@herecomesthsun Most people are having rational and nuanced debates. They will never agree for the exact point I'm about to make....
I would actually like not to get ill.
Not a priority for me.
I would like my immune compromised DC to actually be offered a vaccine and not be in a classroom with 30 other kids waiting for covid to hit the school.
Not a priority for me.
From someone else's POV that's a pretty selfish attitude, yes. But consider this...
I would like to open my business and have a chance to earn money before I lose my house
Not a priority for you.
I would like my children to be in school with all restrictions lifted and access to normal support because they have ADHD / dyslexia / autism, have fallen behind, and this is seriously affecting their mental health and wellbeing.
Not a priority for you.
FYI poverty takes 10 years off your life, people with ASD are 9x more likely to die from suicide, 1 in 4 females with ADHD attempt suicide - this isn't a minor inconvenience VS death scenario... this is risks to years of life for different sections of society. Same storm different boats.
The basic point is people have priorities based on what they perceive to be important to them, and what they perceive to be a threat to them. This has always been the case and will continue to be the case long after. I have 65+ shielded relatives who were back at the bingo long before my children were allowed to set foot in school. That was obviously a priority for them. No doubt yours are different.
It's for that reason your view is restrictions should only be lifted after careful consideration of all the data, and my view is that restrictions should only be implemented after careful consideration of all the data. I believe 'normal' should be the default and restrictions implemented as a last resort and only when absolutely necessary. I believe 'the data' cannot be based purely on covid data and disregard the rest of society.
A pp said my analogies didn't work because a nut allergy isn't contagious, but they are missing the point the analogy was making. We can't close down every food manufacturing facility and open them in stages only when the data on allergic reactions says so, while completely disregarding the effects the closures have on everyone from the owners to the suppliers to the people needing to buy food now dying of starvation. That applies if there are 500 people with allergies or 500,000 - the country still needs food.
If 500,000 people getting ill at once would overwhelm the NHS, then yes, close them. But that is an emergency, last resort measure that must be reversed as a priority and at the first available opportunity to do so. That does not mean letting the 500,000 die, because who cares. Their health and wellbeing is a priority the same as every human in the country.
The 'reversed as a priority and at the first available opportunity' changed because we could wait a few months for vaccines, and I think the vast majority of people understood that. Now the vaccines are here, people are understandably frustrated that the game has changed to 'reverse in an extremely cautious way' by decree of a few vulnerable or anxious posters on MN backed up by scientists who are only looking at covid data.
All that said, I can completely imagine a situation where my child is the vulnerable one, and I accept my views would be much closer to yours. When your child is the one at risk of becoming ill, you wish you could stop the world for them. As a mother, that's how I felt when mine was out of school, unable to cope, getting worse by the day and the rest of the world seemed happy to let that happen. It's a helpless, frustrating feeling and I sympathise.
But putting myself in your shoes only helps to understand your views, it unfortunately doesn't change mine. We can have all the nuanced debate in the world but our fundamental beliefs are shaped by the needs of ourselves and those closest to us. Humans have always been this way - head over to the thread where people would rather vaccinate their healthy 12 year olds while CEV and healthcare workers in other countries die for evidence of this in the wild.