:( I'm completely with you. Last lockdown has a huge toll on my mental health and made me more anxious than usual, I really am scared for myself and others how it will affect us as I don't trust it being two weeks at all.

 

I'm also sick of people telling me not to worry, it's for the best, count your blessings etc etc. Like can we stop gatekeeping how people feel in a pandemic and pretending it's anything other than depressing af. I know they mean well but still!

Thank you this helps in a small way. X

I'm nervous for sure. With recent news and leaks its like will people listen if more restrictions or worse a lockdown happens? And then youll have people who will be less likely to get vaccinated / the booster too. I'm boosted but it would be frustrating to get all that then be in lockdown alongside those who havent even had one.

 

I really feel for people who work in hospitality if restrictions go ahead. Will the restrictions also apply to things such as Barbers, Hairdressers, Salons etc as thats another industry whats been hit hard too.

The thing is, people who want to break the rules will break them regardless. They just use the Government actions as an excuse.

 

The caveat that Omicron was reported as 'possibly being milder' than Delta (although I have seen some recent news articles now disputing that https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/12/18/n...researchers-say ) and the fact more people feel safe with their recent booster jab may prove troublesome too with less people obeying any restrictions.

I honestly might try this approach, the office will be empty but it might be good to just be in a different environment from time to time.

Honestly Jack, if you feel safe enough heading into the office then I really recommend it. It’s made a big difference to me this year vs last year. Even just the walk helps and as you say, the change in environment

I think it's very easy to get quite down about the whole thing, and a lockdown after over half of the adult population have received a third vaccine is devastating, because it makes it so much more difficult to see what the end game is. I think the reason so many people were able to cope last winter was that they saw the vaccine roll out and thought it would get us out of it. I think I would be completely against any further lockdown, and I think Covid passports are a complete waste of time too.

 

But working in health/care, the last couple of weeks have really brought home just how close the country is to some really critical situations, and it's absolute mad panic some of the time. If Omicron takes hold any more and cases do rise any more rapidly there simply isn't the number of people to safely deliver public services. Together with various other factors (Brexit, working conditions, mandatory vaccinations self-certification sickness changes) it's a perfect storm to a crisis.

This constant we might do this or we might do that — and then announcing nothing. It's just tragic.

 

I think Covid passports are a complete waste of time too.

 

After seeing this quote below on here yesterday, I would have to agree sadly :(

 

One of my close friends is an extreme anti vaxxer and she's REALLY been testing my patience lately. We agree to never talk about Covid together but she has an alternative Facebook account under a fake name that I'm friends with (I know I should 'unfollow' but I'm just curious to read her insanity sometimes) and her and her psycho friends have been smugly sharing stories about random footballers dropping dead and passing out and using it as 'proof' the vaccine is out to kill everyone. Apparently there's a massive Telegram group where they've all found a way to fake their vaccination status and fake QR codes and it's been working so they're all celebrating together.

 

It's just such a shame. She's such a smart woman in other aspects of life and is such a good friend to me and this stuff is just enraging.

Edited December 20, 20213 yr by Snakin' Stevens

One of the numerous terrible things about this government is the unceasing dressed-up gossip leaked to the press to gauge a response.

 

Everyone is tired.

The larger problem is our healthcare systems are not fit for an ageing population. Now some of is through multiple Governments, but clearly don't have enough workers & capacity to deal with an ageing population. Not easy way to fix this, and even if the problem is addressed it will take a long time to fix it

 

The caveat that Omicron was reported as 'possibly being milder' than Delta (although I have seen some recent news articles now disputing that https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/12/18/n...researchers-say ) and the fact more people feel safe with their recent booster jab may prove troublesome too with less people obeying any restrictions.

 

Everything I have read suggest Omicron is milder. The problem is, if people are fully vaccinated but are then locked down, I think people are well within their right to say "but why?". I do think at some point within the next 12 months there will be serious questions to be asked about people who refuse the vaccine. I'm not a massive fan of covid passports as I don't think they really solve anything, at least how we are currently operating them.

I see Khan's declared a state of emergency in London. He says there'll be no police, firefighters or binmen working soon. It's all scaremongering. We don't know anyone who has Omicron. No-one. A nurse at Newham hospital that we know says it's not as bad as they make out. Certainly nowhere near as bad as last year.

 

Why do you call Boris Johnson Boris and Sadiq Khan Khan?

One of the numerous terrible things about this government is the unceasing dressed-up gossip leaked to the press to gauge a response.

 

Everyone is tired.

Honestly. It's made me such an anxious wreck again and not focus on spending time with my family today.

 

They really need to take lead, keep information strictly confidential until announced! It's not fair.

I do agree about the messaging, it's utterly terrible, we might do this, we might do that...I came home for Christmas as soon as I could, but others still may not be able to thanks to this vague messaging. I don't see how any of the rumours would work right now, although I'm certainly not sure myself how to tackle it.

 

Something to be positive about though is that though Omicron is much more transmissible, hospitalisations and deaths are still not ramping up hugely and it does seem to be less deadly than the other variants encountered, from my understanding, if it becomes the dominant variant and people keep getting the booster, it ultimately won't be as harmful as we move on from winter and could hopefully signal the end of the pandemic!

Agreed that there should be greater clarity from the government - essentially the PM (through casual indifference to, and the breaching of the rules that his government set) has weakened public support for any necessary measures, and has lost all moral authority. Furthermore he is completely hamstrung by increasingly noisy members of his own party who see him now as a lame duck PM and can quite happily apply pressure with no fear of being punished, meaning that the 'Covid skeptics' can essentially drive policy not on the basis of the actual data but their own right-wing libertarian wishful thinking (e.g. Rishi Sunak leaking that 10 Downing St party photograph). That said, there is reason for some optimism given hospitalisation data from London which has not increased at the rate of the explosion of cases - I personally don't think any measures are required, the case rate of Omicron has exploded so fast that any measures taken now will already be too late and so would be fairly pointless.

 

I would add that all this uncertainty is absolutely devastating for the hospitality sector (already hammered throughout 2020/21) and that we pretty much have a de facto lockdown in force anyway with Boris' gloomy TV appearance on 12 Dec. Town was deserted at lunch today.

 

Cases look like they may be peaking in LDN

 

It's kind of impressive that Corbyn has a brother who makes him look sane.

 

What’s that got to do with Jeremy Corbyn??

Its about Piers Corbyn, his brother

I’ve had my booster and I’m now very against any further measures (though masks in shops and working from home where possible seems fair enough). I think the level of antibodies in the population, even if Omicron has some resistance, will see us through. If we can’t live normal lives alongside Covid now we never will.

One thing that frustrates me is when people place massive weight on SAGE’s words. I don’t doubt that they’re good scientists. That doesn’t mean that they’re good forecasters, and certainly doesn’t mean that they’re good at dictating public policy. At every stage they’ve been proved to be too pessimistic. It’s right that they’re still informing the discussion but it’s time to push back against their recommendations in my view.

@1472961341581316112

Its about Piers Corbyn, his brother

 

Yeh but of course they are trying to insinuate Jeremy Corbyn into it!

I’ve had my booster and I’m now very against any further measures (though masks in shops and working from home where possible seems fair enough). I think the level of antibodies in the population, even if Omicron has some resistance, will see us through. If we can’t live normal lives alongside Covid now we never will.

One thing that frustrates me is when people place massive weight on SAGE’s words. I don’t doubt that they’re good scientists. That doesn’t mean that they’re good forecasters, and certainly doesn’t mean that they’re good at dictating public policy. At every stage they’ve been proved to be too pessimistic. It’s right that they’re still informing the discussion but it’s time to push back against their recommendations in my view.

 

 

Saw a great comment about Sage in the comments on a newspaper site "Sake is only good when with onion stuffed up a turkey's backside" :D

So in Wales we now have some bizarre rules like all sports being held behind closed doors with now crowds from 26th-but you can still pack out a pub and watch there.

 

Also you can now be fined for not working from home. I guessing this won’t apply to me.