Lockdown or don't: government needs to be clear

[Stellaris22]

Getting increasingly fed up of government threatening measures and being indecisive.

We haven't been to a supermarket for a week as we are social distancing and frankly, it looks scary. Also didn't want to add to the numbers crowding in confined spaces.

Been putting it off but need to go tomorrow, we were hoping it would calm down by now (only one of us would go to the supermarket). Latest government announcement threatening a lockdown is going to make it worse again.

It's so irresponsible of the government, are they doing it on purpose to keep the panic going?

I think the lockdown will be in the next couple of days. They tend to sow the seed to get everyone prepped for the idea before they then announce it.

My money is on Tuesday's briefing.

I think he is stalling but is contributing to the continued panic buying Andy ‘I’m all right Jack attitude’ and ‘it doesn’t apply to me brigade’. We are socially distancing and all WFH here. Only DH goes out to the shops once a week. The rest of us go on walks in a quiet unbusy open space with the dog and no visitors. All keep in touch with friends and relatives by phone and social media.
It really annoys me that BoJo/Bozo doesn’t stand 2M away from fellow speakers at the podium and he is quite vague about what he suggests. He really should just get on with it now. Some of the DC teens peers are still continuing to meet up, hang about, fool about and totally ignore all warnings.

A lot of people seem to think that a lockdown will be some kind of miracle solution. The truth is, it will only reduce deaths and pressure on the NHS while it lasts.
But nobody has an exit strategy! Nobody knows how long it should last or what happens when you release it. If very few people have been exposed and developed immunity, then once you unlock, case numbers will simply shoot up again. So you have another lockdown.
That could go on/off for a year, bankrupting our economy and destroying jobs and livelihoods.

Contrast that with the 1968 flu pandemic, which killed over a million worldwide and 3500 in the UK.
We had no lockdown at all, and just let it rip. It was all over in a matter of weeks. We had no ITUs, and no vaccine for it. In those days, 70 was seen as our natural lifespan. We didn’t have a huge population of frail 80 and 90 year olds, the way we do now.
I’m a pensioner myself, but I think destroying the country and our young people’s future prospects with repeated lockdowns, purely to keep us oldies alive for another few months or a year or two, so we can die of dementia or cancer instead, is misguided.
I would just isolate the younger at risk people, such as transplant recipients and the immunocompromised, and prioritise younger people for ITU beds and ventilatory support, rather than lockdown the whole community.

Babdoc, I couldn't agree more. I am in the 'at slightly higher risk' group but I would be willing to take my chances rather than watching the economy collapse so my DS has no future. I am wondering how the NHS would be funded when the country is broke. I imagine many, many more people will die in the future due to lack of funds to treat cancer, heart disease etc.
And as you say, all this may do is push the problem into the future.

@Babdoc you talk a lot of sense. I didn’t think of it like that I just wish idiots would take note and not behave so it responsibly. I am vulnerable due to a health condition myself and am WFH desperately trying to protect myself and my family (not seeing my elderly parents to protect them). But I am just fed up of reports of school kids spitting at the elderly people shoving and arguing over loo roll in the supermarket etc.

Absolutely agree,OP.

I think with major retailers closing down, there are mutterings behind the scenes we are in for an announcement. (A wild guess only, I dont know anybody high up in government)

Also agree with the poster upthread. I'm in my late 50s. I'm worried for my children and grandchildren and what this means for them.

I'd prefer that beds were freed up for our young people. They are the future.

I am hoping we can avoid a lockdown scenario. It will help in the short term but worry about unknown long term effects on the economy. Months from now when it's still not lifted it won't be a good situation to be in.

But I would like it if the government just made a clear announcement either way to reduce the panic.