England will have no further Covid restrictions until after the New Year.

Hetty58

Katie59, I'd suspect that the 'same symptom' colds may well be Covid too - that's my bet! I'm in London and it's really bad here. Anyway 'No further restrictions' is only for five days!

This link was published last March maybe it is becoming reality

www.bbc.com/news/health-56483445

If rhinovirus and Sars-CoV-2 were released at the same time, only rhinovirus is successful. If rhinovirus had a 24-hour head start then Sars-CoV-2 does not get a look in. And even when Sars-CoV-2 had 24-hours to get started, rhinovirus boots it out.

That’s heartening news indeed LLFL thank you for posting.
?

Just checked your figures Casdon.

www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/07/as-many-as-6-million-eligible-britons-may-not-have-had-a-covid-jab-who-are-they?

Mmm. My son, who works with people who know about these things, lives in London and agrees with those who say that hospital admissions in London are NOT high and people are not on the wards for so long. I agree that the hospitality and other industries must not be allowed to go under. Another lockldown like March 2020 would be dreadful. Not just for business but for mental health too. We have vaccines now and more teatmentsz. Maybe we have to learn to live with it, but understand that some people are at risk.

And this, despite Jenny Harries trying to bounce us all into lockdown last week by feeding false data to Javid.

Unlike Urmstongran I think Nicola Sturgeon will be thanking her lucky stars in two weeks time that she called it right. There are 12.3 million unvaccinated eligible people in England.

From the BBC Health Correspondent:

London, which was the first area to see an Omicron wave, gives us an indication of what to expect. The first half of December saw cases detected double week on week. But the growth in hospital admissions - taking into account the lag between initial infection and becoming seriously ill - has been much lower, at about two-thirds. And those that are admitted appear to be spending less time in hospital. What's more, the surge in infections looks like it started levelling off before Christmas. If this is right and the trends hold and are repeated elsewhere, it would suggest hospital numbers will peak at under half of what was seen last winter - very much best-case scenario territory. That, though, is a lot of ifs. But it looks like it has been enough to convince ministers more restrictions cannot be justified for now.

The decision not to introduce new measures in England came hours after the prime minister was briefed by England's chief medical officer Prof Chris Whitty and chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance. It looks as though they are cautiously optimistic for now. And whose opinion should we trust if not theirs?

I'm sure the situation will be carefully monitored and things could still change by New Year. But let's hope not, eh?

Yes. Stay cautious. Assess individual risks and act accordingly.

Katie59, I'd suspect that the 'same symptom' colds may well be Covid too - that's my bet! I'm in London and it's really bad here. Anyway 'No further restrictions' is only for five days!

It very conveniently means that the hospitality industry won't have to be given any financial support

Nicola Sturgeon will be gutted. She called it too soon.
The bars near me are open, festively lit and busy. January is the quiet month till pay day for the young ‘uns. This week will do well in the hospitality sector from what I’m seeing locally.

Plenty testing positive around here along with the colds that afflict many others, in several cases I know of one person tests positive the rest negative have colds, same symptoms.

My bet is that one virus is affecting the other, maybe virus warfare.

I think the school holidays will make a difference. I’m glad there are no new restrictions, but we will still be taking care, wearing masks, avoiding crowds and so forth.

Calistemon

The hospitality sector has always been very quiet in January anyway.
People don't tend to eat out and many people have a 'dry January'.

It was very quiet before Christmas, too. Which is bad for them. Plus I doubt if they will get much benefit from the New Year.

I think it's a brave decision. The government will certainly have a huge price to pay if they've called it wrongly.

I have omicron right now, tested positive again on day 8 and still feel ill. So the theory of going back to work on day 7 may not work for some people. Staff shortages for essential services could be a problem in time

The hospitality sector has always been very quiet in January anyway.
People don't tend to eat out and many people have a 'dry January'.

It very conveniently means that the hospitality industry won't have to be given any financial support.

Of course, they are badly down on their usual seasonal takings (which many of them rely on to subsidise the rest of the year) but as long as the Treasury doesn't have to stump up Sunak will be delighted.

Shops are reporting takings down, too, apparently. How on earth the tories think that this is helping the economy is beyond me.

Using hospital admissions as a metric is just daft. What about all the workers off sick with covid at home? How is that going to help the economy?

Hooray ! We are off to Bude for a week with our daughters, sons in law and grandchildren.
Nothing will be open there. We will just go out for walks, enjoy the beach etc. We don't dine out.
All 8 of us have had our boosters .
We wear masks.
We socially distance.
We take LFTs
All seven of the under-12s grandchildren caught covid because of their different schools, not from family mixing.
Now, at last, we are having our holiday-home holiday together. 4th time lucky!
And we deserve it !

Called it right this time. The majority in Hospital are the unvaccinated.
We have to live with it now.

We haven’t socialised at all nor have we seen any family over the Christmas. Sil tested + for Covid even though fully vaccinated. I am very concerned for the nhs and staffing issues. Time will tell but it doesn’t bode well.

I have mixed feelings! I was being extra cautious as my DS, DiL and GS were coming from abroad. They had to isolate with me until their test results arrived, before moving on to see DiL's family. The day they left, my DD moved here to live with me after many years of independence having got a new job in London. Her move from Glasgow had to be in two stages, 1st driving a hired van full of stuff, then a flight back to finish packing the rest of her stuff into her car, supervise an end of tenancy clean, then drive the 400+ miles again! She should be returning here again tomorrow night, then DS and his family will join us for New Year before returning abroad in early January.

It has been seriously stressful, as any one of us getting infected could put the whole process in jeopardy. The worst of the risks are over now and today I relaxed for the first time in ages.

I understand everyone's desire to celebrate with family and friends but there are still vulnerable people out there and until the rest of my family return abroad, plans could still go pear shaped. Even daily testing is no guarantee as the tests are not 100% reliable. DD has not seen her dad properly for 2 years as he was reluctant to test regularly so she refused to visit him. The nearest she got was a wave from the car as we arrived to visit my GS last year when he was a few days old and my ex was driving away with his mother after their visit. Rule of 6 meant we couldn't all visit together. We know so many people who have had it, one very recently, despite being double jabbed and boosted! One friend has Long Covid!

Even though the government are reluctant to bring in further restrictions it seems many are imposing their own restrictions so hospitality is being hit hard anyway!

Lets not relax too soon. Stay safe everyone!

'A stitch in time' seems apt. Fewer restrictions now could mean far more later, by mid-January. I'm hoping it won't be too bad, but I'm not at all convinced.

He’s not called Keir is he?

From a friend.

The only reason more measures have not been introduced is so Johnson can hold onto the vestiges of ‘power’ he has left. In reality, he is simply a puppet of the 1922 committee. Always has been.
The number of cases and enormous pressure on the NHS are secondary to what the libertarian fringe in the Tory party want.
More measures to keep us safe are needed but he hasn’t got the political power to enact them.

And so we lurch onwards…….

Of course other posters will disagree, and their opinions are just as valid as mine.