Why not a short VERY strict lockdown now to nip in bid so to speak??

[shesellsseashells99]

Would it not make sense to act now with a very strict national lockdown for maybe 2 weeks? Instead of waiting until everything is out of control again....

I don't think it would work and alot of the public would just not do it and it's impossible to enforce on the amount of people who just wouldn't do it

All lockdown has done is delay the inevitable.

Any vaccine is most likely years away. It will take that long to be sure of safety and effectiveness and the news about the Oxford vaccine is not good.

We have to plan on how to live with this virus. A lockdown should only be a last resort and we are nowhere near that point.

@Derbygerbil

The way I see it there’s a middle way. We need to do just enough to keep the most of the economy and as much education as possible going, whilst ensuring we don’t lose control of hospitalisations and we end up back where we were in March. We know where the risks are much better now. Eating in a socially distanced, well ventilated restaurant or going shopping with masks and using sanitiser are pretty low risk activities... We shouldn’t need to stop that kind of stuff - it’s disproportionate and pointless. The focus should be more on clamping down on behaviour that does actually cause its spread. Big parties and businesses not operating taking Covid seriously for their employees should be the focus, along with sorting out testing.

I would agree with some of this. We need to balance risks. And we need to decide what are our priorities.

I think we need to rethink how we do things as a society, at least in the short term. We need to prioritise education and health.

I do sympathise with the hospitality industry. But I think it makes a lot more sense to be looking to deliver food or to set up outside venues, at least in the summer, rather than getting a lot of people together inside. We aren't going to be eating inside a restaurant, or going into a theatre, any time in the near future, sadly.

And we need to be working from home, where ever possible.

As one of the vulnerable, I would rather the virus didn't rip through me or my family. I think we should have home education rolled out in cooperation with schools for those who want. And we should be supporting schools to be safer.

What a tragedy that the current government is in power at this time. We need visionary leadership. We need intelligent prioritisation. And God help us, with Brexit and coronavirus together, I am wondering whether we are going to need some sort of rationing at some point.

I’m not sure the people who died (or were unnecessarily ventilated) in March and April because the doctors treating them didn’t know about the best use of prone positioning, the use of dexamethisone, and the appropriate choice of CPAP vs ventilation would agree that there’s no point in delaying the inevitable. Even without a vaccine, tests and treatments are improving all the time.

We need visionary leadership
instead we've got a clown with his fringe in his eyes
not to mention that vile idiot creature squatting in the white house, or rather crouching over it and shitting on it

@Eyewhisker

Any vaccine is most likely years away. It will take that long to be sure of safety and effectiveness and the news about the Oxford vaccine is not good.

We have to plan on how to live with this virus. A lockdown should only be a last resort and we are nowhere near that point.

What news about the Oxford vaccine?

The government will be shitting themselves as they know people won’t comply with measures, they don’t have the resources to police breaches. Hell mend them, and the idiots who voted for them. It’s a shame people who didn’t will suffer too.

@madameBlobby they are talking about the trial being paused again in the US as someone else went into hospital.... Don't worry once again the scare mongerers are out. Trials get paused much more often than we think. People didn't even know it had been paused in the early stages.

It was already published that it was unlikely the vaccine caused the illnesses in the 2 women!

Dont listen to them, the who are confident of a vaccine by early next year as are most scientist.

Thanks @Forgone90

There are some people who seem desperate for the vaccine not to work and I can’t fathom why. There were people on my fb moaning about the vaccine and it being unsafe and untested , and posted gleefully when the trial was paused. Not sure why - surely the trial being paused showed the testing was working exactly as it should?

@MadameBlobby

I still don’t think lockdown worked. The people who didn’t get it and die then will get it and die when things open up.

Only if there is no vaccine.... Given the number of trials and the optimism of scientists who are generally cautious about their words such as Dr Fauci, we will probably have at least one by the end of this year or early next.

It’s interesting how the Covid minimisers are simultaneously wildly optimistic that the current increase is cases won’t lead to any significant increases in hospitalisations or deaths, but wildly pessimistic about the prospects of a vaccine.... It’s almost as though they have an agenda to push

@Derbygerbil sky news were reporting today that its expected that only 1 in 10 people will get the vaccine next year, and it wont be available in 2022. The majority of us could be looking at 2023 before we get any vaccine.

I for one am not happy sitting in my sitting room seeing no friends or family til then thanks very much.

Wont be available for most TIL 2022*

There are some people who seem desperate for the vaccine not to work and I can’t fathom why.

Because the prospect of a vaccine gets in the way getting completely back to normal right now. If they can simultaneously persuade people that a vaccine will be unsafe, ineffective, won’t materialise, then it helps their cause!

[quote Derbygerbil]@MadameBlobby

I still don’t think lockdown worked. The people who didn’t get it and die then will get it and die when things open up.

Only if there is no vaccine.... Given the number of trials and the optimism of scientists who are generally cautious about their words such as Dr Fauci, we will probably have at least one by the end of this year or early next.[/quote]
Can’t come quick enough

No I don't think a lockdown would be particularly helpful. We have to learn to live with this as our grandparents had to live with TB, diphtheria, polio, etc. The economy is already going to hell in a handcart.
However:
Social distancing and limited mixing socially and inter household.
Masks
10pm curfew
Enclosed/large events banned.

Sort out the bloody testing (FFS they have had 6 months now)
Set up a cross party strategic unit including: Blair, Starmer, May, Hunt as well as Bo Jo.

Schools and universities and work needs to continue. I may venture that for the next 12 months perhaps schòls should and could adopt a pattern of 5 weeks on and two weeks off and scotch the long summer holiday.

I would be less inclined to restrict individual rights than to restrict the pic sector unions at this time. There should not be strikes or the threat of them while this prevails.

I can never understand the ‘hospitals are at capacity’ argument. Every winter hospitals are at capacity, I remember, I think in winter 2018/19 every hospital where I live in Essex was on blackwatch due to how busy it was. We don’t shut down every winter to prevent the thousands dying from flu, pneumonia etc. Life goes on.

[quote SqidgeBum]@Derbygerbil sky news were reporting today that its expected that only 1 in 10 people will get the vaccine next year, and it wont be available in 2022. The majority of us could be looking at 2023 before we get any vaccine.

I for one am not happy sitting in my sitting room seeing no friends or family til then thanks very much.[/quote]
That refers to availability for the entire global population (7.8 billion people).
news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-only-one-in-10-to-be-protected-from-covid-19-in-first-year-of-vaccine-use-12072473

@sockyarn
@Grobagsforever

See the thread "NHSers" posted today. It is similar to what my sister has told me about her workplace. So either my sister is unlucky and all of that thread have been planted there, or we might be in trouble.

I hope they're plants, or pessimists.

@Grobagsforever

not everyone in a care home is vulnerable though. Plenty of elderly folk will have been asymptotic.

Yes, absolutely, a good number of care home residents will be fine. However, that’s besides the point.

You stated that Covid had already ripped through the vulnerable in the country, to which I countered that yuh 70% of care homes haven’t had an outbreak and the 2.2 million shielders have been shielding (or if not they generally haven’t caught Covid). The fact that some care home residents are asymptotic maybe true, but is completely irrelevant to the point.

@SqidgeBum

That is disappointing. However, I would imagine economics would drive up production to ensure we weren’t still in this position this time next year. Also, things will ease considerably once the most vulnerable have it... Ideally everyone should have it, but we don’t need to wait for every man,
woman and child to be vaccinated for things to get back to normal.