Expecting the government to have a plan to end lockdown?

[ZoolInMyFridge]

Just seems ludicrous to me! The virus is unpredictable. Surely it’s worse to propose a plan, only to say ‘no, sorry’ - a few weeks later? The priority should be to relieve pressure on the NHS - and vaccinate.

@BonnieDundee

They must have a number in mind of vaccinated people where they will feel comfortable to start to relax restrictions. They must also have projections for approx how many people will be vaccinated by X Y and Z dates. Why are they not sharing this with us, albeit on an approximate basis?

They have said that they want priority groups 5 to 9 to have their first jab by the end of March. That is their aim once first for groups are done.

We are vaccinating more each week. Ramping up nicely. I work out it is actually possible to have group 9 done by mid March once they reach full capacity.

@GirlCrush

i doubt they expected this new variant to be 'more deadly'

not their fault

Doesn’t mean it isn’t still their job to plan. I would have expected, some point in the past year, someone with some expertise to have been given the job of looking at what would happen if a new, more serious, variant appeared.

Like PPs have said, obviously they can’t give dates, of course they can’t say that. But I’d feel happier if there was less of an air of them constantly just winging it.

There Does need to be a plan... It doesn't have to be a date but can be based on figures....

Daily cases need to be below xxx/100,000

Hospital beds need to be at xxx% available

Xxx icu spaces need to be available

Vaccinations 1st doses need to be at xxx percentage of population and 2nd doses. Need to be at xxx% of top 4 categories....

It really isn't hard and will stop people and the media asking stupid repetitive questions on a time line.

@GirlCrush

i doubt they expected this new variant to be 'more deadly'

not their fault

Regardless of it being more deadly... It doesn't change anything currently... Everything stays the same.. We still follow restriction and we still vaccinate... The only way it would have mad any difference to planning would be if the vaccine didn't work against it.

This has really frustrated me a lot since this whole thing started. I work in a field which isn't medical but involves managing through unknown / unpredictable variables day to day. Dealing with the 'unknown & having to endlessly re-point / pivot' is my bread and butter. I deal with the same expectations - people want certainty, they want to plan and get very upset when any outline of a plan has to pivot. It's really impossible and counterproductive to sketch out any plan or put a timeline out there because it's a game of pin the tail on the donkey setting pretty much meaningless expectations which when not met just drives up anxiety / frustration / blame.

We don't know how this virus is going to evolve, what new variants might behave (i.e. be more infectious, more transmissible, higher mortality etc), or the 'real world' benefit of vaccines outside of trial conditions. Transmission is key, but we still don't know if the vaccine will help this. The only things we do actually know are that keeping people apart works (hence lockdown) & vaccination reduces mortality in the initial variant.

All of this considered, I don't see how they can project anything making it impossible to put a plan or timeline in please This is immensely frustrating for everyone & unbearable to live with but that doesn't really change the fact it's a reality. I'm not sure what anyone expects the government to do. It might feel better to blame 'Boris' but he doesn't have a crystal ball! Self isolation compliance is apparently low (if you believe the leaks) so it seems getting on top of this way is going to take a lot longer.... in other words fighting it is perpetuating it..

We should be retrofitting factories to churn out ffp3 masks in a variety of sizes, preferably mostly recyclable, and mass producing the buggers in this country. Actually, we should have started doing this ooooh, about a year ago.

It's the bloated brexiteer gammon on the Tory back benches that seem to be applying most of the pressure to Johnson about opening up. They know absolutely fuck all about anything.