I can’t believe that people are being so wilfully hard of thinking on this. I see it on every thread. ‘I’ve had enough!’ ‘The government doesn’t know what it’s doing!’ ‘ the government had parties, so I will too!’.
Yes, those things are true.
BUT
The pandemic is caused by a new virus. It does what it wants to, in predictable and unpredictable ways. The government is not guiding its progress. As much of a shower of shit as they are, it’s not their fault that the virus is changing, and we have to change our response to it accordingly.
Here are some more facts:
If the doubling rate continues, and it is so far, then it will be less than 2 weeks before a number the size of our population is infected. That’s everyone. All at once, not in manageable shifts.
Forget the NHS for a minute - although of course it would be a disaster for the service and therefore for all of us.
Think instead of all the other services which would not be able to run. Food chain supply. Medical supplies. Water and sewage services. Power plants. Bin collection and waste processing. Burying the dead, fgs. Schools and education all shut. Public transport off.
Of course the state of the NHS is the fault of successive, rapacious Tory governments’ underfunding. But even if we gave them all the money they need, today, it would be years before the service could run as we all want it to. We can’t, sadly, magic up the staff and capacity we would need to handle the numbers affected, even if we do allow EU workers back (which of course should have always been the case).
As of yesterday, only 51% of people had received a booster. They aren’t efficacious until maybe a couple of weeks later. So at the moment, huge swathes of the population are in a position where they are vulnerable to transmission, and if they catch Omicron, they are out of the workforce for ten days. Only a small proportion can be taken out of the equation when considering the doubling rate, as a much smaller number than the 51% will be fully protected as of now.
So we have to be prepared to take measures which will keep things manageable and allow the country to keep running, even if it is in a reduced or tick over mode, until boosters are received and working - which 2 weeks slowdown at the beginning of January would offer.
I hate the idea. I hate it all. I have developed anxiety and depression due in part to the effect of the pandemic. But I can see why this is needed, and how it will directly affect my life if we don’t do it.
Why can’t so many of you?