Why do so many people think that lockdown is about getting rid of the virus?

[TheDailyCarbuncle]

At what point did people stop understanding that the purpose of lockdown is to restrict infections, not stop them entirely?

Why are some people saying they're willing to lockdown 'until the virus is gone'? How have they got the idea that that's possible?

"It was reported in March that the UK government was hoping to achieve herd immunity by allowing the virus to make its way through the population. Health secretary Matt Hancock denied it was ever part of government strategy."

www.independent.co.uk/news/health/coronavirus-herd-immunity-who-uk-matt-hancock-a9510231.html

Sunshine I totally agree with you re the media sensationalising it via their language. Not just killer virus - but invisible war, invisible enemy etc. Using killer and invisible immediately make you think the worst. And war and enemy are very real terms for a world that was already unstable and have seen the possibility of WW3 starting the last 20 odd years.

I agree the media must hold government to account to make sure they are making correct decisions and not lacking in their response. But because there's literally been nothing else to report on all we hear is stay at home because ........ it was never going to be easy to suddenly say go out for x y and z because .......

Such as? There is no way to reopen schools in a manner that doesn’t involve the risk of exposure to the virus I don’t think. would genuinely love to be wrong

In that case why not open schools as normal? Why only have 3 year group going back? After all the risk would be the same 🤔

Posters who are desperate for their children to go back to school insist there is no risk to their children - Boris said 🙄 - so why isn’t Boris saying all schools to be open next week.....If there is no risk.

Did anyone consider the risk to the teachers, Support assistants, canteen staff, cleaners, librarians, parents and their families??

Each to their own. You want to send your children to school because Boris said it’s ok then you send them.

Because the government has scared people into thinking they’re likely to die if they contract it (highly unlikely for the young and healthy) and now people have an expectation of not having to be exposed to any risk of catching it.

Is it not more the case that people are aware that so many others can catch it from those healthy people?

Say I am a young and healthy person. Ok, not realistically likely to die of covid, but my Dad, my Nan and my youngest child with a health condition are|. So it makes sense to people to avoid catching this if they can.

Does it make sense for everyone to be required to avoid catching it at all costs though? As in, you don't catch covid, but the economy is so destroyed that you also lose your job and your house, the NHS is bankrupt and class sizes increase to 38 due to lack of money?

Because other viruses have been totally eliminated so they don’t circulate every year eg SARS from 2003

Because other countries have managed to eliminate this particular virus.

@Caoixr NZ has managed to stop the spread within their country. But they haven't eliminated it, because it's still out there. Unless they keep their borders closed or implement very strict travel quarantine for a long time then they will have more cases.

The possibility of eliminating this virus is completely gone.

@avroroad

^Why are some people saying they're willing to lockdown 'until the virus is gone'? How have they got the idea that that's possible?

It's possible for some. Lots of people do have the luxury of choice.^

Do you realise that the 1918 flu is still going around?

Wuhan lockdown seemed to 'get rid of it' and I wonder if people project from that? I don't understand their thinking so that's just a guess. There's confusion between the early strategy of trying to eliminate it and the reality of that no longer being possible?

Do you realise that the 1918 flu is still going around?

Yes. And that is a great example of what I actually meant. It hasn't 'been about' at the same rate as it was during the pandemic in 1918. Covid-19 will be the same.

I don't understand @avroroad.

There is not much I can say then.

Why are some people saying they're willing to lockdown 'until the virus is gone'? How have they got the idea that that's possible?

Possibly because of confusing graphs like this. It's not clear what the y axis represents, but if it is time and stage 2 starts on the 1st June, all we have to do is wait until about mid August and the virus will have vanished.

@caoixr

SARS sort of quietly shuffled off of its own accord, before a vaccine was rolled out. Which is possibly slightly positive news.

I don't plan to send my kids to school until I feel it's safe enough. This would mean some combination of a vaccine, better treatment protocols, reduced levels on the community, better infection control protocols.

I haven't heard anyone talking about the virus being "gone". That ship has sailed.

@jobhunter7 SARS didn't have asymptomatic transmission though.

Sorry, not clear what either axis represents, but the x axis is the one that looks like it might be time.

I think the vast majority of us understand it's so we don't all get it at once don't we?

I felt like that until I went on Facebook on Sunday evening. Since then I seen posts discussing an increase in transmission in both Spain and Germany - how bad it is and how we must stay locked down.
This virus is here for the foreseeable, we need to learn to live with it. I'm shocked and saddened that people thought this lockdown would eradicate Covid.

@SylvanianFrenemies

www.researchgate.net/publication/7721562_Asymptomatic_SARS_Coronavirus_Infection_among_Healthcare_Workers_Singapore

I won't pretend to be intelligent enough to comprehend this but you may like to look at this.

It depends on what they mean by "safe".

If people mean safe as in 'so that I don't come into contact with the virus' then they're being ridiculous, unless there's underlying issues.

If by safe people mean 'when the government has actually put a coherent plan in place and I have the smallest bit of faith that someone is handling this crisis in a sensible way' then they're reasonable in my opinion.

Think about schools. People saying they're not going to send their children to school until it's safe could mean:
A) Not sending them in until there is a vaccine and/or they are satisfied their child won't get the virus
Or
B) Don't want to send their child back to school until the case rate and death rate decreases and there's a workable plan that allows schools to open in a way that takes reasonable precautions and isn't just rushing back whilst hoping for the best.

A is probably unreasonable and overly concerned, but B is reasonable.

Lots of people do have the luxury of choice.

The trouble with this thinking, unless someone is absolutely and totally self sufficient and pretty much living off grid then they will need to rely on others without choice, to enable them to stay lockdowned.

we have eradicated one thing in our history - smallpox (even the bubonic plague pops up every now and then! and that took years of a vaccine programme

Wuhan hasnt gotten rid of it it reported a few new cases just this week. As I think iVampire said we need to contain it and control and manage the breakouts that occur

In that case why not open schools as normal? Why only have 3 year group going back? After all the risk would be the same

I don’t understand that comment - I didn’t say there was no risk of transmission. There is. It’s about managing the risk as much as possible while taking tentative steps to getting the country moving. I see very few people advocating just lifting restrictions and letting the virus tear through the population.

Another poster mentioned some additional measures such as antibody testing by September - I don’t feel strongly against waiting till September but judging by a lot of comments people still won’t think it “safe” as the virus will still be out there. I also don’t have a lot of faith in how much test and trace will help given what I’ve heard but hopefully the govt will come up trumps with it.

Is it not more the case that people are aware that so many others can catch it from those healthy people?

For lots of people (including me) this is the concern, but I’ve seen shitloads of posts about not risking their children’s lives and also about does no one care about the risk to the teachers etc

I felt like that until I went on Facebook on Sunday evening. Since then I seen posts discussing an increase in transmission in both Spain and Germany

The reason the increase in transmission rate in Germany is worrying is because once R goes above 1, the numbers of people with the virus increase exponentially and it becomes more likely that services will be overwhelmed.