Thinking of going out

So far I have done nothing different to usual ....gone out to shop, seen friends in my bubble .....travel on the Metro, the bus and the train (train only if I carry something to say I have to travel by train, and what for).....M & S food halls where I live even have CLOTHES and other goodies to browse, on the same floor. Lovely to walk around the city when it is so quiet, but I am sorely missing theatres, concerts, travel ....all booked from 2019 and early 2020 ....now re booked (but likely to be cancelled) for this year ....as soon as I can, I am OFF travelling on a plane (did go to Rhodes last September in between lockdowns.....and Amsterdam, where life was almost normal) ...I;m not gonna live in Silence, I;m not gonna live in fear ...oh ...(words from Labi Siffre) and if I die my funeral is paid for and my Will is made. and for all of those who say this is a selfish attitude, then never forget someone else must have had the same attitude which would probably be how I would catch anything anyway !!!! Shame I cannot travel abroad until after my second dose in May ...........desperate also for a hair cut ! Still going to hospital and GP surgery for necessary things ......makes a day trip there and back !

Of course you can go out. Wear a mask indoors in shops but go for a nice walk every day & get some fresh air- I go out every day -just round the roads near me. I have found that perfect strangers are saying a cheery Good Morning & everyone seems happier than usual- I think it is the fact they are out & about.
On a lovely day like this it is a real tonic.

The advice is to wait three weeks after the second vaccine before going "back to normal." And even then to continue mask-wearing and social distancing.

I go out to Waitrose or the Garden Centre about once a week. I go when I think it will be the quietest with my well fitting, daily laundered mask and hand gel in my bag and the car. I did this even before having the vaccine four weeks ago. I wont be going to a large shopping centre when they reopen although I am longing to go and buy some new clothes I shall pick my moment in some of the small local stores. The one I have in mind only allows 2 customers in the shop at a time.

We have also been food shopping from the beginning, since it was impossible to get delivery slots when it all kicked off last March. We’re both early 70s.

I find the shops least busy on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings. Just mask, distance as far as poss, take sanitiser and wash hands when you get home.
I’m sure you will soon become less nervous about it.

I just wish more people in my area would have the jab and get the numbers down.

It’s no use. I just can’t go to a shop while the numbers are still this high.

I’m really envious of people that have had low numbers all the way through. Or now.

It will probably seem very strange at first then but your confidence will return. We go out once a week for necessary shopping, we go separately to two different supermarkets and once a day each for dog walking. It will seem strange to be able to go for a coffee together and to browse round the shops.

I'm fetching my click and collect order today. I don't feel inclined to go inside a supermarket just yet.
But I would love to go to a garden centre. I didn't realised they were open and that I'm allowed to.

I have been going out for all necessary shopping since the Lockdowns started. Mainly to the supermarket, but I have also collected goods from other outlets on a click and collect basis.

From Day 1 I wore gloves and a mask, regardless of what other people said. I continue to do so. I have shopped very early in the morning and avoided crowds. Quite simply I have kept calm and carried on, and kept within the regulations and kept up with the science.

I have then just got on with life without being in constant fear. It is the panic that fear can engender, that makes people do stupid things, whether that be excessive caution or throwing the rules to the wind.

Daisymae

On the basis that I've had the vaccine, the supermarket and garden centre are open. Haven't actually bee in a supermarket for a year and the garden centre since September. I'm really thinking that I've had enough now.

Are you shielding ? If not then I don’t understand why you can’t go out honestly.

The general opinion is that masks are going to be needed for at least a couple more years.

I read a scientific article that said that covid will be around, at a level regarded as dangerous, for up to 7 years and that we should carry on using existing measures for safety (hands, face, space).

The newer variants put us, as older and more vulnerable, at continued risk, so precautions need to continue.

I've been going to supermarkets since the first lockdown ended last summer, and so far have come to no harm. I had my first dose of vaccine 7 weeks ago and feel reasonably confident, but there's nowhere to go to meet friends and I still can't visit a friend who is currently undergoing chemotherapy. Talking on the phone is no substitute. Yesterday I decided to take a stroll round a garden centre. There was no risk of getting too close to anyone as there weren't crowds of customers and those who were there were well spread out. Checkouts were well organised and there were no queues. I don't think there could have been anywhere safer to go for a little outing.

The second jab only increases your protection by about 5% from 90% to 95% effectiveness.

At 90% it is more effective than the flu vaccine, which has an effectiveness of 40-60%

I’m going to wait till 35 days after my vaccine before I might consider doing anything. That was I’ll know the immunity will have kicked in. I’m probably a bit more relaxed now eg a neighbour gave my dog a biscuit yesterday when we walked past his house and I didn’t totally freak out which I would have done pre vaccine. I’ve noticed the buses, that have been empty fir a long time, now seem to have a handful of passengers now. I think I’ll carry on internet shopping for the foreseeable future. Especially as the infection rate is likely to go up now the children are back at school.

Assuming that you're not Clinically Extremely Vulnerable then I would say it's time to make a start on going back out again.

Take the same precautions - face mask, hand gel and 2m space - and pick a quiet time to visit. It's bound to seem odd at first but you'll get used to it.

I have been going to the supermarket all the way through lockdown since last March. We go once or twice a week, usually late morning during the week when the supermarket is quiet. We are very careful with our masks, use hand gel when we leave and stay out of crowds. In fact we pretty much keep our distance from everyone - sometimes you can't help getting closer in the supermarket though.
We haven't had our vaccinations yet, hopefully soon. If it's a nice day we have been known to get a coffee and sit outside the shops in the sunshine after shopping. Such daredevils!

We do a big shop at the supermarket once a week at around seven o’clock - it’s practically empty and the only thing I ever seem to miss out on is raspberries! I won’t lose any sleep over that. We also drive to the butchers every other week. As he is the only butcher for miles around and they are a dying breed, I want to give this one my custom for as long as I can. Take it slowly, observe the precautions and avoid doing anything at the weekend is the only way to go.

Because I couldn't get online deliveries, I have been in supermarkets from the beginning. I sanitise going in and coming out, I'm masked as well. I have also been on buses which are very empty, London transport say that they have swabbed them and that there is no evidence of covid. Again I am masked and use sanitiser. I have been trying to walk every day and have spoken to people that I know, but socially distanced. I'm hoping that by the summer life will feel slightly more normal.

Apparently just the one jab (either vaccine) gives over 90% protection! I’ll carry on with the hands/distance for good, masks guess will eventually have the be ditched?

It depends where you live. I am 65 and clinically vulnerable and still haven't been vaccinated although not for want of trying to get it organised. Children have returned to school today so it's likely infection rates will start to rise again and spread among families.

One vaccine only gives partial protection. I agree, we can't remain cooped up forever but the risk level is still high and will be for a long time yet. There is still so much we don't know.

Wear a mask, take hand gel, wash your hands soon as you can. Keep the 2 metre distance. It’s great to get out.
Although - Morrison’s supermarket yesterday, two male staff members laughing, chatting, slowly putting bottles on shelves, one had his mask on his chin, the other had a lanyard saying he was exempt.
I walked past a couple of tines, then found the manager to speak to them.

Both vaccines or feeling confident with just the one?

I’m in a high risk area that has never been out of lockdown for the whole year, so I’m still waiting on my second one ?

We have to get back to normal. Everyone I know over 60 has been vaccinated, and in a couple of months it will be everyone over 18 who wants it. That means that our risk of dying from it is now less than many other diseases. The research seems to show that the vaccines also greatly reduce the risk of passing it on.

What are we waiting for? There will never be zero covid deaths, any more than there will be zero meningitis, or zero sepsis, or any other of the serious illnesses and infections that have a fatality rate.

If you can, maybe you could go to the supermarket very early, or very late in the day.
It's much less busy then.

I had my vaccine 4 weeks ago so hopefully it is working now. I will go out now as transmission is low but will still take the usual precautions with masks and space.