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.

It’s utterly surreal. My best friend died at Christmas and one of the reasons I miss him so much is because he’d have thought this was like some sort of dystopian sci if b movie. It’s hard to imagine the difference that just a few months has made. It feels like a different place entirely.

OMG the disrespect for teachers is off the scale.

I am in ROI at the moment and teachers are treated with so much respect.

Can anyone tell me why teachers are so denigrated in UK. Sounds awful to me,

You can't stop every industry in the world and expect things to just recover. That's not how it works. So many businesses will just never come back from it.

No, you can't.

I don't know exactly the plans of the UK government, but here in Ireland, that's exactly what is being addressed across sectors at the moment.

There are a range of supports available to SMEs, in addition to the Covid payment scheme for employees (similar to the system in the UK) which is designed to keep employees on the books, and then facilitate businesses opening up again.

There are massive challenges - especially to the hospitality and service industries.

However, other industries will recover quickly e.g. the construction industry is a massive employer in Ireland. Sites have been shut and are starting to re-open, with social distancing and hygiene protocols in place, from this Monday. I work in a university, and we have several building projects underway - we (the client) and the contractors absolutely want those up and running asap, and that will happen. There are probably going to be additional costs but projects like these will resume and employment continue

In my own sector, we know we have lost massive revenue this year, and savings are required. These won't be brilliant - e.g. contract staff may not be able to have their contracts renewed, there will be a hiring freeze, but they can be managed and we can look to find savings to move through it.

Responsible government supports initiatives like this, they don't just throw their hands in the air and go 'oh well'. No doubt we will all be poorer - I expect taxes to increase etc but that will be cope-able with - and frankly those of us in secure employment are the lucky ones.

I absolutely agree OP, yet you just about get hung drawn and quartered for airing this view as if your (we’re insane).

Totally understand the vulnerable groups being extra cautious etc but for the average job it’ll be no worse than the flu.

The economic impact of this lockdown will be astronomical. It’s hey guys belief.

I was watching a programme today and the doctor said that you could count on one hand the deaths of children due to covid compared to about 35,000 adults.

I get the initial lockdown for a few weeks to stop the NHS being overwhelmed but talk of not seeding your kids back to school and happily sacrificing months of their education.... it’s baffling.

A poster on here a few days ago made a fantastic point- basically she said that authorities needed to scare people to the point of them willingly staying in to prevent them catching this ‘killer disease’ that was the only way to get people to stick to the rules and now look... 🙄 the fear is crippling

20,000 people die of the flu each year and that’s with a vaccine. It’s heats affects the most vulnerable. Average job won’t die if the flu!!

If there was no impact crowd the economy then fine, but the recession we’ll be heading in to will be more of a nightmare to the average person that this virus!!

Again I stress I’m not talking about the vulnerable groups here. Their reasoning is completely understandable

I agree massively I'm a biotechnology student on a gap year, I was exploring my options but after this pandemic I don't have a choice but to return to uni to finish my degree for both long and short term financial reasons. I have also applied through my parent and grandparent for an Irish/EU passport so I have a better chance at getting the hell out of the UK as soon as possible. Many other countries are offering far greater opportunities and ways of life and the UK has really messed up (apart from the NHS).

"I get the initial lockdown for a few weeks to stop the NHS being overwhelmed but talk of not seeding your kids back to school and happily sacrificing months of their education.... it’s baffling."

It's not baffling if you understand how the rate of infection works.

Get real, Covid is a serious risk to the old and to the overweight , with co-morbidities, and diabetics. Most others have an unpleasant viral infection that can last for a month. Children appear unaffected.

I appreciate that my DMIL (90) is at risk, but she has been chronically ill for the last five years with multiple old age issues, and asked to be euthanised before it got too horrid. DMIL is seriously dehydrated to the point that the phlebotomist can't get a blood sample. She won't drink because she is double incontinent. Sadly she also has dementia, so does not have agency to decide. And so she must endure a long lingering death, because care is what's going to drag out her death and suffering. I do think that sometimes the kindest thing is to do nothing. I did not type that casually.

Yep OP, felt the same as you until on the 22nd March my healthy 42 year old neighbour, mother of 3 under tens, died after 11 days in hospital on a respirator.

Worked from home 3 days a week.
Solicitor. Rural. No underlying health conditions known to her.

Just because it hasn't affected you yet doesn't mean it won't .

I am in ROI at the moment and teachers are treated with so much respect.

Agreed maresydoats

I mean, not everyone and teacher bashing happens here too. But the kind of frenzy I read about teachers and schools here is shocking.

We know in Ireland that there will be a changed environment when schools re-open in September. We know that will entail teachers and school management doing their best, and we'll support them. Seems straightforward to me.

I'm more concerned about people freaking out about their mental health every 5 seconds and the sheer numbers of people on here citing "anxiety" all the time. Does nobody have any resilience at all?
Can nobody cope with anything any more without falling apart?

The way that the British public are so willing to be told what to do and are willing to report their neighbours and comply without question terrifies me.

That's not the way I viewed us at all, well not until Brexit anyway

@Hunnybears

So you get an initial lockdown for a few weeks to protect the NHS- but surely you don’t think that’s sufficient right? The cases will shoot right back up if the R value goes back to where it was...

@bd67thSaysReinstateLangCleg

But the NHS hasn’t been overwhelmed.

In the govt briefing today 19% of ICU beds across UK currently occupied with CV patients.

The female speaker (I didn’t catch her name) admitted the initial fear that the NHS would be overwhelmed has not happened.

So. If that was the point of lockdown there’s no further need for lockdown.

"I mean, not everyone and teacher bashing happens here too. But the kind of frenzy I read about teachers and schools here is shocking."

You can't talk about anything on mn without someone popping up to moan about teachers. Even a pandemic it would appear.

nuitdesetoiles
I'm terrified not by the virus but by the British population is so easily manipulated via paralyzing them into a state of fear and therefore blind obedience.

This ^
I agree with you OP

Xing my DF had a quick and relatively "easy" death from pneumonia a few months ago, he was ready to die too, it's tough.

@XingMing "Children appear unaffected. "

I cant even

www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/child-5-becomes-youngest-uk-4020510

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-52682460

COVID-19 linked to 30-fold increase in rare childhood inflammatory disease

arstechnica.com/science/2020/05/covid-19-linked-to-30-fold-increase-in-rare-childhood-inflammatory-disease/

"So. If that was the point of lockdown there’s no further need for lockdown."

It's surely not beyond your imagination to realise that lockdown must be eased gradually if we are to avoid a sudden increase in the rate of infection, putting us back to square one?

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 don't understand your view on this- are you saying it's ok that those people died? If there had been a lockdown then then a large proportion of those people would still be alone?

COVID-19 linked to 30-fold increase in rare childhood inflammatory disease

To 10. FFS.

I agree, however I also think th3. Edina has a great part to play in this. Newspapers are full of scared stories, figures that change depending on what you read. Social media has also played a great part, including forums like this.

@Bluntness100 Where did you get this statistic? The government website reports 4066 deaths for those under 65 due to Covid 19.

@Sadie789

Are you being serious? You realise that the reason the NHS isn’t being overwhelmed is that we’ve cancelled the vast majority of non-COVID healthcare? The backlog for the NHS - cancer, surgeries, all kinds of things - will be insane.

@madcatladyforever

Poor mental health and anxiety have nothing to do with lacking 'resilience'. That's a view as outdated as bell-bottom trousers and bleeding people with leeches.

What amazes me is how easily we all gave up. Everyone secretly needed a break.