Why did we not lockdown when the hospitals were at 95 percent capacity in previous years? Would love anyone's thoughts on this as it baffles me.
Because we were not facing a virus with exponential spread.
Because we were not facing a novel virus on top of all the other usual winter disease.
OP I agree that the NHS has been chronically underfunded and that has become more of an issue through this. But what I am puzzled by on this thread is why people think the government are doing this. They are a Tory government. They have proven themselves to not give a fig about the vulnerable over the past 10 years. They care about business and the economy. And yet you accuse them of pissing all of that up the wall for no reason at all, or to save 80 year olds who were going to die anyway.
Many countries are having the exact same issues, whatever the government does, because this thing spreads. For those who go on and on about the small death rate and the fact that it's mostly those pesky vulnerable who die of it, do you not realise a small percentage of a massive number is still a huge number? And whatever you want to say about average ages of death, an average means numbers on both sides, and the evidence from the ground on wards is of many younger people hospitalised because of that law of averages.
But this was never about saving lives. This was always about trying to stop the NHS becoming so overwhelmed that the rest of society doesn't break down. For those saying it's all madness, what are you actually suggesting is the solution to this, that doesn't actually cause further breakdown in the areas you claim to be so concerned about?
If covid was left to burn through, what do you think would happen to those with other conditions like cancer? Would they now magically somehow have their treatment all restored on time, or would it be even more set back - and catastrophically so in huge numbers - because of the sheer number of covid admissions caused by lack of restrictions? Hospitals treat acute things as urgent priority and that's why they are doing this: because covid presents as acute emergency, whereas many other chronic conditions do not in such great numbers piling on all at once. Until, that is, covid is left to rip through and all these other conditions left without treatment.
What would happen to mental health services? You are concerned about people's mental health due to lockdown and rightly so. But if an exponential virus is let rip then it reaches into all areas of society. It decimates everything. Mental health staff sick and isolating in ever growing numbers, patients themselves getting sick, the escalation of it would be intense and awful.
What about businesses? If covid were left alone, would businesses magically be fine after all, or would the unimaginable effects of an exponential virus have even more adverse effects? People would stop shopping, stop going to the pub. Society would break down in greater measure than now, all because of numbers.
Of course the government should invest a whole lot more in cancer research and mental health services. They have been incredibly lacking in their support of such things and their ideology of austerity. But when you have an acute situation you have to respond to that first in order to cope with all the other things.
I am no Tory fan. I have never voted for them in my life. And I think they have made a huge mess of all this. But I don't see what the solution is. When you are all saying this is madness, what is the alternative? What is your solution?
Please don't say shield the vulnerable. That is not a practical or compassionate solution seeing as the vulnerable number millions and are so integrated in society.