Are we approaching another lockdown?

Oh forgot to say she works setting up Covid testing centres and vaccination sites.

I do fear that Easter will be another Xmas with people being careless and causing another spike. I think this country is doing well but until the rest of Europe at least is at the same level we will not come out the other side. At 68 I too have wondered if this is how I will spend the rest of my life. On the up side I am mostly happy and content, Spring is nearly here and warmer weather is coming. Play music, dance and be happy, get out and walk, all good things to keep the spirits up.

I can't see life ever being as it was before all this began..even with vaccines we won't know who has really had it or not just by looking at them will we? The ones who dont take it up will always have a death knell over them, and also endanger everyone else.This is why i said it ought to have been made compulsory..(medical safety permitting).. but then folk jump on the bandwagon about right to choose & freedom of choice etc..But this is a serious killing virus, with many different strains, why cant they see its the VIRUS that's leaving them with NO choice- and just, for once in their lives, just accept the ruddy vaccine?!How are they going to feel further down the line if theyre own grandkids& great grandkids ask about this time, to be told their own relatives helped keep it going by refusing to have a life- saving vaccine which could have helped put an end to it sooner? Not be as smug then eh? Provided covid hasn't got them before then.?My son said, give it 3 days after they open up pubs etc again, and we will be heading back into another lockdown...which, as so rightly pointed out, we ARE still in at the moment.

So much pessimism! I have managed to get a hair appointment for 20th April - Yay! Also booked a restaurant table in the garden for 6 of us on 17th May - they are booked solidly from 12th April until then. What is the point of us all having our vaccinations if we aren't able to do anything. I am back volunteering (I'm 77 but not health problems) - I do a lateral flow test twice a week and it is wonderful to be back among people. We have to keep moving forward - we're not going to eradicate it but we will learn to live with it like 'flu. thousands usually die of 'flu each year, but not this winter.

Shielding ends 31st March though presumably people can carry on if they are happier doing so.

I thought we had already heard that there should be no foreign holidays abroad this summer.

Wouldn’t want to risk Europe right now though salt water bathing really helps my skin condition.

www.gov.uk/coronavirus

I hope the EU start to see sense and bow to international pressure to stop trying to punish other countries who got their act together and ordered their vaccine in a timely fashion.

With the world heading for a recession it’s not a good time to advertise just how duplicitous they really are.

Does anyone live in Wales? Shops are open there. I live on the border, but the first minister says: "Don't think you English can come here to have your hair done". Very frustrating. Businesses there won't be pleased with him.

I am hoping that foreign. Holidays will be banned this year, then people who have booked can get their money back. We have booked a self catering cottage in the UK, with large garden and a country park nearby, so if nothing else,it will be a change of scene. I am hoping before then, to make some day trips, just to get out of the area.
Personally, I don’t see why people who have been vaccinated and are leading quiet lives should not meet up. I would love my choir to restart for the likes of us. The trouble is, some are looking after grandchildren, whose parents are working in key roles, so actually I don’t want to mix with them. Everyone’s standards are different. It is hard to know who is safe.

We are still in lockdown- have been for ages now. It has got to the position that people are so fed up they are ignoring it. I was surprised when both my sons came to see us on Mother's Day. To be fair they live in areas where they are not in lockdown so did not realise we still were.
The schools have gone back now though so hopefully things are looking better.
Has anyone had their 2nd jab yet? they said 12 weeks so I have about another 6 weeks to wait.

maddyone
Are we ever going to be sure now we have a vaccine to control this present virus there is not some other 'form of nasty' ready and waiting to take over ?

Our parents bored us with WW2 stories!

Lockdown may be boring for some, but it is very worrying for others, frightening and distressing for some and sheer exhaustion for those in the NHS and other services.

WW2 was not, as far as I have heard, boring. Frightening, distressing, exhausting for some and worrying.

If all we are is bored, then we should count ourselves lucky.

The ones who dont take it up will always have a death knell over them, and also endanger everyone else.

They shouldn't be endangering the 'everyone else' who have been vaccinated.
The virus can be transmitted by anyone, vaccinated or not, so having unvaccinated people on the loose should pose a danger only to those same people.

This is today’s graph of Northumberland from the Zoe Covid symptom study app. The figures are estimated from their data but are in real time and are usually ahead of government figures.
I feel very despondent and doubt that the roadmap will be adhered to.
We have been pinning our hopes on travelling to see DD in the midlands after May 17 but I think that’s now unlikely to happen.

No theyre not in trenches Kittypaws49, but its like our younger,AND older people of the NHS, have been sent to the 'trenches' in a way- sent to the frontline, to risk their lives- to fight this virus, and some lost their lives just the same as if they'd gone to war.And not even knowing at beginning exactly what it was they were battling! Its not what they signed up to the job for, is it, to risk their life doing it? And for that they got a measly pay rise that wont even pay their parking fees. I was horrified when someone on phone when i arranged an appt told me even the staff have gone back to paying hospital parking charges! Bl**dy heck, they could at least give them that free couldn't they? It would save the NHS staff a fortune if they at least do that..and no im not related to anyone in NHS, but i (and my family) rely on their care a lot, and can see how hard they work.and admire their dedication.

Even if anyone thinks that NHS staff did sign up to live with whatever danger arises in healthcare - retail workers, bus drivers etc certainly didn't.
A lot of people have been living in terrifying circumstances.

springishere

Does anyone live in Wales? Shops are open there. I live on the border, but the first minister says: "Don't think you English can come here to have your hair done". Very frustrating. Businesses there won't be pleased with him.

Shops aren't open in Wales although I have heard that they are open in some areas of England. People are not allowed across the border (either way).

Hairdressessers and barbers are not pleased with Mr Drakeford because he gave them two days' notice of opening - as many have said, no time to prepare, make sure their staff have the required Covid tests and in fact even to make appointments!
People in the hospitality industry are not pleased with him because they cannot understand why hairdressers are allowed to open but people are not allowed to sit, self-distanced, in a pub garden.

I witnessed a funeral outside an ASDA last week, they shut the shop and stood outside as the hearse was walked round I couldn't help wondering if it was covid related. It was incredibly moving. There has been so much loss

I am like many, suffering from lockdown fatigue, and am becoming a little complacent. However I tend to tune into the Independent Sage Group (Fridays on YouTube) it’s open to the public and they give a very sensible and comprehensive view of what is happening, and without the usual briefing waffle from the government.

They don’t believe we are out of the woods yet, but I am hoping for some respite during the summer. Much safer when many activities are outside. The vaccination programme has gone well up til now, but still leaves half U.K. population vulnerable, and we are all vulnerable when new variants appear.

Yes FarNorth, but they are endangering the ones who cannot be vaccinated (but would love to) for health/medical reasons, or children, who can't as yet be given the vax, and even of those who are vaccinated, theres some of course, who are going to be the few percent whom it does not 'work' on, and still even vaccination doesn't necessarily mean we won't get it and be very ill, even if we are not going to die from it.The vaccine isn't a complete magical potion, but the more that take it up, than don't bother, the better it will be, obviously.

In my view, there will be lockdowns in parts of the country and during some of the winter weeks (post Christmas and New Year?) subject to the data obtained, and on the advice of scientists and medics. Independent SAGE is an excellent and trustworthy debate I would advise one follows on the YouTube indie_SAGE

I do agree!

Yes (again) FarNorth, i know the bus drivers & retail staff did not sign up for that either, one of my sons is a bus driver and it had always been what he wanted to do- he started the job not long before covid arrived- now i worry all the time, and for my youngest daughter who works in retail, its a very different job to what they both 'signed up' for..as it is for teachers too.This is why they should have been given a chance to get vaccine early, as coming into direct contact with the public every day is unsafe.But gov't chose to give it as they have so it is what it is...

I’ve just been looking at the vaccination figures now by coincidence, and it looks like the uptake for the 60+ and vulnerable groups is going to be much higher than they predicted, it’s nosing 95% for many of those groups already, and creeping up daily. It looks as the most vulnerable who can’t have the vaccination is a very small percentage. These were Wales figures, but I’m sure it’s similar in the rest of the UK. There are trials going on for children now too, so soon the most vulnerable of them will be vaccinated as well.

But overall, yes i do think that when we are all allowed to leave this current lockdown we will probably end up with another, (or back to the 'levels'- as Boris has said we "wont have another complete lockdown") as so many will just flock to places, or jet off somewhere...its most disheartening now..?

I don't think it will ever get back to normal. According to the nurse who vaccinated me social distancing and masks are here to stay forever! When I said it was not economically viable and mentioned things like cinemas, football stadiums, and theatres she said that they can space out and sit 5 seats between each other. Well, the venues will lose money if that happens on a permanent basis. I mentioned care home visits and she said one person at a time can visit. I also mentioned people who become new grandparents her reply was the grandmother can see the baby one week and the grandfather the next, and there's always facetime. Social distancing must NOT become the new normal and I am sick of being dictated to by the government.

Yes Casdon, i read about the trials for childrens vaccines (we are all so worried for our GC)! But theres now the worries about the safety of the vaccines? Even for us as adults, so the worry for the kids having it is huge? Ive never worried about getting my kids vaccinated,(when they were growing up) i think its best, but this safety aspect thats come to light recently is a worry.im still getting my second dose when i can-though as I'm prone to forming blood clots already I'm very concerned.(i'll just hope as I'm on lifetime blood thinners already that it helps counteract the side effects)??