To be very concerned that Boris Johnson said this

[Worriedmum54321]

From the Guardian:
Responding to the argument that a more stringent lockdown should have been imposed sooner, he said: “Don’t forget, it’s a very very demanding thing to ask a population to do – very tough – and so I think it was completely right to make our period of lockdown coincide as far as possible with the peak of the epidemic.”

I do think an earlier lockdown and being prepared to test and contact trace would have been key to an earlier lifting of restrictions.

Look at Germany.

Also, myself and several other posters were calling for an earlier lockdown on MN and to the government a couple of weeks earlier - several really informed and balanced posters.

Of course there were lots of posters telling us that schools could never be closed, that people would starve etc...

@Reginabambina, I'm intrigued as to what you mean by the EU's "social interference". Are you alluding to things like anti-discrimination regulations?

It was a new, emerging, unprecedented situation.

Whether it was too early or kate, history will tell. However, I recall thinking at the time that generally, our mindset wouldn’t really have tolerated it earlier. Ie. We weren’t ready mentally to make all the necessary and drastic changes. The 7/14 day social isolation guid@nce has only just been introduced, and we were just getting used to that when lockdown was announced. Maybe they should have struck harder sooner, but i think people would have reacted stronger against it.

I do think an earlier lockdown and being prepared to test and contact trace would have been key to an earlier lifting of restrictions

One of the key questions is why it's taken us so long to get ready to do lots of testing.

It's not like we don't have the bioscience industry in this country and lots of well qualified scientists able to do this.

We have the capacity now to do a lot of tests. So we should have had this capacity earlier - given what we knew what was coming.

Hindsight is wonderful - but when people are yelling at you to look at other counties like South Korea, then you have to wonder what difficult questions you might be asked after it's all over, and try to prevent them being asked.

What do you expect from Boris? We have grandiose rhetoric with little substance and understanding. Our only hope is good advisors to prop him up. Unfortunately many of those were got rid of as yes men were appointed in their place.

those of you whowishedfor an earlier lockdown, did you initiate your own lockdown? Yes from 2nd March when several local schools closed down due to confirmed cases, DH has been out 3 times since then, just walks locally, I have been to pick up a click and collect order, been to pharmacy for prescription and probably for a walk half a dozen times. GC not been in the house since 2nd March but have been to check on us and talked to us from the garden. My children can't visit as would involve long journeys. I am still involved in volunteering I do but do it remotely, mainly doing admin for care home and doing some online stuff with children from local school where I have volunteered for some years, was asked by some parents who have to work if I would contact children to support them with their work. I have done some 1 to 1 support as an example I contact one teenager who I have worked with since he was 7 and check how he is, if he's doing some work, if he has any problems and helping with organising his work.

I've even started doing some gardening which is something I have avoided all my life which is probably the biggest surprise to me and everyone who knows me.

The London Nightingale hospital only had 50 patients. Not because the NHS was coping in hospitals by using operating theatres as ICU units and shutting down cancer and other treatments needed but because they did not have enough critical care nurses to fully utilise the Nightingale hospitals. Perhaps many lives could have been saved by utilising the Nightingale hospitals fully for Covid patients if only there had been enough staff to do it! Think this government forgot the main ingredient in their spin campaign if how well they are doing!

Isn't hindsight just the most wonderful thing? Deprivation of liberty, forced unemployment, decimination of so many industries, colossal levels of debt, the economy in tatters and a myriad of other unknown consequences now and in the future. Where do you think the buck stops? Personally I would not want to be in his shoes making these sorts of decisions. Democrary and freedom represent the heart of British values and they should NEVER be compromised without due scrutiny.

Isn't hindsight just the most wonderful thing

I bet with hindsight, that Boris Johnson wishes he hadn't shook hands with patients at a hospital.

There is hindsight. There is also acting irresponsibly.

I don't think Johnson has the humility to say that he got anything wrong and wishes he had done anything differently with hindsight.

There are graphs on the FT website (not behind a paywall) that show lockdown after 3 daily deaths were recorded. Italy day 11, UK 7, France/Italy/Germany 4/5/6 (can't quite tell from the graph which is which). It really doesn't look like we locked down much later. It's very unclear whether it would have made any difference to the height of the peak, or if the height of the peak makes any difference to deaths over time. People have all sorts of opinions about things we cannot know - why not leave it to the scientists? Aren't we all in the best hands that way?

Yes my Dgd been in full lockdown since first week in March. She has an auto immune blood disorder and is on immune suppresent drugs till her platelets ride. She had a relapse end of February bought on by unknown virus ( not Covid). She needs her spleen out but unable to because if Covid crisis. She us 18. She has not been out the door in nearly 2 months and us alone most of time as DD works 12 he shifts 6 days a week. I have to do hourly phonecalls because she cannot have her blood tests as it's deemed too dangerous to go inside hospitals so have to check shes not laying on floor bleeding to death as she's walking time bomb if platelets drop again. She's 18.

We weren’t ready mentally to make all the necessary and drastic changes
That is the thing with drastic change there is no time to be mentally ready.

And we're supposed to scrutinise our leaders. They don't like it though. The toughest questioning they've had is from Piers Morgan and they haven't put any ministers on his programme since Tuesday I think. They are quite happy to appear on programmes that offer much softer questioning.

I'm not a fan of Piers but I was pleased someone was challenging them but I guess we won't see anymore of that.

I think what he meant was that if we had locked down earlier when there were only small death numbers people would be complaining how unnecessary it was and would have flouted the guidelines which ultimately would have resulted in far more deaths in the longrun.

Shame he can't actually deliver a message and needs translators to explain the message.

those of you whowishedfor an earlier lockdown, did you initiate your own lockdown?

Pretty much. We were both on leave for the fortnight before lockdown started. We planned to go away for the second week, but hadn't booked anything, intending to just book a cottage or something at the last minute if we hadn't bought another motorhome by then.

However, DP developed symptoms on 12/3 and was off sick for his last day, mine followed a couple of days later and for much of the first week we were unwell and self-isolating. We were unsure if we'd still be infectious the following week if it was C-19, and it was clear which way the wind was blowing, so we didn't go away and avoided going out other than for shopping.

We never went back and are working from home, so have effectively been on lockdown haven't seen inside my office since 11 March. We're entering our 8th week today.

I don't understand the concern? A lockdown is a huge ask for a country, and it's not something that should be done unless necessary. The timing is frankly something that we can never really know if it was right or not, as we are dealing with a brand new virus and learning as it developed. Mistakes have been made in all countries, here included. There's problems sure, but I do think political opinions come down to whether you think the response has been right or not. Genuinely I don't think any response would have been perfect. I really don't know how we can expect a government (any government) to deal with a brand new, unprecedented emergency 100% perfectly. On the whole, I think it's been handled fairly. That's not the same as without mistakes, but I don't see how they could really have been avoided. We have the benefit of hindsight, not having the responsibility to many areas and not seeing all the information.

The timing of the peak is a function of the timing of lockdown, the peak was never destined to happen at a certain time that we needed to fit lockdown around.

This!!

It's like Johnson bragging, "I put my foot on the brakes just as the car was slowing down."

Interesting that a lot of people aren't quite picking this up. I've noticed that humans in general are often very poor at untangling cause and and effect.

I think what he meant was that if we had locked down earlier when there were only small death numbers people would be complaining how unnecessary it was and would have flouted the guidelines which ultimately would have resulted in far more deaths in the longrun

We didn't need to lockdown fully - but we could easily have introduced restrictions on gatherings, large events etc much earlier than we did.

We went from school closures, pubs closures to this lockdown over 4 days.

On 2 March, Boris Johnson said in an interview with BBC News: "The most important thing now is that we prepare against a possible very significant expansion of coronavirus in the UK population

On 18 March, MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle announced that he had tested positive for with the virus.[545] Boris Johnson made a statement on his daily briefing, announcing that all schools in the UK were to close on Friday to everyone except those who have parents with important jobs that they can't do from hom

On 20 March, Prime Minister Boris Johnson requested the closure of pubs, restaurants, gyms, entertainment venues, museums and galleries that evening, though with some regret saying "We’re taking away the ancient, inalienable right of free-born people of the United Kingdom to go to the pub

On 23 March, Boris Johnson announced in a television broadcast that measures to mitigate the virus were to be tightened further in order to protect the NHS, with wide-ranging restrictions made on freedom of movement, enforceable in law,[22] for a "stay at home" period which would last for at least three weeks. Johnson did not use the word "lockdown" in his broadcast but the term was widely adopted in media

hat's not the same as without mistakes, but I don't see how they could really have been avoided

What mistakes do you think have been made?
Do you think any of them were forseeable?

To be honest, I think they timed it well. I'm impressed with him.

o be honest, I think they timed it well. I'm impressed with him

Anything you think he could have done differently?
Any mistakes you think they made?
Or did they get everything right?

Also, although things were enforced late. Alot was advised well before. I dont think he wanted to have to enforce it. If people had used their brains and listened to advise it wouldn't be this bad. Flocking to beaches and pubs when we knew what was happening was selfish and stupid and against advise. We shouldn't NEED the threat of a fine to be sensible.

Crumbs, i am certainly not impressed with hiding so many care home deaths. I am certainly not impressed with the 10 percent in care homes crap!