Some restrictions back, fed up

[Ireallydontcare55]

Just heard the news about masks returning as of next week and changes to travelling rules.

It’s not so much that wearing a mask is inconvenient, it’s the fact that we were told restrictions were over and that we could get on with our lives.

I know I will get shot down for this post, but if it isn’t the ‘omnicron’ variant then it’ll be something else.

I’m sure many people will be in favour of tighter restrictions ‘until numbers drop’. And then what? In a few months’ time when the latest variant is out, will we have to do the same again?
“it’s just for a few weeks/months”

This isn’t going away. What’s the point of having 3 vaccines?

I’m fed up with it all, are people really prepared to do this for the foreseeable future ?

I'm happy to wear a mask, I do it day in day out at work. However what I won't do is be stopped seeing my family and friends when we're all double and triple jabbed, the government have repeatedly set out restrictions and not followed them themselves, so yes I'll wear a mask but I won't be complying with any restrictions on seeing my family

@Ireallydontcare55

Why would you die of Covid ? You’re far more likely to die of cancer or Alzheimer’s.

I've got cancer but am living with it. If someone gave me Covid, I would die from it

Those of you slating the op I hope you didn't have to watch a parent decline rapidly with dementia and be deprived of contact due to covid.
And I'm also likely going to be deprived of giving my ds a great 21st because of this bastard virus.

Do you think people in other countries are all living a 'joyless' and purely functional life, simply because they have to wear a mask?

@EileenGC Yes, essentially, I do. Well perhaps not entirely joyless, but I feel strongly that masks diminish most communal experiences, particularly from a child’s perspective - verbal communication is hampered (I have sinus issues and a naturally quiet voice and struggle to communicate effectively in a mask), lack of visual feedback from masked adults during activities etc. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that many of the settings I’ve been in with the lowest amounts of voluntary mask wearing since July have been where lots of young children are present. As soon as the rules changed, masks were immediately and completely ditched by parents at all of the regular classes DD attends, because most instinctively didn’t want to be wearing them around their kids.

I also believe that masks make most public interactions much more stilted and perfunctory - for example during the open days I mentioned the often visibly nervous kids were making presentations to a sea of masked faces - no encouraging smiles etc. I was chatting to our local market stallholders just this morning, and they were saying that they had lost a lot of their normal, small talk and everyday interactions with their customers while masks were mandated - same with the staff I’ve chatted to at the supermarket etc. Masks represent a psychological, as well as a physical, barrier between people, which is why they’re regarded as such as useful visual symbol that we are in a pandemic and should be wary of others.

@Wormsarecool

I work in a hospital and wear a mask all day every day anyway. I’ve never stopped wearing them in shops etc so can’t get too worked up by the new measures.

This too will pass x

But that’s just exactly it. No it won’t pass. Not ever!

It's okay to be upset, angry, and frustrated about our current reality.

So true. I am all those things.

I had just planned to maybe see my family at Easter. Would be the first time in three years by then. New variant has probably put paid to that. It is devastating. One relative has already not lived long enough for me to make it.

But I find it important to recognise that I am railing against the universe, not against any government / individual / institution.

No-one likes covid. It is a truly hideous situation we are all in.

Totally with you, OP. People sniping at those of us who hate it can do one. Wearing masks is mandatory, liking it isn't.

Yanbu

My 19 year old is heartbroken. She’s been dealing with depression for years, original lockdown was a rock bottom for her.

She’s now built her life back up and loves her hospitality job and plans to go and work in Canada next year, if both of these things are taken away from her I don’t know how she’ll cope.

Nope. I am done,

I had the two vaccines and just had the booster last week. I will continue to sanitise hands regularly and will take boosters/vaccines as recommended if new ones are needed, but that is it.

This virus is here to stay and we can't repeating the same nonsense over and over again somehow expecting a different outcome. Which is the definition of madness. And all that for a virus that the majority of people will survive anyway.

I will not comply with any lockdown or be told who I can socialise with and I also don't wear a mask because of a health condition.

There will always be another mutation. Enough is enough.

I also feel that, when mask-wearing is inevitably found to have been ineffective (as has been the case in much of Europe), the knee jerk response will always be the imposition of harsher measures, rather than the acceptance that most non pharmaceutical interventions are little more than theatre and can only ever provide marginal gains.

But that’s just exactly it. No it won’t pass. Not ever!

More than a little over dramatic choice of words don’t you think? Covid is here to stay certainly, but eventually it will be here in the same sense as flu or any other viral infection. That’s how endemic viruses work

So yes, this (in its current restrictive and problematic form) WILL pass

@Ireallydontcare55

Just heard the news about masks returning as of next week and changes to travelling rules.

It’s not so much that wearing a mask is inconvenient, it’s the fact that we were told restrictions were over and that we could get on with our lives.

I know I will get shot down for this post, but if it isn’t the ‘omnicron’ variant then it’ll be something else.

I’m sure many people will be in favour of tighter restrictions ‘until numbers drop’. And then what? In a few months’ time when the latest variant is out, will we have to do the same again?
“it’s just for a few weeks/months”

This isn’t going away. What’s the point of having 3 vaccines?

I’m fed up with it all, are people really prepared to do this for the foreseeable future ?

I agree with you, OP, and I am not prepared to do it.

I honestly have to wonder if long-term, holidays abroad and moving aboard just aren’t going to be a thing anymore. It simply won’t be the done thing or common.

@MiddayMass

I honestly have to wonder if long-term, holidays abroad and moving aboard just aren’t going to be a thing anymore. It simply won’t be the done thing or common.

Yayyyyyyy an even shittier existence for us all. Can't wait. Work all year to holiday on a packed English coast with shit weather and spend thousands to do it.

@Ireallydontcare55

Just heard the news about masks returning as of next week and changes to travelling rules.

It’s not so much that wearing a mask is inconvenient, it’s the fact that we were told restrictions were over and that we could get on with our lives.

I know I will get shot down for this post, but if it isn’t the ‘omnicron’ variant then it’ll be something else.

I’m sure many people will be in favour of tighter restrictions ‘until numbers drop’. And then what? In a few months’ time when the latest variant is out, will we have to do the same again?
“it’s just for a few weeks/months”

This isn’t going away. What’s the point of having 3 vaccines?

I’m fed up with it all, are people really prepared to do this for the foreseeable future ?

FFS. Do you an alternative that doesn't involve thousands of unnecessary deaths??

I'm not sure what they can do. I think it's the coms that have been all messed up.
It's long haul and whitty said this at the start. We should have been told we will be Surfing waves, with more and less restrictions as this goes on.

@Chloemol ‘most pandemics last for 4 years’
Funny that - I could have sworn at the beginning of this one everyone on MN positively knew that ‘pandemics last 2 years!’
I wonder if in another 1.5 years it will be ‘everyone knows pandemics last 6 years’

Agree with you @ElectraBlue I’ve had it, this will soon be nearly 2 years of this...am done ...didn’t see family for a very, very long time , had depression , lost my job ...I’m over with all this just totally sick to back teeth of it...and some revel in it! Agree with you OP am fed up ...

That's an interesting take @TempsPerdu and I guess shows why many people here seem to be so against them.

In my experience, there is none of that (nervousness, less small talk or interaction) in countries were masks were 100% compulsory from day one, and people just got on with them.

I think humans are extremely adaptable and in parts of the world where masks were non-negotiable, people didn't even think about how they could negatively affect their daily interactions or activities. They simply put a mask on and got on with life. That's how it's been in the schools, workplaces and businesses I'm involved in, no one gives it a second thought and we really are at 2019-levels of communication, despite the masks.

I hadn't stopped wearing a mask out. The only difference this will make to me is that some people will stop glaring at me now like my wearing a mask offends them. Mind you, these were probably the same people glaring at non mask wearers a few months back...

FFS. Do you an alternative that doesn't involve thousands of unnecessary deaths??

FFs. this line is so dead to me now.

There are unnecessary deaths every day

What about the lad young lad that was killed in lockdown because the schools had closed down and no one could monitor the fact his parents were killing him?

Totally agree OP.
Will not be wearing masks ever again in shops.
Will be seeing my friends and family when and where I choose. Never not seeing parents and sisters again.

The attitudes of all the freedom lovers who will just not put up with wearing masks anymore (as if they did) is exactly why we have our bozo of a PM. All so, very, utterly exceptional!

It’s so disheartening. I’ve never stopped wearing a mask in shops and I agree that the restrictions are needed until we know what we are dealing with but it doesn’t stop me from feeling, sad, worn down and wondering when this will ever end and how we’ll all cope if more restrictions are needed. The mistake was made when Boris said the removal of restrictions was irreversible, as that was an impossible promise. Let’s hope that it’s not as bad as the experts are worried it could be. I just want my pre covid life back.