Now zero Covid is the way forward to stop these potentially fatal new strains.

Holidays are the last thing on my mind tbh.

You cannot do this for years on end. Accepting a bit of a dip in the average life expectancy would be shit, but more sustainable than years of lockdown.

Someone upthread just mentioned the inability of people to form new relationships. The number of births has already shown signs of falling sharply, while migration is going to be impossible if you keep borders closed for years on end. Women are already leaving the workforce in significant numbers, and their numbers will get higher and higher with recession and repeated school closures. Imagine doing this for years and years.

How is your precious NHS going to keep going as the number of taxpayers keeps dropping and fewer young people are born and migrants can't come in either? Where are the nurses and doctors going to come from and who's going to keep paying for it all?

I think a pp on another thread put it that things are not 'on pause' - for some people, opportunities have gone for ever.

Exactly. And, PP who said this, you're not being dramatic, you're being honest.

We need to get the vaccine rolled out and then start peeling back measures step by step. I know it's shit, but the alternative would be far, far worse.

Women are already leaving the workforce in significant numbers, and their numbers will get higher and higher with recession and repeated school closures. Imagine doing this for years and years

Like @vera99 said......1950s