If you're calling for schools to go back, restrictions to be relaxed...

[GrumpiestOldWoman]

...were you also in the group shouting for a lockdown a month ago?

People seem to be as desperate to open things back up now as they were to lockdown a month ago, yet we're still not over the peak.

It's hard not to conclude that the novelty has worn off.

Why are the press giving more airtime to 'relax restrictions' messages rather than 'UK worst in Europe' which we clearly are when care home deaths are added to the hospital deaths numbers? When other countries were reporting the death numbers we have today the UK was screaming for lockdown, but now it doesn't seem to be newsworthy

I don't get it?

[MigginsMs]

The virus won't go away just because we've decided we can't stay home any longer though


Lockdown wasn’t about making it go away though. It was about keeping cases at a level the NHS could cope with, virus is going nowhere.

[LetMeOut]

*I do. They are desperate for their kids to go back to school.
*
No, they are desperate to go back to work and earn money.

[Russellbrandshair]

Lifting restrictions won't restore healthcare unfortunately

Prolonging lockdown means less tax being paid to fund the nhs. Where do you think the money for the NHS comes from?! Not to mention cancer screening being put on hold which will cause deaths later down the line. One of my friends has also had their chemo put on hold. They will probably die because of it 😢

[midgebabe]

It's not lockdown that gave you poverty

It's the virus

Lockdown for this country probably minimises the recession and poverty that will result from a new lethal virus

[bookworm14]

It’s not the rich who will suffer if the lockdown continues; it’s everyone else. It’s all very well saying ‘schools aren’t childcare’, but if every other form of childcare is also shut, what are working parents supposed to do? If schools remain shut, so will holiday clubs, presumably. I can’t work from home, so if schools remain shut beyond June when my furlough is due to end, I don’t see how I will be able to do my job. Lots of others will be in the same position. I’m not rich; I just need to keep a roof over my head.

[ListeningQuietly]

Millions of families are going to run out of money long before the end of May.

The jammy gits on furlough who are better off under lockdown
need to give their heads a wobble

LOTS AND LOTS of people have dropped to £94 a week
their landlords are still charging full rent

and by the end of this month more employers will go bust and make them redundant
cue another million or so on £94 a week

Lockdown is destroying the future for our children

[cologne4711]

I was not shouting for a lockdown (and no I am not out of my tiny mind, quite a few European countries have not had full lockdowns either) and was happy for my son to stay at college until he had to stop. In fact DH and I were working from home that last week and it was good that ds had some normality for as long as possible.

I am not shouting for restrictions to be eased, either, I have been taking a realistic and non-scaremongering view on how long they need to last. I have also said that we need an evidence-based approach on whether we needed stricter rules rather than just taking the word of frothers on social media (and fake videos and photos taken with telephoto lenses to make places look busier than they were).

I don't see why Y10 and Y12 can't go back after May half term if teachers with younger children can access childcare.

I also think those calling for schools to close thought they were going to have a nice holiday and suddenly had a rude awakening.

[Derbygerbil]

The biggest ever recession was after the Spanish flu. There, lockdown was not a normal response, yet the recession still hit.

I don’t believe that’s correct at all! The Spanish Flu was 1918. The Great Depression (to which I think you’re referring) started in 1929.

[LaurieMarlow]

Lockdown for this country probably minimises the recession and poverty that will result from a new lethal virus

It very much depends on how long it goes on for.

Months of lock down, with the economy at a standstill is catastrophic.

Projections are at 35% reduction of GDP in the U.K. Have you any idea what that would look like? The Great Depression was about half as bad as that globally.

[Russellbrandshair]

@lauriemarlow

Agree. It’s a horrific balancing act.

[Patch23042]

Welsh schools aren’t going back this academic year. Why should English schools be different? I know they’re different countries with separate education systems, but Wales hasn’t had it worse as far as i know.

[GrumpiestOldWoman]

It was about keeping cases at a level the NHS could cope with, virus is going nowhere.

Sorry what I was failing to articulate is that if:

• the virus spreading relatively unchecked in march/april is considered to ge a 'big problem-that-must-be-stopped'
  
• it hasn't gone anywhere since and
  
• someone (Imperial?) recently estimated that only 5% of people had already had it so we're nowhere near the 60% needed for herd immunity,...
  
  Why do we think it'll ok for it to spread unchecked in May/June?
  
  The government's position at start was to let it run and we'd build immunity. Then they assessed that they couldn't possibly do that - the death toll would be vast. But now we/they think it'll actually be ok to do that after all?
  
  The lack of an exit strategy is terrifying.

[ListeningQuietly]

Midgebabe
Closing the schools and shops has destroyed millions of incomes.
Covid did not do that.
Covid is killing around 5000 a week
but lockdown is impoverishing tens of millions every week
in the UK alone

[LaurieMarlow]

It’s a horrific balancing act.

Yup

[Greenpop21]

I get you op. The press seem to be pushing it, people read that and start speculating and talking as though a decision has been made. I think the pressure just bored and want a new story. It’s click bait.

[Greenpop21]

Press not pressure

[Random18]

Patch are you sure about Welsh schools?

[DeathByBoredom]

I wanted a much much earlier lockdown and even earlier than that contact test and trace. But it's all too late for that now. Back mid late Feb there was still hope it could be contained. It's spread too far, to too many countries, too widely. It's not going anywhere and healthcare systems will be overwhelmed either way. We are not overwhelmed in hospital because we leave people at home, in care homes, take them back home to die, dnr people. Just be honest with people. A lot of, mostly old, people are going to die, it's shit, but a great depression will be worse.

[Haffiana]

And then we will have to do Brexit as well by the end of the year. Our Economy will be utterly fucked for a generation.

[imamearcat]

Why the heck would they open now when we are (hopefully) at the peak of the outbreak??

I can't believe people still think it's scaremongering and not that big a deal. The death rate is not that high but it is very infectious meaning that it spreads much quicker than SARS etc. and also cold/flu. Do people think it would be better if we just let everyone get it now and the NHS completely brake down? But at least you can go to work and kids go to school??

I don't understand what goes through people's minds!!

[DeathByBoredom]

So ... protect the vulnerable ... the rest get back to as much as normal as possible with general precautions where possible

[Random18]

imame they are not opening now! I don't think anyone expects schools to go back on Monday.

After May Half Term - I would hope the will go back

[imamearcat]

@DeathByBoredom we need to wait for the numbers to decrease, if we go back to normal now, A LOT of people will die. Surely we've seen with BoJo that it's not just the vulnerable that get sick from it.

[Random18]

Death I don't know why we didn't do that right away.

Although would people have listened? Whilst I do want schools to go back (when it is OK to do so) I also want them to properly test. And accept our lives can't go back to normal

I don't think I will see my parents for a long time. But that will be the same schools open or not.

[imamearcat]

@Random18 it would be good to have a clearer plan but at the moment it's probably unknown. If volumes have decreased then maybe they will open after May half term. But if things haven't improved sufficiently then we will have to stay at home.

There is no point in searching for answers which are unknown at this stage.