Why are we not in lockdown right now?!

[InkyPinkyParlezVous]

If things are as bad as they say, why are we not locking down right now?

Surely waiting til after Christmas is just too late to stop this "tidal wave"

@InkyPinkyParlezVous

If things are as bad as they say, why are we not locking down right now?

Surely waiting til after Christmas is just too late to stop this "tidal wave"

Politics.

The Prime Minister is prioritising his political career over saving British lives and livelihoods.

If our Prime Minister acts now to try and reduce the size of the omicron wave, or spread out health care need, the "slow on the uptake" wing of the Conservative Party will send in their letters of no confidence to the 1922 Committee and he'll be ousted.

We have to wait until the healthcare crisis we are creating right now with record-breakingly high infections has actually happened.

Because a large chunk of Conservative MPs can neither learn from experience nor think ahead to the likely consequences of allowing record breakingly high infections.

@Rocket1982

I was advocating shutting down social mixing for 7 days so that people won't be banned from mixing at Christmas! I think restrictions should be at the minimum possible level that stops the NHS getting further into the s**t than it already is. Unfortunately omicron is a giant curve ball and though it looked like we would be able to get through the winter with some fairly minimal restrictions, now that is looking very unlikely

So shut down mixing so as to not shut down mixing?

A bit like restrictions in order to prevent restrictions?

Talking about 'shutting down mixing' as if 'mixing' were some sort of crime is rather draconian, even if 'only' for 7 days. Not 'minimum' restrictions at all. I think people have really normalised what 2 years ago were considered extreme measures. Not really a 'flexible attitude'.

@IWannaWishYouANutNutsChristmas no, it's not poltitics.

It's because the number of Covid hospitalisations was actually higher in September than it is now. So there is currently no actual crisis, although the number of cases is very very high. And locking down a country again and again causes untold economic and health damage.

The Prime Minister is prioritising his political career over saving British lives and livelihoods.

Well he would do that, wouldn't he?

Also I'd be careful what you wish for. A leadership bid is more likely to come from further right in the party than him. Raab would weld a lot of power in the interim and he's more to the right than Boris,

*Politics.

The Prime Minister is prioritising his political career over saving British lives and livelihoods.*

If it's all about Bozza, why hasn't Sturgeon locked down Scotland? She loves herself a good lockdown, and is free to do so without permission from Boris, so why hasn't she?

@IcedPurple the only reason people are suggesting severe restrictions on social mixing now is because the r-factor of omicron means that the previously lesser restrictions that we were just about ticking along with before are not insufficient. I think most people would rather have 7 days of isolation now and then being able to mix at Christmas than 7 days starting on the 24th. Who knows what will happen or be necessary by January, but I think that's about the choice we have for the next 2 weeks.

How long do people want a lockdown for?

Those who want it

When would you release and what happens after that

I mean 'now' insufficient

Because they don't want to have to pay people to not work.

When would you release and what happens after that

Excellent question

[quote Rocket1982]@IcedPurple the only reason people are suggesting severe restrictions on social mixing now is because the r-factor of omicron means that the previously lesser restrictions that we were just about ticking along with before are not insufficient. I think most people would rather have 7 days of isolation now and then being able to mix at Christmas than 7 days starting on the 24th. Who knows what will happen or be necessary by January, but I think that's about the choice we have for the next 2 weeks.[/quote]
But that's a scenario you've just invented in your head. It doesn't actually exist. Not saying it definitely won't, but at present, people aren't being asked to choose between 'mixing' now and not 'mixing' later.

There just simply isn't the will for lockdowns or severe limitations on 'mixing'. If you want to impose such restrictions on yourself, you're free to do so, but the lockdown ship has sailed out of the harbour.

Because the economy will crumble I believe l there isn't money for furlough
There will be a decline in people's mental health which will cost the NHS
Suicide rate will go up
Children will miss out on their education which will have a devastating impact for future years
Because we have the tool of vaccination and rapid testing which is a good balance right now.
A few reasons,
Not in order of priority.

I think most people would rather have 7 days of isolation now and then being able to mix at Christmas than 7 days starting on the 24th.

But there are people who don't care about Christmas, people who don't celebrate it, people who are through with lockdowns. It'll be tough getting them all on board to facilitate your Christmas.

I think you really need to twist the definition of "selfish" for it to include taking your children to see their grandparents at Christmas or similar.

People have different ethical codes but mine generally prioritising my family and friends over strangers. Most people are the same otherwise instead of buying Christmas presents for our children we'd be giving it all to charity. I personally don't feel that it would be "moral" to keep my son at home, deny him any experiences which involve mixing with others and prevent him forming relationships with wider family in order to reduce the hypothetical risk of one of us getting covid and spreading it to someone who ends up in hospital. It feels extremely uncomfortable to me to go along with something which does so much damage to your own children and friends / family for the supposed "greater good". The message we have been sending to children is essentially that their education, health, wellbeing etc. are dispensable and need to be sacrificed for the sake of others.

And that's without even considering whether lockdown would be effective against omicron (very unlikely) and the harm is does to so many people and the country overall.

Prepare for the endless futility of not getting through to an assistant on the phone, calling an ambulance or the police, getting your roof fixed, catching a delivery slot, dealing with an unexpected stroke or heart attack, etc.

These things will also happen if covid spreads unabated.

@BoredZelda

Prepare for the endless futility of not getting through to an assistant on the phone, calling an ambulance or the police, getting your roof fixed, catching a delivery slot, dealing with an unexpected stroke or heart attack, etc.

These things will also happen if covid spreads unabated.

Alternative is?

Depressingly it is probably already too late to avert another Tory xmas fk up. A circuit breaker started 5 days or so ago could have done it. But really @TheKeatingFive you think most people in the UK wouldn't go for a circuit breaker before Christmas to allow Christmas mixing?

Because the cost to lonely people, children and young people of another lockdown is too high, because people want to live before they die, because we can't afford it, because most people are sensible enough to mitigate the risk without an authoritarian government forcing them to... Anyone who feels able to is free to hibernate to help stop the rapid spread... Lots of people are not in the situation where another lockdown is survivable. Also, most people will completely ignore it and socialist in any way they can, because they recognize that to isolate is to lose the will to live anyway, especially for old people.

But really @TheKeatingFive you think most people in the UK wouldn't go for a circuit breaker before Christmas to allow Christmas mixing?

You assume they believe it would make any difference.

A circuit breaker started 5 days or so ago could have done it.

Could have done what, exactly?

A variant with an incredibly fast transmission rate could be stopped in its tracks by 'shutting down social mixing' for a week? Even assuming people would comply, which they wouldn't?

And I never have and never will vote Tory, but blaming everything on them is a bit silly. As I asked above, how come the oh so caring and responsible Sturgeon hasn't locked Scotland down?

@Rocket1982

Depressingly it is probably already too late to avert another Tory xmas f*k up. A circuit breaker started 5 days or so ago could have done it. But really @TheKeatingFive* you think most people in the UK wouldn't go for a circuit breaker before Christmas to allow Christmas mixing?

Few people that I know would have paid much attention to a circuit breaker. It would have been pointless and made sod all difference.

Alternative is?

Not going full on one way or the other. Not deciding you can just choose between covid or the economy. Realising it isn’t as simple as saying “I’m sick of it, I’m going back to normal”. There are things we can do which will reduce the issue we have right now, that don’t mean going in to full lockdown. Reducing household spread, isolating when you need to, ventilating places properly and wearing a mask. It won’t stop the spread entirely but it will slow it down and that might be enough to get us through winter without doctors having to choose who gets a ventilator.

Using the mitigations that don’t shut down the economy, properly. Unfortunately the ship that sailed real early on was using mass testing in tandem with lockdown to find where covid was and isolate the cases. I can’t believe we are nearly 2 years in to it and only now telling people to test before they go out to places where they will be socially mixing.

But basically, we fucked it up early on and now we just have to be led by whatever it throws at us. If that means a circuit breaker to give hospitals a breather after Christmas then so be it. It will be tough to do for so many people, but not doing it will end up being tough for so many people too.

Few people that I know would have paid much attention to a circuit breaker. It would have been pointless and made sod all difference.

People say this like they”d have a whole lot of other options. As someone elsewhere said, if you close everything, where exactly are people going to go?

I seem Cross about it all for the first time, resentful. I'm not prepared to hide away anymore. Why should I? Apart from CEV, Most of the people who have chosen to not be vaccinated have made that choice. Why should I put up with their selfishness?

because we can't afford it

Hideous that people will suggest we can’t afford to do what is necessary to stop a global pandemic.

because most people are sensible enough to mitigate the risk without an authoritarian government forcing them to

I think this has been proven to be largely untrue.