Circuit break lockdown at half term?

[Midlifelights]

So I started a thread a couple of weeks ago about this and got accused of all sorts including being ‘one of those people that wants police on the streets who loves the drama & wrecked lives and other similar shite.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4041654-To-think-we-are-heading-for-a-full-2-week-national-half-term-lockdown

Now Kier Starmer is asking for it at the recommendation of SAGE so aibu to think we will get a 2 week national lockdown at half term?

As before, I don’t want another lockdown but it seems much more likely with everything that is going on?

They could then do the next one then over the Christmas holidays as lots are off work and school is shut anyway anyway but people would moan about that, it would be more convenient from a work point of view as many get up to two weeks off

National to me means the whole of the UK.

Fair enough. Some people use it for individual countries within the U.K., there doesn’t seem to be a consensus, hence the confusion.

@MiracletoCome but that’s like 10 weeks a away & at the rate of infection, we could be in a right shitstorm by then- SAGE wanted it 3 weeks ago

The point isn’t to halt the virus though is it, no sensible person would think that was the intention.

I don’t think convenience comes into thisb

The Christmas one would be the second one, not the first.

If we are locking down for 2/3 weeks then they need to completely close our borders and close pretty much everything other than essential medical care and essential food shopping. It’s not going to work like that and so lockdown is pointless.

Actually last week of October, first week of November and a complete ban on Halloween and Firework night night be a good idea if any lockdown is imminent. So no fucking trick and treaters or backyard fireworks would please a lot of people.

There is 0 point to a two week lockdown.

The last lockdown was to slow the progression of the virus, and we didn’t start to open back up until the numbers dropped, which they did, but only a couple of months in. You’re not going to see any change in the figures if you lock down for two weeks.

I’m not a fan of this government for many reasons but I do think that restrictions rather than complete lockdown is the better answer, although I think the same restrictions should exist across the country, so no households mixing, early pub closures (6 pM instead of 10 PM,). Currently as things stand you have people travelling out of tier2 areas to visit people in tier1 areas because they don’t have a restriction, and that is going to lead to a more national spread.

I don't think that we'll get it just because Starmer called for it.

Considering all of the info we know since March and the fact that infection rates vary wildly around England, locking down the whole country is not the answer imo.

At the end of the day Starmer and Johnson are politicians. Johnson doesn't want to piss off the medium areas that traditionally vote Tory while Starmer wants to win back the Red Wall and start making a name for himself because it's easy reacting to current policy and not forging ahead with your own ideas.

If they lockdown I want them to enforce the rules for 2 weeks for maximum effect. Classic half arsed enforcement is why things are spiraling again. Before someone points out how strict it was on the continent, Spain and France reopened differently to us and had nightclubs and weddings of 200 permitted under their rules.

Scotland is setting their own rules (currently stricter than the English system), as is Wales and N.Ireland so National can well mean the country of England.

The economic damage outweighs the reduction I reckon so no

Literally amazes me that people think the economy is more important than peoples lives

@Midlifelights

Literally amazes me that people think the economy is more important than peoples lives

A lot of lives depend on the economy.

Otherwise *we will end up like America with their bonkers covid denier approach
*
I mean, we have historically been known to do lots of fucking stupid things policy ways because "America" so why not follow them in this too? We can preserve our special relationship. Anything but borrow anything anyone in Europe ever came up with I guess

@Midlifelights

Literally amazes me that people think the economy is more important than peoples lives

Livelihoods are incredibly important don’t you think?

It’s a balance otherwise if we go to extremes we can’t even pay to keep healthcare going.

@Midlifelights

Literally amazes me that people think the economy is more important than peoples lives

What do you think pays for public services, love and magic? Bankrupt countries do not have functioning public health services.

Well dead people don’t contribute a lot to the economy do they?

The NHS is saying that it’s going to be close to overwhelm in a couple of weeks again- what then?

"Midlifelights

The FM in Wales (where my family live in South Wales and are in a local lockdown) is saying he wants a Cobra meeting to explore this in wales too & Is also saying he’ll ‘close the border’ - so it could everywhere if the devolved nations agree too"

Hahaha how is he going to manage that? Has he actually been to the border? I grew up on the border and there are hundreds of roads cross crossing it all the way down

And frankly, if the government hadn’t chucked billions of public money at their mates to create a catastrophic failing test and trace, we might not be in this position again.

The countries that got on top of the virus got their test & trace sorted

@WorksTheDinerAllDay I suspect it’s a political gesture

You can't abolish death

I'd really like to know what others think to Charles Walkers comments here.
I do know I feel very badly for the people relying on jobs in events, hospitality and entertainment, people in less secure positions and the young, inexperienced people trying to find jobs now.

Well dead people don’t contribute a lot to the economy do they?

In terms of pure economic damage, that doesn't compare to almost the entire revenue generating economy shut down.

The NHS is saying that it’s going to be close to overwhelm in a couple of weeks again- what then?

Large parts of the NHS were shut down and closed to the public in a way which is expected to lead to a despicable number of extremely premature deaths. The NHS was effectively overwhelmed during lockdown, even if that was artificially so.

Again, if we bankrupt the country, we will not have an NHS. It will no longer exist.

@Ineedachange well I wonder how people would feel if it was their parent or relative.

It’s easy to be dismissive of people dying when it’s someone else’s family isn’t it

@PicsInRed I read a quote somewhere during the pandemic along the lines of ‘if an economy can collapse so easily because people aren’t buying stuff, isn’t it time to look more closely at whether our economy actually works’ and I agree with it.