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

We can't completely get rid of the risks, no, (thanks to countries like the UK) but we can reduce them. Huh? Did I miss something? Do you mean that as the UK can no more eradicate the virus than any other country, that those countries are responsible for the virus continuing to exist?

I think you, and many others, missed the meaning in almost eveything that was said. As many here explained last night.

Now is the time that the balance between doing what we can to stop the virus spreading and not being able to do more, without staying in lockdown for another extended period has been reached.

People, CEV and otherwise, will die. I am CEV so please don't shout that I am an uncaring bitch. The choices being made now, the data analysis and discussions across the scientific community, are focussed on opening up at the best time, NOT to prevent those inevitable death, but so as not to overwhelm the NHS (yes, that old chestnut) and not to make the situation worse by opening in winter.

Yes, they REALLY did say that people WILL DIE and that they are no longer trying to prevent those deaths as we are at that point where those people, CEV, vaccinated or not, would die of covid (or maybe flu etc) as soon as we do open up. So they are trying to find the best time to let that happen without causing more lockdowns.

It's shit, but that's what pandemics do.

@RedToothBrush @Tumbleweed101

Yep! All of that too!

That’s his “lying to the gullible” tone. See Brexit for more of the same.

I’ve been thinking about this more overnight. This is the most reckless idea I’ve heard in a long while.

Cases are rising at a crazy level, the scientists told us yesterday that hospitalisations and deaths will rise and that they think (but can’t guarantee) that the cases will peak before the nhs is overwhelmed.

I could absolutely be on board with the idea of living with covid if we were in a position where cases were low and we could effectively manage the risks. However, we now appear to be just abandoning anything sensible and are going to just let it rip through.

I actually can’t believe what I am hearing.

Also, I feel a bit robbed of 18 months of my life. If we are just going to be left to chance why didn’t we just damn well get it over with last year?

@Dramallama4

My heart is breaking for my son, CEV, 6 months away from turning 16, he can’t have the vaccine until then. We will be spending the summer holidays in the back garden, strangely it’s made somewhat easier that he has severe learning difficulties so won’t ask to go anywhere but still so very unfair. I feel him and thousands like him have been forgotten about and left behind.

Is he under specialist services? There is provision to vaccinate 12-16s at most risk.

@floatingboater

Those of you thinking he's being reckless, what do you expect/want to happen? The economy is down the shitter, businesses have crumbled, widespread mental health issues...we have the vaccine now, there is nothing else that can be done.

Yes. The point is deaths are very low. The elderly and vulnerable adults are vaccinated. Covid is not going anywhere. We have to live with it now. I do think mass events should have been banned until all adults have been offered the vaccine. I can’t wait for restrictions to end.

Boris said, ‘If not now, then when?’. He has a good point. We can’t stay locked down forever, and covid will never go away. We need to learn to live with the virus, whilst returning to some sort of normality.

@RedToothBrush

Of course it was the right tone. He was hardly going to be all jolly when the reality is people are going to die every single year now from covid.

It was balanced and proportionate. Everyone I know in real life is relieved.

We need to move on, and live alongside it. Living alongside it isn’t a cause for celebration, and that would have been wholly inappropriate.

[quote CuriousaboutSamphire]**@RedToothBrush* @Tumbleweed101*

Yep! All of that too![/quote]
Seconded....

It's about time they stopped reporting Corona deaths daily. Or reporting daily cancer and heart attack deaths.

@Thelm

Also, I feel a bit robbed of 18 months of my life. If we are just going to be left to chance why didn’t we just damn well get it over with last year?

Because you’ve now been vaccinated.

“We have to reconcile ourselves to more deaths”

He actually said that. He is not fit for office.

@Thelm

Why didn’t we just get on with it last year? I’d hazard a guess it’s because we weren’t rolling out a vaccine.

The deaths would have been at an unacceptable level.

The deaths will now be at a level where it is acceptable to live with, much like flu.

If it’s one thing that covid has taught me about society, it’s their willful stubbornness to even remotely accept any hint of their own mortality.

Boris said, ‘If not now, then when?’

When we have reached the threshold of people doubly vaccinated which has been shown to make a difference elsewhere. And we are really close to that.

@Lucidas I know. I’m just feeling a bit scared this morning and on a bit of a rant.

He actually said that. He is not fit for office.

Why would you say that? We’re ‘reconciled’ to lots of deaths from other causes that we could do more about if we took very extreme measures.

@BoredZelda

“We have to reconcile ourselves to more deaths”

He actually said that. He is not fit for office.

Oh please!

I think at some point all 3 of them said that. It is the harsh reality of a pandemic.

It's not like in the movies where a miracle cure saves everyone in the world as the credits roll.

@GreenWillow

The whole idea was to prevent the nhs collapsing, not ‘saving lives’, whatever we might have been told to the contrary.

The nhs is looking like it will be able to cope, but yes, there will be more deaths.

Covid is here to stay, we will just have to get used to the elderly and vulnerable dying earlier than they would have in the pre covid era.

This is why the message was sombre - out of respect to those who will lose their lives to Covid. It’s a truly awful situation, but there isn’t really any alternative.

Yes, totally agree with you.

We need to learn to live with it. Zero COVID was never a goal, and never can be.

@BoredZelda - I'm interested in how you would eliminate death? Furthermore not every death is a tragedy. For someone in their 90s with advanced dementia it is an absolute godsend. And people die of things other than covid. See last however many thousand years for examples...

I felt quite down after the press conference. Everything had been improving so much before the Indian variant arrived, but now it seems as if things are going to get much worse again, even though so many people have been vaccinated. Sometimes it feels as if nothing will ever be the same again - and I suppose it won't but that is so hard to reconcile.

@Gladimnotcampinginthisweather

It's about time they stopped reporting Corona deaths daily. Or reporting daily cancer and heart attack deaths.

Agreed!!

There are people around me left right and centre being pinged and catching the Delta variant. It is in my 2 schools, in my social group and their schools, and at work whereas before I only heard about it in other towns. It is mostly young people catching it and spreading it up and down the schools. I've not heard of one of them being sick. I'm not saying it won't kill anyone but if it is up and down schools and the death rates are low, then I can see why a decision to "let it rip" has been made if it has been compared to other scenarios. It is possibly the best of the worst-case scenarios.

If loads of young people are catching it and their relatives are not affected that adversely because they are double jabbed, then this could be the way to get immunity and avoid the conundrum of the effect of jabs on the young.

None of this should be a surprise to anyone. I am happy to wear a mask and SD around CEV people and those protecting them, but I am not happy otherwise and will be ditching it. Those who chose not to be vaccinated for reasons other than being CEV knew this day was coming and chose to opt-out of their civic duty. I'm not prepared to be vaccinated again via the booster to protect them.

@IrmaFayLear

Agreed. Work in social care. Sometimes all our life extending procedures really don’t do you any favours at the end of your life.

The quality of life is often poor but as long as you’re still alive . It’s often a blessed relief when certain people die.

"Yes of course death is sad but peoples livelihoods and mental health is crumbling in these restrictions, we have to get on now and try and create a new normal!"

Would you be this blasé about it if it was your death. They could at least have kept social distancing and mask in enclosed spaces, public transport etc.

They're just bored of the whole thing now aren't they?