Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Covid

Mumsnet doesn't verify the qualifications of users. If you have medical concerns, please consult a healthcare professional.

Original poster

When do we end lockdowns and let people live a full life

334 replies

frasersmummy · 31/08/2020 21:20

It's looking ever more likely more cities including Glasgow will go back into lockdown..

Mainly from what I can see to stop people meeting indoors

There has to come a point when mental health is as important as physical health.. Keeping loved ones apart does noones mental health any. Good

So where do we draw the line.. There has to be a point when lockdown is just wrong.

For me it's wrong now.. Enough of keeping friends and families apart

OP posts:
Racoonworld · 31/08/2020 21:24

I agree, there comes a point when the risk to mental health is greater than the risk from the virus. We need to learn to live with this and get back to normal before even more people suffer.

DianaT1969 · 31/08/2020 21:29

Friends and family aren't apart though. We've had around 3 months of get togethers. Local lockdowns are the exception. What's stopping you from seeing who you like at the moment OP?

Consideredopinion · 31/08/2020 21:34

We're not in lockdown are we? Few places yes.... 🤔

JassyRadlett · 31/08/2020 21:39

I’m an immigrant married to a British person and living in the UK. For the first time my family isn’t ‘just a flight away’. I don’t get to see them whenever we can manage it, but generally twice a year. If anything happens, I’ll be on a long list of people trying to get in under a monthly cap for even citizens to get into their own country, followed by hotel quarantine. Mentally I’m finding that extraordinarily difficult.

That said, the alternatives are just as grim for others. There are no easy answers.

Original poster
frasersmummy · 31/08/2020 21:40

3 families indoors but you.must stay 6feet away from anyone you don't live with.

Yeah I know no-one is policing it but I have an elderly dad who is scared to go near his grandson

And nicola sturgeon is talking of banning people going into others homes again in this area.

So no more having a friend over for coffee or wine

It's just depressing and there will come a point when depression. Is a bigger killer than this virus

OP posts:
Triangularbubble · 31/08/2020 21:43

Do you think your elderly Dad would be less scared of interacting with his grandson if we threw all controls out the window and just let Covid rip though the population?

Redolent · 31/08/2020 21:44

I understand that's it depressing OP, but what do you seriously want your elderly dad to do? It seems like he's being very sensible, especially if his grandson is mixing socially, attending school etc. Ending lockdown won't diminish the risk of the virus to him, which let's be honest, mostly threatens the elderly.

AHippoNamedBooBooButt · 31/08/2020 21:45

I'm guessing you don't know anyone that has had covid severely then? I love my parents dearly and would rather suffer 6 months of not seeing them closely then risk them spending the rest of their lives with lung damage.

DianaT1969 · 31/08/2020 21:50

If Nicola S temporarily bans people you don't live with from going into your home, you just meet those friends in a park or at a coffee shop. For your father, he's mitigating his risk, which is his decision.
What's real isn't what is reflected in your OP.
See your friends and family. The evenings are still light and the weather isn't too bad. The negativity in your OP isn't warranted. It might be in the dark evenings of November, so enjoy yourself now!

Rigamorph · 31/08/2020 21:52

Maybe once all the extremely vulnerable people are dead?

disorganisedsecretsquirrel · 31/08/2020 21:53

Please read up on 'vital pandemic'

At no point has it been 'cured' by boredom

Original poster
frasersmummy · 31/08/2020 21:55

I get ending lockdown doesn't mitigate the physical risk.. But it mitigates the mental risk for all of us..which I think is a greater risk at the moment

OP posts:
Racoonworld · 31/08/2020 21:57

@Consideredopinion

We're not in lockdown are we? Few places yes.... 🤔
Of course we are still in lockdown. Only 6 people allowed to meet outside, two households inside (England), both socially distanced and includes pubs and restaurants. We are very, very restricted.
latticechaos · 31/08/2020 21:57

I also think mass deaths will not be that great for mental health - do you think thousands and thousands of simultaneous bereavements will lift the nation's spirits?

SheepandCow · 31/08/2020 22:00

The sooner we actually deal with it, the quicker it will be back to more normality.
My family are in South Australia. Couple of months lockdown at the start. No longer needed because they have closed international ^and^ state borders. Only allowing in returning permanent residents, who have to quarantine (at their own expense). Guess what? Within the state everyone is living a pretty much normal life. We either deal with it properly - with temporary strict measures for one-two months, or it just drags on and on and on.

DianaT1969 · 31/08/2020 22:01

To those saying we are still in lockdown. It's summer. It's easy to be outside with people. Get outside and meet everyone you want to spend time with. You don't protect your mental health by missing this opportunity.

Schmeebles · 31/08/2020 22:02

@frasersmummy

I get ending lockdown doesn't mitigate the physical risk.. But it mitigates the mental risk for all of us..which I think is a greater risk at the moment
Hundreds of people dying every day sure as hell wouldn’t mitigate anything for me!

Do you really think everyone would just feel so much be happier and less stressed if we just say “sod it” and let it kill people????

DioneTheDiabolist · 31/08/2020 22:04

@frasersmummy, we have to do our best to contain this virus in order to protect the NHS. I know that it is difficult for people with poor MH.Flowers

All you can do is carry out a personal risk assessment and act accordingly taking both your mental and physical health into consideration.

yawnsvillex · 31/08/2020 22:05

Now! ....

It has to end now.

Triangularbubble · 31/08/2020 22:07

Yes, you might want to prioritise your mental health. I have some sympathy with that position though I think in home interaction is the riskiest and hardest to police and thus actually the most likely thing to get restricted again. If you want other things to continue (and personally I prefer my kids to go to school, my bins collected, water treated, goods made and in shops etc to having coffee with friends) then something somewhere has to be curtailed. It’s depressing yes.

But assuming your elderly father is capable of assessing risk for himself, why would a politician saying “we’re prioritising mental health, get socialising” suddenly mean he decides it’s safe to closely interact with his grandchild? I have an extremely clinically vulnerable family member - unfortunately they just won’t be seeing my children again this year in person, certainly not close up. Once kids are back at school it’s too risky. It’s very sad and both sides are missing out, but if Boris came on TV and said “right everyone, back to normal” they’d still be effectively shielding regardless. It’s not the rules keeping them from the children but the virus and their health condition.

TheAdventuresoftheWishingChair · 31/08/2020 22:12

Do you really think everyone would just feel so much be happier and less stressed if we just say “sod it” and let it kill people????

We don't fall apart as a society knowing that cancer kills huge numbers of people year in, year out. We don't spend any significant time thinking about the many people injured in car accidents let alone the vulnerable children who die of malaria and things like diarrhoea around the world. I'm not wanting lots of people to die of this virus, obviously, but I don't think it's as simple as that. Am I distressed by the fact maybe 60k have died of Covid in this country? Yes, in some ways when I stop and think about it although I only know of one person personally who died and he was elderly and counts as one of the people who would have likely died in the next year anyway (and he had a good life. Dying at that age is natural). A couple of stories of deaths locally have made me stop in particular to think how very sad for those families, but what has made a very significant impact on my life is lockdown so it isn't black and white. Death is a part of life. If you are, in fact, sitting at home day after day feeling personally traumatised by things like malaria or deaths from terrorism in the Middle East, then obviously that's different but I can't think for most people that's their reality. I am at low risk if I catch the virus (if I haven't already had it - I was on the tube a lot in March in London so who knows). I am at pretty high risk with my mental health if I have to put up with much more isolation, however. That is a significant issue for me. I am spending an absolute fortune on private mental health support to keep myself going but I'm still vulnerable.

Desperado24 · 31/08/2020 22:13

Where I live we are not under any restrictions and haven't been for some time as we have zero cases for over 100 days now, and are lucky enough to be an island.

This weekend we had an extra bank holiday on Friday to celebrate, life locally is completely normal.

But, we can't travel off island without getting permission to return and must then self isolate for 14 days - or go to prison, and they are checking.

Even that really sucks to be honest and is having issues on peoples mental health and killing lots of businesses, plus its bloody pointless because we cant just live in a bubble forever. Its starting to create a real divide in the population.

I would have gone nuts by now with the restrictions most other places still have in place.

Kitmerow · 31/08/2020 22:15

It should have ended about 2 months ago.

RunningHoops · 31/08/2020 22:16

Keeping loved ones apart does noones mental health any. Good

If loved ones new die they will be apart for longer. We just need to suck it up.

LaurieFairyCake · 31/08/2020 22:16

When there's a vaccine

Before then it WILL mean the NHS will become overwhelmed and there will be thousands on ventilators if we all just do what we like

Too few people clearly know someone who has suffered with Covid Hmm

I've been counselling medics with PTSD from watching people gasp their last breath at the beginning with no treatment, no help and no family around them

I cannot emphasise enough how many doctors and nurses are going to end up with long term trauma because of this Sad