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 totally agree op

Sick of it 😫

I cannot believe the amount of people moaning about a measly mask which is there to help stop a variant, which for all we know, could kill our children. Unbelievable.

@Toomuchtoodo

I haven’t stopped wearing a mask in public because the message has always been that we should indoors in public.

My glasses steam up so I buy anti fog wipes. It is a very minor inconvenience to keep others safe and help to stop the spread.

Wearing a mask isn't achieving that. Newsflash

@AmaryllisNightAndDay

very sensible post

@Whathefisgoingon

I cannot believe the amount of people moaning about a measly mask which is there to help stop a variant, which for all we know, could kill our children. Unbelievable.

So dramatic

the fewer people that contract the virus the better because it mutates when in the human body

Whilst on face value this may be true, with 8 billion of us, lots living in urban centres, this is wishful thinking surely?

@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

I know right throwing names about ... I agree with you op

Wearing a mask isn't achieving that. Newsflash

Newsflash - very few people are wearing masks - so what did you expect? - HTH

I never took much notice of Boris but did of the scientists . Seem to remember them saying the longer it went on the weaker the variants would get ....

We have to learn to LIVE with it

I am learning to live with it. Getting vaccinated, wearing my mask, keeping a bit of distance, going out more when the risk is low and less when the risk is high.

Acting exactly the same as before Covid and never mind how many people get very ill and die (possibly including me!) isn't a way of life that I'd be happy with either.

What I find exhausting is weighing up the risk of everyday life. I can't just decide "X is safe enough, Y is too risky" and learn to live with doing X not Y because the risk changes all the time.

So what would "learning to live with it" look like to you?

@Billandben444

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?

Or perhaps you could SD from people like me who can't wear one and gets hurled abuse for not

@Whathefisgoingon

I cannot believe the amount of people moaning about a measly mask which is there to help stop a variant, which for all we know, could kill our children. Unbelievable.

Makes a change from killing granny, I suppose.

For heaven's sake.

@Recycledblonde

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.

👏

@Amazingblossoms

I'm with you OP

It's shit

And my autistic son who can't wear a mask (don't @ me that he can, you have no idea) will get even more crap from the nasty little shits at school who can't empathise with anyone who's even just a little bit different.

Hugs to you - my 12 yo daughter is the same, not autistic but she has panic attacks if her face is covered. The school have been excellent to be fair and have been ok with her not wearing one, but other kids make comments 😢

Seem to remember them saying the longer it went on the weaker the variants would get ....

But that was only half the story. Yes the scientists said variants usually get weaker in the end, but stronger variants could come first and there was no telling how long it would take for weaker ones (more spready, less dangerous) to take over. Many people seemed to repeat the good news part but not the bad news.

@TheVampiresWife

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.

This is how I feel ..... my mental health is taking a battering as the feeling of doom that it is never going to stop you have said it perfectly ... I don't care SD from people and taking pcr tests etc and I have had all 3 vaccines but not sure I can take much more of this was doing so well and today I don't even want to get out of bed

I think your answer OP is that YANBU to be utterly fed up and dreading the restrictions returning.

However YABU to post about it on the Covid board, which is where the anxious hang out, along with the people who will happily go along with whatever restrictions the government decide to put in without questions.

@screwcovid Hardly. We know nothing right now.

@leafygarden42

Wearing a mask isn't achieving that. Newsflash

Newsflash - very few people are wearing masks - so what did you expect? - HTH

Not here, but they are in Europe, and they aren't stopping the spread.

Masks don't do much I'm afraid

@sst1234

You are not wrong OP. Many many many people among us have been taken in by an irrational fear and almost enjoy having restrictions placed upon them because it makes them feel safe. They don’t mind being infantilized. The problem is these people really struggle to think for themselves. They struggle to see beyond the headlines. Their enthusiasm for lockdowns and other restrictions is doing untold damage to people’s lives. It is literally destroying peoples health - yes not Covid but the restrictions will kill more people in the long run. Young peoples futures are being put on the line, people’s mental health is being sacrificed. But hey, what does that all matter, when you can wear a mask to feel all warm and fuzzy inside and then go into full lockdown because you can work from home or watch movies all day with the kids on furlough.

@sst1234 very well said. a good friend's cousin and the young son of a colleague commit suicide this year....very very sad.

Historically, pandemics have generally lasted about 3 years. There are lots of viral mutations during that time. Eventually the virus mutates to become less deadly (it's better for a virus if it doesn't kill its host) and becomes endemic.

So this winter we'll probably still see restrictions come and go. We'll see new variants. It's not a surprise. Gradually the variants will likely become less deadly (and more transmissible) - there are already suggestions that the omicron variant is a milder illness than delta.

By this time next year we may well be seeing a milder variant becoming endemic, at which point we start to live with it. But we're not quite there yet, so we still have restrictions in place, because otherwise hospitals risk being overwhelmed.

anxiouswaiting
I never stopped, I'm a community nurse and so glad to be having masks still when I visit peoples homes.

Having witnessed people dying of covid, families suffering, long term effects of covid etc I really can't get worked up about having to wear a mask when I go shopping.

Yes the vaccine helps reduce covid effects, but like all vaccines it is not 100% effective - I'd still have it if it were 20% effective because lives should be valued and protected where we can. I don't feel mask wearing is such a hardship to help protect the vulnerable. It isn't enjoyable wearing a mask of course, but the thought of unknowingly infecting someone when it could have been prevented is not a burden I wish to have on me.

I do understand people not wanting to be policed and told how to live their lives and I respect those views and choices even if I don't agree with them. Therefore I would hope people respect mine too - I've been sniggered and whispered about in the supermarket for wearing my mask, had people tell me I am a brainwashed sheep. It isn't necessary.

I feel I have a moral duty to those who could become very unwell and if that means wearing a mask which isnt really very invasive I don't feel it is a high price to pay.

(Of course I also know some CAN'T wear a mask and totally respect that too)

Great post. @sst1234 why don’t you come back and read this the next time you feel the need to bleat about “lockdown lovers” and “hysterical mask enthusiasts”.

@screwcovid I understand, I really do.

I'm double jabbed, I'm having my booster this week, I've been scrupulous about SD, I've stayed home, I've done it all. I'm not anti-restrictions and I understand why we need them when things are bad (I'm on RA meds which make me immunosuppressed so I fully understand the need for caution).

However. That doesn't mean to say I can cope with it all. I can't. And it's not a case of 'I won't do what you tell me'/foot stomping. The isolation and the constant worry about my health, the abuse for not being able to wear a mask, the uncertainty, the inability to make future plans, all of it is what messed me up last year. I don't have friends or family to chat to (apart from DH and DD, but I don't want to burden them). It was very difficult to get help last year. The thought of it all happening again - and that this may be it, every winter - is just crushing. I'm not sure I can cope with this indefinitely.

And then you have people on here going on about how weak and bratty those who don't just merrily crack on are, and how 'if this generation were alive in WW2 we'd all be speaking German'. A total and complete lack of empathy.

So yes, I absolutely get it.

@Thingstodotoday

anxiouswaiting I never stopped, I'm a community nurse and so glad to be having masks still when I visit peoples homes.

Having witnessed people dying of covid, families suffering, long term effects of covid etc I really can't get worked up about having to wear a mask when I go shopping.

Yes the vaccine helps reduce covid effects, but like all vaccines it is not 100% effective - I'd still have it if it were 20% effective because lives should be valued and protected where we can. I don't feel mask wearing is such a hardship to help protect the vulnerable. It isn't enjoyable wearing a mask of course, but the thought of unknowingly infecting someone when it could have been prevented is not a burden I wish to have on me.

I do understand people not wanting to be policed and told how to live their lives and I respect those views and choices even if I don't agree with them. Therefore I would hope people respect mine too - I've been sniggered and whispered about in the supermarket for wearing my mask, had people tell me I am a brainwashed sheep. It isn't necessary.

I feel I have a moral duty to those who could become very unwell and if that means wearing a mask which isnt really very invasive I don't feel it is a high price to pay.

(Of course I also know some CAN'T wear a mask and totally respect that too)

Great post. @sst1234 why don’t you come back and read this the next time you feel the need to bleat about “lockdown lovers” and “hysterical mask enthusiasts”.

Thank you ... and you should never br mocked it is about a choice ...... people are so dumb