To think those happy about the new lockdown are usually privileged

[NickVanDyke]

Seen many people on Mumsnet and on other social media borderline happy as soon as a second lockdown was leaked.

Am I missing the memo? So many our going to lose their jobs, homes, mental health.

Not to mention the cost of borrowing all this money that our dc and grandkids will have to repay.

I’m just confused how anyone can be happy about this. To me it’s a disaster.

My husband earns a good wage in a stable job. I will be on furlough but should get job back.

I'm gutted about lockdown.

The cost to the economy is huge and it will be the likes of dh and all our kids that will pay this off for many decades to come.

I just pray for a vaccine ASAP

Nick I’m so sorry to read that you have closed your business. Look after yourself.

Every treatment that is available or not available on the nhs is made due to the efficacy plus financial cost. Limited resources are not spent on prolonging the lives of 10 people for 6 months, when a 1000 lives could benefitted for a longer period. So no, it not about sacrificing any one group of peoples lives, but making decisions based on saving more life years for more people which means not making decisions to shut the economy down, and cause millions of people to lose their jobs, their future, their health and for some their lives as poverty, mental health all effect physical health outcomes.

Why havent NHS trained up intensive care nurses so there is enough staff to man the nightingale hospital

Surely this is one of the questions that need an answer rather than fighting about each other's reactions to the news.

@NickVanDyke

I am so very, very sorry to read this.

I would love to say something like "maybe you can re-open once things are back to normal", but I know that business doesn't work that way. It must be absolutely devastating for you. I know that's how I would feel.

The first lockdown was a monstrous error, and this one is even more so.

And all from a governing party which has traditionally prided itself on helping small businesses.

The only people who will not be destroyed financially by this are those who either work in the public sector or who work for the massive private companies who can just about ride out a catastrophic 18 months.

It's not just the economy, either: the long-term effects on public health will also be so immense. There will simply be no money in the system to pay for the NHS. The 12 people you have been forced to make redundant are now not going to be paying into the system (and will, most likely, be forced to take out of the system, as I doubt they have massive savings/trust funds/high-earning spouses).

This is going to be replicated literally millions of times over before we are allowed to trade normally again.

But so long as no deaths can be directly attributed to Covid, that's all that matters.

@PostItJoyWeek same with my 78yo grandfather. He doesn't want to see my DS saddled with low prospects as a result of this mess just to "give him a couple more years", in his words. All the elderly that I know are of similar views.

Sorry to hear about your business OP. This is shit.

I'm privileged, my job is safe and easy to do from home and because I'm on mat leave it's especially safe right now. Lockdown means DP at home with us to help more and we can't really go to pubs or restaurants with teeny tiny baby anyway.

I'm absolutely fucking raging though at what this will do to the economy. Mass unemployment, a massive welfare bill, tax rises for decades to come and a lower quality of life for us all, for a virus that >99.6% recover entirely from. It's madness.

It’s not just about having enough staff trained to work in ICU either, people still need general medical and surgical care - these wards are all full where I work, so we take nurses from those wards then we will have less capacity to deal with people coming in with other illnesses. There really is no easy answer. I am at breaking point in my work and personal life

Yep you did indeed miss the memo OP.
You speak of mental health and jobs. Only the privileged can afford to keep on risking this with no containment. They can afford to. Hence why it's the more (far) right against containment measures.

Professor Devi Sridhar, one of the scientific expert advising the Scottish government explains it very simply:

On a panel with several CEOs yesterday and their message was clear -> it's the virus impacting consumer behaviour & their businesses, not just restrictions. Already clear that controlling the virus with a clear strategy is best route to economic recovery.

Three paths for governments: ‘simmer’ virus & be stuck in lockdown/release cycles, do nothing & let it rip or aim for elimination with strong test/trace/isolation, good guidance to public & border measures. Two of the above paths lead to large economic costs; one less so.

Mental health.
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/10/31/traumatised-intensive-care-nurses-sectioned-wake-first-wave/

Takes many months to train someone up to work in ICU. Not everyone wants to work there as it's incredibly stressful.
I don't particularly want a lockdown but if it reduces the numbers requiring ICU care, well so be it. We are very busy now (tier 3 area), just about managing staffwise but very much dependent on staff doing loads of overtime and requiring colleagues from other areas to help out too. Yesterday was full on, like back in march/april. One issue is that because we now have more ICU patients we are using stocks of medication including sedation more quickly, equipment is spread more thinly, logistically it's a nightmare as covid and non covid have to be kept separately so staff are all over the show, we are working in unfamiliar environments so constantly looking for things. It's not only frustrating but physically uncomfortable because of being in full ppe..

In most cases I think you're right OP. But as with everything in life, there are always anomalies.
I'm definitely not economically or domestically privileged AT ALL! I'm certainly not happy about lockdown, but I'd say I'm philosophical about it. In terms of the impact on myself. I'm obviously very concerned for those for whom it's going to be disastrous.
I'm philosophical, not because of privilege, but because, with a background in the arts, and a history of on/off mental health issues, I'm just so used to precarity! It's the story of my life. It's not a case for me of 'yippee, it's lockdown' but more a case of 'so here we go again, hey ho'. If that makes sense?
Also, this lockdown seems fairly light. Also fairly short. So I'm going with the flow. Though certainly not loving it.
To be honest I feel sorry for people whichever way. I'm full of empathy & sympathy for those for whom lockdown is causing misery. But also for overworked NHS workers who must be terrified, and for whom lockdown seems like a relief. For all those at high risk of Covid. For those at risk of losing jobs, homes, relationships... It's such a tough time for so many, and I guess there are no easy answers.
Sending love to anyone going through it at the moment

"So is it OK for your 85yo mum or gran to be sacrificed then?"

My gran is being sacrificed, to a horrible decline due to loneliness and dementia. And it's not ok. She would much rather see us, hug us, be taken out for lunch (being taken out for lunch was her great pleasure pre-lockdown) and maybe die earlier, than live like she's doing now. She's being sacrificed to our collective inability to accept that we can't in fact stop death.

Oh gosh NickVanDyke I'm so sorry. I only just read your final comment about the closure of your business. I'm so so sorry. I confess I didn't read the whole thread earlier.
How awful to lose your livelihood, that you've no doubt poured your heart and soul into. So very sorry

@Figmentofmyimagination

If nothing else, never again should people vote for a party that has left us with the lowest hospital bed count in Europe. Wtf were they thinking (the politicians and the people who voted for them).

THIS!!

If Theresa May had shaken the ‘magic money tree’ to increase nurse wages and fill the >40,000 vacancies we would have been able to staff extra beds including nightingales, the absolute destruction of the economy could have been avoided. The magic money tree now has completely bare branches and a bad case of tree fungus.

@BobsKnobs it’s all total short termism

Personally, i'm angry about the lockdown (half baked though it is) because we'll be in it for longer due to Boris's dithering and the half measures.

We should have had the extended half term circuit breaker that Starmer called for.

It hasn’t done that much in Wales.

It hasn't achieved much in Wales because many people in Wales have ignored it, gone out and about, carried on as normal.

That's very judgemental of you
I am not at all privileged, we live very much on the bread line.
I am a key worker, so have no choice in going to work weather I like it or not
My children are primary school aged
I don't want a lockdown, am not happy about it, but the government feel its necessary to protect everyone, particularly the nhs from getting overwhelmed.
Just because some of us may post about the importance of following the rules/guidance and the lockdown, doesnt mean we want it to be that way, just that we think it's for the best to save lives.

It hasn't achieved much in Wales because many people in Wales have ignored it, gone out and about, carried on as normal.

Oh sorry, silly me. It’s because the people are shit rather than lockdowns being a stupid policy

In RL I don't know ANYONE who is happy about lockdown. I do know many who are relieved about lockdown, but I also know others who are clinically vulnerable or who have CV/ecv relatives and who have no choice but to continue working in public facing roles. It's shit. I don't think this kind of divisive post is accurate or helpful - bar a few crazies, noone wants a lockdown. But at this stage I do think it's the only way to prevent breaking the NHS. It's still utterly shit.

Takes many months to train someone up to work in ICU. Not everyone wants to work there as it's incredibly stressful.

Formal ITU training is very costly I imagine.

My friend went to work in ITU and the training course was 6 months long.

Plus, I doubt there are many nurses out there who would volunteer to work in the Nightingale Hospitals....

Anyone pushing for lockdown or happy there is one needs to give their heads a fucking wobble. Be careful what you ask for. Too much freedom too willingly handed over. Dont think you will get it back again. Not going to happen. They will move the goalposts.

Agreed