What about New Zealand? The leaps some are taking to justify the state we are in are getting preposterous. https://mobile.twitter.com/ShuaibKhan26/status/1353312597597155328
Australia did an excellent job of shutting their borders. We didn't. However, there's a more materialistic impact of closing down like they did that suggests there's still trouble ahead. The success of your strategy on Covid isn't limited to the amount of deaths. There's far more at play than just that sadly.
But isn't it a case of the stricter they were, and earlier they were, the quicker they were to some normality? We're suffering from the highest death rates and economic disaster, all as a result of closing down late, but only strict enough to ensure enough capacity in hospitals rather than completely drive down rates, which means we have prolonged the agony.
We've definitely prolonged the agony. Whether you view the strategy as hard enough for long enough is different depending on your view point. My comment on Australia was that some of the damage that's been inflicted on certain industries and families as a result of locking down as hard as they did still inflicts pain and anguish on people - a Covid death toll isn't the only measure for a successful strategy.
Spot on. We're likely still going to see the 250,000 deaths mooted at the beginning but it's just taking longer. Time to be harsh but fair in my opinion and stop penalising those sticking to the rules.
We should have definitely gone for a full permanent closed borders lockdown like New Zealand. I dunno about you but I'm not really arsed about non-essentials like eating food.
Whether lockdown is the right approach is a different matter. I was just saying that once you decide to do that, you should do it properly. Four weeks of very strict measures would be better in the long term of 12 weeks of lighter, yet still costly restrictions. Lockdowns 2&3 here have been as a result of govt failure. Failure in test and trace. Failure to give local authorities the power and resources need to enforce covid compliance in workplaces, failure to get any real increase in NHS capacity. Failure to properly plan for return to schools / universities etc... All these failures will likely cost us again later in the year, even with a vaccine.
I think you're preaching to the choir here mate as I might have gone along with four weeks of hard lockdown followed by opening. I'm not sure who you think you're arguing against but it definitely isn't me!
I presumed by building them the government would have had the requisite number of staff to run them. Look what thought did
Well on this discussion we're probably aligned on 90% of it. Especially the part on the failings of the government.
Agree completely and despite my reservations about lockdown I have said numerous times if you are going to do then do right, otherwise its pointless.