Dear Boris

[DearPM]

Dear Boris

I hope you don't mind me chipping in. I know I'm just Jo Blogs with no high brow medical training or political experience. But I have an idea for lockdown. So, please hear me out!

To get out of our current predicament I suggest the following ...

1. People in the v v high risk group must continue to stay at home. We must protect them.
2. All those with high BMIs, with asthma, with diabetes, over 70, or with other underlying health conditions - please continue to stay at home.
3. Everyone else is free to go back to business as usual if they choose. So .. schools can open if they want to. Parents can send in children if they want to and their school is open. People can go back to work if the workplace is open, and they want to. Employers can open their business if they want to. Sports clubs can resume if parents choose to send their kids or go themself...
4. People who choose to continue to stay at home should continue to be supported to do so. Parents who choose to keep their children home should be supported to do so.

By taking the steps above we can keep our vulnerable group safe and keep the NHS from being overwhlemed, but the rest of the population can start to build herd immunity so that the vulnerable group.will eventually be able to be set free too, even if no vaccine materialises.

The risk of dying or getting seriously ill from coronavirus if you have no underlying health conditions and are under 70, is very very slim.

People now know about coronavirus. They know the risks. Let's enable them to make choices for themselves and get the economy running again.

Yours Sincerely,

Jo Blogs.

4. People who choose to continue to stay at home should continue to be supported to do so. Parents who choose to keep their children home should be supported to do so.

What would this support be?

Well I'm sure Johnson checks Mumsnet regularly

Until the politicians are happy to wedge themselves back into the House of Commons and send their kids back to private school, I'm staying put thanks.

They're basically saying poor people should die to keep the rich from losing too much money. You're saying it too.

Coronavirus is not fully understood yet, you don't know what you're risking by getting it.

OP, I agree with giving people a choice to some extent. But are you really saying that each school should choose whether or not to open? Based on what - the personal opinion of the head teacher? Why is his/her opinion (affecting hundreds of children, parents and staff) more valid and reasonable than the opinion of the government?

What happens when I want to send my child to school but their teachers all want to keep school closed?

Who’s paying for everyone who just “wants to” stay home? Those shielding are different, but the not particularly vulnerable shouldn’t be paid to stay at home by those who are out there working.

Demolition Barbie - for people under 70 with no underlying health conditions, the risk of complications, hospitalisation and even dying, are v v slim. We know this.

All I propose is that if you want to start returning to.normal, and have no health conditions etc.., then you should be allowed to.

For most young, fit people, the illness is mild. Yes, there are a v v v v few number of cases where otherwise healthy, young people.die. but the risk is low. Surely it is now up to us whether we take the risk or not.

@DearPM what about all the partners of the vulnerable category can they just carry on being off work until we have a vaccine ?

Dear Jo Blogs,

The latest scientific research suggests that individuals who had mild COVID mount a very weak antibody response. Herd immunity through natural infection is a likely to be a pipedream.

Sincerely,

One of Mumsnet’s Tory shills

I’ve got a high BMI and not staying at home, fuck off. I’m trying to get it down and part of that is going out to exercise

4. People who choose to continue to stay at home should continue to be supported to do so.

Paid for by ....?

What happens to the kids who have asthma and are being shielded at home and their peers are getting a full education - do they get a choice.

What happens if your child is in a shielded group and your employer chooses to re open - what sort of choice is that for you. Shield or lose job.

As a pp said - what happens when you choose to send your kids to school and their teacher chooses to not go to work.

The problem is that an individual can make a choice, but it does not exist in isolation. I could choose to lick all the trolleys at the supermarket but it may infect me. My decision to increase my risk. But all the people who touch that trolley after I have licked it don't really have an informed choice.

So the people who just decide they don’t want to go back to work, who should be paying for that in the long term? Is there a time limit, or can they stay at home indefinitely?
Will schools ever be compelled to open, or will they be able to stay closed indefinitely?
If some people want to go back to work, and their employers want to open their premises, can they hire staff to replace those who don’t want to go back?
Nice idea OP but not sure it’ll work.

"People who choose to continue to stay at home should continue to be supported to do so. Parents who choose to keep their children home should be supported to do so."
Supported how? For how long? The country cannot afford to support people financially for an indefinite term because they choose not to send children to school or return to work. There would be a massive division in society if people could choose whether to work or claim state benefits.

Boris Johnson has apparently had a video conference with 100 MPs as he wants us to be returned to a near normal state by the end of July. If that could happen safely then there would be uproar if those that were just frightened were allowed to just stay home and get paid to do so.

Sudoku book - I didn't mean you couldn't exercise! And it's all about choice. I'm just saying that people.more likely to have complications, such as those with high bmi should be supported to stay at home as much as possible for their own sake and that of NHS. My post is about choice, so I would be an advocate for the choice being up to you.

Because it's not just about you and your risk of dying. Your risk taking affects others. We can't base our decisions based on just ourselves and our immediate family, although many people do and that's why we have such an individualistic society. As long as I'm ok, sod everyone else.... Nice.

Dear Bojo the Clown, please let's sacrifice a bunch of people to Moloch the Economy.

The economy is already buggered. There is no safe way to reopen right now. If the Tories thought there was, they would be doing it without hesitation. Even their "Stay Alert" message has been criticised by epidemiologists.

I agree people are gonna suffer because of the damage to the economy but that's because our system is fucking broken.

People make decisions based on economic realities most of the time so if you give people the choice to stay home and get paid the numbers doing so will reflect how attractive that is.

If you want people who earn a lower amount to work you’d have to set it very low otherwise how many would choose to work in (for example) a supermarket if they didn’t have to?

My post is about choice, so I would be an advocate for the choice being up to you.

But in exercising your choice to get back to normal and build herd immunity, you significantly restrict the choice of others to continue to be alive!

Sorry don’t like your plan. Also sounds like not only do you not have any ‘highbrow medical knowledge’, you’re a bit short on thinking skills in general.

Thank god im not 70 ...yet But I’m a kick In the pants off it
Some of you lot really scare me.
Those of you who are braying for those of 70 and over to be locked away, just remember what you are braying for will affect you one day and it comes round sooner than you think.
So what happens, 69 and 364 days, you’re fine , fit and healthy..70 and one day, that’s it, into isolation you go

Tell me...do you really want to live in that world?

MarshaBradyo - if people who are not in a risk category choose not to work, they should be supported with universal credit / jobseekers allowance level of pay or be paid usual wage if they can work from home.

We need heat sensors at the entrances to shops, if your too hot your not going in.
Same for transport.
I know it won't mean everyone with the virus is identified, but it would weed some out.

Oooh, great idea, if I volunteer as tribute, can I now stay home on 80% pay?

Could really do with a rest.

Ta.

DearPM We get the idea and it's not really a bad idea, but as others are pointing out the whole 'if you want to' relies on other people wanting to as well. We all rely on each other so solutions have to be for everyone and are very difficult to get right.

I honestly don't know if Boris Johnson is getting it all right, but I know it's a lot more complicated than it looks.

Dowser - it's about choice. If you are 70 and fighting fit and firmly believe you would not need ventilation if you catch coronavirus - then knock yourself out, get mobile and back to work like the reset of us. My suggestion was for people's own protection. Some over 70s feel v at risk as that is the group most effected by the virus.

My point is about choice. Up to you what risks you take, but the high risk groups should be supported to stay at home to keep safe as much as poss...

Dear OP,

We live in a society so rules and choices made impact everyone, not just you.

Locking up millions of people and separating them from their sometimes young children, partners, parents, friends, jobs, livelihoods and general life may suit you but what about them and those who care for them?