So what's the plan if we don't get a vaccine?

[zafferana]

All this 'Covid-safe' planning for reopening businesses, schools, etc presupposes that this is temporary and that we'll have a vaccine before long and can then go back to life as normal.

I bloody hope that's the case, but what happens if we never get one, as some scientists say is likely? When will we just accept the risk and get on with life again? And how many of us would say 'Right now', if asked that question. I think I would.

I am absolutely confident it was about in December. At the end of December my husband had the worst cough / fever / virus he’d ever had in his life. He’s 33 and a runner and very fit and healthy but it completely floored him. He had to take 2 weeks off work and was so unwell he could hardly catch his breath for coughing. Sure it could have just been any random virus but it really was like nothing we had ever experienced before. I then caught it 2 weeks later and was unwell, but not as bad as dh, then dd aged 17 got it but just had chest pains and bit of a fever and then ds aged 8 just had a random spiking fever for two days, no other symptoms - which fits with the “model” of men getting it worse, and younger children getting it with hardly any symptoms. I really think it’s been circulating for a while.

If there is no vaccine, the only option is herd immunity or live like we are currently living for ever. I’ll take my chances with herd immuntiy thanks!

there was no vaccine for spanish flu 100 years ago, i dont know how it works but it just seemed to go away. Maybe this was the herd immunity thing

@ProfessorRadcliffeEmerson

The Government plan seems to be to trash our economy, education system and cultural life and watch suicides and deaths from other treatable illnesses go up and up - but hey, we should be grateful because we haven’t died of Covid.

Lockdowns etc are the plan of every government in the world. So either all the people with power in the world are trying to destroy the world they live in or it's the most rational way to handle it.

btw Samaritans recently said they have no evidence of a rise in suicide rates in the UK. Unless there's something more recent that is just social media clickbait.

@zafferana

Well to be completely frank, we were totally fed up with the lack of available information about cases in our local area - where we work and live. We found the decision as to whether tos end our daughter back to school crippling last term - we had absolutely no idea whether there were cases in our local area. Which would hugely impact the decision we would make.

Born out of total frustration (and I am an ex data analyst), I sourced the data (it is actually published by the governemnt daily but it is a pain in the you-know-what to extract) and it was invaluable in informing our day to day decisions.

In my opinion, in addition to the day to day safeguards the governemnt recommends, I do think it is invaluable to know what is happening on your doorstep - how many cases there are ? is the number of cases rising or falling? ie has an initial outbreak started or is one being successfully contained by the health service.

Im still incredulous that this information is not readily available.

So born out of total frustration i built an email service which is free to sign up. We have had loads of lovely mumsnet mums sign up from the start (and thank you for all the moral support).

Frankly, I think we should all wake up each morning and know what is happening where we live. If there is an outbreak locally, I want to lie low for a week or maybe more and let it pass; I want to reschedule non-essential activities until after it passes. I want to take responsible steps when things aren't looking so good. I can't do that if I don't know what's happening day to day - as the situation changes so, so quickly and its just not reported in the media unless we are well into a catastrophic outbreak - which is too late in my opinion.

Anyway, I am blathering on. If my email service would be of any help to any of you, you are most welcome to sign up (its a free service - I'm hoping to get corporate sponsorship to keep it going).

www.covidmessenger.com/

That's awesome @littleowl1!

I'll sign up, because I totally agree - knowing how many local cases there are is really important information that should be available to everyone. I can't believe you've had to set this up and the government haven't done it. Thank you!

Amazing! Just signed up for this. Thanks so much

I was just pondering the oddness of handshakes and if there’s no vaccine they will die a death.

They may well do anyway.

thanks little owl I've signed up too.