Why are we not on a full, strict lockdown?

[newtierseve]

I don't understand. The rates are similar/higher than April when we were on a strict national lockdown, only this time it's a variant that is even more contagious.

Accounts from NHS frontline medics are incredibly harrowing and distressing to read.

I don't understand our government. I just don't understand them.

Going by the government figures, the November lockdown actually brought new infections down by quite a lot - from a rough calculation the rate at which they fell, as a percentage drop over a number of days, was similar to the first peak in April. I was surprised at the time tbh, as I also thought it wouldn't accomplish much with schools still open.

It looks to me like the problem was that new cases were still high when we did re-open, so as soon as people started mixing again the numbers went straight back up - unlike in summer when they were very low and so stayed that way for a while. I'm not saying the answer would have been to lock down for ages because that brings its own problems. But it's not true to say that the November lockdown did nothing.