Is lockdown over? SMH!

[FelineUK]

I have seen more cars and people today than any other day. Even neighbour two doors down has a group of workmen in the garden. I fear once official lockdown is lifted it'll be 'Yay, back to normal' attutide for many.

[Gruffawoah]

It still seems quiet here, I only saw one other person when I went for a walk earlier and the main road I can hear from my house seems quiet. This was always going to happen though, which is why people moaning it wasn't done sooner were missing the bit about doing it at the right time. If the government could give some indication of the next stage, ie in 3 weeks we invisage x being able to reopen with conditions, but y will be tested, z will have to do whatever and the shielded households will continue to be protected; anything, people might be able to adhere better by seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. As it is just a black hole, people are starting to balance out their struggle with what they perceive to be the risk. Essentially the government need to get a handle on it, and not give in to pressure or do anything too soon, but give some indication, anything!

[Gruffawoah]

And yes, many businesses closed when they need not have, now it's evident this is going on for longer than many thought, they probably cannot justify remaining closed.

[stuckindoors77]

This, I feel is how lockdown will actually end. If they did a "right everybody lockdown's over you can go out" sort of announcement, people would crowd into places and there'd be a huge spike in cases. Instead, our already soft lockdown will gradually soften and there'll be a very gentle drift back towards normality.
I read somewhere (no link sorry) they need 75% social distancing to drive cases down then 30-40% to maintain a steady flow rather than another spike. So this sort of natural drift effect will suit them well.

That said, it's too soon yet as numbers aren't low enough, so they may still end up tightening restrictions for a couple of weeks.

[Gruffawoah]

No @stuckindoors77, it's so they can absolve themselves of responsibility and say well we didn't tell people to go out and about again, rather than them coming up with some sort of plan.

[fairgame84]

It's been busier here in Doncaster this week. Police have set up a road block on a main road today to check why people are out and where they are going.
Lockdown fatigue has hit for sure.

[CottonSock]

I have lockdown fatigue. Used car this week for exercise for first time and will again.. roads are busier, so are parks and pavements.

[OneandTwenty]

It will be very interesting to see what the numbers do within a couple of weeks. In a way, it's great if others are testing the pandemic.

Unfortunately, if they push the number of infection and death up, the lockdown will last longer and could possibly get worst.

I'd rather we don't "test" by reopening schools too early, much better leaving adults ignore social distancing willingly.

[MurrayTheMonk]

Definitely near me. Far less people observing the rules. The government are hinting it will soon be over whilst officially saying it isn't (I suspect as they are still going for the herd immunity on the quiet and now they nearly have enough ventilators etc) and everyone is picking up on that and running with it. Hope it doesn't end up biting them on the arse.😕

[MyDaughtersLeftFoot]

@SuitedandBooted exactly. My place of work was not listed but we chose to close up because we needed to assess what was going on. Staying closed for much longer will be far too detrimental to the business and if we can put the right actions in place, we should be open and contributing to the economy as normal (And not draining furlough resources, which are not a bottomless pit). Or we will struggle to recover as we won’t be able to orders and won’t get the repeat business. We will be affected by an ageing workforce and a number of people shielding and isolating as necessary.

Where we are the roads seem a bit busier and more people in cars together but generally shops are about the same and we’re sticking to it. House across the road had a car turn up a day and a half ago that seems to have stayed. Mum said house near her had family and kids over for Easter but thats two towns along from me. My brother says London is a joke/roads now no different to pre lockdown but he’s also being treated really badly by his employer so that may cloud things. And it’s a much denser population where he is than where we are.

[stickerqueen]

I had a gas engineer out today and a plumber on Tuesday.
The gas engineer could have waited until this is over but the housing sent him so I let him in. The plumber was an emergency because water was leaking into my electric box from the block's roof.
Some work needs to be done

[winterchills]

I'm a district nurse, I noticed more cars out than ever today! Obviously I don't know why or where these cars were going but the roads have been much busier today than the last few weeks.

[Rhianna1980]

Hello second wave in 4 weeks ...

[Frompcat]

oh fgs these threads are so tedious

[twinnywinny14]

I’m interested in why people believe our government have some kind of special powers to predict what this virus will do. All other countries are the same, lockdown measures for a set period then review and make a decision. I’m not sure why people think ours should know more than any others do . The lockdown will end when it is safe to do so, frankly no other reason is valid enough

[PutThemInTheIronMaiden]

When I first went out for walks at the beginning of lockdown, if I hadn't known it was on I'd have known something was amiss because of the lack of cars and people. Today I wouldn't have suspected a thing.

[Gruffawoah]

@twinnywinny14 but that's the issue, the government aren't offering any sort of insight to any plans, any consistent advice, or following up on promises of testing etc. There is zero transparency, and no, they don't magically know, but there's data etc from other countries and ways in which they have been successful which we seem to be ignoring.

[middleager]

I was out walking today and it seems like every other house has contractors in!

Kids playing together on the street, lots of cars.

It looks busier than ever. I haven't been in a shop for 6 weeks, so can't comment on that.

[Pipandmum]

Traffic same around here. No more open than before - some places converted to takeaways early on but no new ones. I've seen outdoor workmen since day 1. My pool guy is coming tomorrow to get it open as he doesn't have to come through the house or near anybody. He's a director of his own limited company so is one of the people who doesn't qualify for any schemes so is doing any outdoor work he can.

[PineappleDanish]

Quiet as ever round here.

Also having workmen over is OK. We have someone coming tomorrow to look at the boiler.

[lionheart]

Roads seem busier today (South).

[VenusTiger]

@twinnywinny14 I agree @Gruffawoah how do you know we're ignoring it? It's being discussed every day - I wish pps would stop comparing oranges with apples - we have different population density- if anything, they'll keep big cities in lockdown for longer, but then the economy would be skewed. Blame, blame, blame all for something no-one on the planet fully understands

[LindainLockdown]

Well people can only do this so long and because the govt won't provide any indication of at least discussing easing measures people are just going to say fuck it and I don't blame them. Perhaps it will give the govt the nudge they need to stop treating us like kids who aren't allowed to question them or have an adult debate about some sort of exit plan.

[midgebabe]

Are you trying to convince yourself it's ok to bend the rules as " everyone else is" ? Like a 12 year old who says " everyone else can ....."

[Greenpop21]

I don’t know what you mean, no change here.

[midgebabe]

Please Debate the exit plan

Do you or don't you agree the R0 needs to be kept below 1 once we exit?
If not, how will you handle the load on the NHS in 4 weeks time?

If yes, how do you propose doing this ?