That everybody seems to be acting like it's over?

[Twinklelittlestar1]

I don't get it. We had more deaths yesterday than the day we went into lockdown. Everyone is acting like Covid has gone away and so many people seem to naively think the government easing things is because the situation is magically going away now rather than driven by their economic priorities. We already have the second highest death rate it the WORLD yet it seems lots of people are desensitised to hearing about people dying now. I get that everyone wants to 'think positively' and feel like things are getting better but I feel like people are naively celebrating the governments easing of lockdowns with such faith rather than caution.

Whereabouts do you live op? Where are all shops, cinemas, clinics, pubs, restaurants, cafes, schools, nurseries, offices open? Buses, trains, taxis full? People booking and going on holiday? Having birthday parties, weddings etc? I think you've forgotten what life pre- lock down looked like if you think people going for a walk 6 feet apart is like lock down's over! Or you live somewhere completely different to me. People are celebrating the easing of lock down because they want to go for a walk with a family member and they haven't been able to do so for weeks.

"We're passed the peak"

In all areas?

I have noticed that the more I'm in the house, the more bloody petrified I am. It makes you feel alone, anxious and angry

Yes to this, I consider myself pretty robust mentally, but the weird feelings of anxiety are awful, I really do dread to think what this period has done to some people’s well-being

I’m listening to the news going on and on about how you’ll have to isolate every time you’ve been within 2m of someone Who tests positive for 15 minutes. For me that’s nobody. Absolutely no one.

I’m going out more, I’m going to see my PIL from a distance in their garden and going to more shops and a takeaway cafe So really relaxing my previous behaviour but still no chance of 15min at less than 2m.

I live in a city of half a million people. Currently 700 confirmed cases in the city. Covid deaths reported yesterday were 3.

We have 2 large hospitals which are nowhere near getting back to routine work and numerous beds still closed. COVID cases in ICU never got above a pod of 4 even during the peak. Hundreds of bank staff have been thrown into financial difficulties because there are no literally no shifts available and for alot of substantive staff (but not all) they don't have enough work to do.

Some NHS managers are already talking about the inevitable 'redesigns' (cuts to services basically) of some teams because the cost of the COVID preparations and how it was managed is so high. It had to be done but it's cost a lot.

It's not over but it's not sustainable to continue as we are and we need to exit lockdown as safely as we can. I really fear for the future of the NHS when this recession/depression really hits.

YANBU. I think people have been acting this way for weeks now, certainly since VE Day when many had big parties and seemingly didn’t give a fuck.

My DH does the food shop because I am heavily pregnant and he has said people have pretty much given up on social distancing now.

The 2m rule isn't even required, it is just a totally made up number. Why people are looking at it as if it is some magical way to stop a virus is depressing. Even WHO recommend 1m.

Stop panicking. There is a virus out there, but there is risk everywhere in life. I nearly fell down the stairs in my slippers yesterday and looked up the stats about slippers and found they are one of the most dangerous items in a house - for example over 100,000 elderly people fall due to slippers in their homes every year - there was a request for an amnesty for worn out slippers from Age Concern in 2016.

The point is stop panicking, life isn't rainbows and roses, it has risk everywhere. Look at the actual stats(not mainstream media articles), assess your risks RATIONALLY, get yourself as well as possible, e.g. if you are overweight and unfit, and start living your bloody life in a smart way!

Surely any people are like me and have had the bloody virus therefore at no risk nor pose any risk.

Whilst i was not tested i had the exact symptoms a few weeks before lockdown and infected at least 3 people one of who did test positive.

NHS England has a download that is updated each day whereby they allocate each day's reported deaths across the actual day of death, so you get a true reflection of the spread, rather than the up and down of the figures released to the press. I've put a screenshot of yesterday's graph here.

Clicky link to page of downloads

As a PP has said, it's definitely reached a plateau now, rather than a continual drop. Who knows what it will look like in another couple of weeks once the "relaxed" lockdown rules have had their effect.

Round where I live and work (two different areas, including a London suburb) there are a lot more people around but by no means is it "back to normal". It's much quieter than normal still, but yes, busier than a few weeks back. People are keeping their distance mostly. There are a number of idiots out there who aren't, but they've always been around.

The worst places are absolutely the supermarkets. As @pleasenodont has said - social distancing is not being adhered to by many. Some shops seem to be better than others - Waitrose is better than Asda, for example, but that may be because as a smaller store Waitrose has a smaller overall number of people in store at one time. I know it's calculated based on sq.ft but in a larger store it does mean that there's more chance of a larger group of people ending up in the same aisle at the same time.

But it did obviously affect my ability to type!!!!

any = many,
who = whom

Fear is hard to maintain. Thank god people seem to be slowly coming to their senses and getting a sense of proportion

"We're passed the peak"

Not where we are in the NW. looking out of the window, suspect it will continue for some time yet.

The worst places are absolutely the supermarkets

Why? Why are supermarkets the worst places?

Because people are not always 2m apart?

There is absolutely no evidence that this has made any difference to the spread. Most (if not all) has been in confined places with very close PROLONGED contact hasn't it?

There is absolutely no evidence that this has made any difference to the spread. Most (if not all) has been in confined places with very close PROLONGED contact hasn't it.“

I don’t really need to wait for a study to show that if someone takes a second to cough right in my face, there’s a good chance I’ll get it.

I don’t really need to wait for a study to show that if someone takes a second to cough right in my face, there’s a good chance I’ll get it.

Even before this people don't generally cough in other people's faces. Has this EVER happened to you in a supermarket in your whole life?

Yes, which is why I said it.
A man at the bakery in Lidl, about 10 days before restrictions came in, considerately turned his face away from the bin of baguettes as he began to cough and spluttered right at my face. I was taking out rolls right next to him. Maybe 2ft away.

It really unsettled me. I have 3 vulnerable people at home and have had shopping delivered since.

@hamstersarse

I don’t really need to wait for a study to show that if someone takes a second to cough right in my face, there’s a good chance I’ll get it.

Even before this people don't generally cough in other people's faces. Has this EVER happened to you in a supermarket in your whole life?

I personally didn't agree with the blanket lockdown - if you are under 60 without underlying health problems and don't work in a high risk environment,then it is very very low risk. Yes a handful of people have got very sick and a very few have died in that group but driving to the supermarket carries risk, you can trip on your stairs and die, as a percentage a skiing holiday is more dangerous. I had symptoms in March, mild but annoying as my taste took weeks to recover. I'm an adult, I can read statistics, I understand medical terminology and have friends who are working on the vaccine- they aren't bothering self distancing and they know more than me.

As stated - the daily death figure is misleading.

It has suited the Government to mis-lead throughout.

No truth - just spin and bullshit.

It's not over - but things are improving.

I agree with @thegreenlight - the purpose of lockdown was purely to protect the NHS because the govt had weakened it so much.

It would have been much better to let most of us carry on as we were and to give a higher level of protection to the most vulnerable. As it is we've had the worse of both worlds - high death rate and we've killed the economy/increased poverty and ignored mental health and all the other health conditions out there. It's shit. The risk to me and my family is negligible, but the damage this lockdown has caused my family and others is massive.

The govt don't really care about the elderly and it's them that's suffered the most during all of this. And it's the govt with its rubbish response initially and it's continuing disregard to the elderly in carehomes that's made this so much worse than it should have been.

@thegreenlight

Europe 95% of those who have died have been over 90

This is absolutely not true! Was it supposed to be exaggeration for effect? The problem is that people might believe you. I'm usually one of the first to remind people that if they are young and healthy then the risks are really quite low. I couldn't find figures for Europe but for England, 21% have been over 90 and 89% have been over 65.

www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/bulletins/deathsinvolvingcovid19englandandwales/deathsoccurringinapril2020

Lockdown needs to start being lifted now. It was never to stop the virus it was to control it which it has done.

The impact of this lockdown will cause more deaths over the coming years than the virus has with illnesses not being diagnosed or treated over the last few months, people being too scared to go to appointments because of this fear of going outside and most worryingly the impact from a financial meltdown.

Jobs being lost, some that even a few months ago were very secure, will result in more deaths from the impacts of poverty on people’s physical and mental health. If the suicide rate doesn’t increase over the next two years I will be very surprised.

I am fortunate that my job, for now, has not been impacted by COVID but I have family members who are in a very different situation and I am seriously worried about one in particular and whether they will still be here in a few months as their mental health has been damaged so much.

Time to move on, if you're scared, stay at home.

It's not about whether I am "scared". I've never been scared for my own health or that of my close family. None of us are vulnerable. The risks are low. I am however still concerned that I might be part of a network that passes the virus on to others who will be serious affected. And therefore I am going to continue to be cautious.

but Irregular, why can't we all take a risk based approach. I'm capable of working out what level of risk I'm willing to accept and take, and I assume those with health conditions or are vulnerable are able to do the same.

I need to get back out and about for my own sanity.

I want a hair cut. Me getting a hair cut from someone who has assessed their own risk is my decision surely? How does it affect anyone else assuming those who are vulnerable keep to shielding?

And if this is the way we operate, those who are shielding will get more support because the rest of us won't need it. Instead it's a half arsed solution.

@thegreenlight Good post

I was fully supportive of a short lockdown to increase NHS capacity, but not this semi-permanent, extremely restricted half life that we now find ourselves in. Our government seems to be completely paralysed and I have no faith that they have a coherent strategy to get us out of lockdown - so I’m making my own risk assessments, which includes sitting in my elderly parents’ garden and sending DD2 back to nursery next week. The economy is tanking (and the economy is people’s lives, not just an abstract concept). Children need to be properly educated, not just given a laptop and some online links and told to get on with it. Other non-Covid medical conditions need to be treated.

Life is inherently risky, and refusing to engage with any level of risk means choosing to exist rather than live. Those who are least at risk - the healthy under 60s - need to get out there and start reengaging with the world. A neighbour (not vulnerable or shielding, but terrified of the virus) posted on FB yesterday to say that she’d left the house with her two preteen children for the first time in 10 weeks, and her DD sobbed her nonstop around the park because she was so terrified of the outside world. Her mental health is shot and she’s now refusing to leave the house again. I find myself getting angrier by the day at the way our children and young people are being ignored and dismissed in the midst of our mass coronavirus panic - our younger generations deserve better than this.