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

@Surroundedbycats yes, I'm a boomer, recently retired. I've paid off my mortgage on my (small) home, and I'm very aware that I'me very lucky compared to many. But there are huge numbers of boomers who are not financially comfortable at all. I can only assume that you live somewhere leafy and middle class.

But most of us boomers have very elderly relatives that we're hugely worried about and can't visit. Many of us have young adult offspring whose jobs are at risk and who are now financially vulnerable.

Everyone has different concerns, and if you know some boomers who are being smug, well you know some boomers who are being smug. They don't represent the rest of us any more than someone of your age represents you simply because of when they were born.

I'm lucky not to have to worry about myself directly, but I'm worried sick about those I love who have so much to lose. My three 88-91 year old loved ones might well fall like dominoes without me even seeing them again.

There aren't many people who just want lockdown for eternity (yes, there are some, but not that many). There are some of us, who are OUT OF OUR MINDS WITH TERROR of getting the illness and/or passing it on to vulnerable loved ones. I am at increased risk, probably not extremely high risk but who knows, of dying if I catch the disease, and am very anxious about it. And, where possible, would prefer lockdown to increased spread of the disease, just as I would prefer a sentence of house arrest to a death sentence though I wouldn't relish either! And I also think that if we stay on lockdown for a bit longer, we are less likely to risk a second wave and a further lockdown. It certainly isn't 'alright' for me. I realize that I am very lucky to be able to work from home for the time being, and to live near a shop which provides deliveries for locals; but the situation is certainly playing hell with my mental health. And I also get very cross with people who are smug about it, and go on about how it is forcing us to appreciate our families (what about those of us who are isolated from many family members, or those who are trapped with abusers?) and the 'simple things of life' and have a better work-life balance, etc, etc. But there aren't really many such people, though they are often noisy. I hope, for everyone's sake, that this epidemic goes away soon, or at least that better ways are found to control the spread.

I think you should listen to David Spiegalhalter on the Andrew Marr show. He made it clear that the risk to children under 15 was 'staggeringly low', and even up to 25.
The risk grows exponentially the older you are.
The risk is considerable greater over 75.
Lockdown cannot continue indefinitely.
I think it highlights the difference. Those still being paid, while working from home, and those furloughed, or small businesses going under.

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.
Seems to me you’re a goady troll ..
How about some parents care about their children’s mental health and education?
I am not a teacher , I am trying to keep my dd’s spirits up as well as her level of education and it’s bloody hard to do that along with working myself !
I would happily have my dd at home for the foreseeable but I can’t give her what she needs which is friends, a decent educational structure and school experience.
I want people to be able to go back to work and school so they can afford to keep a roof over their heads and food in their mouths

We have had an absolutely disgraceful high deathrate.
If we had handled things more like Germany people would feel differently.
People know they will need to get back to normal but community transmission needs to be lower and proper track, trace and isolate in place, and not led by a ridiculous app. Most people won't keep bluetooth on all day as it drains phone batteries.

If the government had implemented a universal basic income and frozen rents/mortgages etc like other countries managed to do then people would have stayed at home. Maybe be angry about the way the government have treated the worst off in this situation rather than those who are worried about the infection rate rising again.

'Also really pissed off at all the people who keep saying that if some people go back to work then they might as well visit granny. I hate that so many people have lost their livelihoods or their actual lives, for others to balls it up because they can't wait a few more weeks for a hug. The work thing is to prevent poverty. You can speak on the phone to everyone else.'

Entirely agree!

I think YABU you want people to have sympathy from your perspective but you are not taking anyone else’s circumstances or feelings or perspectives into account.
People are driven by fear myself included. I am fortunate that DH and myself are able to work from home (this is new for us as both our places of work are closed due to the pandemic). We have two teenagers and i am really worried about one of their mental health. But i am grateful myself and my immediate family are together, safe, we have a garden and I enjoy the fresh air. My mum is elderly so in the vulnerable group and my father passed away due to covid so we are attending his funeral today.

Seems to me you’re a goady troll

No sweetie. I just disagree with you.

This is an ideal time for children to be taught resilience and coping strategies.

I think there is a wealth element to it. The better off have nice big houses & gardens and can more easily work from home in jobs less likely to be impacted by Covid19 eg. hospitality.

They are also more likely to have a SAHP and be ok on one income.

I know it's not all better off people and that those with high income who are furloughed are likely really stressed financially as £2,500 doesn't cover the bills. Or those who are working at home and homeschooling it's hell.

But for those going out to work in Tesco or on a bus whilst juggling childcare and social distancing when at home in a small flat have the worst of it by my reckoning.

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
This is it
We needed proper lockdown in good time.

Not kind of stay away form busy places but all flock to the beach before lockdown
Not please don't go to pubs and cafes but we'll keep them open
Not keep attending mass events because there's no issue
A proper lockdown in good time.

Then again I doubt the herd immunity idea has gone from government and Boris seeks to be taking much of his advice from a scrote that's in favour of eugenics.

I agree Op, a lot of people want you to believe it’s fear, because that’s acceptable right? And for some it is. They are unable to cope or understand the statistics and genuinely believe everyone is going to die.

For the vast majority though it’s greed, laziness and selfishness, no commute, no school run, little or no work. But they can’t say that can they? That wouldn’t be socially acceptable.So they dress it up as fear.

People talk about being driven by fear as if that's a bad thing.

Yes, I am scared of getting a virus and dying.

What an idiot, right?

The survival rate for Covid 19 is very good.

some of us want more than "surviving" you know. I don't want my kids or me to have long-term lung damage for a start.

Just because people still picture Covid 19 as a bad flu, that you survive with a bit of tiredness for a few weeks before being back to normal doesn't make it true.

You might not care, but the reports about "survivors" are grim. And just because Sharon from down the road thinks she had it but is ok now, without test you haven't even got a clue.

I can understand feeling fed up and wanting to get on with life if you're in the low-risk category and don't have many close people who are in high-risk ones. Especially if you have children to feed and have been unable to work due to Covid.

However, while DH and I are both in the low risk category - we have 8 close family members (3 grandmothers, 4 parents and 1 aunt) who are in very risky categories - either for being elderly or for underlying conditions (heart, cancer, etc.). In all honesty, if I lost a parent (and my parents are only 62 and 61, in case that matters), my own job wouldn't matter one bit to me, much less someone else's. There will be jobs, we'll find the food - it may be uncomfortable and really bloody difficult - but its not irreparable as loosing a close member of a family is.

Personally, I'd be happy to pay higher tax/into a fund that would take care of those suffering severe economic consequences. Rather that than risking life of someone I love.

If you can't understand that just shrugging things off and going back to "normal" means the restrictions had not point whatsoever in the first place but were a complete waste of time, you are clearly missing something.

People were perfectly happy to start social distancing, now they are bored so they want it over. It's not that simple is it...

I hate that so many people have lost their livelihoods or their actual lives, for others to balls it up because they can't wait a few more weeks for a hug.

Then you have no idea that the lack of a hug is going to cost some of us our lives. Let's guess - you don't live alone?
How fucking stupid and selfish are people to think that losing your job is more important than having meaningful social relationships? Its the selfish fuckers who have families round them that think like this. You should not have a say in inflicting the torture of isolation on others.

OP. We all see this differently. I would rather struggle financially than my children be left without one of their parents. I suspect most people in my position feel the same. There is a high probability I will struggle if I contract it. It is easy to be blase about this if you have no underlying condition and are generally fit and healthy and under the age of 60.

There will be winners and losers in all of this. As I said, a period of poverty in my opinion is less traumatic than the loss of a parent.

You should not have a say in inflicting the torture of isolation on others

luckily there was no such thing as strict lockdown and isolation in the UK, so we are free to have an opinion about the country we actually live in.

Yabu. I'm self-employed and want the lockdown to continue until we can return to work safely. Not go back now and have lock down again.

it could be years, or never, before a vaccine is developed. Are people really planning on staying at home until then?!

A vaccine isn't the only thing that'll make a difference. We are learning more about Covid-19 all the time. The longer time goes on, the better we'll learn how to treat it.

There still isn't a vaccine for HIV/AIDS for example, but it's not the life sentence it once was as we've learnt how to treat it much more effectively.

Similarly, as we learn more about covid-19, the survival rate will go up as doctors get better at treating it.

@Fluffybutter, and one of the reasons we're hoping to move away in the next few years!

It has got much worse since it was made a national park (as I predicted, and one of the reasons I was opposed to it). While people have always come here because of the lovely countryside, only a few bits really got crowded.

Visitors used to be much more concentrated around a few particular areas and a long-distance footpath, now they're all over the place. We certainly never had lots of groups of hikers and cyclists getting off the trains in the 20 years I lived here pre-national park days. Now, on a sunny weekend it's like the evening rush hour sometimes, the number of people that you see leaving the station when the London train has just got in.

Still, nowhere stays the same for ever.

For the vast majority though it’s greed, laziness and selfishness, no commute, no school run, little or no work. But they can’t say that can they? That wouldn’t be socially acceptable.So they dress it up as fear.

Wow! Goady fuckery or what?

Just not true.

'Shield the vulnerable and get the healthy young out'

The problem is that there aren't just the two groups, the Vulnerable and the Healthy Young. There are plenty of us who are not vulnerable enough to be 'shielded', who might even be fairly safe to go out to work with proper social distancing in place (especially those who own cars, or live within walking distance of work), but are still at significant risk of serious illness or death if we catch the disease.

I realize that many people can't work from home and must eventually go out to work to survive; and that society also depends on the services that people provide, and not only those currently labelled as 'key workers'. What really worries me is that some people may interpret any easing of lockdown as meaning that they can throw all caution to the winds, and take all the risks they want, and have parties, etc. And employers may feel that they shouldn't have to facilitate social distancing among those who are working (yes, I do realize that not all businesses can). And then loads of us are put at risk, not just those who choose to take the risks.

@OneandTwenty I've never even likened it to the flu

If you don't want to get it - stay inside for many months more.

I'll happily take my chances tbh

Most people only get it mildly. I find it unlikely that millions of people will get lasting lung damage.