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

Tough on parents who want to go back to work but health has to come first.

If people can’t feed and house their children, then that’s going to have far more impact on their health than C19 will ever have.

Is this not going in?

It’s also sort of weird the idea that the idea of “sacrifice” has been hijacked and turned into sitting on a sofa. No, sacrifice would be getting to work and taking a very small chance (if you’re under 50).

Wfh is a good idea and I wouldn’t lump it in for paid not to work. Furlough will end soon and people need to switch to work with that.

Wfh can continue until next year for many companies and that’s good. Keeps people using public transport lower.

I honestly don't really know. I know that life has to continue and the economy needs to be kept going. But I'm also bloody glad it isn't me or my husband going out there on public transport and back to working among other people, so it makes me a hypocrite if I say that other people should just get on with it 🤷‍♀️ So I'm not going to say that. I don't know what the answer is, really.

@LemonPudding it's not about WANTING to go back to work, it's about NEEDING to. I'm the only earner, what am I supposed to pay my bills with? Shall I feed my child on air?

Yeah, but it’s also alright for you if you don’t have a kid/ member of your household who is at high risk due to heath.

What a luxury to rejoin education or the workforce with no real need to be terrified.

I didn't agree with lockdown in the first place and the announcement last night basically said that the The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England) Regulations 2020 are staying in place in England as planned (remember they already have always allowed everyone to work unless they coudl work from home right from the start - unless you work in pub etc and remember they also have always allowed going out for exerfcise lots of times in England -only the Welsh version was once a day). So the message was regulations unchanged in my view last night -other than if you have a little sit down at the park the police won't arrest you.

In fact the main message I took away is the regs continue to apply and fines will be much worse.

Sitting on your sofa while someone pays your salary frankly isn’t much of a sacrifice. Getting to work and starting to steer this country away from utter financial disaster is. But it needs to be done.

Yeah, but it’s also alright for you if you don’t have a kid/ member of your household who is at high risk due to heath.

Those who need to isolate can do so. But it’s in absolutely no one’s interests to shut down the economy for any longer than absolutely necessary. Where do you think the money that funds the NHS comes from?

You are NOT being unreasonable. It IS alright for those lucky enough to be paid for public sector jobs who aren't actually working.
Must be lovely to sit in a nice house with a nice garden with nice laptop and WiFi, doing lovely home schooling at your kitchen table. Do people realise there are women in refuges sharing allotted kitchen and garden Rota times? Do people understand Caine young adults haven't seen their support systems/friends for nearly two months and their parents don't/can't care for them.
You can tell Mumsnet is highly populated by sheltered middle class Waitrose types.

many young adults

@Expat30 I think this is one of the things that galls me the most. My late fiance died 12 years ago, suddenly, of a flu-related complication: he had a congenital heart condition and he caught flu from someone at work and he died. And it was horrible - for me, for his family, for his colleagues, for his GP who was absolutely terrified that he might have done something wrong in the management of J's cardiac condition - but it was no one's fault. It has always been the case that if you have an infectious disease and you pass it to someone vulnerable they could die of it, or be made very ill. Nothing at all has changed, except that people who haven't had that as their lived experience have suddenly become aware of it. HOPEFULLY when we have a new normal people will be less dismissive of colleagues who take time off for "only a cold"....

They appear to be mainly of the boomer generation sitting in their big houses, big pension

Yes I'm going to flame you @Surroundedbycats. Really, fuck off with your boomer blaming. Until now MN has been full of people blaming boomers for NOT following the lockdown guidance. Now we're to blame for wanting it to continue? We can't do a damn thing right.

If people can’t feed and house their children, then that’s going to have far more impact on their health than C19 will ever have.

Is this not going in?

It's going in but it's still just tough. You can't force teachers back to work if they think it's unsafe. You can moan and stamp your feet all you like Just. Won't. Happen.

@LemonPudding it's not about WANTING to go back to work, it's about NEEDING to. I'm the only earner, what am I supposed to pay my bills with? Shall I feed my child on air?

See above. Schools will not open for the convenience of parents if it isn't safe. They will open when the HTs deem it safe to do so.

It's going in but it's still just tough

What about when it starts to affect what we can pay teachers? Is that ‘still just tough’?

SaraClara I agree with you re tiresome use of boomer on here.

Seems to me that a lot of people who want to go back want to do so because they are fed up with their own kids.

I can work from home. Not the easiest in some of my tasks, but I can. At the same time, I am totally isolated from family and partner, so I am 'suffering' if you like. But I don't support lifting the lockdown because the inevitable will happen. There will be a spike and cases will soar, there will be deaths and people who will suffer life-long health concerns.

My bet is that many on this thread would be pro keeping the lockdown going if children were hit hard, but they are willing to gamble on their own lives, they don't give a fuck about others and those who are elderly and vulnerable are written off as 'oh well.

Schools will not open for the convenience of parents if it isn't safe

Schools will need to reopen eventually for the economy to function. Without a functioning economy you’re going to have public services severely affected, including NHS and essential services. Teachers are going to need to do their jobs like everybody else in this crisis. Or else quit.

What about when it starts to affect what we can pay teachers? Is that ‘still just tough’?

At the moment teachers are providing an education for most DCs to do at home and are in schools for the DCs of key workers. So they are earning their salaries.

Some are shielded and others are vulnerable but are able to wfh. I would expect that to continue. I'm at a loss to understand why people want their DCs in school when it's deemed unsafe.

At the moment teachers are providing an education for most DCs to do at home and are in schools for the DCs of key workers. So they are earning their salaries.

I’m talking about when public funds get so low the public purse can’t afford full salaries.

Dh (who has mild asthma) just googled it. According to the Lung Foundation, 12 % of the UK population has some form of asthma.
There's irrational fear and there's understandable fear. Know the difference, op.

We'd rather people were dead than poor

Sadly for some the financial damage will lead to their deaths. The world should not work this way but, for many, it does.

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

Me too @TabbyMumz

I feel lucky that we live in a decent sized house and have a garden. My DH can work properly from home, I've been furloughed - but even if I lost my job it wouldn't be a disaster as I worked very few hours so the financial impact is minimal. DS2 is getting on ok with his school work - we have the items he needs to do this. We have the company of each other.

However I appreciate that not everyone has this, and some people need to get back to work - if they can safely. Some people need to be able to go out and exercise - if they can safely. Some people need to meet up with a friend for company - if they can safely,

It won't work for everyone - I don't know what you do about employers who won't/can't put plans in place - but for those that can do it should be able to

The problem is that there was never a proper lockdown. We haven't been nearly as restricted as most places, and what has been done was done too late. It's not that I want lockdown to go on forever. I actually think if it was done properly it would be over much more quickly. Instead we are half-arsing this so we will be in and out of restrictions for a long time.

Completely agree. I'm sick to death of the government's rhetoric about our 'freedom' and the 'sacrifices' we've all made. It's just Tory ideology. There are times when, frankly, governments need to be a bit totalitarian, and a global pandemic is one of them.

To the second poster (croprotationinthe13thcentury) saying people are just wanting to stay home on someone else's shilling, I say again, how offensive and how dare you. It's the corona version of saying that people who are unemployed are 'benefit scroungers'. Have a word with yourselves.

The problem is that there was never a proper lockdown. We haven't been nearly as restricted as most places, and what has been done was done too late. It's not that I want lockdown to go on forever. I actually think if it was done properly it would be over much more quickly. Instead we are half-arsing this so we will be in and out of restrictions for a long time

Yeah. You nailed it.