How long can we carry on like this for?

[Pseudosudocrem]

Anyone else starting to wonder just how long we can carry on like this before everything irrevocably falls apart?

How will we ever recover as a country?

To be honest if I was elderly I’d be more likely to just want to take my chances. No dependant children, had most of my life, I’d rather get out and enjoy the rest of it than cower in fear in my house and die of loneliness.

Ahhh I see @BeijingBikini you fail to see any impact on you personally beyond economic. Do you not have parents?

I know that was addressed to me, but yes I have two parents - one is 53, slim and healthy so I should imagine her chances of dying from this are pretty low. The other is 70, also slim and healthy but at his age obviously he is at greater risk. But both have explicitly stated they would rather than their chances with the disease than risk being locked down longer than 3 months, and the poverty that would be brought on by economic collapse.

I really wish people would stop talking as though those of us who would like an end to this lockdown sooner rather than later (once we've flattened the curve) are stupid children who don't know what this illness does. I have several relatives and friends who work in frontline NHS care. I absolutely do know.

Do you not think the goverment would want to get back to normal as soon as.
They are not doing this for fun they obviously know a lot more than we do and this virus and wouldn't be risking our economy if they thought we could all just get over it.
And when herd immunity was first suggested everyone screamed in horror now it seems people are advocating for it. The goverment can't win.

Thewinkingprawn “ I suspect people shouting for months of lockdown and no return to normality will change tune massively when furlough pay and all other government help stops in the very near future.”

This. We have to learn to live and die with this disease. I’m stunned at the number of MNers who think “wait for a vaccine” is an answer.

What I’m wondering is, with people obsessing over stats, how long will the daily briefing go on? The hysteria won’t go away until we end the briefings but I realise people will be baying for blood if we don’t have them. Maybe when deaths get below 400 a day?

It lasts as long as it needs too. I would rather be sure we are past it than go back to work and school then be told we need to shut down again because of a second wave killing more people. The whole world is in the same situation so we will bounce back when the time is Wright to do so.

I’m a nurse. My hospital is far from full and not filling up.
We need to get the young and well back to school and work ASAP.
The economic fallout will cause far greater damage to our collective health than this virus ever could.

Agree with @Zenia.
So many posts talking about NO access to help from the NHS unless your lips are blue and you are almost unconscious.
This is the NHS we will be paying for.
Taxes will increase, VAT will probably rise to 25%, The self employed will pay extra NI
Those of us who have received no benefits or help will be taxed to the hilt.
We need to re-start the economy as safely as we can and as soon as we can.

The whole world is in the same situation so we will bounce back when the time is Wright to do so.

Yes, workers will bounce back into boarded up shops and people will bounce back into repossessed houses.

“ And when herd immunity was first suggested everyone screamed in horror“

No, “everyone” didn’t scream in horror. But if you’re okay with it, it’s become taboo to say on MN. Hence I feel the need to say, yes, it’s okay if I die or loved ones die, we’d rather have a normal ish life, keeping in mind we don’t do restaurants, holidays etc, admittedly because we can’t afford them.

It lasts as long as it needs too

And if that's years? Or no vaccine found? There won't be jobs to go back to.

So much scaremongering. No one will starve.

@LilacTree1 So a normal life for 2 months and then die?

alloutoffucks thinks people are scaremongering, the mind boggles.

iheartNiles who doesn’t? 😂
I only know one nurse, she said the same thing to me.

alloutoffucks why not? It does happen, or is the UK somehow exempt?

So much scaremongering. No one will starve.

And that's scaremongering, but people saying it's a choice between lockdown and death aren't scaremongering. Okeydokey.

Perhaps those of us who have really known poverty don't have the luxury of confidence that it won't happen again.

You might be happy to take your chances, the NHS however would feel obliged to try and pick up the pieces and keep you going if possible.

There have been recessions and depressions before and most people just get on with the job of getting out of them.

alloutoffucks yes. I’m not answering you on that one again.

That model last week showed 3 months of lock down three months of easing would be bad yes but we would bounce back. Sunak even said that and I would hope he was more aware than us.

Agree @Frompcat. The risks for the working age population are extremely small and are negligible for children. I just watched the BBC concert programme and it was an absolute disgrace that they had small children asking questions about hand sanitiser and face masks. The risk to children is less than the flu! Why would anyone want to worry their 6 year old about this?

If the lockdown goes into a full-on depression it will shorten lives. In India, people will starve because of their lockdown and because of the collapse in demand in the West for ‘non-essentials’ such as clothing. But of course those lives don’t matter as they are overseas

The problem with the illness is how infectious it is and the number it infects if left unchecked rather than the death rate per se. The lockdown is to prevent it infecting lots of people at once as even if 1% of people die that’s still a lot, as we are seeing now sadly. If the infection rate can be brought down the numbers dying will be less. We can’t sit at home for years awaiting a vaccine that might not even come. We just need to keep trying to manage the numbers to keep them within manageable levels the NHS can cope with.

Lots of people working are dying. You do know most people work until 67?

Food is still being grown and produced. There is no shortage.

But is it that infectious? Or at least does it affect people? The studies in the cruise ship and the French aircraft carrier show 50% asymptomatic. Look at Professor Karol Sikora

So much scaremongering. No one will starve.

Yeah, no one ever starves to death on this planet, it’s not a thing.

I would be very careful about chatter like this. There are plenty of murky pressure groups and of course other countries that are pushing this stuff as they love to cause dissent and trouble in our society. If we return to so-called normality too soon then all our efforts so far will be wasted. The 20000 deaths will be a fraction of what we’ll end up with if we break too soon. Of course we need to relax the rules in time but think carefully about encouraging dissent and anger