Coronavirus

[Bob's Orange]

There’s a really difficult balance to be had here and i  just don’t think that realistic if you are looking at a year+ before a vaccine is available and that’s assuming they even find one. You can’t just expect people to put their lives on hold indefinitely in hope...
I heard last night that there has been a massive increase in domestic violence cases during the lockdown and that’s only going to get worst along with other health issues such as depression the longer that this goes on.
Ultimately we aren’t prisoners so as selfish as this sounds before long people will have the right to have a life again soon rather than just living.

Absolutely. The domestic violence issues are worrying. Of course we have to get back to something approaching normality but at the same time keeping the outbreak within ‘control’ so as not to stress the NHS. People are much more aware of washing hands and not touching faces etc and trying to keep their distance from others.

It will be interesting to see what happens in Germany and other countries that are easing lockdowns to see how the UK approaches it.

[pauld]

There’s a really difficult balance to be had here and i  just don’t think that realistic if you are looking at a year+ before a vaccine is available and that’s assuming they even find one. You can’t just expect people to put their lives on hold indefinitely in hope...
I heard last night that there has been a massive increase in domestic violence cases during the lockdown and that’s only going to get worst along with other health issues such as depression the longer that this goes on.
Ultimately we aren’t prisoners so as selfish as this sounds before long people will have the right to have a life again soon rather than just living.

Think you're right, if an effective vaccine can't be found, we will have to find a way of living with it. Bear in mind that as well as accelerated efforts to find a vaccine there are also multiple projects to find a more effective treatment. As a parallel, there is still no vaccine for HIV, but there are thankfully now multiple treatments for it so that it isn't the killer it once was.

[Bogus Dave]

I think effective treatment is probably more likely than a vaccine to be the thing that triggers a return to normality

[Sippo]

Daily death rate goes up again. Over 20k people have died in 51 days.

I genuinely can't see how we are going to get out of it all. I still believe the lockdown could be more stringent?

[Matchworn Shirts]

Priti Patel talking about catching people speeding as the death toll tops 20k. Oh my

[pauld]

Daily death rate goes up again. Over 20k people have died in 51 days.

Over 20k in hospital. The actual death rate is more than twice that

https://www.ft.com/content/67e6a4ee-3d05-43bc-ba03-e239799fa6ab

[Batch]

Priti Patel talking about catching people speeding as the death toll tops 20k. Oh my

to be fair,  people are treating the streets as race tracks then they deserve it.

[Abrahammer]

Maybe there should be a list of laws that we should now be free to break?

[kirky69]

Daily death rate goes up again. Over 20k people have died in 51 days.

I genuinely can't see how we are going to get out of it all. I still believe the lockdown could be more stringent?

Although the number of deaths are very alarming indeed, I do not see lockdown becoming more stringent. Conversely there will likely be a gradual easing of measures, possibly starting in 2 weeks. Firstly I can see more businesses being allowed to reopen, then more general social freedoms, subject to appropriate social distancing rules. Large social gatherings will undoubtedly be at the back end of the queue and I dont envisage being back at the County Ground this calendar year, unless miraculously a vaccine is found within this timescale or mass testing, tracking and tracing is in place.

Although I believe the government was slow to move to lockdown, they will feel they have achieved their main objective of not allowing the NHS to be completely overrun and will therefore seek to restart the economy as soon as possible. The damage caused by an extended lockdown to businesses and individuals - both financial and mental health - will not be tolerated and although further deaths will occur, probably on a not insignificant basis, this will be considered as an acceptable price to pay by the government as long as the NHS remains able to cope. Their focus will therefore be on avoiding a second peak, hence some restrictions remaining in place until a vaccine is found. Pubs will therefore take a long time to reopen and the elderly will be encouraged to remain largely in self isolation if possible.

By way of comparison it is interesting to note that there are on average 165,000 deaths per year in the UK from Cancer and 110,000 from CPD. Maybe it wouldnt be a bad idea to have daily press conferences from the government on the issues of smoking, excessive drinking, diet, exercise and obesity to also reduce the burden on the NHS. Something to ponder as the public on the whole seem to have responded well to the fear of imminent death!

[tans]

Priti Patel talking about catching people speeding as the death toll tops 20k. Oh my

Shoplifting has gone down aswell!

[Peter Venkman]

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/miami-no-homicide-seven-weeks/

No homicides in Miama for 7 weeks in a row, the first time since 1957!

[Sippo]

Still too many people out having picnics. Kids congregating in fields.

[pauld]

Still too many people out having picnics. Kids congregating in fields.

You're never going to get 100% compliance. The point is that the lockdown has greatly minimised the overall number of daily contacts between strangers and so prevented the continuation of what had up until then been the extremely rapid spread of the virus.

[4D]

Some people are too dumb to change.

[theakston2k]

Daily death rate goes up again. Over 20k people have died in 51 days.

I genuinely can't see how we are going to get out of it all. I still believe the lockdown could be more stringent?

It just isn’t going to happen, ultimately we aren’t prisoners and people will have a right to to have a life again soon. You’ve got families that haven’t seen each other for a month or more and there’s only so long that can continue.  It’s becoming obvious that this virus ain’t going anywhere so we are going to have to learn to live with it and treat it.
The slow and staged relaxation of the lockdown will begin before long, mid-May still being my prediction.