To ask if we’re heading for another lockdown?

[TreeLine6]

So covid cases are rising and like clockwork, the likes of independent sage are back in the media calling for ‘protections’ like masks, isolation and social distancing to “avoid full lockdown”.

Is it time to reintroduce some measures like the rule of 6, a cap on large events numbers and maybe distancing and early closure for hospitality as independent sage are calling for?

Personally I feel that with vaccines and treatments, we are now in the best position we’re going to get with covid and would be very reluctant to comply with further measures, that themselves cause enormous harm.

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People keep saying they want "free" testing back - it wasn't free was it, it was being paid for by all of us and the taxes we pay and contributed to the economic situation we are in now. It was also abused - remember the families on here who were all taking several LFTs a day for spurious reasons and the people who had "boxes and boxes" of the tests at home? - just ridiculous.

I'd be very very surprised if there was another lockdown unless the virus mutated to become ten times more deadly and people of all ages were dropping like flies. I'm thinking that film with whatsheface? Contagion?
If we had an extreme (and honestly? Hugely unlikely) situation like that then yes, there would be another lockdown. Of course there would.

Hmmm, I can see that people might argue for one and even that the government might ideally want one in that situation, but not sure it would actually be possible.

Basically, lockdown needed people to be at quite a sweet spot in terms of fear. Obviously there needs to be a certain amount of work outside the home done to keep the country and the lockdown itself functioning. That isn't just stuff like the NHS, police, utilities maintenance etc but also services that keep people pacified. The likes of Amazon and Deliveroo as well, if you want it to go on for more than a few days. So you need a population who are scared enough to mostly adhere to restrictions or at least modify their behaviour, but not so scared that people working in those jobs refuse to come in. That's actually quite a difficult balance to strike, especially after the two and a half years we've just had.

If it gets bad enough for a lockdown to even be considered again, that means it's too bad to be able to assume that people will keep working and that they'll still behave. I actually think in a Contagion like scenario we'd be risking widespread societal disorder. People would be rioting, looting, all the rest of it.

And the people who were doing 5 tests a day - for what?

No
Compliance would be poor
People are complacent
Truss won’t impose it
Finances are too compromised. We are in recession

A lockdown might ease the burden on the NHS, but there would be increased societal issues as a majority would ignore it.

As a population we are now generally full of spite, resentment and selfishness..another lockdown would probably result in large scale civil disobedience.

On a purely selfish basis, I would love to be able to work from home and not feel obliged to go out on social occasions again. I was lucky enough to not have any friends or family get seriously ill or have businesses and holidays ruined, so the 'life pause ' of the first lockdown was a positive experience for me .

There is NO WAY I would ever comply with a lockdown again and I doubt anyone else with any sense would either!

God I thought I’d gone back in time 2 years.

Don’t be so silly. Of course there won’t be. We can’t throw 99.5% of the population and the economy under the bus to protect the tiny minority of people who despite multiple vaccines remain extremely vulnerable.

I also don’t know a single person who’d comply with measures on household mixing any more.

No!

Wearing a mask may be easy FOR YOU. You don’t get to decide that for other people.

Seeing as I missed out on months of spending time with my mum who has since died, I'm not stopping spending time with anyone I want to whatever rules come in.

It is such an easy thing to do, wear a mask and Winter is coming so it's not all about Covid transmission either. But some people just like to appear rebellious. Why I don't know.

I find them uncomfortable, I don't like breathing through them, they get soggy, they steam my glasses up, we aren't even being rebellious it isn't a rule.

And don't start well they wear them in hospitals as that's a different circumstances.

I'm one of the 500,000 extremely vulnerable, and I completely agree with you.

People - particularly young people - have sacrificed enough already. I have access to antivirals when I catch covid (and I have, seven times). If I can avoid busy places when rates are high, I do. Just as I used to during flu season, pre-covid.

Also I absolutely hate it when people who aren't vulnerable attempt to use vulnerable people as justification for their demands for lockdowns and restrictions. Many vulnerable people are already in dire financial straits. How is losing wages/jobs - either our own or that of our DP - going to help us?

We've had to be vigilant wrt infections for years. Covid is just one more and yes, it's a pain in the tits, but no, we don't need to shut whole sections of society again and isolate ourselves from loved ones to deal with it. Nobody insisted on masks, social distancing or lockdowns in brutal flu years when tens of thousands of people died. Far, far fewer will die of covid this winter, but apparently it's time to think about restrictions? No.

I was living overseas during lockdown. Shops and malls were open throughout, restaurants as well, but with a reduced capacity inside - outdoor/terrace, same capacity as before. Gyms open with reduced capacity. Life was quite normal. People were cautious and wearing of masks in shops and on public transport was mandatory (and outside, briefly). No exceptions unless you had a doctor’s letter. Numbers were lower than in U.K.

No we won’t , if anything we can now see lockdowns haven’t really worked long term . The cost to another lockdown would kill more people than covid itself , it’s already doing it with undiagnosed and untreated people plus how can you lock people in houses when so many can’t even turn the heating on or afford to eat twice a day . Plus how complicit would people be ? I doubt they were at all .

Yes, but this is exactly the same with flu. With some people getting very unwell with secondary infections and certain groups being very vulnerable. Also for every parison like you who said it was bit just a cold, other people have found it to be tolerable and something that eases about 5-7 days in. I’d argue there are more in the latter category now to be honest.

I won't be complying. I think the various prior lockdowns have been really damaging to the economy and people's health and wellbeing. This week two of my favourite arts venues have gone bust (energy crisis on top of covid) with a third threatening to close temporarily. So many kids classes and clubs didn't reopen after covid, even the incredibly popular ones for which there used to be huge waiting lists. I no longer care about Covid.

I will never comply with a lockdown again, for any reason (and I was one of those people who got caught up in the fear and thought BoJo took too long to declare the first one).

Lockdown was a failed experiment with huge costs.

In a modern liberal democracy freedom of movement and freedom of assembly are basic human rights, and I do not accept that the government gets to micromanage me LEAVING MY OWN FUCKING HOUSE OR NOT

Never again!

I'm not in favour of another lockdown, but to say we locked down to protect the vulnerable (or would lock down to protect them) is not true. We won't even provide evusheld here! It was to try to allow the NHS to cope under huge additional pressure.

I really don't want another lockdown and really don't think we will have one but I don't understand this comment
Lots of country's had lockdown , many harsher then the UK the reasons why covid numbers were higher in some country's than others were to do with demographic, s not because other country's were somehow better than others .

We've been masks off at work (nhs) for a while but I suspect they'll be back sooner rather than later. When we were told to expect the peak around January/February in a recent meeting I said to dh I reckoned it would be more like November. Still think that will be the case. No lockdowns though.

No the economy is completely fucked we absolutely cannot afford it.

We're about to enter the third year of Covid and we still have the hard of thinking numpties wittering on about how wearing masks is "such an easy thing to do".

Despite three years of people giving endless reasons why, for them, it's not "such an easy thing to do".

There really is no hope for some people.

No, people can make their own decisions. If you want to wear a medical grade mask (homemade ones are useless) that's your choice, avoid too much socialising and larger events your call, personally I'm carrying on living

I don't think we'll see a lockdown, but I'm happy to put my mask back on.