Myths re lockdown was wrong

[Betsyhilton]

Just seen someone on another thread basically trying to claim that lockdown didnt reduce deaths. The contested John Hopkins survey seems to be encouraging people who basically behaved selfishly, ignored medical advice and did what they liked to now claim retrospectively that they just knew lockdown was wrong.

AIBU to think these are just basically selfish irresponsible people who ignored official advice at the time because it caused them inconvenience and are now jumping on any theory to try to justify their self centred behavior?

A number of children died from pims-ts from getting covid (Google it) no idea why that didn't get as widely publicised either

If there was another global pandemic, I think our country would follow whatever the majority of our neighbouring countries are doing in response.
If you see lockdown as a failure then you have to see it as a global failure.

That most comparable countries to the UK did the same thing : to me it seems a bit futile blaming certain UK ministers or advisors - because I don’t think a different government or set of advisors would have done things differently.

It was mentioned occasionally. Boris mumbled something about suffering more because he was overweight then he had done cameras follow him round a park when he went jogging. There were a few ads on TV featuring jolly fat people exercising, then it all went quiet again. I guess the fast food industry didn't approve.

And making it very difficult to exercise seemed to be a logical way to deal with this (lockdown). Leisure centres and sports clubs were shut: wine aisles and deliveroo remained open.

The damage done will never be acknowledged by those that caused it. No lessons will be learnt and the mistakes will be repeated time and time again. “History repeats itself. It has to. No-one listens.”

When the next pandemic comes along our government will have to do what it is told by the WHO. Did you not know we have signed an agreement to that effect.

Your comment is the one that is out of order not mine. History is important. We are writing it as we speak. It’s much better to get it right than wrong.

But nobody forced these people to accept lifts, go out for dinner etc.. Just because it was allowed.. They could have continued to lock themselves down if they wanted. Surely we don't need the government to control all our choices.

I have no idea where that Gif came from, or how to get rid of it..

😂 I feel it’s a message from aliens

Co operation and sharing of info, vaccines and united responses is vital in order to combat a pandemic.

The next pandemic may affect younger people far more than Covid.

Large numbers of people die every day.

But the question is relative risk and proportionate response.

The way the government talked about covid was designed to completely obscure relative risk. They deliberately ramped up people's fear and avoided helping them compare risks.

“The government ramped up the fear.”

Was that just our government? Or global governments in every country that advised restrictions across the globe?

Do you think it’s a bit odd that the whole globe were “ramping up the fear”?

I never felt this fear, the numbers who died were also put into perspective of total number of infections and that age was a huge factor... i think Whitty pointed out average age of death from CV was 81yo.

Most people i knew saw CV as a flu like illness that could be extremely serious for the elderly and vulnerable and that was from the get go during the 1st LD.

We abided by the rules to minimise risk to our parents etc etc and then in 2nd and 3rd LDs thought Fuck this!!!

But it isn't a flu like illness. There are significant long term effects for many people that flu doesn't cause. And these effect also affect those who may never have had any symptoms. The current enquiries will have interesting evidence on the vastly increased annual death rate and no it isn't missed cancer and increased suicide rates.

@Doagooddeed - two of my friends died of Covid. Both were healthy - one mid 50’s and the other early 70’s. Covid - nothing flu like about it - triggered massive heart attacks for both of them as their bodies couldn’t cope with a devastating virus.
Numerous people - young and old have been affected by long Covid.

Yes history is important. I agree.

However, in the context of this debate, whether it was the Dambusters raid or the Battle Britain is entirely irrelevant to the point the poster was making.

You've never heard of people getting long term effects from other viruses?

I could be classed as getting long Covid based on the self reporting criteria.

I still don't think it was worth the November and winter lockdowns.

Flu has a long term neurological impact and the same is expected with covid. I saw an interview with Dr Fauci and he said that governments need to be planning for a massive spike in diseases such as Parkinson's.

What significant long term issues does covid cause that has never been caused by (or be known to have been affected by having) flu?

@Dwappy

Scarring and other permanent lung problems
Inflammation of heart muscle
Kidney damage
Anosmia as it can attack cells in the nose
Neurological problems
Cognitive problems
A link with onset of Parkinson’s Disease
PICS
POTS
Link with diabetics (there has been an increase in diabetes in children)
Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children

Covid 19 is different from flu as Covid 19 is caused by a different set of viruses. Covid 19 = coronoviruses. Flu = influenza viruses.
Other coronaviruses include SARS and MERS - both SARS and MERS had similar post viral symptoms to Covid-19.

I asked for things that flu has never also caused. Flu can cause all of these things.
I understand they are very different viruses. But flu can cause all of those things as well.
And yes 2 known coronaviruses are MERS and SARS. There are also 4 (I think) others in circulation in the human population which cause what we call "colds".

I had flu in my 20s and honestly thought I was going to die. I was left with issues for months after. Ive had covid once (so far). And sat watching Netflix for a week.

I am not downplaying how serious covid can be for some. I understand it can cause all of the above issues. I agreed with the original lockdown while we got to grips with what we were dealing with.
But I do not like this narrative that covid is the absolute worst virus ever and does awful things that no other virus ever has.

The main issue seems to be how contagious covid is. It spreads easier than flu. So more people get it which increases the risk of long term complications in the wider population. Plus the fact on a population level we still have relatively low immunity as it is a new virus. But it is not because covid is the worst virus we have ever seen and causes loads of issues that no other virus does.

Yes i know very different viruses but both considered respiratory illnesses & in my reasonably wide middle aged social circle, i don't know anyone who had serious long term effects, some people did die but they were also very ill and elderly, the scandal was their loved ones couldn't visit them or have personal contact & of course schools and children were totally let down, still are.

My DD though did get flu, she was off work for month, couldn't exercise for 3months, she had had CV 3 times before as she works in NHS, each time, inc the first wave, all very mild, anecdotal of course but also the same with numerous other people who had it, inc me

I was also responding to "Govt causing fear etc" they didn't, i found the Govt msg quite rational, the rules far less so, most of the time they were just illogical.

As for "Fear" people will for spread that for them.

No, that’s right. For most people it’s mild symptoms. But it can make some people severely ill. It’s also that it was a new virus - so deadlier mutations, long term impact is still being studied not yet fully known.

I also didn’t see it as the worst thing ever, and don’t think that was the message? It was more about the impact it was having on healthcare systems and inability to cope. It was a pandemic and classified as such.

I agree also with fear. I think libertarianism is a view that disagrees with gov’s involvement on individual freedom. So those with a more libertarian stance would have seen too much government involvement as ‘fear’. However I think a collective approach is needed in a global pandemic. WHO would also advocate a global collective response.

Fear is used to describe the response because that was the method for compliance

As pp said individual risk was not the main message. People reacted as they did because the daily case and death count made people fearful, the many threads that flooded mn show this. Social media was likely a factor in why it was so successful as a method.

It doesn’t mean everyone felt that way, I didn’t, when I realised why messaging was as it was.