Get rid of all restrictions

[AnEpisodeOfEastenders]

I think it's time for all restrictions to be removed. There has been plenty of time for people to be vaccinated / boosted that want to, those that can't or don't should take their own precautions.

If we test positive then we shouldn't need to isolate, shouldn't need to declare it and should just treat it as a normal cough / cold / illness. If you feel up to going to work, out to the pub, seeing friends or family then do so. Everyone I know who have had it say they feel fine.

Life has been disrupted for far too long, the costs associated are astronomical and will be a crippling debt for generations to come.

@DaisyNGO

Bambina thank you

I am quite relieved to read that. No offence but with you taking your DC out of the country, I thought you must be anticipating a lot worse. But I realise it must be a lot easier for you to go away than for many people or you'd not do it, if that makes sense.

I agree with posters who feel there are restrictions, especially if you have to test for work and lose pay even if asymptomatic. I've got one friend who has tested positive 4 times now with no symptoms.

Scotland and Wales are really damaging lives with the hospitality restrictions.

Re masks - yes, definitely a problem. We had to do a four hour round trip on the train today. I was feeling rough as guts when I got in and nearly did a test! 😂 but it's because wearing a mask all that time makes me feel ill. Of course some people are fine with it, DP is fine.

I don't know how people cope in masks all day. I wonder how much business theatre and cinema are missing for masks?

The situation around sick pay is a problem.

This is a policy failure due to ideology (Conservative Party). There is no basis for not increasing sick pay to improve self-isolation adherence. Specially since this can easily bw checked with a PCr test.

There are many things we could do from a policy perspective to improve the situation. The part that makes me furious is that this was already looled at (Pandemic Management plans) and many of those recommendations would have covered these problems if they had been implemented.

But literally....nothing was done. Absolutely nothing.

This is why the situation feels so chaotic. They are reacting to events, and then trying to do bad policy on the fly.

This always ends badly when it comes to Pandemics.

I dont see the UK coming out well in 2022.

@BambinaJAS I've screenshotted your projections post, curious to see how close or otherwise the numbers will prove to be in a few weeks.

@IcedPurple

Catering to your rather poor understanding of the situation is precisely why the UK is in its current predicament.

Presumably the unnamed country to which you chose to travel during a pandemic has very low rates and is filled with a population whose sophisticated, intellectual outlook matches your own high standards?

What country is that?

I flew to a country outside of the EU to stay with my in-laws for the time being. I could not go to my parents place because the EU is not doing great either (they at least have a plan. UK has none).

They are the bottom of their wave and Omicron has not taken a hold yet so life is pretty normal still (people actually follow the mask rules and vaccination hesitancy is very low).

So yes, I will be waiting out the situation in the UK abroad as much as my employer allows.

If I did not have this option, I would do what I did in the partial UK lockdown of Nov 2020 (which is what I see coming in Jan 2022).

WFH and limit exposure as much as possible to high risk situations (indoors, lots of people, poor ventilation, lack of masks) and public transport (trains & tube). Order food online only and only interact with people outside in well ventilated areas.

[quote MaxNormal]@BambinaJAS I've screenshotted your projections post, curious to see how close or otherwise the numbers will prove to be in a few weeks.[/quote]
Thats fine. Was planning on bumping thread in a month or so as well.

I flew to a country outside of the EU to stay with my in-laws for the time being.

Which one?

I flew to a country outside of the EU to stay with my in-laws for the time being. I could not go to my parents place because the EU is not doing great either (they at least have a plan. UK has none).

I see you're being coy about naming the country you voluntarily chose to travel to during a pandemic, as is typical from posters who are obsessed with how uniquely awful Britain is.

And the "EU" doesn't have a 'plan'. Individual countries make their own 'plans'. And most of them are pretty much reacting to constantly changing events. Despite having more restrictions, their rates are similar to those in Britain, so whatever 'plans' they have don't seem to be helping much.

However, going by your posts it's clear to me that, despite you repeatedly telling us of your amazing expertise, everything you say is seen through the prism of your very anti-British prejudice, which you insist on shoehorning into every single post. I prefer my experts to at least attempt objectivity.

I find some of the direct questions about details overly intrusive. I know some people happily say they live in Edinburgh or Portmeirion or whatever, but other people want to keep their privacy a bit.

@rrhuth

I find some of the direct questions about details overly intrusive. I know some people happily say they live in Edinburgh or Portmeirion or whatever, but other people want to keep their privacy a bit.

I’m sure people do when it’s a country which seemingly won’t be affected by omicron

Easy to allude rather than be specific.

@rrhuth

I find some of the direct questions about details overly intrusive. I know some people happily say they live in Edinburgh or Portmeirion or whatever, but other people want to keep their privacy a bit.

I think if someone freely offers unsolicited information about themselves, thus making themselves an object of discussion, and if a main part of their 'argument' consists in saying how awful Britain and the British are, it's not unreasonable to ask what country they chose to fly to during a pandemic.

Obviously they don't have to respond, but given that even small countries usually have at least a few million inhabitants, they're hardly going to 'out' themselves by saying where they are. It's not like they're using their real names.

@cantkeepawayforever

I continue to find it ironic that those who are most vehemently for removal of all measures and mitigations from themselves, because they see them as 'restrictions', are completely willing to suggest that 'others' - the vulnerable - have their freedoms completely removed to facilitate this, by suggesting that the vulnerable look after themselves by totally isolating.

Yes - this in particular made me

I also have no problem with putting the army on the streets for enforced vaccination.

@MarshaBradyo

I flew to a country outside of the EU to stay with my in-laws for the time being.

Which one?

Why do you need to know that?

What possible difference does the answer make to assessing the situation here?

None unless the OP is holding her country of residence up as an example which she is not.

My view is that the correct etiquette is not to badger people for real life details. Opinions, yes. Real life facts, no.

I’m interested in where omicron is low

So what? What does it matter to other posters?

I’ll talk about countries as it’s interesting to see how it’s being dealt with

I imagine the coyness is for another reason though

My view is that the correct etiquette is not to badger people for real life details.

Really? Because demanding that people detail the ways in which they find masks personally restrictive, rather than simply take their word for it, looks an awful lot like just that.

Not RTFT but OP wanted to say totally agree - get rid of all restrictions now. Only test if alters medical management. Make vaccination truly a choice like flu vaccine. Then we can be a normal society again instead of this messed up place we are in.

I also have no problem with putting the army on the streets for enforced vaccination

@Bovrilly is the above you or were you quoting a previous post?

It's none of anyone's damn business where BambinaJAS is currently staying.
I must say, I did think their point about 'critical mass of aggressively ignorant opinions' was particularly pertinent.

@MaxNormal

I also have no problem with putting the army on the streets for enforced vaccination

@Bovrilly is the above you or were you quoting a previous post?

I was quoting @vickyc90 at 20:25

@CallmeHendricks

It's none of anyone's damn business where BambinaJAS is currently staying. I must say, I did think their point about 'critical mass of aggressively ignorant opinions' was particularly pertinent.

Yeh true maybe it’s La La land.

Bovrilly okay glad I checked. That is quite a gem

@rrhuth

My view is that the correct etiquette is not to badger people for real life details. Opinions, yes. Real life facts, no.

I asked a question. I didn't 'badger' anybody. They're free not to answer, and I suspect they won't. But not for 'privacy' reasons.

The poster is very enthusiastic about offering 'real life details' which nobody asked for. She's been very happy to make herself a subject for discussion. Nobody would know that she chose to travel during a pandemic had she not chosen to tell us about it.

Then we can be a normal society again instead of this messed up place we are in.

It is the cause and effect here that I don't understand.
Do you REALLY think that if we remove all restrictions, we will be all unicorns and sunlit uplands?

Have a think about where we were in, say, October / November and compare it with now. The number of added restrictions is really quite small, but the change in people's behaviour and the nature of the situation are very great

That isn't the result of the restrictions. It's the result of the situation. People are ill. People are unable to work because they are ill. This causes changes in the ways that society functions and in the ways that society behaves.

We won't magically return to normal if the measures in place were removed at midnight tonight. We will return to normal if infection levels are brought right down.....

It was relevant to the point they were making about the current situation in the UK being such a shit-show that they had removed their family from it for the time being.

Look, I'm telling you all from my island, where the people around me make you lot look like plagued muppets, that I am going to be absolutely fine. As you were.

@IcedPurple

I flew to a country outside of the EU to stay with my in-laws for the time being. I could not go to my parents place because the EU is not doing great either (they at least have a plan. UK has none).

I see you're being coy about naming the country you voluntarily chose to travel to during a pandemic, as is typical from posters who are obsessed with how uniquely awful Britain is.

And the "EU" doesn't have a 'plan'. Individual countries make their own 'plans'. And most of them are pretty much reacting to constantly changing events. Despite having more restrictions, their rates are similar to those in Britain, so whatever 'plans' they have don't seem to be helping much.

However, going by your posts it's clear to me that, despite you repeatedly telling us of your amazing expertise, everything you say is seen through the prism of your very anti-British prejudice, which you insist on shoehorning into every single post. I prefer my experts to at least attempt objectivity.

Lets be specific here:

1. It's England that does not have a plan.

Scotland and Wales have sane leadership. They make decisions and convey them with proper messaging.

Unfortunately, I happen to reside in SW England. So I am stuck with Boris and the rest of the clown show.

So no, I am not 100% anti-British. Heck, I was educated in a UK Boarding school for a few of my high school years. I have many good friends here.

Incompetence however, is currently a purely English Govt trait right now. I refuse to sugar coat this simply to soothe your likely nationalistic views.