DrFfybes wrote:I am struggling to rationalise what I know and what I want. I know that at some point restrictions have to come off, and that means I will be exposed and probably catch Covid, hopefully in a mild form as a double vacinee. However what I want is not to catch it so I don't put my mum at risk. Obviously I can mitigate my own exposure, but cannot control the 4 different carers, hairdresser, nail girl, and neighbours that see her.
By 'cannot control', I presume we're not therefore talking power of attorney or anything like that.
In which case, it's for your mum to decide what risks she wants to take. Does she trust the carers, hairdressers, nail girl, etc.
If she doesn't trust them, it's up to her to either ask them if they wouldn't mind taking more precautions, or requesting a different hairdresser, nail girl, etc, or if she still isn't happy with the risk, then even potentially foregoing each of the above.
Of course she can ask the neighbour to mask up, but she needs to realise that the neighbour might not want to. If so, then she'll need to weigh up whether seeing the neighbour is worth the risk or not.
Inevitably, there will be differences between people, and this is likely to break some friendships for people. Some shops will lose customers, some might gain the customers other lose.
For example, personally, I'm waiting to see what stance Tesco takes... if one of the other local big supermarkets doesn't mandate masks, but Tescos does, I'll seriously consider switching... it's not that I 'deny covid', I just make a point of shopping at quieter times (9pm+) where I can go round the shop while keeping a good distance from everyone else, and would prefer to do that than wear a mask.
These are decisions that we all will need to make ourselves.
But let's not put it out of perspective. Covid wasn't seriously worse than the flu even before the vaccines - we weren't talking ebola - and now with the vaccines we are in a better position than we are each winter with the flu.
So we need to be carefully to keep things in perspective.
I'll admit, instinctively I'm a little nervous... who wouldn't be... I've never had covid before (that I know of)... but rationally, I was already only borderline lower risk (1 in 1000 chance of death) from age / health without a vaccine, and wasn't too concerned of covid as a result, and I've now had 1 jab already which should now have lowered that risk further... a couple of weeks after the 1st jab of most of the vaccines seems to largely remove the risk of hospitalisation and death. So rationally, I shouldn't be too worried. But instinctively, I still feel a little apprehensive at the thought of getting covid... but realistically, it's inevitable.
The covid R rate, even with the vaccines is so high, that each of us are not realistically going to be able to avoid it.
I saw a stat yesterday from someone arguing that you should still wear face masks. They gave the stats that masks reduce transmission by an estimated range of 10% to 25% - not sure what their source was, but they were arguing pro mask. But let's get real, with the R ratio of covid, if masks only prevent 10% of infection, that's not going to make any meaningful difference to the overall picture.
Let's get real ... people like my mum who are avid mask wearers, seem to think their fabric (not even medical) mask will protect them, so much so that they now walk closely past groups of people without a care in the world. Yet at a 10% effectiveness, that means you'd still get infected on 9 out of the 10 occasions that you would have got infected without a mask.
Seriously, if you're still going to get infected on 9 out of the 10 times vs not wearing a mask, you'd be better not wearing a mask and being more conscious of who you go near! I think masks are giving many of the wearers a false sense of security. Even Sadiq Kahn from what I saw of him being interviewed on TV the other day, admitted the idea of enforcing masks on transport was as much about just 'reassuring' people than anything else.
Anyway, even with vaccines, I saw some scientists the other day suggesting herd immunity isn't going to be realistic. With the high R number of the latest variants, it doesn't take much of a drop in vaccine efficacy over time to fall below the herd immunity threshold.
Their view, was that the protection is going to come through tolerance, initially initially the vaccines, then followed by repeated infection building and maintaining further tolerance. Much like catching a cold.
If you've had both jabs, then it's now time for the leap of faith. Like a child jumping into water the first time, or stepping out onto a glass platform.
Yes, you're going to be hesitant, that's human nature. But sometimes, you've just got to have faith.
And one final thought... 18 months ago, most scientists were cautioning that there's no guarantee a vaccine would even be possible, let alone multiple vaccines at the very top end of possible vaccine efficacy.
Just imagine the conversations we'd be having now if the vaccines hadn't worked and were showing no signs of working!