The balancing act between physical health and economic health is extremely difficult to achieve. The government is caught between a rock and a hard place but overall I think they have mostly got it right. So, answering the question, I do think lockdowns are a good idea. I also think that those who can do so should contribute to their local food banks.
@madpenguin I don’t think lockdowns and tiers are a good thing. The idea that controlling a virus is the only priority seems very skewed to me. People are losing a lot but only COVID matters.
We all have our own priorities and we all only really care about what affects us personally because that’s the way 99% of us are made.
I don't think they've said only Covid matters - the opposite in fact. But there's a problem with any infectious disease that hits isn't there? If the infection spreads too quickly and takes up resource, then you have a choice of do you let that infection use up all the resource or do you try and control its spread. Would the population be happy seeing people on trolleys dying over winter (irrespective of cause) due to lack of resource? You may be ok and just say 'shame', express deep sorrow and sympathise if the issue didn't touch you or your family, but you'd be up in arms if it did.
Its not just Covid that matters .... two people who are very very dear to me indeed are waiting for urgent hospital treatment /ops... one to save their life and the other to save their hearing ... I really really really don't want the hospitals filling up with people who could've taken the precautions that I'm taking, but didn't because 'they knew better' than the experts 😠
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Its not just Covid that matters .... I really really really don't want the hospitals filling up with people who could've taken the precautions that I'm taking, but didn't because 'they knew better' than the experts 😠
Or just don't care about anyone other than themselves.
But surely the fact that people coming out of lockdown into higher tiers than before they went in is an indication that lockdown doesn’t work? Schools and shops and workplaces are open and people are mingling very freely everywhere I go so how can that type of lockdown have any effect?
Of course things can be done but if even a fraction of the money stolen by unscrupulous people to provide useless services “ track and trace” anyone?) was spent on the NHS then maybe hard choices would not have to be made so often. Hand washing and social distancing has given way to masks worn incorrectly giving people a false sense of security. The rules make no sense when shopping centres are full of people click and collecting but you can’t go and sit outside a pub with a group of friends.
I admit to a personal agenda here, 2 of my children have lost their jobs and homes. My fiancé has lost every penny of his savings, a close friend has lost a son who couldn’t cope with the isolation. Other friends are coping with teenagers whose mental health issues have increased due to lockdown or elderly relatives in care homes who have simply given up asking when they will visit. Another friends dearly loved husband will die before Christmas without seeing loved ones one last time. At work I deal with desperate people terrified to leave their homes and the charity I work with to help victims of domestic abuse is swamped.
There is no easy answer or magic cure, I hope very much that the vaccine comes soon but for many it will be too late.
I just want to say that we all have our own opinions about this pandemic but those of us who see things differently are not necessarily idiots who don’t understand the situation.
None of this is easy, I did think at the start we were too slow & too slack with our initial response but we see now that even other countries that acted fast & hard (Germany as one example) are still having problems. Only some of the Asian countries that previously dealt with Sars & Mers seem to have done better. It was seen that in some areas the old tier system was not really working which is one reason they have been revised. I suspect however that the Gov't having said we can relax at Christmas (because they felt they had to) are panicking about a 3rd wave in January so are trying to get the rate as low as they can before hand. I agree they have squandered vast sums on private contracts due to this obsession with centralising everything. You are right the current situation with people out & about mixing not distancing properly is a real issue, I don't think the Gov't really appreciated just how much damage DC did when he broke the rules so blatantly and got away with it. It does not mean the rest of us should give up on trying to stay safe though.
We go from tier 2 into tier 3.this means mum can't meet her friends in the local Morrison's cafe for a drink as it will be closed.instead she can only meet her outside.in this weather!!their in their 80s.she needs her friends.dad has dementia and it's getting harder.shes been a boris can but this has put her over the edge.
There’ll be a degree of double counting in this but, out of curiosity, I have been looking at the number of people in the top 9 priority groups. These are the figures I arrived at:
Group 1 - Care home residents and staff 1.5 million Group 2 - 80+ and health & social care workers 3.8 million Group 3 - 75+ 2.3 million Group 4 - 70+ and those classified as extremely vulnerable 5.0 million Group 5 - 65+ 3.3 million Group 6 - At risk adults 2.5 million? (no idea about this number) Group 7 - 60+ 3.8 million Group 8 - 55+ 4.4 million Group 9 - 50+ 4.6 million
That totals 46% of the UK’s population. As 38% of the population is aged 50+ I think I have overestimated the number of people under 50 in the extremely vulnerable, at risk, care home residents, care home/health/social care workers. My calculations put 5 million in this category but it is probably well under half that.
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Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
It was seen that in some areas the old tier system was not really working which is one reason they have been revised. I suspect however that the Gov't having said we can relax at Christmas (because they felt they had to) are panicking about a 3rd wave in January so are trying to get the rate as low as they can before hand. I agree they have squandered vast sums on private contracts due to this obsession with centralising everything. You are right the current situation with people out & about mixing not distancing properly is a real issue, I don't think the Gov't really appreciated just how much damage DC did when he broke the rules so blatantly and got away with it.
It does not mean the rest of us should give up on trying to stay safe though.
Group 1 - Care home residents and staff 1.5 million
Group 2 - 80+ and health & social care workers 3.8 million
Group 3 - 75+ 2.3 million
Group 4 - 70+ and those classified as extremely vulnerable 5.0 million
Group 5 - 65+ 3.3 million
Group 6 - At risk adults 2.5 million? (no idea about this number)
Group 7 - 60+ 3.8 million
Group 8 - 55+ 4.4 million
Group 9 - 50+ 4.6 million
That totals 46% of the UK’s population. As 38% of the population is aged 50+ I think I have overestimated the number of people under 50 in the extremely vulnerable, at risk, care home residents, care home/health/social care workers. My calculations put 5 million in this category but it is probably well under half that.