As was the case last year, the virus known as Covid 19 is slowly beginning to look to affect the Christmas plans of millions nationwide.
With the discovery of the new omicron variant and its apparent rapid spreading that looks to outperform the delta variant, fears are now growing as to whether we could face a return to the pandemic conditions we all though were finally over.
There is not yet any clear proof that Omicron has the potential to cause the same kinds of mortality rates, or even that it will cause significant long term risks with the World Health Organisation themselves dictating that much more investigation is needed to even establish the strain as any more of threat to public health than the current strains.
However in the face of previous events there is a need for an immediate response to minimise whatever threat may occur, just as it did last year.
The question remains whether people should change their behaviour over this festive period and risk missing out on the celebrations that were taken away only a mere 12 months ago.
For many, last year was no different with gatherings and fairly normal Christmases all taking place as many chose to either follow the few days of restriction lifting or to simply just go about as if nothing had changed.
This year it looks as if there may actually be more restrictions in place during the periods with the possibility of smaller groups and even travel restrictions domestically all possible.
From a preventative point of view the answer is clearly to do as advised and follow along with whatever guidance is laid out to avoid a longer situation caused by the pandemic.
But the country is much different this time, having covid vaccines and now boosters which are believed to fight against the strain of Omicron and also having a population who are more opposed to the idea of removing freedoms than ever.
The statement made by Prime Minister Boris Johnson was to learn to live with the virus, yet this would be doing the complete opposite and once again forcing the country to close.
It is entirely possible that this does not become a concern and will die down in a few weeks, especially now that working from home guidance is back in force.
However, this Christmas period it is much different to last year, and if rules weren’t followed back then when things were much worse, would there be much of an effect if they were not to be followed now, especially considering the lack of confirmation on the effect of the Omicron strain.
Photo Credit: Jeremy Bezanger
