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Covid

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To think they are far too slow

121 replies

Clappingforjoy · 30/12/2020 07:41

The government at putting UK into full lockdown cases are rising rapidly and people are still dying why so much delay.

OP posts:
user1470132907 · 30/12/2020 09:26

@RaspberryCoulis not sure how lockdown is supposed to be desirable when kids under age 8 or 9. Tried full-time work from home 9-5 when also caring for a 15 month-old?

user1470132907 · 30/12/2020 09:30

I am in serious fear of losing my job if another full lockdown is announced (and no, we don’t have a bunch of savings - we’d be screwed) but my doctor friends are scared shitless by the direction things are heading in at their work right now, and we’re not even in an area with high cases. If there isn’t very aggressive action not on our movements and speed of vaccine roll-out, we’ll shortly be living in something akin to a war zone

ToffeePennie · 30/12/2020 09:32

@userxx yes he is ok now, but only thanks to a mental health notice given to us by his GP explaining that we absolutely HAD to send him to his grandparents house for sleepovers and things because it was his normal. His grandparents hadn’t left their house, we hadn’t left ours so as long as their temperatures were taken and no symptoms we were allowed to take him there, which massively helped.
But this is why we cannot cope with another lockdown. My boy is 6 now, back on an even keel and very happy. Maybe for the sake of mental health, the lockdowns are hurting more than they are helping?

Rosebel · 30/12/2020 09:32

I guess you don't work in a supermarket, hospital, care home etc. Can we stay at home too? Or is it just certain members of society who deserve protecting by being in lockdown /working from home?
I don't understand why supermarket staff are somehow allowed to work even though it's not safe for others.
Anyway I reckon it will be lockdown today. Can't wait to verbally and physically assaulted.

Wakeupin2022 · 30/12/2020 09:34

@Cupcakegirl13

I don’t understand the people continuously crowing for lockdown. The effects of another full lockdown on society will be far far more devastating than the small amount of excess deaths we currently have compared to this time last winter.
Are you living on another planet?

Its not really about deaths.

Have you seen the news reports and the strain on the NHS.

That is why we need to lockdown!

And I day that as someone in Tier 2 who currently has more freedoms than most.

jillypill · 30/12/2020 09:46

I don't understand why supermarket staff are somehow allowed to work even though it's not safe for others.

No one answers this

Lanzo · 30/12/2020 09:49

People have to comply with lockdowns for them to work and I don’t think people feel the same way as they did in March. It may reduce the numbers a bit but I don’t think another lockdown would have anything like the impact of the first one. If you tell people that they are too low risk to receive a vaccine, then it is tricky to persuade them to stay in their home.

jillypill · 30/12/2020 09:50
  • Either said by someone who B. Is a SAHM with a husband who earns a fair whack in a sector unaffected by Covid.

It was B. What I don't understand is the lack of critical thinking, yeah you might be ok now but it's not a good move for society & will likely impact on you at some point.

jillypill · 30/12/2020 09:51

@ToffeePennie Thanks

countrygirl99 · 30/12/2020 09:54

@SycamoreGap there is enty of scope for the government to cock up the distribution. As for take up, if people choose not to have it tough. They can't dictate lifestyle to everyone else. FOMO will get a lot of people onside anyway.

userxx · 30/12/2020 09:55

@ToffeePennie 100% agree with you. The fallout from mental health is terrifying, 2 older ladies I know who were suffering badly are now dead and it wasn't from covid, more because of covid.

Frouby · 30/12/2020 10:01

I don't think another lockdown is the answer. I do think we need to look at schools again, much as it is a last resort but with the NHS also on its knees, cases rising rapidly and the vaccine about to be rolled out something needs to change, even if it's secondary schools closed, so primary can remain open, mainly so the economy can sort of function a little bit. Kids have had 2 weeks off now, another 2 weeks so they only share the virus with immediate family if they've picked it up over Christmas rather than the families that haven't seen anyone.

I don't want another full lockdown, even the word lockdown damages the economy and in a few months, when this crisis is reaching an end the next crisis is the economic disaster that will happen unless we try and mitigate for it as much as possible.

Those who think lockdown is the way forward can lock themselves down.

the80sweregreat · 30/12/2020 10:36

My only thinking as regards supermarkets is the staff can generally socially distance can wear masks and are not likely to be near enough to anyone to pick up any viral overload.
I know it's been grim for them and I'm happy to be told I'm wrong , but it's not the same as a teacher is exposed to the children in a classroom with children who need help and supervision and you can't SD easily.
I admire the shop workers for continuing there jobs. It must be worrying for them and been a challenge, but their risk isn't the same as it is in schools.
Again , happy to be told I'm wrong here but the organization in the big stores is amazing ( where I live anyway, tier four)
I don't work in one , but just my own observations of how they have handled it all since March.
The staff have been great , but you can't compare it to a school setting.

NotABridezillaToBe · 30/12/2020 10:40

Wasn’t the idea always tightening and loosening restrictions based on NHS capacity? We appear to have once again reached the point that the NHS can not cope and therefore lockdown is again necessary. I doubt the government wants to economically ruin the country but it’s a balancing act. Individual circumstances can’t dictate a policy at country level. Other countries are all doing the same thing.

NotABridezillaToBe · 30/12/2020 10:43

*I guess you don't work in a supermarket, hospital, care home etc. Can we stay at home too? Or is it just certain members of society who deserve protecting by being in lockdown /working from home?
I don't understand why supermarket staff are somehow allowed to work even though it's not safe for others. *

It’s not about individual risk it’s the aggregate risk and strain placed on the NHS. Limiting exposure to necessary functions fulfill this function. I am personally not concerned about the individual risk of my immediate family, statistically we will be fine and the risk of severe illness is low, but I understand the need to lockdown to limit spread and protect the NHS.

BeakyWinder · 30/12/2020 10:53

I will happily, gleefully even, go into lockdown again providing I don't have to go to work, the government pay 80% of my wage and I can bake, craft and homeschool dd. It sounds wonderful, but not something I've had the privilege of experiencing yet.

MistletoeandGin · 30/12/2020 10:59

@BeakyWinder

I will happily, gleefully even, go into lockdown again providing I don't have to go to work, the government pay 80% of my wage and I can bake, craft and homeschool dd. It sounds wonderful, but not something I've had the privilege of experiencing yet.
Ditto. It sounds lovely. We were in the position where DH had to continue working full time but with a 20% pay cut. I continued to work full time. Between us we also had to homeschool and care for 2 primary aged DC, and care for a 1 year old. Oh for a few months crafting and baking.
Diddlysquatty · 30/12/2020 11:23

Whenever these discussions come up I always think that I feel for teachers and they are right to fight for their safety, but feel that somehow carers and care workers don’t have such an organised and strong voice as teachers and health professionals. Whilst socially distancing in school is very difficult, it’s impossible when providing personal care to someone

the80sweregreat · 30/12/2020 11:34

I feel for care workers : my dad was in a care home and the staff were amazing.
I hope they can have the vaccine as a priority as well as the residents.
My thanks to all key workers , but especially those that work in care homes or hospices who are a bit overlooked sometimes mostly because a lot of homes don't come under the NHS umbrella these days.
Dementia patients are treated completely differently to people with other ailments and diseases (which is a whole other thread. )

RandomLondoner · 30/12/2020 11:41

The funding government has available is from taxation.
Not necessarily true. Though I don't generally believe in it, there are some interesting anecdotes in Modern Monetary Theory which illustrate the belief that the purpose of tax is to create demand for government money. Government first prints money, as much as it likes, they only need a printer, then to force people to let them buy stuff with it, they pass a law requiring taxes to be paid with said money. That gives the money value. (Not entirely sure this is relevant or true for the UK today, but the historical examples where this can be clearly seen are fascinating.)

A more general reason why the statement is wrong is that government can get money from borrowing, or from just printing it.

And no, you don't need tax money to repay borrowing. Borrowing does not necessarily have to be repaid, ever. As long as the total amount of debt is growing at a slower rate than the size of the economy, apparently it's not a problem for the debt to keep on increasing.

There is a limit on how far government can go with just printing money, overdoing that will cause inflation and/or loss of confidence in the currency. I think governments all prefer increasing borrowing to printing money because it gives the currency more credibility if it looks like they're exercising some self-discipline.

Theory aside, the cost of COVID will most likely be covered by long-term (30-year) government debt. I doubt there will be large tax increases, but I suppose there will be less government spending on other things over the next 30 years, than there would otherwise have been.

CountessFrog · 30/12/2020 11:42

Fortunately this country employs experts to work out what to do, rather than consulting mumsnet.

RandomLondoner · 30/12/2020 11:48

We 100% need the public sector and almost all people there do valuable, essential jobs on which we all depend; but being blunt, they are a financial overhead to society. They all have to be paid for by people who don't work in the public sector.

No, the idea that the public sector are a financial overhead that is paid for by the private sector is flat-out wrong. Both public and private sector are parts of the overall economy. You could (in theory at least) nationalise the whole private sector or privatise the whole public sector, and as long as all people and organisations continued functioning in the same way as they did before, i.e. producing the same output, GDP would not change.

(In the real world there are obviously some issues associated with public sector doing everything, but Soviet Communism lasted several decades, and GDP wasn't zero when it ended. It wouldn't have lasted that long if GDP had gone close to zero at the very beginning.)

MistletoeandGin · 30/12/2020 11:52

@CountessFrog

Fortunately this country employs experts to work out what to do, rather than consulting mumsnet.
And fortunately that doesn’t prevent people discussing it on a discussion forum.
HainaultViaNewburyPark · 30/12/2020 11:57

@Clappingforjoy Vaccine is going to take a long time to roll out they should lockdown until its fully available

They’re aiming for a million doses per week and you need two doses. So that’s 26 million people who will be vaccinated in a year. The U.K. population is 68 million. You’re surely not really proposing that we should be in lockdown for 2+ years?!

AllTheUserNamesAreTaken · 30/12/2020 12:17

@ToffeePennie that’s horrendous, your poor boy and you Flowers

My DS 6 is an only child so had no children to play with during the first lockdown. He wasn’t in the years that returned to school in June so had no proper interaction with children and began showing signs of depression towards the end it. It was awful to realise that’s what it was. Thankfully we had been able to get him booked in to a holiday club which ran at a local private school. DS should still have been home schooling (which hadn’t happened for weeks as he just wouldn’t do it) as it was still his term time but we put him in the holiday club and he bounced back very quickly, as soon as he has children to play with.

So if lockdown has to happen and primary schools have to close we intend to bubble up with another family and will be having their child round to play so that DS can interact and maybe they can do school work together. The government seem to accept single adults need interaction but hasn’t thought about only children’s needs.