Do any of arch-lockdowners regret it?

[Refractory]

Just that really.

I haven’t really been on MN since 2020 because I found the near complete support for lockdown far too upsetting.

the lockdowners in my life seem to not think about it much. For them, it’s just over.

with hindsight do you wish you’d been more sceptical?

would love a civil conversation about this.

Flu isn’t a new virus, we know what we’re dealing with when it comes to flu but if there was an epidemic of avian flu for example, with a high mortality rate then yes, I think there would need to be another lockdown.

Covid was completely different. We knew nothing about it in March 2020. Are you suggesting we should have let it run wild in March 2020 when the mortality rate was much higher? Epidemiologists all said it was likely to get milder over time, and it has.

Honestly no need to Rehash any of this. People tried their best during lockdown. The information was changing everyday. No one was right or wrong.

Well you didn't break the rules as you leave house as many times as you liked.

Obviously you're taking the piss here, but it is actually a tricky balance. Virologists and NHS ICU staff obviously know a lot about the impact of covid. But they're not qualified to speak about, say, the increase in domestic violence that was caused by restrictions. Mortuary staff won't be able to tell us about the impact of increased childhood obesity and social inequality.

Basically, there was a lot of expertise that was needed, but we didn't get to hear from. We never actually got that balance. Instead, there was a vacuum, and so it got filled by bellends on twitter.

The only thing I can agree with you on here is the conservatives stealing tax payers money. But to be honest they did that before and after COVID so no surprises, it wasn't just the COVID contracts!!

Other countries had lockdowns harsher than ours yet seem to have pulled through much better with no massive drop in standards. But this is no conspiracy... There is a completely logical explanation. I place this entirely at the door of the conservatives mismanagement of the situation and their (David Cameron's) decision to the commence Brexit vote which resulted in us leaving a massive source of our funding and markets, the European Union. This together with COVID had a double whammy smash on our economy.

It is the government to blame for absolutely all of this!

We followed the rules and myself and my disabled son now both have PTSD as a result because all of our support, informal and formal, was removed as soon as the first lockdown started and still isn't completely back in place. I would not follow them as much if the situation happened again because I would have to protect myself and my son.

Of course today is polling day
..so you can have your day off you want to on their mismanagement of the country over the past 13 years...

But that is speaking with hindsight. If we had done something else and it had gone badly then people would still be saying "see, I told you so!"

Arch lockdowners does not suggest that you want a civil conversation.

I think it’s helpful to remember that generally those most against lockdown come from the privileged position of not being vulnerable to illnesses such as Covid.

I think the lockdowns were traumatic for many people in their own way either through impact on their businesses, the impact of feeling isolated or not being able to access services or even grieve loved ones who passed in the way we normally would so I appreciate (and always did appreciate) how hard it was for people. But I felt (and still feel) it was the best option available at the time and it probably should have been implemented faster. I think generally that whole period was like a trauma trade off - if more people had died (not just from covid but from the impact on health services for those who say had a car accident etc) that's a massive trauma for everyone to bear socially, and the alternative was to lock down which is traumatic in a different way. I don't think there was ever going to be an easy solution and I think it was the best of a bunch of bad decisions. I did follow the rules very carefully and I guess I did feel frustrated by people who didn't because it felt like they were undermining the efforts others were making and the sacrifices that went along with that. (Not including people who had legitimate reasons to be out like mental health challenges or exercising etc)

It was an unknown at the time. It saved many lives.

I do regret that the DfE/Tory government decided that schools had to return to a full curriculum immediately when at least a year of arts, personal and social, sport and well ring would have supported the basic needs of children and families. We are still trying to piece children back together.

Can you be more specific about what you mean by “arch lockdowners”?

I, like most people I know, broadly followed the rules. I don’t regret that at all, why would I?

Also agree that the lockdown came too late and it could’ve ended sooner. We locked down earlier as I got symptoms a week before Boris’s announcement.

"Lockdowns were for a relatively short time."
They might have lasted much longer if it weren't for the government's mask slipping with Partygate. We were subjected to the "boiling frog" method to accept them, with constant moving of the goalposts. "Reviewed in three weeks" became "we can turn this virus around in twelve weeks" to "normalish by Christmas", "significant normality by Easter"; "irreversible roadmap to freedom in June", which was delayed by a month, and all they needed was another "variant" when they needed to play for more time. There was talk of "rolling lockdowns" every winter, and masks from "October to Easter" every year. And the phrase "new normal" made it look as if this would be the future for ever, if we allowed it to happen. This is why some of us felt the need to fight back fiercely, and we're still very alert for any hints of future restrictions being introduced by stealth.

Lockdowns might have been a short time for adults, but for children, they were a very large part of a child's formative years. One year is a quarter of a four-year-old's whole life.

I'm glad that we are able to have this discussion, and that it's no longer part of the conspiracy of silence. Four years ago, this would have been silenced with "how DARE you kill granny by talking about the downsides of lockdown!".

Even if it was 3 months, that’s not exactly years is it?
You badly break a bone and you’re out of action for 3 months, but people don’t act as if their whole life was been ruined.

A lot of people died, despite the lockdowns. Think how many poor souls would have died if we hadn’t bothered.

Lock down treated me well, anxiety decreased and I lost three stones and got fit.

I was also wondering who exactly PP meant talking about “selfishness”. Maybe people sneezing on public transport without covering their mouth? In that case I’d agree.
As for others though - people are expected to go to work with Covid and send their kids to school (otherwise school will soon be on their case about attendance).

Most treatments have negative and positive effects. It’s a balance of what cures or alleviates and what negatively impacts. In the whole if you and your family and friends were not maimed or killed or likely to be by Covid the restrictions may have seemed overridingly negative. Those who were less “lucky” will feel that they were a small price to pay.

I didn’t leave my house/gardens from 23rd March to 31st May, and I would do it again in a heart beat (although I now have a dog so I’d have to do the daily walks).

In fact, I’d voluntarily sign up for it as a social media experiment if the option presented itself.

So no regrets here.

It wasn't six weeks for school children.
The first closure was March to September for many of them, then January to March for the second one.

If she had even had the chance to go one or two mornings or afternoons a week, outside, with even just a third or half the class... DD probably wouldn't be in the state she is.

And that's what hindsight I giving us... and a lesson for any future situations. Social contact is important.

Maybe best not to ask. Calling people selfish became a trope a long time ago now. It was overused to the extent that it ceased to have meaning in a covid related context.

I agree we should’ve closed borders too.
I was so baffled by the logic. That first lockdown I was being told to stay in my house in London and not to go anywhere beyond my local park but there were people landing in Heathrow and getting on the tube 😬 it seemed a bit ridiculous.

And early March before we locked down fully they were still allowing international football matches and conferences like Crufts to take place with tonnes of delegates from around the world including countries like Italy. I remember being upset my flatmate was going to Crufts and hoping she wouldn’t bring anything back. I know quite a few people who have got severe long covid from that first wave/strain of the virus we had so I don’t think I was being over cautious. When I did eventually get it in 2022, I had post viral fatigue for about 3 months. So perhaps my instincts were right that it was something I’d not handle well.

Exactly it was two terms here

You want a civil conversation yet you are nowhere to be seen.

Who said anything about conspiracy. When a government tells you that a crisis is happening, you just need to follow the money. It’s rarely an accident and almost always manufactured for the beneficiaries.

Who benefitted from the made up lies about WMDs in Iraq. Big defence. Who benefitted from the manufactured sun prime mortgages debacle and the financial crash that followed. Big banks. Who benefitted from the unnecessary Covid lockdown. Big pharma. Who benefitted from Ukraine war. Big oil (in the west and Russia).

You just need to follow they money rather than following the very obvious made up lies.