I Know How To Stop The Pandemic And Restore Sanity In Two Easy Steps.

[dave50]

Stop all testing and everyone stop using the NHS track and trace app. Result equals end of the pandemic.

[bobbinwales]

Anyway we all want remaining restrictions lifted later this month unless theres real evidence serious cases or new variants....but whats that got to do with stopping testing and not counting cases which is madness

[jim360]

I understand my position better than you do. Even if my position is wrong, I'll thank you to attack what I actually think, rather than what you *think* I think.

[jim360]

//... except you're so often wrong. //

[citation needed]

[naomi24]

Brexit.

[naomi24]

I am attacking what you think - or at least what you say. Whether you actually think what you say is anyone's guess.

[jim360]

No, you aren't even attacking what I say, because I've never said or even intimated that I want the economy trashed. To whom are you even talking at this point? I swear sometimes you're only trying to convince yourself.

[naomi24]

I haven't suggested you said that - but that will be the result of continued restrictions - which, from, reading your posts is what you appear to be supporting. No?

[Ellipsis]

Long Covid, other after-effects, spawning grounds for new variants, requirement for boosters ... all reasons off the top of my head why the OP is a bad idea after all we've been through to get here, and would not equal the end of the pandemic.

[Zacs-Master]

Just what sector of industry would you like to see reopened, Naomi, because the only one I can think of who’s being restricted is Theatre and overseas Tourism? Every other sector seems to be ‘business as usual’.

[Peter Pedant]

Foo - let's do it ! yes?

sensibler and sensibler said Alice ( citation needed )

It is what Trump said as president ( I told them to starp testing ) and they havent had any deaths since ven - yes?

Jim it is wet and overcast here - is the tennis orf? and that accounts for the rash of these out-of-the-box threads

[Peter Pedant]

er sozza folks - lets stop doing it, foo
not concentrating, dubbl sozzaa

[Zacs-Master]

Out of the box threads (and off the wall cryptic answers spattered with meaningless dead languages) are the norm, PP. I’m surprised that established fact has escaped you!

[jim360]

The two measures that trash the economy are extreme lockdown, which we've seen is crippling even with Treasury support; and premature reopening, so that a disease that is not yet under control begins to spread again and kill people. The aim is to avoid both of these. That may require continued measures to reduce the risk of the disease spreading, yes, but I don't believe that such measures, properly-implemented and managed, will "trash" the economy. Or, if they do, then that really means that the present economic system is unsuitable and it's worth trying to redesign it so that the choice between livelihoods and lives is never so stark again.

[Sunk]

We had a similar debate last summer here

https://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Society-and-Culture/Question1706898.html

It is interesting to read jim360s comments then, and compare them with what we know happened subsequently.

[naomi24]

Jim, //Or, if they do, then that really means that the present economic system is unsuitable and it's worth trying to redesign it //

And so you end up there yet again. Your usual suggestion with no idea of what would be done or how it would be managed. Rather than airy fairy notions we need to deal realistically with the here and now - and that means getting the country, its businesses, its institutions and its people back on track - properly.

[Peter Pedant]

o god Jim it is quiet in Croatia
and so you decided to stir this box of frogs... bad puppy !

(and off the wall cryptic answers splattered with meaningless dead languages) - er they have meaning if you know them ( see Boris Johnson ) I just usually get them wrong - - I dont know everything you know !

[Peter Pedant]

// And so you end up there yet again. ......... on track - properly.//

o god and they accuse me of writing gormless stupid prose .....

[teacake44]

Jim and naomi are in the final again, this could go on until Sunday evening and end up with a penalty shoot out.

[dave50]

A young familys lives who have a mortgage and bills to pay who rely on employment are more important I'm afraid than 90 year old mrs miggins with dementia, trying to prolong her life for a couple more years. Harsh but true I'm afraid.

[New Judge]

//And, even if it is, is it still any reason to let the disease run rampant from now on//

The disease will run rampant unless everybody is kept away from everybody else – forever. It runs rampant here whenever people begin mixing; it is beginning to spread badly even in Australia where they have seemingly locked themselves away from the rest of the world for the past fifteen months. All locking down does is delays the spread. We’ve done that here. We’ve done it to protect the NHS (tick); to save lives (tick); and to buy time for a vaccine rollout (tick). We’ve done the lot.

For those interested in numbers, here’s something quite significant. The last time infections (7 day average) rose from 3,000 to 24,000 (i.e. 800%) was between 14th September and 13th November. On 14th September the number in hospital was 935. By 13th November this has increased to 15,394 – an increase of more than 15 fold. On 14th September the 7 day death average was 12. By 13th November that had increased to 404 – an increase of more than 32 fold. By contrast the latest 7 day infection rate has increased 8 fold since 27th May. On that day 870 people were in hospital. Last Wednesday (latest figures available) there were 1,795 (just over double). The seven day average of deaths on 27th May was 8. This has increased to 18 (1.25 fold).

The only conceivable reason to continue restrictions is “just in case.” “To be on the safe side.” For example:

- Are you so sure that this will definitely continue through the next few months, 10CS?

- What about Winter?

- -What if a new variant emerges that is resistant enough to vaccines that it breaks through the current protections?

Indeed. “What if…?” “What about?” “Are you sure?” What if an entirely new virus rears its head and the whole thing kicks off again? Well the country cannot continue like that. The NHS has already been overwhelmed – simply not by Covid patients, so that's alright then. Except there are now more than 5m people waiting for treatment. Many of them have either remained undiagnosed or untreated whilst the NHS prioritised its efforts on Covid and many of them either already have died or will do so prematurely. The economy has been overwhelmed. The government has borrowed more money to “fight” this virus than it did to fight WW2. Children’s education has been slaughtered. All this needs to stop. The NHS is there to treat the sick and injured, it is not there to be protected from having to do so. All restrictions need to end and the only people who should be tested henceforth are those displaying symptoms (solely to find out what they should be treated for). If not, the benefits of a successful vaccination programme (which are more than just preventing people becoming ill or dying) will be lost.