Has everyone just accepted that it’s not an “if” but a “when”?

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Just that really. Me and DH are still trying to be relatively careful, we do meet up with people and do things but we are avoiding certain things eg not going to soft play with DDs this week as it would have been full of school kids. Our eldest goes to a childminder who has school age kids so she could very well catch it that way (or from the supermarket etc) but we need childcare to work. So basically we are not completely “hiding away” but we are thinking carefully and not taking risks when there’s no huge benefit.

Are we alone in this approach now? And is there any point? Part of me thinks we aren’t going to be able to avoid it forever so we may as well just get it and then we could get on with our lives. People I know who’ve had it are now just doing whatever they want (although I know you can get it twice) which sounds quite appealing.

For anyone interested, my reasons for still trying to avoid it despite being double jabbed are 1. I have a rare blood clotting condition so although I’m not CEV I am classed as being higher risk than average joe and 2. DD2 is only 6 months, she is EBF and hasn’t taken well to solids yet and has some allergies. I’m worried that if I get it now and feel totally wiped out that my supply will suffer and I’d be exhausted trying to breastfeed her while feeling really poorly etc.

@PrincessNutNuts

So how much longer do you think this is going to go on for @Warhertisuff? How long to infect the other half of the country?

On the basis that no level of restrictions - however harsh - will eradicate Covid, the more we adopt the restrictions you appear to be pressing for, the longer it will go on for... on and on and on....

In your world, there is no feasible end to restrictions - which would, with Delta, need to be pretty severe to get to the levels we saw in summer 2020 (which would still be far too high for some).

@PrincessNutNuts Where's your "off-ramp", as it doesn't appear you have one?

I’m not putting mine or my children’s life’s on hold any longer, nor allowing them to miss out on things. Life is too short.

Yes, I’m assuming I’ll get it at some point if I haven’t already had it without realising. DD is 2.5 and at nursery so obviously surrounded by other unvaccinated children, plenty of whom will have older siblings at primary schools etc. Any bugs we get in this house come through her and I don’t think it’s unrealistic to think covid could easily spread in a nursery setting. It’s also on the same site as a secondary school and a lot of the kids have parents who are teachers there, I am actually surprised they haven’t already had a case.

I'm a teacher and have 2 dcs at secondary school. We've all had it now - I caught it from a child in my class - and when I have no choice to be exposed every day at work I'm not going to let it control other areas of my life any more.
We go to cafes, pubs and restaurants, see friends and have been to the cinema and to a festival in the summer. I still wear a mask in confined spaces or when asked to, and use sanitiser in shops etc., and we all do LFTs twice a week and when we're seeing my mum or dh's parents. To me, that's enough. My dcs have had nearly 2 years of their childhood disrupted and enough is enough.

Pressure on the NHS impacts everyone. If there aren’t enough surgery beds for us all because lots of people need surgery for non-contagious things, waiting lists get longer. If A&E is bursting at the seams, then that affects me too if I need it. If all the ICU beds are full and I need one, then it’s not much consolation to me if many of them are full with people with non-contagious conditions - there still wouldn’t be a bed free for me.

Indeed, In fact, if we REALLY cared about the NHS and waiting lists, we'd ban Christmas this year, even if Covid wasn't an issue. Think of all the avoided visits to A&E after drunken Christmas parties, the pressure on mental health teams with increased suicide attempts, the rise in domestic violence over the season, all the over indulgence leading trigger or worsening a whole range of health conditions.

Care about the NHS? Ban Christmas this year!

I get pretty annoyed at the concept that "it's not hard" "it's common sense" for all to be wearing masks or limiting their lives. Or it's "selfish if they don't". Nobody knows anyone else's circumstances or issues if people are better mentally for not doing those things then it's not for others to judge just as it works the same way around for those who choose to take those measures.

As for the it makes a difference to do these things and it's simple then I suggest looking at Scotland case rate from August until now. We have many of those measures in place and it didn't stop very high peaks even now when it's settled it's still over 300/100,000 population rate.

It comes down to personal acceptance of risk. If you are not happy being in a space with others then put on a higher grade protection mask. As time spent in a enclosed space with poor ventilation even with people wearing cloth masks and surgical masks allows enough virus build up to infect and virus particle size for delta required can pass through a cloth mask or the gaps.

But at some point everyone will need to learn to live with it. Some already have and others still can't. As for re-infection rates the data is showing if people had alpha or delta then it's currently unlikely original variant and then delta it can but its still a low percentage. Vaccination after having infection is also showing good protection results of 95% from catching it. So if people get it after vaccination then have a booster it might help quite a bit.

Lifestyle is only one contributor to the kind of health issues that end up in hospital.

The biggest factors are age and genetics - which people can't do anything about.

And accidents - which can happen to the fittest people. We've had three broken bones at park run in the last month or so. Elbow, wrist and ankle.

I accepted that in spring 2020. DP is a doctor, so I assumed she’d bring it home from work at some point. She did catch it this summer - but either I didn’t catch it, or I was asymptomatic.

At the beginning of the pandemic, I was scared waiting for the ‘when’ and was taking plenty of precautions. DP was stripping in the porch when she got home from work, for example. Now I just accept that I’m likely to get it, may be ill for a while, and will more than likely make a full recovery. It doesn’t worry me enough to put my life on hold.

Park run clearly needs to be banned for all the unnecessary pressure it seems to be putting on the NHS! People should be cautious and choose safer ways to exercise....

It may be the one of those virus that everyone get it soon or later, but definitely better to be later. So I am not accepting the thought of we all get it anyway so get it over with approach.
So much studies are being done. I've just heard about new findings re long covid, and genetics behind who are more likely to be seriously ill, on the news. New meds are being developed.
So, longer you can avoid it, the better.

We have been extremely careful throughout. Continued wearing masks. No mixing indoors etc.

I still caught it. The likely place was my gp surgery. Its nasty. I dont want it again. So we will continue being careful. Doesn't mean our lives are on hold. We've got used to it.

I worry that the fuck it attitude some now have will destroy the NHS though. Family members have already suffered through operations and treatment being cancelled. Its staggeringly selfish for people to oppose small restrictions that can help keep things under control.

@Iloveallofthem

Yep.

Given by the amount of selfish twats about in the community.

We were in Tesco's today. Loads of people walking around coughing away. Not wearing masks, not covering their mouths when they coughed and seemingly not giving a shit they were spreading around their germs.

Okay. It's nearly November. It's flu and virus season almost in full swing but fuck me, people are fucking selfish.

Likelihood it isn't Covid. But there is a chance it is.

ONS today reports one in 50 people in England currently have the Covid virus.

Why oh why are people so fucking selfish.

Okay. Choose not to wear a mask or whatever , but have the decency to at least cover your mouth rather than spread your germs about.

I loathe people as on the whole most are just spectacularly selfish.

The word selfish used 4 times in one post.

@Warhertisuff

Park run clearly needs to be banned for all the unnecessary pressure it seems to be putting on the NHS! People should be cautious and choose safer ways to exercise....

During the madness of lockdown 1, someone on my town’s Facebook page was repeatedly complaining about “selfish joggers everywhere” and telling people they should stay inside and stick to running up and down the stairs if they wanted to exercise.

She was also incensed about cyclists tracking the virus into town on their bike tyres. I hope she’s doing okay now…

It's always been when and no one has tried to cover that up
The lockdown was just to prevent overwhelming the hospitals

Me and DH have it at the moment and I do feel that most people are going to get it in the next couple of months. Cases are high in my area (south west)

@Willyoujustbequiet proving my previous post to a tee...... And yes transmission in healthcare settings is known and can be high you know the place with masks all the time, restricted numbers, sanitising frequently, aims at ventilation. Kind of shows that it's not able to be contained if healthcare settings then actually the controls in day to day life cannot contain a highly infectious virus don't you think?!

Go look at Scotlands numbers from August! We still have masks (including all day in classrooms for secondary), still have check in, have vaccine passports, limits on services such as libraries, some swimming pools, school trips and we still have working at home directive from the SG......our numbers still went sky high and are still high now (use rate of population).