Have people's opinions changed?

[MassiveOverthinker]

Just wondering really, if the last few months have changed people's opinion on how we managed covid in this country.

Anyone wondering if maybe fewer restrictions would've been better and if more draconian ones (often called for) were unnecessary. Anyone wondering if we needed to close schools, swab and isolate our kids, test and trace etc etc.

Or do people generally feel we did what was necessary at the time and are only okayish now because of weaker variants and higher vaccination levels?

Anyone feel less angry at the rule breakers, those who don't want to be vaccinated etc?

If it all happened again, do you think your response to restrictions would be the same, or would you be a bit more inclined to think "sod that for a laugh".

(Asking for a friend).

@Cantthinkofanewusername - their antivaxx stance meant they paid the ultimate price. They’d have likely been OK if they had it.. I’ve had it 3 times (😭) & still alive, kicking & perfectly well. It’s so sad people are so brainwashed into antivaxx stuff.. yeh, most people probably will be ok without a vaccine in their 40’s. But some won’t. And that’s a risk you take. Very sad 😓

The disturbing thing to me was how vicious people became. On social media there were a lot of comments about how those who didn't wear a mask or who were unvaxxed should all be locked up in the dark to die gasping and they'd deserve it too. Or at the very least, they should be denied health care and be cast out of society. These were people I knew in real life, who I'd always seen as calm and rational. It worried me a lot and made me wonder at how easily the public persona that people present to the world can be stripped away to reveal people you don't know at all. It was as if part of society was possessed by some malign influence.

@Innocenta I'm sorry, I can't tell if you're being ironic or serious, ironic I hope.

Just found another of your posts. I see you're being serious 😂

I am very sorry for your loss. I had covid last year and I was terribly ill though I recovered thankfully. I font underestimate its potential or impact.

Technically this could be true of many viruses about a new strain, or even a new virus though. We cannot live with restrictions for what if. And unfortunately we can’t save everyone however hard we try. I wish we could.

I'm on the fence. I really struggled with some of the restrictions. I kept all the rules though and I felt some resentment towards some people who were having parties during lockdown when I wasn't allowed to visit my 12 year old in HDU. I've also seen the impact on non covid health conditions. On a glue ear facebook group there are parents of kids waiting 2 years to have grommets. My child waited 2 years for a squint repair operation. People are waiting many months for an outpatient appointment.

In education so many children have suffered because of restrictions and also when there were no restrictions. My dc suffered when their school closed. They also suffered when testing rules were relaxed and suddenly all the staff at school caught covid.

It's a balancing act trying to keep everyones suffering to a minimum but whatever rules there are some people will break them and some people will suffer because of the rules that are there to try and protect people.

@elliejjtiny Not being allowed to visit your 12 year old is just awful. That's an example of something where even 'Covid strict' people like me are likely to feel the rules were too rigid.

I'm CEV. When covid first hit I stayed at home and didn't even open my windows / washed shopping etc. By May I was seeing my DP, siblings, parents and some close by friends.

I think the lockdowns, isolations, testing etc were all needed measures. There's good evidence that lockdowns and the vaccines impacted transmission and illness.

I think it's clear that many many people (understandably) massively panicked and took things waaaay too far, and some people still are. There's no decent evidence that the widespread face covering policy (not proper masks in healthcare settings) made any meaningful difference, and it seems clear it was introduced to cash in on people's anxiety of Covid, rather than Covid itself.

That's an example of how little was known. Many conditions which led to people being classed CEV as a precaution turned out not to be high risk at all.
Now they are much clearer about who is most at risk.
My family went to huge lengths to protect me. It turned out to be the right decision because covid nearly killed me even after two vaccines.

Yes!

My daughter has Tourette’s and can’t wear a mask as they exacerbate her tics, causing injuries and seizures.

We were told she shouldn’t be allowed to leave the house, she shouldn’t be allowed to go to school/college, access medical appointments, get on a bus or go in a shop. That it was all her fault people were dying and people like her were the reason the pandemic had gone on for so long.

That she should practice wearing a mask, she’d eventually get used to it and she clearly wasn’t trying hard enough.

She is 16, and every day people would shout abuse at her

I think the problem is that your explanation was much more reasonable than the point of view you were trying to explain! What you're basically saying is that we don't know. That's an argument for not coming out with comments you can't possibly back up about how people not complying with restrictions, as a bloc rather than just the not obviously stupid ones, have dragged things out. The post I quoted was actually stating something to be a fact, rather than an opinion, so it goes beyond the abstracts you mention here.

I’m with the numerous posters on here who believe that the first lockdown was probably necessary, and started too late (and we maybe should’ve closed the border in February imo).

But I also agree that the tittle-tattle and public shaming was unnecessary. I can’t imagine decrying flat-dwelling children who wanted to head to the beach to throw a rugby ball around. Or a shopper who wanted to buy Easter eggs for their family come to that!

I am a public sector employee who could WFH, I have a garden, my kids didn’t mind home-schooling too much, and we have no health conditions. I do recognise how fortunate I was. I commiserate with those on here who’ve been bereaved or financially harmed.

Thank you to those people on this thread who said they've subsequently changed their mind that schools shouldn't have been shut for as long as they were. It weirdly really helps me to read that. I remember back in May 2020 when it was being discussed whether schools should be reopened, parents on the class WhatsApp groups saying "I wouldn't send my kids back anyway, I'd much rather wait until it's safer in September." And I was desperately trying to argue what would be magically safer in September. But people didn't undetstand and I felt like I was going mad. Then I thought the January lockdown completely unnecessary and driven by hysteria - people were outraged that preschools stayed open but actually with hindsight that made no difference. So we should have taken that risk with schools too and at least given some f2f teaching time, even if not the full normal school experience with all the added extras. Everyone was so risk averse and everything was judged as "all or nothing" rather than try to do something.

I have always been someone in life who tends to think the same as the majority and agree with people in leadership/power but suddenly I found myself in this parallel universe where I was so angry that no one was fighting this. I was writing to my MP each week and up in the night pacing. I could see the damage it was doing to my own kids (who have a very comfortable homelife) and could only imagine how it must be for some others. I still find it hard to think back to now and think it has fundamentally changed me and probably not for the better.

Does anyone else feel like this?

I was pregnant during the first lockdown and very scared. We all missed out on a lot. DD6 missed a very large chunk of her first year of school, DP missed all our baby scans and lots of stuff was over zoom which meant we didn't meet any people also expecting. I was incredibly worried that something would happen which meant DP couldn't be with me at the birth. Thankfully all was well and he could be there.

Despite all that we missed out on (and I am very aware others missed out on different/more important things) I think the lockdowns worked, although it was too little too late. We sat back and watched the rest of the world lock down and then waited until there had been considerably more spread before locking down on more than 1 occasion. I do think if we'd locked down sooner then they could have been shorter and less strict, and probably more effective. And I think there were some foolish decisions in between lockdowns which made things worse, such as chucking loads of kids back in schools with little to no mitigations and trying to convince people that schools were somehow magically exempt from spreading Covid. I guess what I'm saying is I think the whole lockdown thing was needed but greatly mismanaged by those in charge and could have had a much less disruptive effect.

Although if in the future reliable evidence comes out to the contrary of my opinion and it becomes evident that they were unnecessary then I will be happy to stand corrected

I was vaccinated very early. At the time, and even now, I remember being really impressed and proud of the British, Boris-the-twat / our Government /all the health agencies, who facilitated / negotiated our deal / package for vaccination.
Ursula von Leyen, was critical of the UK. But the EU were behind us, stagnated in signing their deals to get their residents vaccinations.

I believe that quite quickly my husband had both vaccinations, then they moved onto teens. This was a game-changer.
We should remember that bought us on leaps and bounds. Things got better for us then. Europe was behind us. And even now say the Spanish are still wearing masks, much more conservative about it all.

We made so many mistakes. But we did some things well reasonably.

Dominic Cummings Castle.
Hancock affair. The list is endless for embarrassing UK Covid things. But there are a few things we did right.

The vaccine rollout went very well. I was never particularly worried about the disease itself, but I found the experience of being vaccinated quite significant because I was touched at the kindness and commitment of all the volunteers. All these people helping, for no pay. I didn't expect to feel like that when I went in.

I disagree. A person shouldn’t be judged for what they choose to do, or not to do, with their own body. If covid could not be transmitted by the vaccinated as well as the unvaccinated, then yes, I would be inclined to agree with you that those who are not vaccinated deserve to be judged. But that’s not the case. So I stand by what I said.

Yes. I never wanted school closures, I remember reading threads on here in early March 2020 literally shouting to "CLOSE THE SCHOOLS" and I was thinking what fucking insanity is this?

It was weird the way some parents were about September, back in summer 2020. There seemed to be this idea that it was going to be loads safer by then. But if anything the opposite was going to be true, since rates were low by June and autumn is when the flu season gets started! I still don't understand why schools never opened for the last half term of the 2019-20 academic year.

Oh FGS I thought posts like this had died a death.

And there is always the risk of that with flu.

Doesn't mean we should have spent all the years since flu first appeared hiding away because of the next variant.

@HesterShaw1 I'd hoped they had too, but it would appear that some posters are still lurking ready to shout 'you're selfish' when they can 🙄

I don't see that the response from the UK (any part) was that different from other European countries - France, Italy, Spain etc all had lockdowns and school closures at some point.

I didn't see much of the MN hysteria (from either side of the Fence) IRL.

I think, two years in where we still have high Covid numbers it's important to remember that we now have a minor strain and most people have been vaccinated . That was not the case in March 2020.

I don't know how people will view any similar situation in the future .

It is worrying where there are people (admittedly mainly with vulnerable family members) who are still acting as if we are in March 2020.

Not used MN for a little while - where have all the paragraph's gone ?