We should have locked down earlier

GrannyGravy13

Whilst part of me agrees with you, for many many years both Labour and Conservative Governments have operated a carrot form of governance as opposed to the stick method. Even in a worldwide pandemic it is difficult if not nigh on impossible to change 60 million plus inhabitants mindset.

With our family and close friends we have followed every guideline, at times it has been heartbreaking, unfortunately their are a lot of people out there only interested in themselves.

Pah! Too many liberal, woke snowflakes!

Seriously, Johnson was prepared to use water cannons in London. Patel wants to use wave machines and nets to catch unsafe dinghies and some loony wants to send gun boats against French fishermen. Controlling a few covidiots shouldn't be that difficult!

The current rapid rise is due to the new variant COVID, vaccination has already started and will be ramped up in the new year. This country cannot keep borrowing ad infinitum to fund lockdowns. Interest rates may be low now, but in 10 or 15 years, who knows where they will be.

This is a non-political post. I think that the OP is alarmist. It is up to everyone who is really concerned and needs to ytake care to make themselves responsible for their own protection, which most of us are, those spreading the infection spread it, mainly to others like them. Normal life needs to return for so many reasons, however slowly.

I agree that schools should have closed down, growstuff and can't understand why they weren't.
I know someone who hasn't sent their children to school since March but the parents haven't been sent to prison or anything. The parents didn't want their children mixing and that was that. Not a lot anyone can do under the circumstances.

Schools shouldn't go back until the beginning of March next year as the new strain also affects children.

If I had school-age children, they wouldn't be attending !

EllanVannin

If I had school-age children, they wouldn't be attending !

It will be interesting to see how many turn up. I know a number of otherwise law-abiding parents who have said they'll keep their children at home.

M0nica

The current rapid rise is due to the new variant COVID, vaccination has already started and will be ramped up in the new year. This country cannot keep borrowing ad infinitum to fund lockdowns. Interest rates may be low now, but in 10 or 15 years, who knows where they will be.

This is a non-political post. I think that the OP is alarmist. It is up to everyone who is really concerned and needs to ytake care to make themselves responsible for their own protection, which most of us are, those spreading the infection spread it, mainly to others like them. Normal life needs to return for so many reasons, however slowly.

MOnica The government will still pay current interest rates. It owes the Bank of England.

In any case, a hard lockdown (even now) would shorten the misery for many.

About a third of the population is actually better off now than they would have been. They need taxing, if the government has the guts to do it.

Do you mean "normal life" like the mad "eat out" scheme, which it is now acknowledged caused a spike in new infections?

It isn’t the new variant causing the problem in Wales M0nica, it said on the news yesterday that less than 10% of cases are due to the new variant, and our levels in South Wales are as high as the South East and have been for a few weeks. There’s every sign that the public are not paying attention to the advice, the NHS is not managing hence we are in level 4 lockdown. There is no option unfortunately.

At the last count the r number was more than 1 in every part of the country, which means that more and more people will be infected every day under present conditions. The only way to reduce the r number is to impose stricter controls.

Any opening up of society, eg schools returning, retail, hospitality, sport and entertainment opening up will increase the r number and infections will increase exponentially.

Therefore we should now be tightening, not loosening controls until the r number is well below 1, preferably around 0.5 or less. This would allow for the gradual reopening of settings where people mix without pushing the r number above 1.

No, I mean a slow and controlled return to normality running alongside the vaccination programme.

its a far smaller area with fewer cases but they’ve hit it on head - hard. Police are out blocking roads and if you’re on wrong side of the boundary, you’re fined heavily

Marmight You could have stressed too, that Australia is no way a small area, yet practically the whole nation has achieved what you have described for the Northern Beaches.
It would also help if a commonsense vaccine could be made available!
OoRoo

We should have locked down earlier

This is sure to become the mantra for this whole pandemic episode.

The millions and billions that have been wasted by this government could have funded people and children with laptops to do a total lockdown well before Christmas.

twinnytwin

Hindsight is a wonderful thing. It's made Covid experts of many GNs.

Not hindsight. The situation in Italy should have prompted the government to act swiftly. They didn’t. An Italian friend kept texting and asking why we weren’t locking down. In March.

Rufus2

^its a far smaller area with fewer cases but they’ve hit it on^ head - hard. Police are out blocking roads and if you’re on wrong side of the boundary, you’re fined heavily

Marmight You could have stressed too, that Australia is no way a small area, yet practically the whole nation has achieved what you have described for the Northern Beaches.
It would also help if a commonsense vaccine could be made available!
OoRoo

Spot on. People talk as if Australia had no large crowded cities ! Or even “but it’s an island”........

M0nica

The current rapid rise is due to the new variant COVID, vaccination has already started and will be ramped up in the new year. This country cannot keep borrowing ad infinitum to fund lockdowns. Interest rates may be low now, but in 10 or 15 years, who knows where they will be.

This is a non-political post. I think that the OP is alarmist. It is up to everyone who is really concerned and needs to ytake care to make themselves responsible for their own protection, which most of us are, those spreading the infection spread it, mainly to others like them. Normal life needs to return for so many reasons, however slowly.

I was actually paraphrasing a senior Tory member of parliament. Clearly not a Johnson fan, but an ex-health minister and someone not known for hyperbole.

So no I don’t think that he was being alarmist, and entirely disagree that it isn’t a political subject.

It is entirely political relating to coronavirus.

Rufus & Lucca Of course I’m well aware that Australia is not a small area & has large crowded cities ?. I was referring to a specific small area, viz. The Northern Beaches, which has basically been closed down to contain the outbreak within that specific area.

The mistake made here was in not continuing it for longer than two weeks, and sadly, in putting too much faith in the public sticking with the guidance

Yes, Casdon, the lockdown in Wales was only for 17 days so too short. I can understand that, if it goes on too long, people will get fed up and start breaking rules but I could not understand the logic of 17 days.

Rufus it may be a very large country but State premiers exercised their right to close their borders. Even so, during the height of the outbreak in Victoria, hundreds of campers travelled through NSW and were lined up on the border with Queensland, champing at the bit to get over.
I hope cases do remain low there.

"Sealing folks in their homes" sounds hysterical when it should be called "lockdown'"
Rufus
According to a family friend from Wuhan (living in Australia) this is what his grandmother who lives in Wuhan reported was happening. Flats were boarded up.
It worked, of course.

I agree with Rufus. Transgressors should be clamped down on and heavily fined. Sometimes the only way to get some people to comply is a heavy fine.
There were hundreds of cars heading to the Brecon Beacons over the last few days even though we are locked down here in Wales. Some had come from as far away as London in Tier 4.

I didn't say the subject was non-political, just my response.

I live near Brecon AGAA4, and confirm what you’ve said, hundreds of cars have been on the Beacons the last three days. Some are from England, but shamefully the majority were from Wales, notably from the Valleys areas which are really badly affected. Thankfully today the police have been up there fining people and sending them home - virtually nobody lives near enough to legitimately be up there at the moment.

So many people with a degree in hindsight that know exactly what should have been done.

Such a shame governments and scientists did not contact the experts on social media.

Over 50000 new cases reported today. Tier 5 here we come. Not exactly sure what tier 5 is, but but there's a consensus that 4 hadn't worked.