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.

Exactly this!

And where is the OP? Or did they only want a discussion if we all agreed with them

Lockdown was really difficult for me personally. A few months before lockdown I’d lost a close friend, then just before lockdown I had a serious car accident and was going through some really personal stuff. Working for the nhs in a patient facing role (albeit not as high risk as ICU nursing staff) but found it all really difficult. I remember coming home from work and refusing to kiss my kids when I got in until I’d showered and thrown all my clothes in the wash for fear of passing it on.
we stuck to the rules and it made me so cross that certain government staff thought it ok to break the rules that they’d enforced.
its just a period of time I’d really rather try and forget

Why did some one who “got vaccinated” follow the rules any more than those who didn’t? And why did their decision to take a vaccine benefit the unvaccinated?

There are many things that made lockdowns and covid guidelines in general nonsensical that people either didn't question or did but followed the rules anyway.
Wearing masks stood up but removing them when sat down.
Having to stay away from colleagues in work but socialising with them afterwards.
Vaccine mandates considering they didn't stop transmission.
Benches being taped up.
Entire equipment in parks being chained up.
Getting a negative LFT yet still being expected to isolate when no symptoms were present.
Given the fact our own MPs didn't warrant it serious enough to stop having parties behind closed doors when we were told to do the opposite has created a level of distrust in many of us. One thing I've always wondered though is considering we were meant to be following the science why were many scientists and doctors (many with decades of knowledge and experience) ignored when they spoke out against the measures at the time?

Not sure if serious? 🤔

We generally followed the rules, in that we wore masks and didn’t have parties/socially distanced when we went for a walk.

Although we did continue to see my parents inside because one of my them has serious mental health problems and almost certainly wouldn’t be here now if we hadn’t. We weighed up the risks and considered the fact that neither my family, nor my parents had any contact with other people so passing Covid on was very low risk.

As the lockdowns wore on, we saw one set of friends in the garden before it was officially allowed.

I don’t regret any of that.

The thing that worried me much more than the lockdowns themselves was the way the government communicated them: the fear porn, the implied permanence of restrictions by calling it a "new normal", and the total refusal to allow any debate, in or out of government. The fact that the arguments against lockdown were not even ALLOWED TO BE HEARD is extremely worrying, and calling it "misinformation" or "conspiracy theories" . It's very telling that only the pro-lockdown scientists were allowed to speak, and if anyone so much as hinted that restrictions were causing any harm at all, they were silenced more quickly than a child saying "mummy, why is that man wearing a dress?". You could watch BBC interviewers cutting people off when they were about to deviate from the narrative.

If they had not been using such methods, if they had emphasised that lockdowns and other restrictions were extraordinary, harmful and temporary, I would have much more respect for the need for lockdown. Now, I see it as my duty to resist fiercely, because such methods must never be allowed to become "normal", as far as I am concerned, and I think there is a very real danger of this happening, if we let it.

I think (with irony) that if Boris Johnson had been leader of the opposition in 2020, rather than in government, he might have been one of the only people who dared to challenge lockdown while it was happening, such is his reckless style. It was obvious that he didn't believe in lockdown himself, and not just from partygate.

Also, I saw this question on another thread, but I never replied: "Was Boris Johnson really in intensive care?" Quite possibly not, and I won't be at all surprised if it emerges that the "crying nurses" in videos were actors. I have read speculation that while he was in hospital, he was visited by the heavy mob, who effectively bullied and threatened him into supporting lockdowns and masks, whether he wanted to or not. It was also reported that he was "brainwashed" by his own government methods: being shown photos of lots of world leaders, all wearing masks, then one of himself not wearing a mask, to show him that he was alone in this.

Flu and covid are different things

The OP hasn't been back and there's twilight zone music playing now.

I'm waiting for it to hit post limit. Got to be the best smoke bomb ever this post.

I had covid two weeks ago. I also moved house at the same time. Very unpleasant but totally fine if you are not elderly or vulnerable- pretty much like the flu

@Lourdes12 they are and they aren't. The coronavirus and influenza are both in fact, coronavirus. They are just different strains but the same cellular structure.

Re. your second question, @BeethovenNinth - one person getting vaccinated doesn’t have a major effect, but there comes a point where enough people are vaccinated to produce herd immunity - which is when enough people are vaccinated against the disease to slow or even nearly stop the spread of the disease.

This benefits people who are not vaccinated, because less spread of a disease means less risk of them encountering it and maybe catching it.

But there is a level at which herd immunity starts to weaken - if enough people decide not to get vaccinated, the disease can start to spread again - we have seen it with other illnesses.

But the vaccine doesn't give immunity. As we have all been told it lessens symptoms in some cases.

I don't tend to wish ill of people, but for everything lockdown supporters pushed for, they deserve everything they get. Law or not, what was done to the nation was criminal and should never be repeated.

It was necessary. I can't understand people who oppose lockdown. How would YOU fight a pandemic?

Oh, OP, I hope so. The damage done to children, families, the economy will not be rectified in our lifetime. The scary thing is that, without reflection and people realising that what was imposed upon us all and what so many people willingly went along with, without question, was wrong and devastating, there's no guarantee that it won't happen again. That is what I find truly terrifying.

What do you think would have happened to children, families and the economy if the rates of death, serious illness and long Covid had been many times higher owing to no lockdown before vaccination was possible?

I don’t know if I was an arch anything, but I certainly supported the protective measures, particylularly after a husband and wife I knew, age 40 & 42, died within two weeks of each other. I didn’t much feel like leaving my children motherless.

gogo that’s just it - what difference did the vaccines make to herd immunity? I think we now know the answer to that.

incidentally, I as an unvaccinated person have had Covid once and never again. My vaccinated pals are on their fourth bout.

and yes my first question was serious. I largely complied with lockdown (wish I hadn’t as otherwise my eldest might not be anorexic but that’s another story). I chose not to be vaccinated as to be frank, I didn’t think I needed it and I have zero regrets.

so much nonsense is spouted in these threads.

You left a website that you have to voluntarily click on links to read them because said links were too upsetting?

Ok.

I supported the rules but I never had anyone CEV or very ill with covid so it's easy for me to say either way isn't it?

As the first post says: I’m not a conspiracy theorist though, so I don’t give it a second thought. What’s done is done

@BeethovenNinth and @Gogogo12345 - this is from NHS Inform:

”The coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines help to build up your immunity to the virus, so your body will fight it off more easily if it affects you.”

incidentally, I as an unvaccinated person have had Covid once and never again. My vaccinated pals are on their fourth bout.

Oh, well I've had 3 vaccines and I've never had Covid at all so you can stop spreading your anecdata now because it's meaningless tosh.