Is Johnson doing the right thing?

[jasjas1973]

Is he? i've changed my view on this recently.
Do we just have to accept some very harsh truths?
Getting some very clever people to advise him and judging by how successful partial lockdowns in other European countries have gone, these don't seem to work.

We haven't got an NHS that is anything like as well equipped/staffed as say an Italy, France even Spain and they are not coping, maybe he is just (for once) being honest?

I go in waves of no and yes. Today I am leaning more towards yes.

I'd be happier with our more modest response if we were testing more people, not fewer. I'd prefer drive through testing for all people with any symptoms. Then at least whole families would know to self isolate when it seems one member just has a mild cold. And any work colleagues/friends who have been in close contact know to at least practice social distancing if not self isolation too. Plus, how will they be able to measure the impact of their approach?

It’s been classed as an ELE by some expert virologists.

What is your source please @Purplewhitelie

So, we're to be reassured that the modelling of the government's approach is good, because it gives a best-case of only 20% of the population and 3% CFR? (That's 360,000 dead?) Therefore people should support the government approach and not be alarmed because only a minority will get sick.

At the same time, we're to be reassured that the government's approach is good, because it will confer national herd immunity based on over 60% of the population getting it? Therefore people should support the government approach because it's a cunning plan to immunise a majority of us via infection.

Ohhh-kayy

I'm no fan of BoJo but I could almost believe he's doing what he thinks best of they hadn't suspended testing.

Without testing we just don't know what's going on, we can't assess how it's progressing compared to other countries, people won't self isolate if they just have a cough.

It's removing valuable data organisations need to make decisions on deep cleaning and closure.

If they'd reduced testing to those with symptoms I'd believe there was a shortage of test kits, but this level of turning a blind eye, with the WHO begging them to test?

I think it's wilful ignorance.

I think he is doing the right thing.

Italy, France and Spain are ahead of us. He is going to tell us to go into lock down when it will have maximum effect. But for it to work he will need maximum cooperation.

Our government has been planning for a pandemic for years. For most people it hasn’t been on their radar that it could happen and the ramifications worldwide.

Why would Boris prioritise anything apart from the pandemic? This is bigger than one individual. It’s a team that have been working for our health for years. If they get it wrong it’s Not because they weren’t doing their damn hardest. There are somethings that are beyond our control.

What we can do is take person responsibility and follow instructions when we need to.

44Frlrlrubert - agreed

Utterly ridiculous you don’t just let sars run it’s course.

If you change the way you test mid way through you won’t know if an increase is because of the change in criteria or something else.

They want relative numbers not absolute numbers.

We should all act like a cold/cough is covid 19 and don’t pass it on. It shouldn’t need to be confirmed.

I think he's doing the right thing, now I understand how herd immunity works. Unfortunately, it seems that the best way to deal with this virus, which isn't just going to go away, sadly, is to allow the healthy and the young to get it, in order to protect those older people who may well die if they get it. All this clamouring on MN to close schools is pointless. DC only get it mildly and if they are kept home while they have it (and pass it onto their parents), then go back to school to allow their DPs to work, that is the least worst option. What we must avoid is all those children being off school for weeks or months, because they will end up being dumped on their grandparents, the very group we must protect. Parents need to work. Even working from home you can't get much done when your DC are off, particularly if those DC are primary age. Panicking and closing everything, including the borders, just artificially stops the virus, which will flare up again unless all borders are kept permanently closed. Until we have a vaccine that can be rolled out worldwide (and we are at least a year away from this), we need to manage it. People are going to die whatever we do (or don't do), and knee-jerk closures won't change that.

He is going to tell us to go into lock down when it will have maximum effect.

This is the one part I cannot understand.

If locking down the country helps to prevent the spread then surely doing it sooner when we have less cases would have had the maximum effect.

I cannot see the logic, irrespective of my personal feelings on what we should do, this idea is flawed.

I come from Italy.
I read and speak Italian.
The death toll is terrible and unpredictable.
It does not affect only the old, the weak or the disabled.
Stop reassuring yourselves.
Stop being delusionary.
I know people who were in their mid 30s perfectly healthy that are intubed!

YOU ARE ALL AT RISK.

Yes, we are all at risk, BUT the fact remains that MOST people get this thing mildly. We don't know exactly who will get it badly and why (although understanding is growing week-by-week). I think there is a very good argument for putting the old and the vulnerable into lockdown, but for the rest of us to do that would trash our economy, cause mass business failures and untold misery to a lot of people who will only get it mildly.

I'm surprised more people dont see how deliberate this is. In this country, one of Boris' biggest challenges has been a massively ageing population and an NHS that cant cope. This is a "gift" of population control to him...and may even provide the perfect excuse to privatise our health system down the line hand in hand with Brexit when we are a broken society and acknowledge that our NHS isnt adequate. Not conspiracy theory here - logic for what seems to be going on...

Well, if this is the thinking it is wrong. The ones that are.most prone to isolate are the weak and the old and those who work and run about are more likely to catch it. The assumption is that those will get it mildly. But it is a false assumption!
We only know that the young below 20 without other health issues are going to take it mildly- the rest are at huge risk even if they do not have any side conditions.
The only thing that it is clear is that its extremes affect more men than women.

I think he's doing the right thing, now I understand how herd immunity works. Unfortunately, it seems that the best way to deal with this virus

But this "herd immunity" theory is being proposed pretty much uniquely by the UK government. So either the WHO and governments of other affected countries don't think it will work (lack of evidence yet) or they cannot support the idea of sacrificing a considerable proportion of the most vulnerable citizens for the long-term "greater good".

The advice from the WHO and places like China and other countries who have been affected is to act aggressively now. Why should we suppose that British scientific advisers somehow know better?

He is banking on a very risky strategy of the British public accepting a short-term high mortality rate for a possible but not guaranteed longer term "immunity" while other countries try to mitigate the worst until a vaccine is available or it burns itself out, like SARS did. I'm not sure the people who would "lose loved ones before their time" will be able to forgive him if it turns out to be the wrong approach.

The more I read the more I think it’s wrong. I feel like the strategy to gain immunity (unproven) is the step after isolation measures fail.

It’s much harder to put that particular genie back in the box if it fails and leaves very little in the way of options.

I don’t think he is doing the right thing but only time will tell. So many experts disagree with him. Children’s education is not worth more than their and people surrounding them health. The government needs to provide parents with the option to take their children out without any penalties. This is important especially for households with other high risk people.

Can I just remind those who say it is mild, that the medical definition of mild is "not requiring hospital treatment". Not that it's just like a cold.

Do we really think he’ll hold his nerve with this if we end up with thousands of infected and dying people?

Possibly, thank you.

Complacency is dreadful.
I saw a 35 year old doctor is in Italy on life support.

Re schools.. It's only primary schools that have issues with childcare.

Secondary schools and colleges and uni could close.

No one seems to think of the teachers and all the staff at schools and colleges! What about them? Are they not gp too, being exposed to hundreds of dc every day? Are they not at risk?

The advice from boris has been woeful.
They should be preparing us telling us what's going on.. I feel like we have instead been abandoned and plunged into the dark.

Other countries like Austria and Belgium are managing half way houses!.
Skelton opening for those dc whose dp need them to attend

I am a teacher , my dd is at my school. I have old parents that live with us.
With you on that one.

I predict the riots will start when David Attenborough dies from it.

I believe they’ve made the right decisions given our resources.

Unfortunately, this government are also the reason that our resources are so limited now.

So I still think he’s a cunt.