If you’re trying to decide whether to go to a Christmas party

[AchillesLastStand]

Victoria Derbyshire on Twitter has shared that her triple vaccinated brother contracted omicron at a Christmas meal out. Out of 21 one of them 17 have now tested positive.

twitter.com/vicderbyshire/status/1469354766560026624

Imagine thousands of similar mini super-spreading events up and down the country this week and where that could lead.

I can't bear the thought of others denying themselves doing all the things that make life living to protect me (obviously I can only speak for myself and not all CEV)

People have never been asked to deny themselves things to protect CEV people. They have been asked to deny themselves things so that the NHS doesn’t get overwhelmed.

@SandrasAnnoyingFriend

What's the difference between cancelling all our plans to avoid a lockdown and being IN lockdown?

Financial support.

People cancelling plans in restaurants off their own backs causes businesses financial hardship as they will get no support from the government. Not only will they lose money from the loss of bookings, many will already have paid suppliers for food etc.

Lockdown would mean some financial support from the government.

I'm starting to feel that if it really is this infectious, then trying to stop the spread is going to be hard to the point of impossible and that maybe we should just accept this wave as a kind of force majeure, like an earthquake.

Without people spending money and businesses thriving you don't have an NHS.
You need a strong economy to make it all work .
The virus has made everything so much harder as restrictions are needed to stop the nhs being overwhelmed, but to close down economies completely is also really bad.
They are banking on the boosters and jabs working, it's all they have in the first lines of defense.
It is 'eggs all in one basket' now because the alternative is another lockdown and nobody wants that.
It's the final push to save Christmas etc
I hope it works. It may do?

To be perfectly honest I don’t quite understand why you wouldn’t just because of omicron.

We SAW what rates Delta stabilised at in July - November, when R flipped constantly between 0.8 and 1.2 and was actually remarkable stable, they were high (though it never actually peaked as high as some predicted). That wasn’t going anywhere. Omicron first wave is starting and will be bad in late December and Jan. Then it will stabilise more and as something that is more transmissible than Delta, presumably it was settle somewhere higher than we’ve been used to (so - higher than the 40k a day we were on for Delta).
It’s not like omicron will come and then by March everything will be fine and you can go to your party.

Much like Delta, we’re all going to get it, but probably get it much faster. Rates of omicron are probably lower now, even in London, than they will be in Feb and March. It’s hardly like anyway believes if we sit tight this bit will be over soon.

I’d happily go to a party but I probably wouldn’t have heavily socialising right before I saw elderly relatives. If I thought that by sacrificing everything for a few weeks it would make a difference I would, but this it will be high case numbers now indefinitely..

@Kokeshi123

I'm starting to feel that if it really is this infectious, then trying to stop the spread is going to be hard to the point of impossible and that maybe we should just accept this wave as a kind of force majeure, like an earthquake.

God you are so close it's almost painful.

That's exactly what we are doing. Trying to control infection currently isn't about stopping it spreading, it's accepting it is spreading but limiting numbers so we don't overwhelm hospitals. It's accepting the "force majeure" is happening and making it as easy as possible to manage

My office Christmas lunch is today and I’ve decided not to go, even though everyone is doing lateral flows beforehand. It’s just too close to Christmas and I don’t want to take the risk of me catching it, passing it on to DH and other family members and ruining Christmas.

@Egghead68

I can't bear the thought of others denying themselves doing all the things that make life living to protect me (obviously I can only speak for myself and not all CEV)

People have never been asked to deny themselves things to protect CEV people. They have been asked to deny themselves things so that the NHS doesn’t get overwhelmed.

My point was that on here (and elsewhere) there's a constant chorus of 'we must protect the vulnerable at all costs'.

While I'm grateful that people care (although they didn't seem to worry so much pre-covid when they came into work with coughs and colds and worse), I'd really rather not have CV peoples used as a stick to beat others with. Just because we can't do fun stuff doesn't mean nobody should. Again, I can't speak for all CV people but that's my feelings on the subject.

That's exactly what we are doing. Trying to control infection currently isn't about stopping it spreading, it's accepting it is spreading but limiting numbers so we don't overwhelm hospitals. It's accepting the "force majeure" is happening and making it as easy as possible to manage

I'm all for masks in indoor public spaces, ventilation to the max and whizzing the boosters out into everyone's arms. But I really don't think that these things are going to make much of a dent in something so infectious. And harsher restrictions will be hard to do. Most people are not personally afraid any more.

Ours was cancelled today.

@Kokeshi123

That's exactly what we are doing. Trying to control infection currently isn't about stopping it spreading, it's accepting it is spreading but limiting numbers so we don't overwhelm hospitals. It's accepting the "force majeure" is happening and making it as easy as possible to manage

I'm all for masks in indoor public spaces, ventilation to the max and whizzing the boosters out into everyone's arms. But I really don't think that these things are going to make much of a dent in something so infectious. And harsher restrictions will be hard to do. Most people are not personally afraid any more.

It's proven that all of these things limit infection rates. It's called science, google it!

It's proven that all of these things limit infection rates. It's called science, google it!

Most people are not personally afraid any more

I think that’s why the poster was saying that measures may not be effective.

Most people are not personally afraid any more.

This is it, in a nutshell. And they have largely run out of goodwill because they were asked to do too much during the first and third lockdowns. It's no good shouting about selfishness - they don't care any more. Ironically, in being told to constantly protect the NHS and others, people have hunkered down into their own little units.