Posters who want lockdown lifted

[DianaT1969]

I'm seeing an increase in threads where the poster is impatient for exact details of an exit strategy (even though we can all imagine what it will involve - phased re-opening of some stores and businesses etc,,). Plus we're hearing the usual cries of lockdown is hurting society more than it's helping.
Spain saw a spike in new infections today - the highest since their peak 3 weeks ago. To these posters I'd like to ask what your thread titles will be during our spikes in infections and deaths after this lockdown?
What I'm really getting at is that you don't seem to understand that we're in this for the long haul. There is no quick fix, back to normal.

[gandalf456]

I don't want the lockdown lifted if it's not safe.

However, a question we need to ask is is lockdown the only way to fight the virus?

Today, we have seen a massive increase in testing which has resulted in the shutdown of the gov website. Very widespread testing so people can go out to work or visit friends and family would help massively . Testing immunity would be an even bigger help. It would stop anxiety for keyworkers or anyone else stepping outside their door for groceries etc. The wearing of masks has been controversial but the more I read, the more I think it's just spin because we're saving them for the nhs. If they don't help, why are the compulsory in so many other countries?

[Greenpoppins]

Bluntness100 - personal choice is exactly right.

A family member happily told me this could go on for 5 years (a bit nutty, but I guess some truth if a vaccine is never found). They are marginally at more risk than me, but only marginally. My DH is finding it really difficult mentally, I worry about the long-term effects of him feeling low like this.

[Babdoc]

Clinical trials of a vaccine started this week in human volunteers in Oxford. If it proves successful, it could start to be rolled out to the public (initially health care staff) as early as September. But even keeping lockdown that long would cause unimaginable damage to the economy and people’s wellbeing, lives and incomes.
I think there may have to be a sequence of repeated limited releases, then relockings, when cases rise to a level that threatens to exceed NHS capacity.
The vaccine may not work, may have unacceptable side effects, or may only offer a few months protection. We cannot put life on hold indefinitely while waiting for it. In the case of HIV, we are still waiting, 40 years later.

[trappedsincesundaymorn]

Go on then OP tell us how we should continue, because we can't all be stuck in limbo until a vaccine is available, it's not practical or feasible. By all means stay shielded or locked down if that's what you want but some of us are living in the real world and need to keep our jobs.

[Quartz2208]

lockdown WAS the quick fix to a situation that got out of control

Spain is due to antibody tests adding in infections rather than a spike (and they are still on lockdown so actually if it wasnt it would prove that lockdown was effective!)

So yes we are in this for the short term long haul so we need a plan to actually make sure we survive this because like it or not a lockdown beyond the end of May is not sustainable and will start to be far worse than the CV is it designed to stop

Plus at some point it just becomes a placebo effect

[Alex50]

We need a controlled exit plan, the longer this goes on for people will start breaking the rules anyway, you can’t policethis in a democracy, you can’t throw people in prison for having family visit or for going to the park for a 3rd time. The only way the government are controlling this is through fear but that is wearing a bit thin, people stop listening to the news. They can only see what’s in front of them, they’re not sick or their family members but money is tight and children are depressed from not seeing friends and school.

[LaurieFairyCake]

I'm not going out until the NHS changes it's policy about admitting when ill.

I WANT THE SAME TREATMENT AS BORIS - 4 LITRES OF OXYGEN PER MINUTE AS SOON AS IM HYPOXIC

This is why he survived

[Ihopeyourcakeisshit]

Unless the army are out on the streets there is no way people will stick with lockdown until September, you only have to see the pictures in newspapers.
It's been a month and we are already experiencing lockdown fatigue.

[ThroughThickAndThin01]

Then that’s your choice Laurie, I’m taking my chances.

[user764329056]

I agree Alex, people are going to start doing their own thing more and more, we’re not in an authoritarian state like China, with no guidance on timelines from government people will make their own

[DeathByBoredom]

Op misses point spectacularly ...

How about we change the perspective. You want to lockdown? Go ahead. Sort yourself out. You need to lockdown? Let us help you - what would make this possible? Universal basic income? Food parcels? A network of tested carers?

We're in it for the longhaul, as you say op. So let's start doing some grown up thinking

[LaurieFairyCake]

See you in hell/heaven

Throughthickandthin

[MrSheenandMe]

I suspect OP is one of those for whom lockdown is lovely: an extended holiday with gardening, baking and a bit of DIY. Or maybe part of a high-earning couple both WFH.

Someone on zero income, waiting for a cancer appointment, who has a loved one in a carehome, relies on carers for help or who is living in a volatile DV situation might have a different attitude to lockdown.

[ThinkAboutItTomorrow]

The point of lockdown was to buy time to create capacity in the NHS. It wasn't to stop people catching it. As long as there is capacity in the hospitals to properly treat the 5% who catch it and need treatment we should be good to reopen slowly.

Maybe those who are more at risk should stay at home but everyone else should be able to start returning to normal.

Ideally there is an effective contract tracing strategy to enable people to isolate quickly if they have come into contact with someone with Covid. Maybe localised lockdowns from time to time.

Pretty soon more people will die because of lockdown (eg not seeking treatment or screening etc) than saved by it.

Not to mention the economic cost and the negative impact that will have on health.

[Eastie77]

100% agree that those who wish to remain in lockdown should do so and let the rest of us carry on with our lives. I think there are some people who, for reasons best known to themselves, are enjoying all the lockdown drama and don't want it to end.

We cannot sit at home forever and wait for a vaccine. The vaccine might not solve all problems anyway. We don't know what the take up rate will be. I read an interview yesterday with the brave individuals who have signed up to be vaccine volunteers. They were describing the reams of documents they had to sign describing possible side affects. Who knows how effective it will be.

The lockdown was supposed to be firmly in place until we hit peak and then I assumed the government would lay out its exit plan. We were repeatedly told peak would certainly occur over the Easter/Bank Holiday period. Did it? No-one seems to know if we have or are close to "flattening the curve" which has just become an annoying buzz phrase.

Wales and Scotland have published their exit strategies. Where is the one for the U.K.?

[Eastie77]

where is the one for England not the U.K.

[SlipperyLizard]

There may not be an effective vaccine - what then? We cannot do this forever.

I read something the other day that made the point that there is an “acceptable” number of flu deaths in the UK (on average 17000 per year, but with massive variations each year). But we don’t lockdown for flu each year, and most healthy adults don’t even bother with the vaccine.

As distasteful as it sounds, there must also be an “acceptable” number of Covid-19 deaths, we simply cannot expect the number to be zero.

As a society we don’t want to admit that any deaths are an acceptable side-effect of life, but we must be able to have grown-up discussions without hysteria.

[Magicbabywaves]

Pretty keen on getting out of lockdown over here.

[MarginalGain]

I wish the government would stop pretending that spikes can be avoided, and that this would be a reasonable criteria for exiting lockdown.

Where there is a lockdown, it will will logically be followed by a spike. The point of the lockdown is to prepare for the spike and organise some mitigations.

[SarahTancredi]

What did u expect op

That it would magically disappear. We are just kicking the can down the road. Too late and we risk having the second peak amongst the winter flu outbreak.

What do you expect people to do with only 80 percent of their wages coming in when they struggle on 100 percent with overtime.

Fyi the only reason we can cope with lockdown is because some people are still working delivering your food.

Anyone who thinks "phased re entry" is anything but code for " shit we cant cure this so everyone is just gonna have to take their chances " is delusional.

[fuckinghellthisshit]

Personal choice, we have the right to assess and moderate other risks so, fully informed, we should have the right to assess this risk too. We will be homeless and bankrupt if it carries on until a vaccine is found. I cannot carry that risk, it is an almost certainty if we cannot work. The risks to us from the virus are very small compared. We all have the right to chose our own level of risk.

[BakedCam]

OP, I'd certainly agree with your opening statement on people pinning hopes on exit strategies. It has become a new buzzword of late.

I have always been opposed to a lockdown and what we see in the UK is not a total lockdown.

The u-turn in the government strategy was based on the Imperial College report. Nosediving into the mess the lead author of that report made of the foot and mouth outbreak, BSE has made me question why a report that hasn't been published or peer-reviewed carried the weight it has.

The measures brought in on 23/3 were to protect the NHS from being overwhelmed and increasing capacity. That has happened.

There will be no exit strategy. Each three-week incremental period will have new measures, building sites have opened, large retailers are increasing their openings.

If the current remain in place, we will end up with no spending power to reboot the economy. Slow but steady release.

If you have any understanding of what happened in the foot and mouth crisis 19 years ago, when farmers suffered the most horrendous times because of mathematical modelling, then you'll perhaps begin to near understand why people are calling for the country to move again.

It has to.

[SonjaMorgan]

I don't think many of us are calling for a full lifting. My business is closed, I have only been self employed for a year so I am getting no help from the government.

I would rather we had some balance. Gradually lifting some restrictions and keeping NHS admission under their capacity. I understand this would be difficult but I see no other way forward.

[CottonSock]

You can keep yourself home if you wanted.

[Newjez]

Firstly, the cancer argument. If we hadn't had lock down, the NHS would have been swamped, and nobody with cancer would have been treated because hospitals would have been to dangerous for them to visit. Thanks to lockdown, cancer patients will be treated soon.

Many businesses such as B&Q weren't locked down. They chose to close, so they could devise safer ways to work. A lot of these businesses will now reopen.

I expect the local tips will reopen, but with restrictions on how many people can visit.

We will always have social distancing until there is a vaccine. But don't confuse this with lockdown.

Once our infections drop to the hundreds rather than the thousands, hopefully in a few weeks, things will start to look a bit more normal.

But if people don't play by the rules and get the numbers down, it will be longer before lockdown is relaxed.