Lockdown is a luxury

[Nihiloxica]

"It's a luxury the middle classes are enjoying and higher income countries are enjoying at the expense of the poor, the vulnerable, and the less developed countries.

It's a very serious crisis.

To think of it simply in terms of "is this epidemic going to be over or not?" is unconscionable."

Professor Sunetra Gupta, Professor of Theoretical Epidemiology at the University of Oxford

Sunetra Gupta interview

This is a really good interview with a very clever woman with a huge amount of expertise in the area.

I'm already very much of this opinion, so it obviously appeals to me.

On Mumsnet, where many people think any objection to the lockdown is a sign of either stupidity or evil, I'm interesting to hear what people think.

luxury for some hell on earth for others

I think that's her point.

yeah i agree

Lockdown is necessary to protect life. Yes the handling leave something to be desired but it is clearly needed.

Me and DH are loving lockdown. In his words: “Our life has never been better.”

But we are in a very thankful position of our financial situation not having changed so we don’t really have any worries or stresses.

I completely agree. More people will be plunged into poverty, here and in other countries. Those already struggling financially will struggle even more. The problem is, people only see the victims in front of them i.e. those getting ill and dying from the virus, they’re unable to think about the bigger picture and how big the trade-off is.

Couldn't agree more

Richer people who could work from home were lucky enough to be able to do so, at least removing themselves from circulation and breaking the chain of transmission. Poorer essential workers did not have this choice.

So yes, the virus is by no means a great leveller, it affects some groups more than others.

However what did Professor Gupta put forward as an alternative (given then testing and tracing was abandoned here in the UK on March 12th)? Genuine question.

As an alternative to lockdown.

But but but...her model was widely debunked. 50% infection rate, where is her data for that?!! Serological data from around the world is showing only around 3-5% infection rates. Even Stockholm, with no lockdown, is only at 7.5%, much to horror & dismay of their epidemiologists. She doesn’t cite a single study to prove her claim that there’s some other kind of immunity at work in the population. I am just
And by the way, I am worried sick by lockdown & damage it is doing. We need a way out of this mess but we need science, not more models.