Three options on the table - a guessing game

[Fivemoreminutes1]

It's the question we're all asking - are new restrictions going to be imposed in England to control Omicron, and if so, when?
Quote from the BBC:
“Our chief political correspondent Adam Fleming tells us that civil servants have prepared a "menu of three options" that range in stringency, according to a Whitehall source. Ministers are yet to make a choice.”

Anyone want to guess what they are?

I don’t want a full lockdown just as much as everyone else but I don’t think the general public can be trusted to regulate their social interaction (they can’t even be trusted to put a mask on on shops for a few minutes) so 1 would be pointless. 2 is half arsed and I don’t think it will change much. 3 has a much better chance of success.

Giving everyone a vaccine, then closing work places, hospitality and schools makes no sense at all

There has never been a successful vaccine against a coronavirus. Maybe that's why. We all got excited about the vaccines and they did seem to be the way out. But then the virus got clever (twice) and probably will again.

What does surprise me is that the booster vaccine is for the original strain. You'd have thought they would have tweaked it for Delta by now, but I don't know how long they take to make.

@Andoffwego

I don’t want a full lockdown just as much as everyone else but I don’t think the general public can be trusted to regulate their social interaction (they can’t even be trusted to put a mask on on shops for a few minutes) so 1 would be pointless. 2 is half arsed and I don’t think it will change much. 3 has a much better chance of success.

Better chance of damage.

People are changing behaviour anyway - trade is hugely down

It’ll all be recommendations and guidance so they don’t have to pay anything out. But I imagine many people won’t adhere to it this time given that the politicians can’t seem to adhere to it either.

And I say that as someone who is v covid cautious

@Andoffwego

I don’t want a full lockdown just as much as everyone else but I don’t think the general public can be trusted to regulate their social interaction (they can’t even be trusted to put a mask on on shops for a few minutes) so 1 would be pointless. 2 is half arsed and I don’t think it will change much. 3 has a much better chance of success.

Define 'success'. Obviously, a virus that is spread through human contact will be greatly reduced by limiting human contact as much as possible, but what's the end game?

Also, if you don't trust people to 'regulate their social interaction', then a lockdown isn't going to ensure that they do. Obviously people can't go to venues that are shut, but given how hard it is to control what people do in their homes, those people who 'can't be trusted' aren't going to stop visiting friends and family at this stage in the game.

Of course Boris wants to do the minimum.

Praying it isn't 3 households as Scotland have done.
Already LF testing before meeting groups who fortunately have same vision of risk.
Depending on how law abiding friend/family are could be alone.

@Thewiseoneincognito

We’ll be in full lockdown by January.

I know it’s hard for some on here to comprehend but Omicron has walked us back several steps, granted we’re not back at square one yet but we’re certainly nowhere near being able to put faith in the public to follow guidance by their own free will if cases need to come down rapidly. You only have to look at the toddlers on the won’t comply threads to see many folks can not be relied upon to do their bit for the greater good.

So rude!

Rude, and like a sodding stuck record.

[quote Whammyyammy]@DeclareThePenniesOnYourEyes
What’s the point of a vaccine programme @Whammyyammy? It’s so you don’t die or end up seriously ill. Restrictions won’t be (and never were) put in place to stop people catching Covid…. They’re implemented to stop the NHS toppling over. Listen to this very point being made clearly and articulately by Wes Streeting.

And how does the vaccine stop me from dying or being ill? By improving immunity from the virus, so if vaccinated, why have lockdiwns, just common sense and social distancing will suffice.

Giving everyone a vaccine, then closing work places, hospitality and schools makes no sense at all[/quote]
This isn’t really true. If the virus is mutating at a faster rate than the vaccines can keep up with, it certainly helps to have everyone vaccinated AND a lockdown.

I don’t think they’ll enforce a lockdown - especially after the photos of wine in the Downing St garden in May 2020, nobody will listen.

I'm in Scotland.
We have had masks all through but are now on 3 households.
Even so my sons' College went online only last week for the forseeable, my daughters High School is 'rife' with Covid. Friends are meeting up in gardens rather than houses pre Xmas to try to limit the spread. I had to travel to Edinburgh yesterday (not public transport) & it was quiet, shops quiet, even the Christmas market area (drove past)

@Andoffwego

I don’t want a full lockdown just as much as everyone else but I don’t think the general public can be trusted to regulate their social interaction (they can’t even be trusted to put a mask on on shops for a few minutes) so 1 would be pointless. 2 is half arsed and I don’t think it will change much. 3 has a much better chance of success.

Aren't you also the general public.

Problem is, it isn't about choice or how mild it is with this version of Covid which is so contagious: it's about whether if it rips through the country and everyone is (mildly) ill at the same time, the infrastructure will collapse. People having heart attacks and strokes and car accidents need police and fire services and hospitals that don't have half their staff off sick, supply for shops rely on those services not having half their staff off sick.

Lockdown may be the only way to slow it enough to keep emergency services and supplies going. It will be hated and very unpopular and certainly a financial disaster; however they're stacking that against the odds of the general public seeing absolute disaster hit in the next few weeks, the financial disasters that will also entail, and demanding to know later on why it was allowed to happen unchecked. There are no good answers, there never have been. It's the least worst out of a lot of bastard answers.

We have never had a lockdown. Will we have similar restrictions to those between January and May 2021, I don't think so.

Whatever changes, I expect it will not be until after Christmas. The Welsh government has announced changes from Boxing Day.

Of all the people that I know that have had Covid, all have been vaccinated. It doesn't mean that being vaccinated will prevent you from catching Covid and so spreading it. We must all use sensible judgment especially around those most vulnerable.

Okay, so for me closing down large crowd events, pubs and restaurants for a very limited period along with strong guidance on social mixing is probably where we need to go. Really important though that we support the hospitality industry. Given public fear, I know a number of restaurant /bar owners who have seen takings plummet. Without support a significant number will collapse in the new year.

@Brainwave89

Okay, so for me closing down large crowd events, pubs and restaurants for a very limited period along with strong guidance on social mixing is probably where we need to go. Really important though that we support the hospitality industry. Given public fear, I know a number of restaurant /bar owners who have seen takings plummet. Without support a significant number will collapse in the new year.

Do you include schools among the 'large crowd events'?

And what happens after this 'very limited period'?

@Eredoor of course I am, but I have spent the last couple of weeks working in a public facing role and am sick of constantly repeating “can I do you to wear a face mask in here please?” And getting sworn at. Around 50% of the customers weren’t wearing them last week and had no intention of doing so. They’re not going to pay any attention to being asked not to socialise are they?

We have never had a lockdown

Oh come the fuck on

@Mindareno

We have never had a lockdown

Oh come the fuck on

Seconded

The response that is

Are we back to talking about 'proper lockdowns'?

Maybe like in Spain, with the delightful policy of locking children in their homes for weeks on end?

How miserable.

IcedPurple that was a lockdown, as was that in Italy. Not delightful I agree. Consistently enforced, sometimes by military personnel.

Hence my refusal to call the restrictions in the UK a lockdown.

There are a lot of people saying that everywhere is quiet. I think this is purely because people don't want to be ill over Christmas and risk giving it to family. I think things might pick up after and it will be BAU for the general public if there are no restrictions.

@fourdayholiday

IcedPurple that was a lockdown, as was that in Italy. Not delightful I agree. Consistently enforced, sometimes by military personnel.

Hence my refusal to call the restrictions in the UK a lockdown.

People still adhered to the lockdown here.

I find this line really irritating tbh