To think "it's alright for you" for those who want lockdown for now until eternity?

[GlummyMcGlummerson]

I've seen, on both MN and social media, outrage after the PM announcement last night that strict lockdown won't be in place any more. Lots of sensationalist "great so now people can come to the Dales and kill us all" type posts. Furious that builders can go back to work and school children can go back to school in June to "kills us all". People are saying we should have lockdown until there's a vaccine, or until September. All these people on social media either:

• work from home anyway
• run their business from home
• didn't work anyway

AIBU in thinking "yeah it's alright for you!". Some of us need to return to work to keep a living and roof over our heads. I am furloughed until the end of the month but if my workplace can't re-open by around July then my job is basically fucked. I'm a single parent to 2, my ex runs a business that also relies on lockdown being eased, so if he loses his business then I lose maintenance payments.

I think it also shows a woeful misunderstanding of what lockdown is for. It wasn't implemented so that we could stay at home while the virus fairy magicked corona virus away. It was never the expectation that lockdown would solve the virus problem. There will be a second peak - NHS barely survives flu season as it is, it's important that the next peak doesn't coincide with the inevitable flu peak

Yes the message was vague but that's because there is a 50 page dossier being produced for the 2PM house of commons meeting today which will go into detail.
The press will also have this dossier and the daily briefing later will hopfully clarify some points people are confused about.

It was a 10 minute broadcast to just outline what the government has planned. Not to go into details at that time.

We have to wait and see what comes through today before condemning everyone

I'm enjoying lockdown, but I appreciate it cant go on forever and of course it's not the same for everyone.

The uk is a basket case. Theyve done everything wrong so far and i cant work out why anyone thinks that would change going forward. This is what you get for half assing everything

I think there is such a fine line between returning to work ,and keeping down the infection level ATM.Most people would rather be back at work than having to turn the dining room/lounge into an office .The weather has been kind to us, and many people have enjoyed time at home with their DC/DH .However most of us have to work and those SAHP dont have a monthly cheque to rely on each month!The news showed tube trains absolutely rammed though,so clearly we are not all on our bikes!

We have a benefits system. It's shit, but it's there. we won’t if we carry on like this indefinitely. The benefits system will become unsustainable because there will be no money left.

Furlow is unsustainable as it is, so when furlow ends,and it will have to, soon, you’ll end up with another 10% of the population seeking benefits and that’s not sustainable in the long term either.

And New Zealand cannot be upheld as a comparison. NEw Zealand is already an isolated country with a population of just over 5 million. The country is very rural and spread out meaning people practically social distance by default, and it has nowhere near the incoming amount of people that Europe and other countries have. It was easy to prevent people from coming in. Elsewhere it is not.

"Mostpeople would rather be back at work than having to turn the dining room/lounge into an office"
I dont agree. I'd much rather work from home in my own space than in a busy, noisy office, that I've had to drive through rush hour traffic to be in.

I think a lot of people are very frightened because they've barely been out of the house for 7 weeks. Once they get back to work they will discover it's not that scary at all. After all many people have been working out of the home throughout this - they are just carrying on as normal. I don't see any postmen or broadband engineers or check out assistants on here hysterical with fear. It's all people who have been at home.
No one is being forced to leave the home if they don't want to - those with disabled children at home, or health conditions, can stay in isolation - it doesn't mean no one else can work. In fact, we need people who are willing and able to work to do so in order to pay tax and pay for the service that we all need.
Also for those complaining about people driving in their cars to go for a walk - this is not going to contribute much to viral spread, even if certain areas get quite busy. What spreads virus is close contact e.g. between family and friends, which is still not allowed.
Plus - a lot of people were not sticking to the rules anyway. At least now we all a have a bit more freedom which should help those who were really suffering with the restrictions

I know a number of parents of primary age children who are saying their kids won't go back until September or until a vaccine is found. However they are either SAHMs or furloughed, or run small businesses from home (which are continuing to trade largely as normal currently).

Speaking to work colleagues who are struggling to juggle their managerial work roles with supervising children at home (and in some cases just having space for them, their partner and children all to work comfortably in) they are keen for schools to return as soon as safely possible.

Agree.

Will get flamed for this but...

There appear to be certain parts of society that want lockdown enforced forever. They appear to be mainly of the boomer generation sitting in their big houses, big pension. Fine their risk is higher, you stay in in. They can't comprehend that life is not like that for other people.

DM this morning moaning how soon people are going back to work then moaning that the tradesman she was expecting hasn't turned up🤔

Considering half the nation haven’t listened and done as they please

Thai simply isn't true - 90% of people have abided by lockdown rules

i dont really understand why the majority of people are scared?

i get why older people are scared, why people with an underlying illness are scared, why people with elderly parents are scared etc

but why are healthy people scared? a healthy persons chance of dying from this is tiny.

Yes, unfortunately some healthy people have died, but it is a tiny tiny minority. Of course their lives matter, i feel awful for their families, but the chances of this happening to your average healthy person, especially one who doesnt work in frontline covid treatment are tiny.

We all go in cars every single day, there is a risk you will die every time you drive to work. We all still do it.

To me personally, its another risk to live with. Me or DP might die. The risk of dying of covid for us is tiny. We also might die in a car crash, we also might get cancer or another life threatening disease but i dont sit and worry about that so... to me this is no different.

The press havent helped by only reporting on the deaths.

The survival rate for Covid 19 is very good.

I would be scared too! UK has the highest death toll in Europe. Us abroad with 5000 cases who have been in lockdown for 2 months are looking on in horror! And we have an economy here too and people desperately need to get back to work as no government help if you are without. But the people have patience because protecting people comes first!

you are going to see a massive increase of cases from a mixture of this and those ridiculous excuses to get pissed VE Day celebrations

And in less than a fortnight's time, we'll have another bank holiday weekend. If the virus has a 14-21 day incubation period, we'll have no idea if the VE weekend socialising has had an impact or how the relaxation of restrictions has affected the infection rate by then, and people will have another long weekend in which to spread the virus around.

I'd have been a lot more comfortable if these measures had been put off till the first week in June.

@TrustTheGeneGenie People fear unknown risks, or new risks, much more than every day ones.

Way more people die in cars than flying yet many people are shit scared of flying.

You’re missing an important group on your list. Vulnerable people who are terrified because they’re fairly sure it will kill them, many of whom are also now facing financial ruin as well as poor health .

We’re still in lockdown in Scotland. Until at least June.

I think people are complaining more about lack of clarity, e.g Boris told yesterday that about going back to work and that it should be safe and then so you should avoid using public transport. But it’s not enough, I think people need more than that, they need clear guidance.

I think he was clear enough. There is general guidance which needs to be used with common sense. Micro-management is impossible. Employers (like they always have been) are responsible for providing a safe environment for their staff and customers - it's up to them to evaluate their workplace and decide on what PPE/precautions are needed. Same with employees, customers, etc - they need to use common sense too and only do things which they think are safe - if a customer sees a shop appears to have too many people in it, then they need to make their own decision to wait outside or go elsewhere. Have people really lost all common sense that they need the govt to tell them every little thing???

You fear adverse financial impact for your self therefore everyone needs to get back to work?

Not at all - I'm saying that people should stay at home where they can but if you have to go out to work and you're not in an at risk group, then you should. I'm not trying to force everyone out the door, neither is the government. However a lot of people are trying to stop people working and kids going to school. If you wanna keep everyone at home, do that. But don't stop others from having a choice

I agree people are scared.

I live in a tourist hotspot and after Boris has announced what's essentially a free-for-all when it comes to travelling for "exercise", I know where I am is going to be absolutely flooded with day-trippers.

We're already one of the highest hit areas in the country (Cumbria) but that won't stop them.

What Johnson has basically done is decide that the largely working classes who have lower paid jobs and can't work from home are expendable and can go back to work (but they can't use public transport to get their) whereas the naice, middle class Tory voters can work at home in their conservatory on their laptops.

So says Twitter at least.

I fully understand some people are in your position, even though I'm not myself.

I said early on that there would be people who benefitted from the lockdown (the people who frankly would die if the NHS is unable to treat them if they catch corona) and there would be people who were damaged by the lockdown (both financially and mentally) - and the two groups were not necessarily the same people, as time went on, the 2nd group would realise more and more they were being asked to sacrifice their own lives for someone else's.

Many of those people benefitting from the lockdown and not being hurt by it are very selfish to not get what people like the OP have done for them and their loved ones.

I'm grateful OP, I know you've had your fianances and mental health damaged for my relations to stay alive. I know people like me who have benefitted (by not having to lose loved ones) owe people like you a lot.

And we can certainly stop whinging about you wanting to keep your head above water.

That said, I'm fully prepared to whinge at the government - why 7 weeks on have they not got ready for next stage?

The split notion Return mentions has arisen which I thought it would. But it misses that many want to earn money and feel unable to do so if they can’t wfh. Until now anyway. There are many saying let us work too. On here and I presume elsewhere.

@TrustTheGeneGenie Everyone is scared because they had to be scared in order to get them to comply with the lockdown. As someone said earlier, asking people to protect the vulnerable or try to ease the pressure on the NHS alone wouldn't have worked. People had to fear for their own lives. It's going to take a while to convince people that it's actually ok for the majority.

Way more people die in cars than flying yet many people are shit scared of flying.

Can't you see the difference????

A high proportion of those who die in cars were partly/wholly responsible for their death! A very large proportion of deaths are people not wearing selt belts. Another large proportion result from speeding/dangerous driving of the car driver themselves. People can dramatically reduce their personal risk of dying in a car accident by their own actions.

With flying, you're in someone else's hands. You're relying on a small army of people to have done their job properly, from the security staff, to the repair/maintenance crew, to the pilots, to the air traffic control, etc. There's actually very little you can do to protect yourself, other than simply not fly!

Same with Covid. We can take our own precautions, but you can't control other people. However much you try to social distance, avoid crowded places, etc., there's still far too many inconsiderate arseholes who do what the hell they want and two fingers to everyone else! Whether it's a jogger/cyclist coming up behind you who coughs/spits as they pass you less than 2 metres, or someone coming down the shop aisle the wrong way and stands next to you then sneezes, when you're picking something off a shelf. Your life is in someone else's hands.

That's what is frightening, just like air travel. It's the lack of control.

How do we know the figures for the survival rate though @TrustTheGeneGenie?

I am over weight and have asthma,
my dh is late 60s

who knows