aibu to think people have forgotten what lockdown was for / that life is not 100 per cent safe

[icantthinkofanamehelp]

It has come to a point /coming to a point soon where we now have to learn to live with covid thanks to fab vaccination programme.
All this talk of schools not being ' safe '
They absolutely are safe for the majority of children/teachers.
Cars are not ' safe ' but a lot of people get them in them every day .

We can not carry on like this forever .
We have to live.
Our children need to go back to school.
We need to have a running economy for our kids future.

Lockdown was to stop the NHS totally collapsing. Not for people to ' stay safe ' and not to stop people getting this infection all together

Very well said @Isolatedizzy

@HermioneWeasley

Exactly *@TheChip* vulnerable people die from flu and pneumonia and norovirus every winter and the hospitals are always at breaking point every winter.

Cancer is going undiagnosed and untreated, women are giving birth alone, children’s education is being destroyed - the government are pondering how to recover the producvity gap caused by kids missing a year of education, country’s mental health in crisis, suicide attempts are at an all time high and we haven’t even started to feel the economic impact as its being largely obscured by furlough. But if you care about anything but Covid you’re heartless apparently.

The impact of covid has been much more significant than the usual level of winter pressure on NHS services. I'm a community AHP. My job has been made much more difficult and time consuming because if things like the need to constantly don and doth PPE, staff being redeployed so less staff available with more pressure on our service, people needing us for longer due to long covid, staff off SI etc. So no, it hasn't been like a normal winter.

But that doesn't mean I'm terrified of covid, and I desperately want to get back to normal. I want my DCs back in school, and I want to go out with friends. I can't wait till May!

@CheeseJalapenoBread

I do think people sometimes talk like there was no illness prior to March 2020 and we all lived risk-free charmed lives. A lot of people seem to panic, on a personal level, about getting covid in a way that I’ve not seen for any other illness; a level of panic that is utterly disproportionate to the actual risk the virus poses to them as individuals.

The constant fear from the media doesn't help, added to the government adverts and messaging.

A year ago (i.e. late February) Italy was terribly hit, their hospitals were swarmed, they were dropping like flies and it was a novel virus we didn't know anything about. It was in the UK at that point, but I was carrying on with my life as normal and everything was open. I didn't fear getting it. Then of course we shut down, as we had to.

12 months on though, I do fear getting it and I am overly cautious. It'll be hard to just snap out of that (at least until i've had a vaccine). Frightening a population will have repercussions, whereas those who aren't bothered will be unaffected.

Cancer is going undiagnosed and untreated, women are giving birth alone, children’s education is being destroyed - the government are pondering how to recover the producvity gap caused by kids missing a year of education, country’s mental health in crisis, suicide attempts are at an all time high and we haven’t even started to feel the economic impact as its being largely obscured by furlough. But if you care about anything but Covid you’re heartless apparently.

Couldn’t agree more.

User - you might not have been worried a year ago but a lot of people were.
If you read some of the 'a year ago' threads lots of people had stopped going out.
Not gone to Cheltenham races , stopped going to the pub, started shopping on line if the Govt hadn't locked down and the numbers of people dying per day had gone from 1000 people per day to 2000, to 3000 how many people would have been happy to carry on sending their kids to school, wandering round the shops, living their normal lives.

People would have started doing the bear minimum - well I would have!

@Pootle40 no vaccines for the teachers (or anyone) in group 6 onwards in my town for a good while yet according to a local gp. Still stuck on group 5

This is the downside to the New Zealand and Australia zero Covid goals (I’m in Australia). The state premiers here have been in competition to see who can be the most aggressive against Covid and have told the population that their ridiculous snap border closures and lockdowns for a few cases are the only things stopping us from being the US or UK. Most people are lapping it up while the few of us engaging our brains in some critical thinking are told we are irresponsible and ‘want people dead’.

I think Australia, NZ, Taiwan and similar countries are in an enviable position, for the most part! However, yes, I can see what you mean. The public messaging is going to have to change from KEEP VIRUS OUT AT ALL COSTS to ACTUALLY, IT IS OK IF THIS VIRUS DRIFTS ABOUT IN THE COUNTRY A BIT NOW, BECAUSE PEOPLE ARE VACCINATED.

Once the human brain has put something in the "Very Scary Things" category, it's hard to just suddenly decide to put it in the "Manageable Risk" category.

Careful communication by governments will be very important. I hope they can manage it, as I have Ozzie and Kiwi friends who are desperate to visit their families and are really wondering when they will be able to do so.

CheeseJalapenoBread

A lot of people seem to panic, on a personal level, about getting covid in a way that I’ve not seen for any other illness; a level of panic that is utterly disproportionate to the actual risk the virus poses to them as individuals.

What is the actual risk though? Can you explain the biological mechanism underpinning Long Covid? The NIH in the US has just committed over US$1 billion to try to understand Long Covid, which according to the White House presser is impacting 3/10 of what it calls Covid Survivors at 9 months. That's a hell of a long tail of morbidity when it comes to population- scale infection.
Then 1/10 of those hospitalised die within months of discharge, with younger cohorts impacted more.
When you look beyond binary death/survival figures, I don't think you can actually quantify the risk so neatly, nor dismiss people's valid concerns as panic.
Indeed, I suspect many of the comments on this thread will age badly as the true impact of mass infection with Covid 19 begins to weigh on society, economy, quality of life years and longevity not to mention the horror show of mental health, educational loss and financial ruin as a result of repeated lockdown cycles. What a gift to our children.
The message should never have been to "save the NHS", it should have been keep this dangerous virus from our shores.

@mac12

CheeseJalapenoBread

A lot of people seem to panic, on a personal level, about getting covid in a way that I’ve not seen for any other illness; a level of panic that is utterly disproportionate to the actual risk the virus poses to them as individuals.

What is the actual risk though? Can you explain the biological mechanism underpinning Long Covid? The NIH in the US has just committed over US$1 billion to try to understand Long Covid, which according to the White House presser is impacting 3/10 of what it calls Covid Survivors at 9 months. That's a hell of a long tail of morbidity when it comes to population- scale infection.
Then 1/10 of those hospitalised die within months of discharge, with younger cohorts impacted more.
When you look beyond binary death/survival figures, I don't think you can actually quantify the risk so neatly, nor dismiss people's valid concerns as panic.
Indeed, I suspect many of the comments on this thread will age badly as the true impact of mass infection with Covid 19 begins to weigh on society, economy, quality of life years and longevity not to mention the horror show of mental health, educational loss and financial ruin as a result of repeated lockdown cycles. What a gift to our children.
The message should never have been to "save the NHS", it should have been keep this dangerous virus from our shores.

I agree with this 100%

My friend, a postman caught covid just before the November lockdown, she is fit, slim 50 no underlying health conditions she did her first full normal round last Thursday!
She wasn't hospitalised, particularly poorly for the 2 weeks she had Covid but the fatigue, nausea and breathlessness has meant she has been unable to do her job properly since December!

@Isolatedizzy sorry to about your friend. Glad she is well enough to be back at work. We know several long haulers (including kids). They are all 9-12 months on since initial “mild” infection and still very very unwell. I do not know how the govt expects people to take “personal responsibility for their own risk” without giving us better data on Long Covid so we can gauge the risk we’re actually taking.

@Isolatedizzy Wonder if long Covid will be taken as seriously when the people suffering with it start applying for PIP.

Then there are the new agoraphobics that have been created who will also need the same benefit.

YABU

Many people vulnerable to flu get the flu jab. I know it’s not 100% but it certainly reduces a huge number of deaths most years.

If we didn’t have such successful COVID vaccines I’m sure we wouldn’t be at the stage we are hoping to achieve in the near future when we can see COVID in a similar way to flu.

@mac12

CheeseJalapenoBread

A lot of people seem to panic, on a personal level, about getting covid in a way that I’ve not seen for any other illness; a level of panic that is utterly disproportionate to the actual risk the virus poses to them as individuals.

What is the actual risk though? Can you explain the biological mechanism underpinning Long Covid? The NIH in the US has just committed over US$1 billion to try to understand Long Covid, which according to the White House presser is impacting 3/10 of what it calls Covid Survivors at 9 months. That's a hell of a long tail of morbidity when it comes to population- scale infection.
Then 1/10 of those hospitalised die within months of discharge, with younger cohorts impacted more.
When you look beyond binary death/survival figures, I don't think you can actually quantify the risk so neatly, nor dismiss people's valid concerns as panic.
Indeed, I suspect many of the comments on this thread will age badly as the true impact of mass infection with Covid 19 begins to weigh on society, economy, quality of life years and longevity not to mention the horror show of mental health, educational loss and financial ruin as a result of repeated lockdown cycles. What a gift to our children.
The message should never have been to "save the NHS", it should have been keep this dangerous virus from our shores.

Calling people "Covid Survivors" is just ridiculously dramatic for a virus with a IFR of under 1%. "Ebola Survivors" might be appropriate!

Fucking hell that’s callous.

Then 1/10 of those hospitalised die within months of discharge, with younger cohorts impacted more

Source please

This may have been said so apologies.

The reason why we still have to be cautious until the majority of adults have had the vaccine is that viruses that are 'under pressure' (fewer hosts to spread) can mutate more dramatically than we have seen so far, in order to 'escape' the vaccine.

I'm no scientist so am sorry to those who actually know about this stuff! It was discussed at the science and technology select committee this week in parliament and was fascinating.

Patience people! We are nearly there.

@mac12 With my 10 year old family member - her family had it last Spring. She had only mild symptoms. She was exposed at school and told to isolate over Xmas. Weeks after, she then had a very high temp after no exposure. Negative Covid test. After about 5 days of very high, unexplained high temp she was admitted to hospital. Still negative a Covid test, but diagnosis of PIMS.

Sorry - I mean her second exposure was just before Xmas this year.

@mellongoose oh I agree with you entirely. I don’t understand the science, but from what I do understand we DO need to be cautious.

@Pootle40
*Lemons157 There weren’t many people on here screaming “schools are safe” in the last week of term in December. Schools are no different now. No extra funds, no extra safety measures apart from a few lateral flow tests. Still plenty of group 6 7 8 9 teachers who haven’t yet had a vaccine and still have a long wait. I don’t understand the change in attitude on this thread as there really haven’t been many changes on the ground.

Vaccines*

Vaccines that the children aren’t having, that many school staff haven’t had yet, including those in vulnerable categories? The vaccines have had no impact on the safety in schools. All those saying schools are safe, most of you weren’t saying that back in December, you were arguing for closure full stop, or early closure so you could safely take your kids to see relatives.

Absolutely. But the gov has terrified many people, so I do understand.

Totally agree OP

I feel so sorry for those simply too terrified to leave the house / take toddler to the playground etc

I have a close family member - very healthy, young, she hasn't been to a shop for a year!! Hasn't been anywhere - it's worrying.

Once the human brain has put something in the "Very Scary Things" category, it's hard to just suddenly decide to put it in the "Manageable Risk" category.

This is probably true for some groups.

But I think most will change swiftly. As restrictions release and weather improves we’ll be as we were last summer. In fact the crowds will be big as as we are allowed. I think we’re more like a coiled spring than scared - mostly. And behaviour will reflect new messaging which will change.

On Dec there was a lot of noise on here re schools shutting but many didn’t want them to.

Forgot to quote guest para