What is going on?????

[Dustyboots]

Sorry, I know there’ve been countless threads discussing this sort of thing. But so far all I can find are people arguing about masks and smoking ...

What is our government doing? What are they up to? I’ve just seen a tweet with a German news report that says the UK is conducting a mass Covid experiment.

Is our government trying to crash the NHS in order to dismantle it?

What are they up to?

mobile.twitter.com/BBCNewsnight

It’s a gamble. We’re the first to take it. It’ll either pay off or go horribly wrong.
With enough people vaccinated can we rely on it to get back to normal? Everyone’s had enough of the measures to stop the spread aswell. Boris knows he’s losing them. Compliance is just gone.
What else can we do?
It’s very worrying

Oh god is that poster still going on about smoking 🙈. Personally I think all the sports competitions are fuelling it, it’s no coincidence.

Definitely a mass Long Covid experiment.

The world is watching in horror (the stress might drive them to smoke...)

Anything anyone does is an experiment really isn't it.
Im happy to open up more but I can't understand removing small mitigation measures like masks..

Well you experimented with the vaccine roll outs too and that went well. It’s very hard to please everyone in England so I suppose they just made a decision to open up.

What's going on, is the UK is going to 'let it rip', let the bodies pile up, let people die and become disabled.

The rest of the world is taking mitigation measures. Including masks.

Herd immunity doesn't happen unless and until majority (80-90%) are vaccinated. Catching it once doesn't stop you getting it again, particularly new strains.

The UK is dropping opening up with no mitigation measures when cases, hospitalisations (and, slowly but surely, deaths) are rising. The majority are not yet fully vaccinated, and vaccines aren't as effective against Delta (although still good).

The UK is creating high risk conditions for the development of a vaccine resistant strain.

On the back of Japan, spending millions (billions?) on the Olympics and having no spectators.

The UK is creating high risk conditions for the development of a vaccine resistant strain.

Why though?

Our government and all their advisers get paid a fortune to think this all through and plan. Why would they do this?

If you can get it more than once then surely they can't achieve herd immunity regardless of what they do?

Maybe it’s reverse psychology.

It’s not the uk though just England, I’m in Scotland and thankfully masks and social distancing is here to stay even when we move to level 0

Yes just England. Sorry.

Compliance is just gone.

Say something enough times in the hope it becomes reality...

Compliance is still high. The vast majority of the public want mitigation measures. 71% of the public, for example, want masks to stay after the 19th.

We've all had enough. But having enough doesn't make it go away. Ignoring the problem or pretending it no longer exists only serves to drag the situation out - and in fact, it makes matters worse (due to the risk of developing a vaccine resistant strain).

@TheMawisbraw

It’s not the uk though just England, I’m in Scotland and thankfully masks and social distancing is here to stay even when we move to level 0

Yes Sturgeon is very sensibly taking a more cautious approach.

I read that the wave is coming and better now than in the autumn/winter.

We are getting on with life. It’s a completely false claim that the vast majority aren’t vaccinated. Yes they are, the most vulnerable (over 50’s) are double jabbed. If they want to be. Deaths are really low. Cases are high in the young who are very unlikely to become very ill.

You can’t win either way, everyone shouting about ‘we need schools back to normal’.. so they go, OK, bubbles are gone and close contact isolation for kids will go. ‘But what about the kids, what about the poor children’ .. give me strength.

Go enjoy life, stop fretting about the unlikely chance you’ll get long covid.. tomorrow is never promised.

Beebityboo

If you can get it more than once then surely they can't achieve herd immunity regardless of what they do?

Yes, correct. I keep saying this in other threads and then get called an uneducated idiot etc. Herd immunity relies on people being immune.

@Beebityboo

If you can get it more than once then surely they can't achieve herd immunity regardless of what they do?

Vaccines.

90% of population vaccinated = herd immunity.

Of course that requires mitigation measures to stop Covid freely spreading in the meantime, else we risk the emergence of a vaccine resistant strain.

President Biden is right. The whole world needs vaccination, and the best and quickest way to achieve that is through a temporary patent waiver.

DS2 age 14 has had it twice with a six month gap between. Although not particularly ill either time, he developed a nasty chest infection after the second episode and is currently on antibiotics. I've got long covid although recovering now. I'm dreading it all although knowing this government it probably will pay off. They seem to have 9 lives .

Our government and all their advisers get paid a fortune to think this all through and plan. Why would they do this?

Planning isn't their strong point?

I'm confused about why they are dropping masks. It's low cost and pretty simple to do. I wish we were back to normal, but we are not and some mitigation is sensible at this point.

A year ago we'd never have predicted vaccine success like this. If we can't open up now (or soon) then what is the plan exactly?
It's felt like people have been calling for us to "just sit tight for a few more weeks" since March 2020.

It’s - and this is a guess - because the country will be bankrupt beyond belief unless furlough really ends. And the only way to do that is to remove all restrictions and pretend All Is Well. Build it and they will come (even if it kills or disables them).

Vaccines.

90% of population vaccinated = herd immunity.

But vaccines aren’t giving immunity. They are potentially lessening severity but not stopping spread. I know of many teachers currently very unwell with covid yet double jabbed. Where’s the herd immunity if fully vaxxed are catching and presumably spreading?

@Tealightsandd

What's going on, is the UK is going to 'let it rip', let the bodies pile up, let people die and become disabled.

The rest of the world is taking mitigation measures. Including masks.

Herd immunity doesn't happen unless and until majority (80-90%) are vaccinated. Catching it once doesn't stop you getting it again, particularly new strains.

The UK is dropping opening up with no mitigation measures when cases, hospitalisations (and, slowly but surely, deaths) are rising. The majority are not yet fully vaccinated, and vaccines aren't as effective against Delta (although still good).

The UK is creating high risk conditions for the development of a vaccine resistant strain.

The thing is, if the general public did not want restrictions to be lifted then they would simply carry on as they are now or were previously in lockdown etc. Theres nothing stopping the whole country from continuing to wear a mask, to continue SD, to reduce indoor contacts, stay at home, not frequent nightclubs or football matches etc etc. It's a countrywide collective decision to "let it rip " as you put it