Did it seem a bit odd that the tone of today's announcement was so sombre?

[secretintrovert]

Bojo should have been doing his victory dance for freedom day! Instead the three of them looked as miserable as sin. There's trouble afoot methinks. This will be very very temporary

@TheKeatingFive

The medical community need to take a (swift) call on what’s more dangerous to CEV under 16s, vaccines or Covid. It’s not an easy call, but they are the ones best placed to do it.

Keeping a healthy population under long term restrictions was never going to be a realistic approach long term.

I agree. It should be on a case by case basis, I think. IF the risk of covid is higher than a possible risk from the vaccine, then they/their parents should be able to choose. (and I believe some are approved for 12 years+ in some countries, so we should be able to look at data).

I don’t think it was overly somber, it was a measured press conference. Sensible stats and reasoning. I don’t get why people are panicking so much. Those death and hospitalisation figures against the backdrop of huge case numbers were a distant ‘dream’ last year. Just need to get on with life as much as we can now otherwise we really are well and truly screwed.

@Thewinterofdiscontent

The expert on radio 4 was quite clear that even as a double vaccinated 60 year old he would be more likely to die than an unvaccinated 30 year old. The vast majority of deaths will be the double vaccinated soon ( jabbed but in at risk groups)

How long do we keep the 30 year olds restricted?

Potentially forever if they develop disabling Long Covid.

Btw your post implies that you think 30 year olds are more important than 60 year olds? Which is rather strange seeing as the 60 year old will have contributed more tax to the economy.

@Tealightsandd

And the alternative is?

Listen to to the experts. The WHO, and our own doctors and scientists. Mitigate the risks.

We can't completely get rid of the risks, no, (thanks to countries like the UK) but we can reduce them.

Very simple easy measures. Like masks in poorly ventilated enclosed spaces.

I bet some eldely ex smokers are regretting giving up an activity (smoking) that gave them a lot of pleasure. Stop smoking, they were told. It shortens your life. Covid hits. Suck it up and die, they're told...

If we listened to the WHO lockdown would be over ages ago as they said lockdown only works as a temperary measure done to delay the spread so you can prepare hospitals to deal with the impact....

@PhilSwagielka

Lockdown has unofficially been over for ages anyway.

It flipping hasn’t if you want or need to travel. It’s extremely complicated and expensive to get out of this sceptred isle.

@Dramallama4, u are not the only one, we can't even sit in the garden, we just open windows...

if we listened to the WHO lockdown would be over ages ago as they said lockdown only works as a temperary measure done to delay the spread so you can prepare hospitals to deal with the impact....

Yes. They advised alternative measures instead, aimed at avoiding the need for lockdowns. Right now that includes masks.

• and no one will stop little old me, being conscientious and wearing a mask to protect others, your correct. .

@StitchInLime

I don’t think it was overly somber, it was a measured press conference. Sensible stats and reasoning. I don’t get why people are panicking so much. Those death and hospitalisation figures against the backdrop of huge case numbers were a distant ‘dream’ last year. Just need to get on with life as much as we can now otherwise we really are well and truly screwed.

I think everyone just wanted them to say hurrah covids over though.

They confirmed whats been drip feed for a while now and there were a few details in there which explain the decision making better.

I feel ok with it. Anxious but then that was always going to be the case as we are going into a big unknown and doing it before the rest of the world.

Thats the price of success of the vaccination program unfortunately.

We may balls it up, but I struggle to think of a way it could be handled differently which is actually viable in practice.

Frankly today I got the same whiff of surpressed fear as I did at the Cheltenham conference way back.. Ie its OK to go ahead.

I think they've made the announcement today under the condition that figures are OK on 19th July or whenever the date is.

By 19th July (if that's the date) figures (ie deaths etc) won't be OK so they'll change their minds again.

This is all planned now. That's why they were so sombre.

It's never been about saving lives, it was about NHS being able to cope.

Now they must have realised that going all out, even if it kills, will benefit government in inheritance tax and reduce pensions and disability costs.

It flipping hasn’t if you want or need to travel. It’s extremely complicated and expensive to get out of this sceptred isle.

The inevitable consequences of the UK's failure to suppress and contain. Just because Boris wants to kill and disable, doesn't mean other countries wish to do the same. They'll be understandably cautious about letting us in. We already allowed one strain to develop last summer. Which we exported around the world. Now we're threatening to bring about the development of a vaccine resistant variant.

I hope the CEV folk will be given adequate support so they can stay at home if that’s appropriate but I for one am delighted that life is going back to normal and people can get their livelihoods back on track.

I stopped wearing a mask on 21 June and off on holiday in 3 weeks. Won’t be wearing a mask on the plane either. And if I die of COVID I’ll have no one to blame but myself. I’m perfectly fine taking the risk though.

It flipping hasn’t if you want or need to travel. It’s extremely complicated and expensive to get out of this sceptred isle.

It feels odd to see people on my Instagram in Europe travelling from further for a holiday.

@YogaLite

It's never been about saving lives, it was about NHS being able to cope.

Now they must have realised that going all out, even if it kills, will benefit government in inheritance tax and reduce pensions and disability costs.

Well no. Long Covid disabilities will cost a lot.

Smoking on the other hand really is a net economic gain.

Honestly they can’t win . There have been loads of threads saying we should have lifted lockdown as deaths so low .

Now it’s up to every individual to chose and every business to do their own rules and risk assessment and you are still moaning

Personally I will be assessing every situation and acting to try and minimise risk .

And those that don’t you are in for a big shock .

I am not going out mixing without care .
To all of you who hate being told what to do , or who use covid to make a political point , best of luck .

@RedToothBrush

Great posts.

Life is fucking brutal. Always has been throughout history. Maybe we thought we’d sorted it all out for a while there in our recent history….a god few decades of peace and relative health but Mother Nature /Chinese lab played their hand.

What else can we do? This throwing under the bus thing is just an infantile view of the harsh realities of the world.

Any one of us can have tragedy strike on any given day, and given 1% of deaths are Covid, there’s a million other ways to die. Every day.

@MrsJuliaGulia

Actually you are putting others at risk , not just controlling your own risk .and as airlines can now make their own rules you might be in for a shock .

@Justmuddlingalong

They're telling us what we want to hear, because they know they've lost most support for the restrictions anyway.

Bingo! Agreed as it will be soon our fault for super spreading the next wave as we are shortly to trusted to do the right and sensible thing. It’s just politicking and political damage limitation as the recent hypocrisy at the very top with corrupt and morally bankrupt officials on the hand job focusing on anything but Covid (apart from personal enrichment) means nobody trust them anymore given their track record of contradictory last second no notice u turns and generally conflicting and continued deliberate confusing mixed messaging designed to distract from the Covid data and science. We all know how this unsustainable comedy act goes now - living and dying with Covid with perpetual open and closed cycles. Watch the data and beware of new variants of possible vaccine escape!

@Dustyboots

I think they've made the announcement today under the condition that figures are OK on 19th July or whenever the date is.

By 19th July (if that's the date) figures (ie deaths etc) won't be OK so they'll change their minds again.

This is all planned now. That's why they were so sombre.

Its possible.

Any one of us can have tragedy strike on any given day, and given 1% of deaths are Covid, there’s a million other ways to die. Every day.

So why are people told to take precautions? No masks, but we must wear seatbelts, told not to smoke or do narcotics. Smoking and heroin are at least, unlike Covid, personal choices that are pleasurable at the time of doing.

And, why oh why do British people have to go all the way to Switzerland to access a good death? More and more countries are legalising the peaceful and painless death of assisted suicide. Why hasn't the UK?

I feel that Boris is fed up with the whole thing and decided to wash his hands of it and throw open the doors and see what happens. He doesn’t really care about the number of deaths.

Yes I do think they are telling us what they think we want to hear. They know support is lacking.

@Tealightsandd dont be so flippant. DH has COPD He smoked between the ages of nine and 56 when he had his heart attack. He survived his.