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?

[Frompcat]

And it's not forever, its not until there is a vaccine, it's a few weeks. Things will change and get better slowly soon

Not judging by the multiple posts on here insisting this is forever.

[Gwenhwyfar]

From - it hasn't been around long enough for us to really know what recovery is. Do your lungs suffer permanent damage, for example?

[Frompcat]

Do your lungs suffer permanent damage, for example?

Well if they do it's tough to be honest isn't it, because for most people it isn't going to be feasible to stay indoors for 18 months no matter how at risk they are.

[SallyB392]

Every comment on here is just that an opinion, it's not based on scientific knowledge, nor, as far as I can see, for the greater good, but very much for individual comfort. So, I'm going to add my opinion.....

Personally, and as someone isolating so as not to place a burden on an already stretched NHS, I believe that the lockdown needs to continue beyond the next 3 weeks. Everything that I have read suggests that if lock down is lifted at this stage, there will be a second wave of infection very quickly after.

Have none of you seen our NHS and other essential workers, and how exhausted they are? Before introducing a second wave of high infection levels, they need to catch their breath, and build up their strength. Meanwhile, the govt., AND business owners, need to put into place a realistic strategy of return, and I suspect that this will include permanent changes to the way in which we work.

Our jobs meanwhile, is to follow instructions to the letter, and allow those IN THE KNOW, to make their decisions based on facts.

[Frompcat]

Have none of you seen our NHS and other essential workers, and how exhausted they are?

Yes, I live with one. He wants the lockdown lifted after 3 weeks.

[Lweji]

Yes, I live with one. He wants the lockdown lifted after 3 weeks

Do vou live with a bealth professional working in a covid affected area?

[Xenia]

The greater good is to end lock down on 5 or 11 May in my view otherwise we will not be able to afford to pay the wages of nurses or teachers.

[5zeds]

@Frompcat you live with someone who works in a Covid ward at a hospital who wants to lift restrictions or you live with an essential worker who doesn’t see that? Because that is NOT the reaction I have seen from the former.

[woodchuck99]

What sort of businesses? Doing what? Can’t be selling, because that needs production, can’t be services, because who will pay for something that’s not necessary?

The lockdown doesn't mean that things can't be produced for that factories can't open.

[woodchuck99]

I'll give you high education as something that can go on completely in lockdown without people having to actually be out doing stuff. Lecturing can go on to a point but how does that work for the actual exams? But then if lockdown goes on too long they'd be no jobs for graduates, no point in paying the fees for uni.

Of course there will be jobs graduates in the future.

[Letseatgrandma]

I think there will be a further 3 week lockdown after this one.

[alloutoffucks]

@Frompcat Elderly people are being encouraged to have a DNR. That means they won't get treatment often. If you need hospitalisation the recovery rates for an 80 year old are not great. And the risk of death for an 80 year old is 13.9%, not 5%.
Nobody will be staying indoors for 2 years. Nobody has to stay indoors even at the moment. In terms of meeting others, that is not going to be a restriction for 2 years.
There will be better treatments emerge that make it safer to catch. So plasma therapy is being used in the US and will be used here. Not a magic bullet, but it will help as will other treatments that emerge.

[Frompcat]

Do vou live with a bealth professional working in a covid affected area

Yes. He isn't alone, either. Plenty of medical professionals also recognise the major health implications from a period of extended lockdown, as well as from covid itself.

He's fully supportive of the lockdown; he simply doesn't think it should continue indefinitely as many on here seem to.

[Xenia]

Yes., lockdown allows every business to keep open including factories (other than a few listed who must shut eg pubs and other than those people (very few) who can work from home)(. All other businesses whether essential or otherwise we need to work so we can generate tax to pay the wages of nurses etc.

[5zeds]

I think the idea that there will be no new jobs created ever again is odd. That’s not the case at my work.

[woodchuck99]

You missed my point about insurance needing people doing stuff to generate work. 1000s of people have cars on finance options type deals, if people are in lockdown and the car is up for renewal are they going to be taking out a new car or hand the existing car back and walking away. I know we won't be replacing our lease car while still in lockdown, so saving on the payments, road tax, and insurance.

Some people will give the new car back and others will keep them. Not everybody is going to be unemployed due to having a lockdown. Many people are continuing to work at the moment and more will be in the next few months as the lockdown lifts.

[alloutoffucks]

And there are still other treatments happening as normal. DP went to his GP last week for his usual blood tests.
But if there are no medical staff to staff specialist treatment, they can't magic them up. And if a consultant is saying a patient is at high risk of catching covid 19 if they come into hospital and if they catch it they will die, so less risky for them to delay treatment, what do you expect anyone to do?
These issues are not caused by lock down. A virus that will kill some people would still exist and their consultant would still delay their treatment.
I have no idea why anyone thinks lifting lock down would change this.
A friend of mine who has cancer is in this situation. She is scared. But her consultant has said she will die if she catches covid 19, but that she still has a good chance of survival if her treatment is delayed. Most cancer treatment destroys peoples ability to fight even common colds. Their Drs are trying to protect them.

[alloutoffucks]

My DP is still working from home. As soon as lock down is lifted he will have to go back to work. He is normally required to work between 2 sites and needs a car. Who would we sell the car only to have to buy a new one in a few months time? Makes no sense. And most people will still be using cars to go to the supermarket and to travel for daily walks. DP used the car to go to the GPs. What everyone is avoiding is public transport.

[Ferret27]

Ask 99year old Tom he lived through a 5 year war ... the country was bombed ... millions died ... we lived on !

[Mittens030869]

The government have caused this problem by not doing extensive testing in the community. A lot of us have had what's almost certain to be COVID-19 but we don't know for sure. I keep catching chest infections now and I would like to know whether I'm still at risk of catching it when the DDs start school again?

A lot of teachers will have concerns about that, and other parents. The children themselves won't be at risk (DD2 lonely had it for 4 days!) but I can't imagine that they won't spread it. Or if not them then parents and teachers could at home time. That's why the part-time suggestion has some merit.

We need the antibody test to be widely available, but it's not at all clear that such a test is ever going to work.

[woodchuck99]

Covid19 is a virus. It's not going anywhere. The only way out is to shield the old and vulnerable and everyone else needs to get back to normal life. The media have whipped up hysteria and panic and it needs to stop now. I look forward to hearing about a realistic exit strategy and for everyone to accept that the damage being done to mental health, people awaiting cancer treatments, cancelled operations etc etc far outweighs the damage caused by this virus.

The treatments for cancer have been cancelled because those people are at high risk if they catch coronavirus. The risk will be higher if the lockdown discontinues now and the infection rates explode. So more death and coronavirus and more deaths from cancer and other conditions. The bit that needs to stop now is the hysteria about the economy never recovering due to lockdown and millions of lives lost from starvation etc. I'm not saying that the economy will not suffer and that peoples standard of living won't drop but it is a lot better than hundreds of thousands of people dying prematurely not only of coronavirus but of cancer and other conditions.

[woodchuck99]

Ask 99year old Tom he lived through a 5 year war ... the country was bombed ... millions died ... we lived on !

The people that died didn't live on.

[Lweji]

The WHO has outlined conditions for exiting lockdown in general.
See how many are met by the UK.

1. Disease transmission is under control

1. Health systems are able to "detect, test, isolate and treat every case and trace every contact"

1. Hot spot risks are minimized in vulnerable places, such as nursing homes

1. Schools, workplaces and other essential places have established preventive measures

1. The risk of importing new cases "can be managed"

1. Communities are fully educated, engaged and empowered to live under a new normal

www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/04/15/834021103/who-sets-6-conditions-for-ending-a-coronavirus-lockdown

[nellodee]

*The only way out is to shield the old and vulnerable"

How is this working out, even with in lockdown?