I think @returnofthecat's post illustrates really well what I mean. A significant proportion of the population is likely to 'drop out' of what we would consider to be a standard working life entirely. It's an interesting outcome in the sense that it challenges the basis of capitalism but as the world isn't set up for it, it's likely to cause huge problems.
@TheDailyCarbuncle Sort of. But in my case, as I pointed out, there's no actual need for me to show my face in the workplace every day. Technology has evolved to point where being physically present is done out of ingrained tradition, rather than necessity.
Many employers have historically resisted mass working from home due to a lack of trust in their employees. Having had no choice but to allow it the last few weeks, I'd like to think many would reconsider their attitude to flexible working.
People are happy with September because the governments of the world have done such a good job of scaring them shitless about the virus that they can't see that lockdown itself has the potential to be far far more deadly than the virus could ever be. [...] The fact that people are not only accepting it but calling for it to be extended makes me wonder just how bad the level of general education is among the population. How can anyone think that literally stopping everything that makes the world function could ever be a positive thing?
Oh, I don't think it's a "positive thing" as such. This country is screwed. I'm not going to get a state pension and I'm going to be working until I drop dead paying an insane rate of income tax and national insurance (they will go up, and they will go up sharply).
And I'm not against a phased return for the people who want to go back out into the world. If they're happy to take the increased risk for what they perceive to be a better quality of life, so be it. The whole point of the lockdown was to buy the NHS some time to regroup as opposed to rule out the risk entirely, so if there's a bunch of people who are happy to take the risk, let them go for it, and get ill in manageable numbers.
I just don't want be part of that phased return, as my appetite for risk is much lower. I'd rather stay at home and reduce my risk, whereas I know many people who would rather have their personal freedoms back and suck up the risk as they believe it's worth it. There are enough people with different opinions to allow for phased a return, I would have thought.
There is no indication that it's even going to be possible to create an effective vaccine.
True. Depressing, but true.
Covid is out there. All we can do is deal with it without creating more problems. Lockdown was necessary because the Tories 1) decimated the NHS and 2) failed completely to even begin to protect the UK from a pandemic, which had long been predicted. The lockdown isn't a sad necessity, it's a complete fuck up and extending it for a second longer than is absolutely necessary in order to minimise the effect of the government's failures would be utter madness.
We have two options, really. Either we hold out for a vaccine (which is unlikely to even happen by September, if at all) or we start going back in a phased programme. I'd say given the number of people who have objected to the lockdown, there will be enough people who want it to end it for a phased programme to be possible. Those people, with a higher appetite for risk, will start to catch COVID-19. The hospitals won't be as swamped, so hopefully most of them will survive. I'd like to hope cases would be documented properly so as to give researchers more data to continue their work into a vaccine.
How can people invest the effort it takes to make a life for themselves if they know the government can come along and just take it all away as if it means nothing?
The repercussions of destroying people's lives and their faith in their own ability to survive and progress will be massive.
Oh, I think we'll continue to make a life for ourselves in the way we feel is the best possible, but I do think expectations will have shifted. Parents are always going to encourage their children to succeed, but given many parents may well have lost someone they know to COVID19 by that time, they may take a more philosophical view to things.
For example, a pushy parent is still likely to insist a child studies hard, but may be more inclined to let a child drop an extracurricular if they aren't enjoying it in favour of something that brings them more joy.
I do think there are some silver linings here in terms of how people have had a good long look at their lives and changed their opinion of what's important.
Of course, this situation is utterly shit for people whose treatment has been pushed back or cancelled, for people whose exams and promotions have been cancelled (it's not just school age pupils who have had a pin put in their progression), for people trying to move, for people trapped in abusive relationships, for people who aren't eligible for furlough and are now flat broke... I could go on. There is a very long list of people who have been so severely impacted by this crisis.
But for people with more standard circumstances, being forced to slow down and reconsider what matters and what doesn't, might help make us a bit less awful as a species. The number of people suddenly offering to help out in mutual aid groups for example is surprising - yes, there are people seeking to exploit the situation, there always are - but it's heartwarming to see how many people are actually capable of being good and willing to do good. This crisis has given them a platform to set up, and they have done.
I would also like to hope that when we are rebuilding our shattered economy, medical professionals and people in actual "useful" professions are finally prioritised. Everyone's going to be poor, but it would be nice if the people helping to keep us alive suffer the least. People have been warning of the NHS being in a dire state for ages, now it's finally been exposed on a worldwide scale and also people's respect and admiration for NHS workers have never been higher. Maybe more funding will continue to be sent to the NHS and we'll make cuts in less important areas.
Some rough sleepers have been housed to minimise the spread of COVID-19 - some of them wouldn't have had access to a safe roof over their heads otherwise. Help has been magicked up and it would be nice to think it might continue.
The whole situation is incredibly shitty overall, but you have to take the little victories where you can find them.