End of the lockdown.

My guess is that when this lockdown ends everyone will be out doing shopping for Christmas and catching up with friends and family in whatever way they can. The virus incidence will rise again and we’ll be back where we started from. Think I’m feeling a bit negative about it all today! ?

Totally agree with Ellanvannin and Theoddbird. If people had stayed home in the first wave this lot may have been over by now.
At the house across from me they go shopping every day. One goes in the morning and the other in the afternoon, every day of the week, and every time it's a boot full of shopping. Not sure where they put it all they must have BIG storage cupboards.
The son is still living at home and on a Friday lunchtime his girlfriend arrives and doesn't leave until Monday morning. They in turn have another couple who turn up over the weekend and they all go off together. Unbelievable!! If I could find out who to report them to I would.
To cap it all the wife used to be a nurse.!!

Lockdowns work...while we're locked down but we can't keep lurching from one lockdown to another: the (non covid) consequences would be too awful. As for the vaccine(s), I 'll believe it when it's actually being given and working and who knows when that will be.

Blubell is right but the snarly dog needs taming !

Rufus2

Good Evening: Melbourne has a population of about 5 million with about 1.6 million spread across regional Victoria.
Since March we have had lockdowns of various degrees of severity and even an 8pm to 5am curfew.
Face-masks have been compulsory throughout.

Nett result? We have had no new Covid related cases and no deaths for almost 21 days.
Whilst we have our share of Covidiots, everybody realises the importance of supporting the health authorities and the campaign has proved to be very effective.
But it's not over yet!
Cheers

Well done Rufus2, thus proving that lockdowns do work as long as people follow the rules.

But do Lockdowns work ? Surely, if they did the infection rate would disappear, instead of which it gets damped down and when allowed out it roars up again. Rather like containing a fire behind a closed down. Once that door is opened, Whoosh! The flames are released. I think we will have to learn to live with this virus, it wont be eradicated, the vaccine will 'hopefully' allow us to live with it.

Christmas will do untold damage. People will be persuaded, or feel obliged, to 'celebrate' and join in the festivities with family. They'll forget social distancing and hand washing.

Infections from asymptomatic younger people to parents and grandparents, cooped up together indoors, will mean a rise in the January figures, of course.

The answer, surely, is not to go completely mad when lockdown ends - to still follow the hands - face - space rules, to be very careful indeed.

I can't see that happening though.

Lockdown has done more harm than good for sure. Education, the economy, physical and mental health have all suffered disastrously. The death figures appear to be grasped from thin air “for whatever reason if tested positive for covid in the last 28 days”. Let us make our own minds up. We can surely be sensible but get on with our lives.

Bluebelle I am hoping that your analogy is not quite right, The dog is likely to be there there still but, if everyone were to obey the lockdown rules, there would be less viral infection out there to catch. Assuming everyone wears masks, socially distances, washes hands etc. after lockdown is finished, it should be easier to avoid the virus.

Rufus2 How compliant are the people in Melbourne to the rules? I think that compliance, or lack of it, makes a tremendous difference to the outcomes.

Come the end of lockdown every one go NAD in the shops.hopefully still have to wear masks .shoppers should be stopped from entering shops if they not wearing a mask

Mad

Agree with Bluebelle and mbody. It’s arrogant in the extreme to think we can stop a virus, remember how long it took to eradicate smallpox? I personally know 2 people who have died of covid, both very poorly elderly people, and both caught it in hospital while being treated for something else. Perhaps we could have data that reflects the real risk, such as where people who die are when they catch covid, my guess, from what can be gleaned from figures, is that care homes and hospitals would figure largely, rather than shops or pubs. According to govt figs people dying of it are still mainly of an age over the average life expectancy. The certainty is that we will all die, I’d opt for quality of existence rather than count the days away indoors.

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

I don't see any evidence of face masks helping keep infections down either. In fact they are inclined to give a false sense of security.

On the whole countries like most of northern Europe, Australia and New Zeeland that went into lockdown early have and have had fewer cases.

Sweden, Britain and America went into lockdown late, or not at all and have many cases.

So why do you think lockdown doesn't work?

Given time, a virus may mutate and become less dangerous, but it could of course become more dangerous. It might even disappear to all intents and purposes.

BlueBelle

Lockdowns don’t work it’s like successfully hiding from a big snarling dog and then after hours you quietly venture out and it grabs you

Brilliant description. Virus does not go away during Lockdowns, however strict. Will be there when everybody comes back out.
I do resent the attitude that tries to treat us rather like naughty children - ;If you do not do as you are told absolutely, then you will have on-going punishment'. Worse, than that is that it so divisive - we, the victims are to blame!! Can see that working on posts here. Everyone else is to blame.
Lockdowns only help to flatten the curve and thereby help hospitals, etc.

Apologies I should have said 3 covid cases in hospital.

I am not holding my breath that this will end soon. Vaccine is not yet available and even when it is , this government, who couldn't organise a raffle, will take many months to get the general population vaccinated. And deciding who should get it first and who will be waiting till we have all had Covid before we get vaccinated. I may be dead by that time , or it won't matter anyway. Sorry to be cynical.

I agree with Rufus, lockdown does work, of course it does - it’s unpalatable to many but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t work. The same people on here are trotting out the same flawed arguments but the evidence is clear. My sister’s in Perth WA and still living the dream, she’s posting pics of them doing normal things just to keep the rest of the family going whilst all around us idiots flout the guidance in the U.K.

I am sure one of the most effective rules of lockdown is that which is enforced in France. Here we have to fill in paperwork each time we go out giving name, address, dob, reason for leaving home and time leaving.

These have to be printed on a clean sheet of paper and filled in in ink or downloaded each time on an app. Failure to have this and stopped by the Gendarme is a fine, starting at €135 for first offence.

The faffing about and threat of a fine I feel makes people stop and think before they go out. Even though the Gendarmes are not often seen out and about far less stopping people!

Lockdowns don't make the virus disappear.

They are designed to keep social interaction between people to a minimum so that the NHS can cope with the workload. They are a blunt tool but virtually the only tool until we have an effective vaccine.

The Tier system is simply a variation on lockdown in an attempt to keep the economy running.

The reason areas with low infection rates are locked down is surely to minimize travel between areas. Otherwise, wouldn't Covidiots be tempted to travel to non locked down areas, thereby spreading the virus?

Hope seems to be on the horizon sometime next year...

Here in N.Ireland we have the circuit breaker and it has made no difference to positive cases & deaths. Our hospitals had all over capacity at the weekend. People out, as shops all open, just pubs and restaurants closed. Talk is all will open up again for December and I think it's madness. Works Xmas parties, etc will happen and come end December I don't know what on earth will happen in the hospitals then. The idiots need to think this is not just about Covid, it's cancer patients, people with heart conditions,etc that are being affected just so they can go out and get hammered, some probably ending up in A& E getting their stomachs pumped!

If people had stayed home in the first wave this lot may have been over by now.

How could it be, when some people had to continue working and could not distance at work?
The disease would always start spreading again, as soon as lockdown stopped.