We’re going to lose everything..

[Worriednow77]

Are we going to end up with nothing, as a country? No businesses will be left and where will the money come from to fund us all?
Wuhan and other countries look practically back to normal, with no vaccine. Why are we having the vaccine but also being told social distancing etc won’t end? What’s the point?! What’s the plan...I feel like we’re all just drifting into something

They never tell us the real plan.
I don't believe that all this clapping and hero worshipping of the NHS by the people in power is genuine. They will still underfund it and use Covid as an excuse to allow their rich mates to make money whether it's privatising bits or whatever.
You have to still sd with the vaccine because science isn't sure if people who have been vaccinated can transmit to others. Remember it's not 100% effective (I know that vaccines aren't 100% effective ever) and it's going to take a long time to vaccinate enough people to make it "safer" for everyone else.
Some businesses will survive. There will be companies that have seen more revenue because of Covid- cleaners, delivery drivers, supermarkets and others that have adapted to ensure their future (a local caterer who used to do events now does home delivery of cooked food and special spreads for birthdays etc as well as selling food to independent cafes who are now takeout only)

This is clearly a thread for doomers. People will wallow. Imagine if we didn’t have a vaccine. Those scenarios would be bad. I’m taking science as a way out and leave go back to the more positive.

As well as being such an authoritarian regime, as PP have said, China has its own vaccine, and before the end of November they had already vaccinated over a million people.

People are queuing up for one of the vaccines, which hasn't even completed its clinical trials! So no anti-vax stuff there, it would seem - just a strong desire to get back to 'normal'.

queuing for vaccine

I'm going to be optimistic.

A good section of society have continued working and earning as normal during this, and have not been able to spend their money as usual. There is a lot of pent-up demand for hospitality & leisure.

Once things are easier that section will go on a spending spree and help the economy start to recover.

Some businesses will fail that were failing anyway.
Some businesses will sadly fail that otherwise had been doing OK.
Other businesses will survive and will hopefully come through stronger and be able to expand.
Other people will catch gaps in the market and be able to open up new businesses employing people.

It won't be the same, but it isn't all doom and gloom.

If people want to live in the type of country where the army has the power to weld you into your apartment, I suggest you apply for citizenship there.

YANBU OP, it is utterly shit. I don’t think people have the faintest clue what this will do to public services, public sector jobs, benefits, etc. It probably isn’t in government interests to enlighten them. We will be paying for this for decades.

The up and coming generation had been screwed over so comprehensively, I’m very worried for them.

Universal income, recycling, make do and mend, grow your own food and buy from our own producers would help. But we have to sell something or we won't actually have an income as a country. At the moment it is a bit of a puzzle.
Yes, I suppose we could all eat more fish...

Where is the universal income coming from ?

@Worriednow77

And how is Wuhan back to normal with no vaccine?

Because when their government said "no mixing and stay home", they DID. Unlike the people of most other countries who thought that they were an exception and could do what they wanted...

Wuhan is not back to normal by any stretch they also had a full lockdown with treat of being killed if they broke the rules only 1 person was allowed to leave their houses every few days, they tested everyone they are also months ahead of us, most businesses in wuhan are lucky if they receive 1% as no one is buying from them anymore.

You cannot compare us to China you simply can’t - and they do have a vaccine they have been trialling it in Wuhan since the summer
They test and trace and they quarantine in quarantine centres works for them not us

Comparisons to Australia and New Zealand don’t work due to geographical differences

Our comparisons are Europe and the US the western world and there sadly we are following the trajectory. Our society simply isn’t as set up to cope

Because when their government said "no mixing and stay home", they DID.

Yeah because the military was standing over them, waving a weapon.

Like I say, you want that, knock yourself out.

Because when their government said "no mixing and stay home", they DID. Unlike the people of most other countries who thought that they were an exception and could do what they wanted...

And you want what they did to achieve it? Insane. I’m with pp if people seek out those values go there.

@endofthelinefinally

Universal income, recycling, make do and mend, grow your own food and buy from our own producers would help. But we have to sell something or we won't actually have an income as a country. At the moment it is a bit of a puzzle. Yes, I suppose we could all eat more fish...

Count me out then. No way am I doing my difficult, highly qualified and stressful job if everyone earns the same. Nor am I putting in the unpaid overtime which in normal years I spend my weekends and evenings doing at certain times of the year.

Otherwise, that sounds utterly miserable. Sort of on a par with the third world, with no individual aspiration allowed, except growing better potatoes than your neighbour? And a bonus if you live by the sea and can get cash in hand to pay for drugs, which would be rife to counteract the misery...

Because when they say “lockdown”, they mean “we are coming to weld you into your apartment”

Sorry but that is propaganda. I have family in southern China and none of them were welded into their apartments. China had a track and trace linked to your mobile phone where if you left the apartment with your phone during a lockdown, they could see that and would fine you. If you left the apartment without your phone, they’d still catch you because they regularly sent texts and phone calls that you had to answer so they’d know if you ditched your phone.

There weren’t even police guards stopping you from leaving, unlike that apartment block in Melbourne Australia where people were locked up for two weeks under police guard and had no notice so many were left with no food and no medicine.

@TheKeatingFive

Because when their government said "no mixing and stay home", they DID.

Yeah because the military was standing over them, waving a weapon.

Like I say, you want that, knock yourself out.

More bullshit.

I do think there will be some sort of huge spending boom when ( if ) it’s over. Hospitality and holidays will go insane. Less confident that people will want clothes as much, l think priorities have maybe moved.

I don’t want to live in China thank you very much. But l am in awe of what we’re once developing countries stamping on Covid so effectively. Korea trace people through credit card useage. Wouldn’t be allowed to happen here. But I’d allow stuff like this for 6 months or so personally to get life back to normal. It’s a trade off.

Were!

Wuhan is back to normal because they had a proper track and trace system. The army were literally going from apartment block to block stopping people going out if they had the virus. We had a real opportunity to do this over the summer and get life back to normal . There should be blood on the hands of the government, instead even in the most restrictive tiers there are shops open and no penalties for breaching self isolation. and you think people would have complied with that? We already had anti lockdown and anti mask protests even though we had what by other standards would be considered to be a soft lockdown.

Fact is that people were never going to comply with a hard lockdown, to have a hard lockdown you would literally have to remove people’s civil liberties and that was never going to fly.

Business will survive. Many businesses will go under but many of those businesses were already on a knife’s edge. And new businesses will emerge not least because many of them won’t have to sit at the bottom of the competition with other businesses.

The way people are catastrophising over this makes me think they actually like things to be bad. There have been serious issues in the world before, it’s a cycle and we always make it through.

@Justcallmebebes

"And how is Wuhan back to normal with no vaccine"?

Because when they had lockdown they had a proper, no messing about lockdown. We had lockdown unless you wanted to go shopping, or for a walk or fancied a trip to Spain. That's the difference

Agree with this. No one bitching and moaning about every little thing they had to do. They had to follow the rules.

Universal income doesn't mean everyone earns the same.
Instead of the current benefits system, everyone gets a subsistance level income. Everyone has the opportunity to earn as much as they like on top of that, paying tax appropriately.
People unable to work due to illness or disability can get top ups.
The idea is that nobody starves and you don't need a huge, inefficient, expensive benefit system.

I would have supported a draconian lockdown but most people wouldn’t have. We are used to having rights and freedoms. Being a progressive western society has actually been bad for us as weird as that sounds.

Count me out then. No way am I doing my difficult, highly qualified and stressful job if everyone earns the same. Nor am I putting in the unpaid overtime which in normal years I spend my weekends and evenings doing at certain times of the year.

That's not what universal income is.

@Worriednow77

And how is Wuhan back to normal with no vaccine?

Don’t ever believe anything that comes out of China. I’ve lived there. Government officials distort figures on a daily basis (not just about viruses but about everything).

@GoWokeGoBroke

Maybe try actually checking some facts about the Covid vaccine instead of more scaremongering.

I'm a nurse, age 59, still working with rheumatoid arthritis on some fancy drugs for that. I actually trust science (have to, otherwise I would be screwed).

I will be first in line for the vaccine when it is offered.