Seems we are not unlocking.

I don’t mind the restrictions that are still in place continuing for another month, but I do think we need to get back to normal after that. Another month would give more time for more people to be fully vaccinated to help curb the spread. We have to remember that the vast majority of people testing positive are younger and will have no lasting problems from getting Covid. Hospitals are not overwhelmed and seem unlikely to be so. Most of the patients have not yet been fully vaccinated. The 7% who are fully vaccinated apparently had other comorbidities (according to a poster on Gransnet yesterday when I queried the health of that small number of people.)

At the moment I can do most of the things I want to do. I can meet my family indoors, I can join a group of up to 30 outdoors (although I haven’t yet) I can go to a restaurant and eat indoors, I went to the cinema in half term with my little grandson and I went to a hotel in London for afternoon tea a couple of days ago, travelling there by train and tube. We’ve booked to go to a Greek Island in September and short of it being made illegal to travel we will go (I’ve booked fairly isolated self catering accommodation, and Greece have said all Greek Island inhabitants will be vaccinated by next month.) I’m getting on with my life. I can’t yet go to the theatre, a concert, a festival (I wouldn’t want to anyway) or fly to New Zealand to see my beloved girl and family, but hopefully all that will come with time. I will not lock myself away for ever, but I will wear my mask, sanitise regularly, and avoid where possible very large crowds. We also sadly will not visit my husband’s elderly parents who live in the north west (we’re on the south coast.)

Pippa I’m sorry you are so afraid that you’re reimposing restrictions on your life yourself, but if that helps you to cope it seems sensible. The rest of us must do what we regard as safe for us. I had serious Covid earlier this year and the one thing it showed me is that life is to be lived. I’m happy as things are, but will be even happier when things get back to normal, if for no one else, at least for our poor businesses. We will definitely lose a lot if there are few businesses left to provide all the things we love to do.

Urmstongran

Just a conversation I overheard in the bar, not a friend, but it’s interesting hearing other people’s mental capacity on this pandemic. What gets one person through it obviously doesn’t suit another.

I think the government are starting to be concerned about compliance now.

They will be if they read some of these posts. I agree re: varied mental capacity and I am sure the government are well aware that there are quite large degrees of difference in people when it comes to the ability to make a decision and - more importantly - understand the consequences of that decision.

The second part of that seems to be missing for some when you hear what they expect. We all know small children often cannot delay gratification and that there is a marked correlation between intelligence and the ability to understand the greater rewards from delayed gratification but I did think the government were dealing with reasonably intelligent adults who either have the mental capacity or have someone caring for them who does.

GrannyGravy13

It’s double standards PippaZ sportsmen/women, actors, politicians and now sports fans are apparently given the green card for travel, but the general public no!!

I completely agree with you. Football, the Olympics and Ascot, to name just 3 events could have waited another year. The general public have all, to some degree, had to make sacrifices during this pandemic. The rules and guidelines should apply to everyone no matter who they are. If this state of affairs is allowed to continue, people will start to ignore the rules and who could blame them?

GrannyGravy13

Callistemon

Football?
Haven’t we been told before GrannyGravy that football is not a matter of life or death - it’s much more important than that!

Yes, we were and after this afternoon even more thought-provoking.

I sincerely hope that the Danish footballer pulls through.

Our darling nephew collapsed during a football match he was playing in, there was no defibrillator available, he died on the pitch leaving a wife and two children.

My eldest son's friend died during a football match. Just dropped where he stood. He was only 14. His poor mother never got over the shock.

Just a conversation I overheard in the bar, not a friend, but it’s interesting hearing other people’s mental capacity on this pandemic. What gets one person through it obviously doesn’t suit another.

I think the government are starting to be concerned about compliance now.

Some younger people are dying, and 10% of 18-49 year olds suffer from long covid, which can have long term health implications, so it’s not just about deaths, and will cause a significant long term health burden for both the individuals, their families and the NHS.
For the sake of 4 weeks, which at the current vaccination rate of about 250k new and 350k second vaccinations a day will see a further 7m first vaccinations and 10m approximately second vaccinations I think it’s a price worth paying as a lot more people will be protected than are now.

Urmstongran

Morning everyone. I heard someone in the bar last night say that she felt her anxiety about the virus was running high last year so she stopped listening to the BBC news and got on with her life, feeling her anxiety lift. Getting 2 jabs also made a huge difference and now she just wants to get on with her life. She’s sick of masks, thinks they are a form of virtual signalling as most people whip them on and off incorrectly anyway touching all parts!

Ignorance is not bliss. Ignorance is poverty. Ignorance is devastation. Ignorance is tragedy. And ignorance is illness. It all stems from ignorance.
Jim Rohn

Your friend seems to be rushing towards ignorance as if it was a panacea Urmstongran. That has never been the case. Not looking to see if the dinosaur was going to eat you, didn't make being eaten any less of a problem for you and probably, selfishly, caused many problems for others. The only thing that has changed is the size and shape of the threat and, thankfully, our ability, in time, to deal with it - if we are not hampered by the ignorant.

I think the lady was making the point that masks were being used (off the nose) or badly handled (touching all surfaces) that made most mask wearing pretty useless i.e. virtual signalling. Her companion said ‘the scientists don’t even agree whether they do any good, apart from reassuring the worried’.

Sadly I think we will be working our way through the alphabet with new strains of the virus coming in from any place in the world. It will only take a few cases to get a hold each time, so lockdowns and travel restrictions for the next 22 years would be pointless.

That was in the Sunday Telegraph btw but as they are direct quotes this story probably appears in many other newspapers today.

Ooh, just remembered ... GB News launches tonight!

I’m very torn about all this but I do think the international travel needs to wait until more have been vaccinated.

one thing which is really silly is saying mask wearers are virtue signalling.

Is it so bad really to wear masks ?

Just to come in to give my support to Monica's post.

Cannot understand the panic/paranoi about positive testing. Surely the only figures that matter are how many people hospitalised and how many deaths - and how many of these have received both doses of a vaccine.

“Britain will have a six-week window to open up in the summer or risk keeping Covid-19 restrictions in place until the spring, ministers fear.

Boris Johnson on Saturday gave his clearest signal yet he is planning to delay a full return to normality for another month, as he said he wanted to give Covid-19 vaccines "extra legs" in "the race between the vaccines in the lockdowns".

But government advisers have told ministers they will face a ticking clock before it becomes too late to lift the remaining restrictions in September.

On Saturday night a senior minister said there were fears the planned delay would leave a "very short window to open up", with further postponements leading to an eventual re-opening in the spring, when transmission occurs less easily and winter strains on the NHS have eased.”

The balance is between not opening so no spike, which is not viable or a very careful, very structured opening that happens as slowly or quickly as you can introduce the means to mitigate infection is the one the governments of the world are looking for. At the other end of the scale are a few people who want everything opening and the devil take the hindmost.

I'm not keen on the latter. I can choose the first for myself if I feel it necessary, but one in the middle is nuanced and relies on everyone doing their bit not some objecting to facemasks, washing and distancing, some gathering in greater numbers than have been deemed suitable, some travelling to other countries when they don't need to, and that the vaccines both being available and delivered.

That, to me is a sense of proportion. I do not throw myself in front of oncoming traffic on the off chance I will survive (never mind what it does to others) so continuing to be careful seems sensible to me. The fact that all will not choose to do so will lengthen the time I have to and is annoying, lengthening the time it takes for all of us but we know it will happen but we all know this happens. One person taking risks we have been told not to puts many others at risk and I can see no way of seeing this other than downright selfish.

M0nica?

Morning everyone. I heard someone in the bar last night say that she felt her anxiety about the virus was running high last year so she stopped listening to the BBC news and got on with her life, feeling her anxiety lift. Getting 2 jabs also made a huge difference and now she just wants to get on with her life. She’s sick of masks, thinks they are a form of virtual signalling as most people whip them on and off incorrectly anyway touching all parts!

Good post Monica

...and with rosie1959

M0nica...absolutely agree with you..

MOnica I agree with you on this point
Maybe unpopular but if we were not testing so much would we actually know this pandemic was still going on
We have to be careful as hospital admissions are slightly on the rise but deaths are not

Any relaxation of current restrictions will inevitably lead to a spike in the disease. So on that basis the current restictions would never be lifted.

Despite recent rises, except in one or two small areas, the chances of getting COVID are now really very low.

We do need to get a sense of proportion back and realise that life is full of risks and this new one is unlikely to ever go away so we either accept it as is just another illness in the pantheon of illnesses, but one that is containable, thanks to the vaccine, or we accept that we will forever hve to live the abnormal lives we live now.

Personally, I would rather take the risk and return to normal.

You hit it right on the head Lucca. I have just seen a notice on our town's FB page that one of the local pubs is closed today because "a couple of the staff have tested positive." This feels very close. Although we have had one of the worst areas in our local city, we have always seemed okay in comparison to what was happening elsewhere. I may well go back to click and collect or even delivery for my shopping this week.

farview

Feb 2020...I kissed and hugged my daughter, 4yr old grandson and 3weeks old grandson at the airport in Dubai...said see you all in 2months...here we are in 2021 now... I think we now ....absolutely...need to get on with living our lives...I'm 69yrs old, H is 76...I want our now 17month old grandson to get to know us and remember us......

Many of us want that …I’ve not seen my DS and family since December 2018 but we can’t and the more people carry on travelling around the longer it’s going to take .

GrannyGravy I’m so sorry to hear about your nephew. It must have been devastating for the whole family

Feb 2020...I kissed and hugged my daughter, 4yr old grandson and 3weeks old grandson at the airport in Dubai...said see you all in 2months...here we are in 2021 now... I think we now ....absolutely...need to get on with living our lives...I'm 69yrs old, H is 76...I want our now 17month old grandson to get to know us and remember us......