Do people really think this is the road to the end...?! Surely NOT!

[Violetsarered]

Do you honestly think we’re on the road to the end of all this...?!

Here’s how I see things...

New variants will emerge - back into lockdown
Vaccines won’t be as effective as thought - back into lockdown

I’m not sure why people believe that life will be normal by June.

I would bet my house on the fact that it won’t.
We are such a long long LONG way from normality.

Don’t mean to be a doom monger but people really need to keep things in perspective

@echt

I’m sure you don’t really think that they will shut the schools three weeks after opening them and can sense the catastrophising in your statement?

So not at all like opening schools for day and then closing them?

They are closing three weeks after the open - for the Easter holidays. That's the rationale.

I think there is cause for some optimism and some need in me to temper it with caution. I don't find it helpful to see and hear people reacting at either extreme as so much is unknown and we're all learning.

If you're not a doom monger what are you? The Nazgul??

PMSL. Such sanctimonious misery!

How many bedrooms do you have OP? Just so we can plan.

It may not be absolutely perfect but it'll be a huge difference to our lives. Let's look up, not down OP.

What is with the negativity?! Honestly this site is full of absolute misery and doom. Do folk want things to stay shit forever? It certainly seems that way on here. Some folk revel in the negatives and the thought that life is ruined forever. Try having a bit of positivity! This place is absolutely toxic

@Hoorayhenryyah

What is with the negativity?! Honestly this site is full of absolute misery and doom. Do folk want things to stay shit forever? It certainly seems that way on here. Some folk revel in the negatives and the thought that life is ruined forever. Try having a bit of positivity! This place is absolutely toxic

I think though it’s not shit for the folks wanting it to continue. It’s better for them in some way that it does. They just don’t want to admit that’s what’s behind it.

Yes it’s shit for the overwhelming majority. Thousands are dying needlessly due to it, children, education, people’s mental health is shot. But for a small minority for them personally it is better for it to continue.

Only time will tell, really.

Personally, I will take everything that the gov says with a pinch of salt as we all know how "EOTHO" caused covid numbers to soar, and how they bungled and shut the UK down a year too late. Everyone knows how many people paid for that. Everyone has lost a lot already. It's up to each person what they are willing to risk for freedom. Personally I will only be meeting people outside or in socially distanced groups until the numbers drop off entirely. It will be nice to see people again, at a distance

@Violetsarered

Do you honestly think we’re on the road to the end of all this...?!

Here’s how I see things...

New variants will emerge - back into lockdown
Vaccines won’t be as effective as thought - back into lockdown

I’m not sure why people believe that life will be normal by June.

I would bet my house on the fact that it won’t.
We are such a long long LONG way from normality.

Don’t mean to be a doom monger but people really need to keep things in perspective

Please do let us know your scientific credentials for making these comments about the vaccines and variants. Otherwise, you are just a doom monger.

A lot of sceptical posters are ECV or have family members who are. I think theres a fear that if places like Israel are successful a traffic light type system could be adopted here allowing more freedom for those vaccinated. Must be stressful if you can’t/won’t have the vaccine now as I personally think that’s the future.

@Cissyandflora

I have a friend on the front line. She says we will be back to deaths of 1000 + per day a couple of weeks after we come out of lockdown. I’m really not a doom monger and neither is she. But she’s seeing it. She’s losing colleagues. She’s normally incredibly strong and pragmatic but after a year she is now traumatised. It is tantalising to think this could all be over in a couple of months but realistically we are not there and it could get worse yet.

Right. So with vaccines reducing cases we are going to get from 10000 cases to 10 times that in a couple of weeks?

Doesn’t seem plausible

I think the government have done such a good job of scaring us people are just not sensible any more. We will get more deaths, we just need to live with it now, vaccines should reduce it. Time to stop all this crap and get us back to normal because hiding from the virus is no way to live.

You are right. and the ridiculous rosiness is starting to kill me.

Back in Feb 2020, anyone on here who suggested the coronavirus was even something to be worried about was called a doom mongerer. Then anyone who thought the schools reopening without real precautions wouldn't go smoothly was a lockdown loving pessimist. Anyone who believe Christmas as normal wasn't realistic just couldn't bear the end of the drama.

Now we are meant to believe we are on a one way path to freedom (the most cringy promise made yet) and anyone who doesn't buy-in is just a wet blanket.

How much more of this gaslighting can we take? Blind optimism (which at this point seems more like denial) maybe be how some are getting through, but for others it's more helpful to think realistically.

I do by the way feel that we are past the worst of things, but we are a far way from normal and I think, based on previous events from this year, it is only realistic to believe there will be set backs. I don't at all believe anything about covid will be a one way path, that's just silly.

That’s fine op you be like this and if your right you can come on here and tell us and we will we give you a medal for doom monger of the year but be prepared there is stiff competition.

Not being a doom monger but if you want a dose of some people's reality try following @SamanthaBatt-Rawden on Twitter.

It's nice if people want to stick their heads in the sand and think it's all over, but with relatives on the front line as well, you'll have to excuse me from being a realist. Oh, the government haven't scared us at all compared to the truth, believe me. Like I say, only time will tell. People can believe what's comfortable to them , but you won't find me anywhere near them!

Friend on front line - I mean friend nursing patients with Covid. Manages wards. I listen because she is seeing it first hand. Has lost colleagues to Covid. Has colleagues on ventilators now. Has colleagues seriously ill with Covid despite having had one vaccination.
What some see as doom mongering others see as being realistic. Can’t believe I’ve been slated here for saying what is the case. This is where we are. This is what is happening. It’s not made up. I’m not panicking or even worrying- no point. But I am aware of what is happening in one particular hospital in the U.K.
and as someone else just said- the plan is that three weeks after opening schools they will be closed for Easter. This gives the chance for a circuit breaker.
Someone even suggested I would have to come back and name change if things go well after lockdown! How ridiculous. Don’t take it personally. I’m not confronting anyone. Merely saying that I am aware that things could get worse yet. So far we have had it very bad in the U.K. it has been managed terribly.

The projected death numbers are available to see in the SAGE documents published yesterday. 30,000 more deaths is the most optimistic of the scenarios

Wasn't it only last week that the dreaded Ferguson said it would be 130,000? ... only now he's reportedly saying it may all work out and that this'll be the last lockdown

And still people insist that the scientists are impartial, and tell us only the facts regardless of politics and spin

Fucks sake. i suspect this will be the last lockdown because the tide of public opinion is shifting and people have had enough - not everything is about covid y'know.

If you want to be gloomy consider all the life-limiting diagnoses that have been missed in the last year, the hidden harm of people drinking to excess/taking drugs to get them through, the fact that GPs have never experienced so many people reporting mental health problems, the fact that lockdowns have impacted on people's ability to exercise but encouraged overeating and there's probably going to be an increase in obesity and other related conditions as a result. Not to mention thousands more plunged into poverty.

Frankly i think future generations will think we made a right arse of this by prioritising covid to the detriment of everything else.

[quote vaxmeup]@OliveTree75 The projected death numbers are available to see in the SAGE documents published yesterday. 30,000 more deaths is the most optimistic of the scenarios.

I would like to know what the government is doing to support the NHS through the next few months as it will really struggle to cope with the increased hospitalisations and deaths (which are likely to occur over a short period) once we unlock, particularly as there will be an increase in alcohol related injuries/accidents when the pubs reopen.[/quote]
30,000 over how long of a time period?

People are free to be as pessimistic as they want to be of course. At this point, though, if you’re convinced that the vaccines aren’t actually going to work despite all the overwhelming evidence that they work very well, maybe ‘realist’ is not the best way to be describing yourself.

@GoldenOmber

People are free to be as pessimistic as they want to be of course. At this point, though, if you’re convinced that the vaccines aren’t actually going to work despite all the overwhelming evidence that they work very well, maybe ‘realist’ is not the best way to be describing yourself.

Completely agree! Atm there is no reason to think things will get worse

I agree with the OP.

I do think there is light at the end of the tunnel but we should be slightly cautious. Things change as we have already seen.
I think the roadmap is the order it will happen but I believe the dates may be pushed back.

There are still over 60 people in itu in my trust. Granted it has come down my 55 since the peak but frankly we are all shitting ourselves that it will happen again.
I'm glad my DC are going back. They need it but I remain quietly concerned that it is just a bit too soon.
That could just be the anxiety of the last year clouding my judgement.

I hope I'm wrong and it all goes to plan.

Again how many people think June 2021 will be like June 2019, probs not many. Thinking that things are improving is not the same as thinking covid was a distant memory.

I’ll be optimistic because it will gain me nothing to be pessimistic.
And I will take advantage of every single minor change to the restrictions as they’re lifted.

I do think there is light at the end of the tunnel but we should be slightly cautious.

I think the above is correct however the OP doesn't believe the vaccine will be effective as thought...

@GoldenOmber

People are free to be as pessimistic as they want to be of course. At this point, though, if you’re convinced that the vaccines aren’t actually going to work despite all the overwhelming evidence that they work very well, maybe ‘realist’ is not the best way to be describing yourself.

I agree. I think that when life is back to normal there will be people who need a fair bit of help accepting this fact.

I don't relate to it, but I guess people like getting their hopes up.

[quote vaxmeup]@OliveTree75 The projected death numbers are available to see in the SAGE documents published yesterday. 30,000 more deaths is the most optimistic of the scenarios.

I would like to know what the government is doing to support the NHS through the next few months as it will really struggle to cope with the increased hospitalisations and deaths (which are likely to occur over a short period) once we unlock, particularly as there will be an increase in alcohol related injuries/accidents when the pubs reopen.[/quote]
The modelling will have shown the level of hospitalisations at which the NHS will cope or not. All the dates will have been set with this as one of the key criteria.