Time to get real people

[cookingmywaythroughlockdown]

Ok I think it's time to get a grip on reality!

Coronavirus is pretty nasty but it isn't apocalypse now time. Most of us are going to get it at some point and we will be just fine. So will our families and friends.
The UK cannot stay locked down for much longer without producing a national disaster that will reverberate for decades. So - you will be going back to work, your kids will be going back to school. Wash your hands well and enjoy your lives.
I'm just so sick of the posts prophesying carnage and really enjoying competitive isolation. For most people living like this is borderline harmful. For some it is already actively harmful.

We have to come out from under the bed. Wear a mask, wear gloves if you like but be prepared to live a normal if socially distanced life.

All epidemics burn themselves out eventually. We are much better placed to treat and protect the vulnerable then ever before. At some point soon we have to just get on with it.

All epidemics burn themselves out eventually. We are much better placed to treat and protect the vulnerable then ever before. At some point soon we have to just get on with it.

One of my parents has already died. The other has cancer and impaired kidney function. How are you proposing that they are protected?

Antivirals work on viruses, NOT antibiotics.

Here comes @devlesko to tell us all how because she doesn't need to use childcare, nobody does.

@Wanderings well said.

Well said, @wanderings

I was a bit wary of the OP because of the title and the way it was worded - but I completely agree with the essential sentiment.

So who is planning on going back to economic normality then, to get the ‘show on the road?’

Who is booking a foreign holiday to save the airlines, or buying a new car soon, going out drinking and clubbing, making big purchases?

I agree people have been brainwashed by the “stay home, save lives” narrative and many people are terrified by the big bad coronavirus, like that’s the real problem here.

Our economy is in tatters and the government sticking plaster will shortly give way. People need to get back to work.

I know so many businesses that could be working safely, but opted to furlough their staff because they weren’t essential. I know other business owners whose staff are refusing to work because of coronaphobia. The government needs to roll out a massive PR exercise to get this country back up and running. Coronavirus is here to stay the healthy population need to get back to their regular lives.

21:19nellodee

Hands up who thinks that our government would not release lockdown in a heartbeat if it thought that was the less damaging option for the economy.

They haven't, because they don't.

Exactly.

I agree completely, I think it’s a total middle class luxury to be able to say ‘I won’t be sending my children back to school’ and people calling for more months of this. I bet those same people are on full wages, holled up in their big houses with gardens enjoying quality ‘family’ time and posting all over Facebook about all their productive lockdown activities. I think it’s disgusting. What about the people who’s whole livelihoods have done down the drain? Lost their jobs, been made redundant, trying to work from home with young children, or still going out to work and having to put up with low pay and a clap on a Thursday night as a reward.....I mean come on, how did we get to this!!

I’m not talking about the people who are being told to shield, I’m talking about the people with mild asthma who think if they step foot in the supermarket they’ll die. Get a grip people! We cannot lockdown until a vaccine is found......so people will just have to get on with things eventually. And I speak as a HCA working on a covid ward.

What utter bullshit.

A virus is a natural thing. What's been known to work for centuries is keeping distance to slow the spread.

You might not like that. You may not like the decisions your own government is making. You might simply be bored. I know I am.

Bit they are not scratching their arses. Every decision they make is, or should be, built on that one fundamental fact.
Separation slows the death rate.

So how does that work then? You can force people back to work by refusing them benefits, but you can’t actually force people to eat in restaurants, go to the cinema, casinos and so on.

I hope the government and business has some better ideas on how to build the kind of economy that can actually ensure us sufficient supply of food and necessities in a world of supply chains closing down and countries banning exports. Because if we have nothing better to offer than let’s carry on as before we are screwed.

The government needs to roll out a massive PR exercise to get this country back up and running. Coronavirus is here to stay; the healthy population need to get back to their regular lives

This in spades, @byvirtue

How long should lockdown continue? What is they don’t develop a vaccine for another 2 years? What is they never develop one that is safe and effective? What then?

Do we stop our children from going to school till a vaccine is developed? E-learning just does not replace face to face teaching.

What about universities? Do they stay closed and who then will train the next generation of workers in including doctors, engineers etc?

Who will pay for the NHS, for social care, for the welfare state, for the furloughed workers?

What will happen to all the jobs in the service industries? Restaurants, cinemas, hairdressers etc.

Who will have the money to pay for goods beyond the essential? What will happen to the manufacturing industries?

There needs to be a sensible middle ground because the magic money tree is going to run out of leaves.

We need to be careful- continue to socially distance where we can, wash hands, wear masks, try and remain healthy. Those who need shielding should be given work that protects them. Testing and contact tracing may help keep infections under control when lockdown eases, which may help save lives while we try to return to some semblance of normality.

I am genuinely worried about the economy- as well as my vulnerable family members, and can’t see how the lockdown can continue for too much longer.

Lallanala

Well said !! Totally agree with you.

There is little point in exploding back to exponential growth. I don’t know why people are ignoring that. Well not all, usual reasonable posters on here which is good.

Anyway it is noise mostly being posted, as the last briefing stated keeping R0 down.

Thankfully govt etc won’t throw everyone together and say go back to normal.

If I still have a job then yes I'll be going out and buying things etc. We are having a wedding next year whether I have a job or not so that's me supporting the at present non existent events industry.

The less risk averse of us will probably spend a small fortune as soon as we're allowed to go out. I think a lot of people have started supporting small businesses too which is bloody brilliant imo.

There is little point in exploding back to exponential growth

I think you’ve missed the point, no one is suggesting there is. Even the op. Maybe have another read, plus many people here to help if you need it.

Bluntess you are to silly to bother dealing with.

Too.

I know lots of middle class people on the verge of losing their homes, their business and some are actively suicidal.

Some I think would still want to keep the kids off school, but some are just desparate.

I've found some of the rainbows and fluffy positive talk insistent in my parent chat disgusting and really lacking in awareness of this. Its crushed any opportunity for parents struggling to reach out for support. I've found it very alienating. Its made me realise who to avoid.

Thats not to say I haven't been making the most of lockdown and actively enjoying it. I think whatever your circumstances, you have to do that to a certain extent. Time with family is precious and we should value it if we get extra time unexpectedly. Its far better than materialistic displays on social media.

Being productive is often a mental health coping strategy and many of these tasks are quiet mindful in nature. Or many of these 'wow look at the kids stuff' is actually educational at its root, so we shouldn't knock it too much either.

And its like all social media. Its editted real life for an audience. The editted out bit is the parents terrified about how they are going to pay the bills or the stress of juggling work and home schooling.

Just because its not apparent in a photo or what people say, doesn't mean that there isn't hidden stress or hardship going on. Indeed social media can be a way of putting on a brave face to the world deliberately or to actively be in a state of denial.

My point being is people shouldn't necessarily take photos on social media completely at face value.

People aren't necessarily being insensitive either. They can be wrapped up in their own little world or just trying to cope in their own way.

Ok. Come back to me when you manage to put your insult all in one post.

#bigchallengecringingforyou

🤣

Haha you’re hilarious. I’ll leave you to amusing yourself. Good luck with it.

Antibiotics don’t work on viruses but EVERyTIME I had a fucking virus according to a GP and I took my own antibiotics stash it work from the very first day.

You may have had an undiagnosed bacterial infection. This has happened to me: antibiotics for something else cleared up the "not an infection" dizziness I had had for weeks.

No thanks for being one of the pricks who contributes to antibiotic resistance by using them without a doctor's instruction.

There actually doesn’t seem a lot to be gained by hospitalisation though. There’s no cure and its mainly pumping through oxygen as treatment.

WTF?!?!? Look up "extracorporeal membrane oxygenation". ECMO allows the patient to stop breathing completely whilst their lungs are overwhelmed and full of liquid from the infection. ECMO keeps people alive who would have drowned in their own bodily fluids. Positive pressure oxygenation, as used for my colleague, increases the oxygen flow into the lungs allowing the patient to cope with a reduced level of lung function. Do you really think that NHS staff would use these treatments, at great effort, expense, and personal risk to themselves, if they didn't improve patients' chance of survival?

Honest to god, what has gone wrong with science education in schools that I am having to explain this stuff to adults?