Were they trying to scare us into complying

[Butterflyfluff]

I think it’s fair to say throughout this pandemic there has been a lot of instances where we’ve been told something in order to produce a predefined reaction

I’m thinking specifically about the mysteriously released details of further restrictions - these always seemed to me to just be to ‘soften us up’ as, when they were officially announced, we’d all got our heads round them even if we didn’t like them

I wonder now if all this talk of schools not going back until after Easter and hospitality not opening until after that is more of the same

Is it over exaggeration to get us to do all we can to slow the spread as most of us don’t want restrictions to last that long?

The numbers seem to be dropping off pretty quickly now so restrictions still being in place more than 2 months down the line seems extreme

Yes, it is. They're doing it everywhere. Belgium's health minister admitted that non-essential shops were closed as a scare tactic and that keeping them open did not pose any particular risk.

The article is behind a paywall but you can see these points at the very start of it:
www.thetimes.co.uk/article/belgiums-shops-were-shut-as-a-coronavirus-shock-tactic-2x9wklf7v

Wow @Spodge if that's true ,its criminal all those jobs lost

@TheKeatingFive

Of course. Fear is the only really effective tool they have.

Unfortunately for them, many have worked out that they’re more at risk from the flu than CV and their ‘30% more deadly’ reveals are getting a bit transparent. Meanwhile, the immense costs of lockdown become clearer and clearer.

The tide is turning on mass compliance.

NO ONE IS AT MORE RISK OF DYING OF FLU THAN COVID. Not least because there is hardly anyone with flu this year I cannot bear any more of the idiotic non 'facts' people are so fond of constantly quoting By all means object to lockdown, you are entitled to your opinion. You are not entitled to your own facts .

NO ONE IS AT MORE RISK OF DYING OF FLU THAN COVID

Check the figures. Plenty of younger people are.

Numbers in France are rising, albeit slowly, but they are not testing enough and the positivity rate is above what it should be. This means the numbers are underestimated.
The number of deaths is stable ATM.

But France has had several limitations since November. They haven't easied up that much.
Higher education closures, ban of all mass gathering events, closure of public spaces except accommodation and public transport, mask mandate, teleworking mandate, social circle mandate, etc (see note below).

www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/france/
www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/covid-19/situation-updates/weekly-maps-coordinated-restriction-free-movement
covid19-country-overviews.ecdc.europa.eu/#13_France (see 13.3 National: public health response measures)

@TheKeatingFive

NO ONE IS AT MORE RISK OF DYING OF FLU THAN COVID

"Check the figures. Plenty of younger people are."

What figures? I'm curious.

There is no flu in Europe this winter. flunewseurope.org/

that didn’t take long did it? Told you a dissenting voice gets jumped on pdq!!

Except you aren’t a dissenting voice on this particular thread @Undisclosedlocation
you’re just one of the crowd, so not as special as you think you are.

Lol.

Belgium's health minister admitted that non-essential shops were closed as a scare tactic and that keeping them open did not pose any particular risk

If that came from anywhere but The Times I'd probably dismiss it out of hand, and I'm not sure even now

However if it is true, you have to wonder what the hell's going on
Either way it's an interesting one for those who keep crying "why would they be doing this if it wasn't necessary?"

Hang on the Kent strain is more contagious and deadly www.express.co.uk/showbiz/tv-radio/1388516/Coronavirus-UK-news-Good-Morning-Britain-SAGE-John-Edmunds-Kent-Covid-strain-latest-vn

I don't understand what people think the government has to gain by making people stay at home and ruining the economy?

Why would the government want that?

Also, it's false to say you can lockdown or an economy - if people are too scared to go out then the economy won't recover. As a business, it's better to be closed and getting furlough for staff than open and losing shed loads of money.

There is no point in a middle of the road response. All or nothing is the only type of lockdown worth having.

@Puzzledandpissedoff do you have a link to that Times article?

@HesterShaw1

Someone on another thread said that her tactic with these scary announcements is to ignore them, knowing that in a few days they will probably be debunked, or put into proper context.

Sounds sensible.

Yes, but why are we accepting this from our mainstream media and public broadcaster?

My twins have been into their very small specialist school twice this term. Both times they’ve been a close contact with a positive case and have had to self isolate.

I work in maternity - units throughout the country are having significant staffing issues due to positive tests or close contacts.

It shouldn’t require manipulation for us to see how bad things are right now - just look around. Yes, cases are down, deaths are down but that won’t be the case if we open everything up again, obviously.

It's such a reckless approach as it means people lose any faith or trust in mainstream media. So they start to disbelieve it and turn to other sources of information.

Another example of a biased headline is the BBC website tonight reporting on the 'scum' riots in the Netherlands. Yes 'scum' is a quote (from a Dutch establishment figure), but it's been selected by the Beeb to include in their headline and therefore subtly discredit the riots.

@madroid
www.thetimes.co.uk/article/belgiums-shops-were-shut-as-a-coronavirus-shock-tactic-2x9wklf7v

Do you have a link to that Times article?

Unfortunately not, madroid - it was the one quoted by spodge at 18.05, but as they pointed out, the quote from the Belgian minister can still be read despite the paywall (and it's also been reported in less "reputable" media)

Yes, but why are we accepting this from our mainstream media and public broadcaster?

Excellent question and I have no idea what the answer is.

The post on the first page which said Scare tactics are needed because some people are too stupid to do the right thing is so wrong and worrying on so many levels.

Over 100,000 people have died and we need scare tactics!

Why are we accepting this from our mainstream media and public broadcaster?

If you're referring to the BBC then the answer's obvious - the narrative is the government's chosen one, and since they control the broadcaster's funding arrangements they have the whip hand over them

This is what the report says:
Shutting shops at the end of October was a “psychological shock” tactic to bring home the need for restrictions to arrest the spread of the virus, the country’s health minister has admitted.

Non-essential retailers were forced to close at the end of October as infection rates reached the highest level in Europe and hospital admissions threatened to overwhelm intensive care units. Shops will reopen today after a decline in infections.

So what is your point?
That the shops were closed possibly a week or two before they needed to be in order to make people take the restrictions more seriously (in order to save their lives)?

Oooh yes I can really see the sinister conspiracy there NOT

@Puzzledandpissedoff
the narrative is the government's chosen one

But what the hell IS the narrative? And who is it benefitting?

But what the hell IS the narrative? And who is it benefitting?

On the first we don't know because it keeps changing (with the BBC obediently trotting out the latest version) and on the second we probably won't know for a long time

And the point of my PP was that, according to the minister's reported comments, shutting retail was a psychological tactic based on "feelings" rather than science

And it is counter-productive...

Because many of us don't like to be treated like toddlers who need to be frightened into obedience and can be easily manipulated.

People are simply turning off the constant, over the top propaganda and stop believing the 'experts'.

The reality is grim enough and it does not need to be topped up with endless scare stories. If they talked to people like adult and stuck to the facts they actually would get more compliance.

I should have added that the BBC journalists who just parrot the government propaganda are an absolute disgrace.

The media - yes, they are always scaremongering.

The government - no, they have never been strict enough. Which is why we’re still in this mess whilst some other countries are practically back to normal.

Yes, it is. They're doing it everywhere. Belgium's health minister admitted that non-essential shops were closed as a scare tactic and that keeping them open did not pose any particular risk.

This doesn’t make sense.
Any place where people are coming into contact with other people poses a risk through human to human transmission.
So non essential shops just like essential shops are obviously a risk.