SAGE say lockdown cycles could last several years

[IesuMariJoseff]

I can't believe I suddenly live in a world in which our human rights have become conditional based on hidden calculations around hospital capacity.

The first lockdown, I understood. The second, ok. Even now, I'll bare it. It's hard but the vaccines are being rolled out, it felt like the last leg.

Years? Fucking years?

It's all a possibility until we get the populations immunity to covid virus better protected. Just keep in mind that the less the virus can circulate the less likelihood it has of serious mutations. The risk to the UK is foreign travel. Until the rest of the world is vaccinated we are at risk of foreign mutations coming to UK. The lesson is simple. Holiday at home, don't travel abroad and if you must quarantine on your return. Borders need to be restricted for the next few years to prevent further lockdown.

Spend your money in the UK! Get our economy off the floor and enjoy what we have here.

This seems to be the way the media have been angling these last two weeks. I just don't see how it's viable though, economically, legally or socially. Can you link the source please?

Another thread getting panicky about a headline discussing hypothetical scenarios? Could we see direct quotations from the SAGE members themselves, not a 'news'paper's click baity interpretation of them?

If you google "Sage lockdown cycles last years" there's multiple places reporting it. I'm not saying it's definitely true. I pray it's not.

Surely if they dragged this out for years people would just stop listening? Compliance is already going down, you cannot expect us to sacrifice years of our lives.

My infant has only met his family members a handful of times. He has no relationships with anyone other than me and his father. This isn't acceptable for years and I won't do it. After this lockdown I am seeing my family as normal. I'm not doing it again. Life is too short to not see your family. I refuse

Nvm I just saw it on the daily mail. It's one member of sage and of course, anything is possible but I have to believe that things will start to get better now, with the vaccines, stricter border controls and warmer weather approaching.

There was a conversation about this on the tv today. Remember all these SAGE advisors are just one voice in the whole SAGE committee. Any committee will have a multitude of different opinions/advice, the debate was around whether individual SAGE advisors should be allowed to speak independently to the media or if they should only do so as a collective. I think the latter as it’s all over the place!

@Yellow85

There was a conversation about this on the tv today. Remember all these SAGE advisors are just one voice in the whole SAGE committee. Any committee will have a multitude of different opinions/advice, the debate was around whether individual SAGE advisors should be allowed to speak independently to the media or if they should only do so as a collective. I think the latter as it’s all over the place!

Plus, they are just advisors. They don't have any executive power. At the end of the day, it's the govt who make decisions about such matters, and they have to take into account factors such as the economy, education, general mental and physical health etc. Scientists tend to view everything through the narrow lens of their own specialisation.

I reckon the four horsemen of the apocalypse would more fun on a night out than a member of SAGE

Another SAGE member has said we could be more or less back to normal by summer- www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/coronavirus-lockdown-end-summer-sage-b1797455.html

One persons opinion does not equal a fact. It won’t happen, we can’t afford it, we don’t need it to happen.

Once furlough ends and unemployment rockets the lockdown lovers will change their tune. Also for some perspective look to the USA they had 25000 fans at the Super Bowl on Sunday and yes their death rate is awful but if it was that bad events like this wouldn’t be going ahead and places like Sweden would have had no choice but to lock down. We have overreacted in the UK and we run the risk of normalizing lockdowns if we continue to give these “experts” a voice.

The best thing to do with articles like this is to ignore them in the same way that this time last year you would have ignored the opinion of one person on how they think 67 million people should behave. Sage have their heads in the clouds and are loving their 5 minutes of fame. Anyone with an ounce of common sense knows lockdowns indefinitely are not going to happen.

Let’s face it, human rights are a byproduct of stable and relatively affluent societies. There have been vast swathes of humanity who lived through warfare, natural disaster and plague with precious little in the way of human rights.

Up until now, we’ve been fortunate.

I think the true reason for lockdowns is not to protect individuals - it's to protect the NHS from collapsing under pressure of large numbers of people requiring hospitalisations due to Covid.
It govt are clever they will hopefully inject money into the NHS and the ICU capacity over the coming years, then the needs for lockdown would be minimal (but might not be totally avoidable)

I'd rather clap in my hands and shit than go on an overpriced, over-crowded and most likely rainy UK holiday.

Oh ffs, so raging I got that back to front. Shit in my own hands and clap. But yeah, anything really would be better than the dreary hell that is a UK holiday.

That doesn't surprise me. I'd hope they have plans to put in extended school holidays next winter if hospital numbers rise. but knowing us they'll leave it to the last minute

Of course this is what's going to happen
Unless there is a collective fight back

We often have UK holidays and I love travelling to areas I haven't been. However we quite enjoy a good walk and a change of scenery. There's so many people who havent really explored much of the UK beyond their own area.

I am hoping we can do this again soon.....

Obviously if stuff is closed there is no choice but to comply but I won't be isolating from family again.

@polyjuicepotion

I think the true reason for lockdowns is not to protect individuals - it's to protect the NHS from collapsing under pressure of large numbers of people requiring hospitalisations due to Covid. It govt are clever they will hopefully inject money into the NHS and the ICU capacity over the coming years, then the needs for lockdown would be minimal (but might not be totally avoidable)

Exactly, lockdown is to protect the NHS from being overwhelmed so it can still help people who require treatment- covid and non-covid. Sadly at the moment people are struggling to get treatment for anything but covid- but it would be even worse if we hadn't locked down.

How much would we need to increase capacity by for covid not to be a problem for the NHS though? My (uneducated) guess is that it would be impossible to do this even over a few years of increased investment. However, even there was enough capacity to treat everyone who needed help and we didn't need to lockdown at all, surely people wouldn't stand for the high numbers of deaths either?

@MaxNormal thanks for that I'm proper laughing 😂

SAGE say all sorts of shit don't they. Their only consideration is reducing deaths. If its up to them, we would never be out of lockdown as if we are ONLY looking at deaths, that's the best strategy.

Hopefully the government will also be considering effects on the economy, society and so on. I wouldnt be 100% sure though

Agree regarding the UK holidays! I would rather gouge out my eyes with a spoon than go on another cold, wet, expensive, over rated UK holiday!

My money is staying in the bank until I can get to Cyprus again and then I will be going on extra holidays to make up for my time away

SAGE may WANT lockdown cycles to last years. It doesn’t mean they will... when there is no immediate threat anymore and no justification for it, they won’t happen. Guarantee you there is no government that would sign off on this.

Its fairly obvious that if the results coming out of Israel are replicated around the world, then deaths and hospitalisations will decrease and CV will become a respiratory virus that is usually treated at home.

If the vaccines are poor and/or the UK's doses strategy is wrong, then yes we could be in for a long journey.

@Slub now I'm laughing too at least