Would you be happy to lock down for the next two years?

[BirdieFriendReturns]

If the government restrictions stayed in place?

So until May 2022.

Absolutely not.

If the UK had gone into lockdown with the rest of Europe it could have been ahead of the curve instead it dithered, let the deaths and infections ramp up and is now trying to emerge at the same time as everyone else and wondering why it's doing so badly compared to other countries. It should have stayed lockdown for longer - you can't go in later and then expect to come out at the same time - it could also have had the benefit of observing how ending lockdown was working for other countries. The idea that it might stay in lockdown until 2022 is just silly, however appealing that might be to a certain type of home-working from a lovely house and garden, no kids to worry about, socially reclusive never wants to travel anywhere ever again type of person.

It will have been a pointless exercise to sacrifice the working age majority or younger people for a much smaller population of at risk over 75s if this goes on too long

This.

So to the question in the OP, no. And it won’t happen because ultimately the only reason for lockdown is to not overwhelm the NHS, not to keep deaths down. Lots of people will die regardless, because that’s what the virus does.

Not a fucking chance

Yes, as long as the government paid me enough to cover all my out goings, wouldn't bother me.

All of us cannot stay at home forever. We need to follow social distancing and get back to work. Unfortunately we have to live with some level of risk. If you are waiting for 0% risk from CV you are going to be waiting for a very long time.

But it’s not 1918.

There was no testing then. No antibiotics to treat secondary bacterial infections. No NHS. No medical technologies. People also lived in crowded conditions and had extremely poor hygiene. It was just after a huge war, people weren’t as fit and healthy as they are over 100 years later.

Hospitals were dealing with mass casualties and injuries from the war, and many physicians were with the troops, leaving medical students to take care of the influenza patients.

Aspirin was basically the only medicine and many patients died of aspirin overdoses, well that’s what some medical historians think.

Global communication and sharing of information are also significantly better than in 1918.

www.cebm.net/covid-19/covid-19-epidemic-waves/

TLDR: “ Making absolute statements of certainty about ‘ second waves’ is unwise, given the current substantial uncertainties and novelty of the evidence.“

Absolutely not. I'm not happy to lock down for the next two months, let alone two years.

No. Mental health professional here, suicide numbers would easily top the corona virus death numbers (not to mention all the murder/suicides killing partners and kids).

I think it would kill me, also hugely unfair on DS who misses other children.

No. Totally unrealistic

I could as long as my job lasted / we could manage on DH’s wage. I feel sorry for the dc more than anything who must be bored without school and their friends and the people who live alone or are vulnerable to poor mental health.

It’s been different but so far doable for me and in many ways better than the stressed out, million miles an hour kind of lifestyle I had previously.

Absolutely not, and I’m utterly astonished at the number of people who say they would. How would we all live? My mental health is at rock bottom now - I can’t do another month of this, let alone two years.

I'm a bit of a hermit but even I'd struggle with this.

DD(5) and I bumped into a friend and her DD(5) yesterday, we chatted for a couple of minutes and it was so nice for all of us to see each other in the flesh (even though we were distanced).

Also swimming is my exercise, I'm really missing it and hoping they open the pools soon and I am actually missing having a little mooch around the shops.

I really can’t imagine “social distancing” until a vaccine. If there’s never a vaccine, people aren’t going to stop hugging and having sex! In five years time, I will be hugging my family when this is all over and there’s no vaccine.

No, but I don't think we'd ever be in lockdown for two years, although I do think we will be in lockdown again at some point. I do think we will have social distancing for the duration, and we'll have to make other changes to control the spread like ensuring HCPs and everyone else who needs it has PPE, using test, trace and isolate to control outbreaks, banning large gatherings etc.

We will probably need future lockdowns if R goes too high again. If we can get the new cases down low enough now, like the other countries which are opening up again (Spain has only several hundred new cases a day versus our several thousand) and then use measures like working from home where possible, social distancing, PPE, test, trace and isolate etc to keep it as low as possible whilst still opening schools and letting most people go back to work. Hopefully this, alongside locking down more quickly if it's needed again (as this is more effective) will mean any future lockdowns can be much shorter and more effective. These measures mean we can open up the economy whilst keeping coronavirus under control. Without controlling it, we are setting ourselves for more economic damage in the longer term as we'll need longer and more frequent lockdowns and it will be difficult to keep economic activity going.

We need to get this right, otherwise our death toll will be even higher.

We won't lockdown but - we've never had proper lockdown - but I'll follow social distancing criteria as best I can. I'm worried about the sheer number of halfwits who already find this unmanageable. When holiday makers land here it will be a shitshow.

No, because I'm not a total fuckwit.

@Alsohuman No fucking way. Living isn’t just not being dead

This^

Life is risky. People are being so dramatic about 'not dying' but everything you do in life could lead to your death. If we are to stop anything that is risky then we could just stay in bed .... although then you could die of a heart attack or stroke.

The whole point of lockdown was to stop the NHS being overwhelmed - not to stop the virus as such.

FFS, it's not 1918. They didn't even know it was viral in origin. NO treatments, no oxygen, no antibiotics, no IVs, a population of slums and many undernourished with poor health. Oh, and a war going on. Please.

My grandma is 85. In theory she could live until she’s 100. 15 years of sitting inside, waiting to die. She’s already said she won’t be doing that!

Absolutely not! How ridiculous.

No, and what's more I bet the people saying yes would quickly change their minds once they saw what shutting down the whole country for two years would look like in practice.

2 years of not seeing friends and family, no social gatherings, no travel.....in a word....no!!

Could we, yes, would we, hell no.
I would not do that to my DC , they need to see other children, play in the park, go to school etc. I am about to start my nurses training after the summer, how would that work, we would have a huge shortage of essential workers if they cant be trained.