Wonder if lockdowns will just be a thing?

[Wrensrobinsandsparrows]

Does anyone else wonder sometimes if jan and feb will just become months where schools and businesses close and the year will adjust accordingly? I know, probably not, but I wonder.

[quote PuzzledObserver]@Prescottdanni123

People who do test positive for HIV can live healthy, normal lives. Because we have learnt to live with it

It’s true that, thanks to research, we now have medication which prevents HIV developing into AIDS and give HIV positive people a near normal life. Fantastic.

And hopefully, with research and time, we will have a combination of vaccines and treatments which reduce the death/disability rate from Covid to near zero. And then, living with it will be the life we have always known, with a small number of annual deaths.

But we are not there yet.

“Living with it” at the moment means either some degree of restriction, especially when a new variant comes along, , or if we don’t have the restrictions, then a large number of deaths. Not just from Covid, but from all the other things that will go untreated while the hospitals struggle to cope with all the Covid cases.

So, will lockdowns just be a thing? I don’t think anyone can be sure, but I do think the Government really want to avoid them. So if it does happen, it will be because they really can’t avoid it, and it will be as short as possible.

And the best way to avoid them is to adhere to whatever lesser restrictions are in place and get your boosters.[/quote]
I'm not saying that we should just live with it now. I agree that we still need restrictions at the moment. But in the future, we will need to live with it. We can't be in lockdown every winter year after year like OP suggested.

My point about Aids was the pandemic did in fact blow over and we learnt how to cope with it.

Bloody hell at the PP saying we didn’t have lockdowns in the U.K. Park benches were boarded up! Just because no one monitored how many times you went to Tesco in a week didn’t make it not a lockdown
God.. I so hoped we were past that period of (during LOCKDOWN) people saying “we should have a PROPER LOCKDOWN! Let’s make life even more awful!”

OP - I really hope not. I hope to god people won’t accept it that the government regularly bans them from seeing friends and family in their own homes.

Yes people will suffer, businesses will have to adapt (gyms for example would see a rebound from a spring reopening) and it won’t be easy at all but it’s a discussion and reality we will need to have and face soon if we are to move on and regain control of our lives.

Its all very well to say this but how do you suppose a business model works when they can only trade for 75 -80% of the time? What do their staff do for the 2 months they are not required? Where do their wages come from?
I can only assume you're in a secure public sector job or can wfh?
And also the lockdowns we have had previously have not had pre-determined end points. They were reviewed every 3 weeks and the "opening date" was actually changed for the last one. Businesses can not regularly operate in that kind of limbo.

@KangSaeByeok

I think you have a point about January/February actually. They're really miserable months - hospitals are stretched every year, suicides are a lot higher and climate change is going to hit the UK hard in those months (as is already happening). Not lockdown exactly but maybe more of a WFH culture until Spring.

Ah. I see you either have a lovely room to WFH in or are just totally and utterly devoid of thinking about anyone different to yourself. Try WFH when you have one room downstairs in a small terrace with 3 young children and you need to be on and off the phone all day to do your job. It’s not fucking sustainable

Fuck me the ‘proper lockdown’ people are still alive and well.

@Exhausteddog

Yes people will suffer, businesses will have to adapt (gyms for example would see a rebound from a spring reopening) and it won’t be easy at all but it’s a discussion and reality we will need to have and face soon if we are to move on and regain control of our lives.

Its all very well to say this but how do you suppose a business model works when they can only trade for 75 -80% of the time? What do their staff do for the 2 months they are not required? Where do their wages come from?
I can only assume you're in a secure public sector job or can wfh?
And also the lockdowns we have had previously have not had pre-determined end points. They were reviewed every 3 weeks and the "opening date" was actually changed for the last one. Businesses can not regularly operate in that kind of limbo.

I’m not public sector just to clarify, nor am I wfh.

You’re right businesses can’t operate in that kind of limbo but they can’t operate effectively as things stand now either so it’s a case of which is the lesser of two evils.

We’re going to need solutions to this ongoing saga, this may mean changing our approach to how we do things if we are to maintain economic stability.

One thing is abundantly clear though and that is the government will have to provide a support package regardless of whether we plan the lockdowns or only initiate them when things get messy as a last resort and it’s too late.

Without furlough the economic fallout would be catastrophic from job losses and closures so there’s no way those provisions wouldn’t be made, the money would be found somehow.

I think it is a perfectly valid question given what has been happening for the last 2 years and the way politicians and health experts are talking at the moment. Whilst it seems we may manage without further lockdowns everyone in power is keen to keep taking us that we may have to lockdown and as we are now all mostly vaccinated and coronavirus is unlikely to be going anywhere why it is so crazy to wonder if this will just be a constant threat over the winter months?

Yes change the school summer holidays to Jan-Feb, everyone keep their kids in, job done

Obviously people won't be to happy about missing the summer holidays but will be able to sit at home feeling all warm and fuzzy inside about saving the NHS, maybe have a little clap each week as well.

Not a chance will people accept it, COVID has a very low death rate. It's more likely our attitude to living with long term disease, what we can expect of the NHS (topping up care becoming more common) and most importantly how freely we use immune suppression will need to change. Also how accepting we are of death.

Restrictions will be ongoing. What’s going on in other countries will happen here too. We’re having our freedoms limited day by day and we’re barely reacting to it.
We cannot afford to lost staff in the nhs but the vaccine mandate will ensure disruption. We’ll have to wait and see where the government want to take us now but don’t be fooled that this is about health anymore.

@silverswirl I said culture not a lockdown. So curbing unnecessary mixing by encouraging those who can work from home to do so thereby making it safer for those that can't.

Schools should absolutely not shut but spreading the school holidays (eg 4 weeks at Christmas and 4 weeks in the Summer) is not a terrible idea.

@bellamountain I agree that Japan is an interesting case, I'm interested in the substantial differences between their outcomes and many other places

I was wondering this myself, not proper lockdowns but whether people would hibernate a bit over winter. Obviously I hope in future years it won't be necessary

It all depends how covid progresses and most importantly antiviral treatments.

@vickyc90

Not a chance will people accept it, COVID has a very low death rate. It's more likely our attitude to living with long term disease, what we can expect of the NHS (topping up care becoming more common) and most importantly how freely we use immune suppression will need to change. Also how accepting we are of death.

That's a depressing thought. The freedom for some to travel or go to the pub means for others a shorter life expectancy, death being the only outcome for autoimmune diseases or cancers. Only the rich being able to access health care . How many people would accept that, I wonder?

Yes people will suffer, businesses will have to adapt (gyms for example would see a rebound from a spring reopening

The impact of people not being able to exercise, particularly those of us who are older who need equipment or a pool to exercise safely, would probably end up worse in the longer term than the effects of Covid.

One thing is abundantly clear though and that is the government will have to provide a support package regardless of whether we plan the lockdowns or only initiate them when things get messy as a last resort and it’s too late.

This Tory government don’t have to and they will do everything they can to avoid paying out furlough again, rightfully. I’m against future lockdowns and any kind of furlough would be part of that. I think they’ll bring in mandatory vaccinations and a two tier NHS system. We can’t afford to pay people to stay home again on x amount of their wages. The government know this.

Forgot to bold what I quoted 😊

@containsnuts not necessarily it's thing like using immunosuppression to tackle bowel inflammation instead of removing the bowel and forming a stoma like we used to. Methotrexate to control RA instead of joint replacement, is that viable. Disease like cancer can still be treat but it would be a course of chemo with shielding not living as best as you can during treatment.

Everyone can have access to healthcare with top ups it's just not the ethics we prescribe to. Thing like I want a 6am not 10am appointment to fit round work so would pay £50-100 to save using a days leave times that by 6 early morning appointments a day there 6k for the NHS. Don't want to pay that's fine have the 10am. Post delivery you want your husband to stay on the sofa bed that's fine but it's £700. You could have to two routine waiting lists free and partially funded for things like dieticians or routine physio.

Honestly me and the husband would be happy to die at 60 if after that age we would be constantly accessing healthcare or at risk of COVID etc it's about quality not quantity

@paranoidnamechanger

One thing is abundantly clear though and that is the government will have to provide a support package regardless of whether we plan the lockdowns or only initiate them when things get messy as a last resort and it’s too late.

This Tory government don’t have to and they will do everything they can to avoid paying out furlough again, rightfully. I’m against future lockdowns and any kind of furlough would be part of that. I think they’ll bring in mandatory vaccinations and a two tier NHS system. We can’t afford to pay people to stay home again on x amount of their wages. The government know this.

If furlough isn’t reintroduced then millions would be thrown into financial hardship and lockdown compliance would disintegrate along with the NHS. The government know this has the potential to turn into chaos so believe me, furlough will be back - unless of course they want riots, millions more reliant on the benefits system and the International shame of wrecking our economy and standard of living.

Mandatory vaccination and a two tier NHS at this stage is simply a pipe dream. Omicron is a real credible threat NOW not some far flung future potential scenario. If they fail to act proportionately and offer the necessary support required they will simply fail the country. The government know this too.

@vickyc90 RA is not just about joints. Other debilitating symptoms can include severe fatigue, inflammation of the lungs/heart/eyes etc, tendinitis and more. Immunosuppression is really the only way to treat what can be a very dangerous disease. Perhaps you're confusing RA with OA?

If furlough isn’t reintroduced then millions would be thrown into financial hardship and lockdown compliance would disintegrate along with the NHS. The government know this has the potential to turn into chaos so believe me, furlough will be back - unless of course they want riots, millions more reliant on the benefits system and the International shame of wrecking our economy and standard of living

3m of us didn't get financial support during the first lockdown, we might riot if it happens again!

Birthday parties?Odd priority

Nah, she's quite right. People whose children were born in those months won't accept it. My January born child will be having a party for his birthday in a few weeks, and whatever the legislation says is immaterial.

Won't happen.
Once the media moves onto something else we'll stop thinking about covid.

Well no. People just wouldn’t comply. I wouldn’t. I’ll be seeing my family & friends regardless going forwards. If Boris can, so can I. No-one is listening. I was in a big softplay yesterday and one person was wearing a mask. One.

Covid is something that is now part of life. Like cancer, a heart attack, a stroke, other serious illness. You might be OK. You might not. Life is complete chance filled with risk & illness. I drink, it could cause cancer. Will I stop? No. I drive. I tend to speed on the motorway. Could I crash? Yes. Will I keep driving, yes. I take precautions, wear a seatbelt, drink in moderation & life goes on. Covid, I’m vaccinated, I’ll wear a mask. Life goes on.