"Just stick to the rules for a bit longer"

[PlantPlant123]

Am I the only one getting sick of hearing this?

We're a year in. As of May, when household mixing is allowed, I won't have legally seen my partner indoors for seven months. Same with my sister, who is preparing to go back to teaching 4 x 30 different groups of teenagers everyday.

It's just so restrictive. I follow the rules as much as I can, but not as much admittedly as my mental health has taken a battering- I was supposed to have a psychiatrist appointment this morning on the phone and they never called me, so now I feel even worse.

I get it's a shit situation. But how long are we going to be asked to do this for? What if the vaccines hadn't worked?

I KNOW I'm just ranting (probably as a result of waiting months to be seen by a psychiatrist who apparently got to phone me) but when other countries with higher rates are allowing household mixing of some
form, even if limited, it just makes me so down. I'd LOVE the rule of six or two households.

I suppose I'd even be so controversial to say that I don't think the government has the right to ban household mixing for almost a year and that it's an overstep and gone on too long, but I guess that makes me "anti-lockdown" and a "covid denier" by some some people's standards

*forgot

I suppose I'd even be so controversial to say that I don't think the government has the right to ban household mixing for almost a year and that it's an overstep and gone on too long, but I guess that makes me "anti-lockdown" and a "covid denier" by some some people's standards

I completely agree with this, always have! You get to a point where you accept being called a covidiot. Just smile and nod

Also to add I lived in a place where household mixing was banned during the summer, so it's coming up a year. I had some reprieve in September/October as I moved house but the second lockdown cut that short

Lucille- I accepted it at first, I understand it was an unprecedented situation. But now it seems insane. And no one I know seems to follow it at all.

I'm almost glad when I see my student neighbours having people over and living

If current trends prevail, we'll be at negligible levels in a few weeks, not months. Even Nicola Sturgeon has conceded that reopening may happen faster than previously stated. When numbers hit the floor they simply can't keep us indoors and keep businesses closed.

But mixing within households is one of the best ways to spread the virus. We have had to do this to save lives and protect NHS. To have carried on would have been carnage.

Morris- It worries me in case they do. I'm pinning my hopes on it going better than expected. If my hopes are dashed, I'll deal with it at the time but it keeps me sane for now

Don’t think about “what if vaccines hadn’t worked” - they are working, so this is what we are dealing with.

After last week’s announcement, we booked a holiday - self-catering, for the middle of May. It’s close to the Welsh border so that, if Wales allows it, we can go and see my Mum who I haven’t seen since last July (and that only for 3 hours in her garden).

I was all elated. Then I realised it is still 3 months away, and that felt like for ever. But those months will pass. Every day we are vaccinating several hundred thousand people, every week another 4-5% of the population. By the time my May date rolls round, a large majority of adults will be vaccinated and the effect of that on hospitalisations and death will be phenomenal.

That’s the difference between this year and last. You can believe “just a few more weeks” now. There was nothing to back it up last year.

It's already better than expected. There are more vaccines being done and fewer hospital admissions than the most optimistic projections predicted.

cross- I understood that at the beginning. Honestly I was managing until January. But now vaccines are going faster and things are dropping so quick, the parameters change

It also makes me ask what would happen if the vaccines didn't work? We couldn't lockdown forever, even if they tried. Would we accept covid death the same as any other illness? Why was more time not spent increasing NHS capacity, instead of relying on the public compliance, which is shrinking?

All questions I ask myself at the moment. Like I said, I am just very emotional this morning, normally I am a bit more resilient admittedly

Public compliance is shrinking because of selfish people that cant be bothered anymore and dont care enough

@MorrisZapp

If current trends prevail, we'll be at negligible levels in a few weeks, not months. Even Nicola Sturgeon has conceded that reopening may happen faster than previously stated. When numbers hit the floor they simply can't keep us indoors and keep businesses closed.

Sure. Yep. Opening schools will have no affect at all 🙄🙄

There are still thousands in hospital, still hundreds a day dying.

Yes numbers are looking much better, but at least they appear to have learnt to take things more slowly. The 5 weeks between lifting various things is essential if we don't want another full lockdown.

@PlantPlant123. Sorry you're feeling so crap.

Have you contacted them to see why no one called you this morning?

Why haven't you formed a bubble with anyone? I haven't, but that was my choice.

Jellybaby- Is it because they don't care or is it because asking people to heavily limit their social contact and entire lives for a year, to the point people are losing homes, business and mental health, is unrealistic and unfeasible?

Am I selfish if I see more than just my adult child I live with, because my mental health is in the gutter and I don't have it in me anymore?

Death is horrible. I've almost died and I wouldn't wish it on anyone. But life as it is right now, is unfulfilling, demotivating and unnatural.

I can’t wait to see my parents inside on March 31st! As my baby will be born a few days later and we will be in a bubble, I don’t see the harm.

“Just 3 weeks to flatten the curve.”
“Just stay at home”
“Just wear a mask on the bus, oh and the supermarket, oh and all indoor spaces”
“Just take a vaccine”
“Just a few more weeks to protect the NHS”

Take it one day at a time.

"Bubble up" with your partner.

AmelieTaylor - hundreds a day are not dying. It’s “Deaths within 28 days of positive test.”

Around 1600 people die every day in the U.K.

I haven't formed a bubble as I'm not eligible- I'm not a single adult household as my child is now over 18. I see my partner occasionally anyway, which helps

Also I will add my opinions are just that- Opinions. If they seem non-scientific or nonsensical, it's because I am just an everyday person moaning on an online forum. Eventually this will be out of my system and I'll get on like everyone else.

yanbu

How dare you have opinions OP! Don’t you know that if you don’t believe enough, you’ll kill 1 million old ladies?!

@MorrisZapp

If current trends prevail, we'll be at negligible levels in a few weeks, not months. Even Nicola Sturgeon has conceded that reopening may happen faster than previously stated. When numbers hit the floor they simply can't keep us indoors and keep businesses closed.

In England that’s very much being countered by messaging that the rate of decline has slowed and the Brazil variant is much more transmissible than the original, also not susceptible to the vaccine. In other words, we could soon be back to square one. I’m utterly done with it. I don’t care if I catch it, it feels like this is the way things are forever and it’s no life. I’m utterly sick of the rollercoaster of positive and negative messaging. Every positive is immediately followed up with a negative as if there are two opposing factions briefing (which there are).

Josephine- I feel the same. If the Brazil variant did take off, I'd honestly just want lockdown to end anyway and then we find some way to muddle through it

I'm starting to get sick of the 'mixing indoors is the best way to spread it' argument against mixing indoors. I've had covid from my child. Couldn't avoid mixing indoors with him. I go back to school next week to mix indoors with many people. Having had covid, having the vaccine soon and the fact that many people I know have had covid or are vaccinated, how am I going to spread it?

@PlantPlant123 even in Brazil, they muddled through it.

I am laughing at the person who suggests taking one day at a time. Yep, that's how a whole year passed.

I agree with you. The ongoing rules are not fair or proportionate a year in. I’m done with it, my in-laws are coming to stay next week.