Getting through the winter

[herecomesthsun]

www.theguardian.com/world/2021/sep/10/boris-johnson-publish-covid-blueprint-difficult-winter

To be honest, I'd be really happy with any of this if it keeps the kids in school and we don't have to have any sort of lockdown again.

"Boris Johnson is set to publish a Covid blueprint to prepare for a “difficult time” this winter, with jabs for younger teenagers, a booster programme, flu shots and vaccine passports all expected to be part of the measures.

Johnson is likely to strike a more cautious note than he has done in recent months, warning the public to continue being careful as cases are rising – with more than 8,000 Covid patients in hospital in the UK despite the vaccination programme.

The government is looking to extend its emergency Covid powers – ... as a last resort.

No 10 is hoping the combination of measures to be announced next week will head off the need for further draconian lockdowns after some scientists warned that a “firebreak” could be needed this autumn."

Ok @marieantoinehairnet - sorry to be so naive.

I’ve shut my brain to all the crap we’re fed. Don’t believe any of it or waste time thinking about it.

But you’re right - they will have spent money on it. Of course. It makes me too angry. That’s why I shut off.

Honestly, trust me, they spent ALOT in hairbrained ideas, I work in consulting... it's easy to get sucked in though, as the media plays devils advocate. The whole NHS stuff is a rouse to slowly make it unworkable

@Peteycat

"0:06marieantoinehairnet

We can't help it if you lot are all out copulating, fighting and licking each other"

Disgusting comment.

It was tongue in cheek

@marieantoinehairnet

Was it? You didn't make it seem like that.

Not really up for a virtual argument, so I'll leave it there

@MercyBooth

If masks actually help...........explain Scotland.

Scotland would be in a worse position There you go Hope explained it for you

@sleepwouldbenice Exactly! It's like saying "If seatbelts work why do people still die in car accidents?"

@MercyBooth

DM has been deteriorating since February. I will NOT be complying with a winter lockdown.

The NHS is hiring 42 new chief executives on up to £270,000 pay, raising concerns over how the new health and social care tax is being spent.

I think we all know that the national insurance hike will go nowhere near actual healthcare but in fact in to the admin abyss of the NHS

BJ striking a cautious note….. already? It’s only September.

It’s certainly going to get interesting as we step into autumn with the majority of people maskless, carrying on as though everything is just fine, hoping their vaccines will stop them from catching Covid.

Just over 3 months until Christmas, god help us.

[quote mocktail]@sleepwouldbenice Exactly! It's like saying "If seatbelts work why do people still die in car accidents?"[/quote]
Exactly
And it’s the same with vaccines. People moaning they aren’t 100% effective
We need a range of measures to keep enough of a lid on this thing to hopefully be able to enjoy everything else

My list would be vaccine passports be with alternative of regular testing, masks, possible vaccination of teenagers, and major support for schools to try to minimise transmission there, and isolation of household contacts with payment to support this

But hey ho

@Thewiseoneincognito you're not going to like what he says on Tuesday if you're hoping for more lockdowns and restrictions on events / gatherings.

In a news briefing on Tuesday, Mr Johnson is expected to say that vaccines will be the first line of defence in England over the autumn and winter.
And in a move away from locking down the country, a number of powers allowing the government to shut down sections of the economy in England are set to be repealed.

@notgotthehelp like I said, it’s going to be interesting as we head through autumn.

Repeal some powers until the public start calling out for them again if things get out of hand. That sounds like a typical BJ man of the people tactic if there ever was one.

@Thewiseoneincognito calling out or crying out? Why not go all the way and we'll scream to be put back in lockdown.

I think the uncertainty of the past 18 months has damaged your mental health and you expect the worst and can't accept that the worst is behind us.

@Lockheart

Erm, surely learning to live with the virus means actually living?

No, it means just that - learning to live with the changes the pandemic has brought.

It doesn't mean carry on as though it never happened.

Learning to live with it might mean, for example, learning to live with isolating when you're ill, learning to live with working from home over winter, or learning to live with wearing masks on public transport. It does not mean going back to the way things were 2019 (as nice as that would be).

^THIS

I am in Scotland with whole family coronavirus. It’s chaos, the ambulance service took 5hrs to telephone back after NHS referred 12yo DS. We’d rung when DS was vomiting and unable to stand and struggling to breathe.

The ‘Back to Normal’ people just don’t have a clue what’s coming. The pandemic is far from over.

People are also forgetting that delta might be nasty, but without any restrictions a much nastier variant will read it's head eventually... probably one that does affect children

@marieantoinehairnet probably one that effects children?

What's that prediction based on?

The prediction of unpredictability

That's the joy of viruses

@marieantoinehairnet

The prediction of unpredictability

So just a wild guess then?

Learning to live with it might mean, for example, learning to live with isolating when you're ill, learning to live with working from home over winter, or learning to live with wearing masks on public transport.

Doing all these things does not prevent cases spiking and hospitals struggling with covid + backlogs + everything else. I know it feels like it should do, but Scotland right now is a prime living example that it does not do.

So our choices are:

1. bigger hefty restrictions to avoid big case rises
2. try to time big case rises so they don’t come in winter.

Scotland, and whole rest of the UK really, are still going for option 1. There is unlikely to be much of an appetite for option 2. Plus, not sure that “we’ve chronically underinvested in the NHS for years, so now you can’t see your Nan if you don’t want hospitals falling over” is going to work as a campaign.

There isn’t a middle “everyone just get used to a bit more WFH and that’ll sort it” option.

Oops, got my option 1 and option 2 the wrong way round there!

We’re all going for the “accept big case rises but avoid them coming in winter” option, not the “loads more restrictions” option.

People were willing to lockdown because it was new and scary. No one was vaccinated when people were supportive.

Now people are double jabbed and they deem the risk to themselves low, they don't comply because hospitals are busy.

"34marieantoinehairnet

People are also forgetting that delta might be nasty, but without any restrictions a much nastier variant will read it's head eventually... probably one that does affect children"

Are you feeling OK? Stop trying to scare people. A hell of alot of peoples mental health is in tatters right now for one reason or another, and people like you continue to doom monger and say wild outlandish statements, when you have literally no clue.

@Peteycat

"34marieantoinehairnet

People are also forgetting that delta might be nasty, but without any restrictions a much nastier variant will read it's head eventually... probably one that does affect children"

Are you feeling OK? Stop trying to scare people. A hell of alot of peoples mental health is in tatters right now for one reason or another, and people like you continue to doom monger and say wild outlandish statements, when you have literally no clue.

Well, Peteycat, if you aren't feeling ok, you can always go and post on the Good news thread.

We are allowed to discuss realistic outcomes on this one.

Hope that helps.

Agreed Herecomes...

I have noticed the deniers love to throw around mental health diagnoses for those of us with a wholly realistic view of the sh1t show we've experienced