If there was another pandemic in your lifetime...

[GoodChat]

Would you follow all the rules as stringently as you did the first time around?

I was thinking about this today. I was completely law abiding the first time round - followed every single rule and guideline they put in place.

I had a 9 month old at the start of lockdown so it was nice to spend more time with her as I'd just come off maternity leave and then got furloughed. We were basically living in a little bubble and it was lovely.

I was made redundant which was crap, but it also opened up new opportunities for me and now I'm in a completely new industry, with a far better work life balance and better pay for a more relaxed life.

But... I now have an 18 month old and an almost 4 year old. I can't imagine only leaving the house for an hour a day and not being able to take them to parks etc. I don't know how people managed it. I think those who did are incredible. My mental health was battered by the end and I still get wary of groups in enclosed spaces without masks - even though I'm not scared of catching anything.

I also think any kind of lockdown/furlough scheme etc would destroy the economy beyond repair if it were to happen in the next 50 years or so. I imagine more people would die from poverty than die from infection next time.

I don't think id cope with a pandemic being managed as it was last time, and I don't think I could trust the government with the complete mockery they made of us before.

I think I'd approach it the next time with a stiff British upper lip of "keep calm and carry on".

What do you think? What did you do before and what would you do again? Would you be as fearful as you were at the start of covid?

I think the way the older population vote in general elections answers this question to a degree.

Just popping on to give the obligatory reminder that leaving the house once a day or for just an hour each day was never a RULE. It was a guideline. Very different. Or maybe not very, but the difference between breaking the law and breaking a judgement about what someone deemed sensible.

You cannot make a single rule about what is sensible to apply across an entire country, and I was more than happy to make my own judgement about what was sensible for my own situation, weighing up risk and detriment/benefit of eg visiting the local forest for a whole day in the woods with two bored and somewhat scared children.

If this does happen again in my lifetime, I will again follow the LAW but use my own judgement as to whether the GUIDELINES are appropriate and proportionate to my own circumstances.

Yes if course I would, assuming we know as little as we knew about Covid at first and there was no treatment or vaccination. Once things become clearer you start to build up knowledge on what risks are safe (i.e. very little risk in meeting friends for a walk in the park in Jan 2021, but I wasn't having anyone in my house).

I am very relieved to know that if there is another pandemic in my lifetime, I won't be trying to work at home with a toddler.

@DiscoBoots I might be misremembering but weren't they fining people for not following those guidelines in some areas, then only revoked those fines months later?

Thus making people believe they were law as police were enforcing it?

I believe it was actually a rule in Wales. Didn't read that legislation myself, but people on here have said it was. In England it wasn't. People just thought it was because of that tit Michael Gove, and towards the end of the first lockdown Boris announced that we could now take unlimited exercise as though the rules hadn't allowed it previously. It suited him to pretend, of course.

I work on a supermarket checkout so realised pretty quickly that the lockdowns and restrictions were utter nonsense.

Last time we stayed in because they told us Covid was dangerous and people were dying. And we didn’t know any different so we believed them and we were scared, so we stayed at home. Then after a while we all caught it and most of us didn’t die, so we stopped complying.

So I suppose the question is, if there was another pandemic and they said that people were dying, would we believe them? Because if we believe we’re actually at risk of dying then we’ll stay at home.

This is it, really, isn't it? Would we trust the government.

And I guess the answer to that today is potentially very different to what it could be in 10 years.

I’d be much less likely to follow the rules if we were told to lock down again because this time I have reason not to trust the government. I also have experience of the detrimental effects of lockdowns and I wouldn’t risk my mental health again. Obviously if shops and restaurants etc were made to close we’d all be forced to obey some of the rules but that doesn’t mean we’d have to isolate ourselves from our own families in our own homes.

I unfortunately had reason to visit hospitals quite frequently during the first lockdown and from the behaviour of the staff in them you’d have had no idea there was a pandemic and the country was in lockdown. If it happened again I’d expect hospitals and health and social care settings to be doing everything they could to minimise transmission before the general public were expected to sacrifice themselves.

Why would you only go out for an hour a day? That was a rule in France, in the UK it was once a day for as long as you liked.

We were 100% compliant which meant I barely saw my family because they live 50 miles away and we're in Wales. Those lockdown months turned out to be the last healthy months of my father and sister's lives.

As we emerged from lockdown I found myself a carer to someone with MND and watching my sister fight for her life.

Whilst I complied, the leaders of the country partied. Whilst I complied my loved ones were living the last of their healthy pain free lives without seeing me or my children in person.

I'd abide by general rules in another pandemic but I'd happily pay any fine rather than not visit my family because someone in government said I can't. No fucking chance.

People were fined for travelling too far from home. Do you not remember the Cummings saga?

Yes I would follow the rules again. Because the majority of the general public, me included, don't have enough knowledge to be able to decide whether it's necessary, how dangerous etc. So we just have to have faith that it is for the common good.

And whilst I don't agree which everything that happened during covid hindsight is a wonderful thing.and I genuinely believe the restrictions were to minimise deaths and not overwhelm the heath service based on the knowledge at the time

Yes, but too far is not the same thing as local for as long as you liked. And the Cumming saga was awful.

I would follow the rules and pay attention to what the advice is in each country as I did last time.

No.not a chance. Not only was it devastating for people in so many ways - this government was full of shit.

Perhaps all the people convinced their relatives died from COVID should give their heads a wobble eh?

How fucking dare you.

Yes, but too far is not the same thing as local for as long as you liked.

Local for a lot of people wasn't healthy or helpful for them. People who travelled generally did so because there was no good, green open space. They wouldn't let people cross from England to Wales, even if that was still local.

No. I was completely rule-abiding (didn't snitch on anyone though) and felt a right ninny when I found out that Boris had been partying all the way through. Unless it was the zombie apocalypse I'd be carrying on as normally as I could. No way would I put myself or my DC through that again.

I stuck to all the rules last time. However, I'm.furious with what's come to.light re Johnson and cronies.

So, whether I follow the rules next time depends on the severity of the illness. An Ebola type of virus - absolutely. A flu pandemic - probably not

I'd abide by general rules in another pandemic but I'd happily pay any fine rather than not visit my family because someone in government said I can't. No fucking chance

Why did you not think that the first time round? Genuinely interested, because I can't imagine any situation in which I wouldn't have gone to see my family anyway.

Yes, I didn't mind the lockdown. I'm watching a show filmed during it and as they are standing in the same room chatting seems silly they did the elbow greeting thing - I guess back them they thought it was very spreadable through casual touch.
I never washed my groceries or anything. I haven't ever had covid as far as I know, neither has my daughter who is on the tube every day. She was very strict with masks etc.
I really hope people do follow rules, and I think the government has learned a lot about what people will tolerate about shops closing etc and some of the ridiculous measures they took (the rule of four/six snd bubbles etc).

I would initially- while the data / statistics were being analysed. It was quickly apparent with covid that the elderly, clinically vulnerable and those with co-morbidities were the most at risk and that the vast majority of the population did not require hospitalisation and had relatively mild illness. I would therefore expect the govt to ‘ target’ more appropriately next time ( if faced with similar scenario) - recommend staying at home for the at risk groups (and support financially with this) and leave the rest of the population to live their lives normally. I think the lockdowns for months on end were disproportionate- most people think this now so I doubt that mistake would be made again anyway.

I would certainly be happy to be in outside spaces with few other people, like walks in the wood. Likely to be low risk and very good for physical and mental health. I shielded for 6 weeks and it was horrible. When I stopped I didn’t go inside anywhere except home for months and that was bearable (in the summer) so I’d do that approach again.

Also some of the guidance wasn’t actually official guidance at all. Like one hour a day exercise. It didn’t actually say that, it was just something someone (I think Michael Gove) mentioned in response to a question. I never followed that guidance. I read the laws and the guidance carefully (although most of the laws were poorly drafted) and followed the actual wording.

Because if we believe we’re actually at risk of dying then we’ll stay at home

We're at risk of being run over by a bus every time we leave our houses. One of the many problems with Covid was all the "people will die" rhetoric. People die all the time, and knowing that you are going to die is a bloody good reason not to lock yourself up.

I, personally, just could stand to take the risk I might pick covid up while doing an essential shop then take it to a relative who could become severely ill. There was too much risk of passing it on even if I was asymptomatic, for me.