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 😭

[Dolciedolly]

@ArseInTheCoOpWindow

I think the world will return to normal in the next couple of years. We have vaccines and now booster vaccines.

I don’t think mask wearing will be mandated by government forever, although l do think some people will choose to do so.

Social distancing can’t last for ever. How will people meet partners etc. And we live in a modern world. I think they will ultimately develop a ‘smart’ vaccine which will adapt to whatever virus appears.

I agree with you
How can SD stay ? The world is not big enough and business won't survive ... no meeting people in bars etc !

[Blueberries0112]

“Well yes, and plague wiped out half of Europe, but it did end. The science we have now has massively reduced the death rate and vaccines will reduce the pandemic period.”

Exactly. They didn’t have the science that we have today. It will be ok

[amicissimma]

I would very much hope that the NHS is preparing for a lot of cases of respiratory illness this autumn/winter. It happens every year, every year we are told that the NHS is facing a possible crisis.

Why wouldn't they expect the same in 2021?

[PinkSparklyPussyCat]

I don't think the world will be returning to the "normal" that existed before Covid came along any time soon, if ever. I can forsee, for example, the continuation of a certain level of social distancing and mask wearing in the future, albeit not enshrined in law but in official guidance and advice.

How many people do you think will take any notice? I certainly won't be social distancing or mask wearing if I don't have to by law and I'm sure many others won't

[ILoveToads]

Stop posting this shit, funny how it's always a friend's DH, cousin's pet cat who gives this information

[ChameleonClara]

@VettiyaIruken

Mn. So many threads with people being so concerned about the effect on mental health, how much support will be needed, how awful it is, how we need to be kind to each other, reach out and so on and so forth

Also mn. Someone posts for reassurance, to talk about how this is affecting their mental health, how hard it is, that they're scared. They get get a grip, shut up scaremongerer, fuck off.

🙄

Yes this.

Presumably two groups of people but still

[Wherediditgo]

Your friends and her husband sound like twats to me.

The epitome of ‘here is my opinion presented to you as though it is fact’ with a sprinkling of arrogance and smugness on top.
I’ve seen and heard so much of this during the pandemic. Classic case of someone thinking he is so much smarter than others but it’s really just blatant arrogance. I would take no notice.

[FakingMemories]

So they have a crystal ball? Great! Please can you ask them next week’s winning lottery numbers.

[Dee1975]

Inside info??!! Well he should be the chief advisor for WHO then! No ones knows what it will do next. New variants of course will happen BUT it’s not going anywhere and we can’t be in lockdown forever.
And people got away last year ....
sound like they are trying to be smug.

[jjjnnnnnrrssss]

While it very possible our friends ends up being right, it isn't because of "insider information" it's because sometimes the world and viruses are unpredictable.

If you want some good insight from a scientist, which is often reassuring, check out @dr.noc on TikTok. He's more US oriented, but I find his information insightful and comforting.

[Bythemillpond]

I don't think the world will be returning to the "normal" that existed before Covid came along any time soon, if ever. I can forsee, for example, the continuation of a certain level of social distancing and mask wearing in the future, albeit not enshrined in law but in official guidance and advice

Does anyone really SD now.
I can’t wait to get rid of my mask and go out for a meal I haven’t had to cook or prepare
I can’t wait to be in a huge crowd again
FWIW I am not having the vaccine because I know it will affect me really badly (I have so many allergies) and I have had the flu vaccine twice and ended up in a really bad way for several weeks and had to have medical intervention so no way am I going to have this vaccine.
I have had what I believe was Covid already and that was bad enough. I don’t want to willingly go and get it again.

[Brunt0n]

Insider information? What, Covid told him this did it? 🙄 Doom goblins. Thanks for sharing the joy

[HelpFlattenTheCurve]

This is only another opinion, but I would say that while this isn’t over, the worst is probably behind us now. I believe it will get better starting right now, and probably continue to get better over the course of the next 3-6-12 months.

We may well have a third wave in the number of cases, probably between autumn 2021 and winter 2021/2022, but it won’t be nearly as bad as the second wave from which we are now emerging in the UK: it will bring far fewer hospitalisations and deaths thanks to vaccination. That also means that while some social distancing restrictions might need reintroduction, there is a very good chance we will avoid having another lockdown with full school closures, because the NHS will no longer be more overwhelmed that normal by COVID19, although other pent-up demand for care will prove challenging to meet.

Vaccines will be less effective in preventing some degree of illness in people exposed to certain variants, but they will significantly lower the risk of hospitalisation, even after a single dose (which I have had), provided that individuals understand it takes at least 3 weeks to build any immunity after the first dose. They will probably reduce but not eliminate the risk of onward transmission by infected, vaccinated individuals. Modified vaccines will come out to address variants, and we will see third doses being administered during the autumn 2021 or during early 2022. There will be occasional headlines about side effects from vaccines, and lots of people will have a couple of rough days post-vaccine, but on the whole it will be a lot more comfortable and safe to get vaccinated than to remain unvaccinated. Those most at risk will be people who believed the scaremongering and turned down the vaccine.

Hopefully social norms will change so that a person with «a little sniffle» will feel the pressure to stay home instead of going to work or school or to that party, and then making several other people get sick.

I am no doctor or scientist, but I am an expert in the synthesis and evaluation of unstructured and conflicting data from multiple sources, and so far I have been mostly right in predicting how this would play out. Due to being clinically vulnerable (Group 6), so the stakes for me personally are also pretty high: in taking any risk of exposure, I am quite literally betting my life and health on being right about which risks are reasonable to take.
Incidentally I have also validated my analysis and my plans with a top respiratory consultant in the UK, and they were judged entirely reasonable and prudent. So it would seem that not all respiratory consultants subscribe to the same «inside information».

For the time being, I think that most of the planned loosening of restrictions in the UK is actually quite reasonable, and I plan to do most of the things that are permitted, when they become permitted, but not earlier. Every week of patience gives the case numbers time to fall, and allows for more people to get their vaccines and for those recently vaccinated to build their immunity. The only difference is that where some people seem to follow the rules in a pretty halfhearted manner, I plan to follow them rather strictly.

Key messages:

1. stick to the prevailing rules, even where it’s uncomfortable or inconvenient or awkward, and
   
2. get the vaccine when offered unless there is a genuine medical reason not to
   
   If enough of us do this, then I am convinced that things will get a lot better, very soon, and we will see the back of these difficult times.

[ArseInTheCoOpWindow]

I still social distance all the time

[TheOneWithTheBigNose]

Hopefully social norms will change so that a person with «a little sniffle» will feel the pressure to stay home instead of going to work or school or to that party, and then making several other people get sick

Hopefully employment norms will mean staff are paid to stay at home when they have a sniffle. Currently most people would not be able to afford to stay at home when they have a minor cold.

[TheOneWithTheBigNose]

I don’t want to willingly go and get it again

From the vaccine you mean? It’s not possible as it’s not a live vaccine.

[Blahblah77]

My husband is a respiratory consultant too and we have booked a UK break in August and are optimistic that we’ll be going. Respiratory consultants are great at looking after people with Covid but not any better placed than most of us to predict the future. Your friends don’t sound very nice, ignore them!

[OpheliasCrayon]

Yeh. They're winding you up. Nice of them.... Ignore and carry on as normal, he sounds like a dick

[Bythemillpond]

TheOneWithTheBigNose

I react badly to vaccines. I have been so ill after the flu jabs (twice) and I know as a child I reacted to inoculations so much that my mother refused to take me in the end because the inoculation was worse than the disease

[TheOneWithTheBigNose]

@Bythemillpond

TheOneWithTheBigNose

I react badly to vaccines. I have been so ill after the flu jabs (twice) and I know as a child I reacted to inoculations so much that my mother refused to take me in the end because the inoculation was worse than the disease

Oh I get that and don’t blame you for not having it if you’ve got a history or bad reactions.
I just thought you meant you didn’t want to go and willingly catch Covid again by getting the vaccine and I was just pointing out it’s not a live vaccine.

[Blueberries0112]

Just recently our governor of our state just announced that we can freely go maskless around other people who are vaccinated. Still have to be careful around others who aren’t though

[Waxonwaxoff0]

@TheOneWithTheBigNose

Hopefully social norms will change so that a person with «a little sniffle» will feel the pressure to stay home instead of going to work or school or to that party, and then making several other people get sick

Hopefully employment norms will mean staff are paid to stay at home when they have a sniffle. Currently most people would not be able to afford to stay at home when they have a minor cold.

This. I can't afford to stay off work for a sniffle so anyone trying to "pressure" me to stay off when I won't get paid can fuck off.

[ChameleonClara]

@Blueberries0112

Just recently our governor of our state just announced that we can freely go maskless around other people who are vaccinated. Still have to be careful around others who aren’t though

This is unwise imo.

[HelpFlattenTheCurve]

@TheOneWithTheBigNose Hopefully employment norms will mean staff are paid to stay at home when they have a sniffle.

I agree 100%. Employers would also be better off not having illnesses spread as rapidly among their staff, so it’s partly in their interest.

Of course this is not simple: it also means some people will take the piss and call in sick when they just don’t feel like working. Remote working can solve the issue in some cases, but not all.

But the fact that it’s not straightforward doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try.

[vera99]

Seriously MN is the worst place to be for this uninformed alarmist nonsense whipped into hysterical mania by some that should know better and others that have mental health issues. The coronavirusuk Reddit threads are far far better and posts and responses are up and down voted to make for a much more balanced and informed debate.