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 ?

@FabriqueBelgique This is an excellent point - I remember joking before all this that I wish it was more acceptable to wear a balaclava in public as my nose gets so cold and red in winter. So if nothing else we’ll have warm faces!

Masks are rarely enforced, maybe in a few non essential shops but they are usually so non essential that no one shops in them anyway, they are only still there because they grabbed the furlough money

I’m just absolutely astonished that anyone believed Boris when he said restrictions were ‘over’, freedom day and all that nonsense.

Also astonished that people on this thread have said they would rather die than wear a mask and take the odd PCR test - do you people really, really mean that?

So many posts on this thread utterly depress me and demonstrate how hard it will be for us to get out of this shitshow! If this generation had been alive in WW2, we would all be speaking German

Which generation would that be? The one who have lived through two or three recessions, a financial crash, the febrile post 9/11 world, Brexit, knowing they'll never be able to afford to buy their own home, a pandemic, and have climate change to look forward to (plus the after effects of a global health crisis)? That completely weak and not at all resilient generation?

Also full marks for predictability, invoking WW2. Never heard that done before

Also astonished that people on this thread have said they would rather die than wear a mask and take the odd PCR test - do you people really, really mean that?

I think it's more the reality of restrictions (with very likely more to come) and this seeming neverending than the restrictions themselves that are causing people to think like this.

I was very unwell this time last year. My mental health was completely fucked - I was self harming for the first time since I was a teenager and was on antidepressants for the first time in decades. I really, really was losing the plot. I've been much better recently but the news over the last couple of days has made me feel very antsy again. I can feel it coming back and I genuinely don't know if I can cope with another round of either restrictions or a MH crisis. Like I say, it's not the restrictions themselves, but what they mean, if that makes sense.

It is annoying. But it’s only public transport and shops. I spend loads of time on public transport so am personally affected but I get the impression that most people on MN drive everywhere and do online shopping so this probably won’t make a difference for many on this forum. Plus we’ve had months of other threads talking about the UK as being the laughing stock of Europe whilst our fellow Europeans are all diligently wearing masks, even outdoors. That ended well!
I don’t mind wearing a masks in shops and on transport, but I think the goal of this directive is the try to shift the responsibility to the people and make us worried about the winter and less likely to take risks.

@LakieLady

*Blame the anti vaxxers.

Two members of DH's anti vax family now have covid *

Anit-vax DIL hasn't had Covid, but she did have "a very bad cold", that gave her a temp of over 39, a hacking cough and sent her to her bed for a week. DGD had to go and stay with her dad, as DIL was too ill to look after her.

But it wasn't Covid, oh no.

I'm double vaxxed and I still caught Covid, as have many vaxxed people. So I'm not sure what your point is.

I wear a mask all day at work, have had Covid and am vaccinated and boosted. I absolutely hate wearing a mask and will actively avoid going to places where I have to so it’s back to Ocado and Amazon for me.
It’s not a stark choice between a mask or dying, the vast majority of people survive covid and most masks that I see worn outside work are virtually useless, thin layers of fabric, gaping at the sides, unwashed and worn outside in the rain.
I think the only reason the PM reinstated them is because it’s a relatively easy thing for him to do and will make him look decisive and please those who want restrictions. After all the only thing we know about this new variant is that it doesn’t appear to be making people very ill.

@Undisclosedlocation

You have every right to be fed up op. I suspect we all are

I hate masks and given the cases in England verses the rest of the uk, it would appear they do little to drive down numbers. That said, I will wear one.

The underlying thing for me is it feels like the slippery slope back to last winter. There is nothing we can do about it and if everything shuts again, we won’t have any choice but to comply in the main.

It’s shit and you’ve been given a hard time for expressing a perfectly reasonable frustration. Not sure that us mere mortals can influence things though

Yes, this is how I feel. And there's nothing wrong with feeling frustrated about the situation.

As a family, we've continued to wear masks and socially distance from strangers and I quite like it. We've just returned from Spain where mask-wearing is mandatory in enclosed public places and on the odd occasion one in our party forgot they were reminded (usually very loudly) by a member of the public. As soon as we got on our Ryanair flight home and were reminded about compulsory masks on board, a lot of English-speaking passengers removed theirs - pathetic. I'm pleased the government has acted swiftly this time and am keeping fingers crossed for a family Christmas - perhaps those determined to ditch the mask wearing could socially distance themselves from those of us wearing them?

Not much of a change in Scotland we were told they would still be needed.

@mincepiesallround

I’m just absolutely astonished that anyone believed Boris when he said restrictions were ‘over’, freedom day and all that nonsense.

Also astonished that people on this thread have said they would rather die than wear a mask and take the odd PCR test - do you people really, really mean that?

Do you really believe a mask would save your life? The only randomised control study showed they are useless. My best protection against covid is vaccination and the much better treatments available (that barely get a mention for some reason)

Really really fed up. YANBU.

And worried about the kids (teens). Is this going to go on and on? Dd due to go on overseas trip next year, cancelled last Year. Huge thing for her and we had saved forever.

Fearful school will close again. Awful consequences for so many.

@Ireallydontcare55

It will pass yeah, until the next variant in a few months’ time.

Exactly. When will it end. We have to learn to LIVE with it

Now I’m an idiot, dim and a toddler who needs to shut up😂😂😂 and you’re what exactly? All this abuse because I had a different viewpoint to you. Spiteful, vicious bunch

Masks (with the exception of surgical masks) do bugger all except make you feel like you are living in a pandemic. That's the point I suppose because without all the media coverage and mask wearing how many of us would have noticed anything beyond the fact that there was a bad flu going around. There's a reason SAGE is full of behavioural scientists. I won't be wearing a mask again I refuse to be a part of this.

@Ireallydontcare55

What worries me is how willingly people have accepted the idea of wearing a mask for the rest of their life potentially

Masks don't bother me. They help keep me safe.

The Chinese have been wearing masks for years!

The restrictions just give the feeling of being on a Hamster Wheel.

The Netherlands has 85% of adults vaxxed yet is experiencing a surge. Face masks & lockdowns etc

London is the lowest vaxxed area of the UK & cases have been comparatively lower recently.

Natural immunity kicking in? Hope so.

@Ireallydontcare55

Now I’m an idiot, dim and a toddler who needs to shut up😂😂😂 and you’re what exactly? All this abuse because I had a different viewpoint to you. Spiteful, vicious bunch

Op don’t worry lots of insults around lately

I initially thought fine re briefing but it is difficult not to feel well what next and do we just keep doing this

I’m in London and tbh masks are still around on PT and in some shops so not much change but still feels worse than it did

Anyway I agree re insults etc

@Aishah231

Masks (with the exception of surgical masks) do bugger all except make you feel like you are living in a pandemic. That's the point I suppose because without all the media coverage and mask wearing how many of us would have noticed anything beyond the fact that there was a bad flu going around. There's a reason SAGE is full of behavioural scientists. I won't be wearing a mask again I refuse to be a part of this.

Well how did you think people realised there was a pandemic going on? People weren’t wearing masks before the pandemic were they, what a ridiculous comment lol

if it isn’t the ‘omnicron’ variant then it’ll be something else.

Yes, that's so. When vaccinations first came out I hoped we could vaccinate all the more vulnerable people and that would be good enough; and then I hoped if we vaccinated most of the population it would give herd immunity. But that's not how things worked out. The protection isn't total and it doesn't last forever, and we can't vaccinate enough people to stop new variants popping up, they spread like wildfire and some of them are going to be dangerous. For a while now I'd been wondering when we'd hear about another one.

it’s the fact that we were told restrictions were over and that we could get on with our lives.

I'm afraid that did always strike me as wishful thinking. Restrictions were over for a while, and we could (more or less) get on with our lives for a while. But not forever. Boris Johnson does have form for telling us want we want to hear and keeping quiet about the downside.

What’s the point of having 3 vaccines?

Well, for me the point is (a) to take some of pressure off the NHS and (b) to decrease the risk that I will catch covid or spread it in the next few months and (c) to decrease the risk that if I do catch covid then I will get very ill or die.

You’re far more likely to die of cancer or Alzheimer’s.

If vaccinated, yes. But at age 60 without a vaccine I am much more likely to die of covid in the next few months than either cancer or Alzheimers.

I hate wearing masks because I can't find a way not to get blinded by my glasses steaming up - and if I take my glasses off I can't see properly either. It affects my life quite severely in some ways. But the alternative is worse. And these days I wear proper FFP2 not just a surgical or cloth mask. They are a bit safer.

I'm with you that this is no fun at all

The restrictions don’t bother me at all. There are much worse things in life, these are inconveniences but I’ve accepted Covid and all it’s future variants are here to stay now. Hubby is a surgeon and wears a mask all day every day so I find people complaining about wearing them to a shop a bit bratty tbh. None of this is ideal and none of us wanted it but I do feel people need to take a breath and toughen up a bit. I have watched 2 very healthy (young) friends go through long covid, I’ve cried with them and watched them deteriorate, yes you’re more likely to die of cancer as you state but if I could stick on a mask etc to stop them going through that too I would. People just need to stop being so wimpy about all this

@Aishah231

Bad flu doesn't kill 144,000 over 18 months

@Ireallydontcare55

It will pass yeah, until the next variant in a few months’ time.

This is correct but ......science.

Given time we will all have a drug available that will stop patients developing disease when they catch the virus/better vaccines. In the meantime the fewer people that contract the virus the better because it mutates when in the human body.

Restrictions and advice brings time and it is what is going on in the background with regards to research and the time for that, that is vital here.