Covid has just been forgotten about then?

[washthem]

My in-laws are acting like it's all disappeared over night.

Travelling to london, going out for lunches and dinners in people's houses etc.

They're vaccinated now so I suppose they don't mind.

They've all but invited themselves around to ours in a couple of weeks time!

@SmidgenofaPigeon presume you’ll all be wearing masks/PPE and following COVID protocol when you meet inside then?? Otherwise they’re not directly comparable are they 🙄.

Honestly it’s been a year and seemingly rational intelligent people still don’t understand how it spreads and the risks for it spreading/you catching it.

Meeting indoors without masks and chatting for what 1 to possibly for more hours is unbelievably more risky than say popping into a card shop 🙄. Why do people still not get that?!?

We are now no longer following the rules. DW had 4 friends around on Saturday. They started in the garden but when it got too cold they came inside. It was good to see them having fun as they have stuck by the rules for a year. Today, we are off to see my parents and we will be indoors as well.

Numbers are very low in London, and they are already jabbing 40+ people without underlying conditions in many areas of London.

Them going for lunch with fellow vaccinated friends is about as low risk as you can get.

Its time to move on from the fear.

It’s pretty much done now surely?
All the vulnerable and high risk have had two jabs, lots more have had one or have had Covid. It’s warm enough to be outside and have windows open.
Death rate is back down into tens.

They’ve been vaccinated. What do you want them to do? Live in a bubble for the rest of time? I’m so fed up of people judging others. It’s time we get back to some sort of life.

Just say no if you don’t want them to come over, it’s your house and your rules.

I don’t think all the vulnerable have had 2 jabs yet.

Most people just don't care about the seemingly nonsense rules anymore. I, for one, have been seeing people inside. Also in a year I've only known 3 people who caught covid.

@TheWinterofDiscontent - while I mainly agree, a lot of the elderly and vulnerable outside of cities haven't had their 2nd jab yet, my PIL are in that category and the 2nd isn't until the end of the month and a couple of people I work with have had 1 jab because of underlying conditions, but not the 2nd yet.

I think by May we'll be there with the most vulnerable having had both jabs, but even 1 jab gives a lot of protection.

Well, @WalkinginMemphis2, because I’m an adult and thankfully have been able to retain my critical thought process throughout the pandemic. I’ve also been going into work as normal, on the tube, so I’ve not been in a covid fear bubble as many who have been cocooned at home seem to have fallen into.

My point was I could be mixing in shops and beauty salons and touching endless surfaces with a whole host of people vaccinated/unvaccinated, standing in queues, sitting on the bus, some wearing masks some not, popping into that or this shop and taking my time to browse, pick things up and put things down.

But technically I can’t go and see my vaccinated FIL on his own, for lunch, in ONE place, have socially distanced conversation and help myself to food in the kitchen, washing my hands whenever I’m able to.

But then like I said, I don’t live in a covid fear bubble and have never felt unsafe going out on the tube to my place of work every day, because I didn’t have the option of hiding myself away at home fearing covid was going g to leap out and get me if I stepped outside the guidelines for a minute.

@Exhausted4ever have you thought the rules were nonsense all the way through COVID?

@SmidgenofaPigeon that critical thinking’s not extended to realising it’s an airborne virus then? You can wash your hands until they’re red raw not much use against something that is primarily spread through the air is it.

Ok, but what’s your point @WalkinginMemphis2?

I'm done with the rules now. Shielding stopped last week - so I'm back at work. If that's safe, then it's safe to have a coffee inside with my Mum. I've had one jab, second one in 2 weeks

Oh so suddenly washing our hands is ineffective now is it 😂 blimey. All those as campaigns!

We’ve had more than 6 in the garden and from more than 2 households this week. No one inside except to pop to the loo. My kids have had a few mates around in the garden 6/7 of them. We just sat inside and let them enjoy themselves in the first time for ages. They went home when it got too cold.

I've been the biggest stickler for the rules and dutiful about lockdown, not wanting to be any potential contributor to spreading, but the vaccination rate really seems to be helping now and numbers are still decreasing despite schools going back.

Plus some rules have relaxed, so I think it's fine to try and enjoy what little there is open, and day trips, picnics, meeting another household outside etc are allowed now I think. I don't particularly have anywhere I want to go until everything is open properly, but I don't blame anyone who does

It's up to you.
I am personally amazed that people have stuck to it all so long.

Good.

I am so glad there's been a shift in attitudes recently - it's shocking that people were scared/banned from travelling more than 5-10 miles from their own homes.

Life has to go back to normal eventually. Or do you want to live this kind of weird half-existence forever just in case?

@SpiderinaWingMirror

It's up to you. I am personally amazed that people have stuck to it all so long.

Outside of MN I don't think many people have, to be honest.

The vast majority of people I know have been meeting up indoors for months now.

i am jealous, i want to go to london

@SmidgenofaPigeon no one said it was ineffective against picking it up from surfaces but that form of transmission is less likely than picking it up in an airborne form, which is more likely to happen when being in close contact with someone in an enclosed space for more than 15 minutes.....which is what happens when you socialise indoors isn’t it.

Vaccinations are happening so that people can return to normal life! I am amazed by people who seem to want a version of lockdown to continue indefinitely.

Day trips to London on public transport are legal but against guidance. Guidance remains to minimise travel. We’ve just been up the motorway to visit a relative for whom we are the support bubble and there are signs saying Minimise Travel all the way up. Ditto at all the tube stations.

OTOH once my clinically vulnerable relative has had their second jab and waited three weeks, which should be early May, I’m going to be supporting them in their choice to go for it and get out and about to do anything they enjoy, because at that point they’re as safe as they’re going to get, and they have a finite number of years of life left. Masks in shops yes, hand washing yes, we’ll be carrying on with any safety measures like that which don’t seriously impinge on our ability to enjoy ourselves. But there comes a point where you have to say that we’ve done as much as possible to reduce the risk and now we have to accept the residual risk and live with it.

FWIW nothing is open in London (barring parks and supermarkets)

If I bake a batch of scones for DS and DIL and they pay 1p for each of them in my kitchen am I then a shop so they can come in? (Not a serious question!).

On a related point DH says no way - my scones aren't worth 1p each! We are in fact having a new patio laid!