This isn’t going to end, is it....?

[fallonT]

I was FaceTiming my friend tonight, I told her we’ve booked a uk break for August.
She laughed at me and said to her husband “should I tell her the bad news or do you want to”

Her husband is a respiratory consultant and said that the new variants of Covid will cause another wave and further lockdowns.

I asked how he could possibly know this and he laughed and said “inside information”

I suffer with anxiety and haven’t stopped crying since I got off of our FaceTime chat.

I can’t do this anymore. I realty can’t 😭

[nimbuscloud]

Why did you name change for this thread? You must see that it would make people think you have created an account on MN to spread doom and gloom.

[notrub]

Well he's talking bollocks, but at the same time he's kind of right.

There is no "inside information". Everything of any importance is freely available for anyone to read if they know how, in numerous medical and biology journals. In short, he's making educated guesses.

Will there be a third wave here? Extremely likely because the government have pinned everything on the published timetable. Yes, they "claim" they'll adjust dates if necessary, but politically that gives them leeway to put things back a few weeks and that isn't enough to deal with any of the things that could go wrong. Once again we don't have a Plan B - everything is pinned on the vaccines solving everything which they won't.

Just like last year, people now believe it will be all over by the summer and will start dropping their guard making matters worse.

I think if your break is in August my bet is that you'll probably be OK - there may be some restrictions in place, but I don't think we'll be in lockdown then. I see the shit hitting the fan around October, a few weeks after schools go back and when students go back, and holidaymakers returning from abroad over the summer will no doubt have brought back a nasty new variant (if we don't end up with a home-grown one).

There's a good write-up about our current strategy here from Independent SAGE
www.independentsage.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Commentary-on-Strategy-in-UK-Government-Spring-Roadmap-FOR-FINALISING.pdf

[Looneytoones]

You might get away this summer but there may well be plenty more lockdowns. It’s not really just going to end one day, it’ll be a gradual process

[UhtredRagnarson]

There is no inside information. No one in the Uk can hold their water. If there’s information it’s been leaked already.

[Blueberries0112]

Vaccinations is going to improve everything a lot.

I do have a weird paranoid feeling they keep scaring people to fix climate changing though

[RaggieDolls]

Threads like this always make me laugh... people who genuinely have inside information as a result of their senior government jobs don't tell their wives, people on zoom or mumsnet.

They wouldn't be trusted with information if they had a good old gossip about it.

[Thatswhatmamasaid]

Agree he sounds like a massive twat!

I wouldn't listen to him, I'd listen to the scientists on the government's briefings, they are the ones who are really in the know.

It's looking very positive here in the UK with the vaccine rollout. With other countries, well that's a different story.

[ChardonnaysPetDragon]

Let him tell you the winning lottery numbers for tomorrow as well, while he's at it.

[TheVampiresWife]

Lots of people have anxiety. Which is precisely why posting stuff like this is so unhelpful.

[FlyingBurrito]

@RaggieDolls

Threads like this always make me laugh... people who genuinely have inside information as a result of their senior government jobs don't tell their wives, people on zoom or mumsnet.

They wouldn't be trusted with information if they had a good old gossip about it.

There was a classic the other day, someone who said she knew that Prince Phillip had died because her son in the army had his leave cancelled or some such nonsense

[UmteenthUser]

They obviously knew you suffered from anxiety and were taking advantage of it to upset you. Neither her nor her husband are your friend, that is for sure

[UmteenthUser]

On the other hand you could be posting this because you know others have anxiety...

[DuckbilledSplatterPuff]

He's under stress and so replied in a flippant way. It wasn't the best way to phrase it.
But the reality is... it ends when it ends . There's not much we can do about that but try to take the recommended precautions and plod through it. Its not forever, it really isn't and we will get to the end soon, but we just have to carry on. I know its really hard. But a lot of people feel as you do. Don't take the daft know it all jokey talk of her husband personally. He sounds like a twat.
Think of things you can do that are nice. All the twenty something I know are getting very excited about September and October festivals, but they know that they may not go ahead, but it makes them happy planning it. You will get through this

[Dolciedolly]

He is a respiratory doctor not a bloody scientist ...no one knows and to be honest virus mutates all the time

The Spanish flu ended , HK flu, Asian flu etc don't talk to her anymore

[Hoppinggreen]

How would a respiratory consultant know?
He treats people, he doesn’t predict the future

[Dolciedolly]

[quote notrub]Well he's talking bollocks, but at the same time he's kind of right.

There is no "inside information". Everything of any importance is freely available for anyone to read if they know how, in numerous medical and biology journals. In short, he's making educated guesses.

Will there be a third wave here? Extremely likely because the government have pinned everything on the published timetable. Yes, they "claim" they'll adjust dates if necessary, but politically that gives them leeway to put things back a few weeks and that isn't enough to deal with any of the things that could go wrong. Once again we don't have a Plan B - everything is pinned on the vaccines solving everything which they won't.

Just like last year, people now believe it will be all over by the summer and will start dropping their guard making matters worse.

I think if your break is in August my bet is that you'll probably be OK - there may be some restrictions in place, but I don't think we'll be in lockdown then. I see the shit hitting the fan around October, a few weeks after schools go back and when students go back, and holidaymakers returning from abroad over the summer will no doubt have brought back a nasty new variant (if we don't end up with a home-grown one).

There's a good write-up about our current strategy here from Independent SAGE
www.independentsage.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Commentary-on-Strategy-in-UK-Government-Spring-Roadmap-FOR-FINALISING.pdf[/quote]
I hope you are wrong as people will be dying of mental health and poverty than this virus

[MilesJuppIsMyBitch]

Here's an article about early indicators that the AZ vaccine is effective against the Brazilian variant: from Reuters. This is potentially very good news.

[Awalkinthefreshair]

I'm assuming they are struggling to book a holiday themselves (as in the accommodation they wanted had been zapped up) and may be feeling a tiny bit jealous.

[Nacreous]

@Motorina

I also have inside information because of the NHS resource planning bit of my job role.

The truth is, noone knows.

We're planning for the worst and hoping for the best, just like everyone else.

Anyone - anyone! - who says they know what this virus is going to do or where disease levels will be in August is pulling their knowledge out of their arse, frankly.

My opinion? I wouldn't book a non-refundable flight, but I think a UK holiday is likely to happen just fine by then. The vaccine rollout will be all but done, and the evidence suggests they're pretty effective against the known variants. I think we're going to be in a good place. Not perfect, but good. But that's just my opinion - we're going to have to wait and see.

This.

I work in the NHS, in the vaccine programme, and have a UK break booked in the summer.

We can't know either way and I have Covid cover for my holiday including being required to self isolate.

But I got away on holiday (UK only) last summer as well.

We can't know, and we have to plan for the worst, but it appears to have a significant seasonality so I think we should get a summer.

[Chloemol]

Well neither sound nice. No one knows, including them. So just carry on with the information you have now, and don’t worry about what they say

And I wouldn’t be FaceTiming them again anytime soon

[TheOnlyKoiInAPondOfGoldfish]

if they know you have anxiety then they are both twats @fallonT.

OTOH if they have been doing scenario planning at work then they will have had to plan for the worst-case scenario. Daft not to plan for it, but you plan for the worst and hope for the best. The reality is usually somewhere in between.

[Desmondo2016]

Covid is bringing out so many peoples inner twat, unfortunately. It sounds like your friend and her husband have been infected (with twatness, not covid).

Think positive. This is on the way out. I personally am going to have a summer of bbq, beaches and beer!

[FellWanderer]

There are two options here:

You're friend is extremely cruel and decided to deliberately upset you with something that no one can yet know.

This is a windup.

[PondDipper]

I swear these people are Russian bots sent to destroy the morale of us when life is opening up, the vaccine is effective against new variants and 20 million have been vaccinated. Plus R rate down, tests up, positives down. Summer is coming. Life is good!

[Sobeyondthehills]

By the way my dog groomer says this summer cats are going to try and take over the world. You have been warned 😶

I need to know who your dog groomer is, as it appears we have a leak.

I mean don't be silly this is not our plans at all