It's just an overreaction.

[madcow88]

Now don't get me wrong I followed the rules to the letter and still am doing as I don't want to break the law.

However I think it's all a massive overreaction and I don't want to sit by and allow my children's generation to be destroyed.

Their education is totally fucked, they will not get to have the same social experiences as we did as young people.

Why is everyone happily sitting by and allowing our government to restrict our lives over a virus that kills 0.01% of people. Whilst 1000s of people are dying every day due to the lack of treatment and social interactions.

I really just do not feel comfortable with all the laws on our freedom being changed so dramatically over a virus if truth be told is not as deadly as they would like us to be believed.

Don't get me wrong I have sympathy for those people who lost their lives and for the people who will lose their lives in the future but no more than for the people who die of flu and other viruses each year.

I suggest we all get on with our lives as we did pre-lockdown. we should also be given the freedom to chose to keep ourselves safe in the same way we do with flu and other viruses.

We should get the NHS up and running for all treatments and appointments to run as they did pre-Covid

And should we all get a unicorn for Christmas too? How can we possibly have everything back as it was pre-Covid, and just let Covid let rip? I don’t believe anyone can really be that stupid, so I’m assuming your post is a wind-up.

[quote ineedaholidaynow]@trappedsincesundaymorn I am sorry about your mum.

Did your dad get tested? They do think some people are super spreaders. I assume the person who came back from holiday and refused to quarantine and went on a pub crawl in Bolton is one such super spreader.[/quote]
It was at the start of lock down when tests were only done on those in hospital, so dad was never tested. He had a negative test this week during a hospital stay (not covid related). Dad very rarely gets a cold or flu...in fact I don't ever recall him ever taking to his bed or having a day off through being ill. maybe he just has a very high immune system who knows. As for being a super spreader, both me and my sister, as well as our families, spent some time with him both before and after mum went and we haven't had anything either, so I doubt dad was one.

@frozendaisy

Our children will bounce back, yes they might have to do a retake year, their social experiences are stunted for a year or so, but when they are 40 it really will not matter. They will swap Covid-19 stories, there will be songs, films, comedy all inspired by lockdown.

It's our job as parents to let them know it will be ok. Retake a year, so what? Bit late to learn to drive, go university next year, I never went to prom did you?

Every now and again whole populations have to have freedoms curved, and it's worldwide, have a read of what is happening in India, so we are all watching a bit too much Netflix, it could be a lot worse.

And I get it we have had many a "crest-fallen" moment with our children, still are having them, and our parental instinct is to try and solve their sadness, but we can't.

I hope the younger generation work towards a very different, progressive, problem-solving, fairer society. With imaginative architecture that makes homes healthier environments.

This could be the reset this planet and population needs. Our freedoms will return and we will all cherish them all the more when they do.

What a truly excellent, sensible post.

I agree completely.. all this 'xxx are missing out on' .. so what they are Young , they have time to catch up. They have loads of opportunity for more life chances.

Unlike the dead. Unfortunately you cannot be one undead.

And should we all get a unicorn for Christmas too? How can we possibly have everything back as it was pre-Covid, and just let Covid let rip?

Exactly this. The idea we can be 'normal' is sadly a fairy story.

It's a lot to process but we have to wrap our heads round it all.

**What a truly excellent, sensible post.

I agree completely.. all this 'xxx are missing out on' .. so what they are Young , they have time to catch up. They have loads of opportunity for more life chances.

Unlike the dead. Unfortunately you cannot be one undead**

@disorganisedsecretsquirrel

“So what they are young??!” As if education doesn’t matter, as if they’re mental health doesn’t matter.....? What, because they’re young?

I’m sure you’d have something to say if the people in the other camp said “So what......they’re old!!”

No one is suggesting COVID be allowed to ‘rip through’ society. Clearly measures like social distancing and masks should continue and there are some settings like nightclubs and concerts which cannot restart.

However, COVID is not an indiscriminate virus. It is very clear which individuals are at risk of serious illness or death- based on pre-existing conditions and age (I believe the average age of a COVID victim is actually above the UK’s current life expectancy).

The focus needs to be on protecting these individuals- pay their wages and make sure food is delivered. It makes little sense to ‘protect’ 18 year olds from getting a cough (if any symptoms at all).

Totally agree OP

The trouble is education is delivered by teachers and you need people to turn up to deliver it.

Staff absences will impact that so it makes sense to keep a lid on things elsewhere but also backing open businesses / economy and schools as much as we can.

This professor would agree.

@Ecosse
You would also need to shield everyone living in the same household as those vulnerable people - this would be potentially millions of people in total. This would also mean that those vulnerable people (and their household members) who do key jobs would not be available for work as they would have to stay at hom e.g. doctors, nurses, teachers. I'm not sure how that could work. Plus any children of those households would not be able to go to school.

@madcow88

I suggest we all get on with our lives as we did pre-lockdown. we should also be given the freedom to chose to keep ourselves safe in the same way we do with flu and other viruses.

We should get the NHS up and running for all treatments and appointments to run as they did pre-Covid.

Vulnerable people should also be given the choice to isolate if they wish and If not should be able to go ahead with their lives as they did pre-lockdown, looking after themselves as they did before to prevent them catching the flu or other viruses.

I think it's logical to do that! We live in the 2020 we should be five the freedom, choice and responsibility to live our live our life's as we choose.

I say all of this as a woman who is extremely vulnerable and I also have an extremely vulnerable child.

Great. So surgeons with Covid can still operate. And nurses working with the most vulnerable... Or do NHS staff isolate except for work. Yes young ppl are not having the best education right now . However it's temporary. They can cope without freshers week or trick and treating for a year.

Just 100 years ago men voluntarily went to war to save us from the Nazi regime. They lost a lot more. They put their lives at risk to save others.

It makes moaning about masks, SD, and groups of 6 seem pretty pathetic.

@TableFlowerss

**What a truly excellent, sensible post.

I agree completely.. all this 'xxx are missing out on' .. so what they are Young , they have time to catch up. They have loads of opportunity for more life chances.

Unlike the dead. Unfortunately you cannot be one undead**

@disorganisedsecretsquirrel

“So what they are young??!” As if education doesn’t matter, as if they’re mental health doesn’t matter.....? What, because they’re young?

I’m sure you’d have something to say if the people in the other camp said “So what......they’re old!!”

Because it's not possible to prevent a pandemic spreading, killing thousands, and overwhelming the hospitals required to treat ALL illness..by pleasing both camps...

..but where one sides worst outcome is disrupted education and poor mental health.. and the other side results in death... it's a pretty clear choice. Because the dead don't get another chance .

I think the OPs post has some merit. Government should quickly compile a list of people who think it's an overreaction. These people will then have to sign that they will not be using NHS if they catch Covid. Win win for all

but where one sides worst outcome is disrupted education and poor mental health.. and the other side results in death... it's a pretty clear choice. Because the dead don't get another chance

We can’t stop all deaths from Covid. So yes we will balance education as a priority and deaths, but not overwhelm NHS.

Sweden reporting 15% of infected people with long covid after eight weeks, and many with problems working etc.

The costs of helping a huge number of people would be enormous.

mobile.twitter.com/DebbyBogaert/status/1307336771198476289

@MJMG2015

How can you be 'vulnerable' to something you don't believe exists?

The only correct thing in your posts is your user name.

I wouldn' t bother with logic, the ops view is one of emotion not logic. The ironic thing is that many who espouse it try to say they are the logical , brave ones. Everyone else is hysterical and emotional
As for arguing that the hospital weren't overrun last time as a way of indicating how much we have overreacted. if it wasn't so serious I'd be laughing even louder at the lack of critical thinking skills

@RepeatSwan

Long covid doesn’t exist. There are a small number of people who suffer after-effects. But this is the same for every virus- it is nothing new.

@gypsywater

Paying the shielded and their families to stay at home would be far cheaper than paying everyone to stay at home on furlough and then the millions of unemployment benefit claims that another lockdown would cause.

Yanbu, it's just all gone crazy now.

@Ecosse
I do think it would be well worth calculating the costs for both options, for sure.
How would there be enough doctors and nurses available to run a safe NHS though if they (or vulnerable members of their households) had to be stuck at home? Staffing is already stretched.
Likewise teachers and people working in other essential roles. These shortages would be so high.
The thought of vulnerable children plus all of those living with a vulnerable parent being stuck away at home also isnt a comfortable thought.

[quote Ecosse]@RepeatSwan

Long covid doesn’t exist. There are a small number of people who suffer after-effects. But this is the same for every virus- it is nothing new.[/quote]
Sorry, but you are wrong.

@gypsywater

I actually don’t think everyone vulnerable would need to be stuck at home indefinitely.

Might it not be a better use of testing capacity to offer a friend or relative a weekly test to allow them to visit someone who is shielded safely than testing every DC who gets the sniffles at school?

It seems to be that if there is a choice between keeping everyone at home unnecessarily or protecting people who are genuinely vulnerable, the latter is far more sensible.

The issue of needing enough doctors and nurses to ensure safe staffing cannot be ignored.

As much as I don't agree with letting the virus spread freely, I also don't agree with some people saying that all young people will be able to 'bounce back' and have 'more chances in life'. To me, that's an extremely privileged outlook on life. For some kids, school and education is the ONLY chance they get to make something of life. For those that come from poverty, lockdowns and restrictions that limit their education can put them back without meals, back struggling to learn to read and write and generally will widen the gap between them and the more well off. That gap might never recover.

Personally I don't think there is a right way to go about this, whatever we do, some people will get hurt. But to suggest some groups will come out of it unscathed is naive. This affects everyone.

We need to have a serious look at a country that will allow a situation like this to leave people without food etc.