Deaths everywhere, yet we are still going to work this morning. Why?

[TwirpingBird]

I am sitting here watching BBC breakfast with another harrowing video of ITU nurses at breaking point, ambulances lined up outside, 1800 dead yesterday, and headlines of 'lockdown isnt working', 'people arent complying' blah blah blah. Its all 'you need to follow the rules, you need to stay at home. I am seething.

My husband is leaving for work in an hour where he will enter 5 houses today to do completely non essential work because the government deem him a 'key worker'. My best friend will go to work in her office in a interior design company because she is a 'key worker'. Her husband will go to work giving quotes for kitchens in people's houses because his boss deems him a 'key worker'. None of my friends are on furlough. We are all seeing nobody outside of work. We are all sticking to the 'rules'. But how could we possibly expect the rules to work when everyone is still getting in their cars this morning?

I am raging angry. I am SICK and TIRED of being told 'follow the rules'. WE ARE!!! The rules make no bloody sense. And people are still dropping like flies, and experts are saying the lockdown isnt working, and the public are still being tarred as 'lacking empathy' because we are killing people. We are going to work! Kids are still in school! And then we come home and we do what we can but its never going to be enough. I am starting to wonder why I am bothering to hide myself away, managing a 2 year old and a newborn alone 5 days a week, naively thinking I am helping to manage transmission, when in reality its not helping at all because people are still at work.

Even if we all stayed in and weren't allowed to go anywhere there would not be an effect on deaths for several weeks.

Lockdown is clearly starting to take effect, cases are down 30-40% on December numbers in some areas.

It is like some dystopian hell: not the pandemic or lockdown, but the police patrolling the countryside and seaside turning people away, fining people, while the real virus transmission takes place in shops, workplaces etc. Very little policing of the actual law on face covering. No checking on whether all the workplaces that are open are really essential.

No checking on whether all the workplaces that are open are really essential

Maybe because that isn't the law? Only pubs, cafes, restaurants, schools (with exceptions) and and non-essential retail have been asked to close in England. Everyone else who cannot work from home may go to work.

[quote ArseInTheCoOpWindow]It’s more than the first week. It’s 10 days.

This is the original item. It talks about an uptick in infections

www.imperial.ac.uk/news/212953/coronavirus-infections-falling-england-latest-react/?fbclid=IwAR1Im3OOd1I9mTDU6moQFz0bslbhDLBgzA13tKwzLZicJJ_xGD0isDJbVAo[/quote]
Have you seen the infection rates in care homes? This is likely to be part of the cause. care homes have at least partially been locked down since March, I doubt many residents were mixing at Christmas or going out to work.

More likely the NHS discharging patients back who haven't been tested again. Can't believe people aren't more angry about this than people who need to work and pay the bills.

Well, I'm still working (as is DH) because we have bills to pay and neither of us is entitled to any form of furlough or grant from the government.

Neither of us have jobs that can be done from home (construction and animal care) and sitting at home for weeks on end means we can't pay our mortgage or our bills.

I know of several small businesses who have already folded, and many large chains have gone bust or been forced to shut numerous stores. It's not realistic to keep the economy closed for months on end.

I want to know what will happen when furlough ends, more businesses fold and millions of people suddenly find themselves with no job and having to survive on Universal Credit. I wonder if they'll think it's worth it.

I have just resigned myself to lockdown now. I think it will be another year bad mistakes from the government. I look after my kids, go to work (never gave the option to work from home) and stay in on the weekends. The way this country has handled this is shocking. And the fact MPs have been helping their high up friends make money from this is discusting

GRAK l agree.

Threads like this make it clear why cases are not going down. I just had an argument with a workman who wanted to come in the house to tick a box at the end of the work they're doing (the company could be in trouble in 20 years if audited and box is not ticked). Apparently this is essential because he is a "critical worker" and will be wearing PPE so no risk to me. I said do you still want to come in if I say I have Covid. He didn't which suggests he and his company not quite so confident about the PPE after all.

It isn't my problem to resolve. Schools are not safe for children or staff.

don't forgot the families of those children.

It isn't my problem to resolve.

Doesn't that work both ways though...

WFH has a massive knock on the economy down the line as companies will shut large offices to reduce overheads, less people paying for transport, lunches/coffees near the office, the cleaner and building maintenance gets laid off its a massive butterfly effect. Less people working = less tax paid

This is a really simplistic view of how the economy works. The same thing was said about automation, how so many people would be out of work and yet unemployment rates when viewed over a long period of time do not significantly suffer when these kinds of changes happen.

Those empty office town centre blocks will need to be re-purposed, they will probably go back to resi, which will bring with it a regeneration of areas to include more leisure facilities. Public transport numbers may well reduce, but many are finding they have more disposable income whilst working from home so other services will increase. We’ve already seen a massive leap in online retail which has brought with it increased jobs in fulfilment and delivery. The property market is booming with people relocating or upsizing to work from home. Domestic construction seeing a surge in people extending or renovating properties. Sure, Pret in the city centre might not be busy, but the wee shop up the road from us has seen a massive increase in their hot food/coffee sales. People still want to buy that stuff. I’m still waiting for some bright spark to switch the ice cream van that turns up when it is -3 outside to realise a 10.30 round selling coffee and croissants will do great business.

The economy will evolve, as it always does, to meet the needs of people. If we, as a family are spending around less because of reductions in commuting, childcare costs, the throwaway cash on daily coffees and lunches, that just means we have more to spend on other stuff. Not everyone is struggling financially through lockdown.

[quote ArseInTheCoOpWindow]‘Cases are plummeting the restrictions are working’

Not according to the news this morning. This is just one of the many pieces.

www.itv.com/news/2021-01-21/covid-no-decline-in-very-high-rates-during-first-week-of-latest-england-lockdown-study-shows[/quote]
It'll take a month to stabilise the mess made in December. Cases have almost halved but that's still a lot of infections.

WFH has a massive knock on the economy down the line as companies will shut large offices to reduce overheads, less people paying for transport, lunches/coffees near the office, the cleaner and building maintenance gets laid off its a massive butterfly effect

This is a massive issue if remote working is here to stay.

People being forced into the office when they can perform their role satisfactorily from home is ridiculous and something needs to be done about it.

Could schools have a staggered approach in terms of how pupils are admitted so that they can manage class numbers? E.g. both parents key workers and vulnerable kids allowed in and then only if there's room are the kids with one key worker parent allowed in?

Childcare bubbles is another one that annoys me....I know someone who has formed a childcare bubble with another family when neither actually need childcare....it's just so the kids can play and to make the parents life a bit easier. In the meantime my only DD hasn't seen another kid face to face since we went into lockdown and it's really affecting her.

I was thinking that when lockdown is released and we go back to anywhere near a semblance of normal, a lot of the people who haven't been out of the house since March run the risk of getting awfully sick from other stuff.

Our immune systems need constant priming from low levels of pathogens. These people will be getting some stinking common colds and chest infections because they have been locked away and not exposed to these.

The economy will evolve, as it always does, to meet the needs of people

I agree but this is a very fast, rapid change & a lot won't evolve in time.

Why doesn’t your husband look for a new job if he despises his so much?

She didn’t say he despises his job.

Not everyone is struggling financially through lockdown.

Yes the haves (& I include myself in that) have benefited from the lockdown. The property market has been driven by those already on the ladder. However there will be big implications for the have nots.

@Graciebobcat

No checking on whether all the workplaces that are open are really essential

Maybe because that isn't the law? Only pubs, cafes, restaurants, schools (with exceptions) and and non-essential retail have been asked to close in England. Everyone else who cannot work from home may go to work.

That's part of the problem with the police. They can't get tough over masks because law/human rights etc. They can't get tough over non-essential work because it's not the law and people still need to work.

Therefore what's left for them to really do to make it look like they're doing anything? Harass people in the countryside, or sat on a park bench, which makes sod all difference to the spread of the virus.

This is a massive issue if remote working is here to stay.

I do not think it’s here to stay

@Mancity100

People need to work to keep there business going, who on earth would be paying for all of this if no one was going to work

Even better idea keep the 60 plus at home instead of daily shopping trips and let people get on with there lives as this virus wont kill most people

And 1800 didnt die yesterday it's a catch up of numbers and look at the age of deaths old people ot underlying health conditions

Maybe people should live a better more active lifestyle and stop blaming the government for everything

Lots of 60+ people work, for a start.

Even if you are one of those people (and I really hope you are not) who thinks deaths of older people or people with underlying health conditions don't matter so much, the fact is that these people will often die in hospital. The risk then is the NHS will continue to buckle under the strain. What happens then is that gasp younger people will die because they won't get the lifesaving treatment they need..

It’s definitely here to stay.

Companies don’t want to pay rent for buildings, it costs them a fortune.

There’s a big company in London that’s closed it’s offices and put people on home working.

I know someone who has formed a childcare bubble with another family when neither actually need childcare....it's just so the kids can play

In fairness though, how much longer are children not allowed in school supposed to be kept isolated from their peers? It’s very unfair on them.

My child cried every night during the first lockdown because he was lonely and missed his friends. I’m not doing that to him again.

I do not think it’s here to stay

Sorry I meant such an increased level of it. I'm not sure tbh, my friends in the city have been told they will never go back to pre covid. Now they always had some form of remote working available but not 5 days a wk.