It may be that you agree with the lifting of restrictions in the UK, but this isn’t one of those situations, where we have a guarantee we won’t get sick. The virus is out there, it can continue to reinfect.
No one is guaranteed protection
You can’t see it, you don’t know the person sat next to you on the tube isn’t sickening for Covid-19, or the relative you’ve just seen has been near someone who they didn’t know had Covid. With respiratory disease, I can't afford to try that out.
And whilst mask wearing has been removed in the UK, no one can guarantee their safety. My life is completely changed. I manage a walk and the hairdressers. I wear full PPE and whilst it’s not ideal, I manage. My social time has gone.
Not everyone agrees with mask removal
The virus isn't gone, and the independent scientists are not agreeing with the removal of masks. Without people wearing masks, we can potentially get sick. The scientists are still telling us that without precautionary measures in place, we can get sick, and we can still get infected three or four times. Also, even if you have come through Covid-19, in 10 years time you could still struggle with ill health again. (Source: https://publichealth.jhu.edu)
Masks keep you safe
Wearing a mask is keeping you, your loved ones and the vulnerable safe, it’s also helping us lessen the virus. With daily rising cases and no guarantees of staying well, it makes common sense to mask up.
I am no longer surprised by the number of people I see when out and about, who don't wear masks. I am often the only one in supermarkets and at the petrol filling station.
By the same token I am equally not surprised by the stories I regularly hear from people who are fully vaccinated and who have caught the virus two and three times.
As someone rightly once said, 'stupid is as stupid does!' I think that was Forest Gump.
I have heard the same stories also. What I find difficult to comprehend is that we're being told the pandemic is here to stay and we need to 'live with it,' but living with it, doesn't mean ignore it.
Living with it, means working along side it and making judgments, based on the situation and/or circumstance. Ignoring it altogether isn't helping our cause, if anything the virus will continue to mutate, and we will continue to get sick when we fall foul of the disease.
From what I know, there will also be new virus transmissions in the future. If we're not keeping tabs and working on trying to reduce this one, there will be little hope for us on the next.
Our self destructive behavior, as it relates to Covid, falls just short of advocating illness and possibly death, in my view.
I just don't get it, perhaps I never will.
Thanks Tim. I get that people want their lives back, but governments lifting restrictions is a political move that they hope in the longer term will help them secure more votes. But these measures should still be in place because they have been proved to keep us protected.
Where you say, 'our self-destructive behavior as it relates to Covid falls short of advocating illness and possibly death' - this is self-destructive behaviour, because the independent scientists, (as opposed to government scientists) are asking for us to continue to protect. The minimum protection would be to wear masks.
Illness is happening and deaths are still being recorded and the virus hasn't gone, contrary to what people are telling themselves. It is self-destructive behaviour because we could continue to protect ourselves and yet we're not, instead we're following governmental advice, which is to do nothing.
The UK were the first country to lift restrictions. I don't know for sure if other countries have also lifted restrictions. I don't think I am missing something here, but happy to stand corrected if I am.