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.

Plus, no one has said you have to ‘take your chances’. You are more than welcome to stay at home.
We on the other hand have had a lovely morning out at a country park. Busy, but plenty of room to maintain appropriate distance. Ice cream van was open with increased hygiene and social distancing measures in place. All permitted within the guidelines and we had a great time. Just what we all needed. Just a shame the playground wasn’t open.

I have to agree with you. I drove to the supermarket yesterday which is around a 15 minute drive away. In the time it took me to get there I seen large groups of kids walking very closely together or on bikes. I drove past two parks on the way and they were heaving. People inside the supermarket weren’t keeping as far apart as they had done previously and the roads were a lot busier than usual.

Where I live we haven't reached our peak yet.

I have to go back to work on Monday.

Which parts of the UK haven't peaked yet?

LOL what an ignorant statement

Er no. Your statement is ignorant. I was referring to my behaviour and what I will or won't do. I will stay home and I will be bloody careful. If others choose through boredom, ignorance or lack of giveadamn to socially distance (which, really, isn't asking much) then I'll simply modify my behaviour to compensate in order to protect myself as much as I can. I'm on the cusp of being in a vulnerable age-group and I have lost a friend. If you don't care that's your choice. But at least have the decency to social distance and don't pretend that because you don't care it's all wine and roses - because that is magical thinking.

Plus, no one has said you have to ‘take your chances’. You are more than welcome to stay at home

Exactly! You can do whatever you like- stay indoors until 2023 if you want, I dont care. But telling others what to do because the only problem you can personally think of is "boredom" is incredibly wrong. If you dont want to take chances then stay indoors- noone is being forced to go out for walks or to the beach are they?

@MorrisZapp I'm in the north east

If you don't care that's your choice

I'm a key worker, I have been going to work all this whole time. You are the one who thinks everyone's problem is "boredom" which is the ultimate in magical thinking and ignorance.

There have been 270 deaths in my area, out of half a million people. I lost my job in March and I need people to go back to work and advertise any vacancies so I can find another one. We've already lost about a third of shops and restaurants in my town, for good. There'll be nothing left to go back to "normal" if we don't take some steps now.

I was referring to my behaviour and what I will or won't do. I will stay home and I will be bloody careful

I mean... ok? No one here is telling you not to be careful are they? If you want to stay indoors crack on. The rest of us will “take our chances”.

Haven't read the entire thread, but just wanted to point out that at the point we went into lockdown we were having around 400 deaths a day - but many many thousands more were already infected, as shown by the deaths in the following weeks. Everyone who died between 23rd March and 14th April was probably already infected by the time we locked down.

At the moment we are on a slow decline, which indicates that there are far fewer cases around in the community that there were at the end of March. At a guess we are potentially at the same place for community infection as we were at least 20 days before we locked down.

The main point being - having got down to an acceptable level, can we keep it there? If the track and trace is effective then we should be able to - but do I trust that it will be effective? From what I have seen of this Gvts organisational skills, not to mention the information released so far, I am not optimistic.

But, we are where we are, and we have to give it a go at least.

I don't think people are breaking the rules, we are now allowed out for unlimited exercise, to certain shops, takeaways and encouraged to go to work if we can't wfh. But on my way to work today it was really busy on the roads and a pick your own farm carpark I passed was absolutely packed with cars. So whilst I don't think most people are breaking the rules I do wonder how this will affect the R rates.

How can parts of the country not have reached their peak? How could the virus be spreading with an R greater than 1 when the reproduction of the virus has been contained by severe social restraint for the past 10 weeks? The majority of the population are not in a position for close, unprotected proximity to others in indoor environments.
A nationwide lockdown cut the spread simultaneously across the whole country. Some regions just didnt display a significant peak before that point, but a nationwide approach was neccesary at that point to stop a repeat of Italy's situation where people left the more affected urban areas taking it to more rural, remote and touristy zones.

If you are sitting in a region like the South West waiting for the data to replicate a peak London/ Midlands, you're going to miss several essential tourist seasons to bolster your economy.

So in the North East, hospital admissions and weekly deaths are still rising? I don't understand this.

@MorrisZapp

So in the North East, hospital admissions and weekly deaths are still rising? I don't understand this.

Me either. How can they be, if they’ve been locked down for 9 weeks? Unless lockdown doesn’t actually have an effect?

See if you want to
"Stay the fuck at home"
See what I did there
Some of us want to try and move to the next phase of this bloody awful process
Some of us are already working in a world where we are having to move on because people are already having their health damaged permanently because of services being on hold
Some of us are such utter selfish bastards that we want an economy left at the end of this so that people pay those pesky taxes that pay for those oh so tedious things like health, education, clean running water, electricity etc etc
Dementors stay in till 2050 if you want
But I'd bet my last fiver half of you will be back out and about before this second wave some of you have been practically orgasming in anticipating of

A lockdown was necessary to curtail the virus at the point it was imposed based on the knowledge and resources that we had at the time.

The situation 10 weeks on is different. The season has changed to our advantage and we need to make the most of that while it lasts. We have more knowledge about the waythe virus behaves, what is high risk and what is low wisk

There are more hazards in the world than Covid 19. Two young families I know are now facing moving back in with parents due to redundancy and loss of income meaning they can not reliably pay rent for the forseeable future. The local constabulary keeps shating searches fir missing people, not all of whom are alive when they are found. Over half the children/ young people in our education system have not got proper access to teachers and learning environments. Y13 did not have exams, will have a botched first year of their degrees and very poor access to their typical pool of employment to suplement their studies. Health problems are going uninvestigated and missed conditions such as cancers will have poorer outcomes over the next few years.

We need tp be cautiously getting back to something close to normal for so, so many reasons.

@YetAnotherSpartacus

LOL what an ignorant statement

Er no. Your statement is ignorant. I was referring to my behaviour and what I will or won't do. I will stay home and I will be bloody careful. If others choose through boredom, ignorance or lack of giveadamn to socially distance (which, really, isn't asking much) then I'll simply modify my behaviour to compensate in order to protect myself as much as I can. I'm on the cusp of being in a vulnerable age-group and I have lost a friend. If you don't care that's your choice. But at least have the decency to social distance and don't pretend that because you don't care it's all wine and roses - because that is magical thinking.

That's my point. You make your choice and I will make mine. Based not on boredom, but on the needs of me and my family. I will assess all of the risks to me and my family both of continuing lock down and reducing it a little bit while still being careful. And you assess yours.

Where I live we haven't reached our peak yet.

I think you have.

These are the hospital deaths in the NE. There may still be something going on in care homes, but that shouldn't affect the rest of society restarting.

I also need phone repairshops to open so I can read and use my currently shattered phone screen properly. I can spell, honest

The NW is still quite high
And it's not over for the majority of people shielding, who are also children and working people. Around 2.5 million of them who are inside until the 30th June and waiting to hear if there's an extension

@Unshriven

I think people are recognising that the government won't act in their best interests. Or even logically.

And are transparently preparing to throw scientists and Sage under a bus.

So people are taking educated risks.

The chances of a child or healthy adult of any age dying of covid are incredibly low.

So people are making decisions which will work best for their family, keep them sane, pay the rent/bills/etc.

Nailed it.

So if lockdown is the only way to contain the virus, yet the NW hasn’t hit its peak despite 9 weeks of lockdown, what has gone wrong up there? Have people not been abiding by the lockdown?

I’m wondering the same op! It’s all bbqs, parties and gatherings where I live!

It’s making me want to stay at home as much as possible even more so!