And rinse and repeat. Actually, this time we were allowed to bypass A&E and go direct to the ward. Of course, all I could do was sit in a corridor and wait for my Dad before taking him home, where he'll be spending Christmas without his wife for the first time in over 50 years. At least this time I could hold my Mum's hand at home for half an hour, tell her I love her... and pray I get to see her again. I have a present on the stairs from my Mum and I don't know if I can open it, it upsets me too much. At least she got to see me married last year, even if it could only be both sets of parents there. Not what I wanted but, if I'd left it for this year, she'd have never been able to travel.
So, for those who want to tell me that I want to be scared, those who bang on in surety about the fact that we need no restrictions, those who bang on about people dying with, not of Omicron, I want you to consider this...
The policy has always been to protect the NHS. The transmissability of it can overtake any protection that is there if it does turn out to be milder. That is why people are analysing data, rather than just concluding it automatically. That is entirely right and proper.
Deaths are not the sole thing, it's capacity in the health system - capacity to help people like my Mum and to keep her safe, not to make her a statistic that well, she's old anyway. Not, for that matter, to keep her occupying a bed that could be needed for somebody else, because we didn't take measures to protect from complications.
This time last year, a friend's Dad had a fall. He would have recovered from that, but he caught Covid in hospital, died. This year, my friend has Christmas without his Dad around for the first time. He doesn't really care about semantics, what he does know is that without Covid his Dad would still be here.
Wearing a mask, taking a LFT doesn't actually stop you from doing anything. It's incredibly stupid to not try and slow the spread of something before you know what you're dealing with. One lesson we should have learned from March 2020, and 'look at Italy' type posts at the beginning of this thread. I fear I was guilty of that, too. We are in so much a better place than this time last yar, and it would be madness to throw that away on a whim. Better to be cautious, and then celebrate the fact that there is light at the end of a tunnel. Frankly, masks and wfh shouldn't have been taken away in the first place, it makes them so much harder to put back, and they are no big deal really.
So, think of mental health in all ways. My Christmas is trashed, completely. I can't go and see my Mum because they can't let Covid spread to people like her, where vaccine or no, it would have a damned good chance of taking her out before they get a chance to try and save her. Of course, we all hope this variant is actually not *too* bad, that it can blow through fast and then things can start to lift up a little. But, life is not just about me or you... a civilised society looks out for one another, a civilised society learns from the past, a civilised society is prepared to sacrifice a little for the greater good and, again, as it stands what does wearing a mask, taking a LFT actually stop you from doing?
A civilised society listens to the medical experts. Now that is critical thinking... not just looking for the ones that vindicate what you want to happen. We all want our 'old' lives back, it's been hard for all of us. But to get to that point, we have to trust in the consensus of medical experts, and actually show some critical thinking to not try and go down random rabbit holes.
And most of all, remember that you don't know anybody's situation on here, we can all be suffering.
Should I leave this post up, really? I don't like personal posts, really. But, this thread, and board, is getting so full of gung-ho attitudes that are understandable, maybe, because who wants to be restricted. They're not necessarily helpful, however. This thread and board is also getting a prevelance of rather destructive posts that are downright wrong, and damaging, really.
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