Easing Lockdown

We cannot stay living like this until a vaccine is available. The reason we were asked to stay home was not to overwhelm the NHS and expose its weaknesses. The old have been sacrificed in care homes by not being admitted to hospitals in many cases. I honestly think its going to run its course and all we can do is protect ourselves as much as we can. Stay at home if you can and protect yourself if you can't.
Whilst flights are still landing from virus hot spots Covid 19 is here to stay. Germany had the right approach, lessons to be learned from them.

Agree BlueBelle- the government are using public fears to lockdown and control a situation that the GOVERNMENT exacerbated through ineptitude? I agree- we are mostly all sensible people who will do the right thing? We need to make the personal decision about social distancing- ?

Yes, I'm worried. I know that we cannot be in lockdown forever but I fear for my husband as he has to commute to London 3 days a week by train and tube. He is furloughed at the moment, very anxious about going back. I must admit I have ordered some face masks in preparation. Just hope the government do this slowly and with plenty of common sense.

Ah, NfkDumpling, I'm from Norwich. Haven't lived there for a long time, but I'm still a Norfolk broad!

I will wear a mask, BUT I've got to fly back to work, because I came home for the pandemic because my school closed. I'm not helped because they are out of lockdown there and therefore want all staff back, even though I'd have to go into 2 weeks of quarantine. The plus side of going back would be that I'd be tested for the virus AND get an antibody test. Although given I've had NO health issues for months, I'm pretty sure there's no way I'll have antibodies.

Exactly Froglady. Except I doubt we'll go back into lockdown even if we do get a 2nd wave.

Americanpie, WE are the virus hotspot (other than the US). I think the world is more at risk from us than to us.

I'm a bit worried. My husband is still employed and although he can work from home and has been doing so since lockdown I worry about when the offices go back to work and what he might be bringing home with him.

I don't think we should worry. It will be just small things to start with. Seems the government will be damned if they do damned if they don't I really get fed up with complaints about them. They are doing a good job.

If only people would REALLY observe the lockdown perhaps the death rate would decrease. But there are still some who think that it doesn’t apply to them. I saw a group of about 15 ‘serious’ cyclists (complete with lycra) out on a ride at the weekend. There’s no way they were all living in the same house!

The government really is in an unenviable position and it is a fact that whatever they do will be criticised by some.

It’s such a fine balancing act but I feel a compromise would be to continue to isolate the vulnerable, those with serious medical conditions, and allow the rest of the population (which of course is the majority) to go back to work to restart the economy.

We are already predicted to be heading for a serious recession which could impact the whole population for decades.

Desperately sad though the deaths are, it’s worth remembering that the vast majority of people who get the virus have very mild symptoms and make a complete recovery.

Definitely concerned, not for me but for loved ones who may have no choice but to return and then may bring back the virus to infect us. I am MOST concerned about schools reopening too early as I have two nine year old grandsons living with me who may well catch it and then kill me and my wife when they come home from school

It is a dreadful situation, but there is no real choice, only one of my two sons who lives with me can work from home, the other is a marine engineer, can’t really bring a destroyer boiler home to work on in the garden !

Am resigned to the fact that it is highly likely I will, eventually be caught out by Covid, just hope it is not too painful

I have to agree with blue sky. I am retired and am very grateful that I can now choose when I can ease my own lockdown so long as social distancing is still in place in supermarkets. Feel very sorry for people having had to work and those returning to work with no choice bearing in mind that they still need an income. That is the flip side of being an auld yin in these worrying times.

I live in the New Forest, we have one of the lowest rates in the country at the moment. As soon as lockdown is lifted we will be inundated by people wanting to come here. I am in the Vulnerable group, so is my son. I really wish everyone would stay in their own areas and keep their bugs to themselves!

I know it is a worry, but unless we start a slow return to work economically we will really struggle. As an employer we have arranged full PPE, desks and tables far apart and hand sanitiser. Visitors not allowed over the doorstep and handwashing control. I feel we need to trust ourselves and employers to work together to return to something like normal.

The thing most people are forgetting is the relevance of the numbers. The UKs Population is much higher I believe here. So there fore we would have more deaths. The figures we need are percentages and ratios compared to other countries. Not head count. The other figure you need is for the are you live in.
I’m in London. So the London figures of who is infected is more important.
Just because the lock down is eased does not mean you can go back to normal. I for one will visit my brand new grandchild. But everything else will continue for me as if the lockdown hasn’t been lifted. I’ve recently retired from the NHS. So that’s where all my friends are and still working. So I won’t pop in to see them. I for one will not be happy until this thing is eradicated or a vaccine is found. You must only do what you personally are happy with.

I think that if the government want to ease lock down they should , with their families plus elderly relatives, go out and about for a couple of weeks prior to the easing . Then we can look at the results and find out if it is safe. That seems fair ,it's their idea so they should be the first dip their feet in the water.

I live 2 miles from a hospital with a covid ward ,last night there was a continuous stream of blue lights passing my bedroom window from the road 100 feet away .No sirens during the night but the lights wake us much more regularly than we would like.
This isn't a big town so we hear daily about deaths,and I can see many more if lockdown is lifted too soon.I know people are scared for jobs but they need to put their lives first ,no life. is far worse than no job.
I am scared ,and not ashamed to admit it ,my OH and my AD both have health issues I would prefer lockdown stays in place until the numbers are much much smaller .

Gingergirl I hear what you are saying but I work in the care sector (as an adminustrator primarily but had been stepping into care role when short staffed). Even if I don't do any more cate work for the foreseeable, in my admin role I share a tiny office with two other workers where it's impossile to keep 2 meters apart. Also, before I was furloughed, I was being pressured into not wearing a mask as it frightened some of our residents.

I think it is impossible for people to return to work when the schools are closed - who is going to look after the children

We who are retired can choose when we wish to return to normality.We are privileged.However we worry about our children returning to work.We do not want them or our grandchildren to be put in harms way.I hope the lockdown will end in stages with Health and Safety adhered to in the workplace.I shall be praying that we all stay safe.

It is a worry. I have been told that I must stay at home for the forseeable future and Im ok with that as I cannot afford to catch it. I can work at home if I want to go back to work, but Im seriously thinking about that as some days I do not feel 100% and Im not sure for how long my Company will allow me to home work. As for easing the lockdown much as I feel safe with things the way they are for myself and my family I do understand the need to get things moving but I do think it is a little early and we as a country should wait until the death rates drop lower. I also think Boris is under pressure and that he should stop talking to DT

We were told that five criteria needed to be fulfilled before any easing of the lockdown could be considered:

1. The NHS has the capacity to provide critical care right across the UK
2. A sustained and consistent fall in daily deaths from coronavirus
3. The rate of infection decreased to manageable levels across the board
4. Operational challenges including testing and PPE are in hand with supply able to meet future demand
5. Confident that any adjustments to the current measures will not risk a second peak of infections

Are we there yet?

Well said Essex59!

I agree Oldwoman 70.I'm sure they're not going to lift all restrictions straight away.We would all like some sort of normality to return,but it can't happen yet.I don't think distancing would work on public transport if it's busy.Yes,let's just wait and see,and we don't have to go out do anything yet that we're not happy about.

I feel very concerned that if lockdown ceases abruptly the death toll will rise even more rapidly. We are the Country with highest death rate exceeded only by US. Government response has been too little too late which doesn't leave you at all confident in the handling of the virus. We had hindsight before the virus struck UK but government failed to react even knowing what was happening in other countries. BJ went around shaking hands on the day lockdown was announced. PPE was supposedly stockpiled according to government in March. All untrue. Care homes were left to fend for themselves without headcount of deaths even recorded. The economy and BREXIT are what government prioritise not the welfare of citizens. I for one will not be going out until I feel it safe to do so. I do not rely on this government to do the right thing for it’s people as they are completely out of touch. Latest PPE purchased from Turkey collected by RAF is below standard so useless. Manufacturers in U.K. were at the ready to supply but government were uninterested in sourcing here. The list of government errors is colossal and never ending I feel so sad and angry. The aftermath of virus will bring additional poverty and homelessness the problems are endless..... we must individually decide

Far too soon just like implementing it in the first place was far too late, which is why we have the highest death rate in Europe. This government are totally inept and have blood on their hands.