UK doing ok

[ExmoorPony]

A lot of people seemed to love the fact our infection rates were so much higher than the rest of Europe.

Not so now! So much for Spain's strict lockdown and mask wearing policy.....it didn't work!

Bit insensitive OP. Race to the bottom indeed! You win with regards to compassion!

No gloating here. Simply pointing out that Spains idiotic lockdown has done them no good in the long term. Sweden all the way

Sasha although in fairness they were initially going for herd immunity so it wasn’t totally by accident.

I think there is more immunity still. I was ill ( not tested) and had a negative antibody test. A number of my colleagues were ill, were tested and tested positive but also tested negative for antibodies. I don’t trust the antibody test at all and I think a large proportion of NHs staff have now had it and going forward hopefully have some sort of immunity going into winter.

@ExmoorPony

No gloating here. Simply pointing out that Spains idiotic lockdown has done them no good in the long term. Sweden all the way

Sweden would not have worked here.

We are a completely different country and not really comparable. Likewise New Zealand. That comparison is pretty stupid too.

If you want to compare us to other countries then i think it should be Germany and perhaps France.

I agree that Spain’s harsh lockdown was unnecessarily cruel for children and very unhealthy not to let people outside in the fresh air to exercise. We know the virus doesn’t spread this way.
Then to throw all that away and open nightclubs, bars, allow large gatherings etc. Doesn’t make any sense. I’d be pretty pissed off if I was in Spain right now.

I think we locked down a week too late, if we’d locked down earlier (and not had the Cheltenhams etc) then the feat rate would have been lower and we may have got on top of things quicker and allowed an earlier opening.

I do think we squandered so much time getting testing up and running and track and trace.

I think our lockdown was right though in terms of being allowed out for exercise.

@ExmoorPony

No gloating here. Simply pointing out that Spains idiotic lockdown has done them no good in the long term. Sweden all the way

No gloating here. Much.

Though it does seem more a hatred for Spain rather than any generalised smugness at how the UK has dealt with the pandemic. And how unpleasant to post a grinning face emoji when calling a country who did what it could to save lives when it was among the worst hit in Europe idiotic. Nasty.

Have a dodgy paella in Magaluf when you were a teenager did you?

The UK is well behind Spain and the rest of Europe in this and the UK populace openly flout the current advice.
If you honestly think he UK will not be suffering worse very soon then you are in for a big shock.

Death rate not feat!

^The UK is well behind Spain and the rest of Europe in this and the UK populace openly flout the current advice.
If you honestly think he UK will not be suffering worse very soon then you are in for a big shock.^

You are exactly the sort of person the op was aimed at aren't you?

You're just desperate for it, first it was the joggers and the people sitting on benches, then the beaches, then VE Day, then the protests.

@Cheeseandwin5

The UK is well behind Spain and the rest of Europe in this and the UK populace openly flout the current advice. If you honestly think he UK will not be suffering worse very soon then you are in for a big shock.

In what way? I don't really get the point of your post .

The UK opened up later but differently than a lot of other countries.

We do seem to be managing infections better at the moment- will that last - who knows.

But schools are only just going back in many other European countries so they also haven't felt the impact of schools going back.

Oh God, remember when we had the lockdown here, and some people were positively fuming about the fact that people were actually allowed outside for exercise? "Why can't we have a PROPER lockdown and get rid of the virus altogether, once and for all?"

Well, it turns out that the virus is very hard to spread out of doors, so keeping everyone inside "no excuses" and actually locking kids indoors for weeks on end, does absolutely sod-all apart from drive everyone insane, so that they lose their heads and go mad rushing into clubs and bars once they are allowed outside.

Shutting kids up with no fresh air or exercise for weeks on end, and then allowing nightclubs and bars to open soon afterwards? Well played, Spain, well played (slow handclap).

No hatred for Spain, just disgust at stupid policies which will have had a terrible effect on children and their parents, especially mothers.

Spain is very reliant on tourism and it is hardly surprising that young people in particular from all over Europe flocked to Spain this summer for nightlife / sun / sea / sex etc. They do every year. And infections amongst the young rose. Not rocket science.
On the other hand, millions of young Spaniards / Germans / Dutch / Italians do NOT tend to flock to Bognor, Margate, Skegness, Clacton etc. Hardly surprising. So we have not been subject to the same pressures and our infection rates have not increased as much. Not rocket science either!

I think above poster is right that they won't look at everything separately but as a country.

We wont really have the proper data to see what worked well and why where for another 3 or maybe even 5 years.

So far I'd say we locked down 5-7 days too late or we should have cancelled the mass gatherings and our lockdown would have been times well. But that's a chicken and egg senario.

But we have opened well. Pains me to say it but up until this point as hard as it's been the phased opening has worked and the T and T has been successful in keeping high incidence areas at a sustainable level.

My criticism though is that T and T is voluntary. You are invited to scan the QR code or register online. I think it should be mandatory as it'll help manage cases better.

I also think they dithered too much with mask wearing etc. If you want people to wear them say from following day and then compulsory after 5 days. So a reasonable transition period but I think it's hard to get people onboard when you say science shows they work. You don't have to wear one for 2 weeks!

@Carycy

Sasha although in fairness they were initially going for herd immunity so it wasn’t totally by accident.

I think there is more immunity still. I was ill ( not tested) and had a negative antibody test. A number of my colleagues were ill, were tested and tested positive but also tested negative for antibodies. I don’t trust the antibody test at all and I think a large proportion of NHs staff have now had it and going forward hopefully have some sort of immunity going into winter.

Yes anecdotallt i know a few that had covid postive tests but no antibodies so there may be a few % to add to the 24%. I think the tests were/ are pretty accurate though. It was the blood test and took about a month to do everyone ( that wanted one, most did!) We also have quite a few staff on the vaccine trial so that wil add a few percent more ( assuming it works of course!)

Brilliant. So not only are "the young" being blamed for the rise in cases in the UK they are now responsible for infecting the rest of Europe as well

I think grinning emojis when ordinary people in Spain are suffering whether it be due to the virus or the lockdown is pretty unpleasant.

This is the thing people were told comparisons can't and shouldn't be made too soon , looking back then people can say what was def right pr not. As this was unlikely to be eradicated by just lockdowns it was always going to be tough , NZ for example had a early lockdown and kept numbers low but cases are emerging again as no one can stay in lockdown forever.
Hopefully the trend of lower death rate despite higher infections continues

@user1477391263

No hatred for Spain, just disgust at stupid policies which will have had a terrible effect on children and their parents, especially mothers.

I was commenting to the OP.

Cheeseandwin. Yeah the uk population are the only ones not keeping to the rules aren’t they? The media has worked its magic on you! You of course have kept track of how the rest of European have population have been perfect.

@Noextremes2017

Spain is very reliant on tourism and it is hardly surprising that young people in particular from all over Europe flocked to Spain this summer for nightlife / sun / sea / sex etc. They do every year. And infections amongst the young rose. Not rocket science. On the other hand, millions of young Spaniards / Germans / Dutch / Italians do NOT tend to flock to Bognor, Margate, Skegness, Clacton etc. Hardly surprising. So we have not been subject to the same pressures and our infection rates have not increased as much. Not rocket science either!

Not rocket science?

Yet you have not really given it much thought?

Have you looked at the original restrictions in Spain and the UK?

To say it is all down to tourists is naive to say the least.

But it's not rocket science..........

I also think we should have implemented quarantines after Feb half term. We know many of our infections came from Italy and Spain. At the time we told it would have no effect but all of a sudden, months later suddenly quarantine works.

And it really isn’t hindsight.

Many people were shocked Cheltenham went ahead and the Spanish football game in Liverpool. Many were calling for an earlier lockdown as we watched in horror what was happening in Spain and Italy. Not a strict lockdown but that week delay really cost us.

At the time many wondered why other countries had shut their borders and imposed quarantine when we merrily let anyone in with no quarantine even from hotspots.

I believe 2 of the issues in Spain were that the end of lockdown was rushed in certain regions to make sure they were open before the summer and the fact that there wasn't a lot of emphasis, unlike the UK, on things like family gatherings, the advice seemed much more focused on public spaces. All this right before the summer, which is the time when everybody travels around the country to visit different sides of the family, go to their holiday homes, etc. and in a culture where interpersonal distance and physical contact are much closer than in other countries. And all of this after months of being stuck at home, not even allowed for walks.

I’m not sure a late lockdown contributed too heavily to a high death/infection rate as some of the most vulnerable were protecting themselves before the official lockdown anyway.

I do think mass gatherings and lack of quarantine for the inbound the UK was a mistake, but the scientific advice at the time were that outdoor gatherings were low risk.

It was a mistake to judge any country at the outset and still is a mistake as there’s still some way to go.