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Original poster

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

532 replies

TwirpingBird · 21/01/2021 06:56

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.

OP posts:
Mousehole10 · 21/01/2021 08:19

The country can not afford to keep locking down completely and can’t pay to furlough everyone. Would you be saying the same if your DH got to stay home but wouldn’t be paid? Because that’s what it will come to if that happens.

Yes there are a lot of deaths at the moment and that’s awful, but actually cases are coming down because of lockdown and quite quickly in some places. In my area they’ve dropped by over 20% in one week.

Ragwort · 21/01/2021 08:20

It's very easy to say 'stay at home' if you are furloughed, can easily work from home, have a fixed income, decent pension etc etc. So many people are happy to 'smugly' stay at home whilst bleating on about supporting local businesses, takeaways, delivery drivers etc etc etc. That's apart from all the volunteers who run the Food Banks etc .... should we 'stay at home'?

I would like to see constructive comments about how the economy could support everyone staying at home.

I have no personal axe to grind, my DH can work from home, I am furloughed but yes, I do go out at least three times a week to organise the Food Bank - shall I stop doing that? Hmm

OliveTree75 · 21/01/2021 08:20

@lovelemoncurd

I know. My husband leaves for work and has done every single day since last March teaching SEN kids in a PRU. They don't want to be in school. Their parents don't want them at home. So my husband has to put his life in danger because others don't know how to raise their children and our useless government can't make decent decisions 😡
Don't even know where to start with that. Such an ignorant comment.
gongsr · 21/01/2021 08:20

It needs to be a balancing act

100% I don't understand why this is so hard to understand.

gongsr · 21/01/2021 08:22

It's very easy to say 'stay at home' if you are furloughed, can easily work from home, have a fixed income, decent pension etc etc. So many people are happy to 'smugly' stay at home whilst bleating on about supporting local businesses, takeaways, delivery drivers etc etc etc. That's apart from all the volunteers who run the Food Banks etc .... should we 'stay at home'?

Indeed!!

Original poster
TwirpingBird · 21/01/2021 08:23

Just so I am clear, I 100% think people need to work. What I am completely and utterly sick of is the voice on one side saying 'go to work' and the voice on the other side saying 'if you dont stay at home we will be in lockdown forever'. Also, the incessant media guilt trip is killing me. We are following the rules and it's not actually going to work, so this is just going to meeo going. It will be work work work, but dont do anything that actually keeps you sane or makes you happy. I feel like my efforts are just a waste of time because the virus is still spreading in workplaces. It's all just a massive lie. We are fools being guilt tripped into thinking our suffering is making any difference. It's just being outweighed by the packed tube this morning.

OP posts:
Mousehole10 · 21/01/2021 08:24

@lovelemoncurd

I know. My husband leaves for work and has done every single day since last March teaching SEN kids in a PRU. They don't want to be in school. Their parents don't want them at home. So my husband has to put his life in danger because others don't know how to raise their children and our useless government can't make decent decisions 😡
Sorry but thats just horrible. I hope you’re DH doesn’t think like that, he should quit and find another job so those children are looked after by someone who doesn’t think this.
corythatwas · 21/01/2021 08:24

You are all perfectly happy for Nurses to HAVE to go to work and nurse the sick patients or supermarket staff to work so you get your food and delivery drivers have to work to deliver it to you. Just so long as YOU don’t have to go to work and be at risk.

Because more people contracting Covid won't put the nurses more at risk? Hmm

"Show solidarity to nurses- contract Covid!" is certainly an interesting policy.

gongsr · 21/01/2021 08:24

where are the voices coming from? It's only on MNs that people want a "proper" lockdown whatever that is.

Joeblack066 · 21/01/2021 08:26

@Ostryga

Because as much as covid is awful and we need to get it under control, the fallout and effects from a floundering economy is going to kill far, far more people in the decades to come than covid has and will.

I despise the tories, but it is an extremely fine balancing act of having enough money to sort out what covid will leave behind. This is going to felt for a very long time.

Correct.
corythatwas · 21/01/2021 08:26

Yes of course it's horrible that some people have to work outside the home and take risks. My son is one of them, which of course puts us all at risk. But you know what- 3 more members of the family going out when they don't have to wouldn't make his life any safer: it would put him at 4 times as much risk. So he's happy to take the "stay at home" message as meaning "well, if other people stay at home that makes me safer".

Cheesypea · 21/01/2021 08:27

Tell your woes to the loved ones if the 100,000 whove lost their lives.

NervousPGCEstudent2021 · 21/01/2021 08:28

I'm a PGCE student and will be in school next week. I completely agree, this is just going to extend it all.

gongsr · 21/01/2021 08:29

Yes it's shit but I understand why the gov are keener on people working then visiting family even though both could lead to Covid.

I've been working on site throughout most of the pandemic & dc have been in school/nursery. Obviously this increases the risk to my family so I have had to be stricter elsewhere regardless of what the current guidelines are, no seeing friends, no holidays, no restaurants, very limited shopping trips, no gym, etc. That's all I can control really as I don't want to give up my job.

ShinyGreenElephant · 21/01/2021 08:29

@lovelemoncurd I hope your husband isn't as vile as you. I've worked in a PRU and yes, its bloody hard, hard work but those kids are some of those who need love and understanding the most. I cant imagine how damaging it would be to be looked down on and have their parents sneered at on a daily basis by ignorant, nasty people like you. I think its you who hasn't been brought up properly as you don't seem to have a shred of empathy.

@Tinty I think you've missed the point - nurses/ teachers/ actual key workers are all under extra strain BECAUSE all the non essential workers are being forced to go in and mix and spread the virus and send their kids to school. Its certainly not their fault and its (usually) not their employers fault either. Its this stupid government's fault with their lack of support and mixed messages.

Original poster
TwirpingBird · 21/01/2021 08:29

Ugh @Cheesypea that's my effing point! Employed by the government guilt trip team are you? Dont know when to clock off?

OP posts:
LucilleTheVampireBat · 21/01/2021 08:29

@Cheesypea

Tell your woes to the loved ones if the 100,000 whove lost their lives.
What do you believe comments like this add to the discussion?
AmoElCafe · 21/01/2021 08:30

Where are you all living that non key workers are being forced to send their kids to school? Our school has a ‘children of two key workers only’ policy.

gongsr · 21/01/2021 08:31

I lost a relative to Covid, I still think the economy is important.

AuntieStella · 21/01/2021 08:31

I think it might be helpful to move away from the idea that lockdowns are "punishment"

They are our only remedy and the route to re-opening.

I know it sounds saccharine, but small and deliberate changes such as that one can have a disproportionate effect

Meruem · 21/01/2021 08:31

I work for an organisation that genuinely has key workers. I’m not one of them, was wfh pre covid. But I have to say they’ve handled this brilliantly. Everyone wfh as standard at the moment. The office does need to be “covered” but they only have in the minimum amount needed each day (done on a rota). We’re in London and they have a taxi account set up so the people who have to go in on any particular day can get a cab to and from work. This is how it should be done imo.

stressbucket1 · 21/01/2021 08:33

I really think non essential business/construction could have closed for 2 weeks to break any post christmas chains of transmission. That would have given the lockdown a head start. There are outbreaks in non essential factories around here. These factories were closed during the first lockdown.

TramaDollface · 21/01/2021 08:33

@lovelemoncurd

I know. My husband leaves for work and has done every single day since last March teaching SEN kids in a PRU. They don't want to be in school. Their parents don't want them at home. So my husband has to put his life in danger because others don't know how to raise their children and our useless government can't make decent decisions 😡
I think that’s really insulting and shameful

It’s exhausting having a child with SEN. It’s not about “not knowing how to raise them”

I hope your husband doesn’t have the same attitude.

Caesargeezer · 21/01/2021 08:37

I'm horrified by the comment about SEN kids. I go to work to teach children with SEN as it is incredibly important for both them and their parents to have some time in school. We need the lockdown but so many are suffering because of it too. It's not possible for everyone to be at home. And I agree with a pp re. the economy. If we let it go to rack and ruin we won't have an NHS.

Waxonwaxoff0 · 21/01/2021 08:37

@stressbucket1

I really think non essential business/construction could have closed for 2 weeks to break any post christmas chains of transmission. That would have given the lockdown a head start. There are outbreaks in non essential factories around here. These factories were closed during the first lockdown.
Non essential factories didn't have to close during the first lockdown, a lot of them only closed because their suppliers did (I work in one). Because of this the government is giving them no financial support whatsoever so they have no choice but to be open or go bust.