Universal mask adoption, closure of indoor restaurants/bars/nightclubs for the foreseeable future. Maybe strongly encourage work-from-home wherever possible. That's most of the battle won.
Mask adoption is pretty much universal, just hard to force fully if people aren't compliant which many sadly aren't. What would you class as the foreseeable, are everyone's wages going to be paid for that entire time? Gonna have millions unemployed otherwise. Like I say I just think we need an exit strategy that isn't 'wait for a vaccine', as if one doesn't turn up we're ****ed. It's not going anywhere and constant lockdowns isn't going to achieve that. The damage was done early this year and at some point we have to find a way to live with it, vaccine or no vaccine.
We definitely need a sensible exit strategy. Johnson is already painting himself into a corner, by insisting that we will return to his Tier system on Dec 2nd. The number of people still dying, on a daily basis, at the end of our last lockdown was high compared to those other countries coming out of their lockdowns, something that needs to be considered this time around. I don’t think we even had a day with zero Covid deaths during our lowest infection rates, unlike most other countries. It is also essential that the SERCO test and trace system is replaced by local NHS teams who have a better rate of contacting infected people. And, although it will never happen, Cummings should be dragged through the courts for breaching the last lockdown rules, as an example, with a very strong and draconian approach to others that think the rules don’t apply to them. Time to get serious about the offenders.
I think, that like most things, there is a general view and then a personal view that is adapted to your personal circumstances. Lockdowns affect me very little as I have been a home worker for over 5 years now and all I really go out for is to walk the dogs and get food, with the occasional trip to the restaurant. If I was single, alone, very old, vulnerable etc I would have totally different view of a lockdown. If my job was at risk I would see a closedown differently too. From a human compassionate about my fellow beings point of view, we need to do everything to stamp this out - even if we have to lockdown the country. From a practical point of view, we need to protect as many industries and jobs as we can, whilst still protecting people. No silver bullet I am afraid, but we need a strategy as although in March this was unprecedented, we are 7 months in now and we need to have a plan. And a plan B. And a plan C. And it needs to be communicated to get us all board.
That's my point, though. If you close the major vectors (and yeah, you'd absolutely need to bail out the affected industries) you don't need constant lockdowns. You might have repeat lockdowns, but ideally they're short and instituted before it gets out of hand, and then things go back to something approximating normalcy. In the places that have tamped this down to nothing, life is basically normal save for the fact that everyone looks like they're going to rob a bank, and we do most of our eating on sidewalks.
Good post. Strongly agree about an improvement test and trace system being key, as lockdowns have limited impact without that imo. I'd also like to see stronger punishments for offenders who breach rules but it's pretty hard to police really to that level.
^^^^This. To me, rules are for everyone and for the greater good. If we are all on the bus, we'll all get to the destination quicker. With a smile on our face*. *Ok that last sentence was a Nigel line
I feel with Covid that there are no right answers...just some answers that are less wrong than others. Every decision has losers.
Really I don’t remember any closed threads without good cause. Even your recent thread was accepted but it became clear not many agreed with your request. As I said if you don’t wish to read or take part why are you complaining?
Exit strategy based on a comprehensive, accurate and reliable test, trace and isolate program. That was known months ago pre Cheltenham etc. I haven't got any confidence in the UK and many other government's handling of the CV crisis, along with that the selfish, entitled and arrogant behaviour of what seems to be a growing number of people putting individual freedom over collective responsibility. The UK government has been and continues to be well behind the game. Doesn't need it's own thread it's all been covered ad nauseum elsewhere.
Not many large and populous countries in Europe are at that stage though are they? I don't see places like Australia and NZ as fair comparisons due to the difference in population, and the density of that specifically. I don't agree that we can have repeated lockdowns, don't think it's feasible to have another say 4 next year. At some point it's gonna cause more harm than good, if it hasn't already (which we won't know for years). For me the big problem right now is the time of year, and the additional pressures that brings to the health service anyway. If we get to March and there's still no vaccine then we're at the point that we'll need people to catch it to some extent to build up some immunity.
100%. There's no black and white here. I saw both ends of the lockdown first time round. I'm lucky to be in a job that would never be at risk and so I was barely affected, apart from my MH taking a battering. My best mate however went ten weeks without any income and became homeless.
Think he's got a point that another thread wasn't really needed tbh. Give it a few days (hours) and it'll just be an extension of the other one.
