[Closed] Latest COVID advice , am I being irresponsible?

Not dissimilar to the question I posted here:

Linky

I had tickets to Wales Ireland 6 nations in twickenam for 2022, I bailed on that.

I do see one or two friends for a quiet pint, once or twice a week in a quiet pub, or round each others houses, but that's about the extent of my socialising for the next few months.

dannybgoode
Sorry didn’t see that 🙄

I think with it being the week before Christmas I can understand their choices. It’s my birthday at the weekend plan was to go to the cinema then out for a meal in the evening, but we’re swapping the meal for a takeaway and risking the cinema for a combination financial reasons being desperate to avoid Spider-Man spoilers and hoping for the best.

I’m getting my booster tonight, the rest of the family had covid in October so hopefully we’ll still be able to pop round to see the old folk over the Christmas break. I don’t want to be wasting my days off being I’ll that’s for sure. If I’m going to be sick I want to get paid for it 😂

At this point in time, to minimise the risk to us and elderly parents 9 days out from Christmas, I'm minimising any indoor events. Last nights ride with my mate finished with beers in the park, rather than the pub.

Everyone is different of course. MrsMC is out tonight for a meal with some fellow Guide leaders.

Exactly my own decision. Our Christmas ride followed by a meal together has been slightly downgraded to ride then coffee, nibbles, cake in our garden. My rationale being I want to minimise any chance of picking up the virus before meeting our daughters before Christmas and the consequences of isolating. The family get together being proceded by lateral flows by all the day before meeting again to minimise, although clearly not negating, the risk.

Avoiding social contacts (and work contacts were possible) for a week before Christmas with older relatives seems entirely sensible. Expect many people to do the same. As for other years? Doubt it. Who knows. Let’s get through this Xmas first.

Last Christmas day our grown up son was on his own for the day. But we made a really good go of it. Posted a big box of presents. 3 video calls on the day including a tablet at the table for Christmas Dinner. We worked hard at not being annoyed about it and enjoyed what we had

I think ducking out of some stuff makes sense at the moment. Particularly if it's prioritising for other stuff. I'd love to have a sweaty pub trip with colleagues but it doesn't seem sensible. Partly the risk to elderly relatives partly just trying not to add too much to the exponential growth.

But I wouldnt call it putting my life on hold. I went for a ride today and will probably do a group ride at the weekend. I went to work today and I'll see relatives at Christmas. It's life at like 95%. Hardly a big deal

A sensible approach:

But I wouldnt call it putting my life on hold. I went for a ride today and will probably do a group ride at the weekend. I went to work today and I’ll see relatives at Christmas. It’s life at like 95%. Hardly a big deal

A sensible and pragmatic view.

If you believe the pessimists there will be a lockdown coming soon, best enjoy yourself while you can.

Well ideally I'd like to *not* polish off my elderly relatives (who I have plans to see soon) and to *not* get long COVID and lose my sense of taste for months on end (like the wife of the chap who's going to sort out our bathroom).

So yeah I am reconsidering various plans in light of the fact that the latest variant is pretty easy to catch.

I am missing the various Xmas gatherings but it's as if a voice says, "do I feel lucky?"

Chris Whitty got it right on the Johnson press call the other night 'spend your time wisely, dont' spend time with people who aren't important to your life"

So if you have elderly relatives, that you want to see over christmas, lock it down for a week or so

if you have no dependents and are healthy, you have the option to roll the dice a little more but be wary of getting it and then spreading it...

It all depends on your circumstance, OP: I'd say play safe because your other half will want to spend time with her dad and you don't want to be the one to screw that up.

My mate at work has caught Covid, the omicron variant, she's double vacced and 26yo. she is not hospitalised but is clearly not well either, don't underestimate covid.

For me the decision isn't so much about catching it myself but spreading it on. Seeing family over Xmas including my 70+ MIL. If I test positive now we'll be isolating over Xmas.

We're having a club meetup tonight. Private venue. About 15 of us. Requested lateral flows today before going. Was more but a few pulled out.

Right now more concerned about work. Got to go in and not everyone is as willing to mask up and take basic precautions.

My dept night out has drawn the wrath of more senior employees who have effectively banned it since a local primary had a night out last week and now has 6 staff off with COVID.

We’ve been asked to my stepsons, four of us round the table. We'll be going but we’ll do a LFT the night before & before we leave the house to travel.
All four of us are triple jabbed.
Nothing else planned.

We're back to full working from home, have been for a week or so - and I hadn't been into the office for at least a week before that anyway.

Was supposed to have a work night out on Wednesday but that got binned off, no-one in the team (about 8 of us) willing to risk getting Covid and then having to isolate right up until Christmas.

The cycle club end of season gathering got binned off in favour of a ride at the weekend.

I'm supposed to be seeing my Mum, my sister and her kids over Christmas so not risking anything now. Limited trips to the shops at quiet times. Had my booster yesterday too.

Should never have stopped the mask wearing. ****ing "libertarian" Tory MPs kicking off about the affront to freedom caused by wearing a bit of cloth while simultaneously voting to remove all sorts of freedoms.

At my GP practice, all my patient facing staff are triple vaccinated and we've managed by and large to avoid any of the staff catching COVID in the last 21 months. I've now three out at the moment with a GP calling in sick this morning with symptoms, luckily he's working from home and arranging a PCR test. Omicron seems to be ripping through our community like a dose.

My advice would be think carefully about who you're going to spend Xmas with and take sensible precautions (hands face space) , and make sure that you're avoiding crowds as much as you can and people you don't normally mix with.

will the modelling by the experts be overly pessimistic

It's been pretty accurate over the course of the pandemic for the most part. People can interpret it as they will.

What we're seeing now is an exceptional occurrence at the worst possible time. The alarming rate at which cases are rising suggest it may peak quickly, in which case it'll not be long before you can make plans again.

With the new variant apparently being so transmissible, and most of us being so vaccinated, it seems unrealistic to think we'll avoid exposure to it in the long run.

But it's totally understandable - and wise - that people may wish to restrict exposure to it in the run up to Xmas, especially with older relatives.

And Chris Whitty's very sensible advice would appear to be aimed at throttling back the volume of infections, in order to correspondingly limit the number of possible hospitalisations. To manage demand on the NHS.

I wonder if this is where it really does become "just part of life"?

Seems like my mates have become really rattled about the latest variant . We had a Xmas meal booked for Saturday night but they’ve all bailed . While I accept their decision and partly understand that they want to “ protect “ themselves in order to see family over Xmas and more importantly for my missus so she can still visit her dad who’s fading away rapidly in a care home there’s still part of me that has reservations.

I think this sums up the dilemma you and others face:

Will this happen every time there’s a new variant inevitably this time of year ,

Perhaps, but if it snowed two christmasses in a row would you assume that it was now going to snow every Christmas? So far the impact on ordinary people is far less than last year.

will the modelling by the experts be overly pessimistic, will we look back in 5 years time and rue all the missed opportunities to live our normal lives through what turned out to be unfounded fear and scaremongering?

Has the modelling proven to be overly pessimistic at any point so far?

I am in no way trivialising the current situation and the latest figures are very worrying I admit that but what are the hidden dangers to peoples health from consistently putting their lives on hold ?

I thought Jason Leitch's answer on this was very good at the Scottish press conference when they started tightening up a few weeks ago [FWIW I remember them saying the same right at the start when deciding if they should lock down or close schools etc - its not that this is a new idea to think of the bigger picture]

Will this happen every time there’s a new variant inevitably this time of year

We did a big mates Chrimbo meal - jumpers, crackers, the works - last weekend of November (although that was more because it was the only free weekend for everyone!) which was great but also fortuitous because if we'd left it until later people would defo have pulled out based on what's happening now.