We cannot cancel life, to preserve every life

[Slytherin]

I actually find myself agreeing with a Tory for once...we’ve given up so much and the goalposts keep moving, yes it’s an unpredictable situation, but it’s also unsustainable long term. The idea that this summer will be possibly worse than last summer makes zero sense, when we have a vaccine roll out that far exceeds any other nation (except Israel) currently.
First it was let’s get the elderly and vulnerable vaccinated, then it was let’s get the over 50s vaccinated, now we’ve got members of SAGE suggesting restrictions have to continue until everyone, including children are vaccinated and beyond, because of the possibility of new variants. Professor John Edmunds said some would have to stay “forever” last night on Peston.

We must at some point live with an element of risk. I’m in no way suggesting we lift lockdown yet, but suggesting that things won’t have much improved by the summer, is, in my opinion encroaching into dangerous territory.

The government were over promising before, now they’re under promising. There’s got to be a middle ground, people’s mental health cannot sustain this level of pessimism and not having a single thing to look forward to. Everything gets dangled like a carrot, then taken away at the last minute. It’s beyond cruel.

Then it’s the mixed messages, Matt Hancock telling us he’s going on a summer holiday to Cornwall and he’s all booked up and Grant Shapps then telling nobody to even consider booking a holiday abroad or domestically this summer.

Yes, I support restrictions to save lives and support the NHS, but I don’t support the way the government are handling this once again. And I don’t support these restrictions indefinitely, especially when the majority of the at risk groups have been vaccinated.

www.channel4.com/news/we-cannot-cancel-life-to-preserve-every-life-tory-mp-sir-charles-walker-on-lockdown?fbclid=IwAR2RnQNKwJoQ4FSBxT9oTbwbFOCTWcIU9wD9WdYkTEA2sVlJ1posWZAfmsU

@DownstairsMixUp

Practising you really aren't smart if you think we will ever be rid of a virus, Jesus Christ. How do people know how to even breathe

I don't think we'll be rid of a virus, I think that they will have vaccinated more people later in the year.

Did you think the scientists were hoping to eradicate it or something?

We have been "spoiled" over the last 50 years or so into thinking that we can control nature - now we know we can't.

Some of the things that people are missing now and see as necessities were not part of life a few decades ago, and people managed just fine.

I think back to what people must have suffered during the blitz and the stoic reaction to this.

I know it is crap - it is all crap - but we have to adapt. I am sure that a time will come when covid is like flu - a blessed nuisance but one that we will keep under control sufficiently to live with it. That is what we are working on right now. But it will not come in a hurry.

@firstimemamma

People have been mixing for ages now - in and out of each other's houses etc as they've had enough. Numbers haven't 'sky-rocketed' it's always something like 100 in 100,000 or something ridiculous like that. And even then many of those 100 won't even be that unwell. Just open stuff up and be done with it already! My fiancé is nhs frontline and agrees with me fully so nothing anyone says on here is going to make me think otherwise. It's just stupid now.

I certainly haven't...!!

And for anyone saying what about when people contract it for a second time etc, you do realise T cell immunity is thing yeah?

Completely agree, young people and children are being sacrificed to preserve the life of the over 80s.

except many younger people who have survived are now ill with long covid
The NHS can cope with this, so no need to lock down for this

If we can't as a country go without pubs, Starbucks and holidays for a year or so to save thousands of elderly and vulnerable people then we are a country of cunts.
We can go without those things. What we can't go without is family life, being able to maintain and form new relationships, get married, be educate, run a business or earn money as an employer, have freedom of movement within our own country and hug our family members without worrying about being arrested.

I agree, I think they should hold off lifting restrictions just yet - maybe looking at April to start adjusting things. By then it will be easier to do things outdoors, many more vaccines will have been given and our patience will have been exhausted.

I for one am looking forward to summer because I will be meeting with three other family members outdoors if cases remain low, regardless of the rules.

@Thewiseoneincognito - yep I would risk long covid or post viral fatigue syndrome to call it by the proper name.
It's a 50/50 chance that I get it...

I’ll have anyone in the house now, I have no fucks left to give.

Suspect many have reached that point.

@PracticingPerson

What makes you think we have the right to be in control of a virus? We need to get on with our lives with the virus as a part of our livrs. We need to stop hiding away from it. The vaccine will help a lot but ultimately we are not more powerful than nature. It's time to accept that now.

This is silly, we are in control of all sorts of things. If you're so keen to let nature take it's course, why don't you campaign to stop all cancer treatment too while you're at it?

Why is everyone so very angry now? I assume the psychological committee that feeds in to SAGE knows exactly why this is happening at this stage precisely but I don't.

We can mitigate the virus with vaccines and treatment just the same as we can mitigate cancer with treatment. Cancer still kills people though doesn't it? And makes them sick. Just like covid will still kill people and make them sick. No I don't think we can have control over cancer any more than we can over covid.

But this is about our health care system' s ability to cope, that's what it has always been about. Getting fed up and deciding to break the rules is all well and good as long as you don't need a hospital bed when you have a heart attack or crash your car...

@Mischance

We have been "spoiled" over the last 50 years or so into thinking that we can control nature - now we know we can't.

Some of the things that people are missing now and see as necessities were not part of life a few decades ago, and people managed just fine.

I think back to what people must have suffered during the blitz and the stoic reaction to this.

I know it is crap - it is all crap - but we have to adapt. I am sure that a time will come when covid is like flu - a blessed nuisance but one that we will keep under control sufficiently to live with it. That is what we are working on right now. But it will not come in a hurry.

Oh fucking hell not another blitz reference 🤦‍♀️

Funny isn't it, I've never seen one single post from someone clearly struggling with lockdown, where they try to suggest that this is anything like as bad as the war. It's always the other way round 'we're all so rubbish these days', 'how would this generation have coped in the war' bla bla bla

Do you really think everyone was strong and stoic during the blitz? Really? I tend to think that humans have been pretty much the same throughout history and there are some who cope well, some who struggle. Some good people in life, some total wankers. I'm sick of all the self-flagellation that we are supposed to do these days.

OP, I completely agree.

@ChocOrange1

except many younger people who have survived are now ill with long covid The NHS can cope with this, so no need to lock down for this

If we can't as a country go without pubs, Starbucks and holidays for a year or so to save thousands of elderly and vulnerable people then we are a country of cunts.
We can go without those things. What we can't go without is family life, being able to maintain and form new relationships, get married, be educate, run a business or earn money as an employer, have freedom of movement within our own country and hug our family members without worrying about being arrested.

Well said @ChocOrange1

[quote devildeepbluesea]@mrsmercedes it's a new virus. Like thousands of others it can cause post viral symptoms. Like flu does, like glandular fever and many others. Yes it's another risk. Is that sufficient to keep everyone locked up in their homes, not earning, not living? I don't think so.[/quote]
Hear hear!!!! Sick to death of these types consistently manipulating people into feeling guilt. It comes with life Hod help the other diseases and destruction this is doing. Nothing else exists

@Goldieloxx

But this is about our health care system' s ability to cope, that's what it has always been about. Getting fed up and deciding to break the rules is all well and good as long as you don't need a hospital bed when you have a heart attack or crash your car...

Even once all the over 50s are vaccinated? Really?

We are being told we need to save lives.

But to be frank, many of us now feel that there are fates worse than death and we are now walking into that

*You’d be happy to risk ending up with Long covid?

Wow.*

To live a normal life, I would absolutely take that risk. Same as I risk being paralysed in a car accident, having post viral syndrome from any other illness, being killed in an accident, falling down the stairs, having a heart attack. Life is not risk free. Covid, and long covid, is just another risk to add to the long LONG list.

Why is everyone so very angry now? I assume the psychological committee that feeds in to SAGE knows exactly why this is happening at this stage precisely but I don't

I don't think everyone is angry now, but I do think that it helps certain causes to make people believe that they are.

100% agreed OP

I’ve played by the rules all along. I’ve had my doubts but put them aside believing we’re doing this for the greater good.

But our government has lost me now. It’s my kids I’m angry for. I could carry on for longer. My kids can’t though and I’m not prepared to make them.

I've said this from almost the beginning

People don't seem to be understanding that we all take risks literally every time we walk out of the front door or get in a car or on a bus or fly abroad or fall pregnant or send our kids to school. Everything comes with a risk but we don't stop living because of it!!

I feel like some advocates of unending lock down have embraced the philosophy of “It became necessary to destroy the town in order to save it”. Lockdown is resulting in misery, a crash in mental health, and a defenestrated economy. The pressure is coming off the NHS and we need to lift restrictions.

@ktp100

If we can't as a country go without pubs, Starbucks and holidays for a year or so to save thousands of elderly and vulnerable people then we are a country of cunts.

Which is becoming more and more evident by the day.

I can easily go for longer without pubs and holidays but my children can't last much longer without social interaction at school, and my friends can't go for much longer without losing their small businesses.