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All Covid rules to be scrapped at end of the month!

427 replies

Cheekypeach · 09/02/2022 13:17

🍾

OP posts:
Cheekypeach · 10/02/2022 08:38

@BonnesVacances

Why isn’t it selfish to expect the entire country to live under restrictions for years for your benefit? I could understand if it was Ebola, but covid is now less deadly than flu. You’re being totally OTT. Why don’t we just never drive again because of people dying in car accidents? Are we being selfish insisting on owning and driving cars?

OP posts:
lovescats3 · 10/02/2022 08:46

Wake up everyone - it's to save Johnson's skin and appease his backbenchers

BonnesVacances · 10/02/2022 08:47

[quote Overthebow]@BonnesVacances I’m sorry about your DD. The thing is, whilst I care about the vulnerable, I care about my own family more. I care about my DC having to miss nursery, isolate and have a stick shoved up her nose when she doesn’t have a clue what’s going on for every little cough and cold she gets. I care that for her whole life all she’s seen are people in masks when out, and that there’s still some family she hasn’t been able to meet yet. I care that I will lose my job and ability to provide for her if I keep having to take time off whenever she has a cold waiting for test results.

I don’t think it’s selfish to want normality for my family and to care about my family more. If it were, I could easily turn this around and say it is selfish for people to want others to continually have their lives disrupted and livelihoods ruined to protect their own family. That is putting their family first. Everyone will do that as it’s human nature.[/quote]
Being selfish is a normal human response and of course people want to put their family first. But it's still selfish to do something that you know will harm others but to do it anyway because it suits your purposes. If you want to go to work and take your DD to nursery knowing she has Covid and she infects half the nursery, then do that because you can. Your work is more important to you and not having a stick put up your DD's nose too.

But it's the dismissal of the genuine health and economic risk that this poses to other people who then go home and infect someone who is CEV and end up permanently disabled that I find difficult people can so easily rationalise and find acceptable. Or the nursery that has to close because half the staff ill at home and then no one else can go to work either, just because you wanted to.

And the idea that vulnerable people should be continually exposed to significant risk of harm because babies and toddlers have only ever seen people wearing masks is so utterly abhorrent to me I don't know where to begin. They really are not on the same par at all. Confused

Whammyyammy · 10/02/2022 08:50

@Schulte

I don’t think ‘life is going back to normal’ btw. Lots of places will insist on keeping some restrictions, and quite right too. The pandemic isn’t over just because Boris says so.
Then I imagine these places, if businesses, shall very quickly go into receivership. Great news for competitors that aren't keeping unnecessary restrictions in place.

If i wall into a shop, and they insist on me wearing a mask etc, I shall do a 180 and go elsewhere

FantasticFebruary · 10/02/2022 08:52

@Echobelly

I think they really could have waited another couple of months until at least we're in spring and numbers might go down and it's at least easier to meet people outdoors and to ventilate places. I appreciate it can't go on forever and we have to reach a point where we say we have as many mitigations as we are reasonably going to get, but it seems a tad early to do it before even the beginning of springtime.
@Echobelly

Because his arse needs saving now, that's the only reason!

No thought to the science, the vulnerable, just keeping him in office. Disgraceful,

Ajl46 · 10/02/2022 08:53

@Yeahthat

Great news. What makes it even more enjoyable is knowing that the petty tyrants and would-be controllers who've been getting off on limiting others' lives will be furious. They've lost. Life's going back to normal and there's nothing they can do about it.

The next step is for the government to introduce legal protections for people in case any employers, local authorities etc attempt unjustly to introduce their own restrictions.

And indeed legal protections for employers to prevent employees being able to sue if they catch Covid on work premises.
Whammyyammy · 10/02/2022 08:53

I can't belive the amount of people thar enjoy restrictions and having their lives controlled. Have you considered moving to a gulag?
By some of the comments and want of restrictions, You'd absolutely love it on one

FantasticFebruary · 10/02/2022 08:54

@FrasierCraneDay

I, personally, am over the moon. I do feel for the vulnerable but, and this is a genuine question, what would vulnerable people actually want to happen? I won't pretend to know what it's like to be immunocompromised but I do wonder what the alternative would be.
Keep easy mitigations in place (like masks on public transport, in supermarkets)

Wait until spring.

Isolate when you have a positive test or symptoms.

...

Ajl46 · 10/02/2022 08:54

[quote Fedupsotired]@HallieLA nope as everyone will be working still rather than being at home. I'm guessing it's one of the reasons that they are scrapping stuff so teachers crack on regardless [/quote]
That theory only works if people with Covid are well enough to work. The people I know who currently have it aren't.

janj2301 · 10/02/2022 08:54

I think it's a good idea but I will still wear my mask. I work in a GP, we will still ask patients to wear them to come into the building.

Cheekypeach · 10/02/2022 08:58

@BonnesVacances

But it's still selfish to do something that you know will harm others but to do it anyway because it suits your purposes.

Okay, shall we all stop driving? In case we crash into somebody?

OP posts:
OnwardsAndSideways1 · 10/02/2022 08:58

I think the timing of this is wrong, no need to pull it forward. Better get double doses into the children that want them.

However, I think the issue of the outside world suddenly becoming 'unsafe' is a strange one. Rates usually drop as we come out of winter (so could have been better to leave it another month or two).

Omicron is so spreadable, and asymptomatic, that going in public places naturally carries a risk. In fact, it is most spreadable prior to symptoms (if you even get any) and so the fact that it wasn't showing up til 3/4 days in on lateral flow and that PCRs take a day or two to organize means that if you go out in public, you are exposed to covid full stop.

Even my friends who were very careful through out the pandemic as CEV have just had covid in their entire family as they cannot isolate sufficiently enough- and luckily it has been not nice but not serious for them (so far).

The idea the world was safe before and now isn't is a false one, Omicron is far more spreadable than previous strains, which is why the stricter mitigations in Wales and Scotland haven't had much effect.

I've said before on here, the best thing you can do is wear a super mask such as an FTT2, that stops the vast majority of viruses getting in and is much more secure than requiring the outside environment to become 'safe'. It never was and it certainly isn't now with Omicron. That's the hard truth, and why I think countries are giving up. Not because it's a great idea but they simply can't control Omicron (see much stricter rules in Europe which haven't had much effect).

I'll still wear a mask in some settings, although as I teach with up to 100 students without masks every week, the onus is on me to wear one, they are not going to change their behaviour now after two years of restriction.

Ricksteinsfishwife · 10/02/2022 08:59

Sadly I suspect for some people who are not vaccinated through choice this is a terrifying reality. They were safer when society self isolated and locked down, in a couple of weeks time if they are concerned about Covid then they will need to start taking significant precautions and personal responsibility to protect themselves. The vast majority of people who are hospitalised or die are unvaccinated, so I can see why this would be terrifying for them.

HesterShaw1 · 10/02/2022 08:59

Wait until spring? Then what? There will still be people dying with Covid listed on the death certificate.

BestIsWest · 10/02/2022 09:00

@OldMMC

Just spoken to my vulnerable colleague. She's just had her fourth vaccine but very pleased we live in Wales.
Yes, I am too.
BonnesVacances · 10/02/2022 09:01

[quote Cheekypeach]@BonnesVacances

Why isn’t it selfish to expect the entire country to live under restrictions for years for your benefit? I could understand if it was Ebola, but covid is now less deadly than flu. You’re being totally OTT. Why don’t we just never drive again because of people dying in car accidents? Are we being selfish insisting on owning and driving cars?[/quote]
Live under restrictions for years. Now who's being OTT? Hmm

Wearing a mask and staying at home when you know you have a harmful virus so you don't spread it to people whose lives would be significantly fucked up if they get it shouldn't be the horrific life living under restrictions that people are making it out to be. It should be basic social common decency.

I don't know why I come on these threads. They're full of insensitive people who have absolutely no idea whatsoever what it's actually like to live the lives that CEV and disabled people live and have been living for the past 2 years. Even though they experienced it a bit with lockdown, they soon forgot. With their health privilege, they tut about the vulnerable, and believe that this shit is just something that happens to the unlucky.

But no one is going to admit to not giving a shit about the vulnerable. They just say things like Yeah the CEV, but... Or Whilst I understand,... which really translates into it's survival of the fittest and fuck those who succumb. As a parent of a disabled person who is CEV and has suffered immense life changing harm from Covid, I have watched the 'othering' narrative grow and grow under this Tory government and this pandemic was an absolute godsend to the, and now plenty of people are on board with it without even realising.

lovescats3 · 10/02/2022 09:02

There will be even more disruption in schools because it will be allowed to spread so staff will be off sick.As a Dr said on news yesterday what's the plan for hospitals is it going to be allowed to rampage through them ?The nurses and doctors I know won't stand for it. Unless people carry on being responsible and self testing and staying off work when they have it it will be a shit show

Whammyyammy · 10/02/2022 09:03

@Ricksteinsfishwife

Sadly I suspect for some people who are not vaccinated through choice this is a terrifying reality. They were safer when society self isolated and locked down, in a couple of weeks time if they are concerned about Covid then they will need to start taking significant precautions and personal responsibility to protect themselves. The vast majority of people who are hospitalised or die are unvaccinated, so I can see why this would be terrifying for them.
Then surely by that notion, people that are vaccinated carry on as normal without restrictions, people thst are unvaccinated should selfish isolate and lock down! Why self isolate are lockdown the whole population? It doesn't make sense
kistanbul · 10/02/2022 09:05

There are a lot of rules around driving to protect others. While there is still a pandemic, the equivalent might be wearing masks indoors and staying home if you’re sick.
This pandemic will end and all these restrictions will become unnecessary, but it hasn’t ended yet. While it’s still ongoing, some minor restrictions are necessary.

lovescats3 · 10/02/2022 09:06

I'm sorry for the people who are CV or those with children who are - could you start a petition to present to government ?

LindaEllen · 10/02/2022 09:07

I'm so glad about this.

Common sense should tell us that it is (and always has been!) sensible to isolate if we're clearly unwell, however what was killing us were the numbers of asymptomatic cases who had to sit at home for 10 days with nothing wrong with them whatsoever.

We should stay home if we're clearly unwell whether it's covid or not.

I am very happy that the legal need to isolate is fucking off. Finally.

LindaEllen · 10/02/2022 09:08

@lovescats3

I'm sorry for the people who are CV or those with children who are - could you start a petition to present to government ?
To do what? Drag this out forever? For goodness sake.

It will NEVER get any safer than it is now. Everyone who wants to has been jabbed. The virus will continue to spread and mutate, thus reinfecting, forever.

If we don't open up now, we will never be able to.

BonnesVacances · 10/02/2022 09:10

[quote Cheekypeach]@BonnesVacances

But it's still selfish to do something that you know will harm others but to do it anyway because it suits your purposes.

Okay, shall we all stop driving? In case we crash into somebody?[/quote]
It's selfish to drive without due care and attention or while under the influence of alcohol or drugs just because your need to get there or read an important text message is greater than the safety of others. These are restrictions in place to make driving safer for other drivers and pedestrians. Why are you accepting of those if they are restrictions that are controlling your life and mean that if you've had a few too many drinks you have to walk home or pay for a taxi?

The fact is that the vulnerable and disabled aren't seen as important enough in our society to warrant any kind of ongoing consideration or protection. That's the problem. Not the detail. Just that they are deemed not worthy enough for society to consider or protect. People might not think that's what they are saying, but it is.

FantasticFebruary · 10/02/2022 09:11

@SuPerDoPer

I feel for the vulnerable but covid isn't the only disease out there that could affect them. People vulnerable to covid are also potentially vulnerable to flu, sickness bugs, chicken pox, colds. Covid is part of life now and I'm sorry for people who don't feel safe with that but it's not going away.
No one said it's going to go away & no one said masks, & isolating if you test positive should stay forever.

But getting rid of all restrictions is to save the arse of BJ, not because the science says it's time.

Spring would be better, covid numbers by then would have been lower, the R rate lower, more treatments available etc.

It's not now or never!

It's being brought forward to save his arse, whilst throwing vulnerable people under the bus.

FantasticFebruary · 10/02/2022 09:13

@Wellbythebloodyhell

I get that it seems a bit scary initially to suddenly stop isolating but it does have to stop at some point it's not sustainable at all to keep doing this indefinitely. So genuinely if not now, when? We will never have zero covid, ever, its an unobtainable objective, so now seems as good a time as any.
@Wellbythebloodyhell

Nope, now is not a good a time as any!!

Please read my previous post.

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