Anyone else not sure what to believe anymore?

[malificent7]

I am nota covid denier anti masker or conspiracy theorist but anyone else notsure what the hell is going on anymore?!

It's just the inconsistency of some of the rules such as 10pm closing.
It dosn't help seeing both sides of the lockdown argument... we need to save loves toease pressure on NHS but the financial, educational and mh consequences are dire.

I feel sorry for the government and scientists to be honest.

Imagine having to point out to the country that shutting the vulnerable away indefinitely is both cruel and wouldn't work.

And that the virus is not becoming harmless.

And that if we let the virus spread the NHS won't be able to do all the things it usually does because it will be overwhelmed.

And having to explain exponential curves to a country who can't be bothered to learn the salient facts about the crisis dominating our lives for months.

And all the other covid-denying nonsense they have to rebut because of the misinformation being spread.

If you want to get back to normal in any way, you want your kids to go to school all term, you want to repair the economy, you want breast screening to resume, you want your gym classes back...anything. The key is and always has been getting the virus down to the lowest possible levels.

This has always been true and always will be.

And here we are back to the main point I do not get. Why do people think this only affects the elderly? Yes, their death rate is the highest, but who said it the rest of us are unaffected? So appparently some clever ones can just ignore the SD (sorry I am a bit pissed off today about people seriously flaunting the rules, 19 infected and rising! )

@ChavvySexPond (what a name! ) so our compliance is key to it indeed, not only the rules (which, yes they are damn confusing!), but that we do take SD to the best of our possibilities seriously.

@Groundhogdayzz

Some rules just make no sense though....I was reading earlier if you are in local lockdown you can’t go into others houses, but you can go on holiday to another area of the country that isn’t in lockdown??
I'm in an area where the residents have the additional restriction of not mixing with other households indoors or in gardens. (We can meet with other households in a hospitality environment).

So, if I go on holiday to another area that isn't in local lockdown and don't mix with any other households (irrespective of residents in that area being able to mix with 5 others from different households) my behaviour is not adding additional risk.

The Govt have evidence that Covid is being transmitted in households.

MushMonster I think some people see the virus in very black and white terms. If you are elderly or vulnerable you have a higher risk of dying, and well, you probably didn't have that many years left in you anyway. If you're not in those groups you get either no symtoms, a bit of a cold and at worst a flu like illness. That's how some people think and that's why they don't care about observing the restrictions.

Someone mentioned Italy. Italy was much more stricted on their lockdown. Police would send people back home if they spotted them in the street at some point, fines included. The testing is indeed a great example to follow. I think UK took too long to start testing in mass. Even the standard PCR would give you an answer in a matter of 6 hours or so. Yes, no fast but better than no testing. All hospitals will have some machines, technicians and reagents already. Though this must be the time on history where it has been used more prominently!
Knowing who has it now is the way to stop it. The testing if 3 symptoms are present I think is a huge downfall in UK. Most people who has covid, does have other symptoms, including sore throat, tiredness, vomiting and diarrhea. I think there is a programn ongoing to test people with this other symptoms in UK (there is a thread about it), but really this has been reported elsewhere in the world already. I was hoping for a faster action on this one.

I don't think the rules are confusing.

1. The rules for the country as a whole are announced and you ensure you know them. (Check on .gov website for correct information).

1. If your area's infection rate goes up, and the Govt have to impose stricter measures, you learn those. (Look them upon Local Authority website).

1. When holidaying/visiting another area in the UK, familiarise yourself with the rules of where you are going.

You don't have to learn the rules for every area of the country.

Simple.

I feel sorry for the government and scientists to be honest

Same here to an extent.
The government hasn't done anything much different to most other European countries, they also made mistakes in hindsight, and we locked down at a similar rate of infection too. But all we get now is complaining, and no one takes any personal responsibility. No one is following the guidelines anymore here (I'm in a local lockdown in the north). Th8snis not governments fault

They explained back in March that we would probably have rolling lockdowns and that the virus was not going away anytime soon. We had graphs and extensive information given to us and for a while people seemed to take notice but not anymore, it's just non stop whinging and whining

@bibbitybobbitycats the question is that a good number of asymptomatic cases, or mild symptoms is the virus today, what we know of it so far. It can mutate, at any time. That is what viruses do.
And this particular one is very contagious indeed, alarming rate.
I am 100% positive no any goverment would accept national lockdown for a mild sniffles case. First round killed a good number of people, left many other with serious health issues, and affected only a tiny tiny number of the population.
I rather do my best to avoid it within reasonable margins.
When it started, seriously, I thought meh a new cold virus. But I have gained respect for it after these past months.

Stop blaming the government and look closer to home.

@tobee

I don't even know that they do want us to follow restrictions.
Are you really that stupid as to not know that? Seeing some comments on MN makes me think successive Govts must have really failed in educating the population.

We are on lockdown. The towns surrounding us aren’t. So can I go meet my friend who lives in one of those towns in a coffee shop?
It’s mental

I think that the government are trying their best to come up with reasonable rules that try to keep a balance between public health and the economy. Avoiding high transmission rates and keeping the economy going is a delicate act, which could end up in a disaster if they don't get things right. Italy appears to have better control right now than the UK, I do wonder if there is more of a togetherness amongst the Italians right now, more of a pulling together.

@ChavvySexPond

If you want to get back to normal in any way, you want your kids to go to school all term, you want to repair the economy, you want breast screening to resume, you want your gym classes back...anything. The key is and always has been getting the virus down to the lowest possible levels.

This has always been true and always will be.*

But in Scotland we got numbers as low as 2-20 a day for weeks. We lifted restrictions slowly and look at us now. The virus will not stay in low numbers once restrictions are lifted. So back to square one. Then what?

[quote MushMonster]@bibbitybobbitycats the question is that a good number of asymptomatic cases, or mild symptoms is the virus today, what we know of it so far. It can mutate, at any time. That is what viruses do.
And this particular one is very contagious indeed, alarming rate.
I am 100% positive no any goverment would accept national lockdown for a mild sniffles case. First round killed a good number of people, left many other with serious health issues, and affected only a tiny tiny number of the population.
I rather do my best to avoid it within reasonable margins.
When it started, seriously, I thought meh a new cold virus. But I have gained respect for it after these past months.[/quote]
I agree and am also doing my best to avoid it (and to protect my fellow citizens).

Lockdown worked in Sydney, Australia, where I live. We have zero community transmission now. They closed all the schools, most people worked from home, pubs, restaurants, beauty salons closed. This was for about 4 months.

It worked. We're out of lockdown now and more or less back to normal.

[quote MushMonster]@ChavvySexPond (what a name! ) so our compliance is key to it indeed, not only the rules (which, yes they are damn confusing!), but that we do take SD to the best of our possibilities seriously.[/quote]
Absolutely.

And I'm bloody furious today as well.

We'll be stuck like this for years all the while people are denying reality, indulging in nonsense conspiracies and trying to wriggle out of doing what we all must do to limit the spread.

[quote secretllama]@ChavvySexPond

If you want to get back to normal in any way, you want your kids to go to school all term, you want to repair the economy, you want breast screening to resume, you want your gym classes back...anything. The key is and always has been getting the virus down to the lowest possible levels.

This has always been true and always will be.*

But in Scotland we got numbers as low as 2-20 a day for weeks. We lifted restrictions slowly and look at us now. The virus will not stay in low numbers once restrictions are lifted. So back to square one. Then what?[/quote]
I'm not completely au fait with the situation in Scotland but would suggest better surveillance is required to find out why numbers are rising, where in the opening up it is linked to, do the rules need tweaking? And then pounce on new outbreaks. Compliance, as always, can be a factor.

@Sewsosew

We are on lockdown. The towns surrounding us aren’t. So can I go meet my friend who lives in one of those towns in a coffee shop? It’s mental

And teenagers from areas in Local Lockdowns have just travelled all over the country to university taking their new pasta bowls and a potential asymptomatic Covid infection with them.

I am with you OP!

@Flaxmeadow

I feel sorry for the government and scientists to be honest

Same here to an extent.
The government hasn't done anything much different to most other European countries, they also made mistakes in hindsight, and we locked down at a similar rate of infection too. But all we get now is complaining, and no one takes any personal responsibility. No one is following the guidelines anymore here (I'm in a local lockdown in the north). Th8snis not governments fault

They explained back in March that we would probably have rolling lockdowns and that the virus was not going away anytime soon. We had graphs and extensive information given to us and for a while people seemed to take notice but not anymore, it's just non stop whinging and whining

Same. I'm no fan of this government. It's unforgivable the money to have wasted nearly £4billion on useless and non existent PPE, immunity passports" and hand sanitizer whilst still not providing the single most important basic of test and trace.

But the whining and trying to wriggle round the rules drives me as crackers as the lazy defeatism and the conspiracy loons.

We can get a grip.

Or we can live like this for years.

So many countries are handling this so much better than we are.

@HermioneMakepeace

Lockdown worked in Sydney, Australia, where I live. We have zero community transmission now. They closed all the schools, most people worked from home, pubs, restaurants, beauty salons closed. This was for about 4 months.

It worked. We're out of lockdown now and more or less back to normal.

We are not.

We're too busy whining.

No wonder we're known as"whinging Poms"

[quote Itsabeautifuldayheyhey]**@tobee

I don't even know that they do want us to follow restrictions.
Are you really that stupid as to not know that? Seeing some comments on MN makes me think successive Govts must have really failed in educating the population.[/quote]

Thanks for the insult @Itsabeautifuldayheyhey 👍 Always nice to have a civilised debate.

Your comment is so arch that I have no idea what you're talking about. But I dare say that's about my intelligence levels, rather than your poor communication skills.

HermioneMakepeace
Lockdown worked in Sydney, Australia, where I live. We have zero community transmission now. They closed all the schools, most people worked from home, pubs, restaurants, beauty salons closed. This was for about 4 months.

It worked. We're out of lockdown now and more or less back to normal

But we did all that here in Europe too. But numbers are climbing again

I do think population density and travel hubs play a part in Europe.

Do the govt know a lot more than they're letting on?
I'm not sure that knowing more is their strong point!