If you are cancelling plans/think we should have another lockdown

[Maddymorphosis]

Would you be prepared to do the same next winter, and the one after that and so on?
Last December I heard a lot of "It's just one year"
People not seeing family for "just one Christmas".

Are you prepared to do it again, and going forward maybe every time there's a new variant in winter?

I dont think that's true @Ponoka7. As far as I zn see the government has brought in a few precautionary restrictions and measures (like asking people to lft regularly) whilst more data is gathered and the booster program is rolled out. Yeah it might be a slight over reaction but then - hurrah- masks off again. Better that then another massive underreaction and - oh dear - Christmas is cancelled and ICU are overflowing again.

I do think we need to learn how to live with this.

I am not doing as much this Christmas because I live alone and will be devastated if I gets positive between now and Christmas and then have to spend Christmas alone.

It’s been a hard couple of years - and really lonely. But the nhs can’t cope with large numbers of people coming down with this at the same - so we need to bolster the nhs and move on. Easier said I know😂

Im not cancelling anything “just in case”. Im carrying on like ive done for the past 18 months+.

Its time to live with this as its not going away. Sick to the back teeth of hearing about it.

I feel bloody miserable about it tbh, but for now I genuinely believe the pandemic is a real thing and not an entirely manageable government policy, so I'm still willing to make some compromises to contribute to reducing societal risk. I don't think I would support another actual lockdown, but for now that's not on the cards and plan B barely comes close. I'm happy to mask and test. I'm sad to be back to WFH but I can accept it.

As a single parent, no garden, in London, I cba with all the wide-eyed "it's just one day, you can just make Christmas magical at home, have a get-together in the garden round the fire pit like last year" crap on here. It's so easy to forget that covid has been different for everyone, even within a single country we've been under restrictions to varying levels (thinking particularly of those in the NW who seemed to be basically under lockdown forever) and what those restrictions meant to our households varied too. The tedious wartime comparisons are meaningless for the same reason.

The covid merry go round where there is no end in sight….

I have added to my plans not cancelled any, and decided now more than ever to give everyone around us the best time so that when January comes around we are ready for some 'quiet time' and decompress. I am happy to do some merry making now and enjoy the time we have.

We will be testing and do things safely, but we will be having fun! Lots of fun.

@Ponoka7

"Restrictions are not a choice or something anyone wants, if they are brought in then it's out of necessity"

Yet even the doctors in shanty towns in Cape Town have been saying that the patients don't need oxygen support and less are dying of the Omicron strain. We aren't getting the experts explaining why this strain means restrictions again. They are backing them because they didn't agree on them ending, not because of the new variant.

Actually they have expained why there are more restrictions (which are tbh very mild!)_

We know Omicron isn't as dangerous as delta.
However we also know it's much more conmtagious.

So because there will be many many more peope infected there will still a lot of people in hopsital. In proportion fewer of them but still a lot because that many poeple are infected. (hope this makes sense).
If omicron had been as contagious as delta, then we would have seen a reduction in the number of people in hopsital/on oxygen.

What we don't know yet is how much protection vaccines are giving us. In SA a lot of people ahve gained 'natural immunity' aka they have been infected so we don't know how that virus will behave in a population with less 'natural immunity' or more people vaccinated. We also don't know the difference between vaccines.
The only thing we know atm is that 2 doses of AZ dont protect you at all from getting symptomatic. 2 doses of Pfizer protects you alottle bit (30%) but havibg a booster helps a lot having symptomatic covid (above 70% for both vaccnes).

So why all the precautions? Because we don't kow.

It might well be that omicron with the two vaccines is closer to a cold and not a major issue.
It might be affecting younger people more.
It moght be quite bad if you only have vaccines to protect you atm.

We just don't know and for a change, our politicians seem to have taken the stance of 'better safe than sorry'

Doing the normal stuff we had planned at Christmas but all the people older than us are already dead.

Wow, amazing how people have been beaten into accepting one measly day with family on Xmas in exchange for having their lives restricted for the entire winter.

Nope. Life is for living. This is a virus which will continue to mutate until it eventually becomes like flu. Lockdowns don't work. What are they going to do - continue injecting us with chemicals and closing down society? It's beyond ludicrous.

No. I’m at a do on the 17th and that’s my priority not a Sunday roast on the 25th. Obviously people With big families will think differently I am sure.

“Wait for December 2022 and see if people are prepared to go a third Christmas without seeing anyone”

Most people are cancelling social plans, so office parties and such, so they still can have a Christmas with family.

I would rather not attend office parties and theatre trips at the minute, because there is a risk of catching and spreading the virus to elderly relatives, navies they might not be here next year.

Spending time with my family and keeping them safe is much more important than dicking around in a pub

I'm not mixing indoors for 2 weeks before we see our parents in their late 70s for Christmas. I've just got back from a distanced, outdoor mountain bike ride with friends but declined the indoor lunch afterwards. I can catch up with people and be sensible about not catching covid or passing it on to family. Personally yes I am giving up December, pre Christmas INDOOR events. Its not difficult or a big deal vs saving Christmas snd family.

@Maddymorphosis

That's exactly the point "I'd rather skip Christmas this year to see my family all healthy next year." But surely you said the same thing last December, so will that be 2 Christmases in a row now ? And will you say it again next year ?

yes yes and yes

If any of us get Covid over Christmas we will just have another weekend like we would if we have flu.

@ferneytorro

No. I’m at a do on the 17th and that’s my priority not a Sunday roast on the 25th. Obviously people With big families will think differently I am sure.

Exactly. Each of us spends our 'risk budget' (which will be of different sizes to start off with, depending on work, health, age and family circumstances) as we see fit.

For me, Christmas itself will be quiet, but I have spent budget on concerts and will spend again on seeing family after Christmas.

I’d rather cancel plans now, Olay it safer, and thus reduce the risk of another lockdown.

Yet even the doctors in shanty towns in Cape Town have been saying that the patients don't need oxygen support and less are dying of the Omicron strain

It’s hardly a like-for-like comparison, is it? Warm South Africa, plenty of outdoor space to meet in, a young population vs. Middle of winter, outdoor mixing difficult, aging population.

It might be OK. It might not. Better we assume the latter for the time being. It might be you needing a hospital bed - not for covid, but for the million and one other things that could happen to you or a loved one.

@Sowhatifiam

Yet even the doctors in shanty towns in Cape Town have been saying that the patients don't need oxygen support and less are dying of the Omicron strain

It’s hardly a like-for-like comparison, is it? Warm South Africa, plenty of outdoor space to meet in, a young population vs. Middle of winter, outdoor mixing difficult, aging population.

It might be OK. It might not. Better we assume the latter for the time being. It might be you needing a hospital bed - not for covid, but for the million and one other things that could happen to you or a loved one.

How long are you going to wait? And for how many variants? Do you think this is the last time the virus will mutate?

It must be awful to live with the amount of worry that some on this forum do

Any legal restrictions put in place, I will follow. I wear my mask in shops etc. Beyond that, I’m not changing anything.

I work in a pub today, it was packed, really the busiest Sunday for about 6 weeks. We've had lots of cancellations for xmas works parties - but those same people will still come to the pubs with their families.

so what is the point of telling people not to have xmas parties - we still had a full house today - same number of bodies inside

two staff are off work having PCR tests

multiply that by all the pubs in a town and its not difficult to work out whats going to happen

So pessimistic, @Maddymorphosis. Why do you think things are not getting better? From where I am , they most definitely are. I think things are going to be a bit rubbish for a while still, but they are already so much better, this time last year, virtually nobody was vaccinated. Try to be a little more positive.

So to answer the question, I think the question is daft, but no problem in hanging on a little longer, as we are going in the right direction, so wearing a mask to take care of others and avoiding travel this Christmas are a no brainer for me.

@lesenfantsdelesperance

So pessimistic, *@Maddymorphosis*. Why do you think things are not getting better? From where I am , they most definitely are. I think things are going to be a bit rubbish for a while still, but they are already so much better, this time last year, virtually nobody was vaccinated. Try to be a little more positive.

Economic growth slowed to virtually 0 last month. Hospitality sector is on its knees again - no staff or customers. Travel sectors also struggling, while public confidence is low. Childrens education still disrupted. I could go on. We really need to raise the bar and the dicey better than the hysterical shrieking about Covid that we are currently being subjected to.