I'm finding the reaction to covid utterly bizarre

[TheDailyCarbuncle]

If anyone had told me that healthy, fit people would willingly put their livelihoods at risk and deny their children an education for months on end, that they would send the country into recession putting healthcare, education and public services at risk for years and years to come to avoid getting a disease that had a very very small chance of killing them I wouldn't have believed it. If you'd said people would be afraid to talk to their healthy siblings I wouldn't have believed it.

I had measles in the 1980s as small child - the vaccination programme where I lived was slow to get off the ground - and it nearly killed me. In 1980 2.6 million people worldwide died of measles, a very large proportion of them children. No one ever considered a lockdown, it was never even suggested.

I think all the analysis of this situation in the coming years won't be about the pandemic, but about the contagion of fear that made people so terrified of something that wasn't a real threat to them that they created huge, long-lasting, in some cases devastating problems for themselves, problems that were nothing to do with their virus and everything to do with their reaction to the virus.

@ivykaty44 - I wonder whether regional separation with roadblocks and compulsory quarantine On entry may mean that areas in the country with lower rates of infection can start to open up before others. Combined with a strong test and trace policy there.

Some people have expressed objection to such barriers though. I don’t know whether people will find it acceptable.

Namenic How would you get freight and good round the country? How would you police the motorways?

I suspect that people starting these threads aren't bus drivers in London and don't have a close family member with lowered immunity.
Their lives are quite safe so they don't see why they shouldn't do as they please.

Imo OP lockdown hasn't been hard enough! If we had locked down PROPERLY like stopped all flights in and out from first case like other countries did as just one example then death toll would have been minimal. But because this Government put economy before life the death toll is what it is. And again with Brexit looming they are doing it again. Get schools back, send the workers back out, hope they develop herd immunity, the old are safely in carehomes being gradually and quietly eradicated, make it so Joe Public has the responsibility to control the virus so when death toll continues to rise we can't be blamed, but June deadline for extension to Brexit which the government doesn't want to do is looming so economy must be back on its feet so we and our buddies ( big business) can make enough money till December where we crash out of EU without any trade deals (but many with USA for substandard food and goods) and the sell off of NHS ( which we starved of cash and resources for the last 10 years) along with the over 70 s and education we threw away for this generation and we the government are not responsible cos we tried to save lives.........

The lockdown was purely so stop everyone getting infected at once so as not to overwhelm the NHS. I don’t believe the intention was to ever stop people catching it because of its deadliness to everyone, it’s just about managing the infection rate so that the people who need care get it. We have an ageing population and an obesity problem, it’s not unreasonable to assume this would’ve killed a lot of people in a very short time frame if we didn’t lock down.

@Sostenueto how can you live your life like that though? Under 200 people under 40 have died from this, 35 of those had unknown health conditions. You would never leave your house if you were afraid of everything that might kill you.

That’s just it. What do people want? Schools to stay closed for years until a vaccine is available?

Yes there will be rare cases where children are affected but that can happen with seasonal flu too. Overall for most people it’s a mild virus. I might be one of the unlucky ones but I will take my chance.

People who are highly vulnerable need to continue to shield and we need an economy running so we can let them do that

It’s batshit crazy, no pun intended

And it’s time for the UK to stop being the sick and obese man of Europe. This isn’t fat shaming. But we need to tell people that it is vital to take responsibility for their health and that starts with healthy eating

Alexa50 so what’s your point?

Because we've started easing lockdown without taking the same measures other countries did to make it safer, we'll face a slower and more difficult economic recovery.

And

We're not ready to return yet. We could've been but we haven't yet done what other countries have. We can pretend we're ready but then we'll end up with worse economic damage and many more avoidable deaths. Haven't we buggered it up enough already?

Agree with both of these statements - I don’t think test, track and trace is ever going to be implemented properly here, or that their questionable app (that they could replace with a less questionable one) is ever going to properly get off the ground.

Even simple things like making masks (homemade ones if necessary) compulsory on public transport they neglect to do. This week they suggested that people on already crowded tubes in London (having been nudged back to work too soon in terms of the infection rate, implementation of testing and tracing, and how set up workplaces and public transport are) face away from each other .

They are grossly incompetent.

I think the problem is that the government has gone for a sort of half and half strategy where we locked down too late allowing the virus to spread and are now planning to lock down too long tanking the economy.

I think they needed to choose either one method of the other for better outcomes i.e either doing a hard lockdown and contact tracing really early to initially stop spread and then monitoring borders long term or going down the herd immunity route, properly isolating the vulnerable including care homes and letting everyone else get back to work.

Given the state of the nhs and lack of preparedness however I don't think the nhs would have coped with the latter option. The first option also was reliant on good testing and seeing as the government has been running these facilities down for the last 10 years we didn't stand much of a chance of doing it properly either.

PS my Dgd whoose condition is now for life unless she has her spleen removed which she can't because it's too dangerous for her to go into hospital is home alone while her single parent minimum wage, zero contract hour forced to do 6 12 hour shifts a week or she will lose her job working in a carehome. I have to ring Dgd every hour her mum is at work because I cannot go and see her as it's far too dangerous , just to check shes not on the floor bleeding to death. Her future is on a knife edge while she waits to see what grades for her A levels she gets having spent the last 7 years solely devoted to study and achieving offers from some of the very top universities in this country , but are being calculated in an unfair way especially if from a disadvantaged background ( she was in hospital fighting for her life instead of sitting mocks). And having it been out in the fresh air even once for months has never ever uttered one word of complaint about all that she has list in the past months. Many on thus thread and on MN should all take a leaf out of her book!

Also agree with your post @Sostenueto. The situation is very depressing .

confusedaboutthis we live our life like this to LIVE. Life is more precious than money, big houses, foreign holidays, gadgets, etc. Family is more important. Loved ones are more important but hey that's just my humble opinion from someone bought up in a state home with no family but now have my little family of 2 DD and 4 dgc who I would willingly die for.
Also one day you will be my age and hope you won't mind being treated as if your life is worth nothing because your 70 or disabled or 7 pounds heavier than you should be therefore ' obese'.

100% with you OP. Finally a sensible post on here about COVID. It's fucking depressing reading the amount of people scared shitless of this 'invisible enemy' that we're 'at war with'. Such unadulterated pure and utter scutter. Fucking sick to the back teeth of it and I'll happily take my chances with 'Rona whenever she decides to strike me (if she hasn't already got me). I'm in a constant state of utter paranoia perpetuated by reading this blooming website (I know - nobody's forcing me). But fair fucks to you for daring to go against the grain. Can't imagine the replies you've received (as I couldn't be arsed to read more preaching about the vulnerable et al).

@sostenueto but that’s exactly the point I’m making. People are saying the lockdown was unnecessary and playing down the severity of the illness. I’m saying it wasn’t unnecessary because it’s highly likely a lot of people would've died because of those two main factors to name a couple, plus everyone else who has underlying health conditions. Of course family and peoples lives are more important, that’s why we should’ve locked down. The OP is suggesting that the lockdown wasn’t necessary because we will have to live with the virus either way. I’m saying that it was necessary so that our healthcare system wasn’t overwhelmed and the people who needed urgent care are able to access it.

Ivykate - roadblocks like for roadworks? Funnel them to certain exits. Either have a large depot or allow a time-bounded entry for supermarket deliveries.

Thanks dontknowhowtohelp 💐
I had hoped that this crisis would focus our society on what really is the most important thing when all material things are stripped away. We see glimpses of what society could become by all the kind selfless acts being performed all around the UK for those in need and alone. How communities seem to be pulling together and where people are willing to go that one step further for their neighbours. We see it when financial divides are wiped away. But maybe our societies have become over the last generation too selfish and financial divide too large for my vision of paradise to emerge. But if all things that has kept me going over the months of this crisis us the glimpses of my paradise that I have seen by the true heroes in our communities ngs carers shop workers posties emergency services, the lowest paid that have kept thus country going and for far too long have been ignored, brushed under the carpet, I visible to those that may have started to realise just how valuable they really are.

Here sums up it all

Sandybval 10 in that one area tested, be great if you could understand basic stuff smile www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-52648557 100 in the UK already FFS. nice work

Wow truly terrifying, even the prof is saying it's extremely rare and not a reason to stop children exiting lockdown. Totally worth plunging thousands of children into crippling poverty, a plethora of MH issues, not seeking medical assistance when needed as their parents are scared of going to hospital, leave them trapped in abusive homes, take away their solace of school and for some their chance of a better life through education for an unspecified amount of time. It's sad to those children and families affected, but we can't go on like this. People who are low risk need to get back to some semblance of normality so we can afford to keep protecting those in vulnerable households.

The original aim of lockdown was to ensure the healthcare system wasn't overwhelmed. I could understand that as an aim.

The healthcare system isn't overwhelmed. Not even close to it.

I think the 'save lives' slogan has confused people. They seem now to be determined never ever to get corona virus and are willing to put their entire lives on hold indefinitely to achieve that. Meanwhile, all the structures that make that life they're so desperate to save worth living are crumbling because of their fear and their inability to just get on with life.

Children need to go to school. People who are happy to do so need to see their friends and family. And the world that so many people have spent so much time and effort to build needs to carry on moving, so that all the things our children need in the future will be there for them.

Also anyone who thinks they're in a 'secure' job is delusional.

I don't think people have the first clue what the enormous impact of cutting the economy off at the knees will have on everybody

They managed to build hospitals in a couple of weeks

Yes @Namenic and some of those hospitals were never used. Others had a few patients before closing.

I can't understand the bizarre logic that shutting down the economy protects the economy. Destroying people's businesses doesn't protect them. Surely that's obvious?

Sweden seems to be doing okay. No better, no worse. Funny how we never ever hear about them any more in the press. Perhaps because they don't have the predicted apocalypse and it turns out you don't have to set your world on fire, you just have to socially distance a bit, and it works out the same

Oh and we are still ploughing ahead with brexit I see

What a bunch of total and utter morons

Hindsight's a wonderful thing.
If we hadn't locked down and had half a million dead we would be berating the gov even more.
If people are so sure the gov should have done this , this and this - funny they didn't speak up more at the time.