Christmas during Covid times

Zaph

Mariah Scarce Rite wrote: »

making people out to be loons for enjoying xmas and seeing people they care about is exceptional tbh.

I care about my elderly parents, which is why we won't be gong to them for Christmas dinner as planned this year. I'd rather forsake one meal this year to ensure that they'll be around for Christmas next year. Doesn't mean I'm happy about it, they're not going to be around forever. But if restrictions are lifted enough so we can visit and see them in person on Christmas Day, even if it is just to talk to them from their front garden, I'll take that.

Xtrail14

Zaph wrote: »

I care about my elderly parents, which is why we won't be gong to them for Christmas dinner as planned this year. I'd rather forsake one meal this year to ensure that they'll be around for Christmas next year. Doesn't mean I'm happy about it, they're not going to be around forever. But if restrictions are lifted enough so we can visit and see them in person on Christmas Day, even if it is just to talk to them from their front garden, I'll take that.

This is going to really upset the snowflakes.

My mum is 84. We are going to see her regardless of restrictions. As she says herself, at her age she could be dead next year anyway. Her diabetes screenings were all cancelled because of COVID. My dad died of an easily treatable heart condition due to HSE incompetence and misdiagnosis. No sombre reading of his death on six one.

Everyone dies. Not everyone lives. I can't believe what a bunch of pathetic losers some on here are. And then waiting for the government to tell you whether you can see your elderly parents? What the hell is wrong with you? Have you nothing between your ears? Most of the infections now are happening in hospitals, the domain of the people telling you what to do!!!

<<snip>>

Yyhhuuu

General comment:

I'm very careful about social distancing, which I regard as the primary infection control measure as well as the other measures. I see little social distancing in the city I live in and it annoys me because I know it is prolonging the problem. A woman yesterday went to walk right beside me and when I politely asked her to move out of my way she gave a very ignorant look and actually asked me why.It amazes me how many people think you dont have to social distance when wearing a face mask. There should be an education campaign. Also there is limited evidence of the transmission of covid by fomite yet people also place an over emphasis on hand sanitation- just dont touch you eyes nose of mouth.

Christmas and my travel plan in January

I hope to travel to London in January on very important business. An opportune time at the end of the English Lockdown when I expect Irish cases will have again increased exponentially following the easing of restrictions and widespread non-compliance over the Christmas period.Widespread travling shopping and festivities over christmas will cause numbers to grow exponentially leading to another lockdown which will decimate the economy. Will people ever learn. I will not be changing my behaviour over christmas and not meeting family or friends in my home. Any meetings will be with only one person, preferably outside, and socially distanced. Unfortely Things will have to be different this christmas.

Antares35

[Deleted User] wrote: »

My mum is 84. We are going to see her regardless of restrictions. As she says herself, at her age she could be dead next year anyway. Her diabetes screenings were all cancelled because of COVID. My dad died of an easily treatable heart condition due to HSE incompetence and misdiagnosis. No sombre reading of his death on six one.

Everyone dies. Not everyone lives. I can't believe what a bunch of pathetic losers some on here are. And then waiting for the government to tell you whether you can see your elderly parents? What the hell is wrong with you? Have you nothing between your ears? Most of the infections now are happening in hospitals, the domain of the people telling you what to do!!!

<<Mod snip>>.

It's not so much waiting to be told because we all know we can do whatever the hell we like, it's making a decision not to. In the same way that you choose to see your elderly parents, others have chosen not to. No need for insults really.

Antares35

Antares35 wrote: »

It's not so much waiting to be told because we all know we can do whatever the hell we like, it's making a decision not to. In the same way that you choose to see your elderly parents, others have chosen not to. No need for insults really.

If you'd actually read my post you'd see I have an elderly parent singular. Others have chosen not to. What about the elderly parents? What did they choose?

Kermit.de.frog

Deleted User wrote: »

My mum is 84. We are going to see her regardless of restrictions

Your choice. There is a reason people are told to use basic cop on. The above is highly irresponsible but is in keeping with a handful of posters here that have been encouraging irresponsibility since March.

Knock yourself out, do what makes you feel better.

Yyhhuuu

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

Your choice. There is a reason people are told to use basic cop on. The above is highly irresponsible but is in keeping with a handful of posters here that have been encouraging irresponsibility since March.

Knock yourself out, do what makes you feel better.

If you must visit your 84 year old mother then I suggest you meet through a window or meet outside and in excess of 2 metres. Otherwise I would regard your behaviour as reckless from an infection control perspective

I will be spending Christmas day with my 78 Yr old father. As it is I spend a night or two with him. He needs my help and my company. For him isolation would kill him quicker than Covid.

Antares35

[Deleted User] wrote: »

If you'd actually read my post you'd see I have an elderly parent singular. Others have chosen not to. What about the elderly parents? What did they choose?

Are you replying to me accidentally? What's your point?

Richard Hillman

There is a cohort of heathens running society that want to minimise the importance of Christmas people returning to Ireland and family members visiting loves. There is a sociopathic nature to it. They hate our county, our values, our culture, our way of life. They want our lives run by data and excel sheets.

Kermit.de.frog

Yyhhuuu wrote: »

If you must visit your 84 year old mother then I suggest you meet through a window or meet outside and in excess of 2 metres.

As long as appropriate precautions like that are in place I have zero issue and would encourage it. That does not appear to be what is suggested unless the poster would like to clarify.

FintanMcluskey

Richard Hillman wrote: »

There is a cohort of heathens running society that want to minimise the importance of Christmas people returning to Ireland and family members visiting loves. There is a sociopathic nature to it. They hate our county, our values, our culture, our way of life. They want our lives run by data and excel sheets.

And yet those very people are the first to cry racist at any opportunity.

Kermit.de.frog

Deleted User wrote: »

Some need to mind their own business and stop twitching the curtains. Reality is some people are going catch up with family and friends over the Christmas period and knock back a few jars. You know, human-like behaviour. Tony Holohan and the doom squad (those whose salaries and jobs are completely secure) might want to grant some leeway in December or some individuals are going to ignore the restrictions completely.

You see the problem is this...

It's because of people like you that we have the restrictions we have. It's because of the ignorance you practice and spread that people's lives are right now restricted.

The majority of people understand the nature of the problem, the seriousness of the situation for their colleagues, friends and loved ones in terms of transmission of this disease. They don't have to be told. It's instinctive.

The only people that have to be told and guided are those like you who display epic ignorance daily (and get away with it online).

You are entitled to the ignorance. You are not entitled to endanger others and the majority you and others talk down to (those who follow the rules, take the precautions, have at least a basic understand of the critical issues, have zero issue going without one Christmas...) happen to have elected a government in this country which takes it's advice, as strange as it may appear to you, from the country's top health experts. And they accept their guidance based on their expertise. An expertise you don't have. You only have feelings, nothing else.

Those feelings don't give you a right to put others in danger. They don't give you a right to talk down or give advice to those who follow the rules.

You and so many others like you have zero authority to be doing that. Yet you do. And that's fine, free speech etc...

You want to have a drink with friends at Christmas, a family get together , maybe a house party whatever that's your choice. Unfortunately there are more who think like that.

Just don't complain when restrictions are extended on and on and disruption to everyday life continues.

It's just sad that the majority of us pay the biggest price in that disruption for a selfish minority who don't care about anyone but themselves.

And don't give me your rubbish about "curtain twitching" etc...that's the only defence you seem to have for your own ignorance because you can't articulate a cogent argument for yourself. So you do what the rest of them do - reduce to simple sound bites in text form in order to belittle others.

You're only fooling yourself.

L'prof

I don’t know what’s going to happen but the whole fiasco is leaving an extremely bitter taste in the mouth. This lockdown was never enforced to eradicate the virus, we were told that it was so we could enjoy a somewhat normal Christmas. As the weeks go by the noises coming from NPHET and the government indicate they might renege on that. Initially I was hoping wed see level 2 for the couple of weeks over Christmas. Now I’d take it for a few days. A few days really isn’t going to set us back that far. We’ve made great progress in this lockdown, I could handle it being extended a few weeks maybe but there should be some sort of goal at the end of it as was indicated heading into it. I haven’t been nor will I be reckless no matter what happens

Since the initial lockdown between myself and my OH we’ve lost 1 parent and were very close to losing another. We’ve also had the birth of a child to help cheer everyone up a bit. My brother is in limbo living abroad, getting mixed messages from the government as to whether he should come home or not. The country he’s living in is managing the virus well and taking a sensible approach to travel. Test on the way out and on your return. Surely this is a good initiative but it doesn’t seem like it will be adopted here even though we were told there would be travel corridors and green zones and the like

We’re not really prepared to let our grieving loved ones spend Christmas alone, if this year has taught us anything it’s that things can change so quickly and it could be the last Christmas people get to spend with some of their loved ones

Electric Sheep

Richard Hillman wrote: »

There is a cohort of heathens running society that want to minimise the importance of Christmas people returning to Ireland and family members visiting loves. There is a sociopathic nature to it. They hate our county, our values, our culture, our way of life. They want our lives run by data and excel sheets.

I'd say that is the problem all right 😂

hatrickpatrick

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

those who follow the rules, take the precautions, have at least a basic understand of the critical issues, have zero issue going without one Christmas...

This part is the lie. As long as there is no end game being talked about, this will continue to be a lie. And this is the reason there are so many people who have adopted a nihilistic approach to this whole situation.

I've been saying this very early on. Living without hope cannot be a long term solution. Pinning all of society's hopes on a vaccine while simultaneously acknowledging that such a vaccine may be impossible cannot be a long term solution either.

The public needs answers as to what the strategy is if a vaccine does not materialise within the next year. It's not going without one Christmas which is causing the despair and nihilism, it's the constant beating of the "new normal" drum which implies that enforced loneliness as a long term way of life is even the tiniest theoretical possibility. This is unacceptable to huge numbers of people, and it is absolutely irresponsible for the media and for government to continue fanning the flames of the "this is it for the rest of our lives" discourse that has sprung up.

If people were being asked to go without one Christmas, definitively, I would absolutely agree with your sentiment. But they're not. They're being asked to accept the possibility that we never get to return to having proper social lives. That's what people are thinking when they read terms such as "the new normal" in the news. And that's what's going to continue driving, hand-in-hand, irresponsible nihilism about following restrictions, and mental health crises.

hatrickpatrick

L'prof wrote: »

This lockdown was never enforced to eradicate the virus, we were told that it was so we could enjoy a somewhat normal Christmas.

We were told in March that the original lockdown, or "delay phase" as they used to call it, was to buy time to beef up the health service in order to cope with the inevitable spread of the virus as people went about their daily lives. Instead of doing so, the state seems to have adopted the "endless delay" approach, in which instead of doing anything meaningful to achieve those stated aims, we remain in the delay phase until... Well, no one knows.

lawred2

I don't ever remember it being said that this lockdown was so that we could have a normal Christmas..

That to me is people hearing what they want to hear.

lawred2

hatrickpatrick wrote: »

We were told in March that the original lockdown, or "delay phase" as they used to call it, was to buy time to beef up the health service in order to cope with the inevitable spread of the virus as people went about their daily lives. Instead of doing so, the state seems to have adopted the "endless delay" approach, in which instead of doing anything meaningful to achieve those stated aims, we remain in the delay phase until... Well, no one knows.

A vaccine

Quite obviously

Kermit.de.frog

hatrickpatrick wrote: »

They're being asked to accept the possibility that we never get to return to having proper social lives.

The world has changed. After a vaccine the world will still have changed. How much remains to be seen but failure to understand this is what makes people upset. It's better to accept reality than live in the denial phase. The world has suffered a trauma and, like it or not, it's going to take a lot of getting over.

It mystifies me that people don't understand the gravity of what has happened.

Some seem to think it's back to how it was in January after a vaccine is distributed. Some things, yes. It will never be the same again.

The most important thing is that the spread of an unknown pathogen is never allowed to unfold in this horrible way ever again.

lawred2

lawred2 wrote: »

I don't ever remember it being said that this lockdown was so that we could have a normal Christmas..

That to me is people hearing what they want to hear.

Exactly. There was no official line like this.

mirrorwall14

I’d actually like to see a proper realistic discussion about it. Most people are not going to wear masks at Christmas visits. I suspect the vast majority of people are going to visit family over Christmas regardless of levels including myself.

However a realistic campaign to encourage everyone to minimise all contacts for the 10 days prior to Christmas if they plan to visit family would go a long way to limiting the consequence. Explaining that a window cracked in houses. How changing rooms and refreshing the air regularly can limit spread. Have paper towels in the bathroom. Don’t travel if feeling any symptoms.

That’s our plan. We plan to do some of our traditions early in December. Get the shopping delivered etc and stay away from social contacts as much as possible in the run up. The only issue is the school but to be fair there hasn’t been any cases in his class and he’s 5 so not the worst age range

For people who live away from their home county they are going to go home. They are going to stay over. In the case of people in Dublin etc it has been a long time since they locked down. Government and NPHET need to acknowledge it and start educating on how to try and do those visits with some level of safety.

Kermit.de.frog

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

The world has changed. After a vaccine the world will still have changed. How much remains to be seen but failure to understand this is what makes people upset. It's better to accept reality than live in the denial phase. The world has suffered a trauma and, like it or not, it's going to take a lot of getting over.

It mystifies me that people don't understand the gravity of what has happened.

Some seem to think it's back to how it was in January after a vaccine is distributed. Some things, yes. It will never be the same again.

he most important thing is that the spread of an unknown pathogen is never allowed to unfold in this horrible way ever again.

I’ll never look at people the same way after this is all over anyway. I’ll be quite happy to interact with as few as possible from here on.

zerosugarbuzz

ReginaldSmythV wrote: »

I’ll never look at people the same way after this is all over anyway. I’ll be quite happy to interact with as few as possible from here on.

That’s one of the saddest things I’ve read since this debacle began. I hope in time you change your mind.

Kermit.de.frog

mirrorwall14 wrote: »

For people who live away from their home county they are going to go home. They are going to stay over. In the case of people in Dublin etc it has been a long time since they locked down.

If you visit or have elderly relatives over for Christmas then there could be severe consequences in January for those decisions.

People make their own choices.

This is a choice people need to think carefully about. For the sake of Christmas? For me, no.

I accept others have their own view depending on circumstances.

You have to use your own common sense and judgement at the end of the day. This is a highly contagious disease and if you are elderly your chances are slim.

But people want to ignore advice so...you can only be told so many ways

beggars_bush

charlietheminxx wrote: »

Things are hard enough at the moment without even considering how January is going to feel. Awful, dark, cold, miserable month where I'm usually broke (and I'm presuming that's not uncommon), throw in some covid restrictions and you've hit the horrible jackpot.

Days getting longer, not shorter will help

Spend less at xmas and you won't be broke

beggars_bush

Deleted User wrote: »

Some need to mind their own business and stop twitching the curtains. Reality is some people are going catch up with family and friends over the Christmas period and knock back a few jars. You know, human-like behaviour. Tony Holohan and the doom squad (those whose salaries and jobs are completely secure) might want to grant some leeway in December or some individuals are going to ignore the restrictions completely.

Some people are already ignoring most restrictions so it's up to citizens to do their best

Most people can still have a nice xmas,

mirrorwall14

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

If you visit or have elderly relatives over for Christmas then there could be severe consequences in January for those decisions.

People make their own choices.

This is a choice people need to think carefully about. For the sake of Christmas? For me, no.

I accept others have their own view depending on circumstances.

You have to use your own common sense and judgement at the end of the day. This is a highly contagious disease and if you are elderly your chances are slim.

But people want to ignore advice so...you can only be told so many ways

This is unrealistic however as people DO have other ideas and opinions. There needs to be recognition of this and actual planning for it as opposed to hoping people won’t. Because they will. Young and old. Whether it’s because it’s Christmas or because they don’t know if they will have many more and would prefer to enjoy it etc etc. The reasons aren’t actually that important, there are many. What’s important is that planning is done. Telling people to limit the length of visit rather than saying no visiting for example. Suggesting people have one household at a time rather than everyone visiting together. Those are practical ways to limit spread without trying to have a blanket ban

Kermit.de.frog

mirrorwall14 wrote: »

This is unrealistic however as people DO have other ideas and opinions.

Why is it unrealistic?

They can have all the opinions they like.

It's obvious to me we are dealing with a generation not familiar with adversity who simply can't handle bad news (you only have to read through these threads to see it). They can't take a Christmas on the couch?

A bit of perspective needed here I think.