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 guarantee the scientists that are responsible for this "scientific consensus" will be enjoying xmas gatherings.

Our extant antibodies whether through natural infection or two vaccinations can’t defeat it on their own.

The booster jab hasn't been tweaked, it just raises antibody levels back up as they wane over time. If you had your 2nd jab recently you'll be just as protected as someone who had their booster the same amount of time ago.

I'm currently isolating after contracting Covid

I'm very sorry to hear about that and hope that you are feeling well, and haven't been too inconvenienced by having to isolate.

at my Christmas 'party'... 🙄

Surely you, and everyone else who is convinced now that it is their party to blame, must understand that it's not definite that you personally caught it at the party, even if there seems to have been a confirmed mini-outbreak as a consequence. And that you may have been the one to take it to the party, rather than catching it from someone else there.

Not saying you didn't but it's not clear cut at all if you did. Unless you isolated the whole rest of the week and you/your family didn't go to school/work/shops/anywhere in that time.

I think that, other than following the new regulations, everyone needs to do their own personal risk assessment with regard to whether to go to parties or anywhere else and whether to wear a mask (if it's not mandatory). And stop grumbling and micromanaging every else.

Clearly the government only want to slow down the Omicron wave (by slowing down parties and office travel and so on) while they get these jabs rolled out, rather than to bring the country to a standstill and decimate the hospitality sector again with another lockdown. So, some people will go, some won't, and hopefully that objective will be achieved. Those that do carry on going about their business are not in the wrong in this scenario.

I’m not going to my work Xmas party on Sat, which has now been deferred anyway, because if I get Covid then I can’t go out to a restaurant with my family for Xmas dinner. If I catch it on Dec 25th so be it.

@Gwenhwyfar

"Today my dd has seen photos, on Facebook, of the hospital managers (including the one who had sent the email) enjoying their Christmas night out last Friday!"

Are the hospital managers in close contact with patients though?

Even if they aren't, surely they could set an example to their staff, no?

@TheVampiresWife

And it’s not just attending the party is it? What about the people working at the venue who are likely to be in their 20s and yet to have a booster vaccine? You’ll be spending a lot of time in that venue, much more than you would a shop for example

And what about the people you sit next to on public transport for your commute? Or the staff at the café you go to for lunch? Or the volunteers at the vaccination centre? Or? Or? Or?

Every social interaction is a risk. Imagine you have a basket with a limited number of items. Every time you have an interaction you can take out an item, and are therefore very selective about which items you choose to use.

Not my analogy but Dr Susan Hopkins from Public Health England.

@Buzzinwithbez

Who know what will happen after Christmas. I'm squeezing every drop of joy from life now.

Absolutely this.

All this dooming and threats of lockdowns are are utterly counter productive, if you want people to stay the fuck at home, protect the NHS and save lives a la spring 2020.

It simply makes a large proportion of people utterly determined to wring out every drop of fun they can, before what they're told is inevitable happens.

So actually OP, threads like this are counter productive too.

People have been pushed around and manipulated and nudged so much they're past caring. That's the sad truth of the matter.

Presumably the OP is doing fuck all and going no where, doesn't need to work or shop. Let alone to a party.

@Gwenhwyfar

"Today my dd has seen photos, on Facebook, of the hospital managers (including the one who had sent the email) enjoying their Christmas night out last Friday!"

Are the hospital managers in close contact with patients though?

Wouldn't that make it worse, if they were sending pics to the people who have to do the running though?

@AchillesLastStandI think hospitality will stand more of a chance of survival if the government closed them as they would then need to offer financial assistance. The crux of the matter is whether the government want to go down furlough route again.

Asking people not to go to hospitality venues off their own back, with no support system in place will finish off many.

Lots of people are cancelling parties left right and centre because of the risk....but the government is expecting the hospitality industry to just grin and bear it , with no financial support.

All the people shouting "selfish" might think differently if their income was going to be directly and negatively impacted. Hotels and restaurants will have already ordered food, drinks, potentially employed extra staff, spent money on "covid safe" adaptations to their space etc....
Carry that down to caterers, suppliers etc - that's a lot of people relying on people having Christmas parties that they couldn't have last year.

Every social interaction is a risk

Exactly.

So if you don't go to your Christmas party but go to town to do your Christmas shopping on public transport instead, risk is still there (and probably greater too, given you'll be interacting with far more people than if you were sitting at a table with people you already spend every day with).

If you put the bins out and bump into a neighbour, there's technically a risk.

This is no way to live and what's more, it's pointless. Omicron is so transmissible, unless you stay at home permanently you're at risk.

@Gwenhwyfar

"Today my dd has seen photos, on Facebook, of the hospital managers (including the one who had sent the email) enjoying their Christmas night out last Friday!"

Are the hospital managers in close contact with patients though?

Wouldn't that make it worse, if they were sending pics to the people who have to do the running though?

@AchillesLastStandI think hospitality will stand more of a chance of survival if the government closed them as they would then need to offer financial assistance. The crux of the matter is whether the government want to go down furlough route again.

Asking people not to go to hospitality venues off their own back, with no support system in place will finish off many.

Lots of people are cancelling parties left right and centre because of the risk....but the government is expecting the hospitality industry to just grin and bear it , with no financial support.

All the people shouting "selfish" might think differently if their income was going to be directly and negatively impacted. Hotels and restaurants will have already ordered food, drinks, potentially employed extra staff, spent money on "covid safe" adaptations to their space etc....
Carry that down to caterers, suppliers etc - that's a lot of people relying on people having Christmas parties that they couldn't have last year.

@Tinacollada

Presumably the OP is doing fuck all and going no where, doesn't need to work or shop. Let alone to a party.

Whilst outsourcing "risk" to the people who pick, package and deliver things to the stay the fuck at home brigade.

@Tinacollada

Presumably the OP is doing fuck all and going no where, doesn't need to work or shop. Let alone to a party.

Whilst outsourcing "risk" to the people who pick, package and deliver things to the stay the fuck at home brigade.

All the people shouting "selfish" might think differently if their income was going to be directly and negatively impacted. Hotels and restaurants will have already ordered food, drinks, potentially employed extra staff, spent money on "covid safe" adaptations to their space etc....
Carry that down to caterers, suppliers etc - that's a lot of people relying on people having Christmas parties that they couldn't have last year.

Exactly. I have friends in the hospitality business and it's heartbreaking to see what is happening to them.

@XenoBitch They are!

My dd will be spending Christmas Day working (her dh will be looking after their 2 little girls), while almost all of these managers are at home enjoying themselves and not giving a fuck about those staff members that are slogging away trying to save lives!

"Wouldn't that make it worse, if they were sending pics to the people who have to do the running though?"

Well, no because if they are not in close contact with vulnerable people it makes it less bad. I would be furious too, but I can see the logic if that's what it is.

[quote Fizbosshoes]**@AchillesLastStandI think hospitality will stand more of a chance of survival if the government closed them as they would then need to offer financial assistance. The crux of the matter is whether the government want to go down furlough route again.

Asking people not to go to hospitality venues off their own back, with no support system in place will finish off many.

Lots of people are cancelling parties left right and centre because of the risk....but the government is expecting the hospitality industry to just grin and bear it , with no financial support.

All the people shouting "selfish" might think differently if their income was going to be directly and negatively impacted. Hotels and restaurants will have already ordered food, drinks, potentially employed extra staff, spent money on "covid safe" adaptations to their space etc....
Carry that down to caterers, suppliers etc - that's a lot of people relying on people having Christmas parties that they couldn't have last year.[/quote]
And who knows if it even is a risk. We seem to be building something out of nothing. Lockdown by media. How sad.

@allGwenhwyfar

You can pick them up free here from pharmacys, order online etc. Most people can get them at work and we have a stack from when they used to come in boxes of 25.

I always test before visiting parents; but we dont usually test as a friend group as we are young (early 30s); no ones that concerned with getting it and most have already had it once or twice.

The concern this time was that meeting last weekend would have been bang on time for incubating and then testing positive within the period over xmas. No one wants to be stuck isolating on xmas day!

So for us it was more that. Everyone I know seems to be LFTing left right and centre the last week or so.

[quote Onerulefor1]**@XenoBitch They are!

My dd will be spending Christmas Day working (her dh will be looking after their 2 little girls), while almost all of these managers are at home enjoying themselves and not giving a fuck about those staff members that are slogging away trying to save lives![/quote]
Ugh. So glad I ended my brief stint in the NHS. Management treated the lower band like skivvies well before Covid. I can only imagine how great the divide is now.

"Lockdown by media. How sad." I totally agree! Like the first lockdown, caused by the baying press.

@AchillesLastStand you will not convince me (and I suspect the majority on this thread) that it is acceptable and safe to work with people inside, for long periods of time, but that it is unsafe for me to socialise with them.

I can't believe we're back to manipulation by the media and a load of Karen's on MN who have spent too long trying to absorb information way above their pay grade.

What do you do for a living, out of interest OP?

@Onerulefor1

My dd works for the nhs in a frontline position. The team she works with have had their Christmas night out booked for months. They all received emails from the Head of Nursing, informing them that they had to cancel the night out, if they didn’t they may face a disciplinary. They are responsible workers (who certainly deserved some fun after the horrible time they have had dealing with Covid patients) and had already decided to cancel their night out.

Today my dd has seen photos, on Facebook, of the hospital managers (including the one who had sent the email) enjoying their Christmas night out last Friday!

It shows that there is one rule for managers, and one for the minions who have struggled and worked many more hours that they should have (trying to save people’s lives), for more than a year and a half! Absolutely disgusting behaviour by those in charge of the hospital.

Also shows that this particular manager is a bit thick.