Like I keep saying. Go hard and fast, controlling the variables you can early and life returns to normal. A Professor from UCL has just been saying the vary same thing - pointing out countries that did (unlike us) pretty much had a regular Christmas and their economies are growing. Her frustration at warnings being acted on too late was palpable. In your 'sober understanding' what do you do with all those dying? Leave them on the street? Because currently there are sod all beds for anything else.
Travel corridors shutting from Monday. About bloody time. I will, however, strike a positive note. Intial vaccine rollout appears to be going well overall. I hope it continues.
6 Months + I reckon, and then only a limited relaxing. I wonder how they'll cope when the vaccination becomes an annual necessity
Do you think governments have learned anything from the previous lockdowns? I reckon no and and they'll just end the lockdowns early again as deaths drop when the high risk groups are vaccinated.
Depends on the govt... the UK govt is pathologically incapable of edmitting it's ****ups let alone elarning from them. NZ and Aus might fare better, Korea, Singapore and the like.
And how many Nightingale hospitals did the government "open" all those months ago? Tip: more than one.
I'm more thinking of the logistical side, they can't be taking over sports arenas and drafting the army in every year, although if it is giving 5 - 6 + months worth of protection it could be staggered throughout the year rather than being given at flu season. Yes, I think every government on the planet knows full well what is required to bring a stop to its spread, that it is unpalatable to some of them is another matter.
Lol true, I really shouldn't use the UK Gov as a standard for anything other than the quantity of embarrassing and easily avoidable u-turns that can fit into any given hour / day / week / month... damn you Boris.
And in the meantime, it's now in our food: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/ice-cream-positive-coronavirus-china-b1788183.html A film on Amazon caught our eye last night, called Songbird. Topical, if a little depressing. They got that one knocked out quick though.
Well, the Scottish govt definitely has - Sturgeon has been consistently unwilling to relax restrictions in the worst-affected regions, much to the chagrin of some people. When this lockdown ends, I don't see much changing at all up here, regardless of what happens south of the border.
In Wales we were a little slow with the full lockdown but we lifted restrictions far slower than England did, and we had the 'fire-break' late last year. I'm at least hoping that the Welsh government has at least learned something.
Those people who voted to "get brexit done", both in the General Election and the idiot party leadership election, and lumbered us English and the UK, with the most corrupt, incompetent and self-serving government of my lifetime (56 years), have a lot to answer for.
We’ve only dealt with it slightly better - much like the rest of the UK too little and too late, with still so many ignoring the rules.
^ Yep, the "lockdown" this time round feels no different from what preceded it - roads are busy, many shops which were closed last year are still open, there is no shielding program, and the conspiracy theorists have had several months to bolster their position. Friends of mine who see things differently and blatantly flout the rules... the best way is simply not to discuss it, lest you fall out and make things worse than they already are. Bygones, an' all that.
One of my friends who's an oncology nurse has had a lot of problems with friends who are "differently opinioned" let's say. Even after her previously perfectly healthy 53 year old father in law died from it, she still had friends accosting her saying it was fake and a conspiracy. No decency at all. Protests in Birmingham today. One guys screaming "the saviours will come", whatever the hell that means. One lady who had been arrested shouted "I've come from Bristol" as she was lead away, as if that made things any better for her
Well it's taken 11 months, but I now know 1 person who has had it. In other news I'm enjoying the empty roads again, OK so they're not as empty as the 1st lock down but there sufficiently less traffic to knock 15 minutes off my commute
Hope they're doing ok/got over it. Think I know of three directly now, two different friends uncles died, my mum's mate has it but is recovering AFAIK (no hospital time needed). Of course I know of several others via my good lady's work but not personally there. In other news she received jab number one this morning.
