What would you do differently if there were another lockdown?

[Ifithappens]

If we had another lockdown happen, i doubt it but if it did, what would you do different this time round.

I cant say i would change anything as i live alone, and i enjoyed it tbvh.
I didnt go mad with stock piling.

But if it happened again i would knit another quilt.

Maybe it might make the selfish "I'd ignore everything" people consider people other than themselves.

I would 100% stick to the rules, Covid was awful, killed so many people. I never cared about others not sticking to the rules apart from government, they should be fired if they didn’t.

Ebola and Hantavirus are not great examples as they’re currently not contagious enough but a true virus that can cross species like a virulent bird flu would have me locking myself in entirely.

People can make light of Covid now (if you don’t know someone who died) but we need to remember history, a flu that kills young people again is terrifying.

To have a job that I didn't have to go into work. I could spend all my time making cards, lounging around, gardening (would have to be late spring/summer after I'd bought my compost and other necessities), making pasta, sewing, cross stitch, building a dolls house kit. Loads of things that work gets in the way of.

I know people who died from COVID. I know people who died from not COVID. I know people with long COVID and I know people with life changing injuries from the Vax.
All we can do is make our choice.

Grow my hair long rather than cut it myself

@Almina Sweden had a higher rate of death than their neighbours if I remember rightly. And killed quite a few of their elderly.

But they had a lower rate than us partly because of demographic and lifestyle. And although they didn’t close schools in the way we did they did make changes in schools. Also have on average smaller class sizes so not cramming 30 kids in badly ventilated small spaces.

Never again will I adhere to instruction from the state as to who I allow to be inside my privately owned home. Whether people will come to visit is another issue.

I think it's pretty clear the rules were haphazard and ineffective and caused incalculable economic and social harms. That doesn't mean there should have been no rules, but that the rules were not well designed. Of course we got them wrong. Everyone got them wrong, in different ways, all over the world. But collectively we could learn from all these mistakes and do better next time. But not if we frame this as these absolutes and binaries: lockdown vs nothing, selfish vs hysterical -- all of this is emotional thinking. It's not a practical analysis.

And because in the Covid inquiry there wasn't really any kind of proper acknowledgment of the fact that we have simply piles of data from all over the world that could help us make better decisions next time, I have concluded that our government/s are unserious fools who play to the opinions of 50 journalists on various podcasts instead of effectively organising society. So next time I'll do what I think, not because I think I'll be right, but because I think I'll be no less wrong than they are.

I worked ridiculous hours managing a care home. I worried about killing my kids by taking Covid home, had hospital discharges ‘that had been tested and the result was negative’ only for them to become ill the moment they set through the door. I watched my oldies die that I had known for years. Worried about using bin bags as aprons. No ppe. Then I listened to social workers complain that they felt isolated and it was affecting their mental health (I worked for a local authority and we had ‘all in adult care’ meetings). Had a young carer early thirties on life support in hospital as she got Covid, very young kids, she is alive but it’s affected her massively she doesn’t have the strength to work now.
I would like to say I wouldn’t do it again, however my kids have now left home and I care too much about my old people to abandon them. I would try to be more vocal about you are not shipping people from hospital, however I would be overruled again and my old people will die again (as I still work for a local authority).

Are you in the UK?
I'm 100% sure there wasn't a 1 hour exercise limit in the UK during lockdown.

Death rates are meaningless anyway because there was no international consensus on what qualified as a COVID death.
People here were testing positive for covid but dying of something else and having covid put on their death certificate.

For those saying they wouldn't comply - COVID may have morphed over the years to a more manageable illness now but some of ya'll acting like you forget how severe the original version was and how many people died from it or if they didn't die the length of time spent on ventilators or in ICU. The death toll was awful and people wanted to protect the vulnerable in their families, elderly parents, immunocompromised children etc so acting like those who complied were basically stupid sheep, you must have very short memory spans.

To answer the question I wouldn't do anything differently, I was not a key worker so I stayed home, home educated my son, did DIY projects, did gardening.

As one who was and is clinically vulnerable, I'm fine about you not wearing a mask but please, could you keep away from anyone who is? I know it doesn't do much good but sometimes you have to grab any straws you can.

It doesn't kill me. It simply results in a long and painful flare of rheumatoid arthritis and growing disability. So did the vaccines, and I still get 'invited' to have them by my GP now.

You're right - the 1hr "limit" was a myth. I think the rules talked about a "reasonable" period of exercise and a minister (I think Michael Gove but not sure) was asked in an interview what that meant. He gave an hour as an example of what would be reasonable (an hour's walk/jog as opposed to spending the day walking about your local town) and the media latched on to that as gospel.

Ignore it. It was pointless then, and would be equally pointless now.

DH was ridiculously OTT with isolation, I just used common sense and pretty much carried on with my quiet life. We live in the countryside, plenty of walking with the dogs rarely seeing anyone else. Online shopping as usual.
DH became fanatical, challenged people he thought should doing something different etc, I actually refused to go out walking with him because of his ridiculous attitude and behaviour. He’d dramatically leap into the middle of the road if we (rarely) met someone in the lanes, told me to bleach the shopping (no way!) etc
We were fully vaccinated.

I don't know where you live but I didn't witness any of that sort of nonsense round here !!

Myself and dh were key workers, life didn't change much. Kids went to school. We worked. Traffic was fab.
Work was a sad place to be though

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3888389-To-think-I-shouldnt-be-named-and-shamed-for-not-clapping

It was happening.

I just remembered about this. It just shows the minutae of people telling us what was and wasn't essential and that went beyond the law.

I would guess this sort of messaging might lead to worrying what our neighbours thought of us

https://www.hellomagazine.com/film/2020041688098/dr-hilary-jones-urges-brits-not-to-wash-cars-during-coronavirus-lockdown/

Lots of hugs to u and your son so sorry I hated lockdown ,!
My kids struggled as well son was 20 daughter only 17 !!
They missed out on so much but they are now well adjusted and carrying on with their lives ! I hope you and your son are doing ok now x

I'm not denying some idiots behaved like that, but I don't expect it was commonplace, that's what i meant 🙂

It definitely happened. I once overheard one of the neighbours mentioning that they never saw us out clapping. If course it never occurred to them the reason we didn't was because I was putting the baby to bed whilst DH was working in the covid wards! Twats.

It brought such an ugly side out to so many.

I am quite disturbed by the fact so many deny it ever happened!

Why did you the first time? Was someone following you around with a stop watch?

I was so depressed I'd get home from a walk and then think, no, and set straight off again. Only thing that kept me sane.