We could save far more lives, and arguably more than this year of restrictions has saved, by banning smoking completely but that won't gain much support
Washing hands has little impact on most people but wearing masks does for so many and how can you say social distancing has little impact? Of course it does. Not being able to hug, shake hands or just generally get anywhere near other humans has a huge impact on people's lives.
Social distancing is disastrous for the hospitality sector. Would basically end all mass gatherings/crowds. This is the thing isn't it, we have now said we will shut down society to prevent deaths. So where do we put the limit on that? It's a question I asked right back last April, what level of deaths from infectious diseases to accept?
If we do that's a huge change to our way of life. The end of many sporting institutions, pubs and restaurants a thing of the past. Cinemas gone, swimming, gyms, essentially everything that is shut now would be on the way out. I would genuinely want to leave the country if we did. I hate life right now, I just want to live, i want to go out with my friends, see other people. Life now is just awful.
If we do that it means restaurants are gone, pubs are gone, physical clothes shopping is gone, the high street is gone, meadowhall is gone, parties have gone, physical relationships have gone. In fact without being too crude the only way for the human species to continue under the current regulations is to legalise incest isn't it?
That's taking the classic 'ill kiss the next person who walks through that door' thing to a whole new level. The first person you meet from outside your household is to be your life partner. No swapsies
We will never eradicate it, unless we close all borders permanently. That is the issue with a global pandemic.
I think we should aim higher, we should continue with these measures until we've eradicated all deaths.
And its a question no one is willing to answer in case they upset someone in the media eg Piers Organ. Although its commendable to attempt save everyone it counteracts one of the certainties in life. People die. As it stands cases are dropping like a stone. Minimum of 10% per week over regional areas based on specimen date A lot of the case spikes are linked to the same petri dish environments they were last year - care homes. And a lesser extent the NHS. Deaths now from respetory illnesses are around their peak. They'll over the next couple of weeks start to decline. When it gets to the review date, the most vulnerable age group will be majority vaccinated. There wont be any justification to keep places closed through out the summer. The issue is that Witty is very much like his mate Ferguson, revels on worst case scenarios and appears to be somewhat risk adverse. This coupled with a general malaise of fear not just of Covid but of actually living through out large parts of the population will mean that lockdowns going to get dragged through the summer when we should be encouraged to get out and about in the sunshine when viral strains are at their weakest. If we are not careful we'll end up out of lockdown long enough for the kids to get a haircut, return to school for a fortnight before we are locked back down again ready for 2021 winter. Vaccine effectiveness or not. Its something I have said before and yet no one has said its worth it... When you are stood in your little dog **** addled patch of country park with your kids who cant see their mates, eating a picnic cos yo cant go out for something to eat, your minds ******* ruined with constant lockdowns, lack of face to face contact with friends and family outside of your household. No where to go for a pint or a coffee cos they are shut. Gone forever. Cant go swimming, Gyms are restricting numbers. Your jobs not safe and the income you do get is taxed to death. No cinemas, no high street/meadowhall shopping. No bowling. Professional sports dying on its arse. Kids are depressed. Cant see their mates cos schools are still shut. Their educations hit and miss because between home schooling them you have to work from the same bedroom/office space etc... If we are not careful. Its exactly where things are going.
Middle to end of April. I said that date when the furlough scheme was extended to the end of April and I'm sticking by it. Don't think they'll release anything until after Easter.
Some of us could see, right back in March, the permanent harms and precedents set by accepting some of these measures. We will never return to pre-March 2020 life, that is absolutely certain. Too many people have been manipulated into a state of permanent fear for that to ever happen.
I agree, zero COVID is not good enough, all life is worth saving. Policy should be zero deaths and I don't accept anything less than that.
I can see your logic but do not agree with it. 250,000 deaths is a huge total. Each one is a person with a family. The primary objective of every government is to protect its citizens. 96000 is a failure but we all must try to keep the death toll as low as possible. We and our government must never give up.
And when we are released we'll go back into a stupid tier system where you can't do anything so you might aswell be in lockdown.
Agree with you, this isn't life it's an existence and a miserable one at that. I can't see how anyone can put a date on starting to lift restrictions at this point. Good Friday is 10 weeks away. Surely if rates of infection continue to drop as they are doing at present (halved in just over a week) and everyone over the age of 60 has been vaccinated (which is probably around 6 or so weeks away) then we can start to lift restrictions a bit before Easter? I certainly hope so for the sake of people's mental health not to mention livelihoods......
