The decision to end restrictions is dangerous and premature, unethical and illogical.

Same old same old.confusion.mistrust .lazy governing. Anyone who works in an enclosed environment is being told that they have to take all the risks with none of the benefits. Little shopkeepr:please will you all wear a mask and not cram into my sweetie shop? Customers:NO! Little shopkeepr:well I'm afraid I'll have to insist.customers:make me.....
Umm.... I think public transport shops and enclosed public areas should still be masked areas. Common sense until we're in actual control of this disease. The younger generations have on the whole been ok about this but they are not grasping that they have possibly 60-70 years to make up time lost now......we however simply do not.these are our twilight years if you like.no second chances for those over 60.

Loads of nails been hit on heads here! Excellent post and my sentiments exactly. It's "normal" that got us into this mess in the first place!

Since the beginning I have seen individuals and families ignore the rules, especially in the 40s and under groups. So much emphasis was placed on how the young were at such a low risk of catching the virus or having serious consequences that a great many just lived as normally as they could. With the huge crowds being allowed and it seems a lot of young folk are involved, of course people now see the situation as safe. Mask wearing has reduced already. Sat observing people going into a supermarket Sunday and loads of young people not wearing a mask

Oops, fat finger. The public is driving the change whether we like it or not and unless a Government stops issuing 'advice and applies actual laws and penalties the population will be the driving force no matter what any expert says..

When a scientist makes a claim or pronouncement about something scientific, other scientists will ask, What are their credentials? Are they qualified to comment on this topic from a position of knowledge?

When it is said that 122 scientists have signed this letter, or that science shouldn’t be political, another scientist will ask, well who are the 122? How can anyone think science isn’t political?

Scientists will wonder how a group of unaccountable scientists manage to get their views so widely disseminated around social media. They’ll wonder why they think they should be undermining the advice and decisions of their colleagues on accountable bodies. They’ll particularly wonder why one of their members is on SAGE but feels the need to be on Independent SAGE as well and cast doubt on the position held by SAGE.

If anyone has the time to read everything I’ve posted about this, you’ll see that I’ve never disagreed with what they say about keeping some restrictions. I didn’t say anybody wasn’t a real scientist either. I don’t expect anybody to trawl though and read my posts, so you’ll just have to take that on trust. But I’m reserving the right to ask what their motivation is and whether the opinion of a mathematician who works on gravity waves (i.e. one of the 122) is really valid in a scientific sense, at this time. If it is, then the opinion of a physicist who worked on solar cells is also valid. (Guess who that is?)

PippaZ

Why all the desperation to "return to normal" and who defines what is normal?

It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change. [Charles Darwin]

We seem to be shunning adaptability. So what if we have to have pubs with fewer customers? They will have to charge more and we may have to go out less frequently or more will open. So what if we have to pay front-line workers more to do those jobs? They are the very people who will need to spend what they earn and keep the economy churning.

Why defy what so many scientists are saying? Is it just because the rich worry about not holding power? For this, they will sacrifice so many to either death or long-term illnesses? So what if they are no longer in government? We might have younger/brighter people who can move us successfully into the future. But of course, Boris's only aim is power. He has nothing to offer but his past ability to garner votes and ignore our democratic rights.

Change and a proper understanding of a pandemic would no doubt help the many. I listened to a Minister speaking; he seemed shocked. It was as if he has only just been briefed on what is happening. Have all but the favoured few been kept in the dark?

Why not look to the future with the possibility that when the world recovers from this we could have better lives, not those the dinosaurs of this government would inflict on us.

YES!

Unfortunately the two biggest studies surrounding the pandemic provided to us worldwide by The Lancet and The New England Journal of Medicine have been redacted . . . you only need to research to get a more balanced view as opposed to that of the main stream media that has been given to us world wide.
I have been preferring to check with the worlddoctorsalliance.com/
and with the Alliance for Human Research Protection
ahrp.org/the-lancet-published-a-fraudulent-study-editor-calls-it-department-of-error/
so as to come up with a more informed opinion.

Just a comment.

World Doctors Alliance is made up of many eminent scientists and medics.

Do we trust them?

esgt1967 said The original point of vaccination was to protect the individual, that's why children are vaccinated routinely for measles, mumps etc and vulnerable people have the flu vaccine - to protect THEMSELVES. It has never been about stopping other people getting the flu, measles or whatever so why have we suddenly decided that everyone needs to be vaccinated to protect everybody else?
I agree, and would add that the risks of vaccinating the under 12s might be more dangerous and cause more problems for them than letting them catch mild covid. If my child were paddling in the waves on the seashore I would only see it at as a minuscule danger and would not rush to grab them. I would be prepared to take that tiny risk. If they were going to go out of their depths in the deep end of the pool, then of course I would act to preserve their life straightaway. No point vaccinating the very young unnecessarily, especially when scientists disagree here, just in case.
Parents will weigh up the dangers and decide. I think there will be a reluctance. Nothing will probably happen on that front until next year so we need to accept the new normal.

How is personal responsibility going to work?
One may be responsible but the person next to them may not.

At least when people had to wear masks there was at least less risk or a feeling that everyone had a certain level of protection.

This latest idea of lifting these restrictions has given me extra anxiety and I think that I just won't be shopping or eating out etc

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jul/11/nhs-dropping-covid-restrictions-patients-backlog

I have just checked on the World Doctors Alliance site. Then checked the contributors on Google. So before reading what they have to say, check their credentials.

Gray at. Great article in The Guardian. Thankyou

I’ve just read the Guardian article about how overstretched the NHS.

One sentence stood out.

we are being set up to fail

The end result will be privatised health. That is a certainty.

The last paragraph.

“(The government) is forcing (doctors) to play a zero-sum game in which every extra person with covid erodes a little more of our capacity to care for someone else without (covid). You are, in short, championing a policy that directly harms all patients, whether they have covid, cancer, heart disease, dementia, mental illness, a car crash or brain haemorrhage. It turns my stomach even to think about it”

This is what Johnson’s policy of herd immunity looks like.

Alegrias1

Just a comment.

World Doctors Alliance is made up of many eminent scientists and medics.

Do we trust them?

World Doctors Alliance is a bunch of nutjobs.

growstuff

Alegrias1

Just a comment.

World Doctors Alliance is made up of many eminent scientists and medics.

Do we trust them?

World Doctors Alliance is a bunch of nutjobs.

Indeed. They absolutely are. But they are also a group of scientists and medics.

Just being a scientist or medic doesn't make you right

Alegrias1

growstuff

Alegrias1

Just a comment.

World Doctors Alliance is made up of many eminent scientists and medics.

Do we trust them?

World Doctors Alliance is a bunch of nutjobs.

Indeed. They absolutely are. But they are also a group of scientists and medics.

Just being a scientist or medic doesn't make you right

One would hope that ones doctor is nearly always right though!!

The world and his wife have differing views on what to do at the moment regarding Covid, and this includes scientists.
If doctors and epidemiologists ( excuse spelling if wrong) had their way we would all be tucked up in our houses for the next two years, but they are not thinking of the economy going down the pan or how awful life would be, particularly the disabled and anyone in residential care as well as the rest of society. We simply have to try to live in the way we usually do, with those most at risk still being cautious.
If things escalate badly then another mild form of lockdown may become necessary, but we have to try this and Summer seems the best time to do it.

K8tie

Unfortunately the two biggest studies surrounding the pandemic provided to us worldwide by The Lancet and The New England Journal of Medicine have been redacted . . . you only need to research to get a more balanced view as opposed to that of the main stream media that has been given to us world wide.
I have been preferring to check with the worlddoctorsalliance.com/
and with the Alliance for Human Research Protection
ahrp.org/the-lancet-published-a-fraudulent-study-editor-calls-it-department-of-error/
so as to come up with a more informed opinion.

Errr ... no. You are the one who has been misinformed. Before telling others to do their research, try doing dome for yourself from reputable sources.

lemongrove

The world and his wife have differing views on what to do at the moment regarding Covid, and this includes scientists.
If doctors and epidemiologists ( excuse spelling if wrong) had their way we would all be tucked up in our houses for the next two years, but they are not thinking of the economy going down the pan or how awful life would be, particularly the disabled and anyone in residential care as well as the rest of society. We simply have to try to live in the way we usually do, with those most at risk still being cautious.
If things escalate badly then another mild form of lockdown may become necessary, but we have to try this and Summer seems the best time to do it.

Where's your evidence for stating that doctors and epidemiologists would have people locked up?

It's a mistake to think that the economy doesn't depend on good health anyway.

Nobody is suggesting keeping restrictions, just mitigating risks, so there doesn't need to be another full scale lockdown.

Damned if they do and damned if they don't. If we are going to open up the summer is the best time to do it. If we wait until Winter flu will be here on top of everything else. If you want to keep wearing a mask and keeping your distance etc you can....nobody is stopping you. The responsibility is your. So don't blame the government for not telling you to. You are grownups....

A&E apartments are already full. - one that works at 180 capacity reported that by 9am yesterday, there were 300 patients. For the past 6 weeks, the excessive levels of activity is creating a significant and sustained level of threat to patient safety.

My DH has heart problems like many DH’s on here, we must all fervently hope that they are not rushed in only to be turned away during the following months.

An NHS consultant said”It feels inhuman,. Our emergency department is spilling over. Patients are scared, unsure of where else to go…”

Theoddbird

Damned if they do and damned if they don't. If we are going to open up the summer is the best time to do it. If we wait until Winter flu will be here on top of everything else. If you want to keep wearing a mask and keeping your distance etc you can....nobody is stopping you. The responsibility is your. So don't blame the government for not telling you to. You are grownups....

NOBODY IS DISPUTING THE "OPENING UP"!

Sorry that's in caps and "shouting", but I'm fed up of saying it. People are cautious, but it's the use of mitigations, such as face masks and social distancing, which is the main issue.

And, of course, schools and the vaccination of teenagers.

I really don't understand why it's difficult to see that if we go to a free for all without masks, etc, many people will have no choice but to shield themselves and cases will rise. There are still too many people who haven't been vaccinated - some from choice - but others because they are too young or they have a condition which means vaccinations won't work. In any case, we're beginning to see that vaccinations aren't 100% effective.

Whitewavemark2 I also have clinicians in the family. I think exhaustion and sadness sums it up. And still people say this is all made up. Does anyone think the amount of protesting and of course 2 recently lost by elections are pushing the government into this position too soon? Those who have refused vaccines on the basis that Covid doesn’t exist are going to be at significant risk aren’t they?