Am I missing something?

[theginge]

I feel like I'm the only person wondering whether covid is the biggest threat now...

Everyone is worrying about lockdown being eased 'too soon' and for some I understand this is a valid concern. The deaths that have happened are really sad and it's horrendous for families to loose their loved ones but there seems to be little context. The general public have been scared by the media propaganda and have lost all ability to reason and self regulate.

My primary concern is the other effects this is having on life. My middle child is in reception and therefore entitled to return to school. He desperately needs it from a social and emotional point of view. The risks to me seem quite low (we live in a small village where there have been not a single case and the school is small and in the village)and our local hospital has never been working at capacity at anytime during this pandemic. The issue I have and the reason I've chosen to keep him off school is the way that schools will re-open. The school sent home a huge list of changes they will implement which in all honesty sound horrific. The children are being treated like leppars. This is going to have a huge effect on all of these children long term and (in my mind) be far more damaging than catching covid for us. What children need to protect them now is some normality.

My baby is 6 weeks old, he hasn't met any of our family. He is no longer a newborn and they have missed this - I can never get this time or opportunity back. Again, a huge sacrifice for what I deem to be a small risk.

My husband lost his job the same day as our baby was born - he was made redundant because his employer could no longer trade and the business collapsed. His job was skilled but very specific so will be difficult to find a new job in the sector.

Every measure in place seems to go against natural human nature and I'm just really fed up of making such big sacrifices for a virus that has a mortality rate of 0.2%.

The lockdown was put in place to not overload the health care system and not to get rid of the virus!!

Don't even get me started on the whole 'clap for carers' thing. It's just annoying and serves absolutely no purpose. Nobody has been forced into working for the NHS or in social care - it's 100% an informed choice (I'm a nurse and many of my colleagues are of the same opinion!).

We will be flamed but I wholeheartedly agree with you OP.

3 people I either know or know of have killed themselves over the last 2 months. I know or know of the same amount of people who have died from Covid.

I have no idea how we are going to get out of this without a staggering amount of collateral deaths from delayed diagnosis and mental health issues.

I agree with you too, some people have lost all perspective, expect lots of them to come along on this thread any time now...

Send your child back to school I doubt it’s as bad as you imagine.

Losing the job is very hard but on the other issue you can have family / friends round now.

Not everyone thinks it’s too early at all.

Yes I agree. In terms of children there are other diseases that are much more dangerous if they catch them and we don’t stop them going to school in case they get it. How long do we remove all freedoms and rights from a low risk group to protect a smaller group of high risk people? It was right to take temporary measures when things started to spiral out of control but there will come a tipping point where the impacts on mental health, poverty, deaths related to non-diagnosis, children’s development and general wellbeing of society are start to outweigh the benefits of lockdown. I think we are reaching that tipping point.

Totally agree with you op. I worry that when we look back in 5, 10 years we'll realise the long term damage done by plunging so many into poverty/isolation will exceed the harm done by the virus itself. And I say that even though my own DM is in the shielding group.

I agree 100%.

I agree OP. And so well written

I totally agree OP. I think this whole thing has highlighted how poor the general public are at assessing risk. The chances of dying when you get in your car and go to work on a morning are far higher than dying of COVID.

Wholeheartedly agree op

People's whole lives are imploding

Agreed.

Completely agree. But would never dare say it without anonymity.

Yes I agree. It is appalling what this Government has done. The media fuelled hysteria has a lot to answer for

Agree agree agree

When the virus was rampant in feb March. Were schools overrun with it?
We were not bothered then.

My area hasn't had a positive case for over a week now. Why schools won't open is beyond me.

We need to get back to work. School life Before we lose everything

I agree - I feel our children are having to pay a heavy price for a disease which is highly unlikely to harm them personally. My child's school has sent a similarly scary letter - I'm going to send him (he's Reception) but with a heavy heart!

big sacrifices for a virus that has a mortality rate of 0.2%

I agree that if you look at it that way (not sure about your mortality number, though, it seems a bit lowish. That would be the same as your risk of dying from pregnancy/child birth!), it doesn't make much sense.

But why then would so many countries (with very different political colours) choose to lockdown? The risks of lockdown that you mention (and are very real) are quite well known. But do we (you, me) fully measure the risk of the virus, then? Looking just at deaths, it doesn't quite add up. So perhaps what makes lockdown worth it, is that otherwise you would get large percentages of your adult population all bed-bound at the same time, including key workers (e.g. the people delivering food to supermarkets), and the knock off effect would be worse than lockdown? (e.g. food riots?)
That's my best guess (I'm not too sure myself about this all. There is a discrepancy between what we're told, and what is being done, that I can't quite reconcile)

I agree and I dont understand why I dont see a lot more people agreeing. I do on MN, but not every thread. There are still a lot of people on MN who dont agree. The only people in real life I know are my family. Everyone else is in the lets keep lockdown forever camp

I agree OP and it’s so good to hear that others feel the same.

Well written and i agree with you Op .

I agree with you OP

Agree and I think more people are thinking this way. The impact on young people is horrendous. My nephew finished university this year - all abruptly in March. No finals and what chance of a job do they have now? Our children are having so much of the best years of their life missing, and losing their education for a virus that is of no risk to them.

Totally agree with you !! I know off 3 people who have died with it but was in hospital with something else , I also know 5 who had it but mental Health will be a worse pandemic ... and it is starting now !!

I think there will be large increases in ptsd just from the anxiety of possible covid contact and catching the covid.

I agree. I am the mother of young adults both of whom have had their careers and prospects badly affected which will have long lasting impact on them. I have had a pretty horrendous time during lockdown for lots of different reasons and my life will never be the same again either. I have very elderly parents who are appalled at what is happening to their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren in their name. My dad said to me, 'I don't want anyone to make sacrifices, I've had my life and it's been a good one'. And after I stopped trying to reason with him, I realised he is right.

What you are actually arguing for is a flexible lockdown so that less affected areas can get back to normal.

To do this we needed a proper testing and tracing system. We needed it months ago.

This lack means we've had to have a blanket lockdown.

We've had 60,000 excess deaths and it would have been closer to 500,000 without it. So measures were essential.

But your problem is with our government's incompetence not with people overreacting to it.