19th July Reopening

[pulisa]

“There’s a worry, that in the scramble to get out these daily updates, we’re alarming people disproportionately,’ says Professor Robert Dingwall, sociologist at Nottingham Trent University and former Government scientific adviser.‘People see spikes in the data, and this is often the cause of great anxiety, which might lead them to limit their daily activities unnecessarily.”

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/a...st-killer.html

Yes that’s me I plan my life round the stats i am glad this is being picked up by media.

You could choose NOT to plan your life round the "stats" which may or may not be accurate. You could choose NOT to read articles which trigger your anxieties. But you won't or can't put a check on these unhelpful behaviours. Is it "can't" or "won't" or a bit of both?

[pulisa]

Even the Mail on Sunday tells people to stop obsessing about Covid figures today. Why are they still published? It just encourages obsessive behaviours and anxiety.

[phil06]

Even the Mail on Sunday tells people to stop obsessing about Covid figures today. Why are they still published? It just encourages obsessive behaviours and anxiety.

Yes for someone with ocd it’s bad. It’s my daily routine to check but I know it’s unhealthy to keep checking I know some people who never check stats.

[Pamplemousse]

Yes for someone with ocd it’s bad. It’s my daily routine to check but I know it’s unhealthy to keep checking I know some people who never check stats.

I'm the only one in my family who does.

I was disappointed to learn that a large model railway exhibition has been cancelled in December, the same day as another, different collectors fair is going ahead. On balance, I shall simply stay at home - it'll be cheaper, but I'll have to get some stuff to the fair prior that's going ahead to be sold in the auction.

[Lencoboy]

Even the Mail on Sunday tells people to stop obsessing about Covid figures today. Why are they still published? It just encourages obsessive behaviours and anxiety.

TBH, I think the media are basically damned if they do and damned if they don't publish the daily Covid stats.

[spectrum123]

I'm back to normal as far as going out and doing things are concerned. Yes, I do wear a mask in most crowded indoor situations. I didn't wear a mask at the Beautiful Days festival last weekend, and I've turned off track and trace.
I've had my jabs, so I've done my bit in that department. If deaths and hospitalisations go up dramatically, then I will re assess my approach.
I don't take any notice of the figures on infection rates, as far as I'm concerned they are irrelevant now. If you haven't had your jab, and you want to play Russian Roulette with your health, that's your choice, I think you're an idiot and not welcome within my friend circle.

[phil06]

I admit I am super paranoid about COVID since my wife’s gran got it. She doesn’t stay near me but I worry how easy it is to catch. On the bus I have to move away from people and I am obsessed with the daily stats. I worry I won’t be able to live my life as normal again and I could get house bound again due to it only going out due to work? If cases are higher than last summer it could be an endless loop of higher cases each year?

[Pamplemousse]

If you haven't had your jab, and you want to play Russian Roulette with your health, that's your choice, I think you're an idiot and not welcome within my friend circle.

Bit awkward when it's a member of the family you're closest to.

Turning off T&T is stupid though - selfish, even.

[Pamplemousse]

I admit I am super paranoid about COVID since my wife’s gran got it. She doesn’t stay near me but I worry how easy it is to catch. On the bus I have to move away from people and I am obsessed with the daily stats. I worry I won’t be able to live my life as normal again and I could get house bound again due to it only going out due to work? If cases are higher than last summer it could be an endless loop of higher cases each year?

I can only quote anecdotes from my family here, but my brother-in-law - despite scanning many people with Covid in the early days - never caught it, but my sister did. Of course, hospital practices may have become more restrictive since the evolution of the "variants".

Like you, when I travel by bus I try and keep well away from people, especially those who seem unable to wear a mask correctly or, not at all. That forthcoming train trip I have at the end of next month? If I decide to travel on it (and it's a bloody big if), it will only be with a FFP3 mask on, as worn on Covid wards (I have a box when I do hobby work around questionable substances, e.g. asbestos). I'll do a LFT before I travel, of course.

If I'm honest, your fear is where I am at now: I only leave the house to go to work, or to collect shopping from a supermarket "click and collect". I did go to a heritage railway last week to meet a mate and whilst that was nice as it was outdoors, the lovely little café where I would, pre-Covid, simply go and have lunch has been ruined by staff loss.

As mentioned before Phil, none of us can foresee what path this virus will go down next. It could become even more transmissible but at the same time, more benign: it could become less transmissible but probably have a death rate of 20% plus; or it could learn how to render all the current vaccines useless. I know you want reassurance that things are going to get better but mate, we can't help you...

[Lencoboy]

I admit I am super paranoid about COVID since my wife’s gran got it. She doesn’t stay near me but I worry how easy it is to catch. On the bus I have to move away from people and I am obsessed with the daily stats. I worry I won’t be able to live my life as normal again and I could get house bound again due to it only going out due to work? If cases are higher than last summer it could be an endless loop of higher cases each year?

Still doesn't necessarily mean cases are likely to keep multiplying in 2022 and beyond as still not enough time has elapsed to give the vaccines full chance to have a significant impact as yet. (I appreciate you're still reluctant to get the jab, which is your choice obviously).

Also right now (as you have already mentioned yourself) the bulk of new cases are amongst the 10-19 age group, whose demographic also accounts for the bulk of unvaccinated right now.

Although I still remain concerned about Covid in general right now, I no longer wish to keep shutting myself away and hiding from it forever more, as far as I'm concerned I'm probably far more likely to end up in a car crash, get run over by a bus or fall down the stairs on a day-to-day basis than catch Covid. And I'm still continuing to wear masks inside indoor public places and still try to keep as far apart from others as possible when travelling on trains and buses, especially unmasked persons.

Next Saturday (4th September) I will be present at a live show for the first time since 7th March 2020, at a local theatre whose event I will be helping to video, and will be wearing a mask at all times whilst in the main auditorium whilst all the punters are present, even though the majority are likely to be in the 50+ age group, and therefore most likely to be double-jabbed and still wearing masks indoors, so I should be OK.