To think they should pause meeting inside

[LastOrdersMaura]

In the last person to be overly concerned about the virus but the SAGE minutes show that there is something to be concerned about.
I think the economy can't take anymore and I really feel for all the businesses who are gearing up for opening on Monday. My friends cafe hasn't opened since October last year so she missed all the Christmas trade and has no outside seating. Her customer base are mostly elderly so unlikely to come out for takeaway. It would likely bankrupt her to hold off opening any longer.

The mixing in people's houses seems the least destructive part to hold off on. I know a lot of people have been looking forward to it but prolonged contact in a small space seems to be a major factor in transmission.
I'm looking forward to seeing others for a drink in their houses but I can see how it can go wrong. Most people aren't able to go for a meal in a restaurant every night of the week. I could however go to a different friends house every day, even multiple friends houses! Then if that friend does the same, that's a lot of indoor mixing. We have small children so the likelihood of them SD'ing is unlikely. Then there's older siblings at school, working parents, nursery etc leading to an increase in transmission. I feel restaurants are quite safe in comparison.
Those who want to will mix indoors anyway but it might make some think twice or not accept as many invitations. It has no impact on the economy. Yes it will have an impact on mental health but I think we're screwed on that part anyway. Anxiety is through the roof!
I'm fully expecting people to tell me to fuck off but this is the most sensible decision that BJ could make in light of the new variant. I'm not a lockdown lover, frankly as I haven't had a lockdown due to working out of the house throughout. I just want this to be over, properly over, not just kicking the can down the road.

Yes the vaccines are amazing, but we need to check that they hold back new Voc.

So we stop ever time there is a variant of concern,to hell with people who have bought stock businesses to run bills to pay.

@HalzTangz

My Stance on this has been the same since day 1, focus on your own life, do what makes you feel safe, and don't concern yourself on what others or doing.

Which would be fine, if it wasn't a virus. Do you not quite understand how a virus finds hosts? The virus doesn't make moral judgements about who is trying to keep themselves safe and who isn't. If it only found hosts who don't give a fuck about getting it then that would be dandy. But it doesn't.

Rose, my own posts, badly written or not don't follow into other people's in box.

It's bizarre

The maths is not up for debate and the starting number is irrelevant, the line is the line if unchecked.

Yes it is ‘up for debate’ and yes the starting number does matter, though, because the vaccination campaign is increasingly going to push the transmissibility down over time. So what matters is how fast it can spread before enough people are vaccinated that it can’t really take off at all.

And there it does make a difference if you’re starting with 2 cases vs 2000, or if you’re starting with R of 2 vs R of 3.5.

@Puttingouthefirewithgasoline

I'd rather have a some normality again for a while, then lock down again if necessary.

Your “normality” will be what causes another lockdown. The lockdown will come when hospital admissions and deaths rise to unacceptable levels. This rise in deaths and subsequent lockdown - which you will then moan about - will be caused by your “normality”

I’m so sick of hearing about variants now - it’s dominating the News channel and it feels like I’m living in some kind of parallel universe

@ThornAmongstRoses

Goid grief, imagine that. A pandemic dominating the news.

It's 50% of this mornings news stories on the BBC. 🤷🏻‍♀️

@mintymabel. If you can't work out why sitting outside in the cold snd damp isn't good for a very frail 94yo you have a lower IQ than the sverige amoeba and as much emotional intelligence as a door handle.

Pub beer gardens have been doing this for years. What the fuck is wrong with blankets and HWBs. Some folk are weird.

They have? Make their customers sit outside with blankets and hot water bottles? The garden is the smoking area, remember those? People go out there to smoke and go back in the pub in bad weather, not sit outside with blankets and hot water bottles to drink. Not much a drinker, I see.

[quote countrygirl99]@mintymabel. If you can't work out why sitting outside in the cold snd damp isn't good for a very frail 94yo you have a lower IQ than the sverige amoeba and as much emotional intelligence as a door handle.[/quote]
This. Fuck that.

@Covidatemyhomework we’re the same and I’m absolutely fed up of it all. It’s been so long! I want some sort of normality back now and to see my family who live miles away.

I just hope the government know what they're doing

@LastOrdersMaura

I wouldn't care if people made their own risk assessments but I think a lot of people will try to make up for lost time and see everyone! I get why people are suffering. It's awful making plans with someone you really want to see and then it rains and you have no alternative. It would be so lovely just to say come over instead. But I just don't want it to be taken away again.

But that is people making their own risk assessments?! You deem it unsafe... don't do it.

The government are giving away unlimited lateral flow tests. I test twice a week and sooooo many people have been vaccinated. It can't go on any longer. Just test before seeing people..it isn't hard.

@AlmostSummer21

this variant doesn’t scare me at all

@Imnothereforthedrama

That's grand. However, the people who actually are qualified to make these assessments ARE.

So I should be scared don’t be ridiculous even the experts aren’t scared they are concerned there is a difference. And just because I’m not scared doesn’t mean I’m going to lick peoples faces quite the opposite. It bloody annoys me that just because you aren’t scared to death that you are irresponsible or some kind of Covid idiot when the reality is that you are just quite fed up of all this scaremongering and just want to try and live life and not worry constantly as for me that’s not living. I’ve had Covid it’s not pleasant I’ve spent weeks isolating it’s not pleasant but I’m not going to hide myself away when it’s not required if we’ve had the vaccine . I may get Covid again and get ill I might not. I caught Covid off my daughter who caught it at work in lockdown so you can catch it by just going to work . My point is you potentially are at risk leaving the house but that’s no life .

I think the government must be fully aware how close they are to total anarchy. Hospitalised people are generally but not always, older and frail.
It's only a matter of time before the young and healthy refuse to suffer for very much longer.
I for one am starting to resent the effect of the restrictions on my business and my son . I'm probably being very selfish but I'm the majority in the real world, that is not made up of selfless martyrs

I think the government must be fully aware how close they are to total anarchy. Hospitalised people are generally but not always, older and frail

I think you’ve hit the nail on the head. There are very small numbers in hospital, daily deaths are in single figures and people are sick to death of it. I don’t think you’re remotely selfish, selfishness is insisting we ruin the economy and people’s lives for no good reason. The government’s done a great job of brainwashing some people.

I don’t think the new update will make as much difference tbh

In real world everyone’s is mixing inside anyway and have been since jan and Feb

It’ll only hit businesses delaying

People are very naive if they think people are still sitting on gardens

@cptartapp

I'm in the NW near Bolton and read that most hospitalisations are of people that were eligible for, yet have not taken the vaccine. My exam year teen DC have had a horrendous year, and from tomorrow can do what they like. I refuse to restrict our lives any longer, simply to protect those (vaccine contraindicated people aside) who have made poor choices. If cases rise within those groups, that's just unfortunate. RIsk v benefit at this moment in time for most people, it's time to get moving.

and the unvaccinated children & teenagers, the hospital staff, other non Covid patients, the people for whom the vaccines aren't as efficacious (immune suppressant, cancer etc) - just screw them all?

...

I think we need to accept that more people will die than have done in the last 40 years in this country. We have had a good run with healthcare and now we need to get on with life with that increased risk.

My parents remember children in their classes coming down with polio and measles. Both potentially deadly with long term effects. That was the 1950s, not so long ago.

It might help the obesity epidemic in the west. Many of younger people who had it badly were overweight or obese. Hopefully with vaccination, it will be milder for everyone.

Enough of restrictions.

@Againstmachine

Why? Because I’d much rather go a few more weeks than have another long lockdown later. That would damage us all further.

The people who say a few more weeks usually are the same ones who will say just another few weeks after Those few weeks so on and so on.

Being closed is decimating business we need to get back to normal, and if the vaccine works it shouldn't be a problem.

Shouldn't be a problem for those who have had it. What about the under 40's, the teenagers, the children, the people it doesn't work well on (cancer patients, those who are immune suppressant & various other vulnerable).

We are a few weeks away from having a greatly improved level of immunity.

That's why we need a few weeks.

@Puttingouthefirewithgasoline

Almost summer there have been a few threads on @ at people, general consesus is not to do it repeatedly to evry single time you respond to any posts on any thread.

It seems needy, hey listen to what I'm saying, especially when people are on the thread anyway.

It also clogs up people's email.

A few people agreeing on a thread, does in no way make it etiquette.

It's not 'needy' it's simply alerting someone that you've replied to them.

Just because people are posting on a thread doesn't mean they're not posting on other threads or doing other things.

'Clogs up their email'. It's 2021, not 1996.

If people don't wish to get notifications, they can turn the function off.

*We are a few weeks away from having a greatly improved level of immunity.

That's why we need a few weeks.*

Because as said it never is just a few more weeks, in two more weeks, people will say just another couple of weeks.

And to the people who haven't had it it really is upto them to manage their own risks.

@Againstmachine

*We are a few weeks away from having a greatly improved level of immunity.

That's why we need a few weeks.*

Because as said it never is just a few more weeks, in two more weeks, people will say just another couple of weeks.

And to the people who haven't had it it really is upto them to manage their own risks.

We have vaccines this time. Give them the opportunity to provide immunity.

The more I've read today the more convinced I am we need yes a few weeks if not longer to permit vaccinations to continue and take effect. The June date now seems completely out of reach, so frustrating!

Yep and in a few weeks, you will want another few weeks, and seen these few weeks become 52, I'm sick of my life ebbing away.

@doubleshotespresso

The more I've read today the more convinced I am we need yes a few weeks if not longer to permit vaccinations to continue and take effect. The June date now seems completely out of reach, so frustrating!

No. No more 'just a few weeks'. Where I live we have had only 3 weeks of freedom in 14 months. We can't go on living in this constant loop of 'just a few more weeks'.