Boris refused to rule out lockdown

[Puppylucky]

Boris Johnson refused to deny that he would consider lockdown again if the Covid Pandemic took an unexpected turn and now the papers are full of lockdown headlines again. Will we ever move beyond this?

There should be a few stages before it comes to that.

Mandatory masks and distancing.

School/pub/theatres etc closure.

Large groups banned

If it comes we'll have to put up with it. Daft to say we won't comply when we have to for most things.

He’s not an idiot (regardless how he presents - intentionally). He’s not going to make a promise about that if there’s any chance there might ever be a need to impose another lockdown.

Equally, he’s not going to do it as anything but an absolute last resort because it would be so unpopular and difficult.

I don't think Boris ever said there wouldn't be another lockdown. So far all the variants coming in were not bad and vaccines which those who took were protected against. If the vaccine is no longer protecting us then ofcourse he will have to lockdown.

People saying 'I wouldn't comply' are fooling themselves. If everything is shut, you'll have no option.
Boris is only saying this with regard to a possible new, more dangerous variant or a new virus altogether.

People saying 'I wouldn't comply' are fooling themselves. If everything is shut, you'll have no option.

I think some on here would be very surprised at what my neighbours managed during the last lockdown.

I despise him but he can’t promise that we won’t ever have another lockdown.

Eww I’m going to wash my hands to get rid of the Boris.

Sounds like a stupid question to me. Designed to make an issue whatever his answer

agree,
stupid question
who knows what the future is for covid mutations

Of course he can’t rule anything out. Is it unlikely that we would go into a full lockdown again? I would say very, very unlikely. But not impossible. If a new variant came along that was resistant to the current vaccinations, then yes a lockdown may happen to give the scientists time to reformulate the vaccines.

But the above scenario isn’t particularly likely. Just like it is very, very unlikely that I will get hit by a bus today. But not impossible.

It is my understanding that many in the travel industry are preparing for a bumper spring, summer and early autumn. But are then preparing for a tricky winter. We would be v foolish, after the past 2 winters, to assume that next winter will be plain sailing.

Hope for the best, prepare for the worst. Then you will be pretty much covered.

If a deadlier variant came along and people were dropping dead in the streets, the majority keyworkers would understandably refuse to go to work and society would collapse. We aren’t going to have another summer where some people go to work every day and others bake banana bread at home.

We aren’t going to have another summer where some people go to work every day and others bake banana bread at home.

Yes, let's have a bit of realism here.

I don't use the word lockdown because even in April 2020 the majority of people could leave the house for a walk or to buy a pint of milk and other groceries.

The possibility of some restrictions being re-introduced I think cannot be ruled out. Will Mr Johnson do that, I don't think so, but he will not be Prime Minister for ever, even though every day more is one too many I think.

We aren’t going to have another summer where some people go to work every day and others bake banana bread at home.

Which isn’t what happened.

@TheKeatingFive

People saying 'I wouldn't comply' are fooling themselves. If everything is shut, you'll have no option.

I think some on here would be very surprised at what my neighbours managed during the last lockdown.

^ This. We now know which of our neighbours were ahead of the curve with having friends and family over. We know who wouldn't comply at all. We know who the petty bugger at the end is. We now know what a mess it's made of our teens mental health and the ongoing threat that comes with that far outweighs any threat from illness. Some of us simply could not comply.

I don't use the word lockdown because even in April 2020 the majority of people could leave the house for a walk or to buy a pint of milk and other groceries.

Ffs it was still a lockdown. What's the point of policing the word like this?

Well we’ll all just have to have a big old karaoke birthday party. Coz that’s what lockdown means isn’t ur?

@Lottapianos

He must have had some rush of blood to the head or similar because he's been saying sensible things all week. Of course he can't rule out another lockdown. I'm certainly not panicking about it but we have no idea what the future holds with this pandemic or any other

This.

Of course he can't promise against any future lockdowns.

Though it wouldn't matter even if he did, there would still be the same group of muppets crying "but he promised only 3 weeks to flatten the curve...."

@TheKeatingFive

Ffs it was still a lockdown. What's the point of policing the word like this?

Because for many people 'lockdown' meant you couldn't leave the house to to go for a walk or the shops or whatever?

The papers have to be full of something or there'd be nothing to print. The war's getting boring, petrol stations are all refilled, not enough empty supermarket shelves to panic people, so it's back to lockdowns again

@BoredZelda

We aren’t going to have another summer where some people go to work every day and others bake banana bread at home.

Which isn’t what happened.

It was! I’m not anti the first lockdown, but it was true that some people went to work the whole way through because they had to in order to keep society functioning, and other people (I didn’t say everyone) stayed at home baking banana bread etc. You can’t say that didn’t happen! It did in my house - I worked from home and work was definitely quieter for a while, husband had to go in as usual.

Because for many people 'lockdown' meant you couldn't leave the house to to go for a walk or the shops or whatever?

So who is the official designator of what constitutes a lockdown and what doesn't? Let's consult the official body.

Well considering none of us know what might happen if we had a serious mutation / variant then of course no world leaders could rule out some sort of lock down? What if it was a mutation that affected children you would want lock down then wouldn’t you ? Or if the nhs was so over whelmed all operations got cancelled ?

None of this is predictable so of course no actions can be ruled out .

@toomuchlaundry

Would people refuse lockdown if a new variant or virus was particularly deadly for children?

No.

But that's a hypothetical situation that we're simply not in. So what's the point in even asking?

For the vast, vast, vast majority now, it's no more than a cold. Taking away free testing is obviously going to make it worse as people will be going out without testing whereas they wouldn't have before. So we may see fewer cases (because less testing) but then more people in hospital - which will be tested there, and will then look like a bigger % of overall cases because of the lack of testing.

Would people refuse lockdown if a new variant or virus was particularly deadly for children

Good luck getting any parents out to fulfil their essential roles if that was the case. I doubt lockdown would be an accurate term for what would happen then.

Can't see how this means much. He clearly can't explain precisely why he isn't going to be in a position to impose a lockdown even if he wanted to.

I'm not a fan of Johnson's, but even I get why the PM couldn't realistically be expected to state that his own MPs would boot him out if he tried it and due entirely to his own arrogance and stupidity he lacks the moral authority to bring the general public with him. Of course he just gave a politician's answer instead, what else was he going to do? It's a fuss being kicked up about not much.

Also yes, I know some of MN find it very hard to get your heads round this, but large swathes of the population can absolutely choose whether to comply with lots of the lockdown rules. Obviously nobody can go to places that are shut, but what we can do is socialise in private homes, and actually outside in public in larger groups than permitted tbh, I did plenty of that last time. We can also use businesses that remain open illegally like hairdressers, personal grooming services and pubs doing lock ins. There was plenty of that about last time. There simply aren't enough police to prevent it.

It's also the case that if people want to talk about the possibility of deadlier variants, vaccine resistance etc, rather than based on how we've seen Covid 19 play out so far, then they also need to consider how the factors that allowed previous lockdowns would still be in place. The 2020 and 2021 lockdowns required a cohort of people to do work outside the home to keep society functioning, and a lot of people who weren't in that category to be willing to stay at home out of trouble. If we suddenly got a much deadlier variant, neither of those things can be assumed.