To ask whether you would support a further lockdown?

[lola777]

Posting here simply as I don't know if voting can be enabled outside AIBU.

Vote yes- You would support further lockdown of this extent
Vote no- You would not support a lockdown of this extent after the current lockdown period

Personally, I would be happy for restrictions to slowly be lifted after this. Amongst my friends, I feel I am in the majority.

People keep talking about it potentially being ok to visit family. But there seems to be an expectation that family are local. My nearest family are 200 miles away. So I'd have to make a "non-essential car journey" to see them. Or would only people who have stayed geographically close to their families be allowed to see them

Well your answer is there. Potentially. I am 100s of miles away from mine and would have to get a train so not happening but that's no reason for me to stop someone walking or driving to see theirs. My siblings have both been to my elderly parents to drop off shopping and because my mum has dementia and was having some health issues that concerned them. They eventually got a gp visit. Now this might have broken the rules but my brother does tests (not covid) in a hospital lab so he understands the risks but weighed up the issue and took a decision that he needed to go in our particular circumstances. Other families will have had to make similar decisions.

I will - within the next couple of weeks - be driving an hour to see my elderly parents with some food and wave and talk to them from the car. I have complied with lockdown thus far, so have they. My DF is 86 and has diabetes. I'd just like to see them and if I don't come close then there is no risk to them.

I'm happy to keep complying on the bits that make sense. So I will continue to wfh for the foreseeable. I will social distance, I'll wear a mask if advised and adhere to good hand washing practice. But some of the rules don't make much sense and whilst I've complied thus far, I cannot see why meeting one friend and walking at a distance, or going out twice rather than once makes any difference.

For the vast majority of us this is a minor infection, which I believe I've already had. I appreciate this is not the case for some - but the death rate has dropped, the NHS is not overwhelmed. Time to communicate a forward plan.

The economy needs to restart asap. It's not feasible for it to continue in its current format as too many businesses closed when they weren't told to. Only certain retail and leisure facilities were told to close. Dh is a builder, non essential works and his site kept working throughout. He had a couple of weeks off but went back after Easter or we wouldn't have had a job for him to go back to.

Even if pubs and restaurants remain closed for the foreseeable future, other businesses should reopen.

Schools should have at least year 6, year 10, year 12s in. The rest could stay at home and employers would need to be understanding about childcare issues.

Households should be allowed to mix, maybe not freely. Maybe with a selected number of households. But children are being affected socially now. My 6 year old can't hold a conversation with his friends when we have seen them out and about. He is forgetting how to play and communicate with his peers. My teen is spending too many hours alone.

And the economy will be fucked if we don't. There will be no NHS to protect if we carry on much longer like this.

No I don’t support another lockdown...the virus isn’t going anywhere. We may not have a vaccine for 12-18 months. Lockdown cannot go on long term. I’m not prepared to not see my family/friends for many weeks/months.

That 6% claim is nonsense.

Some prognosis is much, much worse than this

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/business/2020/apr/14/rishi-sunak-deeply-troubled-by-obr-warning-of-35-fall-in-uk-gdp

I would comply. Yes, it is shit and no one is enjoying it. But it isn't forever, it's a short period of time in our, hopefully, long lives.

I think their should be a slight easing of restrictions so some people could go back to work but only in places where social distancing could be applied. I still would support no gatherings and no visiting other households.

Plus, any friends of mine who flout the rules and try to visit us and put our lives at risk, will no longer be my friends as I would think they were selfish and irresponsible.

@Molliemoo10 You can isolate all you like but if others don't isolate then its pretty pointless unless you can guarantee you will not need to have any deliveries, tradesmen, family contact.

So you expect others to continue in lock down to help reduce not eliminate the risk to you and other vulnerable people. But how do you suggest we support them financially?

We can't afford to keep paying for people to stay at home just in case. The whole purpose of lock down was to help ease the pressure on the NHS, we've done that, and at the cost of other important treatment and screening.

so some people could go back to work but only in places where social distancing could be applied.

Social distancing may be able to be adhered to at work, but what about traveling to work for those who have to use public transport?

My life has hardly changed so an extension wouldn't bother me but I know others will get fed up and start breaking it so they might as well come out of it with measures in place

No. I don't care about shops and leisure facilities, I just want to be able to go for a walk with a friend.

I also need to find a job which isn't possible until I have at least some indication of when either nursery will open or I can use grandparents as childcare.

we can’t stay under lockdown indefinitely it’s ridiculous!

I don't think anyone's suggesting keeping it indefinitely.

There are still around 700 people a day dying in hospital from Covid-19. Because community and care home deaths aren't included, some academics believe the true is probably 50% higher than the hospital rate, so approx 1,000 deaths a day, over 50,00 a year.

To put that into perspective, that's about the population of somewhere like Tunbridge Wells or Hereford.

There are still so many unknowns. We don't know if having been infected definitely confers immunity or, if it does, how long it lasts. We don't know how many people have had C-19, we don't yet have a reliabel antibody test, we know very little about the virus's mutability.
We can't even say for certain what the death trend is in the UK, because the data-gathering has been woeful, with figures "falling" at weekends and "climbing" again mid-week.

Until we know more, I think ending lockdown before we see a definite and constent downward trend in new case figures, for a period of 10-14 days, I think it would be reckless to do more than a slight easing of restrictions.

Some easing of the rules is a different matter. If they were to open more shops, but with controls on numbers, and maybe gradually start allowing kids back to school, starting off with one year group then adding a new one every other week, that would, imo, be reasonable. It would also be relatively easy to tighten the restrictions again should the number of cases start to increase. And I'd welcome people being required to wear masks, at least on public transport.

And if they could reopen the council tip, even if it was by appointment, I'd be eternally grateful!

After I speak to my friend who is a nurse manager in the NHS yes I would support another lockdown, believe me she’s seen more than most in her career and is one tough lady if she is saying how awful it is then things are pretty grim.

so some people could go back to work but only in places where social distancing could be applied.

Isn't that pretty much the case already?

The reason non-essential shops and restaurants etc. are closed is because maintaining social distancing in those places is pretty much impossible. You can't go into a shop and pay while remaining two metres away from cashiers. The way most shops are laid out means you simply cannot remain two metres away from other people. So social distancing is impossible. You can't be served by a waitress without them coming within two metres of you either.

It's the reason places like grooming salons and hairdressers are closed - how are they supposed to open while maintaining social distancing? it's impossible.

I'm in animal care and have had to close my business because it's impossible to operate it under DEFRA guidance. The amount of PPE I'd have to use in order to safely go between clients is huge and I can't get hold of adequate protection. I can no longer transport dogs in my car without disinfecting it completely between clients. Yes, technically I can still open but there's no way of doing it safely right now.

Lots of businesses fall into that category. Yes, they COULD open if they followed all the guidance, but the guidance is so stringent that it's next to impossible for them to do so.

The pressure on the NHS has eased and in my own experience our ICU is a lot quieter. But that is because of lockdown. As soon as things start returning to normal I’m pretty sure infections will start to climb again and pressure on the NHS ramp up.
Our ICU was absolutely mad busy, we were stretched to the max and only got through because of staff being redeployed from theatres etc we were using equipment from like anaesthetic ventilators with only very basic training and our normally high standards of care slipped out of necessity, the volume of work was so great or patients were so unstable we just couldn’t do what we normally do.
If lockdown is relaxed and normal service is resumed in the NHS what happens when there is an undoubted spike in cases again ? Another lockdown?
Sadly I think most people haven’t got a clue, young and old have died, many without co morbidities, or just mild asthma, well controlled hypertension. It’s tragic. I appreciate the economic fallout of all this but people moaning about missing friends and their routine etc need to get things in proportion- for some they will never see their loved ones again full stop...

But most importantly I’m fed up of every waking thought being consumed by it. I can’t avoid it on the news, on social media, I can’t watch my favourite programmes because filming has been impacted, you can’t miss the adverts on the tv or radio. I would just like to have a few hours without being reminded of this clusterfuck!

Try reading a book or something instead. It works for me. Waterstones online service is very good,

Yes, because the idea is to get cases low enough to test and trace, if we lift that too soon it won't work. Then all the lockdown so far will have been for nothing.

No. Life has been curtailed enough and its ridiculous. There scaremongering as the majority who get it are fine.

This lockdown has just had a worse impact on peoples lives. Ita a shambles and I would not support it going on for longer

I think quite a lot of people decide to support or not, not because they think it is under control now or not, but based on how much they are disliking social distancing. They then justify their view on spurious medical/economic grounds.

No-one likes it. No-one likes not seeing their elderly parents or other family member or friends. Not liking is a bit of an inconvenience and annoyance, but it is minor in relation to deaths rising rapidly again and the NHS struggling.

Yes we are 5 weeks in and people are sick of it. But sometimes longer term resolve is needed for things. Sometimes we have to decide it's hard but it's not actually too hard, in relation to the pay-off.

Unfortunately, the more people who say they won't support it and will flout any continued social distancing rules, the more it will u deeming those who stick to it and lead to them also deciding it's not worth sticking to as their efforts are in vain.

I'm sure the government is gauging the mood and what is going to be possible. Their refusal to give details of next stages and focus on STAY AT HOME reflects the fact that once some details are out there for later stages, people will start living the future policy right now. People aren't very good a time opting with knowing the next stage but waiting for it.

What a shame if the government cannot actually choose the most effective policy for this, because some people aren't willing to actually support it.

go to restaurants with limited number of tables and small groups of no more than 4

Would that be financially viable for small, non-chain restaurants though? Margins are very tight, and if they were only able to serve half the number of covers due to restrictions, I think many either wouldn't bother opening or would go broke anyway.

It's a different matter for the chain restaurants where the food arrives on a truck and is pretty much reheated on site, and their costs are much lower. But even they would lose out on economies of scale if they had to lose half the tables to maintain social distancing.

The pressure on the NHS has eased and in my own experience our ICU is a lot quieter. But that is because of lockdown.

Precisely this. Lockdown is working. If we weren’t all following the guidelines and were just carrying on with life as usual- visiting the swimming pool, kids at school, all at work, going clothes shopping at the weekend etc then the death rate would be at least double and the NHS would be crippled. The only reason the NHS is currently coping so well is because we’re all under lockdown. I don’t think this is so difficult to understand really.

I think it’s just the typical selfishness of invincible young healthy people because they think covid won’t harm them so let’s carry on as usual to protect the economy. Money over lives, right? Newsflash: plenty of healthy young people have died from it too.

Not just a shame actually, but a tragedy.

Isn't this a time when people do need to support what government says? None of the polices related to dealing with this work if people all do their own thing. So even if we can see downsides to the government choice (and there are downsides to all possibilities - there is no perfect life just now) isn't it the right thing to comply and do what government says now and not subtly or less subtly undermine it.

Perhaps people still don't grasp what when they JUST pop into their Mums for a quick cup of tea, or JUST go to the shops 6 days a week, or JUST meet a Friend in the park, that it undermines it all because it gives the virus a chance to spread.

But lots of people would rather have their personal pleasures and conveniences and enjoy seeing their family and aren't willing to make sacrifices or aren't willing to continue making sacrifices. That's the issue isn't it really - that people want makes them happy and struggle to think of the wider implications. Human nature, but disappointing if people can't get more of a grip on themselves and see a bigger picture for a few weeks more if needed.

Oh and when the news says they had underlying health conditions it can just mean diabetes or asthma. It doesn’t mean they were already on their death bed.

Money over lives, right

Ffs, I’m at the end of my tether with this dumbarsery.

Projections are ranging as high as a 35% reduction in GDP. That would make the Great Depression look like a walk in the park. The impact of that on all public services (including the NHS) would be utterly devastating. There probably wouldn’t be one in a short space of time.

That’s before you get into the hundreds of thousands of people losing their homes, unable to put food on the table, vast numbers of children in poverty.

I guess my point is that as the entire country cannot be on lockdown as we are now until a vaccine is found, I have accepted that at some point I will be at higher risk to exposure. So in my mind, whether this happens tomorrow, in three weeks or six weeks makes no difference, as long as the NHS is coping.

Yes I suppose you're right, but I'm not quite there mentally at the moment, it feels a little like giving up and accepting death TBH.

So you expect others to continue in lock down to help reduce not eliminate the risk to you and other vulnerable people. But how do you suggest we support them financially?

You are quite willing to sacrifice me and others like me then?
I'd like you to be brave enough to admit you don't care if I die. To you the economy is more important than my life, because that might be true but I'm not selfless enough to willingly give up.