End of the lockdown.

Lockdowns are necessary if only to keep the NHS from going under. We will have to have restrictions kept in place when this lockdown ends.
I don't however think the tier system is fair. We went into tier 2 in London with high numbers of cases in north and west London but low numbers where I am. I have family who were in tier 1 with higher case numbers. I think it should all be nationwide, including Scotland and Wales. This would make it easier to understand and possibly make people more likely to follow the rules.

How compliant are the people in Melbourne to the rules
Tweedle24 Extremely! The thought of a $1,200 fine for being caught not wearing a facemask when out in the street puts the wind up people more than Covid 19.

Some more good news from "Down Under", while I'm here!
The first passenger flight from Auckland to Melbourne since lockdown began, touched down at Tullamarine airport today: now a daily service again.
It was heartwarming to see on TV News this evening many family re-unions after they had been separated for months.
Well in time for Christmas, fortunately.
Unfortunately Adelaide in South Australia is now on alert with an unexpected spike in new cases, so, ironically it might become a case of us keeping them out instead of the reverse when we were in trouble.
I don't think any of us are going to let our guard down just yet!
Good Health
OoRoo

I fully agree with Blubelle
Lockdowns appear to work as the infection rate decreases but the minute you try and get back to even a semblance of normality the R rate rockets. The only way other than possibly a vaccine we would beat this is to all literally shut up shop for the next 5-10 years which would not really be workable. Personally I don’t see a bright future looming any time soon

The truth is, whether we like it or not the virus is going to be around for a very long time, like most other viruses in the past...we learned to live with them. It is inevitable we MUST end this ridiculous system of lockdown after lockdown ...it clearly does not work, and all it does is ruin the whole of the UK from the economy to health ...mental health problems are soaring, hardly anyone with a long term illness or waiting for a routine operation is being treated. The Nightingale hospitals are virtually empty .....quarantining people in small flats with no outside space is madness ...children are suffering, the ederly are suffering...young people without jobs are suffering ...people with no work and mortgages to pay are suffering .............everybody is suffering and for what ? we will all die, it is inevitable .....I could go out today and get knocked over by a bus...my funeral plan is paid, letters written to cancel services, etc and my solicitor holds my LPA in case I am not killed but injured .....she also has my request form for DNAR ......now I WANT to travel if I have any time left ........and that in my opinion is not being selfish ...........

I know Bluebell.....I do wonder.... if we hide away, the virus will only sit and wait for us to come out. It just wont tootle off and disappear. It has more staying power than that sadly!

Casdon

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.

Western Australia had pretty strict rules for quite a while and people were compliant as, if they weren't, there'd be someone round to fine them unlike here. If you had to isolate there were checks. You still can't travel from one state to another and Australia is severely limiting the numbers coming in. I think they've handled it really well (info from friend in Fremantle, via Zoom chat). Here? Well I live by the Thames and there were crowds down here all weekend!

19:49GrandmaKT

A bit disheartened seeing the demonstrations in Liverpool and Bristol today. Whether people agree with the lockdown or not could they not just give it a go for 4 weeks in the hope that it's effective?

You are a bit disheartened! I am truly disgusted with this. I am from Liverpool. With the mass testing being started in my city we could have held ourselves up as a beacon. But no a load of yobs and fools showed us up in a truly disgusting light.

Lockdowns wont work, I agree with Bluebelle.
Prof. Sucharit Bhakdi will tell you why they won't work. As he says, "Why do you believe everything you are told, why don't you sit down and read and think a bit. If you did that you would very quickly realise something fishy was going on."
Professor Bhakdi is a Thai-German specialist in microbiology and co-author of Corona, False Alarm?: Facts and Figures.
Interview- www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnpnBYgGARE&feature=youtu.be
He will tell you why vaccine is dangerous in great detail.

We’ll be living with this for years the way we’re going. It’s all the half measures. We either need to be completely locked down, so no exceptions, and that just wouldn’t work. Or we return to normal, and take our chances. People die. It’s a fact of life. We can’t save everybody. I might go. My husband might. We’ve resigned ourselves to that. I think Bluebelle’s dog will always be lurking in the side wings. How long would we have to wait before he dies of starvation?

You still can't travel from one state to another
Paperback Yes you can, except W.Australia.
That's why at midnight on the weekend just gone they were lined up like a Formula 1 race at the border.
It's called the "New Normal"!
OoRoo

The so called Spanish flu 1918-1920, disappeared after two years. Just saying.

M0nica

Cornwall: 403 cases in the past week. Up 106 from previous week

Official government statistics.

Number of "cases" does not mean number of people ill and has very little relationship to hospilisation and deaths. If we stopped testing we would realise that the virus has become endemic just like flu and the common cold and doesn't kill any more people than the diseases we've lived with for centuries.

Theoddbird

If people had done as they were told in the last lockdown we probably wouldn't be in this situation now. People should not moan...everyone is responsible.

Lockdowns don't work. You have just said it yourself.

AnnieFrance, you do know you can be more environmentaly friendly and download the 'attestation' on your telephone (smartphone) even have all your details filled in and then just put in the hour and bobsyouruncle, takes about 1 minute or less.
I was 'controlled' this morning leaving my very little town and think it is a very unnecessary /wastefull/humiliating
work by local police!

Talking about police, halfpint1, I was really upset by how Devon and Cornwall were treating people as shown on UK Column news at 1 pm today. Someone took a video so it's not a case of fake news!

This “lockdown” isn’t what I would call a serious lockdown, everything is just as normal for the big shops it is only small independents which are suffering. Obviously cafes and pubs too are suffering if they can’t offer takeaways. I’ve seen families visiting each other locally and staying overnight. In all honesty folk just carry on as normal UNLESS Covid has affected their families. We are only going out to Sainsburys once a week and to take dogs out. I had a 50minute appointment at my dentist last Thursday for a complicated filling just hope I haven’t caught Covid.

Thank you, Rufus2. I thought that the compliance must be much higher than here. Now I know why! Pity it is not like that here. The trouble is that there are not enough police around to control it.

Wisconsin, where my DD lives, has no restrictions at all, because the Republicans have legally challenged them and won. Consequently, it is constantly on the American news as the state where the virus is completely out of control, with the infection rate soaring and the hospitals full. That's what happens when there are no restrictions in place.

The virus may become part of our lives or it may not. We don't know. We do know that that we can reduce its spread with lock downs and subsequent restrictions. We also know that there are vaccines on the horizon and we need to hang on until then.

My other DD caught the virus at work. I am worried sick about her because she is asthmatic and the doctor says that she may be developing pneumonia. She is on antibiotics. I'll admit that I am scared.

I think that we all have to sit tight until a vaccine is available. As old people, we are the most affected and, in most cases, the most able to isolate as we haven't got jobs and little kids to worry about. We should just get on with it. That's my belief, anyway.

I challenged somebody to move further away from me in the petrol station . She was nit wearing a mask and too close to me. I was verbally assaulted but chose not to retaliate. Nobody supported me in the queue and the petrol attendant did not challenge her not wearing a mask.
So, until we all sing from the same hymn sheet we will not get through this very quickly. One of my oldest , most cherished friends died of Covid in hospital last week. She did not have it when she went in, having fallen and broken her pelvis. She caught the virus in there. We are all devastated. Just wear a mask, stay away from folk and avoid crowded places.

So sorry to hear about your lovely friend, Susieq62 for you.

We had the first lockdown, and mostly people kept to the rules, but when lockdown finished instead of slipping into some sort of normality slowly we had the government throwing everything open and getting people to go out and about. So surprise surprise we were hit with a second wave. Now we are in lockdown for 4 weeks but to be honest it doesn't feel like a lockdown there are still loads of car travelling somewhere and groups of people out and about. Dec 2nd will see a mad rush to see love ones and family and shop. We will then have a 3rd wave. So it goes on until lockdown means nothing to people. I am afraid we will just have to wait for this vaccine and hope the promise of it is not another load of hot air.

BlueBelle. I do agree and I have read the evidence - tons of it. The countries with fewer lockdowns or none having far fewer deaths.
However, strange as it may be, I do keep to the rules. I have only been out once in fact since last March, to go to the Dentist for an emergency visit. I do not at the moment want to upset people who are frightened and who are being so careful and doing what they are asked. I admire them for their fortitude and would not upset them. So I go along with the rules and wait for the time when all this passes. I think there will be a time when people realise that this is doing no good. so many very knowledgeable top scientists, Doctors of Epidemiology and Micro biology and virology and so on as well as Economists and people watching the effects of different policies on different countries will outweigh the government's views. The government has not been taking the best advice and has not been able to explain why it has used false numbers in the past, even though they have been challenged in the House.
Because the effects of the lockdowns have cost so much in loss of lives, loss of businesses built up by very hard work, many deaths from diseases not treated and not shown to have saved lives from covid, it makes the second lockdown even more questionable. I would say questionable to the point of suspicious. Why would a small group of wealthy people - the Cabinet - want to ruin the country and the lives of the people like this for no real benefit? They lied last time and they are lying again. These are not my words, they are the words of many very expert Scientists who study coronaviruses and who have looked at the evidence. For example youtu.be/ZnpnBYgGARE. Prof Bhakdi.

I am very lucky because I have reason to believe that whatever earthly Rulers choose to do, everything is in God's hands. Psalm 37 v5 Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.

Like many on Gransnet, I've been isolating since February. It seems logical to me that if I don't meet anyone, I don't put myself in danger of infection. I realise that everyone isn't able to completely isolate, but they who can't can limit contact and take precautions. Rallies, raves and demonstrations are just irresponsible and participants should be dealt with severely, as should family and friends gatherings. For every expert who gives an opinion, there is another, just as highly qualified, who gives the opposite opinion, so who do we listen to? As seen on Gransnet there are so many who try and justify "tweaking" the guidance to suit their own preferences. From Rufus2's post, we need to adopt the same principles as Melbourne, then we might have a chance of controlling this horrid virus.

Thank you , Sandelf , for the interactive map. I've been looking for that on the system for ages and thought that they had stopped doing it.
I feel that we had a countrywide lockdown to stop the spread of covid and protect the less affected areas from the spread.
Lockdown never really had a chance with so many idiots about.

After lockdown I will just carry on doing the same I am afraid. Not going anywhere unless I have to and staying away from everyone, my DH is extremely vulnerable so staying home alone as much as possible. I do hope to be able to visit my Mom in her care home before Christmas.