If life isn’t relatively ‘normal’ from 21 June. What happens next?

[Eeeniemeanieminie]

21 June seems to be the date that everyone is pinning their hopes on. But to me it still seems a bit vague. Stadiums can open inside and out, can larger weddings take place?, christenings? 21st parties etc, parties at home, music festivals? Are venues taking bookings from that date.
If, come 21 June, there are still restrictions on meeting in groups and events are still banned. Then what? I really will find it difficult to continue having any hope given we will be in summer which is supposed to be when virus’s are reduced. With over 50% of adults vaccinated, what more are we supposed to do?
How will the government manage it?

@AcornAutumn

To answer your question OP

By the 22nd June they will be unveiling statues of Chris Whitty and other key players and you will only be permitted to leave your home in a hazmat suit, with a vax passport, to walk to the statues to worship them.

They'll build them in every town.

😂😂😂

I'm not sure the virus gives a thought to civil disobedience. Protest all you like, I guess.

Did I say I was protesting, @TheClaws? I was suggesting that it wouldn't surprise me if people did start to protest at another element of their civil liberties being continually eroded; we're already seeing it happen in Bristol with regards to 'kill the bill' and the restraints the government would like to place on our rights to protest. Just unfortunate that it's been highjacked by idiots who just want to kick off.

God this kind of the thing is one of the laziest, most tedious phrases used throughout the pandemic 'the virus doesn't care about xxxxxx'. Does the virus care about vaccines? Cos it seems that the virus doesn't like those very much, if we want to give the ability of emotions to a virus. And we've done bloody well with those. What exactly are we aiming for, if the most vulnerable will be soon be vaccinated?

Guess what, many people don't care about the virus- they didn't in March 2020 and don't now. And many people who have stuck to the rules throughout are at their limit now. It has gone on long enough and at some point soon mental health and the damage lockdowns are causing will have to be balanced with the virus itself.

It really does depend on what 'normal' is for you. It would not be drastic if you had to continue wearing a face covering when in a shop or visiting a hospital/GP/other medical setting, shop changing rooms were shut, some people continue to work from home, and Manchester United could not have 70,000 plastic fans in Old Trafford every fortnight.

Yes it would be disappointing for many if holidays abroad are a no-no this summer, but at least the UK economy would be starting to recover.

Manchester United could not have 70,000 plastic fans in Old Trafford every fortnight.

This is a good point. Not the Man U, the different normals. I have a toddler so I was never going to be spending 3 days wasted at a festival and the idea of taking whirlwind DS on a plane makes me want to lie down. I'll be happy with seeing family and NCT friends, my 3 days back in the office and the odd day at theme parks, NT, and a browse in the shops.

@AcornAutumn

To answer your question OP

By the 22nd June they will be unveiling statues of Chris Whitty and other key players and you will only be permitted to leave your home in a hazmat suit, with a vax passport, to walk to the statues to worship them.

They'll build them in every town.

My MIL adores Chris Whitty and is a total Covid doom-monger. This is her idea of dream future I think

(I love her to pieces, but covid has turned her batshit somewhat crazy)

I just don’t think they’ll get the compliance anymore. It’s already waining enormously. My neighbour was telling me today (while 10 neighbourhood kids ran around together, so clearly I’m not really complying either) that his work have him back in 3 days a week despite the fact he can work 100% from home. They want him to do zoom client meetings in the office. There reasoning ‘it’s been long enough now’. My company are really good on the whole, we’ve been flexi home working for 5 years. They are opening the office voluntarily in April & 60% of the office have applied to go back in a few days a week. In real life, friends are using vaccinated grandparents for childcare again, meeting friends in the park already .. my parents appear to have abandoned all concerns now they are vaccinated, back shopping, seeing the grandkids, giving friends lifts, inviting them into the house 🙈🙈

People are going to take personal risks now. People are bored & fed up. People feel protected or at least, if we can’t live life normally with a vaccine, what’s the point kinda thing..

Just seen a thread in AIBU about WFH causing more obesity. Bit fucking late to be worried about that one year in.

Im assuming the feeling dehumanized, being uncomfortable in a mask , being gaslighted and psychologically abused by the Government , the goalpost moving , the feeling like a scruffy tramp, and knowing that others arent facing the same restrictions because #oneruleforthem is the perfect atmosphere and motivation for eating healthily and weight loss. Wow who knew

@MercyBooth

Just seen a thread in AIBU about WFH causing more obesity. Bit fucking late to be worried about that one year in. Im assuming the feeling dehumanized, being uncomfortable in a mask , being gaslighted and psychologically abused by the Government , the goalpost moving , the feeling like a scruffy tramp, and knowing that others arent facing the same restrictions because #oneruleforthem is the perfect atmosphere and motivation for eating healthily and weight loss. Wow who knew

@MercyBooth excellent post, I agree with you entirely.

Personally, I cannot wait to go back to the thriving and very active social life I had pre covid. I really hope that happens on the 21st June but it just seems unlikely at this point.
I know for others I know, they just want to go and see family or go to the shops but for me, I have missed it all. My DP, huge family, lots of friends and all the many mini breaks, gigs and hotel trips we used to do. 2019 was such an amazing year with so much going on. I hope 2021 we can reclaim some of that joy and social life again.

I think the vaccine passports are going to play a big part in all this - I can’t imagine we’ll be allowed to sit next to strangers who haven’t been vaccinated again, for example. I feel sorry for the businesses who won’t be able to survive with SD in place and will have to implement some kind of checking system, if they can afford to.

I'm not so sure about the vaccine passports. What about those who cannot have them due to allergies? What about 16/17 year old? I can't see how it can be do able to implant this in pubs etc either. Going to cause the staff a whole load of grief.

I can sense the frustration, I hate having restrictions on my liberty and personally I do not care about the virus.

However I understand why the government is protecting hospital bed numbers, as treatment for other illness are important.

I've already succumb, to the idea of another lockdown. As they've said for months now, that the vaccines aren't as effective against the SA variant and that variant seems to have found its way into the UK. It has a foothold in the EU now also. Poor countries, not locking down, will also spring new mutations in the meantime.

So we need another round of vaccines, to protect us against the SA strain, which will take time to deliver and won't likely be administered before next winter.

@TheGuru87 but what about the next variant? And the one after that? And so on and so on.

We can't keep locking down forevermore because of variants, of course they can tweak the vaccines but how do you administer that to the population quickly enough?

The South African variant won't be the last. The country can't sustain continued lockdowns, nor can people's mental health.

I wonder how long a lot of businesses will survive (or how long the gov can keep bailing them out) with continued restrictions.
One problem is the blanket measures put in place. I know it's easier, and they are there for a reason but if you think about tennis or golf. The nature of the game means it's pretty easy for people to be 2+ metres apart, as opposed to rugby for example where players are in close contact, but all sports are not allowed.
Similarly farms or zoos could potentially be fairly safe if they limited numbers with people able to spread out.
A friend owns a small (non essential) business with a tiny square footage. He says he could easily operate an appointment system with one person/family group in the shop at a time...but he is in the same category as Primark, for example where even with limited numbers there are going to be far more people near each other on escalators/in queues etc.
I am wondering how long (and I know it will be in the future) whole households and contacts will have to isolate. I know for norovirus and chicken pox for example a person should isolate but this doesnt extend to their household and contacts. The isolation, especially for contacts could be really expensive for small businesses and self employed.

One problem is the blanket measures put in place. I know it's easier, and they are there for a reason but if you think about tennis or golf...

Totally agree with this. My dad, 66, is a member of a very rural golf club and I honestly don't see why one person meeting another for a walk was fine, but 1 golfer couldn't meet another to walk around a golf course.

@Chazzy19876

I would really like to think that people would say enough is enough but the government have done so well in putting the fear in everyone.

I think there are two camps, those that are quietly getting on with seeing family/friends because they’ve had enough and those that are terrified.

I think there is a third camp actually - those that are just respectful of the rules and the reason they are in place, and choosing to follow them sensibly. Not because we are terrified, but because we understand that the more people do the right thing (without being melodramatic and bitter) the better our chances of getting back to something like normal with the health of our friends and family preserved and in tact. Are there things I miss? Yes. Would I rather carry on as normal risk my friends and family not being around to enjoy being normal with me? Nope. Not terrified. Just sensible and logical.

@fizbosshoes

Yea I agree in the past we had fever hospitals, if this carries on, that is the only sensible way to go.

We cannot go on forever, I feel like the government is using the pandemic to get rid of some deadwood within the economy also, now pretty much all that has gone. There will eventually be a turning point, when, is anyone's guess.

One concern is mortality rate, currently around 1% or less for Covid-19. However if this was to increase to 10%-20% with a variant, the situation becomes very different.

Totally agree with this. My dad, 66, is a member of a very rural golf club and I honestly don't see why one person meeting another for a walk was fine, but 1 golfer couldn't meet another to walk around a golf course.

There is a golf course near us with footpaths (which are open) through and around it. I'm sure the people walking on the footpaths are far closer to each other than golfers would be if they were playing!

Holme "People are going to take personal risks"

No, they're not. Living life has been rebranded as risky. We are surrounded by infectious disease all the time.

And yet I will not come through this with the health of my family and friends intact. Many of them have developed mental health problems, some of them are dead of other causes and my husband now has chronic suicidal ideation. We have two young children and I worry every day that even that will not be enough to stop him doing something stupid the next time his feelings overwhelm him. And what about the approximately half a million people who die in the UK every year? How long is it acceptable to carry on denying those people the chance to spend their last months with their extended family and close friends? When my friend's husband was killed, they did a Covid test on his body, and that would have appeared on his death certificate if it had come back positive, as if Covid was the only cause of death that mattered, as if that was what had killed him and not the car that ploughed into him at 80 miles an hour while he was out for his permitted daily exercise.

I am no conspiracy theorist. I have every sympathy for those who have lost loved ones or who are suffering from long Covid symptoms. But from where I'm standing the cure is slowly becoming worse than the disease, and I will not let the restrictions cause any more damage than they already have. So I will continue to visit my bereaved friend even though she now lives with her parents and so is technically not entitled to my support. And we are spending Easter with my in-laws as I know what a huge difference this will make to my husband's mental health.

I can barely watch the news at present as I am terrified by the constant drip of doom that makes me worry they are about to extend the dates on the roadmap due to the threat of new variants. I honestly don't know how what will happen if this continues beyond June

Oops. That was meant to be in response to Hartleyhare1206... Probably seems a bit disjointed without the quote

I think after 21st June, there will still be some 'residual restrictions' such as reccommended social distancing, masks in shops/small spaces etc. I think the most heavily restricted thing will be travel.

It won't be 'back to normal, do whatever you like' but it should be much, much better.

I'm glad the tide is turning and people are opening their eyes to the tyranny.

I'm not a covid denier etc.

I can see what we've lost is very, very hard to get back now. Which is very scary.

@Elderberry84 - I’m so sorry for all that you are having to endure during all of this. It sounds like you’re a very strong person, as is you’re friend who has suffered enormously and is very lucky to have you 💐
I wasn’t trying to be goady, and I don’t actually disagree about the cure being worse than the disease. I suspect that if we look back in ten years time and can see the wider damage that the extended suffering has caused, and those that are collateral damage in all this, we might actually consider all that we have done to be disproportionate - I have experienced first hand with my unwell father and health issues with my DD, that the NHS is entirely Covid centric at the moment and it’s sucks.
All I was trying to point out in my original post is that there aren’t simply two camps of those saying fuck it to to rules and those that are quaking in fear and refusing to get out of bed and face the day - there are a massive amount of people somehwere in the middle that just accept we have to do what we have to do, and try and get on with it all as best we can. Very un-mumsnetty apologies if it didn’t come across that way to you and has caused you any angst. Genuinely not my intention, and I hope that things go to plan in June as much as you do xxx

@MercyBooth

Just seen a thread in AIBU about WFH causing more obesity. Bit fucking late to be worried about that one year in. Im assuming the feeling dehumanized, being uncomfortable in a mask , being gaslighted and psychologically abused by the Government , the goalpost moving , the feeling like a scruffy tramp, and knowing that others arent facing the same restrictions because #oneruleforthem is the perfect atmosphere and motivation for eating healthily and weight loss. Wow who knew

Yes. Exactly this. Thanks @MercyBooth