It's the fault of the government that hospital capacity is so stretched. That's on them, not us. They acted far too slowly to put measures in place at the beginning of last year. They failed to prepare for a pandemic.
I stopped my self employed work before it was compulsory out of fear of catching covid and had reduced my contacts to almost nothing by the week before the first lockdown. By the end of March I was stocked up with vitamins, a pulse oximeter (much to the amusement of the rest of the family), cough and cold remedies and masses of tinned and frozen food. I wore a mask before it was compulsory. Read and read about covid. Worried and worried about the child I was no longer allowed to befriend in the usual way through the social work dept, worried about my student son, worried about my daughter in her small flat with no garden, worried about the long term effects of lockdown on everyone and on the economy. I took part in a vaccine trial. Took great pains to offer the best service I could to my music pupils within the constantly changing rules/guidelines - socially distanced lessons in my garden under a parasol, pointing to music with a bamboo cane, humphing equipment in and out of the house etc. Struggling on with online lessons, which I did but found very difficult to do.
I took covid19 more seriously than the government. The government of UK and Scotland were patronising, secretive, incompetent and indecisive and worst of all imo, fear-mongering.
I consider I've been extremely lucky with how I've been affected by covid. I'm not a carer or in a household with vulnerable people, my children are independent, I've been only minimally affected financially. I don't have family abroad. But I've still suffered because of covid. And now, three vaccinations, 2 flu jabs later, home testing kits, and more treatments for covid later I'm still anxious and angry. Not about getting covid but about what our governments will do next.
Normally in times of crisis the government taxes the very richest people to pay for extra costs. But this government has put the burden of paying for the pandemic on ordinary working people, who are amongst the most affected by the consequences of lockdowns and uncertainty about covid19 and given lucrative contracts to their own friends and party donors. What sort of leadership is that?
If JS, JL, HY or NS say one word about protecting Christmas or all of us doing our part to prevent the further spread of covid I think I'll explode. As for people like previous posters who have lost loved ones or work or lived in extremely stressful circumstances due to the covid restrictions- I can't imagine how angry they must be.