To think easing lockdown on Monday is allowing a second peak to happen?

[Gawdsake2020]

Exactly that really. Still 4,000 odd infections a day, 600 deaths a day and there easing up on Monday.

The point of lockdown was to prevent the NHS from becoming overwhelmed by mass infection, not to prevent infections from happening because without treatment and/or a vaccine, infections will continue - but lockdown has slowed the rate and therefore the hospitals are more or less coping.

Easing lockdown will almost inevitably result in more infections. But the country cannot remain like this for much longer so there's not much alternative. Of course people can remain isolated if that's their choice and keep their children at home if that's their choice.

ReadilyAvailable of course the NHS is underfunded but no health system could have copied with everyone in the country getting sick in the same few weeks. We had something like 6,000 ICU beds. Suppose we had multiplied that by 10 that still wouldn't have been enough.

This virus is with us for the long term now. There will be other peaks, and not just a second one. It is going to continue for years I reckon.

Lockdown needs to end. We need to come up with smarter ways to live with Covid AND keep society functioning. It’s ridiculous to think that we can hide away until a vaccine is found.

We need to keep the elderly and vulnerable shielded but everyone else should go back to work in my opinion. Obviously there will be exceptions such as parents of vulnerable children etc.

The reality is that if your under 60 and otherwise healthy you’re odds of surviving the virus if you catch it are very high.

If lockdown was the ease the nhs

Why did all the other countries do it? They don't have an nhs.

Do you somehow imagine that we’re the only country with health services?

And as a previous poster said - people need to get the virus to build up immunity. Hiding away until we can all have a shot in the arm is NOT the answer.

And if we all get a shot in the arm to protect against Covid-19 - it won't help when Covid-20 comes along.

Lockdown has to end. Panic needs to end
makes no sense unless measures are put in place to stop or at least heavily slow the spread of the virus.

People tend to panic less when large numbers of people aren't seriously ill, in hospital or dead. A better phrase would be Panic needs to end. Full protection, testing and tracing needs to be in place before doing anything rash.

I don’t care if restrictions are lifted or not; no one is checking now, you can go out today and no one will stop you. Restrictions or not, it’s still not safe. Last time they decided it was ok and allowed cheltenham festival and the football to go ahead thousands died. You need to make your own decisions and risk assessments here, our government hasn’t got a great track record of getting it right.

Naive of me maybe but can anyone explain how having a second wave in the summer will prevent a third/fourth/fifth wave during flu season? I have a baby due in November and I'm very anxious about what restrictions will be in place by then. Thank you

It won't. We may just keep seeing further waves of infection rising, followed by periods of lockdown (either national or more localised to 'hotspots') until a vaccine or viable therapeutic treatment is found.

I imagine the changes will be minor - he'll begin "easing" to keep people happy and to stop them pushing back too much.

Things like encouraging takeaways to open, opening tips and maybe some smaller stores, but by and large things will probably remain the same for a while yet.

It's not going to ease on Monday. A plan will be shared on Sunday. There may a little easing tomorrow eg allowing people out more often for exercise (so eg you can go out for a dog walk with the kids, and then go out for a run). Except that in law you can do that anyway, it's only the guidance (and Mr Gove) which says up to one hour once a day (which I actually think is reasonable, but someone going out twice a day for 2 hours isn't going to spread or catch the virus).

I would like them to say you can meet up with one person or in a small group for outside exercise as long as you stay 2m apart. Then I could see my personal trainer again in my garden.

It won't (start to) be eased properly until the Tuesday after the second May bank holiday.

Obviously no system would cope, @LastTrainEast. But the long-standing underfunding of the NHS (and a lack of critical care capacity) made it a particularly big issue for us.

However, shutting the economy down indefinitely is not going to help with funding it properly.

But as a previous poster said - if anyone is seriously enjoying the 'Misery Olympics' they are free to carry on.

Just don't think that gives you the right to screw up the lives of the rest of the population.

If only we had the scenario that NZ and Aus currently have - their citizens don’t need to be resigned to getting this awful virus. They can wait it out till there are better treatment protocols or a vaccine and in the meantime live their normal lives without fear because their new case numbers are in the 10s ... making tracking and tracing eminently doable - ours are in the 1000s!

It's not going to ease on Monday

He literally just said it would.

‘Ease’ could mean almost anything.

It’s just not going to be the return to normal some people seem to be imagining.

Scotland have extended for 3 more weeks so how can Britain do differently

It can't happen quickly enough for me.

If only we had the scenario that NZ and Aus currently have - their citizens don’t need to be resigned to getting this awful virus. They can wait it out till there are better treatment protocols or a vaccine and in the meantime live their normal lives without fear because their new case numbers are in the 10s ... making tracking and tracing eminently doable - ours are in the 1000s!

This. Our government chose not to act fast at the beginning. It is possible for a lockdown to save lives and lead to a period of 'normal' living again. It just has to be a full lockdown, for however long it takes (not long if it's really adhered to), followed by testing and tracing.
That the idea of the elderly and vulnerable just have to be sacrificed because we all have to get it is really horrifying. We don't.

The roads are busier than ever

They really are in my area, i'm certainly not making it up or exaggerating. I've worked out of the house every work-day since the official lockdown on March 23rd. I didn't see a single car on my way to work for WEEKS. The last 7 days or so, there are many many more cars on the road, many people standing at bus stops etc. Peoples mindsets have changed for sure.

There was a thread on AIBU this week about ‘loving’ lockdown and lots of people were agreeing. It was even described as fab and like a holiday. With summer coming up and 80% of income (with no travel or childcare costs etc) being quite high, it’s easy to see why some people are happy for it to continue.

Obviously not saying that there aren’t people with genuine concerns and fears too but I bet that plays a part in people not wanting it to end.

duffeldaisy. Panic is a strange thing.

I would say the people panicking the most about the virus are probably the kind of people who might feel a pain and think 'omg that could be cancer / heart' etc etc

Others would feel the same pain and think 'that was strange' and just forget it.

Some people worry a lot more than others.

I am 60+ have got heart and lung issues - but to be honest I am not fretting about the virus. I am taking sensible precautions with what I do and as things open back up I'll amend those if I think I should.

I think most people in this country are sensible enough to do the same. But there will always be people with very high levels of fear and the virus represents something really big for them.