Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Covid

Mumsnet doesn't verify the qualifications of users. If you have medical concerns, please consult a healthcare professional.

A 2-week 'circuit breaker' could be coming after Christmas

834 replies

dancingstars · 18/12/2021 00:31

Reported by The Times and The Guardian which means another NYE stuck indoors...

OP posts:
Thread gallery
13
WonderfulYou · 18/12/2021 09:38

I think a 2 week firebreak is a good idea and should have been done the entire time.

Instead of months long lockdown we could have just had a 2 week lockdown every 6 months as cases start rising to slow the spread.

Life, education, MH, non essential businesses etc wouldn’t be impacted as much.

I think what people struggle with the most is the uncertainty of everything.

If there were firebreaks from the start people would know it’s only 2 weeks and be more prepared and mentally ready.

lovescats3 · 18/12/2021 09:38

They need to keep schools and universities open-children and young people have sacrificed enough.there are vaccines now if people don't want to take them it's on them but we can't inflict harm on children and young people now by taking away their education and psycho-social and emotional development

BustopherPonsonbyJones · 18/12/2021 09:39

@Spikeyball

"It's not a circuit breaker if schools stay open though"

Schools remained open in the Nov 20 circuit breaker.

They did but then we had to lockdown three weeks later because the dip was small. There is no point in a circuit breaker that doesn’t include schools. Schools drive community transmission. We might as well keep everything open if schools are open and save money on furlough. Put the money into making schools more Covid secure instead and insist on compulsory mask wearing in classrooms whilst Covid rates are high, proper isolation of close contacts and improved ventilation.

Pretending schools are safe isn’t working. Keeping schools open with no changes put in place will mean the country prolongs the suffering for longer.

lovescats3 · 18/12/2021 09:39

It's tantamount to neglect now if schools and universities are shut

rrhuth · 18/12/2021 09:39

I will do it because IMO it looks needed, I am just sad it is needed.

I didn't think covid was 'over' and I was unhappy with the ongoing Delta case rate - but this is a whole other level of rubbish.

drainitallout · 18/12/2021 09:39

@Chickenrun771 it's been discussed time and again that "bringing in the military" doesn't mean the Nightingale hospitals are viable. There are many reasons that they didn't work, staffing being one of the main ones. The military doesn't have a whole load of qualified ITU doctors nurses and physios etc just waiting to the parachuted in

WonderfulYou · 18/12/2021 09:42

I'm not saying it's not needed but that 2 week lockdown would include DS's birthday, NYE and my birthday. I'm pretty pissed off about it actually

I don’t think it should happen before NYD as no one would comply anyway.

After NYD most people are eating healthily and taking up outdoor exercise so if it’s got to happen I think then would be a good idea.
It would also slow the spread when the DCs go back to school.

RedToothBrush · 18/12/2021 09:42

Re: timing of the publuc being told.

I have no doubt there would have been a preference for telling the public on boxing day so people didn't bring things forward or go on mad benders this week.

But the reality is too many people have to be told to make this happen and that makes it leaky.

The government might try and keep a lid on it for a couple of days, but it being all over the press at this point means I think we will know by mid week at the latest.

We might see an 8pm address to the nation again this week.

Im not that unsurprised. I knew we would see nothing prior to Christmas but i had big concerns about new year so it's not really a shock.

Just a pain in the ass.

paranoidnamechanger · 18/12/2021 09:43

I think what people struggle with the most is the uncertainty of everything.

Yes, it’s the constant worrying of the ‘what will they do next?’ that’s one reason why there’s a mental health crisis currently.

I won’t be complying with this latest baloney, fuck it all.

Chickenrun771 · 18/12/2021 09:43

@BligeMe

Can anyone enlighten me as to valid medical reasons for vaccine refusal? I've looked a bit on the net, and can only see that people with severe allergies may need to avoid vaccines altogether. There can't be that many of them. We are seeing evidence that previously fit and healthy younger vaccine refuseniks are ending up in ITU and worse. If medical treatment has to be rationed, and at the rate we are going it will if indeed it's not already, then the pressure on beds will mean that doctors will have to chose. Presumably (setting age etc aside) they will chose the person that they assume will have the best prognosis? Which will be better if you are fully vaccinated?
Absolutely I can enlighten you. You are not the judge and jury for someone else's body. Furthermore, you cannot force anyone in a democratic country to put something inside of their body that they do not want. That is the top and bottom of it, and all anyone needs to tell you.

I will however, elaborate further:

Studies show limited effectiveness of vaccine against Omicron.
35% of covid hospital patients are unvaccinated, the rest, you guessed it - Vaccinated.
Moderna has been linked to heart issues in young people in Germany, it's likely other European countries will follow suit in stopping the roll-out to younger groups for this brand of vaccine.
USA just limited the use of the J and J vaccine due to blood clots
Other side effects are coming out all the time and giving people MUCH food for thought.

Let's see your data on "young, vaccine refusals in ITU", in comparison to those who are double vax'd and older. Let me tell you, it varies quite starkly with the data I've viewed lately.

lolaspinola · 18/12/2021 09:45

@Hairwizard

They can get fucked. Will it fuck be just a circuit breaker. Bullshit. Useless. Business as usual here. To hell with that shower of cunts.
I couldn’t have said it better myself 😂
BustopherPonsonbyJones · 18/12/2021 09:45

@lovescats3

It's tantamount to neglect now if schools and universities are shut
How are we (as a country) going to protect those who work in schools and universities? It is tantamount to employer-neglect to send workers into dangerous working environments.

Emergency laws passed so better ventilation systems are placed in every classroom before children return?Compulsory mask wearing in classrooms? Immediate tax rises to pay for them? I m sure the angst about school closures will mean these measure will have everyone’s support.

SoTiredNeedHoliday · 18/12/2021 09:45

of course they are going to have to do something, the figures are too high to just keep going on as we are.

They'd do it now if it wasn't for Boris and his teams big parties last year breaking all the rules

MarshaBradyo · 18/12/2021 09:47

@SoTiredNeedHoliday

of course they are going to have to do something, the figures are too high to just keep going on as we are. They'd do it now if it wasn't for Boris and his teams big parties last year breaking all the rules
Tg they are not doing it now.

At least Christmas is not affected

Maybe the peak will happen by then

RedToothBrush · 18/12/2021 09:49

@SoTiredNeedHoliday

of course they are going to have to do something, the figures are too high to just keep going on as we are. They'd do it now if it wasn't for Boris and his teams big parties last year breaking all the rules
Yep.

The whole point of the reintroduction of Tier 2 restrictions its not a lockdown is to stop big new year parties.

But you have to sell it against the backdrop of the government having a whole bunch of illegal parties when London was in Tier 2 and Tier 3.

Thats a 'bit of an issue' to put it mildly.

Mindareno · 18/12/2021 09:49

Still don’t understand the longer term purpose of this lockdown. Ok, people are saying it will “slow the spread”. Yes it will - but surely as soon as we open up again (in 2 weeks or 6 months), omicron will just sky rocket.

The first lockdown we hoped to get numbers low enough to control with rule of 6, and test and trace. That was the original strain, and far less infectious (and it still didn’t work). The second lockdown was to buy time to vaccinate everyone.

What’s the longer term strategy with this lockdown?

RedToothBrush · 18/12/2021 09:50

Though i disagree that they would do it now. They 100% wouldn't.

They don't want to be the government that stole Christmas twice.

rrhuth · 18/12/2021 09:51

This answer from Whitty is so clear as to why sadly lockdowns have been needed from a health perspective (sadly)
twitter.com/antoguerrera/status/1471527894723796996

Malteser71 · 18/12/2021 09:52

Exactly how dangerous is it, Buster?

rrhuth · 18/12/2021 09:52

@Mindareno

Still don’t understand the longer term purpose of this lockdown. Ok, people are saying it will “slow the spread”. Yes it will - but surely as soon as we open up again (in 2 weeks or 6 months), omicron will just sky rocket.

The first lockdown we hoped to get numbers low enough to control with rule of 6, and test and trace. That was the original strain, and far less infectious (and it still didn’t work). The second lockdown was to buy time to vaccinate everyone.

What’s the longer term strategy with this lockdown?

Not a strategy so much as an aim: to ensure people don't die in the car parks outside the hospitals in the middle of January.

There is no 'longer term' just now. The furthest we can really look is January.

rrhuth · 18/12/2021 09:54

@Malteser71

Exactly how dangerous is it, Buster?
Individually? Roughly the same as Delta, erring on the slightly better side

Nationally? Very dangerous due to transmissibility and existing NHS issues

gettingolderandgrumpy · 18/12/2021 09:54

Why is lockdown the answer ? To protect the nhs blah blah at what cost ? To protect the vulnerable? I’m sorry but I feel we really need to question that those dying of covid are a) unvaccinated and b) have underlying health conditions.
I get the nhs doesn’t need the pressure but again what cost of a lockdown every few months ? I’m not talking financial either . People will not follow because they are sick to the back teeth of all this. Nobody can take Boris seriously anymore he’s a liar he has to go then I may start listening until then no !! .

Mindareno · 18/12/2021 09:57

rrhuth

I know that. But people will die in the car parks in February or whenever we open up. We cannot do anything with the time bought by the lockdown.

The govt should have been trying to increase NHS capacity all along, which is the only answer given so many people won’t have the vaccine.

Poetrypatty · 18/12/2021 09:58

The concern I'd have is that I don't trust it'd be two weeks. What if it turns into two months or more Angry Having a government you don't trust is the pits.

Chickenrun771 · 18/12/2021 09:59

it is WONDERFUL. to see this many people on the thread speaking up, and out. hold that thought, and that feeling. anger is better than despair.