Coronavirus and "human rights"

[lightand]

I was thinking to start a thread about this, this morning, but couldnt think of quite the right words.
Now I have been on a thread, and with the permission of another poster, I am reposting her words here.

"A year ago if you'd told me what the rules would be I wouldn't have believed you. I would have thought it a human rights abuse. I feel scared, unsafe. I'm living in a world where the government can put law abiding citizens into solitary confinement. That's fucking terrifying. I couldn't escape it. I couldn't escape what they did. Nothing feels safe, knowing they can take everything. Take away your loved ones."
[She wrote it in the context of living alone and being separated from loved ones].

I think this will be one of the many enduring memories when people look back on what has happened in the last year. That what we think of as human rights, were, and still are, being easily taken away from us.

So the right to protest has been taken away? I was told otherwise a while ago.

Not sure where to find this out as fact.

They might ‘allow’ us to sit on a park bench with one other person in the cold on a few weeks. Ooh great.

I mean most people have been doing that anyway around here.

I like the sound of the approach in Ireland, it sounds sensible.

In France they are still going round to each other’s houses and grandparents are still seeing their grandchildren. They have a curfew though.

@StopGo Take a TV camera crew in with you and you will be allowed in.

Well my family in Ireland are definitely following the rules.
Plus providing care is allowed bith here and Ireland.

@IceCreamAndCandyfloss

They haven’t taken away loved ones, singles can bubble and we have so much technology and means of keeping in touch.

What’s the alternative, we let it run thought society with no measure just so people can have family over? It’s saddening how many are still only thinking of themselves.

So many have lost their lives, many have long term effects or are awaiting delayed treatment as the nhs was overwhelmed or it’s wasn’t safe to do etc. Others risking their lives daily to do their jobs and seeing awful things whilst others moan they can’t do xm y or a for a while during a pandemic.

The didn't introduce bubbles until June. From March to June it was illegal for people living alone to go near anyone.

I'm the poster who wrote the quote in the OP. It frightens me that they were allowed to do this to a section of the population. Not everyone, just those unlucky enough not to have families, were totally isolated. And they didn't bother to think it was inhumane until June. That scares me.

People would have been up in arms if they'd split up large families, or stopped children seeing NRPs - all that human contact, why wasn't that stopped? It was actually allowed right from the start! But single people wanting normal contact with even ONE person are murderers...

I don't understand how it's justifiable to introduce laws that disproportionately affect certain groups like that. Is it because people living alone aren't officially a minority protected group?

Seems like Nazi Germany 2.0, global edition.

@Northernsoulgirl45

Well my family in Ireland are definitely following the rules. Plus providing care is allowed bith here and Ireland.

I agree on both points from my experience here and in Ireland.

This a refreshing thread to read on here, and I couldn't agree more OP. It is terrifying, and I am frankly aghast at the level of compliance and lack of independent thought in this country. That is what sets us out from others in neighbouring countries in the same situation. Just the complete blind acceptance from so many.
I am worried for the future.

Some people have a very very narrow life experience and world knowledge, if they are 'aghast' and 'terrified' at the restrictions and level of compliance here. I feel like we're talking about a different country to the one I live in. The only thing I came close to be terrified about was when the NHS in my area, admitted it had reached the stage where it could not treat the numbers of patients requiring treatment.

The only thing I came close to be terrified about was when the NHS in my area, admitted it had reached the stage where it could not treat the numbers of patients requiring treatment.

Well we’re all different aren’t we @mrshoho?

Personally it doesn’t surprise or terrify me knowing the NHS is overwhelmed. It’s what I’ve come to the expect with it being in the hands of this government.

@mrshoho

Some people have a very very narrow life experience and world knowledge, if they are 'aghast' and 'terrified' at the restrictions and level of compliance here. I feel like we're talking about a different country to the one I live in. The only thing I came close to be terrified about was when the NHS in my area, admitted it had reached the stage where it could not treat the numbers of patients requiring treatment.

There is a poster on this thread who wasn't allowed to be with her dying husband until his final hours. You're not aghast at that?

They haven’t taken away loved ones, singles can bubble and we have so much technology and means of keeping in touch.

Not everyone can form a bubble. Keeping people in steady relationships apart just because they don't live together and don't fit the bubble criteria is cruel and I would definitely ignore the rule if I was in that situation.

Regarding keeping in touch, not everyone has Facetime or Skype and talking on a phone is no substitute for seeing someone's face.

@Isolatedizzy

I am not afraid one little bit! Not because I trust the Govt I most definitely do not but I trust the scientists! The people who have spent their whole careers studying epidemiology and healthcare.

What, the political 'scientists' in SAGE? (And yes, of course they are political and have their own agendas else they wouldn't be in SAGE).

Lots of scientists do not agree with various measures that are being taken - and have been censored or smeared as a consequence.

Research is often funded by organisations which leads to certain issues being to be funded more than others and certain 'results' being published more than others.

'Trust the scientists' pisses off scientists, believe me. Any scientist who says otherwise is likely to an agenda. Science is meant to be questioned and retested, that is the point of it.

Let's stop pretending that technology is a good enough way to keep in touch. It might be for some, it certainly isn't for others. Touch, live voice and physical help and presence are very important.

If you end up on a ventilator do ask for a phone so you can post an update

🙄🙄🙄🙄 Why do you have to be so irrational? Comments like this are just ludicrous.

You have no idea about my risk level. You don't know my age, you know nothing about my health, you don't know if I've already had covid, you don't know if I've had the vaccine.

The chances of me ending up on a ventilator are tiny. So yes I'm far more scared of the restrictions than I am of the virus.

I’d be interested to know if any of the posters on this thread
are scientists or clinicians?

@Wildswim

Yes. It's frightening how swiftly our civil rights and liberties were removed, with practically no debate or scrutiny ever since.

What has frightened me too is how the media has not questioned it, indeed, it has acted as a propaganda outlet to pump the message out and keep us all controlled by fear. Dissenting voices have been quashed - those who question being called Covididiots, etc.

What is also frightening is how people have conformed so readily, and some have been quick to spy on and report on others. The characteristics of a police state. On that note, some of the police have been heavy-handed and relishing the new powers which gives them easy targets (unlike real criminals).

It's all been very worrying. As Steve Baker writes in the Telegraph today, the Coronvirus Acts needs to be repealed and replaced by a Public Health act which will be subject to regular scrutiny by parliament.

I couldn’t agree more

When are certain industries (music? events?) going to be able to open up properly? Why do whole industries now have to stay shut? We have the vaccine. People should now be able to be responsible for their own health using compassion, common sense and curtesy to work out how to act with each other. It's not rocket science. Home working should still be optional. Quarantine/self isolate if you have symptoms. Have the vaccine if you want. No school fines for non physical attendance. Softer policing - go back to catching criminals. Encourage journalists to do their job. Stop newspapers being funded by the government. Get rid of the Ofcom ruling on broadcasting TV so broadcasters can be less scared of what content they produce/show.

It's the spring so the demand on the NHS should be low until October, let's make the most of it so we don't have to hear 'save the NHS' again ... until October.

@riveted1

I’d be interested to know if any of the posters on this thread are scientists or clinicians?

Yes, I recently did a neuropsychology masters degree (hence all the google scholar references I post).

The fact checker fraud sites piss me off. Scientists getting censored pisses me off.

'Health correspondents' asking dumb questions on TV pisses me off.

Clinicians have also been censored. Just watch the UKColumn if you don't believe it. There are loads of whistle blowers, haven't you been paying attention?

There are legal cases about various aspects of Covid all over the place. But you won't hear about them on the mainstream TV etc.

fortunately for most people the chances of catching it and developing severe illness is almost none! So that is not an argument at all

Er, the 117,000 UK deaths? Or were they just old or unlucky, so they don't really matter

Please don't forget that it isn't only about death? I've been suffering from long Covid since early March. Apparently, one in ten positive cases results in long Covid, so it isn't as rare as some of you seem to think.

There are also thousands in hospital. Without there being measures in place, the NHS would be overwhelmed.

This isn't scaremongering. There are people who are damaged by this virus, though obviously the majority are not. It also isn't just about you, it's about who you might transmit the virus to.

No, I'm not saying that lockdown should go on any longer than needed. I have school aged DDs who have been negatively impacted by it. But hopefully now, with the vaccine being rolled out, it won't be long before we can get our lives back.

And it frightens me that I'll come back to this thread this evening and it will have disappeared.

There are legal cases about various aspects of Covid all over the place. But you won't hear about them on the mainstream TV etc

In the UK? Can you provide some links?

@AnniversaryScaresMe that situation is desperately sad and not something I would wish on anyone. But that is nothing to do with the social distancing restrictions imposed by our government.

Government by consent. I did not consent to any of my civil liberties being removed.

It alarms me that Matt Hancock (in particular) does appear to enjoy ‘the power.’ He’s like a little fifth year who’s been given permission to boss the sixth formers around.

This should never happen again. I understand why it did, I’m livid about it, but I accept it. I won’t accept it again.

@TravellingTilbury

I’m an epidemiologist so yes have been paying quite close attention

Do you have names of these whistleblowers? As far as I’m aware, no respected experts disagree with the main body of restrictions set out (ie, distancing, wearing masks, bubbles, preventing large gatherings). I’d be really interested to know who in the field is anti restriction.