What does cancelling Christmas actually mean?

[User135644]

A lot of talk and fear now that Christmas is going to be screwed again with this new variant causing a lot of fear and panic.

What does that actually mean though in practice? Christmas to me is spending time with family and i'll be doing that regardless. They aren't going to stop people visiting relatives this year (at least not locally).

@HesterShaw1

People dying of a contagious virus - especially if they WANTED the contact - is not akin to them being "killed". Killing implies some kind of intent.

Everyone who has ever died of a contagious illness in history caught it from someone else.

Don't try and apply logic, the don't kill grandma brigade cope badly with it.

@Naughtynovembertree

But selfishly I'm happy for a January lock down so we can hunker down again and avoid dark nights etc.

How lovely. You presumably don't have work to attend in person

@Fairylights25

Your father is running the risk of losing you both, why is one lunch more important than that? I understand your mum is ill, but she may also be at risk. I think WW3 is probably preferable to a new year spent in an ICU so I would go with that option. Get your dp to back you up all the way or even your dr to put it into writing why your condition is so serious with covid.

You should not have to do this, a loving parent would put your well being first NotMyCat

Thankfully the press conference today has helped me out massively as family watch them. I've kicked off again and now nobody is really speaking to me but I'll be home for the day (and alone as per last year but.. it is what it is)

@JunoMcDuff

If we have restrictions that mean we cannot travel at Christmas it would be an absolute disaster for us:

• we're living in 1 room currently (master bedroom) with no room for a tree or decorations.
• we do not have a functioning kitchen (campstove and microwave) so Christmas dinner would be spag bol
• at Christmas we won't have any heating as the central heating system is being upgraded.

We're supposed to be traveling to my mum's but restrictions would stop that.

Sounds like your home will be uninhabitable over Christmas. In all previous lockdowns that made it permissible to move into another household temporarily so you can still stay with your DM over Christmas and stay within the rules if there is a lockdown. Same would apply if you had arranged to stay in a hotel.

No chance am I going to follow any restrictions they might try to put in place. Already had our Xmas cancelled last Xmas, no way will we accept it happening again.

I understand it to mean that there would be restrictions on household mixing. So, a lot of people not having their usual family get togethers etc.

@Naughtynovembertree

But selfishly I'm happy for a January lock down so we can hunker down again and avoid dark nights etc.

So no job to go to? No kids in school? No vulnerable extended family? Aren't you lucky

Last Xmas we had my family on Xmas day 4 households then drove 90 miles on Boxing Day to see my in-laws no one batted an eyelid let alone reported us. It was my husbands Nans last Xmas unbeknown to us at the time, she died late Jan very unexpectedly and from nothing to do with covid, she had her one and only Xmas with her then 4 month old great grandchild and to me that (and the photo we have of them together) was worth breaking any rule for and I would do it again In a heartbeat, there hasn’t been a week throughout this whole thing where I haven’t seen my parents and I don’t regret it one bit.

@HunterHearstHelmsley @PriamFarrl "In areas in tiers one, two and three Christmas bubbles will no longer be across five days. Instead, three households coming together will now only be allowed on Christmas Day.

People in these tiers are also being asked to stay local. They will not be allowed to host people who live in a tier four area."

One son was in a tier 4 area so not allowed to visit us in tier 3. Our other son lives 100 miles away in another tier 3 area (2 hours drive on a good run) and doesn't have a car. We were only allowed to spend one day with him and that was bending the rules a bit. He would otherwise have been on his own and his mental health was already suffering! This was not the Christmas Boris had promised.

All these comments about refusing to obey rules if they are imposed is utterly bizarre. This government doesn’t want any restrictions, quite obviously. They will only do it if the science on the new variant and its infectiousness/vaccine escape is so dire that there is just no choice. Unless we all think it’s absolutely fine for a variant to kill thousands of people - not just from covid but from all the normal things that they then won’t be able to get treatment for as the hospitals overflow? How on earth is Christmas dinner with your family worth exposing not just them, but the rest of us that your illness and virus spread will impact, worth that?

@Rose40Berry

All these comments about refusing to obey rules if they are imposed is utterly bizarre. This government doesn’t want any restrictions, quite obviously. They will only do it if the science on the new variant and its infectiousness/vaccine escape is so dire that there is just no choice. Unless we all think it’s absolutely fine for a variant to kill thousands of people - not just from covid but from all the normal things that they then won’t be able to get treatment for as the hospitals overflow? How on earth is Christmas dinner with your family worth exposing not just them, but the rest of us that your illness and virus spread will impact, worth that?

Exactly.
I don't understand this mentality at all.
Lot of people (including my friend) lost family members as a direct result of Christmas Day mixing - I can't understand wanting to take that risk, if it is advised against.

Even if there are rules in place how many will actually adhere to them I wonder?

I can almost hear the curtain twitching covid police rubbing their hands together in glee.

How on earth is Christmas dinner with your family worth exposing not just them, but the rest of us that your illness and virus spread will impact, worth that?

Because some of them won't be here next Christmas, covid or not. That's why. And because my responsibility to my family trumps my responsibility to the rest of the country. Also everyone here is triple jabbed, AND we've all had covid earlier this year. Enough is enough.

@PurplePinecone

No chance am I going to follow any restrictions they might try to put in place. Already had our Xmas cancelled last Xmas, no way will we accept it happening again.

Well if you get covid and need a hospital good luck getting a bed when hospitals are full. Enjoy the turkey and trimmings

But the whole point is that there is zero chance of this government, politically, introducing restrictions like that unless being triple jabbed and/or previously infected won’t be enough. Because they do not want any restrictions and know it’s bad for them politically. So by definition, those things won’t protect you, your family, or the rest of us in that scenario. Unless you are self sufficient and live on a self contained island, you do depend on the rest of us I’m afraid, and you have a responsibility to us too - it’s my brother, my dad, who are doctors and will have to put their own lives at risk in caring for and treating you on a covid ward, or their colleagues. And it’s the rest of us who will be impacted by you spreading the virus further so it reaches us, or by not being able to have medical care for other conditions because you’re in a hospital bed with covid. Are you going to sign a form saying that you won’t go to hospital or ask for medical care if you get covid? I doubt it.

I don't understand this mentality at all.
Lot of people (including my friend) lost family members as a direct result of Christmas Day mixing - I can't understand wanting to take that risk, if it is advised against.

Surely you must realise that this will be the last Christmas for some people and they will want to spend it with their families.

I have elderly family and the invitation to spend Christmas with us regardless of ‘the rules’, the choice will be theirs.

I'm spending Christmas alone, happily. I've declined the vaccine (and flu jabs) had Covid 2020. I'll see my AC GC and GGC before then as they all live more than 100 miles away and more or less the same from each other.

How on earth is Christmas dinner with your family worth exposing not just them, but the rest of us that your illness and virus spread will impact, worth that

Are you aware that there are other ways to die that aren't covid? Can you guarantee that everyone will make it to next Christmas? Blows my mind that people are quite happy hiding from life, from family and friends, for fear of this one particular virus and yet are confident that nothing else will happen to anyone in the meantime. As long as nobody caught covid that's all that matters is it?

I completely agree @QueenofKattegat. I believe that if an extra terrestrial landed on earth now they would think no one has ever died before covid.

Ridiculous isn't it. I'm so sad that my great aunt isn't going to be with us this Christmas, just so sad. She was too afraid last year and now she's dead of cancer. Not covid though, so that's the main thing.

Everyone saying they are triple jabbed so they are fine...

The worry is that this is vaccine resistant if that is true it means IT DOESNT MATTER HOW JABBED YOU ARE.

The worry is that this is vaccine resistant if that is true it means IT DOESNT MATTER HOW JABBED YOU ARE.

No it doesn’t. ‘Vaccine resistant’ isn’t like an on/off thing where it either works or it does nothing. The precious ‘vaccine resistant’ variants meant that vaccines only partly helped against infection, but did a lot to protect against getting severely ill.

Last year, my elderly DM spent Christmas Day alone. My DSis and her DP (who had a nervous breakdown due to Covid) spent Christmas Day alone. My DP and I spent Christmas Day together. This year, we'll be doing exactly what we as a family want to do irrespective of any 'restrictions' they want to bring in. If I'm not at 'your' house what I do does not affect 'you' in any way shape or form. We'll all LFT before we go to DM and that's good enough for us.

Are you aware that there are other ways to die that aren't covid?

I honestly think this hasn't occurred to some people.

The worry is that this is vaccine resistant if that is true it means IT DOESNT MATTER HOW JABBED YOU ARE.

The idea that it would be totally vaccine resistant doesn't seem widespread. There may be erosion of protection. We' don't know yet how much