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.

That sums it up pretty well.

Genuine question....why are you sad about that?

People have romanticised lockdown, much like the Blitz (Blitz spirit anyone?) But are ignoring the detrimental effect it has had on this country.

We can thank furlough for a good chunk of the financial issues we are all currently in!

But it's easy to have enjoyed lockdown if you were paid 80% of your salary to stay home and enjoy cocktails by your paddling pool.

Doesnt matter that there was a 183% increase in child abuse reports to my employer, or that DV incidences went through the roof as long as 96yo Doris didnt catch a virus she had a good 80% chance of surviving.

I'll never forget my case of a primary school aged boy who jumped out his bedroom window, broke both his legs and dragged himself on his elbows to his neighbours house to escape the abuse his mum was giving him. Social services hadnt visited him for a while as Mum said they had covid. His beatings went into overdrive. But then i hearing stories like that up and down the country in my job, and in was just an employee of a Housing Association!!!

But, yeah, lockdowns.......sadly missed 🙄

DH works for an HA and he heard some absolutely awful things, first hand, from tenants. Not going to go into detail to protect peoples' privacy but yes, lots of things like you describe. Abusers of all kinds taking advantage of lockdown/isolation, knowing they could do what they liked and the risk of detection was low. Also vulnerable people not being checked on and coming to harm, elderly/vulnerable people being scammed, people who has lost their livelihoods and getting into debt taking their own lives. And so on.

Such fun! 🙄

It doesn’t have the same morbidity rate as flu though. AndI’m pretty sure the same death rate as flu thing only applied if you were vaccinated. And by vaccinated they did mean 3 jabs.

Not to mention the fact that it’s hugely more infectious than flu and unlike flu it’s not seasonal and you can catch it several times a year. We do need to have a conversation about what we are going to do about covid because having waves of a highly contagious disease every 8-12 weeks with huge parts of the population unvaccinated doesn’t seem sustainable from an economic or healthcare point of view.

Yep - I can open pretty much any file on my caseload at the moment and the words "things became much more serious as they struggled to cope with the covid lockdowns" will be in any of the referral notes. If they didn't struggle going IN to the lockdowns - they've struggled coming OUT and having to grasp that their routines are on/off/on again.

The harms of lockdown were very unevenly distributed, so it's never surprised me that a chunk of the population either aren't really aware of them or don't think they matter.

Some people seem to feel that lockdowns and restrictions represented a sort of societal progress towards a better kind of life. Remember all the “why is everyone in such a rush to get back to ‘normal’, have we learned NOTHING from the pandemic?” wailing?

Yep.

If you had two young DC in a tiny two bed flat with no outside space, and you and your OH were WFH plus and to homeschool, your experience was demonstrably not the same as someone in a four bed detached home with a huge garden. Similarly if you were disabled, didn't drive and were on benefits, or were in an abusive relationship, or had to work 12 hour shifts in a fulfillment centre so the MC saints of MN could have their 'essentials' delivered, your lockdown was not the same as an able bodied driver who could do one supermarket run a fortnight, or someone who could go for lovely long walks, or someone with a blissful home life, or someone who could work from their cosy home office and wait for their banana bread ingredients and garden furniture to be delivered.

That whole 'we're all in the same boat' and 'lockdown is a great leveller' bollocks was just that - utter bollocks.

Oh yeah, it's really sad.....
Bloody hell. How can you be sad that lockdowns won't return??

She was a pain in the proverbial and posted a load of nonsense on Twitter about runners/joggers passing covid on outside when passing someone fleetingly. Stupid woman.

She did rather lose the run of herself at various points.

@reigatecastle for some reason that clip was cut short just before Ind Sage acknowledge harms of lockdown

Yeah I thought that was a bit sus.

And it's interesting that even Independent Sage, who have been a very pro restriction organisation, now understand that it's not happening again and that they have to acknowledge the harms if they want to be able to continue getting on the telly. I don't believe they're even advocating circuit breaks now, or if they are I've missed it. There's been a real shift.

I thought it was a bit odd that short clip was circulating on social media. Almost as if to shit stir. After all, if someone has an issue with what she is saying, why not state their view without being misleading about what was said?

I agree. There is plenty that Indy Sage have actually said and done that's very easy to criticise, no need to bullshit.

We are now at the point where we have vaccines and have to learn to live with it, as we have with flu.
As the virus mutates, the vaccine is altered to deal with it, and there is far more information about the virus now, thanks to the ongoing research.
The situation is far different from the way it originally was.

So, like flu, everyone can choose to have a vaccine? That sort of thing?

Sadly? Get to fuck.

I don't understand. Why would people lose wages/jobs if mask wearing was introduced again?

don't understand. Why would people lose wages/jobs if mask wearing was introduced again?

Because hospitality, shops etc, people go for what they want and enjoy in normal times ,people don't go out for pleasurable shopping and meal whilst wearing masks.

I wouldn't go out to a restaurant or shop etc that required mask wearing, and I'm sure I'm not alone..

Footfall will already be reduced due to the CoL crisis, add reduced footfall due to people not wanting to be forced to wear masks and it's very likely staff costs will need to be cut.

@Tralalalalalalalalalala

I don't understand. Why would people lose wages/jobs if mask wearing was introduced again?

To a certain subset here, everything becomes Mordor if masks are even mentioned.

Er, the govt doesn't even want to give people a bit of vague advice about reducing energy usage because "nanny state". Do you actually think they are going to give even the tiniest hint of advice about COVID, let alone a bloody lockdown, and do you think anyone would actually comply?

As for the hopeful people saying that "It'll be a lockdown anyway due to the energy crisis---I hate to bust your bubble, but most COVID spread has always happened at home, and people closing the windows to conserve scarce heat will cause COVID to spread a lot more than it currently is, not to mention the impact of people weakened by chronic cold.

There will probably be a fair bit of COVID this winter, but I'm afraid I don't have any solution to that. Nobody is going to do anything very much to stop it spreading, and I count myself in that group. I'm getting my flu jab, and encourage the old folks I know to get their COVID boosters, but really that's about all I'm prepared to do as we approach 2023.

Some hospitals are reintroducing mask wearing - just the beginning.
Stupid to say you won't comply - if it's the law you have to or stay indoors.

Er---there are a little over 200 police officers per 100,000 people in the UK. No lockdown can happen unless the large majority of people are happy to follow it without enforcement. They aren't.