Now we are a coupe of years on. Do you think the Covid lockdowns should have happened

[Rainbowdeer]

I don’t we should have shut down the schools and I don’t agree with the lockdowns
the damage has been far too great
esp regarding children’s mental health

the economy been damaged far too much

work culture has totally changed

Do Brexit next, will you?

Goodness you have a short memory.
Do you not remember videos from Lombardy?
This is why some countries have a cultural value on remembering because it is clear as day that people have the memories of goldfishes. Shame on you.

Never says one hour though, and it never said you couldn’t do each of these things every day.

With hindsight we should probably have put lot more effort into protecting the vulnerable, and a lot less into mindless rules and widespread mass lockdowns. But, no one knew that at the time, and I don’t see how they could have done.

The poster said The one walk a day was never a thing

and it is that to which I was posting at speech

Either way… I certainly didn’t follow the guidelines re exercise, going to the supermarket or seeing family (and the odd friend) out of my bubble!

I mean in hindsight, when we have so much more info, it's easy to say that it shouldn't have happened because of the impacts, but do I judge the Government for making that decision at the time? Absolutely not. No one had a crystal ball, they were trying to make the right call in very very difficult and unpredictable circumstances.

There were a number of instances where the mortality rates were rising sharply. Those rises were reversed following the lockdowns. I don't think they were handled as well, or as promptly, as they could have been but I do believe that if we didn't have any lockdowns the UK mortality rate would have been way higher and the NHS would not have been able to cope. It barely coped as it is.

I should add that ds' school had a full video curriculum up and working via Teams within three days. The staff must have worked around the clock, they delivered a storming result helped by already having Teams in place.

At the start of every lesson, one of the staff rang every child who hadn't appeared on screen and chased them to connect. It was very efficient and while not ideal, it provided structure, learning and class r&r sessions.

The school organised a weekly class quiz with prizes, they organised game-ins and baking competitions. Remote karate classes and gym sessions. We were encouraged to film our daily exercise and send it in.

I realise not every school did such a good job.

I don't know anyone who think lockdowns should have happened - in any way. Sadly, many Governments around the world simply panicked, and that was the most dangerous contagion of all.

You must have a very limited social circle

Speaking only for myself I think they should have happened but I think the second one shouldn't have lasted until April and ended around the end of February when everyone vulnerable and over 70 had been offered at least one does of vaccine. It doesn't sound like long but having those extra eight weeks would have made a massive difference to my mental health, which has never fully recovered since.

I don't look back on them fondly at all. They trashed my finances (I got no government help) and my mental health, and I'm still angry about it.

Also it goes without saying that it would have been a lot better if we'd had a capable adult running the country rather than bloody Worzel Gummage.

@DisforDarkChocolate 'Local communities were amazing, they should have been more formally involved.'

In our borough, we were. The borough council quickly realised they had no way of supporting elderly and vulnerable people in the community, so they passed responsibility to each of the parish councils who were required to come up with an emergency plan over one hectic weekend.

From there we identified every vulnerable person in the parish and organised teams of mostly student & teenage runners to drop food and other goods on people's door steps.

Also to collect notes asking for specific help. We also had a rota of check-in calls running from the parish hall. It worked quite well.

We absolutely shouldn't have closed the schools. And given that we did, we should now be busting a gut to mitigate the damage the damage that has been done to a generation of kids: throwing money at additional SEND/speech and language/MH provision; additional funding for schools and colleges; lots more art, music and sport in school; more careers advice/focus on skills for future employment; mass health screening programmes to catch up with all of the potential diagnoses that were missed while health visitors/dental appointments/most of the non-covid medical system was suspended... and so on.

All of Sir Kevan Collins' recommendations around this should have been implemented (but of course were instead almost entirely ignored). We have done children and young people a huge disservice here, and I am so glad that DP and I had the common sense and resources to push the 'guidelines' to the limit and mitigate much of the potential damage to our own small DD.

There's currently a thread where everyone is agreeing not to send kids to school because there's noro virus going around in case they catch it.

IMO lockdowns should have happened sooner and people coming from infected countries should have been quarantined instead of being given time to get here first with no consequences.

Visitors from London returning from overseas, the week before first lockdown, brought it into a care home here and it killed several residents.

I worked in a frontline key worker role, no lock down for me, no childcare for a while either for our toddler, which was fun. Got a letter 13 months in from the NHS telling me I was clinically extremely vulnerable, bit late at that point. DH was also frontline and it was one of the hardest times of our lives, while lots baked banana bread and got into gin and my burger was getting clandestine haircuts and beard trims. There would've been far heavier penalties for those who broke the lockdown, some of us were risking our lives to save others, to the detriment of our families and our own well-being. Not being able to go to the pub or get your nails done really wasn't a big deal.

I lived in a country where the health services collapsed. Much more so than in the UK.

Ambulances phone lines where no longer powered and you couldn't even buy paracetamol. There was no medical care left.

And the NHS already got to its knees WITH the lockdown. So no, I don't think the UK could have handled it.

With hindsight, apart from the first one, no. Lockdown has proved to be very damaging to some children, possibly affecting life chances when they were at little risk. Old people, like me, should have been advised to minimise contacts and used discretion. I think that we all went a bit collectively barmy.

One of my colleagues ended up in hospital with COVID and still isn't fully recovered. Lockdown stopped a lot of people ending up like him.

I don't see that anything different could have been done other than the initial lockdown.

But the government could have made sure that the NHS and public services were not in such a parlous state going into the crisis and should have had a clear plan for a pandemic.

What made me so anxious was the constant shilly shallying about the rules and the decisions around education. It felt like being constantly gaslit for 18 months. And then there was absolutely no help for children impacted by it. For many children starting secondary school in 2020 their entire secondary education and opportunities in life have been wrecked.

There was never a rule it was an hour. I always wondered where people got that time from. So I’m guessing it was him making up rubbish on the spot then!

Imo they were needed to stop the rapid spread so that the NHS wouldn't crumble

They were put on too late tbh, and the advice at the beginning was poor

Remember when they were actively discouraging face masks and saying we were depriving surgeons of them?!?! Next thing, they're required everywhere

The one hour was a myth. We were told on some of the FB groups just to be sensible about where we go (ie not driving to the arse end of nowhere)