Wow,look at the actual numbers on worldometer at the moment ..

[Layladylay234]

Current levels of infection: 7,007,039
Number of mild infections: 6,946,649 (99%)
Number of serious/critical cases: 60,390 (1%)

Do these numbers make anyone else think,what the fuck are we doing damaging the economy,our children's future and mental health for figures like this?

It’s not just dying from covid......what about the king term issues from having had it? I have read people don’t always just recover But are left with problems

*long term

@copernicium it's not flu season yet, I'm not even booked in for my flu jab until later this month.

It would be unusual to see high levels of measles because of the herd immunity from the imunisations. There are occasional outbreaks in areas with low levels of vax take up but it's not a widespread problem yet.

@1940s

It's not about writing off the elderly or disabled. It's about perspective and the damage on other NhS services, jobs, education, mental health. The 1% is such a low number it doesn't justify the damage the lockdown measures are causing

This. People are talking like we should control this virus to the absolute nth degree to prevent ANY deaths from happening. Death & disease is an unfortunate fact of life. Look at the types and amounts circulating around the developing world... particularly Sub-Saharan Africa. There isn’t much hand wringing about that, is there.

I’m not saying that early death isn’t a tragedy. Of course it is... but any early death is a tragedy. Not just a Covid death.

I find my self torn between preserving every single life for as long as possible and also wondering what the world would be like if every disease that ever existed had been eradicated. What issues would we have from overpopulation then? How would that cause premature death with pollution, food shortages and other environmental factors?

You know my point though. It's like no other illness exists anymore.

What about the early days? Flu season can last until March-May...

but people were dying from flu during the flu season. People are dying from other causes, nobody has ever said that they aren't.

The reason flu season is an issue is people will have covid, people will have flu and some unfortunate people will have both at the same time. Flu on it's own puts pressure on the nhs.

Very, very few people will have measles.

@midgebabe

No where is back to normal, what utter rubbish! Even places that have managed to control the virus have additional measures in place. Ah well ... some people are just scared

Things are completely back to normal here and have been for months.

Everywhere is open, Theatres are open, there hasn’t been any restriction on anything or any social distancing for months.

The only thing different to before March is the way our borders are controlled and quarantine on arrival.

Here is Isle of Man.

Number of infections now doubling every day. But it’s ok because as it moves through to the vulnerable groups Again, we won’t have to worry as it’s only the already sick and old.

And what annoys me is that a little bit of effort (wear a mask, wash your hands, don’t have a party etc.....) is all it takes to manage things more effectively. But people can’t even be bothered to do that.

Announced today that covid hospitalisations and intensive care bed use are up again in our area - that's an increase every day for the past couple of weeks. It's starting to get serious again folks. Time for the deniers to accept they're wrong!

@Hyperfish101

And what annoys me is that a little bit of effort (wear a mask, wash your hands, don’t have a party etc.....) is all it takes to manage things more effectively. But people can’t even be bothered to do that.

I agree. But it was the same back in late Feb and early March. The signs were there, the guidance was issued, but all the arrogant/entitled know-it-alls thought they knew better then didn't they?

Announced today that covid hospitalisations and intensive care bed use are up again in our area - that's an increase every day for the past couple of weeks.

Because lockdowns dont actually work to stop the virus. They just postpone. This happened where I am. Cases started rising on reopening, to a peak of over 1000 cases a day. Now cases are declining, to 100-200 per day and so are hospitalisations. Through it is the only way out of it.

Yes I get we can’t stop the virus but we can slow it down to stop services behind overwhelmed and deaths totting up rapidly.

@Hyperfish101

Yes I get we can’t stop the virus but we can slow it down to stop services behind overwhelmed and deaths totting up rapidly.

Yes, I loved the "dodgeball" example a few days ago.

If you're in a sports court and there's one ball being thrown around randomly, you can probably avoid being hit as most of the time it won't be anywhere near you and you can see when it's heading your way and avoid it.

But when there's 5 balls, you've a higher chance of being hit and less chance of seeing them all to avoid them.

When there's 10 balls, you've no chance of avoiding them.

Same with covid. If a vulnerable person goes out to the shops or wherever, if, say, only 1 in a thousand is walking around with covid, they'd be very unluckly to come into close enough contact with that one person to catch it and even if they did, the viral load would be low if it was a fleeting contact. However if the same person goes out and there are 1 in a hundred walking around with covid, their chances of catching it are much higher and chances of the viral load being higher are also much higher.

Keep the numbers low over a longer period of time, and the chances are the vulnerable will never catch it, especially if they are careful and avoid crowded places, maintain social distancing, wash their hands, etc etc. If everyone gets it at the same time, the vulnerable is going to catch it however much they try unless they lock themselves away (even that's not guaranteed as they will come into contact with delivery drivers, tradesmen, etc etc).

Good analogy.

Masks and social distancing are enough to slow it down. Lockdowns cause more damage in the long term.

Even if I go with the dodgeball analogy... even if you're hit with the ball you have an absolutely overwhelming chance of survival. So lockdown and restriction measures don't seem proportionate

Completely agree 1940s. Going back to the OP, look at the numbers. 1% globally are critical. But even of those, the vast majority will recover.

Many people seem to have lost all perspective and think that covid automatically = death

Deaths in the UK equate to a medium size town wiped out since mid March. Think about that. If you live in a town of about 50,000 people have a walk around and imagine that everybody is dead. EVERYBODY. Now tell me again about the 1%.

You could say that about the death rate in bad flu years or deaths from cancer or sepsis. Where is the care about those normally - they kill vast numbers? We barely notice, in all honesty, unless it affects us personally. 50,000 people out of 66 million is definitely sad and I wish it was a smaller number but it is not utterly, life-changingly apocalyptic on a societal level. If it is, can we please start caring about the other illnesses people die from in large numbers?

@FromEden

Masks and social distancing are enough to slow it down. Lockdowns cause more damage in the long term.

Shame that too many idiots can't follow the guidance then isn't it and we need to impose more severe restrictions.

@1940s

Even if I go with the dodgeball analogy... even if you're hit with the ball you have an absolutely overwhelming chance of survival. So lockdown and restriction measures don't seem proportionate

Maybe try the analogy with arrows instead of balls. Most are likely to miss, some cause surface scratches , some deeper wounds survivable with treatment and the odd one cause a fatal injury. Oh and the amount of arrows doubles every two minutes.

But if the choice is that playing arrowball (!) means you can lead a reasonably normal life; or not playing arrowball but then staying at home for years on end and not seeing anyone - i would choose arrowball every time.

yes

@Juststopswimming

But if the choice is that playing arrowball (!) means you can lead a reasonably normal life; or not playing arrowball but then staying at home for years on end and not seeing anyone - i would choose arrowball every time.

Do you think arrowball could catch on?

But it isn’t two choices, there’s a third option - you can play with padding on and reduce the doubling to every eight minutes.

You can live a reasonably normal life with a mask and social distance. We got a relaxation of the rules and things started to feel normal again but then people couldn’t be bothered to do the minimum.

I don’t think anyone now is suggesting we need a full lockdown. Some of us think masks and SD are a small price to pay to allow some normalisation to return. Unfortunately that’s not working now because many people aren’t doing it.