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?

No it was brought in too late. We could see what was happening in countries like Italy and Boris had the chance to try and stop the UK being hit so badly.

As another poster has said, we are an island so much easier to lockdown than other countries. But no Boris decided to be wishy washy as per normal. Even now flights are going in and out of the UK and not just with people want to go/come home. He really is useless

My mother is 83. Fit as a fiddle. If she were 83 with advanced cancer or heart disease and with a low quality of life, if she developed covid related pneumonia I would hope the dr's caring for her would give her ample morphine for pain to help her on her way and not ventilate. I would hope the same would be done for me.

If we had done enough testing and contact tracing early on and had strictly quarantined people coming into the country or returning from affected areas we would not have needed to lock down this early. Given how lax our early response was, I fear we have left it far too late.
Europe got this very wrong and the U.K. was one of the slowest to respond.

alloutoffucks no! I think lockdown came too late of anything. My point is that lockdown can’t be a reaction to a disaster, it has to pre empt it which might make some people feel it’s pointless. Because they don’t see the version of reality where we didn’t lock down so don’t see what we escaped.

We ve allowed spread into the wider community, to the extent its endemic before we locked down..

Then again, some Doctors believe we started to have CV19 infections in January but in the better off population who are either more likely to travel or be in contact with those that do and these people tend to be younger/better off/healthier, its now working its way into the general population.

Its also hard to believe, given how open the UK is to international study, work & travel we would be behind countries that are not so open.

I'm pretty sure they wanted to hold on schools for a bit longer but were forced into it as staff were dropping/public pressure. It was inevitable that once schools were closed more people would have to wfh & more people would be on the streets, parks, etc. Which would mean a stricter lockdown, this can't possibly be enforced & has to rely in part on the public's willingness & fear.

Look at how many posters are screaming for a full lockdown but somehow still expect to be able to use their internet, receive deliveries, go to the shops & receive medical treatments when needed.

@MashedPotatoBrainz I was reading about Sweden last night. Can’t believe they’re making such similar mistakes to the ones we made. My only hope is that they have such a large amount of rural areas that it might not spread as quickly. Keeping my fingers crossed for them.

Why do you think OP lots of international firms and scientific firms were sending their staff home while our government were still saying it was like a mild cold? Those firms knew the truth.

I can't take anyone seriously who thinks the impact on mental health from a short term lockdown is going to be more significant than letting a virus run riot on the population, when we know it would overwhelm the health service. It feels like people are being contrary for the sake if it. 'Oh i'm so enlightened! What about lists ten things that are less important than ensuring the NHS doesn't collapse right now'. It's tedious, short sighted and idiotic. Yes there will be negative impacts, because unfortubately in these situstions, authorities have the task of making the decision that OVERALL will have the least bad outcome. I can see a lot of people here would be shit at that job.

So we let lots of people die so that the public can see lock down is needed?

Well fear is one mechanism of keeping people in lockdown. There isn't the capacity to police every household.

UK Manufacturers making ventilators

Hopefully this will help-Dyson and other engineering firms producing more ventilators, but it should have been started 2 weeks earlier.

@MashedPotatoBrainz I was reading about Sweden last night. Can’t believe they’re making such similar mistakes to the ones we made. My only hope is that they have such a large amount of rural areas that it might not spread as quickly. Keeping my fingers crossed for them.

It's now rapidly spreading into rural areas. Last Thursday we had no cases in our hospital. 1 on Friday. Went up to 4 yesterday and today it's 7 with 2 in intensive care. No testing other than if admitted to hospital, so no idea how widespread in our rural community. But life carrying on as normal.

@CaptainBrickbeard I agree. We should have lock downed ages ago. Yes some people would not have seen the point. It may have made Boris temporarily less popular. He does not have the courage for that.
I know he gets criticised for lots of things, but I think his chief failure is cowardice.

@Blakes77 they've been working on it haven't they. Arranging how other forms can assist in producing parts and assembly, and dyson had to design a whole new one. you can't just magically start production, preparations need to be made, which is what everyone involved has been doing. I assume as quickly as they can!

Well, considering the NHS is already struggling at this point, then delaying the lockdown wasn't going to help because we would have seen a steeper peak then than we are going to now! Social unrest is a minor issue to deal with compared to greater covid-19 cases.

Ok, so what wlykd locking down earlier have changed? Why to people still think we can protect ourselves from getting it? We can't, all we can do is change the timing. Locking down earlier would have reduced the number of cases now, but it wouldn't change the number of cases overall.

alloutoffucks ironic as he wanted to be Churchill - here’s his chance!

@esjee I agree. Without any action the government said half a million people would die. That would not be good for people's mental health.

If the NHS doesn't get overwhelned in the next 3 weeks, it was at the right time, if it does, it was too late.

OP, that’s the point! The whole point! Lockdown saves lives because it slows the spread. We know the virus will still spread but slowing it is vital to stop as many people dying either from the virus or as a result of a collapsed health system. The earlier the lockdown, the slower the spread, the better able the health system is to cope, the more people survive the whole prolonged experience.

I can't take anyone seriously who thinks the impact on mental health from a short term lockdown is going to be more significant than letting a virus run riot on the population, when we know it would overwhelm the health service. It feels like people are being contrary for the sake if it. 'Oh i'm so enlightened!

I disagree, almost 6.5 thousand people committed suicide in 2018 & this figure was 10% higher then 2017. The gov is doing the right thing but I don't think we can be sure that lockdown will be short & then all is back to normal. I don't think you can underestimate the impact of isolation for some & financially vast swathes of the population will be affected. Austerity also kills.

I think they got it right people think lockdown is the silver bullet for saving lives. lockdown only delays deaths .
Best analigy they gave was lockdown like turning off a tap off to stop the spread get on top off it then slowly turn it back on infection rates rise then back off to get on top off and keep repeating the cycle .

I think they were holding out for the Easter holidays for the schools and the antibody tests in general. I think those more vulnerable should have been on lockdown and cared for earlier and my mother is still swanning about like nothing's happening (she's offended by the use of the word elderly apparently - she's in her 80s ffs). I also think it was here a lot earlier, I think it was probably everywhere a lot earlier. The previous low impact on Europe of the SARS type viruses probably lulled everyone into a false sense of security. Only time will tell if anyone's got it right.

In Italy, it has taken 3 weeks for signs of social unrest to emerge.

That’s why the financial packages for workers and shopping item limitations are so important, civil unrest happens when people feel hopeless and unable to look after their families.

Locking down earlier would have reduced the number of cases now, but it wouldn't change the number of cases overall.

No, but it would give more time to get the super hospitals established and ready to admit patients. And to do short courses for staff who are being redeployed outside of their usual area.

We should have lock downed ages ago

When? People knew it was coming, hence the panic buying.