5 day break...

I live alone and bubble with family but not very often. I plan to stay with them from Christmas eve for a few days.
I live in the south east and I am now having second thoughts. It's very hard on your own but not worth blowing months of lockdown.

i know some say they are getting mixed messages from the government but, i can really get it,they are damned if they do and damned if they dont, i would not like their jobs at all, so so stressful and we all seem to know the answers , i dont think any of us know the answers, I think the gov are hoping that we will our our commen sense as to what we should or shouldnt do,, not working though is it , due , mainly i think, to our own selfishness and i`m all right jack attitude, if we had all done as we should it would have made such a difference, my opinion anyway

Sarnia government press conference at 4pm today.

What I haven't said Sarnia, that I have also had advice from my consultant, he is much more forthright. His advice is what I will bear in mind, the final decision will be mine .
I don't intend to blow, nearly nine months ofshielding.

LinkyPinky

It was a ‘bloody’ wet market, Nannan2. You know, dead wild animals dripping with bodily fluids. Stay outdoors.

....and live animals that were killed on the spot.

It was a ‘bloody’ wet market, Nannan2. You know, dead wild animals dripping with bodily fluids. Stay outdoors.

jct1

Precisely! That's what so many people seem to be planning to do, which is why it's hopeless trusting people to use their common sense - some folk don't have any

Many people seem "infantilised" - they need to be told what to do and then they whine like toddlers.

My parents went through a terrible time in the War. They were bombed, they suffered, six years of hell. I was a child born after the War and I never heard them complain about the past.

I'd like to come through the present crisis knowing that I did my best - that I didn't risk my family and friends or strangers or myself - that I tried my hardest to do the right thing, that I didn't whine and complain all the time.

Simply, NO.

Precisely! That's what so many people seem to be planning to do, which is why it's hopeless trusting people to use their common sense - some folk don't have any

Marydoll

I have received a shielding text from the Scottish Govt, basically advising against it. There is your answer!

The word here is 'advising'. If the numbers and the outlook are so dire, then the Governments need to come out and ban mixing.

My surprise Christmas Gift to both of my DDs and my Sister is an Infrared Patio Heater. This is as much for my benefit as their's so that I can do outdoor, socially distant visits during the cold lockdown months I am expecting. They don't seem to feel the cold as much as I do. They were not very expensive (from a firm that supplies pubs, cafes, etc and I got them on a buy 3 get one free basis. The free one is for ME

Oldwoman70

Isn't it down to personal responsibility? If the government had imposed a lockdown there would have been many who would have ignored it (just as they are ignoring current restrictions), yet when (not if) there is a spike in infections in January everyone will be blaming the government - not those who didn't take precautions.

As someone said, just because you can doesn't mean you have to. Yes, see family at Christmas but ensure you take the necessary precautions. As for me, I will be spending Christmas alone - I live in a Tier 2 area and family live in a Tier 3 area.

Well said. I agree with you.

PS. Yes, there probably are people who have died because hospitals don't have capacity. What would you do? Let cancer or Covid patients die? It's a tough choice. Preventing people from being infected with Covid would release beds for patients with cancer and other critical conditions.

The problem with the Nightingale hospitals is that they weren't staffed. Hospitals wishing to send patients to them had to use their own staff.

The Test and Trace system has more or less been abandoned in favour of the latest government bright idea - mass testing. Neither scheme will help if people aren't supported to self-isolate and people continue to ignore safety advice. It only takes a handful of people to be super spreaders. The lateral flow test isn't very accurate anyway and will only pick up positive cases at one given time. People can get a negative test and pick up an infection the same day.

Quite simply this is all so wrong it's mad.
With the exception of people with elderly or sick relatives we should be keeping away from people until the vaccine is properly rolled out.
There is now bound to be a harsh lockdown after Christmas as in many places hospitals are not coping now AND with only a finite number of health staff things cannot all get done. I suspect vaccination will take far longer than it should because there won't be the staff to do it.
Already the government has proved totally incompetent over schools. Testing is promised but cannot possibly be delivered.
If the government could bring itself to admit the problems and wisely brought in military personnel to help we might be alright.
Otherwise have a safe Christmas and look forward to a much better Christmas in 2021. Be sensible please.

Of course you can notright but not everyone is built with the same level of responsibility or intelligence as you or (maybe me)

With regard to Nightingale hospitals, there is insufficient staff. Hospitals are struggling with staff shortages due to mental health problems, Covid, and isolating (them and families). It’s not possible to wave a wand and staff appear in Nightingale Hospitals.

AlanaV I don't know where your local hospital is, but yesterday at 8am there were 15,866 patients with confirmed Covid in English hospitals. 1190 were in ventilation beds. (Sorry, I don't know the stats for the other UK countries.)

There were 451 confirmed Covid patients on 2 September, so you can see the increase in three and a half months.

Sadly, the death rate of those serious enough to be admitted to hospital is still (despite better treatments) nearly 20%, so that's approximately 3000 people, who will probably die.

I have a friend on Facebook who works in my nearest large hospital and she says that all the critical care beds are full. Some beds are being brought into emergency use and some patients are being sent home before medical staff think is ideal.

We don't have to mix for 5 days, you can make it only one if you so choose. Happy Xmas

A friend in the US told me that they relaxed the rules in her area for Thanksgiving and had a massive peak a couple of weeks later.

Christmas should have been 'cancelled' this year ages ago. No mixing allowed. It would have helped with planning (non-planning!) We'd be in a better place come the spring. I feel for all NHS staff.

It was ridiculous from day one anyone with half a brain could see that it would cause more problems in the new year
Why the rules could have NOT been relaxed for one year seems totally against anything we have all been trying for for nearly a year He, (I can’t bear to say the name), thinks this will make him popular he ll be the jolly good egg who let the minions make Merry
It s interesting to hear on Radio 4 today they were talking about the countries with woman leaders have done better with clearer regulations and the very worst ones have been the countries led by populists I think we have all worked that one out
I just hope most people have more brains and do what’s best smaller, briefer and less travelling and fingers crossed

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

NO I will not be panicking and I will see my friends for Christmas dinner ....New Year break has been cancelled so I will get in something nice and sit in front of the tele .......BUT we MUST get some sense of normality back or we never will .....we are told the NHS is overwhelmed but I was at my large local hospital in a City this week for an appointment and it was so quiet ........I think, as is reported in the local press, they do still have one or two COVID patients but they told me they themselves have NOT been overwhelmed. The question I would ask is, if other hospitals ARE overwhelmed so that no one awaiting life saving cancer or other surgery is not being treated and, as I read in the papers this week, one poor man was put off so many times that he died of a cancer that he need not have and he was a young family man of only around 30 something .....there has to be a way to get hospitals back to treating people such as he. What has happened to the specially built Nightingale hospitals ? we have heard nothing about them from Boris ....where I live there are three COVID testing centres ....I pass a large one most days ...there is capacity for around 50 cars or more foot patients.......on only one day did I see two cars ..............so, is the situation out of hand, or not ? or would the government have us all believing it is so we obey what they dictate ?

Despite the best efforts of most of the population 'rules' are not working. This virus is to be spreading like a forest fire. It seems to like rain - think I read somewhere that droplets hang for longer in moist air. Remember last summer when we threatened with huge rises infection after all those crowds on the south coast beaches? And did that happen? No.
It's peak rain season coming upon us that seems to me the most worrying thing.

Legally we're 'allowed" but really don't like that word. Morally and ethically, it's down to each individual according to their own conscience.