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Original poster

Why the government won’t do a proper lockdown?

156 replies

Jangle33 · 07/01/2021 10:02

The NHS say for LONDON they will likely be short by 2000 to 5000 beds.

They won’t be treating people who are in a road traffic accidents or have a heart attack. I cannot even begin to imagine what the staff are going through.

Can someone people explain why the government are not stepping in and:

  • rethinking the number of “key” worker children they have permitted to attend. 50% of kids in school is not sustainable.
  • make it illegal for unscrupulous employers to not allow staff to work from home who perfectly are able to.
  • close cafes
  • close click and collect
  • police enforce breaches
  • close garden centres and other non essential retail
  • anything else I’ve missed...

We will all be locked up for longer with this halfway house and more people will die.

They need to act fast.

OP posts:
RingtheBells · 07/01/2021 11:51

@Jangle33

Thank you Missy!

Does anyone know why this thread has been moved from AIBU? Lots of other threads on topic have not been. Just wondering?

All threads on covid should be in coronavirus section as they are swamping the site an it makes it easier to hide the threads if they are in one place. Posters are reporting threads in the wrong section and probably haven't reported the others yet
Timbucktime · 07/01/2021 11:59

Bookriddle
MSM reported last year that ventilators were no longer being used as they were found to be causing more harm than good.
I’m assuming now it must have been fake news.

ginsparkles · 07/01/2021 12:09

Click and collect is the only way high street retail can survive this situation. From here i sit in a retail shop; most people are staying at home so there is no real risk for the few people who arrange to collect something each day. Click and collect takes way less staff to operate than normal retail would, so it is one way to keep things running so that businesses don't go under.
All of this is a fine balancing act. Keeping people safe while maintaining as many businesses and therefore jobs, as possible.

borntohula · 07/01/2021 12:13

Where on earth are people getting '50% of kids in schools' from? Not the case where I am.

DinosaurDigestive · 07/01/2021 12:14

I personally think when it comes to click and collect that there are certain ones open that shouldn't be so there can be an attempt to slow the spread.

Car showrooms seem to have all got around the lockdown rules by claiming they are "essential" and are very much open for click and collect. Lots of staff members still going in and not the obvious ones such as mechanics which are needed but sales team members etc.

I do understand that they lost a lot of money during the first lockdown but with so many businesses open still it isn't going to acheive the effect of slower virus spreading.

Supermarkets etc I get why they're still available for click and collect especially as delivery slots are so hard to get but there are numerous shops that I really don't think are essential offering this service.

Really doesn't seem like this is going to be an effective lockdown at all when all this is going on and I'm concerned about this especially due to hospitals apparently being so overwhelmed and this strain affecting younger and younger people and potential effects of long term covid.

annevonkleve · 07/01/2021 12:15

But walking down my high street I can click and collect for the Body Shop, WHSmith

Agree about the Body Shop but the WH Smith sells office supplies which people working from home may need.

Bookriddle · 07/01/2021 12:21

@Timbucktime i personally have never seen that being said, i know for a fact covid patients are being put on ventilators, my wife works in ICU!

She did say tho, the knew ventilaters that dyson made last year are shit

scaevola · 07/01/2021 12:21

@ElizabethG81

They won’t be treating people who are in a road traffic accidents or have a heart attack.

Do you have a source for this or are you just scaremongering?

It's a slight garble of what a UCLH consultant intensivist said in the BBC piece that was on the news yesterday

www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/health-55564425

Basically, UCLH will run out of ICU in 7 days, and other estimates are putting many other places at 7-14 days.

And as he pointed out you cannot receive intensive care following RTA, stroke, heart attack, after extensive surgery etc when there are no beds whatsoever.

I'm sure everyone hopes that this crisis does not happen. But it's a real threat (and why the country was put at Alert 5). It's not gratuitous scaremongering to mention how close we are to the edge.

PicsInRed · 07/01/2021 12:30

"A proper lockdown" 🤣

How well do you enjoy eating, drinking adequately treated water, and being paid wages? Do you think doctors and nurses should be paid, and that there should be food available for them to buy?

A "proper lockdown" would put a swift end to all that.

PicsInRed · 07/01/2021 12:31

@borntohula

Where on earth are people getting '50% of kids in schools' from? Not the case where I am.
Mine would be circa 5%.
QueenPawPaws · 07/01/2021 12:44

@DinosaurDigestive car sales are allowed to click and collect, all in the guidelines specially stating they can
But it doesn't help when customers are travelling out of county and 50 miles plus for an MOT. I think that probably be shouldn't be allowed

feelingverylazytoday · 07/01/2021 12:48

A 'proper lockdown' usually needs a military presence and support from outside the region. In Wuhan much of the food and essential supplies were brought in from other parts of China.This isn't possible if the whole country is locked down, as it is here.
Yes things could be tightened up here, but not to the extent that some people think it could be.

wanderings · 07/01/2021 12:54

Short term pain for long term gain.
Except it isn’t fucking short term. It’s dragging on and on and on: remember “we can turn this virus around in twelve weeks?” “Normal by Christmas?” Saint Boris said “until Easter”: and because he always talks shit, that means it likely to last well beyond Easter. And now we hear that there might be lockdown again next winter. Just what is SHORT about this pain???? And the pain of recession, unemployment, suicide, mental health crisis that is exacerbated by this is going to be LONG LONG LONG.

TheKeatingFive · 07/01/2021 13:05

If people really want the kind of ‘proper lockdown’ that involves being forcibly kept in your home by military presence, then I suggest you apply for Chinese citizenship.

This is not going to fly in the UK.

Yes it’s important not to overrun the health service right now. However in the longer term, people do not seem to be engaging with the impact endless lockdowns are having on nhs funding. I am pretty confident that we’ve already seen the death of the nhs in its current form as we just will not be able to afford to sustain it in the years to come.

TheKeatingFive · 07/01/2021 13:07

They basically don't want people dying in hospital corridors. Looks dreadful on news reports

As ever, formerbabe nails it.

This is all it was ever about. Wake the fuck up.

MarshaBradyo · 07/01/2021 13:07

Are cafes open?

MarshaBradyo · 07/01/2021 13:09

If you mean takeaway I’m fine with that.

Anyway this feels like a lock down to me and people haranguing for more and more are crazy imo

Puzzledandpissedoff · 07/01/2021 13:10

The issue isn't simple but the answer to your question is ... they won't do a "proper" lockdown because that would have to apply to absolutely everyone, and there isn't the will to do that even if it was possible

DinosaurDigestive · 07/01/2021 13:10

@QueenPawPaws oh yes I know and I completely agree with you about the travelling so far out of region.

There are certain ones who are still doing test drives which is against the rules as showrooms are meant to be closed also. The outside car area is still open for customers/people to come and look at as well.

I know that some are struggling due to the effects of the last lockdown which would mean some could potentially go under if forced to close for a long period again but all this is doing is ensuring more people are affected. And no doubt more will start up test drives again seeing numerous others doing it and in an attempt to keep certain customers happy and to ensure sales.

EngineeringFix · 07/01/2021 13:14

Our takeaway coffee shops have many people inside waiting! Tis a bit nuts imo.

BlueBaubles12 · 07/01/2021 13:18

Why stop click and collect? Isn’t that a way of keeping people out of the supermarket?

Where are all the police officers to enforce the breaches coming from? Although I suppose a mass recruitment drive might make the unemployment figures look a bit better.

Stripesnomore · 07/01/2021 13:20

I am happy for them to have people doing non essential jobs in work if the economy really can’t cope without it. I will carry on going to work on the bus and mixing with all my colleagues, eating in the staff restaurant and dealing with customers. Life feels pretty normal to me.

But there’s no point pretending we are in a proper lockdown while that is going on, and we will have to accept there will be deaths because of it.

StealthPolarBear · 07/01/2021 13:22

Cafes aren't open surely. Werent open here before Christmas!

cushioncovers · 07/01/2021 13:24

Only for takeout stealth

QueenPawPaws · 07/01/2021 13:24

@DinosaurDigestive it's bonkers. Like everyone has thought "kids off school, best get the car booked in for that rattle I've had since 2018"