What do you think will happen over winter?

[brideyb]

Restriction wise. I'm feeling very gloomy / anxious about it! My sister is getting married and I desperately hope it can go ahead.

I actually think it will be OK. I've been away on holiday this week though and for all intents and purposes everything has felt normal. So I'm probably being overly optimistic!

with winter everyone reverts back indoors and no lock down will happen but banning on gatherings indoors may well happen?

flu season is projected to be bad, therefore masks maybe encouraged

@PigeonPink

But its never been safe to go to the pub has it? You could fall over and crack your head open. Yes but it didn’t happen to 130k people a year who subsequently died horribly, and god knows how many more who suffered long term effects. I could live with the small risk of freak accidents but Covid is massively more likely.

Excess deaths from seasonal flu are common in winter months
But not among young healthy people. I always regarded myself as not being at risk of death unless it was a freak accident. But now I’m seeing people like me dying of Covid.

I think most people who don’t give a shit will go back to “normal”. But it won’t be safe and some of them will die. If you don’t want to be one of the dead then you need to make your own decision about not returning to “normal” even if it’s technically allowed. So while it may be permitted to live normally, it won’t be safe to do so.

Young healthy people are not dying in droves. A very small number have died, yes.

As a healthy 30 year old, I genuinely do not believe that I would die if I caught Covid. So I'm not worried and I feel perfectly safe.

We'll carry on until we are until the bitter end, in the hope enough herd immunity is achieved in the unvaccinated before the NHS can't cope. The reason for this is that we have to try and learn to live with it. As said above, sadly children and those with health issues haven't had the option to be vaccinated - I suspect JVC will announce end Sept/early Oct, it's more beneficial to get children who want the vaccine to be vaccinated, and the benefits of this won't kick in until Xmas!

Without vaccinated children and peoples immunity waning with no boosters for the under 50, I can’t see us making it through winter without restrictions being applied. Letting it spread now is increasing the chances of variants, any of which could be resistant to the vaccine,

@PigeonPink

We have the vaccines, things are looking up hopefully? Why should we back to square one in a few months? It’s not safe to go in pubs or crowded places now. I don’t foresee it becoming safe either. They’re open to support the economy and pacify the people who don’t care about dying, not because it’s actually safe to go.

" pacify the people who don't care about dying "

Probably the saddest thing I've ever read on MN , unless you are severely CEV and a trip to a pub or any other public place is likely to result in your death even before covid, then this is a complete dramatic overreaction. The government and MSM have done a right number on people if they are genuinely this scared of living their lives.

If you don’t want to be one of the dead then you need to make your own decision about not returning to “normal” even if it’s technically allowed. So while it may be permitted to live normally, it won’t be safe to do so.

If this is your real view (I can never tell on here, some people play very odd games) then it’s a very unusual one, and I don’t think it represents anything close to most of the population.

There will I’m sure be a small number of people who have been made incredibly anxious by covid regardless of their own personal threat. Those people may find it quite difficult to return to normal life. Normal life will still continue on without them, though.

@PigeonPink

We have the vaccines, things are looking up hopefully? Why should we back to square one in a few months? It’s not safe to go in pubs or crowded places now. I don’t foresee it becoming safe either. They’re open to support the economy and pacify the people who don’t care about dying, not because it’s actually safe to go.

Many people this summer including myself have already been multiples times into very crowded indoor places with no one masked. So sorry, many people don’t agree with you. For lots of people, it’s perfectly ‘safe’ You do realise, assuming you are not CEV and have been jabbed, that you are more at risk of dying from an accident at home, than you are going to your local pub or resturant? Some people who are naturally anxious people before covid or who leant towards a health anxiety are really struggling after the fear implants of the past 18 months. Lots of work needed to undo the damage this has caused

I agree if the odd person chooses to live as if they’re still in lockdown it’s up to them.

But that isn’t the case for the majority, thankfully.

I think for most people life will be back to normal but behind the scenes in the nhs it will be horrendous with all the normal illnesses that usually fill hospitals up in winter, plus the backlog of surgical cases / medical issues neglected over lockdown then covid. Hospitals will be extremely busy, already overworked staff run ragged. But for the average person life will probably be okay. Tories off the hook as usual. People just cracking on. Appreciate that’s a bit of a gloomy prediction but

having worked many years in the NHS I’m sure nothing will change.

On Saturday I went to a wedding with 100 people, no distancing, no masks. Went on the train and didn't wear a mask. It was totally normal. On Sunday I attended two sold out theatre shows, no distancing, no masks. It was amazing.

Yesterday I attended a County cricket match, no distancing, no masks. Again, fabulous! It was just like normal.

I've not dropped dead yet, maybe next week?

I read that Guardian article too and definitely had a moment of despair. However, this guy is an ICU doctor - he has naturally seen the worst of this disease. My DM is a retired nurse and as a result of seeing her mainly elderly patients, is afraid of developing dementia or other health conditions associated with age. But she only ever saw people with those conditions, because they were the people who needed her care. All the older people having a healthy old age don’t end up in hospital, so she never saw them! It’s confirmation bias of a sort, and it can give you a skewed perspective.

I very much hope we avoid any further strict lockdowns or school closures especially. DS has missed a huge chunk of Reception, and as a result his EHCP application couldn’t go in until the end of the summer term as he wasn’t there for the school to see. Hell now be starting year 1 with no additional support beyond what the school can wring out of what they’ve got. Another of his classmates is in an even worse position with more severe SEN. It’s really crap.

Hopefully the public narrative will change from outrage at mask wearing/restrictions/isolations to a demand for the NHS and education systems to be properly funded so crises don’t overwhelm them so fully.

@StealthPolarBear

There's aliens coming in 2022 apparently. So that'll be something to look forward to.

This made me laugh out loud! Thanks this thread is so depressing!

I think it will be almost normal and we’ll just get on with it.

I’ve booked my flu jab already for September as i think that will be bad this year. Norovirus will be rife as no one has much natural immunity now due to social distancing.

I’m due a baby in November so we’ll be setting our own rules based on what the situation is 🤞🏻

Because letting the virus rip through a half vaccinated population will encourage vaccine-resistant mutations.

That’s going to be the case across the rest of the world for years, nothing exceptional about the U.K.

I could live with the small risk of freak accidents but Covid is massively more likely

See, I think this is the problem. People can't assess risk rationally anymore. Someone posted something a few weeks back which made me laugh. Flip-flops injure 200,000 people a year and cost the NHS £40m. I can't imagine anyone ever stops before they put on a pair of flip-flops and thinks, is this safe? This idea of "safe" has never been a concept before and now it is in our faces every day and people have the expectation of 'safe' when it has never been available to us in our daily lives before!

I think there will be a two tier society.
A huge swathe if the population who have had it and recovered, the double jabbed and the not frightened. They will live their lives as normal again. With testing where asked for. Wearing masks if they're happy to.
There is another layer of society who are much more cautious and anxious to do any of that. The CEV and CV may be included in that. Plus people who have developed deep seated anxiety over covid and don't trust the vaccines. I'm already seeing it in friends/colleagues. A real divide. Groups happily going off for pub lunches whilst others shocked that people will take those risks!

@QueenofKattegat

I can't imagine anyone ever stops before they put on a pair of flip-flops and thinks, is this safe?

I’d like to introduce myself

Flip flops are dreadful footwear and I’m not surprised to hear that stat!

@TheKeatingFive

Because letting the virus rip through a half vaccinated population will encourage vaccine-resistant mutations.

That’s going to be the case across the rest of the world for years, nothing exceptional about the U.K.

Increasingly feels like we enlightened 21st-century types think of variants in the same way our ancestors thought of plagues. It’s divine retribution brought about by our own bad behaviour, and only by repenting and mending our ways will we be spared.

It was reported in the paper last week that a woman who had been shielding (there some implication that it had not been entirely necessary, either) and had not set foot outside her house for 18 months had been knocked down and killed on her first trip out.

I thought that as a traffic accident statistic this poor woman would have attracted little attention. A covid death, however, is seemingly so much more - I can’t think of the word - I hesitate to use the word “interesting” or even “exciting” but definitely more worthy in current times.

@QueenofKattegat

I could live with the small risk of freak accidents but Covid is massively more likely

See, I think this is the problem. People can't assess risk rationally anymore. Someone posted something a few weeks back which made me laugh. Flip-flops injure 200,000 people a year and cost the NHS £40m. I can't imagine anyone ever stops before they put on a pair of flip-flops and thinks, is this safe? This idea of "safe" has never been a concept before and now it is in our faces every day and people have the expectation of 'safe' when it has never been available to us in our daily lives before!

this is very true about flip flops plus they are responsible for a fair few car crashes including one I nearly caused on the M25 as my flip flop bent over somehow when changing gear and I couldn't take my foot off the clutch and move it to the brake for a few seconds in braking heavy traffic. It was not good! Never wear flip flops when driving people!! I still have flashbacks about it now

@sashagabadon I can see how that can happen, pleased you were ok. In Spain they regularly check to see if drivers are in flop flops.

DottyHarmer I saw that story too. IIRC the woman had been shielding for the last 9 months, left the house, was distracted untangling her face mask whilst crossing the road and was subsequently knocked down and killed.

I think when you have a senior ICU professor who has spent over a year working almost entirely with covid , saying some activities are just too risky, it's worth listening.

He's not advocating continuing lockdown. Or saying that going to the pub is too risky. He is saying that being in a crowded indoors space yelling at a screen for 80mins is too much.

The comparison to having an accident doesn't really stand up - we mitigate against accidents all the time, and yes you could be killed on any road, but that doesn't mean it's a good idea to play chicken on a dual carriageway