Remember all those posters who said we should 'look east' for how to deal with Covid?

[TypicaIMe]

I wonder if they still think that?

Some of the news coming out of that part of the world is so distressing.

I do think our government made a balls up of it too, and in many respects still are (particularly with regard to CEV people). But hopefully what we're seeing when we 'look east' now will give anyone still desperate for lockdowns and restrictions (and there are still a fair few, sadly) pause for thought.

@MrsTerryPratchett

Yeah that's not what I did.

That's exactly what you did. It's really distasteful to use people's suffering to make a point.

Quite.

And the scrabbling backtracking of "that's not what I meant" is pathetic.

As others have said, some governments made decisions in a unique situation. It's a shame that once the situation was no longer unique, other governments arsed about before doing anything at all.

The only person in the country I've seen reference the possibility of another lockdown was Johnson in last weekend's broadsheets when he said he wouldn't rule it out.

Eg China did not allow travel between provinces and cities. Compare the tier system in the uk where we allowed movement between tiers.

But you have to take into consideration cultural differences. China utilised the army to enforce that. It just wouldn't have been possible in the U.K. as hauling out the army would be the last of last resorts here. Alternative resource wasnt there.

Also there were essential workers crossing tiers, so it could never have been water tight anyway. In China, that may not have been an issue. Or they may have required those workers to move for the duration. Again, not something that would have worked here.

Ah well, I guess asking a genuine question is 'pathetic'.

I'm in favour of restrictions, in general. I'm not 'making a point'. Neither am I backtracking. I said in the OP and since that out government didn't do enough. I'm CEV and their attitude towards vulnerable people has been disgusting from the get-go, and still is.

I was simply pointing out that 'looking east' was not the solution some thought it was, as many here have pointed out previously. What's happening there now illustrates this.

But hey, I'm just being pathetic

As others have said, some governments made decisions in a unique situation. It's a shame that once the situation was no longer unique, other governments arsed about before doing anything at all.

You could just as easily turn this on its head and say it's an shame China discovered its zeal for strict lockdown so late after covid made its presence felt.

@TheKeatingFive

Eg China did not allow travel between provinces and cities. Compare the tier system in the uk where we allowed movement between tiers.

But you have to take into consideration cultural differences. China utilised the army to enforce that. It just wouldn't have been possible in the U.K. as hauling out the army would be the last of last resorts here. Alternative resource wasnt there.

Also there were essential workers crossing tiers, so it could never have been water tight anyway. In China, that may not have been an issue. Or they may have required those workers to move for the duration. Again, not something that would have worked here.

Exactly my point: restricting movement between tiers would not have worked here, so introducing a tier system was completely pointless.

@LouB76

I'm scared by the lack of a plan for what is next tbh, right across the globe.

What do you think is next?

the same as everyone thinks - more variants, more waves, not so much spent on vaccines and testing.

There was so much hysteria, the usual suspects shrieking that everything our government did was wrong (without offering any plausible alternative) don't forget that most of the world was locked down at some point, we have never dealt with a pandemic like this before and yes, isn't hindsight a wonderful thing!!
Covid won't go away and, like the flu, we will have to live with it, and get vaccinations yearly, like the flu

@TheKeatingFive

As others have said, some governments made decisions in a unique situation. It's a shame that once the situation was no longer unique, other governments arsed about before doing anything at all.

You could just as easily turn this on its head and say it's an shame China discovered its zeal for strict lockdown so late after covid made its presence felt.

Was it late? I was living in China at the time. I went to my dd’s School assembly on 23rd January where it was rumoured the virus was spreading outside Wuhan. Two days later you could not enter the airport without a temperature check, local doctors’ surgeries were closed, restaurants were closed, everyone was wearing a mask and supermarkets had run out of disinfectant. That’s not to say that action should not have been taken in Wuhan earlier, but certainly with regard to the spread to other provinces the reaction was very fast.

not so much spent on vaccines

I don't know where you're getting that from. There have been unprecedented amounts spent on vaccines, and continue to be in research.

Was it late?

Well yeah. What about all those medics being silenced on SM before China admitted they had a problem?

@TheKeatingFive

Was it late?

Well yeah. What about all those medics being silenced on SM before China admitted they had a problem?

As I said, action should have been taken in Wuhan. However, that does not negate the fact that China was prompt to respond to the potential spread to other provinces.

Well I'm still looking at Japan and wondering what's so terrible about their approach.

Oh yeah, they wear masks!!!

However, that does not negate the fact that China was prompt to respond to the potential spread to other provinces.

But they were slow to react at the crucial point where they could have actually made a difference. If people are going to criticise the U.K. for this, exactly the same thing applies to China. Where, in fact, the stakes were far greater from w global perspective

“Oh don't be silly“

How old are you?

Were they wrong at the time?

@gardenhelpneeded

“Oh don't be silly“

How old are you?

A teenager, according to you

Posted too soon.

Two years on it is clear it's not going to be the end of us but those early months the world had no way of knowing how it was going to go.
Without a crystal ball how can you do anything other than hope for the best, prepare for the worst.

I don't think we should regret the early lockdowns. What if it had killed ten times as many people? Nobody knew what was going to happen. I'm just glad that it wasn't as bad as people feared.

Pandemics will always happen.Let's hope the next one will not be worse.

Let's hope that should read

Eg China did not allow travel between provinces and cities. Compare the tier system in the uk where we allowed movement between tiers..what a pointless exercise.

But China is huge, so not allowing movement between provinces probably wouldn't impact on personal freedoms that much.

Speaking of personal freedoms, doesn't China already control its citizens' movements within the country? You can't just up sticks and live wherever you fancy in China, can you? So they already have a system in place to monitor their citizens' freedom of movement, and I'm not sure that is something we would want to emulate.

Yeah, I remember that particular poster.

It's not about early lockdowns though, but their continuing commitment to zero covid

“ Remember all those posters who said we should 'look east' for how to deal with Covid?….. I wonder if they still think that?”

There's an interesting thread on twitter right now of a Chinese poster giving their perspective. It compared the ba2 wave with shangai with other provinces and commented that as a rule lockdown and citywide testing took place before case counts reached 100. Shangai supposedly delayed it's response for economic reasons.

The poster's perspectives was that China had not had any really sustained lockdowns over the last 2 years due to quick decisive action.

The poster's perspectives was that China had not had any really sustained lockdowns over the last 2 years due to quick decisive action.

Well sure, but it's not sustainable without shutting ones self off from the world and the possibility of harsh lockdowns hanging over you at every point. Omicron looks very difficult to contain even with draconian lockdowns.

I remember a lot of awful doom mongering on this topic (someone actually told me I was choosing to risk my sons life by sending him to school) and some really bizarre things like the poster who thought all school staff were immune 😂

I also remember you @TheKeatingFive but for good reasons 😄