Covid - the end of facemasks, social distancing and everything else.

Seems to me that is what is going to happen in a fortnight's time.

Just watch the positive case numbers shoot upwards thereafter!!!

There's still plenty in the at risk category who don't want the jab (I know a bloke in his seventies who still thinks the vaccinations are all some sort of a conspiracy or other - I make my excuse and get on with my business rather than hear what his beliefs are - which by the way he got from reading social media!).

Looks like with most of us in the high risk categories having had our two jabs, and the jabs seemingly keeping a goodly percentage of us all away from hospital and death (not all of us by all means though!) then the view has switched finally to herd infection - as the younger ones (50 and under) seem to not be badly effected even if they caught Covid.

I did point out to my mate that this was clearly going to happen - and even let him know that there were pop-up, walk-in vaccination locations in the local area where he could get a jab this weekend if he had a mind to - but he started to give me his spiel about the government and how it can't be trusted instead.

Hope he doesn't end up regretting his anti-vax belief.

Covid-19: Masks will become personal choice, says Robert Jenrick

When asked on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show whether he was confident that all restrictions would end in England on 19 July, Mr Jenrick said: "It does look as if - thanks to the success of the vaccine programme - that we now have the scope to roll back those restrictions and return to a normality as far as possible."

He said cases might continue to rise significantly as restrictions were eased.

"But we now have to move into a different period where we learn to live with the virus, we take precautions and we as individuals take personal responsibility," he said.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-57710527

Masks have been a personal choice for a lot of people since all this started! I get the bus every day and loads of people don't wear masks. I'm afraid to say its mainly black and Asian younger people who just won't wear a mask and i don't know why? Is it a cultural thing?

As i mentioned on the covid thread my Son has tested positive even though he school has gone back to wearing masks in lessons. Cases in schools are going up massively, thank God its the summer holidays in a few weeks.

It's the same round my way too Norpig, I know its certainly the same in Bolton too.

It's been clear right from the start with all these references to multigenerational households and places of worship where the virus were spreading but of course we are too scared of stating the facts for fear of being labelled racist.

That's not to say there aren't plenty of self-entitled white folk who couldn't give a fuck but they aren't mixing and spreading it with the same volume of people, especially to the elderly in their households.

I started this particular thread because it seemed obvious to me that cases will soon go through the roof because we have the Indian/Delta variant which is spreading like wildfire just at the time we are binning all the precautions (social distance, face masks, bubbles, etc).

The good thing though is that the jabs do seem to be keeping those who have had them out of hospital (mostly!) but I feel sorry for the really old and vulnerable (who have had their jabs) but who can still catch Covid - it could be a death sentence for them.

But we've got to move on sometime and the start of the school holidays and the better weather seems as sensible a place as any.

I personally won't be going back to the pubs, or in any indoor crowded places for several more months until this wave of infections pass - and loads more people have caught Covid and we start to build up some form of a herd immunity against it.

Maybe I'm being over cautious but I'm not as young and healthy as I used to be and I don't need to be in work or school environments - and I've never understood why people are so desperate to go on foreign holidays in the middle of a worldwide pandemic??? - so I'm happy to see the next few months roll over, wait for my booster jab, and take things from there.

How do others on here view things?

I will still be going in shops with a mask on that's for sure.

I believe that the younger generation were convinced by the reports at the time, that they were all immune to some degree. The recent uptake is possibly more the worry that they will not be allowed to travel without 2 jabs. Nothing wrong with that, as it helps the community to continue to move forward. 
I still feel that the vast majority are doing the hard work for those people who cannot be arsed to take part, for whatever reason. I think that if we go into another damaging wave, then compulsory vaccinations should be considered for those who have no legitimate reason for not having them. When you have up to 90%, (or whatever it is), held ransom by the rest, sitting on your hands and hoping is no longer a solution.

karlypants wrote:I will still be going in shops with a mask on that's for sure.

Still at that game eh, KP? A mask is wise. I left mine off, and failed miserably.

As long as death rates stay low then this is what we should be doing.

BoltonTillIDie wrote:As long as death rates stay low then this is what we should be doing.

Well, I think we probably haven't much choice really, it has to be done sooner or later but I know an old couple both of whom are in their eighties and the old lady has never left her home (except to go to hospital), since the first lockdown last year.

I don't think they and others like them are too thrilled that what we are doing is basically let Covid run rampant now until a herd immunity is established.

Fwiw a week or so ago I was reading that out of just over 200 deaths from the Indian/Delta strain, half the deaths were from people who had had both their jabs - meaning that although the jabs do protect the vast majority of people it isn't 100% guaranteed to save your life.

It didn't state the ages or health history of those who died but I rather think my elderly and frail friends (and probably Bonce's mum don't forget) are most likely to be in the same boat as most of the hundred who sadly passed away.

It's easy to say we should do this, that and the other (and I do so myself) but there's always going to be those who pay the ultimate price for what we end up doing.

Think the article also states no under 50s who had been double vaccinated had died, so yes it is, like most diseases, a lot worse for the elderly

My mum is 91, and is heartily sick of us trying to protect her. She used that old saying on me this morning about rather living one day as a lion......you know the rest.
Not seeing her grandkids, great grandkids, has left a big hole in her life, and I've seen her sink deeper and deeper into her armchair, as she prepare for yet another long day of daytime telly.
She wants what's left of her life back, come what may.

I totally agree, you dont want to spend your life locked away.

BoltonTillIDie wrote:I totally agree, you dont want to spend your life locked away.

You don't, Bonce's mum doesn't and for that matter neither do I but there's plenty like the old lady I mentioned above would rather see here grandchildren through the window for a few more years to come than check out early because some inconsiderate or other down at the local shop, who had caught Covid some days before and thought 'I'm fine, I don't need to stay at home, wear a mask, or social distance, or any of that shit', breathed all over her in the check-out queue (pun intended).

I can't believe a few off here who thought the government should have been strung up in the streets for letting Covid get into the care homes are now in effect saying fuck the old (and sick) living in their homes, we've had enough of masks, bubbles and what have you.

Fwiw I've said from the very beginning that practical decisions had to be made and consequently some are going to be left behind, put at risk, die because of them even.

I've also always said that this pandemic seems to kill the old and that we (the elderly/sick) need to accept that and live our life's managing the risks we face rather than expect the world to stop for us.

There's reports in this mornings papers that there could be 100,000 new cases per day until herd immunity kicks in.

Fair enough I will live my life in some sort of self isolation for a few more months until the worst is over but that doesn't mean I don't feel sorry for those who've been frightened of going out up to now when there's been half that number of cases and generally a great many less.

I bet they're thrilled to pieces that nobody give a toss about them in the race for herd immunity.

Fwiw the elderly couple I know will now probably be much safer in a care home - where no doubt anti-Covid measures will still continue - than living in their own homes in the community!