Is It Time To Finally Say That The Economy Is Now More Important Than Any Covid Deaths There Might Be?

[dave50]

We can't go on like we are, time to face reality and accept that people die, a fact of life I'm afraid.

[emmie]

i wholeheartedly agree. Unfortunately the decision has been made for us, another extension to this dreadful lockdown.

[davebro]

Probably - but maybe not if it's me that dies!

[bhg481]

No, it's time to behave like adults and accept our responsibilities. If we all pull together we might be in with a fighting chance of beating this virus.

[Bobbisox1]

And surprisingly people get the ‘flu very badly too which hasn’t been heard of in the last 18 months

[emmie]

bhg, this virus is going to go on, and will mutate further, how much longer can people/business be expected to wait - already people are off out mixing, socialising, i can't see why this has to stop.

[emmie]

the reason bobbi is because covid has taken over as the number one virus, all else doesn't get a look in.

[Bobbisox1]

I have two friends who’ve been quite poorly for 10 days with heavy colds ,aching limbs , no appetite etc, did their LF tests at intervals which were negative ,these viruses are still here

[emmie]

i meant they don't get a mention, i'm sure that the flu is still out there killing people.

[jim360]

In the cold light of day there's presumably an "acceptable" number of deaths, but whatever that number is would also surely be an upper limit. I don't think, for example, that anybody would take kindly to the idea of 1,000+ deaths from Covid alone being remotely tolerable or acceptable, not to mention barely sustainable.

The other point, which should hardly need making, is that it's not an either/or situation. If Covid runs rampant then many people get sick, clog up the healthcare system, and in any case aren't able to work or participate in daily life, all of which have damaging economic effects -- in particular, clogging up the healthcare system would in principle lead to a surge in deaths from other preventable causes. It's simply nonsensical to suggest that allowing this to happen would be in any way helpful to "the economy".

The question is whether there's a realistic danger of this any more. I don't claim to know the answer to that, although I'm sure that the vaccination programme will have an impact on this "fourth wave" that we might be seeing. I'm surprised that the Government didn't anticipate even the slight rise in hospitalisations that we've seen; or, more likely, I'm surprised that the Government had specified a date for total unlocking, when they should have understood that it was going to be too optimistic.

[bednobs]

they didnt jim, it was a "not before (and quite possibly after)" date - my brackets

[davebro]

On average about 10,000 deaths per year from "ordinary" flu. I don't think 1000+ from covid is unacceptable.

[mrhill]

If the beer flue is so horrible that we were all going to die unless we distance and mask and play along with the "science toting" elected officials forcing our great country to near collapse, then why is the survivability 99%. Why am I still wearing a mask after inoculation? The risk group should have been locked down and the healthy should have kept the country running. Who had all the plexiglass ready to go so quickly and why are people believing a mask is some great force field. Thank you

[jim360]

davebro -- I meant 1000+ deaths per day.

bednobs -- well, even if so, it was still too early for a "not before" date if the present data was enough to postpone it.

[Sunk]

Covid has the potential to kill many millions of people if not dealt with properly. We have done a lot to mitigate its effect in the UK. But one wrong mistake could set us down the same path as India and Brazil where it was allowed to get out of control.
Just a little bit more patience should see us win this battle. Go too early and we get a third wave and we are back where we started again.

[ToraToraTora]

The problem is that the government have been conned by those that are loving this and want to prolong it. Clearly the vaccine is working and the number of deaths/hospital admissions is minimal. The number of cases is irrelevant, the point is that the vaccine is making the virus largely asymptomatic. The NHS is still in COVID only mode and as such there is a large backlog of other treatments building up. I don't know the figures but I would wager that thousands are dying from non COVID things but those figures are not headlining. In the mean time the economy is being trashed. This is madness. Still the jobsworths are happy they can boss us about for a few more weeks.

[Ellipsis]

Yep, the UK Government is simply thick and you know better.

[davebro]

Figures may be inaccurate but it is reported to date India has fewer that 300 deaths per million of population whereas many European countries have more 2000. Maybe we would lucky to be in India's position?

[margarettom]

I don’t know what you lot are moaning about. Apparently they are going to have a full crowd for the Wimbledon final. Wow!! That really makes up for 4 more weeks of pointless rules - not.

[Sunk]

History repeating itself?

Last June we eased lockdown but many warned it was too early and that it would lead to a second wave. By October the second wave arrived.

We are in exactly the same position as we were in October, after initially dipping the figures began to rise again, and then sharply rose again to peak in February.

The figures are rising again, to the same point as when lockdown 2 was imposed. We should postpone easing until we see how the summer pans out. The Government should not be naming another deadline, which it will inevitably miss again.

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