Worried this pandemic will never end

[JuneMoonstone]

Just watching Dr John Campell's Coronavirus update on YouTube. He said that the new variant of the virus has implications on herd immunity; that scientists had hoped herd immunity would be reached when about 70 % of people had been infected with covid 19, but with the new variant being so much more contagious, we may now need about 80% of people to be immune, in order to reach herd immunity. As a result the pandemic could go on longer as it'll take longer in order to reach this herd immunity. I honestly don't know how much more I can take of this horrendous situation. There is no end in sight. Just when there seemed to a tiny glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel, the news of this new variant has snatched it away. I honestly believe this pandemic will never ever end and even when we think we've got it under control, some new mutant strain will crop up and we all get thrown right back to square 1. It seems like life will just be totally shit from now on and it breaks my heart, especially for my 5 year old daughter and all other children and young people. I'm sorry to be so negative but I am so utterly low and depressed and the news just gets worse and worse.

@wanderings

I'm with you, OP. We have every reason to be worried, and not just about the pandemic. *@celan* is right: twenty years ago there would have been much less awareness of it. The hysteria would not have spread with the same wildfire. In the long term, the virus is the least of my worries: unless we watch the government like hawks, I foresee pointless restrictions being in place long after the pandemic is over, vaccines (not just this one) becoming compulsory by law, lockdowns becoming a way of life for other reasons, government becoming more authoritarian in general, people being actively encouraged to snitch on their neighbours. I hope that pressure groups are formed to fight these things tooth and nail once some normality is resumed.

Agree. More awareness of this is needed.

What “other reasons” do people think a Tory government will want to lock down and destroy the economy for?

Theres absolutely no reason why any government would want to lock down people and mess up the economy.
I don’t think there’s any point in comparing Boris to what other PMs would have done. For a start, Blair hasn’t been in office for quite a long time and in the 90s we don’t have social media, and the internet was only in its early stages.
It would have been harder to lockdown people 20 years ago with no social media, Emailing, or zoom calls. Home schooling couldn’t have happened either, atleast not the way it’s done online now. It would have meant people going to school to pick up paperwork, defeating the object of a lockdown.
It’s easier to entertain kids today with modern technology.

I do agree however that I don’t want this country to turn into something like George Orwell’s novel, 1984.
Look how easy it was to impose these rules restrictions in the first place.

@Hearwego

I do agree however that I don’t want this country to turn into something like George Orwell’s novel, 1984. Look how easy it was to impose these rules restrictions in the first place.

9 months on, this still terrifies me, though I try not to think about it as clearly most people love it.

Acorn- agreed. I’m worried that periodical lockdowns could become normal and the government will ask people to stay home to stop catching the flue. Curfews could become part of life after the pandemic, as scientists will lobby the government. We could have 4 week lockdowns every winter as normal life.
Ok sounds far fetched but nothing would surprise me anymore.
In that case I think fringe groups or resistance groups would form.

@Hearwego

Acorn- agreed. I’m worried that periodical lockdowns could become normal and the government will ask people to stay home to stop catching the flue. Curfews could become part of life after the pandemic, as scientists will lobby the government. We could have 4 week lockdowns every winter as normal life. Ok sounds far fetched but nothing would surprise me anymore. In that case I think fringe groups or resistance groups would form.

Don't worry people don't do it now so they won't then !!! You are thinking irrational which I have been doing too x

At any point in the history of British democracy had there ever been a lockdown for anything other than infectious illnesses or during wars?

Why would a government deliberately choose to ruin the economy? ( Excluding Brexit)

I have never voted Tory in my life but I honestly don't believe the government are deliberately trying to destroy the economy. They are just floundering around, not really knowing what to do for the best. I lurch from thinking we must save lives to we mustn't destroy the economy. It's a difficult balance.