Another 6 months?

[Moonme]

I have stuck to the rules and some but if the vaccines start working and lockdown is due to end (allegedly) in June then why do they need this?

Case numbers may be up but deaths are down. 17 a couple of days ago I think. Is no death at all the only acceptable outcome, of any cause at any age?

@Flyonawalk

I am so shocked by this. At least there is a revolt within the Tory party. Perhaps this will be the turning point when people say Enough?

Labour supported it

@dingit

The case numbers were up today ( from schools). They will use this to extend the lockdown ( roadmap cancelled)

Where has this been announced? I'd heard about the extension but I think that's sensible to have just in case as we know now that we simply can't predict the future

When did they say that one day of increase due to school children would extend lockdown?

I am very concerned about where this is going.

@Myalternate Yes I noticed that. They are even more pro-lockdown than the government. It seems that the only effective opposition is within government rather than from what should be the actual opposition.

I don't think every restriction will be lifted in June. I think masks and social distancing will be in play for a long time yet

@Sally2791 So am I. People have been very docile and compliant. We have accepted creeping totalitarianism and an emerging police state. A glance at history should show us where this can lead.

The cases today were up considerably and I'm guessing this was from schools testing. Until the Easter break I'm guessing this trend will continue and then the roadmap will be altered. I'd really love to be wrong, but I don't have a good feeling about this

@Flyonawalk Exactly. And the generation that I think should be all ears and up in arms ( teens and twenties) seem to think nothing sinister is happening. It’s all in place to go horribly wrong.

No-one likes this situation but Covid has not gone anywhere.

@dingit

The cases today were up considerably and I'm guessing this was from schools testing. Until the Easter break I'm guessing this trend will continue and then the roadmap will be altered. I'd really love to be wrong, but I don't have a good feeling about this

Cases were up about 1% from the same day last week, the positive percentage of tests is something ridiculous like 0.4% and we’re testing over a million people a day 🤦‍♀️

The roadmap dates are not a promise, they are "at the earliest" dates.

@dingit

The cases today were up considerably and I'm guessing this was from schools testing. Until the Easter break I'm guessing this trend will continue and then the roadmap will be altered. I'd really love to be wrong, but I don't have a good feeling about this

I think you'll find you are wrong, we are now at the stage were cases numbers don't matter as much as hospital admissions and deaths are well down.

We're never going to have no cases, nobody counts how many people have flu and we accept that there will be a large annual death toll from that. Covid will eventually become similar to that.

The number of asymptomatic school cases will also reduce as the numbers taking the tests will inevitably decrease over time

Julia point taken. I still don't like it though

@Sally2791 That’s so true. I think there’s a blind faith that certain things (fascism, excessive state control) couldn’t happen in the U.K., simply because they haven’t happened (or not in recent history).

We have become very trusting, and are sleepwalking into loss of civil liberties. Lack of public outrage over government imposing on private life and space is very concerning.

Despots don’t necessarily invade with troops and tanks. They reassure a nation that they will make everyone safe, and people willingly give up their liberties. Dangerous indeed.

[quote Moonme]@AcornAutumn We shouldn't have a Government using PR fluff in a public health crisis[/quote]
In the nicest possible way OP

You might want to look at how much money has been made from government PR. You might also want to think about the role of PR, advertising, marketing etc through all this

I hope you are looking at data and not headlines. Many people are astonished to see the Covid figures detail - not counting people who had a nasty bug for a week.

Here's just one advert that was pulled due to complaints

www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/government-pulls-ad-states-joggers-highly-likely-covid-19/1705305

Someone posted the Northern Ireland tender for the next ad contract, it's for two years from April 2021

www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/005534-2021?origin=SearchResults&p=1

If deaths are down and hospital admissions are down there has to be a point where we live with the risk surely? I say this as someone who has fully supported the measures to protect the vulnerable but we can't carry on like this forever?
Also the Coronavirus Act has impact on things such as Local Authorities duty of care to disabled people. That is not ok long term.
It also crosses into many aspects that breaks our human rights, which again was somewhat acceptable when we were at crisis point but we can't accept that indefinitely because the damage of that will out weight the benefits of the measures. And the question has to be asked about who we are protecting?

[quote Flyonawalk]@Sally2791 That’s so true. I think there’s a blind faith that certain things (fascism, excessive state control) couldn’t happen in the U.K., simply because they haven’t happened (or not in recent history).

We have become very trusting, and are sleepwalking into loss of civil liberties. Lack of public outrage over government imposing on private life and space is very concerning.

Despots don’t necessarily invade with troops and tanks. They reassure a nation that they will make everyone safe, and people willingly give up their liberties. Dangerous indeed.[/quote]
Some of us are wide awake and I was shouting it from the rooftops but ran out of breath and no one was listening.

We do count how many people have flu, well not all the individuals but there is flu surveillance. We don't just ignore it. Or rather, ordinary people have the luxury of being able to ignore it, but public health and the health service are always paying close attention to it.

@Moonme

I feel angry tonight. Why can't they just be truthful. This started with flatten the cover...just 3 weeks...over by Summer...over by Christmas...done by June... and now another year

They can't. They don't have a crystal ball.

Come July and August, when millions of fools people start bringing little variants back with them from their foreign holidays, the picture might change again.

@StarCat2020

The roadmap dates are not a promise, they are "at the earliest" dates.

This

@AcornAutumn I'm not really sure what your post is saying? That PR makes money so it's ok?

@Moonme

If deaths are down and hospital admissions are down there has to be a point where we live with the risk surely? I say this as someone who has fully supported the measures to protect the vulnerable but we can't carry on like this forever? Also the Coronavirus Act has impact on things such as Local Authorities duty of care to disabled people. That is not ok long term. It also crosses into many aspects that breaks our human rights, which again was somewhat acceptable when we were at crisis point but we can't accept that indefinitely because the damage of that will out weight the benefits of the measures. And the question has to be asked about who we are protecting?

X posted

Please act on all this.

@AcornAutumn Exactly - the role of advertising throughout this has been massive. Government advertising in newspapers has increased hugely, from below 1% to around 50%.

It is no wonder newspapers are so uncritical of the government and so accepting. A democracy needs a critical and challenging media, and the lack of it in the U.K. is very concerning.

@Flyonawalk So glad it’s not just me, but I have no idea what to do about it- definitely feel I should be doing something! People around me just seem focussed on when hairdressers and pubs might open. I’m scared, and not so much of Covid now.