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 😭

The difference between this summer and last is that people are being vaccinated now. By August I'd expect that most adults will have been offered a slot.

These people are not your friends. What a shitty thing to say to an anxious woman.

Of course it's going to end.

Is his inside information a crystal ball? How could he possibly know?

@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 😭

Nice try OP

I think things will turn out ok and this will be the last lockdown.

BUT you could have posted exactly this sort of thing one year ago, and been abused just the same by think positive weirdos who call every cautious pessimist a doommonger

Nobody knows. I do have a couple of doom monger friends who love to counteract my positive news with the opposite.

Either they have both done it to deliberately upset you, he has been told the news by another dickhead trying to knowing what he's talking about or this post is a wind up.

I have health anxiety but even I aren't swallowing that bollocks. Nobody can tell what's going to happen.

Nobody knows what's going to happen and there's no particular reason why a respiratory consultant would no better than anyone else...

Do you honestly think they would tell all these consultants all this outside info and it not get leaked to the media?

They are both pricks!

No one knows OP. Even top epidemiologists don't agree on the likelihood of this or that happening. As a respiratory consultant, granted he's hopefully more clued up on how the virus works than the average Joe, but that is a huge way off being an epidemiologist... And as I say even they don't agree! It sounds like he's just using his position to spread misery.

I've talked to a huge range of NHS staff over the past few months. They have just as wide a range of theories and predictions as the wider public. They've not got any secret knowledge that isn't available elsewhere. You'd bloody well hope there'd be preparations for a significant rise in cases in place - we simply do not know enough to rule it out completely. This doesn't mean it's an inevitability or even a likelihood. Just something they need to prepare for.

The vaccination programme is going well - better than many could have hoped for or expected. Last summer for a significant chunk of the UK restrictions were a lot lighter and we're in a far better place than we were last year.

I know that as soon as major public health emergencies are emerging Respiratory Consultants are the absolute FIRST to hear.

If your ‘friends’ comments made you feel so bad why did you think it would be a good idea to come on MN and spread the doom and gloom around? Doesn’t help anybody.

If it makes you feel any better, I have a friend who works in respiratory medicine. She apparently 'knows' and starts any positive comment I make with a 'well, I'm afraid...' So far she has said: The vaccine programme won't go well as GP's surgeries can't have everyone queue up at once, the AZ vaccine 'is shit', the virus can be carried in our hair and clothes which makes transmission inevitable, the data from Israel is useless as our population is so much bigger and we are going to be in lockdown most of the year.

None of that has proven true, or looks likely to be.

Don't worry! People like to feel like they have the upper hand. Like previous posters said, he works in respiratory medicine not as a scientific expert!

I do actually know someone high up in public health (though why would you believe me?) and they say that Brazil strain is a concern in relation to vaccine escape but it is unlikely to have much impact for a while and we will have modified. vaccine boosters by autumn. I can’t see why a respiratory consultant would have in-depth knowledge of upcoming situation

Love the idea of a respiratory consultant having ‘insider info’.

If this is real, your friends are massive cunts and they’re talking bollocks.
If it isn’t, get a life.

Rubbish . Even top scientists don’t agree or know the answers .

Just look at the WHO . Full of experts . They were the ones who advised not to wear masks . Then they did a complete U turn .

Of course it’s a possibility but also it’s a possibility that the mutations will go the other way and it will be nothing to worry about .

I am not saying be complacent but as soon as you are able go out and enjoy your life and don’t worry about something until it happens .

Not sure why everyone is having a go at the OP.
It happened before and it can happen again. The vaccine is not a magic bullet and never was. The only way to control any mutations is tight control over the borders. The virus flew in last year, it didn’t come wondering on its feet 😁

@TheSparkleJar

The difference between this summer and last is that people are being vaccinated now. By August I'd expect that most adults will have been offered a slot.

Vaccines help - enormously at the moment, but their potency will fall over time as mutations work around them. Vaccines give us a window of opportunity - everything depends on whether or not we take that window.

@N4ish

If your ‘friends’ comments made you feel so bad why did you think it would be a good idea to come on MN and spread the doom and gloom around? Doesn’t help anybody.

@N4ish

Reassurance from like minded people...

Not everyone is here to spread fear and panic.
I’m certainly not.

The only way to control any mutations is tight control over the borders

Apart from the fact mutations can arise here...

Our border control and quarantine policy has been spectacularly rubbish it don’t forget about the Kent variant arising in er, Kent.

We can’t forget that to minimise the risk of mutations and variants causing problems, we need to keep our own cases as low as possible and have a proper test, trace and isolate regime.

I think we'll be okay through the summer but once respiratory season kicks off again in autumn it'll be mass panic again at the slightest thing.

@Dolciedolly interesting report!
OP .. try not to worry, carpe diem! we have a short break booked for after April 12th just to get outta that house, the vaccine programme is going so well, they can adjust for variants, this will, in all liklihood, end!

@PurpleDaisies

The only way to control any mutations is tight control over the borders

Apart from the fact mutations can arise here...

Our border control and quarantine policy has been spectacularly rubbish it don’t forget about the Kent variant arising in er, Kent.

We can’t forget that to minimise the risk of mutations and variants causing problems, we need to keep our own cases as low as possible and have a proper test, trace and isolate regime.

It was detected in Kent (which is about the nearest county to continental Europe via train/ferry etc) it could have originated from anywhere.

I know in the north west we were hit with a virulent strain in the Autumn which came from Spain, brought back from all the holidays people went on and then didn't quarantine.

Has your clever friend missed this news:

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/crucial-wing-of-immune-system-just-as-good-at-recognising-new-coronavirus-variants-study-finds-nr3xbvhtc

TCells are looking fab at helping our immune system sort out the variants of concern 🙌🏼 So once we’ve got ourselves vaccinated (one dose is good enough initially), it’s looking good. Plus boosters in Autumn not needing to through phase 3 trials will be an enormous help too.

Maybe your friend's husband has been listening to doom and gloom work gossip? I guess nobody is 100% sure but the news so far has been cautiously optimistic that we will be able to manage this virus. From what i've read, the experts have said that the vaccines can be easily modified in the event of a new strain of the virus. The current vaccines are said to be holding up well with the current mutations.

Well yes, @User133847 but we’ve had high transmission here for a long time which makes mutations more likely.