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Original poster

Are we heading for another national lockdown

424 replies

thebeachismyhappyplace2 · 30/10/2020 16:18

Do you think we are going in the same direction as France and Germany? And do you think schools will stay open if we do?

OP posts:
studychick81 · 30/10/2020 22:35

The lives of almost all teenagers are not going to be ruined because they miss some months of education or because they can't meet up with friends and party. That is very melodramatic. But, an older person or vulnerable person dying from it will, especially of the family they leave behind.

tortoiseshell1985 · 30/10/2020 22:36

It's over, if they do. There's going to be nothing left, the country will never recover

Completmentfille · 30/10/2020 22:36

I dunno why people get so arsey about parents "using schools as childcare". Of course they do. What other options are there? That is the way our society is set up. Children start school way too early in this country because we have never had decent childcare provision to support working parents.

Don't get snippy with parents, get snippy with the government.

Completmentfille · 30/10/2020 22:38

Personally I don't think a lockdown will do any good now simply because people won't comply like they did in March.

Ecosse · 30/10/2020 22:39

@studychick81

The majority of deaths have been in care homes. The average care home resident will only survive for 2 years from when they arrive. Ergo, the majority of care home residents do not have long to live.

This year, we have had 9 months already of care homes being shut with residents unable to see their family and friends.

If ‘saving my the vulnerable means locking them in their rooms alone 24/7, many would prefer to take their chances and spend the (small) time they have left with their family and friends.

Completmentfille · 30/10/2020 22:40

There's no point locking down without closing schools.

user1471530109 · 30/10/2020 22:42

@Eyewhisker

Is Boris planning to make millions unemployed in order that the retired can have a good Christmas. Insane beyond belief.

These are people’s futures. All destroyed to give those who have had a full life a couple more years.

I have not had my life! You wouldn't even know from looking at me that I'm vulnerable to this virus. I'm 40 and teaching your kids and have done for nearly 20 years.

It is not all about 'saving the old or those that would have died anyway'. I was planning on raising my own two kids and living a long life thanks. And I am not alone. There are millions of us of working age, supporting the economy, and living our lives just as you are.

And all this crap about how society will fail if the kids aren't in school for a few weeks. FFS. Now who is being dramatic! I still don't understand people arguing about their jobs if secondary schools go to blended or online learning. Those that won't or can't work at home without support will be in school. Primary would only close in the wrist case scenario and at that point, no one will be out shopping and in cafes anyway.

Now for those whose businesses will be on hold, that's where my sympathy lies and I bloody hope they will be supported properly.

MiniTheMinx · 30/10/2020 22:42

@southeastdweller

It's a harsh truth but I'm going to say it. Not everyone's lives are as important as others, and this obsession with keeping everyone alive will ultimately do us all no favours.
That is a few steps short of making genocide or holocaust acceptable. What if we apply this thinking to wealth, money, resources, food shortages, .....or what about space? oh look we have Lebensraum, perhaps we should all shout Lebensraum very loudly whilst we turf the biddies out of their NHS beds so we can get in the beds because we've all caught covid. We decide other groups are useless eaters and bed hoggers..... what to do with them. What about all those pesky people with disabilities, and younger people with underlying conditions? You really can't start thinking the way you have.
monkeytennis97 · 30/10/2020 22:42

@Completmentfille we are parents too! I get snippy because it's treated like childcare which of course is bloody true but then we have the 'think about the educational opportunities of the vulnerable/disadvantaged/not able to work alone or independently'. We are all things to all people in a system that was creaking before all of this where the only people who really cared about all of those mentioned above are the very people who are being told that we are bastards for not thinking of them now.

annabel85 · 30/10/2020 22:43

@Completmentfille

Personally I don't think a lockdown will do any good now simply because people won't comply like they did in March.
If everywhere is shut and the weather is crap then the only place people will go is each others houses. The main thing is enforcement on any big gatherings in homes.

The main spreaders will continue to be schools and universities though. Shutting restaurants and clothes shops is pissing in the wind. It's not the main driver of the spread at all.

Completmentfille · 30/10/2020 22:44

We are all things to all people in a system that was creaking before all of this

And whose fault is that?

studychick81 · 30/10/2020 22:45

Yes, I agree. Exactly the case with my own grandma. But you are assuming that all vulnerable people are elderly and living in care homes. That is not the case and is the wrong assumption. We need to protect the vulnerable who are still young or relatively young like my DF for instance who is 72 or like my friend who is 42 with two young children. They are vulnerable too. Lots of young and healthy people are dying of this too or are suffering from long COVID. It is not a case of trying to save those who have had a long life anyway and were due to die in a few years anyway.

Completmentfille · 30/10/2020 22:45

If everywhere is shut and the weather is crap then the only place people will go is each others houses.

Well according to the scientists that will be the worst thing to do as that's where the virus spreads.

They may well have the resources to police big gatherings, but 8 extended family members? Nope. Won't happen.

monkeytennis97 · 30/10/2020 22:46

The government but most of my colleagues across the country would not have put them there- of that I'm sure. We saw Gove/Cummings back in 2011, we knew what was coming with Bojo, so did anyone else who followed his career.

colouringindoors · 30/10/2020 22:47

Acording to tomorrow's newspapers - yes we are Sad

Dustysilkflowers · 30/10/2020 22:48

WhyNotMe40 oh stop it. They are not going to fund me on my wage that I need to take home for my bills. I need £4500 a month. I’ve spent years making that business and paid eye watering tax! . Many of my employees are above the furlough threshold- what about us?

Where is all this magic money coming from?

annabel85 · 30/10/2020 22:49

@Completmentfille

If everywhere is shut and the weather is crap then the only place people will go is each others houses.

Well according to the scientists that will be the worst thing to do as that's where the virus spreads.

They may well have the resources to police big gatherings, but 8 extended family members? Nope. Won't happen.

They'll dangle the stick of a Christmas truce to increase compliance.
Notonthestairs · 30/10/2020 22:49

Telegraph is focusing on Tier 4 - not national lockdown. Feel fairly certain Telegraph have a direct line to BJ/Cummings so I'm going with that.

Beebityboo · 30/10/2020 22:50

@southeastdweller that's a fucking disgusting post and you should be ashamed of yourself.

Completmentfille · 30/10/2020 22:51

Personally I think they should allow leeway to see family members in a bubble (not just if you're single). You can't go against basic human nature.

Ecosse · 30/10/2020 22:53

@studychick81

Lots of young and healthy people are dying of this too

Scaremongering nonsense- only 307 people under 60 with no underlying conditions have died with COVID.

SaltyAndFresh · 30/10/2020 22:53

People inevitably proclaim on these threads that 'my mental [their] health will be screwed'.

What about the mental and physical health of the people trying to keep society going, on behalf of those who can stay home?

I will continue to work in school until I become unwell. When that happens, I'll rest for as long as it takes. as, I imagine, will NHS staff. It's clear that nothing will be done to protect us so that's the price.

Unfortunately for supermarket, factory and care home workers, they're the ones who don't even have that 'luxury' open to them - I include most of my family in that group and those are the people whose physical and mental health I'm most concerned about.

Everyone else really needs to stop whining now and do what has to be done to support the people grafting though this. As for all of our children, I think the majority of them have far more resilience than we give them credit for and most will bounce back. We public services will try our best for the most vulnerable. Perhaps those Mumsnetters cocooned within the safety of their own homes can start looking into voluntary opportunities to contribute to that effort now.

WanderingMilly · 30/10/2020 22:55

It's not a bloody lockdown if schools are still open. Waste of time and it will utterly ruin businesses, but without schools closed (including primary) it won't get rid of the virus.
May reduce numbers a little but then we'll be back to where we were again after we unlock.
Shut the schools if you want to make a difference.

Presumably they're hoping there will be a vaccine quite soon? But it will take ages to vaccinate everyone....

Nellodee · 30/10/2020 22:59

@Eyewhisker

All the lockdown will achieve is delaying when we get a vaccine. The vaccines need people to get infected to check whether the vaccine works. The slower the spread of the virus, the longer that takes.
Bollocks. Even with a lockdown, at current rates we would still have all the people we ever needed to test a vaccine and then some.
user1471530109 · 30/10/2020 22:59

Well said @SaltyAndFresh.

I really hope my colleagues who haven't been wearing PPE now start taking this seriously. And our most medically vulnerable students stay away. I suppose those of under that category as teachers won't have that luxury with our delightful finance officer. But the shop workers and delivery drivers and the other keyworkers who don't get the luxury of sick pay (unlike I'm guessing many on this thread) are the ones who will truly suffer.