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?

So far Johnson and his government have made A Lot of very bad decisions…

Locked down too late
Eat out to help out
Christmas shitshow
Not stopping flights from India (due to Brexit)

And now this ridiculous, unnecessary decision.

I feel desperately sorry for NHS staff, who will have to deal with the consequences if this “experiment” goes wrong.

They absolutely are lessening spread. Transmission is reduced. Why are people not hearing that?

And yet we are now at the same point as just before Christmas ( similar to Dec 21st figues ) with case numbers, with a biggish chunk of the population vaccinated ( just over 50% double jabbed ), so does this mean this variant is massively more transmissible, in which case why ditch the masks ? or is it that the vast majority of people catching it are not yet vaccinated or only partially vaccinated, anyone got a link to this sort of data ? Or is there a new variant of the Delta variant now doing the rounds, always possible ?
On the plus side, so far, people in mechanically ventilated beds is nowhere near as high as the previous peak, hospitalisations are nowhere near as high and it would be interesting to see the figures on average length of stay this time around ? Are most people just needing a bit of supportive care, oxygen and some steroids and then getting home quicker this time ?
It does feel a bit like the Government has gone 'fuck it, lets see what happens if we just pretend it isn't happening' and all we can do is wait and see how that pans out.

@ElizaLynn

The recklessness of the government terrifies me. If they held off a couple of months and the majority of 18+ was double jabbed I would see some logic in a gradual easing.

Great timing to get Hancock out (albeit his fault) and the ex chancellor in who likely has no rapport with the CMO /CSO and gives zero cares about health and every care for the economy. They are no longer listening to the science.

They can't even afford to their pension promises so there may even be a warped self interest in these decisions and the impact it may have on the population.

Zero trust in the government and I have always voted Conservative I am sad to say.

I hope you and others remember this at the next GE!

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

This is scaremongering codswallop.

Opening up is the first sensible decision this government has made in 18 months, if not full stop.

They are giving people back some choice in their lives and it’s time. Those that want to can still distance, wear masks, avoid crowded areas etc. I think many will take their time in returning to normal because we have been so conditioned over the last 18 months to fear life without those restrictions!!

@Tealightsandd if you take a look at Newsnight you will see that your smoking analogy on here already hasnt aged well.

True, let's open up in winter that sounds like it'd be a good idea.

@Pigeonpair1

They are giving people back some choice in their lives and it’s time. Those that want to can still distance, wear masks, avoid crowded areas etc. I think many will take their time in returning to normal because we have been so conditioned over the last 18 months to fear life without those restrictions!!

There is no choice in a viral pandemic! Why do you feel you have choices???

@Tealightsandd

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).

Public views on masks tell us nothing about compliance elsewhere. I'd support mask requirements remaining on public transport, as people have no choice but to use that. Meanwhile I have been having whoever I deem appropriate in my home for ages now and would not isolate unless I actually tested positive. The one doesn't necessarily correlate to the other.

I'll have a look. I might pop outside for a cigarette first

@ProtectMaternity this sounds very concerning...I’m currently 19 weeks pregnant and dreading having to be in a hospital in the middle of winter! Are the nhs restrictions relaxing after July 19th too? E.g limited visiting on maternity wards and staff in PPE?

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.

That 71% are free to continue wearing their masks.

I really think it will take years for people to actually understand the facts of the pandemic. There is so much misinformation and ignorance. Shame it affects us all not just those who encourage it.

It's a gamble is what it is. They are figuring that if we open up in summer, it's the least bad time to do it, and that vaccines should hold up for hospital overwhelm/deaths if not infections and that things will peak before September and going into flu season.

I can see some logic to that in some ways because it's now or have to wait another 9+ months but it's a mighty big and dangerous gamble and reckless to remove mask mandate etc because so many people will drop masks straight away.

It's also a capitalism thing - pals like Tim Wetherspoons guy want to drop masks, clubs want to reopen, shops want to have fuller capacity etc etc and that's been ringing in the Tories' ears for months so they've caved.

We are completely lacking immunity to the usual coughs and colds as the person who pointed out the stuff sickness mentioned.
We have to get over this before winter and other NHS pressures.
School holidays seem a sensible time to do it.
Wait too long and those most in need of the vaccine will start to see the effectiveness reduce.
If only it were as simple as considering one variable. There are many that have to be balanced. Saying lick down longer always ignores the many other competing factors

@Pigeonpair1

They are giving people back some choice in their lives and it’s time. Those that want to can still distance, wear masks, avoid crowded areas etc. I think many will take their time in returning to normal because we have been so conditioned over the last 18 months to fear life without those restrictions!!

Agree. I find the conditioning far more terrifying than Covid.

I am hardly a rebellious type, but I have steadfastly refused to swallow the crock of crap peddled about Covid, and will gladly ditch the bastard masks and return to crowded places.

I will carry on washing my hands, though, because I've always washed my hands. It has surprised me that people have needed to be told to do this. There must have been some dirty buggers around.

It will be absolute carnage within 4-6 weeks.

I'm staying away from crowds and wearing my mask; regardless of what everyone else is doing.

I thought America had done it.

In America, almost all the infections, hospitalisations, and deaths are occurring in the unvaccinated (or partially vaccinated). 99.2% of fully vaccinated aren't getting ill.

The Delta strain is hitting America's unvaccinated.

Also detest the phrase 'let it rip'. It is largely spreading between younger people, either those doing LFTs who are asymptomatic or have very mild symptoms, or those who have yet to be vaccinated. Vaccines absolutely are working at preventing serious illness in the numbers we have seen before, if anyone could find any data to the contrary then instead of proclaiming they don't work or whatever, why not share it? It was never claimed that vaccines stopped people spreading it, not sure why this is shocking to some people. The NHS is nowhere near being overwhelmed with covid at the moment, do we never reopen just in case? I think a fair amount of people will still wear masks when in enclosed spaces, but the doom many seem to be almost revelling in is weird.

Some people are fucking dirty about handwashing.

@NakedAttraction

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.

That 71% are free to continue wearing their masks.

Quite. The other 29% of us will be glad to build a pyre of them.

I am sympathetic to people wanting to keep things as they are, I'm even leaning that way myself, but at what point do we get back to normal? Do we wait til everyone has had 2 jabs? But then scientists will say we need to wait til everyone's had a booster. And then there'll be another variant so best stay in lockdown to see how the virus responds to that. Then people will be needing 2 jabs again. I mean it will never end. The virus is here, it's never going away, it's going to carry on killing like flu does, meanwhile businesses are failing because they can't get customers, people lose their jobs, their houses, sometimes their mental health. So at what point do people think, ok now is the right time? I just don't know.

Zero trust in the government and I have always voted Conservative I am sad to say

Not to bothered about health before then.

Professor Michael Marmot who actually gave a shit pre Covid has just appeared on Newsnight.