To be depressed that lockdown would happen again tomorrow if there was another new disease

[Pavementworrier]

We talk about all the things that are worse "since the pandemic"but government prep is based on all the same mad nonsense that caused the worsening

Grim

There’s no point going through life feeling depressed about what might/could happen

“The will of the people”, eh?

You assume “the people “ all think like Daily Fail editorials.

We don’t, some of us think for ourselves.

I think a lot of professionals have learned a lot, but in terms of government it depends on the particular ministers and civil servants making decisions, and whether they are listening to/understanding what the scientists and health professionals say. So threads like this might be quite helpful to make sure ideas about how things could be managed better next time are probably quite helpful!

Covid was, at the time, what is called a Disease X. A DX is a new virus or variation that has no vaccine, no cure and is highly contagious from which humans have little to no resistance so that the mortality rate is potentially very high.
A new DX is coming. No one knows where from, what it will look like and what the base disease will be (covid, bird flu, Influenza A, Ebola, MERS etc) and it could be an entirely previously unseen virus or even one that has combined.
The main problem with the spread of covid initially was air travel because governments were scared of causing offense and losing money but shutting everything down immediately would probably have avoided the long lockdown. Just think about all those people...flying around the world spreading covid as they went before any country got a grip on what was actually unfolding.

No one wants to get these diseases but no one wants to be inconvenienced by restrictions either but do you actually want to see your loved ones dying at home in agony because people refuse to be sensible and caused a pandemic to spread? I am still masking where I need to, still washing my hands when I get in and still carrying a packet of tissues everywhere. Does that seem extreme? In December 2024, an obviously ill customer sneezed on me at work and a week later I was in hospital very ill because that customer had Influenza A and I'm medically vulnerable. The number of people I have seen who think that it's ok to sneeze on people/wipe snot on their clothes/ sneeze on their own hands and then touch goods or wipe hands on textiles etc. is huge - huge!

The next DX could be far worse than covid and far more deadly.
Is our government better prepared? No
Are other countries better prepared? Unlikely
Should we lockdown again when DX arrives? Yes, absolutely but let's hope that there's a better plan but I think of our current PM and think....um no, it will be a very dithery decision process and far too slow again

I do wonder how many of the people going ‘well I wouldn’t lockdown’ are the same ones now working from home and refusing to return to full time office working which was one of the biggest changes brought by COVID.

They’re not in charge. They advise the gov who takes the virus into account but also social and financial costs.

The CMO / CSA etc knew this and said as much.

Look, being a Tesco lorry driver is a VOCATION and the thrill of feeding people who are lucky enough to be able to keep themselves safe will DEFINITELY be enough persuasion for the peasant class.

Because if this weren't true, maybe I wouldn't be able to be get my three meals a day, and surely they couldn't possibly be that SELFISH.

But neither is normal life going to happen, which is what most complainers want to happen instead of lockdown.

Speaking as a member of said laptop class, albeit in a family where most aren't, I think the exact opposite. In my experience, the belief that lockdown could just happen and of course the Aldi workforce would continue to turn up however tough things got tends to be held by people who've never been in that seat.

I said disagree that ‘no one’ would comply. Some didn’t comply last time, some wouldn’t next time. It’s a dominant behaviour, not a universal rule.

Some things

1. so you would rather ?

A) spread the disease to the vulnerable
B) become ill and put a strain on the healthcare system

2 children who are long term effected by Covid speaks volumes about parents not doing enough at home. Parents should have been able to maintain schooling and socialisation at home. I understand some might feel uncomfortable in social settings but at this point that shouldn’t be the case.

All the kids in my family came out of it fine. And before you say “oh you’re probably all teachers and have a high level of education” I was raised by two Working class people (one of which has no GCSEs, one is a tradie - and my nan left school at 14 to run away for a better life). I was chronically ill as a child so I barely went to school. I was often bedridden, barely saw other children and now I’m a social butterfly with an ungraded degree, doing a masters, and starting a PhD in the fall if things go to plan. I was also part of the Covid gen who missed GCSEs.

3 children being behind saved thousands of lives. I think that’s worth it.

4 it most likely won’t happen again in our lifetime. And if it does, it will be much more smooth. “To be depressed” oh god take a breath it’s not the end of the world. You’ll sit at home for three months

5 only thing to be depressed about is the economy post Covid. That’s actually sickening

That's definitely not what I'm saying.

We now know the social effects of lockdown - particularly the effects on children's education and mental health - and so I don't think any government would go for a lockdown again. I also think compliance if they did would be very low.

There's enough data now to compare the effects of the different approaches various countries took, and IIRC Sweden didn't lock down but asked its population to observe social distancing, and they have fared better than most on the social effects I think.

To be perfectly brutal, I think the UK would stomach another pandemic that killed the old and the sick, but left the young largely untouched. Should another pandemic kill the young, then maybe lockdowns would be brought in and people would comply.

People in this country are queuing in car parks as we speak. Just in ambulances rather than cars.

People would obviously comply. The people on here saying they wouldn't are very much giving Nigel Farage vibes.

My kids came out of lockdown/the pandemic fine. Mental health unscathed. My son was about to start secondary school, so it was less than ideal, but it wasn't great for anyone. We did what was best at the time. I personally don't think it's a great idea just to let our older and more vulnerable population die if there's another pandemic, so if the advice from the scientific community who know best is to lock down, then I will go along with that.

For the people saying obviously everyone would comply, out of interest were you around much visible non-compliance last time? I very much was, but I've had the impression that thanks to the MN demographics a lot of posters here had a different experience.

There was one woman in my street who made a big deal out of not complying. She's a total lunatic and illegal dog breeder though.

Yes.
I would definitely be able to stomach a pandemic as you mentioned.
Again, SPEAKING FOR MYSELF AND MY LIFE CIRCUMSTANCES.
To be perfectly brutal, since my remaining (abusive) elderly parent lives in another country, let's make it worldwide.

Oh yeah I think the people making a big show of it were probably a pretty small percentage. Most people were just quietly participating in illegal childcare swaps, having parties in their houses with people they trusted, meeting in parks with a plan to scarper if the police turned up etc. Honestly I can't think of a single person I know who trumpeted it, though I was surprised by the number of people putting photos of obviously illegal stuff on social media!

It depends on the messaging but you could be right on that.

It's daft to say people won't comply. Of course the vast majority will for the sake of the vulnerable. The selfish cunts who refuse are the type that landed me in intensive care with Covid.

I think there are fewer selfish people around than some think.

If you had something like ebola people would be afraid to leave their homes, lockdown or not.

A lot of the "never again" type of thinking seems to stem from the idea that the virus wasn't actually that bad and it was all an overreaction. But it could have been a lot worse if we'd done nothing!

Politicians had parties/affairs etc as they knew it wasn’t as bad as what they were telling us - it’s really bad how we were played but people don’t want to think/talk about it.

I don't think that is likely to happen. People wouldn't stand for it.

Personally I liked lockdown - loved it in fact, it came at the right time for me, the enforced isolation was welcome and therapeutic. However I realise it was dreadful for some people, and for many businesses.

There is no point worrying in advance, especially about something that may never happen. Enjoy your life as it is now!