Guilt Free Railing 17

[WouldBeGood]

Happy New Thread, Railers!

It's been very busy our in cafes where we are for the last couple of weekends. Older, frailer looking people in there too.
It really feels like it's drawing to a close at this point.

I didn't even realise that there were restrictions back on number of households. I've stopped paying attention to the minutae now.

That would be awesome @WouldBeGood. Obviously up here we'll continue to be 'protected' whether we want to to be or not for a lot longer, but England taking definite endgame steps puts pressure on Sturgeon to find the guts to do the same. I agree that people seem very relaxed about it now and not overly concerned about distancing etc now that we can all see that firstly it makes little difference, and secondly COVID just isn't that dangerous anymore for the vast vast majority. It does feel like the right point to get back to normal.

It is a spark of hope!

I’m debating whether to try my French trip again and book for April….

The 3 households is only advice in private and in hospitality.
I've been out with more than 3 households and restaurants don't bat an eyelid.

Go for it @WouldBeGood

It would just be four households for my Mum's 65th birthday. I'm hoping the restaurant will turn a blind eye, as they know us.

I had forgotten there were any limits on household's tbh. I think because it was only ever guidance I filed it mentally under 'If you want' and haven't given it any thought since. I certainly haven't been sticking to it, but then I've just been living normally and not organising raves or anything. I think four households is fine. Maybe if you organised a large party they might pay attention.

@WouldBeGood I'd go for it with the French trip, I'm thinking our March ski trip is now about 90% likely to happen as is our Feb half term one ( providing no one catches covid).

We rebooked our France trip for April 🤞my kids don't know. And I'm not telling them

Great to hear of holiday plans. Fingers crossed for everyone. We're going down south at Easter hopefully. With a bit of luck fairly restriction free!

Railing against the darkness- literally! When will daylight come?!

We've got a week booked at Easter abroad - we're trying to sort the summer too.

Maybe I’ll try to persuade DP on the holiday thing.. got to drive as I can’t do masks for long so France is ideal

Yes flying was difficult I didn't get a letter in time from the Dr's! I did however just is DHs cloth mask and he has a much bigger head then me so it did sod all other then for show and then I always had a drink in my hand!

We will book a summer break but waiting to see what gets relaxed in what country as I can't take wearing them outdoors everywhere in heat which quite a few countries brought in for omicron.

Very best of luck with the holiday plans indeed. France had a huge increase in reported cases so hopefully their numbers will go down fast too and they'll dispense with travel restrictions soon.

I think you need to wear an N95 mask on flights to France and very strict about not removing them.

Good point @mibbelucieachwell - fingers crossed!

Oh thanks @wouldbegood I had forgotten about that one, that's France off the hol list for a bit!

I'm hoping Malta will change back but otherwise we are thinking Greece again!

That's the leaks starting on Twitter about tomorrow.

Mask wearing long term but the rest to go. Urgh I hate masks.

Oh fuck off with the masks Ms Sturgeon!!

The tories want to keep them as well.

Having a rail today about the Scottish Government continuing their blatant coercion campaign and cancelling IVF treatment for unvaccinated potential mothers indefinitely. They call it a 'temporary deferral' but there's no end date and given their track record, this could be many months or perhaps even longer, all of which is time these women might not have. It doesn't affect me directly as my child bearing days are long gone and they weren't IVF babies anyway, but I remember trying to conceive and being so stressed about everything I put into my body, and I can quite understand why a woman TTC would want to avoid a new vaccine, which initially they were told to stay away from. Add to that that a lot of these women will have had COVID and so have natural immunity anyway, plus how quickly the vaccine immunity wanes removing the 'stopping spread' argument (even more so with Omicron as its not a great match anymore), and it seems especially cruel. If it's about stopping spread, testing on the days of treatment would be more effective as prior immunity from either source doesn't stop spread. If it's because pregnant women are more at risk from COVID (which does seem to be the case tbh), firstly why isn't natural immunity considered good enough (also reduces the chances of severe illness), and secondly have we now just officially accepted that Drs/governments get to decide what medical treatments/prophylaxis we have without any consideration for individual consent?

This feels like quite a sinister step towards a completely authoritarian state where government advisors decide what is best for you and if you want access to services you must comply. Goes without saying that while pregnant women are advised to get vaccinated across the UK, England has not imposed a similar policy barring unvaccinated women from treatment.

What have I missed what's meant to be happening / announced tomorrow?

I get what your saying on the fertility treatment thing it's in there with the other fertility treatment stuff BMI no more than 30, not allowed once you turn 40 etc. Even if you've spent years on the waiting list etc

Spinning it on its head they know pregnant women are at high risk of covid complications - why would you want to encourage someone to get pregnant when you know that's a risk? And how do you ensure that the NHS is completely without fault if a pregnant woman gets really ill or dieds from covid while carrying a fertility baby the NHS helped create?

I can see the logic in that one.

That's shocking @Y0uCann0tBeSer10us.
I don't see how such discrimination can even be legal. I suppose health provision is prioritised routinely as a matter of course to make best use of finite resources but there's no justification for delaying ivf treatment to unvaccinated women on the grounds of making most effective use of resources or on any health considerations. I get that unvaccinated pregnant women and their unborn babies are more at risk from covid if they haven't previously had covid but so is anyone who's considered clinically vulnerable. Are they also having ivf treatment deferred? If not surely that's discrimination and, as you say, blatant coercion.

Are the twitter leaks about the SG's plans?