Lockdown is not the answer

[NellyGrace]

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.

We don't need the virus to go away we need the death rate to stop doubling every 3 days. We need to slow it the fuck down. Lockdown would achieve that. And if we have to spend the majority of the next 18 months in repeated lockdown until we have developed a vaccine and/or some way of treating the virus? Then THAT is a sacrifice (as a species) we should be willing to take. People talk about the survival of the fittest? In our species what has made us strong is our social cohesiveness our strength as a collective, it is our capacity to think of and implement solutions to the threats against our species that separate us from the other animals. Are we going to let this virus destroy us or are we going to work together for the common good? We are all just drops in the ocean. Together we can turn the tide. Individually? We will disappear one by one exponentially until there is nothing left.

Joined Mumsnet just to comment on this. Happy to go into lockdown, but finding it impossible due to the crazy panic buyers. OK - in Italy and Spain you were allowed out for a shopping trip. To shops with full shelves. Perhaps all those who are insisting on exercise and fresh air might think about forgoing their on-line delivery slots to allow those who don't want to go out shopping to stay home and look after their vulnerable relatives

But let's just throw all the elderly, sick, disabled etc. To the wolves and go up mount snowden, eh?

What do you mean Shanghai Diva?

Also - don't you think once people return to 'normal' the virus will also return?

My daughter is disabled. That is why we've been isolating for so long. To protect her. I'm happy to carry on in the way we are. But we have to go outside and exercise/walk (away from others) to stay healthy. She needs to move her muscles and get sun and fresh air. Otherwise if/when she gets this virus it will hit her worse.

We live in a flat with no garden.

Lockdown will make us all ill and then we'll more likely die from CV. Disabled and elderly people, like my daughter, can self isolate. We can stay safe without the rest of the world coming to a complete standstill.

I mean look at what is happening in China, H.K and Singapore. Look at how they are managing the process of the virus returning. You have dismissed lockdown without researching how it works and what happens afterwards.

Also - don't you think once people return to 'normal' the virus will also return? not if you combine it with testing and tracing enough people. Anyway, if you don't want to overwhelm the NHS in a matter of weeks/days, what's the alternative?

Fine - I will trust that lockdown may have a chance. I hope that it does.

But do you also see my point about the health of all of us? We all have a chance of getting this virus as we're shopping and letters etc are arriving in our homes. We need to exercise and have sun and air. It's madness, for our mental and physical health, to starve people of these things. If/when we catch this virus it will affect us so much worse if we've been stuck inside inactive for weeks.

We need to exercise and have sun and air. It's madness, for our mental and physical health, to starve people of these things. You don't NEED them. You can manage temporarily without them. You can manage to massively limit how much you go out for a while.
If the alternative if so many deaths that the health service collapses, you can manage it. Millions of other Europeans are doing it, millions of Chinese did it.

At this stage what’s the alternative to lockdown?
Let idiots continue spreading it, keep letting them infect others so that even more people die alone in hospitals that can’t possibly cope?
Not to mention the people who will suffer because they need hospital treatment for other things and the hospitals are overwhelmed.

I’ve got M.E, quite often I’m stuck inside inactive. Open your windows to let fresh air in. How much fresh air do you think people are getting in Italy, in warehouses that have been turned into hospitals?

In most countries, if not all, you can still leave your house to exercise and get fresh air as long as you don’t go far from home. This may not be as much fun as going to the beach or country park, but this is what happens when people take the piss.

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

It's too bloody late for this and extreme measures are required now. Even if we're locked down from tomorrow the numbers that will die will match Italy. The longer this government dithers more will suffer.

You can exercise at home. Youtube is fullwith aerobics, zumba and yoga. Just put it on and follow the instructions. Most people can get sun via their balcony or garden. Everyone can get fresh air by opening a window.

You're just whining that you want to go outside, you have no reason to.

You might not believe in a lockdown, but it has been proven that extreme measures work. They give the health care people a chance to help the sick people. Every month we get closer to a better treatment of this disease and maybe even a vaccin. Every month that we are careful not to infecf others will therefore save a lot of lives.

Don't be a killer, stay home.

Yappity I agree with you overall, but you do have a garden and a car, and possibly a good size house, OP doesn't - imagine how hard is that psychologically, she def is getting cabin fever by the sounds of it.

Lockdown will be so much harder for people without gardens. I completely understand how mental and physical health will suffer as a result of lockdown. I understand that lockdown and recession will in themselves kill people.

Without lockdown though - the virus infects virtually everyone and there are millions upon millions of preventable deaths. Deaths from the virus which could be prevented by access to oxygen/ventilators. Deaths from other accidents. Deaths from things as trivial as an infected cut. Because we suddenly won’t have a healthcare system any more. At all.

With lockdown, we buy time. We can build more ventilators. We can build temporary hospitals, though god knows how we staff them. Worldwide, the race is on to find better ways to treat the virus and to develop a vaccine.

With lockdown, more people survive. Many of us traumatised, bereaved and deeply affected by it. Many people dead. Terrible financial repercussions that reverberate across the globe. But lockdown gives society the chance to survive.

It is the closest equivalent to the World Wars. It’s something none of us want to endure. I’m not minimising the impact of eighteen months in a small flat with little outside access. Though I believe lockdown will be a ‘dance’ and an on/off situation over that time so some breaks and return to normality happen intermittently.

The virus may never go away entirely but we can be better equipped for more people to survive it by locking down whilst we build medical supplies and work on treatment and vaccine.

It comes at a terrible cost and some people will have to pay so much more than others. It isn’t fair and it won’t be easy. But it’s our best chance.

No chances left. Too late.

China and South Korea haven't stopped it, have they? Because it's here. Unless we choose to self isolate as whole countries for years (hello death by starvation) it is going to move back and forth now

It's interesting watching nudge theory in action in the uk anyway

For fuck’s sake, Ikea. Stop stating there is no chance left. You haven’t engaged with any of the reasons lockdown will help and you haven’t argued in support of what you’re saying. Grandly announcing that it’s too late doesn’t make you look cleverer than everyone else. Of course China and South Korea haven’t stopped it yet. We’re in it for the long haul. It’s still a worthwhile fight.

Lockdown is essential. Unfortunately we have Master Boris when we need Mr Macron

Well I spent the last month banging on about lockdown and why we should do it asap and why it was useful. I feel sorry for poor Cassandra

Anyway you're right. The only think I can currently say constructively is see the rest of you in a few weeks time, get your money out of the banks, think about the pros and cons of your kids getting it now while it is not dangerous to them, protect your vulnerable by self isolating them

Enjoy the ride

Excellent post at 6.48 from Captain

It will drive us all mad, but we have to do this. Find other ways to keep in touch with people at home - video chats etc

Because it's here. Unless we choose to self isolate as whole countries for years (hello death by starvation) it is going to move back and forth now

Unless you factor in vaccination.

Lockdown is absolutely the answer... just last Friday there were countless people crowded into the supermarket all laughing and joking, up in each other's faces like it was a grand old day out. I can say pretty confidently that most of those
People were not there for essentials, rather trying to maintain their weekly shopping habits.

Myself and one other guy were the only people with face masks on. People were looking at us as if we were mad. But I don't care - my family are more important to me and I don't want to risk taking anything home. I was round that shop like the flash, in and out and it was the first shop I'd done for a week. I normally pop in there daily and just buy what I need rather than do a weekly shop (it's on the school run).

My DH, DD and I have been indoors for more than a week now (apart from me doing the school run - alone). And since school closed on Friday and my DS is now home, we have all stayed in.
We are very lucky to have a decent garden.

The symptoms of this virus sound terrifying. I get hay fever induced asthma and struggle to breathe sometimes which is awful. I've needed a pump for the last two years.

I would not purposefully put myself in that position. So I can only surmise that these covidiots have never been seriously ill or had their mortality tested in any way and they think they are indestructible or it will never happen to them... THEY NEED TO WAKE THE FUCK UP.

This is not a movie, this is real life and thousands will die unnecessarily if they do not change their thinking/behaviour. It will be purely down to selfishness. This virus does not discriminate.

I'm about as emotional as a stone but some of the stories I've seen of kindness and people helping each other whilst taking the right precautions has brought me to tears. However, the majority of stories is about how vile humans can be to each other, taking advantage of the most vulnerable, acting like this is no big deal or moaning about how hard staying indoors is going to be. I'm sure if they were to catch it they would be quick to blame someone else instead of accepting it was their own stupid actions that got them there.

Disgraceful.

Also, we will find ways to make lockdown more bearable. I’m seeing lots of ideas online and community efforts, virtual and physical. My husband had loads of gig tickets booked and has found lots of bands/singers are streaming live acoustic sets from home. There are PE lessons streaming on YouTube, local farm shops delivering, ways for us to stay active and connected and for some businesses to stay afloat by adapting and changing sometimes quite drastically. Lockdown doesn’t have to be an endless bleak and lonely stretch of tedium. As time goes on, we will find more and better ways of handling it that we haven’t thought of yet.