• Thank you all very much for sharing your time with us in 2025. We hope you all have a safe and happy 2026!

Coronavirus - how is it/has it affected you?

Papas1982 said:
Once the vaccine is up and running, back to normal.

until then. Look for support from work on the best ways to get by. That may involve a financial hit for some, but the alternative could be losing that childcare option for good.....
Click to expand...

Not everyone vaccinated will gain immunity so that might be an issue. If two working parents cant make alternative arrangements then undoubtedly pressure comes back to grand parents. It's very difficult to say "no" when you get the " no one we know has it" etc etc but we have ceased child minding since the latest lock down as the Covid numbers have rocketed and I dont want to catch it just as we're likely to get the jab! Add to that that we really really want to see our son, daughter in law and grand children.
 
chrisd said:
Not everyone vaccinated will gain immunity so that might be an issue. If two working parents cant make alternative arrangements then undoubtedly pressure comes back to grand parents. It's very difficult to say "no" when you get the " no one we know has it" etc etc but we have ceased child minding since the latest lock down as the Covid numbers have rocketed and I dont want to catch it just as we're likely to get the jab! Add to that that we really really want to see our son, daughter in law and grand children.
Click to expand...

Oh I totally understand the struggle for all involved mate. It's everyone's choice what they're willing to do to help. I get its hard to say no. Maybe the question shouldn't be asked.... But that's for each to decide.

My in laws live 6 doors away. And they still feel isolated from us.
They watched the girsl open Xmas presents through our front window.
 
clubchamp98 said:
What about a concert where the demographic is mainly older people ( went to see Michael Ball ) think at 63 I was one of the younger ones.
If you havnt got a phone.
The great British Public are notorious for bypassing things like this.
Ever borrowed someone’s ID to get into a club / pub.?
Not being awkward genuinely think it will be difficult,
Click to expand...

What's the alternative? Relying on the good graces of the public - When did that ever work?. Concerts full of older people could be a massacre if there are any infected people coughing.

Just last week, I heard of a vaccination clinic where a person came in, was asked if they had any symptoms of Covid or had been tested, said no, then while sitting in the waiting room was recognised by one of the GPs as having had a positive test 2 days before. Admitted this but said they wanted the vacc anyway, but everyone else in the waiting room now exposed, clinic closed and everyone sent home to self isolate including staff who did not have PPE. Deep clean needed on waiting room. Dozens of people inconvenienced and put at risk by one thoughtless idiot.
 
Papas1982 said:
Of course all of that above is true fella. For pretty much all of us on here we could look around the world and find those less fortunate Or who had faced worse.

I wouldn’t down play how big a deal it is though. This level of restriction is unheard of for most of us. It would have been unimaginable 20 months ago.

I think punished is maybe the wrong word. I certainly feel that millions are facing restrictions they didn’t need to.

Lockdown 65m people because maybe 5m are at risk. Why not lock those 5m down until,we had the vaccine?

At close to 40 I am happy to have followed the rules (mainly), I can be honest and say the 20yr old me wouldn’t have done so.
Click to expand...

What makes you think only 5m are at risk?
 
bobmac said:
However, we can vaccinate the over 70s by next month.

View attachment 34510

Then everyone can have their restrictions eased, NHS pressure reduced and businesses getting back to work.
Click to expand...
We won’t be under the same restrictions until those groups are done - that will take until at least June/July

After the first bunch are done then it will be a tier system
 
Reemul said:
You have no idea how many families rely on grandparents, it's massive, from school collections to looking after the grand kids so parents can work and so on.

You put up some reasonable points and then continually ruining it by showing your true colours with the statement above which actually shows you have no idea how Grandparents and support works for millions of people which again shows your thoughts are based around your perception and not the bigger picture regardless of what you put out on here at times.

There are 15.5 million people over 60 and nearly 9 million over 70. As said even if we tried it we cannot isolate 15 million people successfully.

Some of you really are ignorant, there is a massive amount of elderly who support their family and have no choice in the matter, single parents who have to work, couple who are both in low paid work that cannot afford to pay for child care and so on. I know you might not be affected by that but there is a very large amount of people who have no choice. Around 40% of pic ups at my sons school are grand parents. It's even more at my wifes school.

We have unfortunately become a society where both parents need to work and so many are poorly paid that the only way they can manage is with the help of grand parents, it's not like a choice it's a must have to and however unpalatable that is it is true and does not disappear just because you want it to.
Click to expand...
I believe the discussion isn’t generic in regards all grandparents or elderly people but really only the ones who are vunerable , who have had to shield or over the 80

The demographic group of people who shouldn’t be mixing with children and should be isolating

My daughter hasn’t seen one set of grandparents for 12 months , the other set for 3 months now.
 
Ethan said:
What's the alternative? Relying on the good graces of the public - When did that ever work?. Concerts full of older people could be a massacre if there are any infected people coughing.

Just last week, I heard of a vaccination clinic where a person came in, was asked if they had any symptoms of Covid or had been tested, said no, then while sitting in the waiting room was recognised by one of the GPs as having had a positive test 2 days before. Admitted this but said they wanted the anyway, but everyone else in the waiting room now exposed, clinic closed and everyone sent home to self isolate including staff who did not have PPE. Deep clean needed on waiting room. Dozens of people inconvenienced and put at risk by one thoughtless idiot.
Click to expand...
That’s shocking but dosnt surprise me.
People are very selfish or just stupid or both.
There going to need a system that can’t be cheated .
No idea what that is , but the general public are experts at bypassing things like QR codes etc.
Identity smart cards might but might not.
Time will tell.
 
clubchamp98 said:
No I’m just asking the question.
It’s not as if everyone has been sticking to the lockdown rules is it?
But if you don’t have a smart phone ( lots don’t ) what then?
Click to expand...

Then you get one.

That's really not a difficult thing to do. Yes for some they may be a little tricky. But it's something that's easy enough to apapt to.
 
Slime said:
The govt. shouldn't have done that.
The govt. should have done this.
I'm just so happy I don't have to make the decisions.



Hindsight ......................................... ain't it just AWESOME!
Click to expand...

However even with hindsight the approach isn't changed much?
 
Reemul said:
You have no idea how many families rely on grandparents, it's massive, from school collections to looking after the grand kids so parents can work and so on.

You put up some reasonable points and then continually ruining it by showing your true colours with the statement above which actually shows you have no idea how Grandparents and support works for millions of people which again shows your thoughts are based around your perception and not the bigger picture regardless of what you put out on here at times.

There are 15.5 million people over 60 and nearly 9 million over 70. As said even if we tried it we cannot isolate 15 million people successfully.

Some of you really are ignorant, there is a massive amount of elderly who support their family and have no choice in the matter, single parents who have to work, couple who are both in low paid work that cannot afford to pay for child care and so on. I know you might not be affected by that but there is a very large amount of people who have no choice. Around 40% of pic ups at my sons school are grand parents. It's even more at my wifes school.

We have unfortunately become a society where both parents need to work and so many are poorly paid that the only way they can manage is with the help of grand parents, it's not like a choice it's a must have to and however unpalatable that is it is true and does not disappear just because you want it to.
Click to expand...

Even with all of that. We could still move to a system whereby we maintain the lockdown rules for everyone who is in consistent contact with someone in a high risk group.

That of course that would depend on society policing themselves. And I'm sure for everyone that would behave, there would be the parents who rely on grandparents still willing to pop over for coffee with a friend.
 
clubchamp98 said:
Tricky?..
Think that’s an understatement!
Click to expand...
I'm sorry but if you are coherent enough to go to concert whereby you have probably bought tickets online, tapped your card to pay. You can use a smart phone.

You can get basic ones. If a child of barely a year old can learn how to use one then so can the most stubborn of older people.
 
Papas1982 said:
I'm going by the top few groups they're hoping to have covered with the first batch of vaccinations.

Obviously we all face a diminishing a out of risk.
Click to expand...

That may be most of the risk of death group, but it is not all, nor is it the risk of serious chronic disease or complications group. And even if you recover completely, I am not sure a stay in the ICU with a tube down your trachea will be a fond memory.

Vaccination is also not just to protect individuals, it is to protect those to whom you might transmit. Schools now routinely offer HPV vaccine to boys. This offers them no personal protection, but offers protection against cervical cancer to women they later, ahem, mate with.
 
Papas1982 said:
I'm sorry but if you are coherent enough to go to concert whereby you have probably bought tickets online, tapped your card to pay. You can use a smart phone.

You can get basic ones. If a child of barely a year old can learn how to use one then so can the most stubborn of older people.
Click to expand...
I bought my dad a ticket for a show years ago .
But if he had needed a smartphone to get in I would not have bothered.
He still hid his money under the carpets as he didn’t trust banks.
Not all older people are tech savvy.
He had dementia,I was taking him to a concert to see if it revived any memories.
That’s why I asked the question what if you don’t/ can’t use a smartphone.??
I am not saying it won’t work for the vast majority it will.
But there are exceptions. What do they do?
 
clubchamp98 said:
I bought my dad a ticket for a show years ago .
But if he had needed a smartphone to get in I would not have bothered.
He still hid his money under the carpets as he didn’t trust banks.
Not all older people are tech savvy.
He had dementia,I was taking him to a concert to see if it revived any memories.
That’s why I asked the question what if you don’t/ can’t use a smartphone.??
I am not saying it won’t work for the vast majority it will.
But there are exceptions. What do they do?
Click to expand...
I don't really see your point.

If someone needs someone with them to help them, then they'd be able to operate the phone.

If people simply don't trust the tech/vaccine then I revert to my prviosu standpoint.

Ostarcise them until the make a choice.
 
clubchamp98 said:
I bought my dad a ticket for a show years ago .
But if he had needed a smartphone to get in I would not have bothered.
He still hid his money under the carpets as he didn’t trust banks.
Not all older people are tech savvy.
He had dementia,I was taking him to a concert to see if it revived any memories.
That’s why I asked the question what if you don’t/ can’t use a smartphone.??
I am not saying it won’t work for the vast majority it will.
But there are exceptions. What do they do?
Click to expand...

These days, mostly because of ticket touts and reseller sites, you need a ticket with your name on it. If vacc certs came in (and Govt has said it has no intention), then presumably you could print one off with a QR code and bring it along too.
 
clubchamp98 said:
How would we enforce that at say a rock concert.
We would all need a Central Database number that you would need to quote to buy tickets.
But we would just use someone else’s name.
I agree it needs to be done ,but the logistics would be a nightmare.
Click to expand...
I’ll note my experience when buying alcohol in Oz— where even as an obvious tourist some states demand proof of your identity and they check a database to see if you have any convictions that exclude you from buying alcohol. No identity - they can’t check you on the database so no purchase.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top