Should lockdown for the over 70s be extended when it’s relaxed for everyone else?

I am with lizzypopbottle on this one.

Who is best placed to have an informed view on an individual's health? Surely their GP. So why not ask GPs to say which of their flock should be extra careful and not go out, rather than a blanket ban above any particular age?

It is all to do with our immune system. It weakens as we get older. High percentage of deaths have been in older people. I am 69 and am staying home as much as possible...I shop locally once a week. We have to put up with this if we are ever going to get out of this. I hear many mentioning New Zealand. New Zealand only has a population of around 5 million. London alone has a population of around 9 million.

@Luckygirl. I cannot believe anyone is still advocating the geriatric genocidal approach that is called ‘herd immunity’. It was long ago discredited, even by the politicians. And where did you dream up that young people will not catch the virus? Plenty have – and died. Ultimately our opinions and personal preferences are irrelevant if we want to address the pandemic - unless we are professional specialists. The only salient contributions come from good, multi-disciplinary, medical science. The relevant scientific recommendations were alas ignored in early March. If we had then shut the borders, tested, traced and isolated, then the maximum number of UK deaths would now be in the region of the hundreds, not the tens of thousands.

David’s
Agree with you
MBM . My son is a front line nurse, he hates the hand clapping, the adulation, and hates being called an angel or a hero, he thinks it’s patronising.
He wants good PPE and good management. Neither of which he has.
He also,has said, Im a nurse, it’s my job., we get on with it. We demand the best equipment and take precautions....(he has also said, that the army have been amazing when he worked with them to set up the nightingale hospitals)

Oops! I forgot to mention those with underlying health issues, who could be any age. I'm lucky to have no health issues...

Don't know if anyone's said this but there are several 'at risk' groups including over 70s, over 60s, over 50s, smokers, obese people, men and BAME people but we only tend to hear about over 70s being restricted to their homes. I'm yet to reach 70 and I'm determined to be out and about as soon as possible, while sticking to recommended social distancing rules. The only one of those categories that I fall into is over 60s.

I think all you ladies (and gentlemen) are very good, self sacrificing individuals but unfortunately the comments do come over as sanctimonious.
There seems to be a train of thought that if us over 70s decide to out we are going to behave irresponsibly and collapse in the street and be a burden to the NHS and infect all the dedicated workers.
We are as entitled to care as much as anyone else and I really don’t think the majority of us oldies are either stupid or so uncaring of our health (on a purely selfish level). I’m not going to do anything rash and put myself in danger.
That said I have to go to the vets this afternoon to collect medicine wearing mask and gloves and social distancing. Then I’ll be hiding in my bunker.

Until they are testing comprehensively they don't know the proportion of over 65s (for example) who have had it mildly ...I would be very unhappy about restricted until we know that.... more sense to segregate on the basis of immunity .....

Totaly agree Masquereader especially if you have no health/breathing problems.

David’s, your comment made me feel quite anxious,
My nephew is a doctor on the front line he’s working a thirteen hour day trying to save The lives Of people With this dreadful virus.
He is putting his own family and children at risk by doing so , he isn’t doing it for fun but necessity.
He came home yesterday and couldn’t speak , he himself was in trauma after three patients all under Nineteen years old.
We are being advised to follow guidelines to help the NHS as well as ourselves.your comment doesn’t help.

Absolutely not
Such a blanket restriction is unfair and , to my mind , smacks of cruelty beyond measure.
We know immune systems are affected by age, but also by diet, weight, excercise, mental state, genetics, finances and more.
If over 70s are blanket banned, then so should everyone with excess bmi, diabetes, asthma, etc etc.
Care homes are hot beds of infection and need to be utterly protected.
But to limit thousands of people purely
based on age is downright cruel and totalitarian

We don't yet know all the factors that make us susceptible or not BUT we do know increasing age is a very big factor. Surely we can do this isolation, it's probably the only way to get it under control.

And with a 30%+ chance of survival rather than the less than 5% chance of the typical person who needs resuscitating when their heart has stopped.

I think it's because the over-70s are more likely to take up beds in critical care if they get it, so it's not just for our own sakes. The idea of signing away your right to a bed is a noble idea, but probably won't work as a) if the time comes someone is going to call an ambulance for you whether you object or not (people hate not DOING something at a time like that), and b) when you get to hospital in that ambulance you didn't want, it would be really traumatic for the nurses to turn away a dying person or let you just sit there and die while they watch so they would pressure you to receive treatment I think. It's a bit different from a DNR where the person comes in pretty close to death and probably already unconscious or in a coma. You'd be a lucid person just very out of breath.

Regardless of other countries, I would be amazed if black and white rules were layed down re age. There may be continuing advice about people with underlying conditions etc. but other than that, I don’t think they will make much, age specific. That said, there isn’t going to be a lifting of restrictions for ages yet, that would impact an older persons life. I don’t think there will be much socialising for anyone and social distancing will be in force for months.....so I wouldn’t get too distressed...or excited...that the elderly will be different.

Yes we can all catch it at any age but those affected seriously, and those who die are (the vast majority) in the older age groups. Younger people who are badly affected and even die only seem to do so if they have other factors such as underlying health conditions and/or obesity. And is it fair to ignore government advice and then expect a nurse to put her/his life at risk nursing you in an ICU? No, it's not. And, frankly, if you can't keep yourself amused in your warm, comfortable home for the good of yourself, your family and your community (not to mention the health service) then there is something seriously amiss.

It's you're own choice. Haven't heard of police stopping people who look over 70 and forcibly returning them home from the supermarket or street. The shielding of elderly and vulnerable is not law it's advice, and very good advice at that. Up to you OP.

Missedout, Love you comment re applying rules of cricket to rugby! says it for me

I am 83,,84 in June, no underlying health conditions, so far as I am aware.... bit of high blood pressure.. had it for years.. not had flue or any serious contagious illness since 1957.

just saying

I know of one person (well there are others) this person has Parkinsons , is over 70 and has not isolated.. and there are quite a few over 70`s not isolating, still going to supermarkets etc.. I live alone, but have managed to get food online,, yes, I know, I am lucky, I have a computer and I have persistence, ie.. to get an online delivery, I did not let `it` beat me,,,

so yes, age discrimination seems a bit unreal to me, but they know so little and have to do something.

I just want to be able to go out in my little car, and drive at least 6 miles to charge the battery! I was told 6 miles to recharge from starting was necessary, many years ago..
just to get out and drive! tell me where is the harm (virus harm, not pollution) in that?

I went out in my home made face mask this morning - lap hour - interesting to note that in our little farm shop several people were suddenly wearing them - I guess after last nights announcement by Boris Johnson that they might be "useful". Onething though, we will have to learn to smile with our eyes when we utter our muffled hellos.

I have far too much to live for so I will do whatever is recommended for my age group, to keep myself and my loved ones safe.

If that's your opinion go out and get on with your life but don't start whinging if you catch it . As you say your a grown woman , with a mind of your own . Do you really think the government says , I know let's pick on the over 70s . They are asking you stay at home because it's the right thing to do but you could be selfish and go out and put more stress on the NHS .

This is an interesting point made in a mid April report from ONS which only covers March figures: "The rate of death due to COVID-19 increased significantly in each age group, starting from age 55 to 59 years in males and age 65 to 69 years in females; overall, one in five deaths were in age group 80 to 84 years."

Hopefully the statisticians will let us have detailed information that we can use to make our own decisions about what to do when lockdown rules begin to relax. I heard a radio report more recently that said 90% of Covid deaths were people aged over 60! I wonder if that is true?

Just a note.....however fit we are our immune systems decline with age. That’s a fact apparently!

A lot of people seem to be missing the point. Yes, lockdown is to help prevent individuals becoming ill but it's mainly about keeping others safe.
Yes, you can go out and take the consequences of becoming ill, or maybe dying. But if you take this stance you're possibly going to infect others who may themselves die.
Are you really prepared to have someone else's death on your conscience? Think, if you knocked over and killed someone whilst driving, how terrible you'd feel, this is no different.
Lockdown is for a few short weeks out of a lifetime. It's not much to ask of anyone.
Don't be selfish, stay at home.