Did UK introduce restrictions too early?

[Makeitgoaway]

Hear me out!

I don't think they planned to close schools when they did. I think the Welsh and Scotish governments forced their hand and they themselves were influenced by public opinion more than the science.

When I first heard "the plan" it sounded like there were terrible things to come but it made sense to me, as a way of controlling things as much as possible.

The public didn't like it and there was outrage that we didn't "lockdown" to protect ourselves, although "the public" also didn't behave in any sort of sensible manner to protect themselves as we saw last weekend.

So, measures were in force earlier than planned. The more restrictions there are and the earlier they are in place, the longer this thing will last. The restrictions don't protect "us", they protect the NHS. Most people will need to get it before this is over. Lockdown won't make it go away, just slow the rate of infection, meaning it takes longer to play out. While the NHS is coping, was there any need for the restrictions?

In Italy, it has taken 3 weeks for signs of social unrest to emerge. If that happens here we won't be even close to the peak at that stage. What happens then?

@PotholeParadise - Yes, they made those dire predictions at the start of the swine flu pandemic as well.

They still had a vaccine within a couple of months though.

I think that a lot of people posting here must be very young because it seems they have no memory of this.

@jhj67 You are missing the healthy part. Do you understand how common conditions like asthma, diabetes and high blood pressure?

you keep saying we don't have enough young and healthy people to achieve 70% herd immunity, but according to this, only 19% of the UK population is over 65?

Lots of those under-65s are also vulnerable and being shielded. You end up in a situation where in order to reach 60% you need literally everyone who isn't officially at risk to catch it.

alloutoffucks
Of course you can eradicate a virus. Why do you think we don't get bubonic plague sweeping the country, or whooping cough?

Well, bubonic plague is caused by a bacteria for starters, Yersinia pestis.

testing987654321

Shite, I forgot to point that out. I blame the sheer frustration I felt over ignorance of the NHS's ongoing efforts to prevent pertussis.

www.channel4.com/news/factcheck/factcheck-could-we-really-have-a-coronavirus-vaccine-in-six-months

@EYProvider I am thinking the same. Both that they don't realise how soon vaccines usually do appear, and that they don't realise how relatively quickly economies in richer countries recover from major shocks.

Who don’t realise how quickly they appear? The people making them?

Can anyone find a link saying a vaccine will be ready that quickly?

@Jaichangecentfoisdenom If that is true why were they so quick with a swine flu vaccine?

I do think allowing the Cheltenham Racing Festival to proceed was an error. Think it was more about making money for the richest rather than people's health.

As Because it is a completely different virus strain, not associated with swine flu, but with SARS and MERS, I believe. (Not a scientist, just been reading about it.) As PotholeParadise said above: "I have never developed a vaccine, but I suspect it's probably quicker to develop a vaccine for a new strain of flu, than it is to develop the very first vaccine for a completely different type of virus".

Two infectious diseases have successfully been eradicated: smallpox and rinderpest. There are also four ongoing programs, targeting poliomyelitis, yaws, dracunculiasis, and malaria.

Swine flu or H1N1 is another version of a very well studied virus, the foundations were there already.

CV19 isn't, its brand new and it needs to be safe before injecting millions/billions of people

Just ignore my extra "As" at the beginning of my last post, please!

JasJas yes that’s it

they don't realise how relatively quickly economies in richer countries recover from major shocks.

You could argue that our economy is only just starting to recover from the crash in 2008. Thats 12 yrs ago.

Yes, JasJas, thank you.

@Jaichangecentfoisdenom Thanks. This is a strain of covoid though, so it is not a totally new virus?
I understand that full scale commercial production takes a while. But what they normally do is use limited vaccine to vaccinate most vulnerable and super spreaders, before totally rolling it out.

Two infectious diseases have successfully been eradicated: smallpox and rinderpest. There are also four ongoing programs, targeting poliomyelitis, yaws, dracunculiasis, and malaria.

Rinderpest is the ancestor of measles. It affects cattle, and part of the way we eliminated it was by mass slaughter.

This method isn't available for measles, which, funnily enough, we haven't eliminated.

You are missing the healthy part. Do you understand how common conditions like asthma, diabetes and high blood pressure?

@alloutoffucks - i knew that part was missing but I din't think it would be easy to get those stats. It would need to be about 12% of the people under 65, and how high does your high blodd pressure have to be to class you as vulnerable, how bad does your diabetes have to be to class you as vulnerable, and so on?

Not trying to push a particular point, would like to get some actual data if it's out there.

I thought vaccines were less successful in older people?

@ralphwreckedit We have had prior to this the highest rate of employment for decades. Hardly a struggling economy.

🤦🏼‍♀️ www.ifs.org.uk/publications/13302

alloutoffucks does not know what she’s talking about, I would ignore

@jhj67 Over 5 million people have asthma.
I read in an article in a newspaper that we simply do not have enough healthy young people to reach 70% of the population. They will have fact checked that.
And you have to start counting elderly from 60, not 65. The advice from WHO was that everyone over 60 should be extra careful.