Will lots just say 'stuff it' come the 23rd?

[JuneSummer]

It'll soon be a year since lockdown was first called and me and DH have been watching lots of TV coverage over the last few days. It's just dawned on us this week that we have now not seen our parents for a year, the DC haven't hugged their grandparents, we haven't been for any days out as a family, DC1 hasn't had a single uni class in person. The list goes on.

DH and I are now quickly coming to the conclusion that we just cannot and will not go on living like this any longer as a family. Particularly when there seems to be no end in sight if you listen to people like Chris Whitty and Christina Pagel (who was wanting masks and social distancing for the foreseeable future last night on the news).

Both sets of parents are in their mid 60s and have been vaccinated. We are now strongly minded to visit both at the beginning of April and allow them to see their DGC.

I suspect we will not be alone. Will lots of people simply say 'no more' upon realising they've spent a year of their lives not living?

Are pp really shocked that after a year of restrictions people aren't prepared to give up more of their lives to restrictions? Can pp really not see why that is an unreasonable expectation? We don't have a guaranteed end date in sight so atm it is indefinite

Four households?

Shame on you.

And we don’t have an end date in sight because people are fucking about with the rules. Take some ownership.

I will follow the rules as I think it's the best way to avoid further restrictions. I think it will get us out of the mess fastest

I think like this as I am a scientist and have spent some time looking at the data and history of epidemics etc

There has been better compliance than expected. Transmission is generally thought to be occurring more in hospitals care.homes and factories. So that's not people fucking about with the rules and not on me to take ownership of

We are. As are all our friends and family. Perhaps I just don’t make friends with selfish twats though.

I totally get it but don't quite understand it. Those who have had their vaccine can still catch and spread the virus. We have all been careful, yet the ones we were locking down for, the vulnerable, are now saying 'fuck it' and doing whatever. I can completely understand a friend in the house as I think the risk is manageable, but loads of households together seems unnecessarily risky.

However, I can't comment on how people are coping. A friend told me last week that someone she knows witnessed a Covid suicide and has since broken the rules as she is desperate for support. It's hard to know what his happening in peoples lives

Those of you following the rules - do you think you have coronavirus all the time? Genuine question. Because if you have been following the rules, and you feel fine, the chances of you having it are TINY. You can’t spread something you don’t have.
I am not willing to put my life on hold any more for something that there is a less than one in 2000 chance I have (& have so mildly, I don’t even know I have it)

@StylishMummy as a CEV person, how would you have felt if everyone had thought ‘fuck it’ BEFORE you had your vaccination?

StylishMummy - I have family who mixed, three had had vaccine. One person was carrying it, all four ended up with it. One still suffered with his asthma, another ended up in hospital and one felt, in her words, absolutely awful. Funnily enough, the one who hadn't had the vaccine just felt like she had the flu.

Covid is still around, just because you've had one dose, you can still catch.

If you're really going ahead with your Easter meetup, please think about others in the community and everyone avoid work, school or the supermarket in the days that folliw.

@Chickenriceandpeas you may have it mild but what if you pass it on to someone who passes it on to someone who passes it on to someone who dies? This is what goes through my mind and has influenced my actions in being super careful.

And factory workers, hospital staff and care home workers don’t go home?

It is not one rule for them one rule for you.

@StylishMummy

We've said 'fuck it' since all our parents and grandparents have been vaccinated. I'm CEV and have had 1st vaccinate. We're hosting 4 households for Easter weekend in the house, cannot wait to have the family back together. DC are going to grandparents for sleepovers, we're having friends round and meeting friends and family for walks and at the park. I genuinely don't know a single person who's now following 'the rules'.

This is rather disheartening ....

We are following the rules. Parents have been vaccinated but we haven't as we are younger so not eligible yet. However, I'm pregnant in the third trimester so I'm CV and won't be able to have the jab until baby is born. DH is a teacher. Both of us (as with the rest of the population of unvaccinated) are relying on everyone else following the rules too in order to keep us safe until it's our turn to be vaccinated. It's rather selfish for people to let the virus spread and then expect to happily send your kids or grandkids into school staffed by unvaccinated adults who may have vulnerable family members (even if they themselves are not vulnerable). Eg. DHs TA has a CEV child who won't be able to have a vaccine - yet she is in a class all day with children whose families may have had the same "fuck it" approach thus increasing her and her CEV child's risk.

@PandemicPalava yep I get that. But the chances of that happening, especially when I still can’t go to work (one of the businesses that can’t open til may at the earliest), can’t go anywhere, hardly see anyone etc is so tiny, that statistically it’s so unlikely, I have made my mind up to see a small handful of friends inside. We are all in the same situation- none of us in high risk jobs or are wfh, hardly see anyone else, so therefore meeting up every week or so seems totally fine. I also hug my mum, and have done throughout. To be told I can’t on the off-chance I might have caught an illness seems total madness to me.
I find it so weird that so many people are slavishly following ‘the rules’ when they have been totally healthy all this time - and are willing to continue to do so ‘just in case’. Looking at the stats was all I needed to go ‘this is bullshit’

We are still following the rules as we want this to be the last lockdown. Me and DH are nearly 3 weeks post first vaccination but will carry on following the rules. We have friends and family who work for the NHS, including an ITU consultant, and I don’t want them to have to cope with another wave caused by selfish twats.

[quote Chickenriceandpeas]@PandemicPalava yep I get that. But the chances of that happening, especially when I still can’t go to work (one of the businesses that can’t open til may at the earliest), can’t go anywhere, hardly see anyone etc is so tiny, that statistically it’s so unlikely, I have made my mind up to see a small handful of friends inside. We are all in the same situation- none of us in high risk jobs or are wfh, hardly see anyone else, so therefore meeting up every week or so seems totally fine. I also hug my mum, and have done throughout. To be told I can’t on the off-chance I might have caught an illness seems total madness to me.
I find it so weird that so many people are slavishly following ‘the rules’ when they have been totally healthy all this time - and are willing to continue to do so ‘just in case’. Looking at the stats was all I needed to go ‘this is bullshit’[/quote]
I have been healthy throughout.
I am unlikely to get so ill from Covid I die, unlikely but not impossible.
I am lucky enough to wfh and work for a company that pay me sick leave so if I do get ill I won't lose my income.
I am fortunate that no one in my immediate household is CEV.

I cannot make those same statement about every child, teacher and family member associated to my child's school. So I stick to the rules so that I am not increasing their risk.

That's how social responsibility works.

I agree with the sentiment regarding pp having 4 families for Easter and mixing left right and centre, it’s so bloody selfish.

However, I’m cev, the reason for lockdown is to protect the nhs, if us cev all got ill and took up the beds the nhs wouldn’t have been able to cope with broader issues, heart attacks, car accidents, strokes, poorly kids. We were all protecting each other, I have barely left the house in a year to make sure I didn’t take up a bed. Someone asked me why I bothered shielding when flu can kill me and I don’t stay home then, because I would have been a complete selfish twat to risk doing it and needing medical help when I could do my part staying home.

I can’t wait to see the country open up, we just need to go slowly and carefully, not just all say fuck it and rush out seeing 4 families for bloody Easter.

Yes, we’ve already done that. We decided we are no longer willing to not see close family anymore. Mainly because of my baby dd who hasn’t even met most her family yet, and has only met her grandparents a couple of times and not since last summer. And also because I don’t think it’s right that it’s illegal to see family in your own house. So we are now seeing close family and will carry on doing that.

Still following the rules. Am in N Mcr so like @HalfShrunkMoreToGo we’ve been on tight restrictions for all but six weeks last summer. I don’t want Covid, I don’t want to give it to someone else, and I especially don’t want Long Covid. Very few people I know (apart from the woman across the road who has so many visitors she must be running a brothel) is breaking the rules.

Ive been vaccinated and after three weeks I'm sacking all restrictions and doing whatever I can get away with in terms of travelling to visit friends and family and having people in my house. I can't wait for cafes theatre and restaurants to open.

I've also done and continue to do everything I can to stay slim fit and mentally and physically healthy throughout in order that I God willing do not become a burden in the NHS.

StylishMummy is what you've written is true (rather than you being sarcastic) then the whole lot of you are so selfish. Really hope none of you will be mixing in the community afterwards - you can still catch it even if you've been vaccinated so the elderly/vulnerable won't thank you, and those that haven't had the vaccine yet deserve protection. I wouldn't have the nerve to face a doctor/nurse in the eye if I caught covid through being so irresponsible. Hope you enjoy your covid spreading get together though.

@Chickenriceandpeas I’m a secondary teacher so crammed into small classrooms with 30 different people for a hour, six times a day. So my chances of catching it are not as minuscule as you seem to think.

If the risk to everyone is so small why did the NHS get overwhelmed earlier this year?

@HalfShrunkMoreToGo fair enough. Your moral compass is clearly better than mine - there comes a point where the local rates are so low (like I said up thread, 0.05% round my way, and most of those will have symptoms/be in hospital/care homes) that the actual chances of you catching it and having no symptoms, then giving it to your child who also has no symptoms, then passes it on to someone else is really, really small. I’m willing to take that risk - and if that makes me selfish, then yep, I’ll own it.

Isnt there an argument that its selfish to expect people to be disadvantaged to protect others? Especially for over a year