Should we have a full lockdown briefly now to slow down rises

[Worriedmum999]

Just musing really. Would it be better to have a few weeks of full lockdown now while furlough is still ongoing rather than needing to do one in a month or so as an emergency when 1000 people are dying every day, having to extend furlough etc.

If it’s planned then people can prep for it. Make it a really strict one. Have minimum shops open for emergencies with strict distancing. School well prepared to teach online for 2 weeks.

Might this give us the time to sort the testing backlog and increase them as promised? Give everyone the short sharp shock they need to take distancing/masks seriously again then reopen with clearer rules

No. I'm sick of the single minded focus on Coronavirus. Another lockdown will affect people's mental health, children's education, access to other health services etc. We can't put everything else on ice indefinitely. COVID 19 isn't going anywhere. What I'd love to see is people breaking the rules getting caught and punished harshly. Walking through the park last night, I could see gatherings of more than six. Can't people just do as they're asked?

@winterisstillcoming

Yes, nip it in the bud.

Nip what in the bud??

Yes, nip it in the bud

Oh yes, forcing everyone to stay in will "nip it in the bud" - for fucks sake. Its here to stay. Our lives are being held to ransom - are you going to pay my.bills?? Because I don't get paid when I'm forced to stay inside for no Fucking reason apart from that Boris is frightened just because he got it.

Yes, nip it in the bud.

The comments on here get stupider by the day.

We’ve tied nipping it the bud and it don’t bloody work.
Lockdown is a failed policy and all it’s really achieved is mass Unemployment spring levels of poverty.

Lockdowns haven't "nipped it in the bud" in any country at all. It. Doesn't. Work.

What a fucking idiotic thing to say. "Nip it in the bud". For fucks sake.

I haven't read the full thread so apologies if this point has already been made.

The human race needs to start accepting that it cannot control everything.

We develop antibiotics and antibiotic resistant super bugs emerge. We lockdown for a new virus and despite 90% compliance (much higher than the government ever expected) it's back and spreading again.

We have a vaccine for the flu, but it mutates so fast and there are so many strains that it's pot luck each year as to which strains are in the vaccine.

We've done an awful lot to improve the health of the human race with vaccines etc, but we cannot fix everything.

Precautions such as social distancing and masks are reasonable, lockdowns are not.

The first lockdown did its job - to prevent the NHS from becoming overwhelmed as per Italy. That was the ONLY reason we locked down, not to get rid of the virus.

We cannot eradicate a virus which is so easily transmissible between people.

People have to take personal accountability for themselves. If they are at risk, then they need to take measures to reduce that risk; or, as many elderly people are doing, decide that they are willing to take that risk for a full life.

There should be some government help for those most at risk, so that they don't have to go to work if they don't want to. I'm not suggesting a compulsory lockdown for the vulnerable, people should be able to choose the level of risk they are comfortable with.

The vaccine might be last for several years, or several months like the flu vaccine.

The uptake for the flu vaccine is not great, even for those entitled to it on the NHS and I suspect when the Covid 19 vaccine becomes available, there will be plenty of those eligible who will choose not to have it.

The NHS is not overwhelmed and if we want a country left to live in then we need to get on with things. It's not palatable, especially for those with loved ones in the risk category, but we cannot fix this in its entirety.

We are not god and we need to stop pretending that we have that kind of control.

[quote Worriedmum999]Seems as if my idea wasn’t so stupid after all Chris Whitty seems to agree.
twitter.com/globalhlthtwit/status/1306351773356118022?s=21[/quote]
The tweet has been retracted that Whitby doesn’t support it

Nope @Worriedmum999 I still disagree for all the reasons stated throughout this thread. It will achieve nothing in my view other than more financial and health hardship.

Excellent post @Christmas1935

Just seen this.

news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-government-dismisses-claims-of-fresh-two-week-national-lockdown-12073792

Government always dismisses ‘rumours’ just before they actually happen.

We’re being prepared for the 2 week lockdown.

@Christmas1935

I haven't read the full thread so apologies if this point has already been made.

The human race needs to start accepting that it cannot control everything.

We develop antibiotics and antibiotic resistant super bugs emerge. We lockdown for a new virus and despite 90% compliance (much higher than the government ever expected) it's back and spreading again.

We have a vaccine for the flu, but it mutates so fast and there are so many strains that it's pot luck each year as to which strains are in the vaccine.

We've done an awful lot to improve the health of the human race with vaccines etc, but we cannot fix everything.

Precautions such as social distancing and masks are reasonable, lockdowns are not.

The first lockdown did its job - to prevent the NHS from becoming overwhelmed as per Italy. That was the ONLY reason we locked down, not to get rid of the virus.

We cannot eradicate a virus which is so easily transmissible between people.

People have to take personal accountability for themselves. If they are at risk, then they need to take measures to reduce that risk; or, as many elderly people are doing, decide that they are willing to take that risk for a full life.

There should be some government help for those most at risk, so that they don't have to go to work if they don't want to. I'm not suggesting a compulsory lockdown for the vulnerable, people should be able to choose the level of risk they are comfortable with.

The vaccine might be last for several years, or several months like the flu vaccine.

The uptake for the flu vaccine is not great, even for those entitled to it on the NHS and I suspect when the Covid 19 vaccine becomes available, there will be plenty of those eligible who will choose not to have it.

The NHS is not overwhelmed and if we want a country left to live in then we need to get on with things. It's not palatable, especially for those with loved ones in the risk category, but we cannot fix this in its entirety.

We are not god and we need to stop pretending that we have that kind of control.

Great post. I agree 100%.

@pontypridd

Government always dismisses ‘rumours’ just before they actually happen.

We’re being prepared for the 2 week lockdown.

FFS, you say that as though it’s normal and reasonable (and palatable). We’re being treated like children. We’d be in a far better position now if the government told the fucking truth. Masks don’t work... oh yes actually they do. But only inside, no point wearing them outside. Unless you’re on the school run, then you need to wear one outside too. There’s going to be a second lockdown... oh no there isn’t... oh wait maybe there is. Get tested for symptoms. But not cold symptoms. Just Covid symptoms. Test for coughs... no not that type of cough. Now look what you’ve done, general public. You’ve taken tests for the wrong symptoms so now we have none left. Except we have plenty of capacity, it’s world beating don’t you know. Oh whoops, ignore that, we’ve run out of capacity. Don’t break the law, except in a limited and controlled way. Shop people if they meet in groups of more than six. Actually don’t, talk to them first. Then shop them. Oh but we don’t actually have the resource to do anything about it if you do. So don’t.

Fuck it all.

@pontypridd

Government always dismisses ‘rumours’ just before they actually happen.

We’re being prepared for the 2 week lockdown.

What usually happens is the govt uses ‘sources’ to float an idea

Then the social media monitoring team judges how well it’s been received. If it gets a general thumbs up then it gets put into practice. If it gets the thumbs down then it’s put on the back burner / cancelled / denied it was ever seriously considered.

I suspect that this time around the reports going back to No. 10 (Cummings) are saying that the idea of another national lockdown has gone down like a lead balloon with most people. Therefore it won’t happen

@pontypridd

Government always dismisses ‘rumours’ just before they actually happen.

We’re being prepared for the 2 week lockdown.

I'm going on holiday next week so hopefully they will time it for when I get back to before I go away again in mid October.

All the bumf about carrying on as normal as the NHS is not overwhelmed is utter tosh and I wish people would stop spouting it.

Infections are out of control and are not at 4k a day. A better estimation is nearer 35k a day. Infections happen first, then 2 weeks later hospital admissions then 2 weeks after that deaths. And the data/test results we get are at least 4 days later than real time, often more like 7. Therefore we have to stop the NHS being overwhelmed in a month from now as what is happening now will be reflected in deaths in a month.

Our ‘fantastic’ NHS is almost overwhelmed every winter with flu. If nothing drastic is done right now it will be overwhelmed in 4 weeks time from infections this week.

All this stuff about lockdown being the only way to deal with the issue is utter tosh and I wish people would stop spouting it.
Lockdown is not benign. Lockdown kills... in what numbers, we don’t know yet. Lockdown is an absolute last resort.
At the beginning of the pandemic we had no idea where infections were taking place... in terms of the geography, and setting. We do now. We can apply targeted measures to these places.

Totally agree Miraculous and so true to point out that lockdown destroys people’s lives - maybe not immediately but certainly in the future. Another lockdown will FINISH US OFF and we must resist it if enforced.

Absolutely @HildegardeCrowe and if @AlecTrevelyan006 is correct as I suspect you are then any SM monitors out there, hear me loud and clear. I will not do this again, there was always a suspicion that the cure might be worse than the disease and I believe we now know that to be true. Lockdown kills and we must not let it happen. I will protest whenever and wherever I need to. If the squeaky wheel gets the oil then so be it.

Yes, nip it in the bud. A lockdown now to get the r number from 1.2 down to 0.9 (shrinking Pandemic) will be a lot less painful than the 14+ weeks that we had in the summer.

Have we learnt nothing from just watching the numbers rise for a few weeks and waiting for the government to dither about.

A short sharp planned lockdown every 3 months will be far less damaging than the long one we had.

You can’t nip a virus in the bud.

Short lockdown for 2 weeks every 10 weeks may be a way forward ? It’s all very well saying no we can’t do another lockdown it’s not fair. But if infections get out of control we will have no choice.

It’s not about it being ‘fair’. I’m not waving my fists and wailing. From a personal perspective another lockdown makes little difference to me... the lack of toddler groups reopening, the fact that I don’t go in shops because I struggle with masks and am scared of being shamed if I don’t wear one, the fact that I can’t work currently anyway due to the situation means that I don’t go anywhere anyway.
It’s about being proportionate. It’s about the other deaths that lockdown causes. It’s about the economy (and before anyone mentions ‘economy over lives... economy is lives, as poverty and recessions kill). It’s about not panicking into a second lockdown when a lockdown should always be the absolute last resort.

@Kaktus it's not about nipping a virus in the bud, but it's spread.