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.

If you read my posts without assuming I'dm'fearful' or a lockdown lover, you'll see that what I said is that it's worth listening to senior doctors (the one in the article, plus Whitty/Vallence etc) no that some activities reallynare too risky.

Define 'too risky'. Risk assessment is notoriously subjective.

And as I and others have said, most of us - including no doubt 'senior doctors' - don't avoid all activities because they are 'risky'. If we did, life would be pretty dull.

With a highly prevalent infectious disease, there is no useful indication (like smell) that the room is a risk, and even one exposure could be enough

"Highly prevalent"? Maybe 1 in 200 people has the virus. Most adults have been vaccinated. In the unlikely event they did catch it, chances are they'd be fine.

But obviously, those who decide that this risk is not worth taking are absolutely free to avoid crowded pubs during big rugby matches. Or any other activity they or 'senior doctors' deem too risky. However, they will also have to accept that many others will assess the risk differently and there is little point complaining about it.

How do you now what their feelings are? all your doing is labelling them as being fearful without any idea of why they have made that assessment.

Well I obviously don't know exactly how they are feeling but saying you wont feel safe for 20 years isn't normal and I think it's sad that people are feeling like this.

Theres a huge difference in believing that there's a high risk you could catch covid at a pub or other busy indoor place and believing there's a high risk your going to die if you frequent those places . Even in the most CEV the odds are very highly stacked in favour of living beyond covid infection.
It's funny that people choose to grip on for dear life to some of the words the experts say and yet choose to ignore other things that have been said ie " in the vast majority of cases covid will be mild for most people " which was said very early on in the pandemic and been reiterated a thousand times since. The figures themselves show that to be fact.

@MarshaBradyo

If people want to stay outside pubs etc no issue at all.

As long as we can all make our own decisions then fine.

Absolutely we should, atm we are all free to do pretty much whatever we like, apart from travel back from France, though you are allowed to travel from the USA with a paper (v easily forged) vaccine cert! go figure!!!

...and we accused the French of politics?!?!

@PinkSparklyPussyCat

How do you now what their feelings are? all your doing is labelling them as being fearful without any idea of why they have made that assessment.

Well I obviously don't know exactly how they are feeling but saying you wont feel safe for 20 years isn't normal and I think it's sad that people are feeling like this.

Why? whats it to you? in RL i couldn't care less what people think is risky or not, it causes me no harm at all, in fact some of the people who do go our local, i wish didn't lol!

People say lots of things they don't mean, 20 years is a very long time to say you wont do X, i m sure as the pandemic (i hope) eases, their concerns will diminish.

I was thinking 20 years was remarkably specific. Why not 15? Or 25? We're under 2 years into this with quarter of the world vaccinated and a range of treatments, it's hard to envisage the world NOT getting on top of the most severe implications of covid within a few years. That's without new antivirals and new types of vaccine.

Jasjas As I said in my second post, I find it sad that people want to shut themselves away, especially if it's a result of the pandemic (I know some people have always been like it, my Mum was. You're right, it doesn't make any difference to me but I still think it's sad people feel like that. Various things in my life (not just the pandemic, also things that happened before that) have taught me that life's too short not to do the things you want to do if you get the chance.

Taping off park benches and play equipment
A lot of this was due to insurance. I complained to my local council about the playground being locked and taped up, and they said it’s because their insurance company wouldn’t cover them if someone tried to claim they’d caught Covid. It was a brand new risk and insurance companies just went “computer says no”. So the council couldn’t get insured to open the playground. Mostly the insurance companies have now relaxed a bit and adjusted the terms of their policies to accommodate Covid.

@butwhatcanwedo

This thread is sad. Social interactions are essential for humans. There is a real evidenced health impact of lack of social interaction. It’s horrible to read that some think other people they don’t even know should voluntarily isolate themselves in perpetuity. Where does it end? I hope this is a transitional phase where we come to terms with new freedoms and hopefully people start to feel more happy. Because happiness is not frivolity - it’s living life rather than just staying alive.

It's possible to socialise remotely.

I have friends dotted around the country and we've all decided to stick to Zoom meet ups regardless of the Covid situation just because it gets rid of all the hassle and cost associated with the travel.

@PinkSparklyPussyCat

Jasjas As I said in my second post, I find it sad that people want to shut themselves away, especially if it's a result of the pandemic (I know some people have always been like it, my Mum was. You're right, it doesn't make any difference to me but I still think it's sad people feel like that. Various things in my life (not just the pandemic, also things that happened before that) have taught me that life's too short not to do the things you want to do if you get the chance.

Have you seen the Government's advice to the clinically vulnerable, Pink?

@PigeonPink and @CakeandGo

And any others same.

Already low contact but lots of hassle and guilting.... It's been fabulous for us.

Re winter and stuff, I'm going to be panicking but.. Young teens won't be.. They will be living as normal, they have been to a larger degree already.

Fucking hell, I'm so sick of seeing the word 'safe'. Same as 'at risk'.

Safe from what? At risk of what? A virus that 1 in 3 people don't even realise they have, that for the vast majority of others is a mild illness, and if you are fully vaccinated will almost certainly be a very mild illness, less bad than a nasty cold.

If you are CEV then yes, you have the right to talk about 'safety', but then again life wasn't 'safe' before Covid either

But honestly, this concept of 'staying safe' is just getting ridiculous now, and some people are losing the plot.

The Government is telling CEV people to meet outdoors and avoid unvaccinated people, socially distance and wear masks where possible, shop at quieter times of day, and ideally ask people you meet to take an LFT. So it’s pretty clear that millions of CEV are expected to shut themselves away and not have any semblance of a normal life. They certainly won’t be going to the pub for the foreseeable future.

Genuinely feel sorry for the kids of some of these people - growing up in a state is terror isn't right

Fucking hell, I'm so sick of seeing the word 'safe'
Blame the government. They were so keen for people to comply with lockdown, they scared the shit out of them by publicising the horrific Covid deaths of relatively young people. It’s not easy to retract that and convince people that the virus now doesn’t pose a risk of death.

According the the Daily Mail, there will be a new variant that results in 1 in 3 people dying, and we will have to cull out cats.

@XenoBitch

According the the Daily Mail, there will be a new variant that results in 1 in 3 people dying, and we will have to cull out cats.

Daily Mail need to move back to their usual health specialism of the next unexpected food that cures/causes cancer.

@PigeonPink

Just read an article in the guardian with the most depressing quote ever from a professor of intensive care medicine I’m afraid I agree. I can’t foresee a time when I’ll feel safe in a pub or busy place. Maybe in 20 years time.

In winter I think masks and distancing will return. Nightclubs may close. There won’t be any more furlough so other places will have to remain open. Schools will remain open too.

Not quite as bad as the latest Daily fail headline " one in three could be dead from next covid varient " !!

I presumed people would realise that I wasn’t talking about the CEV @MrsRLynde

To be clear, I find it sad that people who are low risk and not CEV want to shut themselves away.

On the other hand, we used to actually have a disease with a 1 in 3 mortality rate (smallpox), and there were still pubs. Lots of pubs. I think it's probably worth acknowledging that people just like pubs.

*It's possible to socialise remotely.

I have friends dotted around the country and we've all decided to stick to Zoom meet ups regardless of the Covid situation just because it gets rid of all the hassle and cost associated with the travel*

I hate this being rolled out as a solution to isolation. I have a friend who does not have internet at home. How can she Zoom? I know others who are too paranoid about technology to even entertain sitting in front of a camera.

Zoom really doesn’t do it for me. I need that rl socialisation.

I think some (minority?) would be ok with digital replacement but it’s definitely not a good enough substitute for me

I couldn't manage Zoom for a relaxing chat at all.

I do quite a bit of online socialising, for various reasons. It’s no substitute for the real thing though. I can’t give my mum a hug via zoom. And my 94 year old grandma has no internet at all, and even if she did, her eyesight and hearing aren’t really up to it. And she can’t interact with her great grandson through zoom in any case, because he’s 5 and has ASD.

But hey, she might be sitting alone in her house getting frailer and frailer, and she might barely know her great grandchildren now, but at least she’s safe, right?

It’s possible to socialise remotely

Ah, yes, here we have the usual “pulling up the ladder” attitude. So all young people can sit at home and stare at a computer screen. No need to meet people, oh no.

If @NannyAndJohn , you acquired a partner in real life or performed a job alongside colleagues you have no right to spout such utter crap about an online life being perfectly adequate.