Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Covid

Mumsnet doesn't verify the qualifications of users. If you have medical concerns, please consult a healthcare professional.

Original poster

Lockdown is not the answer

363 replies

NellyGrace · 22/03/2020 09:11

We have a vulnerable family member and have been isolating for 9 days. This is unsustainable. It will drive us mad.

Whilst it was just the vulnerable we could cope as we could still go out to walk. We have no garden.

If the crazy want to carry on mixing. Let them. The vulnerable can hide if they choose.

Test like South Korea and isolate the pockets of disease.

We should not be allowing governments to use this as a way to take away our freedom.

OP posts:
CaptainBrickbeard · 22/03/2020 18:17

I’ve been isolating for a week. It’s hard, I agree. It would be a lot harder on my mental health to know that my loved ones were suffocating to death without healthcare because of this virus, or dying of treatable illnesses or injuries because the healthcare system collapses without lockdown.

MimiLaRue · 22/03/2020 18:35

I was looking more for evidence to suggest that social isolation itself

How would have studies on those when that is so rare though? Its not like this is a usual occurrence.

My point stands- there will come a point where lockdown becomes more damaging to society than CV. Thats why it has tp balanced so carefully

BirdandSparrow · 22/03/2020 18:36

But you don't all need to go into isolation in the UK. Self isolating because you think you have it isn't the same as the confinement here in Spain. I've been across the road to throw out the rubbish and sat for long periods on my front patio. DH went to buy bread this morning. I took food to MIL who is elderly and lives alone.
Tomorrow I will need to go to buy some fresh fruit.
It's hard, but it's not the same as self isolation.
The problem is a massive amount of people are still doing FUCK ALL in the UK. Because they are being allowed to.

aSofaNearYou · 22/03/2020 18:36

Lockdown can't come soon enough for me.

While there are still idiots out taking unnecessary risks (huge crowds and holiday makers etc), they are ensuring the virus is widespread enough to make it impossible for the vulnerable to avoid exposure when they go to the supermarket/pharmacy or touch the things bought from there by others. Not to mention what will happen when those who thought they were invincible and carried on in their merry way start getting sick enough to need hospitalization in their masses, and there isn't enough space for them or anyone else.

The sensible among us are already limiting our contact with others to as close to lockdown measures as possible, so if I have to give up my few remaining liberties to stop the selfish idiots who will take a mile from any inch offered, then I'll take that deal. It's better than the alternatives.

Duchessofblandings · 22/03/2020 20:37

“And exactly the same applies to coronavirus - while it can kill the young and healthy, the vast majority of those who’ve died in Italy have had “underlying health conditions”.”

Oh, well, that’s alright then, f**k them.
What the hell is wrong with you?

liberoncolours · 22/03/2020 20:38

So many people here and all over Mumsnet haven’t even started isolating yet. Once you do you will realise. It is bloody hard and will test the strongest of us never mind those who are already fragile I am sorry you are struggling OP but obviously this is more about the problems you are having personally rather than lockdown generally. I have been on lockdown for 9 days too, and I think it is far better than ending up like Italy, far better than seeing more deaths, more families ripped apart by grief, more strain on health care workers. But some people will find it harder than others and it might be worth you starting a thread about the difficulties you are facing specifically, so that you can get help or support for your particular situation? There are quite a few of mumsnetters abroad, already experiencing lockdown, and so quite a few people might be able to respond.

IkeaSlave · 22/03/2020 20:55

Lockdown for 9 days is going to make no difference here or there. So how long are you prepared to stay in lockdown?
2 years?
1 year?
9 months?
6 months?
3 months?
A month?

And what makes it time to stop lockdown? It's worldwide now. Until a vaccine is found, tested, mass produced? So say a year or two? Otherwise you come out of lockdown and it starts all over again?

What about all the people dying of untreated cancer in the meantime? Undiagnosed cancer?

It is too late now for lockdown to work. I realise it is going to take a while for that to sink in.

Escapetab · 22/03/2020 20:56

Lots of places have still allowed walks on lockdown haven't they?
It's not going to happen anyway.

Escapetab · 22/03/2020 20:57

(I think it should btw.)

liberoncolours · 22/03/2020 21:13

It is too late now for lockdown to work This is wrong.

IkeaSlave · 22/03/2020 21:19

Bet pretty much anything it's right. I've called this right from the very very beginning. Why would it work??

nellodee · 22/03/2020 21:23

Because South Korea has it under control. Because China has it under control. Because once you know who has this, and where they are, you can keep it under control. Test, test and test some more. And be ready to lock down again when needed.

But you cannot keep it under control until you have it under control in the first place. And to do that, you need lockdown.

liberoncolours · 22/03/2020 21:31

@ikeaslave this was posted upthread - please could you listen to it all the way through, it explains about lockdown in very simple terms, from someone who is dealing with covid deaths every day. You too, OP.

www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=tQD4B_hmdvo&feature=emb_logo

The dailymail article linked upthread - just beyond belief that the hitchins thinks that just because he had one bad experience with a locum, what all of the doctors - all the doctors - are saying now should be ignored - doctors all over the world. That there are not enough coffins in Italy - numbers of deaths far beyond normal - how can that be comparable to normal flaming flu. Just beyond belief.

It is not too late - basically the sooner it happens the better it will be - not as good as it would have been weeks ago, but better than if we leave it.

Testing - it is not too late for temperature testing.

IkeaSlave · 22/03/2020 21:32

Ok so think about what it means for China and South Korea to maintain that state. Are they going to continue essentially locking down their countries for a year? Two years?
Before this, we were a globalised economy. It is not possible without killing millions through economic devastation to remain isolated. This virus has gone global. It is too late to lockdown.
I am assuming we decide not to revert to a pre globalised economy. If we do, we will need to lose a tonne of people anyway.

liberoncolours · 22/03/2020 21:35

The doctor is an intensive care doctor working right now in a UK hospital. He explains how contagious the virus is. How many people are affected. How things are at the moment. Likely outcomes. And the solution - that people need to stay away from each other for a few weeks. And what will happen if that does not happen.

This is not a lone voice. It is what every informed person in the world is saying. It is what all the doctors are saying. It is what WHO is saying.

The people in lockdown now are the lucky ones as they and their families have more chance.

IkeaSlave · 22/03/2020 21:38

I was massively in favour of early lockdown btw and have been pushing for work to let us wfh for the last 3 or 4 weeks. I just think we have missed that boat now. It is too late to track and trace and we are only postponing the inevitable (in autumn winter).

liberoncolours · 22/03/2020 21:40

ikea if you think the economy is not going to be in great shape now, think of what it will be like if we don't get rid of the virus quickly.

No we are not necessarily talking months and months. We are talking about people staying in their homes for 2 to 4 weeks at the moment and by then there will be a clearer picture of what is going on.

IkeaSlave · 22/03/2020 21:42

It doesn't matter. You will see the picture start to emerge. 2-4 weeks is nothing. This virus is going nowhere. I am genuinely sorry and it probably isn't helpful in a way. People will arrive at this conclusion in their own time.

liberoncolours · 22/03/2020 21:46

ikea watch the video, and then see if you get a bit of perspective from it.

IkeaSlave · 22/03/2020 21:52

I've tracked this from the very very beginning, before anyone else was even really talking about it. I prepped about 6 weeks ago. I have been ahead of almost every single announcement from every country. Sorry but I don't think I am calling this one wrong either. It's too late.

IkeaSlave · 22/03/2020 21:54

Be nice to be wrong I guess, and it makes no difference either way. Let's imagine I am wrong as it doesn't really matter.

Original poster
NellyGrace · 22/03/2020 22:02

I agree Ikea. That’s exactly what I was trying to say. I’ve also been following things very closely. I was ahead of the government in precautions- took my kids out a week before they shut and we locked ourselves away.

It is too late now. And this thing will come back once we emerge. Locking down will change nothing.

OP posts:
IkeaSlave · 22/03/2020 22:09

It is what it is
It is a bit lonely ahead of the curve, and we were being slated just weeks ago as drama queen scaremongerers, but it is what it is. We all arrive at acceptance at different rates.

CaptainBrickbeard · 22/03/2020 22:10

Why would lockdown change nothing? It will slow the rate of transmission so that the hospitals are able to treat more people. In the meantime, scientists worldwide are working on treatment and a vaccine. A vaccine will take over a year but effective treatment could be found. A lockdown buys us time. No lockdown means millions of deaths now.

Havanananana · 22/03/2020 22:10

@IkeaSlave and @NellyGrace

OK, let's assume that you're both correct and it is too late for a total lockdown of the UK. What do you propose the next step will be, and what will be the consequences?