To think neither side is right (Lockdown VS Anti Lockdown)

[RUNFAST11]

We have heard a lot of debates for lockdown and against lockdown.

But what if both are not the completely right thing to do.

1. If you lockdown yes you stop the spread and that helps the NHS from being stretched without lockdown in March/April the deaths would have been much higher. And if more people died that would lead to longer waiting lists on other illnesses as well as more people would have been hospitalized.

2. However, there is another issue and that is can you keep locking down so frequently? Without a vaccine, we would just be back to square one you do not completely eliminate COVID. Also, lockdown does have an effect on mental health. Suicides have increased a lot more. Ambulance crews have said they are attending a lot more suicide/attempted suicide calls. Also, lockdown can lead to a lot of job losses especially in industries such as hospitality and retail. A lot of these people are vulnerable already due to low pay. It is not simple for them just to retrain into something else if they lose their jobs.

Would you support a third lockdown? What should the next steps be in your opinion to ensure we get the least deaths possible but also ensuring livelihoods can be saved?

Chris Whitty did say there’s only bad choices, we are choosing the least bad atm.

Hopefully we’ll get vaccine news soonish

Future lockdowns/restrictions are inevitable unless you take a closed border and strict quarantine approach.

Absolutely no I will not support a third lockdown. I’ve stuck to all the rules so far, not gone wild over summer, and am sticking to this 4 weeks lockdown. I won’t comply with an extension to this lockdown or a third lockdown. There’s only so much isolation I can take. The government has had all year to sort it out, they haven’t and it doesn’t help that many people haven’t been complying. I’m not going to be inconvenienced further for something that isn’t working.

I went in my basement last time there was a tornado and my entire house blew away. Going in my basement didn’t stop the negative effects so this time I’m not going to bother.

Lockdowns most definitely have a negative impact on health and the economy. However, in July Victoria AU had the same number of daily cases as England but went under a strict lockdown. They're now on their 9th double doughnuts day in a row. Lockdown has worked in this case, although I admit that the effects are yet to be fully understood.

@goldopals

Lockdowns most definitely have a negative impact on health and the economy. However, in July Victoria AU had the same number of daily cases as England but went under a strict lockdown. They're now on their 9th double doughnuts day in a row. Lockdown has worked in this case, although I admit that the effects are yet to be fully understood.

The thing is though how long can Australia close their borders for? This is unlikely to go away and vaccines won’t eradicate it. It may also be a long time until the general population of any country gets vaccinated and Austria has had very low case numbers so no natural immunity either. Can they realistically shut their borders for another year? Two years? The second they open them they will get hit by cases.

Lockdown simply does not work in the long run, it does not eradicate covid of course and does more damage than good with all the job losses, poverty, excess deaths, untreated cancers etc. that come with it.

Lockdown ONLY works once, for a short period of time to stop the hospitals from getting overwhelmed. That is it. This has even been said by WHO.

So sorry, pro-lockdowners, but I'm gonna trust the World Health Organisation over random mumsnetters...

What lockdown?

I think we should either be stricter or not do anything. This halfway house stuff just isn't going to work.

If we are going to try to control covid as much as we can then I'd make masks mandatory everywhere apart from private cars and homes unless you have a visitor and then either them or you should wear a mask. There would be a few exemptions for medical reasons but not many. Children would wear masks in schools. All foreign travel banned apart from work or compassion reasons. Anyone arriving back to the UK to be tested at their own expense.

Shops and hospitality to remain open with masks and strong social distancing.

We don’t know - and we will only know in retrospect exactly what works best.

The government has had all year to sort it out, they haven’t and it doesn’t help that many people haven’t been complying. I’m not going to be inconvenienced further for something that isn’t working.

‘The government’ won’t be ‘sorting it out’. Collectively, globally, scientific advances will gradually improve the situation. Around the world governments are just doing their best to keep people safe. They don’t have the answers - just bad choices as a pp noted.

I hope Liverpool will point us in the direction of how to avoid a third lockdown. If we can test a whole city, isolate only the positives to break transmission then the rest of population can carry on as normal.

I genuinely think the way to control this situation would be regular testing of everyone. Without this, we can't break this ongoing cycle.

In my dream world, we would have a quick saliva test. Quick test for everyone, positives self-isolate for 2 weeks (but are paid to do so) and everyone else carries on as usual. Plus combine this with a vaccine for the elderly.

@goldopals

Lockdowns most definitely have a negative impact on health and the economy. However, in July Victoria AU had the same number of daily cases as England but went under a strict lockdown. They're now on their 9th double doughnuts day in a row. Lockdown has worked in this case, although I admit that the effects are yet to be fully understood.

It’s been reported that 50% of small businesses in Melbourne will not reopen.

If that’s the case, it’s a very high price to have paid. The human cost and suffering of that will be immeasurable. I don’t think you can say lockdown has “worked” unless the only thing which constitutes working or not working is covid.

I agree with OP there are pros and cons to whichever way we take - mainly cons in fact. All we can do is try to choose the least shit option.

@Nellodee

I went in my basement last time there was a tornado and my entire house blew away. Going in my basement didn’t stop the negative effects so this time I’m not going to bother.

Best example of lockdown stupidity ever! Love this!

I can see it from both sides and I think we do need some kind of continuing restrictions. It would be useful for them to look at various areas which have been under tier 2 or 3 and stabilised cases to see if they could find out exactly what restrictions were helping to bring cases down (or at least to not rise any further )

Given what they are saying about antibodies only lasting a certain amount of time and people getting it twice it seems the idea of hers immunity from just letting people get it probably isn't going to work .