Has UK Lockdown been a waste of time and money?

[pontypridd]

Other countries have started locking down earlier and been far more strict. Their lockdown has had more effect and now they're beginning to come out of it.

UK locked down was late and has been soft - so not much change to infection rates etc are happening.

Might we have been better off not bothering? As it stands it looks as though we're going to have to continue this for much longer. I wonder whether a shorter and more severe lock down would have ended sooner.

www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/apr/25/boris-johnson-lockdown-dilemma-grim-virus-data

The thing is that by having the sharp drop Spain have seen due to hard lockdown, they have a very good chance of being able to come out and avoid all future lockdowns

We have a slower decline which means either a longer lockdown than Spain or coming out too early and then having to go back in , and for me a second lockdown would be mentally much harder to cope with than this

What is worse , I think part of the reason we are dropping slowly is so many people adapting the rules to suit themselves

Yes the situation in Spain is extraordinary and unimaginable here I think.
There are many children who have basically not seen sunlight for 6 weeks.

I have seen so many positive things in this crisis. People appreciating our key workers. The community organising WA groups with regular local pick ups to the food banks. People putting cards through neighbours doors and checking on the elderly. Schools making protective equipment. The fact our NHS hasn’t crashed and we haven’t seen photos of people dying in corridors like we did in China.

Yes I am sure there are sad anecdotal stories but I do think both our health service and paramedics and 111 are doing their utmost. There will always be some who sadly slip through the net and of course their stories will be told. But let’s not let those drown out the amazing things happening around us.

More than ever people need to believe that what they are doing is the right thing. Being in lockdown. Otherwise they will simply give up.

As our scientists kept saying in the beginning, this is a marathon, not a sprint, they resisted too early a lockdown
they wanted to flatten the curve
the government were almost forced into lockdown by the press!

why do you say half arsed lockdown?
we are allowed out to exercise.
we are allowed out to work if essential
schools are shut.
we can go food shopping if essential

if you say it is half arsed it is only because some people are not playing ball

@mummymeister We just completely lack the intelligence and responsibility that other countries have to behave like adults.

I don’t really know where to start on your post so I will say nothing.

@Chipmonkeypoopoo Thank you for your insights into the situation in Greece. The Greeks have been very successful and it is indeed something for them to be proud of. It has been interesting to see how different countries have approached lockdown and it will be interesting to see how each emerges.

I also agree that it is not possible to compare different countries because there are so many other factors at play and the fact that they are not all testing or reporting deaths in the same way.

@EricaNernie yes agree. That is what worries me too. That the media and public opinion get too much credence over the science and we do silly things because of it.

I think the government over estimated many people's sense of civic responsibility. They thought that people would adapt their behaviour and act responsibly with a sense for others. You only have to look at the number of people on here spouting self indulgent rubbish about their need to walk their dogs twice a day, walk dogs off lead, eat crisps on a park bench etc to understand that many put themselves before society.

@Floatyboat I think the government have been surprised at how disciplined people have been!

@Bool we sent our NHS workers and care workers to do their jobs without the right equipment to protect them and up to 100 have died. Thousands have died in care homes or in their own homes while being denied treatment. I doubt that the families of these people will see this as a success.

Do you think a harder lockdown would’ve stopped a lot of deaths? I’m not so sure it would’ve done, we will never know. I don’t think locking up children for 8 weeks is a price worth paying.

I did read the other day that the Balearics were tentatively thinking of reopening in August .. but not to GB as it's been such a hotspot!

@BackInTime When did I ever say this was a ‘success’. When is anything in this pandemic going to be a ‘success’.

People in care homes in other countries have also died of COVID 19

@FabulouslyElegantTits yes I found that quite an unbelievable quote from Spain.

we sent our NHS workers and care workers to do their jobs without the right equipment to protect them and up to 100 have died

How did 4,700 nurses and doctors catch coronavirus in Germany?

We can always holiday in Sweden

The figure in Germany does not include care workers.

@Alex50 An earlier gradual lockdown at least banning mass gatherings and non essential travel, imposing quarantine on those returning from abroad, testing trace and track would have made a big difference. But hey this government was following the science that said it was ok for Cheltenham to go ahead and then suddenly sitting on a park bench was highly risky behaviour.

Ericanernie - because the whole exercise issue is nothing like it is in other countries. walk from your door not cycle 30 miles with your mates or drive to the woods or the beach to take your dogs for a walk.

Is buying plants from the garden centre or DIY shop really essential? is takeaway food really essential?

Bool - we arent all behaving like adults! People sneaking out late at night to meet up with their mates. or meeting up in the park for a game of something or a picnic. Local selling sites still operating. post after post on social media sites local to ask saying that they "cant manage without a hot tub, where can they buy one from"

We just have forgotten how to be resilient.

spouting self indulgent rubbish about their need to walk their dogs twice a day, walk dogs off lead, eat crisps on a park bench

Once again: the government's failure to quarantine infected people in centralized quarantine facilities (=trapping healthy and infected people closely together in small buildings, meaning that the healthy are breathing air that is thick with virus, for 23 hours out of 24, for days on end) will be what has caused the continuing high rates of death during the lockdown.

Not someone sitting on a sodding park bench with a sandwich. Or walking their dog.

@FabulouslyElegantTits - I imagine many countries will not want visitors from the UK until there are some improvements here in the number of deaths and transmission. I think international travel is away off which hurts as my parents and sister live in Belgium and DH’s family in the US and Canada.

@Parker231 can you please show me any measures in which UK is at the top of the table. You think Belgium and the USA are better off?

"A report released by academics at the London School of Economics (LSE) on April 15 said between 42 percent and 57 percent of deaths from the coronavirus in Italy, Spain, France, Ireland and Belgium have been linked to care homes for the elderly."