Lockdown effects now killing/harming more people than Covid

[VauxhallandI]

I read this but I have to question one thing, I see it reads that the BBC understands this and that in regards to this case but do we really think that the BBC would see that they the media have caused too or will this be a sweep it under a carpet?

It goes back to the whole media perspective of all this, they asked daily for more restrictions not less and continued to do so, any hint of opening up was led with criticism but yet the media continued to pour fuel onto the fire. So this is an example of a case of someone not been seen to due to restrictions but how many more are out there? Also why the change of heart for the BBC (or other media for that matter) to come across as if they care about us? The media should have gave 2 sides to this but chose the one they favoured so here we are, but I have no sympathy at with the media, I have sympathy to whats happened to this person and others but sorry nothing for the media let alone the NHS/governments - they all share the blame and also own the responsibility too (oh whats that saying - actions have consequences).

Oh yes it’s no surprise there isn’t a comments section on the article

 

[kez19]

Oh yes it’s no surprise there isn’t a comments section on the article

I’m guessing the BBC didn’t want opinions on that matter as it would open a can of worms but I did spot earlier in that link (unless changed), asked people to share their stories (I’m not on the BBC site often so I could be wrong on that part)

 

[Drogba11CFC]

Oh yes it’s no surprise there isn’t a comments section on the article

Of course there wouldn't be; from late 2020 to February this year the BBC were constantly having people come on to talk about how wonderful lockdowns were.

 

[Eyersey468]

Of course there wouldn't be; from late 2020 to February this year the BBC were constantly having people come on to talk about how wonderful lockdowns were.

I wonder how many of the people that said how wonderful lockdowns were are now complaining about the cost of living crisis we are having as a direct result of said lockdowns

 

[DustyBin]

I wonder how many of the people that said how wonderful lockdowns were are now complaining about the cost of living crisis we are having as a direct result of said lockdowns

It has nothing to do with lockdowns, nothing at all!

“It was already happening!”…“It’s because of the war in Ukraine!”… “It’s the evil Tories!”…

Haven’t you heard?

 

[35B]

It has nothing to do with lockdowns, nothing at all!

“It was already happening!”…“It’s because of the war in Ukraine!”… “It’s the evil Tories!”…

Haven’t you heard?

Most sane people would suggest that the current economic situation has to do with a number of factors, of which Covid is one.

Personally, I would then go beyond that to suggest that lockdowns were by no means the whole of the economic story, and that to assert that they are requires entirely discounting what they were intended to do, and the likely impacts of not implementing control measures*.

* - “lockdown” is a term used very broadly, and it is frequently hard to tell (especially from those opposed to them) what measures were and were not part of them.

 

[kristiang85]

Most sane people would suggest that the current economic situation has to do with a number of factors, of which Covid is one.

Personally, I would then go beyond that to suggest that lockdowns were by no means the whole of the economic story, and that to assert that they are requires entirely discounting what they were intended to do, and the likely impacts of not implementing control measures*.

* - “lockdown” is a term used very broadly, and it is frequently hard to tell (especially from those opposed to them) what measures were and were not part of them.

Without the extortionate costs of the actual lockdowns (and associated furloughs and loss of tax revenue from closed businesses), track & trace and the COVID fear (caused by government messaging & media) putting many people off engaging in economic activity, we would be in a much better position now than we are to weather the financial storms.

Obviously this goes for many Western countries too, not just us, but it is very clear that had COVID been treated with the usual pandemic strategy by the West as a whole, we wouldn't be staring yet another severe global financial crisis in the face.

If addition, there's quite a good chance the war wouldn't have happened as I suspect Putin took advantage of the West's political turmoil and distraction due to COVID to plan the invasion.

I would go as far to say that both direct and indirect consequences to the overreation to COVID are the cause of 80% of our problems right now.

 

[35B]

Without the extortionate costs of the actual lockdowns (and associated furloughs and loss of tax revenue from closed businesses), track & trace and the COVID fear (caused by government messaging & media) putting many people off engaging in economic activity, we would be in a much better position now than we are to weather the financial storms.

Obviously this goes for many Western countries too, not just us, but it is very clear that had COVID been treated with the usual pandemic strategy by the West as a whole, we wouldn't be staring yet another severe global financial crisis in the face.

If addition, there's quite a good chance the war wouldn't have happened as I suspect Putin took advantage of the West's political turmoil and distraction due to COVID to plan the invasion.

I would go as far to say that both direct and indirect consequences to the overreation to COVID are the cause of 80% of our problems right now.

That rests on some quite important assumptions about the economic effect of Covid without government interventions, assumes costs but no benefits from furlough, and denies the significance of the major peaks in Covid incidence in early 2020 and early 2021. It is also a stretch to argue that Putin's policy making in Ukraine was influence by Covid policy, when the incremental ratcheting of aggression had been going on for a long time.

 

[kristiang85]

That rests on some quite important assumptions about the economic effect of Covid without government interventions, assumes costs but no benefits from furlough, and denies the significance of the major peaks in Covid incidence in early 2020 and early 2021. It is also a stretch to argue that Putin's policy making in Ukraine was influence by Covid policy, when the incremental ratcheting of aggression had been going on for a long time.

I have seen no evidence that the peaks of 2020 and 2021 would have been much worse without the interventions.

And although Putin has had his sights on Ukraine for some time, I have no doubt that COVID-19 potentially accellerated the process. Western governments had too much of an eye on the pandemic whilst he racheted up the military pressure on Ukraine (and closed borders didn't help), plus the economic crisis caused by the COVID overreaction meant Putin probably thought the West would be more adverse to serious sanctions that potentially had mutual economic harm.

Edit: This was a paper in 2020 that predicted how COVID-19 might benefit Russia in Ukraine; it is a long but prescient read: https://euromaidanpress.com/2020/04...0AoSwn6hpoVsICmcQvsg-1664794168-0-gaNycGzNCNE.

This is only a small part of it, but relevant to this discussion. However, do read the whole thing if you're interested.

As the independence and sovereignty of Ukraine are hanging in the balance, in enters COVID-19. In the context of Hybrid War, which is described as “warfare that exists round-the-clock; not a set campaign; it is a way of life,” COVID-19 opened new vulnerabilities of Ukraine to be exploited.

In his excellent article “Three Horsemen of the Apocalypse,” Valeriy Pekar highlights Ukraine’s triple crisis (or what he describes at the “ideal storm“), namely medical, economic and political. He argues that while the medical crisis is clear to everyone, being an epidemic of global scale, “the economic crisis is worse for Ukraine than the medical one. [However,] the political crisis is worse than the economic and medical ones.” He argues that Ukraine cannot fight effectively on three fronts and stresses the need to uphold the fight for the integrity and sovereignty of the state. Failing to prioritize the [hybrid] war, Ukraine will be powerless to rebuild the economy and fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

• As recent as 24 March, The Institute for the Study of War concluded that “Russian President Vladimir Putin is using multiple ongoing crises, including the COVID-19 outbreak, to advance his strategic objectives in Ukraine without drawing attention from the West.”
• In the article “Controlled Chaos: How China and Russia will Use Coronavirus to Finally Win the Cold War,” Oleksandr Danylyuk explains how a “coordinated Sino-Russian engagement in using this crisis to change the global geopolitical landscape, weaken the United States, the European Union, and NATO, to enhance their own international influence” through military diplomacy, humanitarian support and coordinated information operations.

The abovementioned analyses are further highlighted by the Russian nationalist philosopher, Alexander Dugin and his article “Coronavirus and the horizons of a multipolar world: The geopolitical possibilities of epidemic.” He argues that “Russia has a historical chance to strengthen itself as an independent civilization which will see an increase in power as a result of the sharp decline of the West and its internal geopolitical fragmentation.” He underlines the message by ending the article with the following message: “What neither ideologies, nor wars, nor fierce economic battles, nor terror, nor religious movements have been able to do, has been accomplished by an invisible, yet deadly virus. It brought with it death, pain, horror, panic, sorrow… but also the future.”

How does this translate into the present-day environment, where Russia is waging a war involving the parallel and synchronized use of both non-military and military means?

 

[Eyersey468]

Most sane people would suggest that the current economic situation has to do with a number of factors, of which Covid is one.

Personally, I would then go beyond that to suggest that lockdowns were by no means the whole of the economic story, and that to assert that they are requires entirely discounting what they were intended to do, and the likely impacts of not implementing control measures*.

* - “lockdown” is a term used very broadly, and it is frequently hard to tell (especially from those opposed to them) what measures were and were not part of them.

I accept and was not intending to suggest that the Covid measures are not the sole cause of the problems we are now facing and apologise if I gave that impression, however they are a direct contributor to them

 

[yorkie]

Loss and suffering at heart of Covid inquiry

Inquiry chair Baroness Hallett promises 'thorough and fair' review at first preliminary hearing.

www.bbc.co.uk

Those who have suffered will be at the heart of the Covid public inquiry, the chair of the inquiry has promised during the first preliminary hearing...

Unfortunately this is a very poorly written BBC article which again appears to be biased in the manner the BBC became infamous for during the pandemic.

But, more worryingly, this is not just a poor article but the whole inquiry itself seems flawed, as:

Groups representing bereaved relatives, government departments, the health secretary, the UK Health Security Agency and NHS England have all been appointed core participant status, alongside public health officials and ministers in the devolved nations.

Of course those groups are going to be advocating the measures which caused harm to the most people, such as lockdowns and other restrictions.

Once he virus became widespread and was clearly too fit ("transmissible") to contain, it was destined to be inevitable that everyone was (and still is) going to be exposed to Sars-CoV-2, multiple times in our lifetimes.

I do not trust the inquiry to be written with this clear and obvious fact in mind.

I do not trust the inquiry to properly address the awful impact on mental health, children's education, peoples livelihoods and much more. Of course the inquiry will dip into those things but I fear it will just pay lip service to the issues that affect most ordinary people; if it was going to properly address these issues it would not be granting "core participant" status to individuals and groups which are generally speaking likely to argue in favour of longer, harsher lockdowns.

I want the enquiry to put young people at the forefront of this inquiry as they are those whose needs were most disregarded from start to finish and they are going to have to live with the effects of lockdowns and other measures the longest. Of course, there is no chance of that happening.

I also want to see more in the way of comparisons with countries that either kept schools open or did not enforce lockdowns (or both).

This inquiry must not be hijacked by those who demand tougher restrictions; that would not be acceptable at all.

I hope my fears are unfounded but I am not optimistic.

 

[Eyersey468]

I don't trust the inquiry to properly address the impact on children's education, people's mental health, livelihoods etc etc either.

 

[Bikeman78]

I also want to see more in the way of comparisons with countries that either kept schools open or did not enforce lockdowns (or both).

This inquiry must not be hijacked by those who demand tougher restrictions; that would not be acceptable at all.

I hope my fears are unfounded but I am not optimistic.

They have homed in on the death of an 87 year old lady so it doesn't bode well. I suspect that any future pandemic will have an even more hysterical response.

Talking of other countries, I see that the world didn't end in Sweden after all. Remember the idiot Ferguson predicted 50,000 deaths because they didn't lockdown? Current total two years later is 20,225. I am confident that Covid deaths in Sweden won't get to 50,000 in my lifetime.

 

[Eyersey468]

They have homed in on the death of an 87 year old lady so it doesn't bode well. I suspect that any future pandemic will have an even more hysterical response.

Talking of other countries, I see that the world didn't end in Sweden after all. Remember the idiot Ferguson predicted 50,000 deaths because they didn't lockdown? Current total two years later is 20,225. I am confident that Covid deaths in Sweden won't get to 50,000 in my lifetime.

I agree it doesn't bode well. Does anyone know what criteria Sweden are using to count Covid deaths out of interest?

 

[MikeWM]

As I said over 18 months ago:

https://www.railforums.co.uk/thread...ayor-candidate-and-covid.215331/#post-5048283

At some point there will be an enquiry into the government handling of Covid. The result seems inevitable to me - it will report that lockdown was too late and should have happened earlier as a 'precautionary measure'.

We will then be on course for locking down multiple times as the default, every decade, for every new nasty-looking virus that emerges.

Nothing so far has persuaded me that this 'inquiry' will be anything different than I expected back then.

 

[Bikeman78]

As I said over 18 months ago:

https://www.railforums.co.uk/thread...ayor-candidate-and-covid.215331/#post-5048283


Nothing so far has persuaded me that this 'inquiry' will be anything different than I expected back then.

100% agree. I'm currently watching "This England" on Sky which, for those that haven't seen it, focuses on Boris and the government in the early weeks of the pandemic. For each date it gives the number of reported cases and the estimated number of actual cases.

To have any meaningful impact, we would have had to lockdown at the beginning of March. After that it was pretty much pointless. Even Chris Whitty pointed out that lockdown just pushed the problem down the road. As soon as you unlock, cases go up again.

If you look at Ferguson's numbers, he predicted 50,000 deaths in Sweden. Reality is 20,000 or 40% of the estimate. In the UK he estimated 500,000 but the real number is 207,000, so also 40%. On the face of it, lockdown, and all the petty rules that followed, achieved very little.

They estimated that closing schools would reduce Covid ICU admissions by a mere 5% but they still went ahead and did it.

I don't know what the enquiry will achieve or what the bereaved hope it will achieve. Sadly viruses will kill people and I don't think the next new one will be much different.

 

[MikeWM]

100% agree. I'm currently watching "This England" on Sky which, for those that haven't seen it, focuses on Boris and the government in the early weeks of the pandemic. For each date it gives the number of reported cases and the estimated number of actual cases.

I found it incredibly irritating to live through at the time, I don't really feel up to going through it all again as 'entertainment'!

That said, we do urgently need proper scrutiny of the events of March 2020, in particular the weekend of the 14th-15th March when the government completely changed course from a sensible approach to a totally unprecedented and dangerous one. That's what we need the inquiry to do, but I strongly suspect it won't.

I don't know what the enquiry will achieve or what the bereaved hope it will achieve. Sadly viruses will kill people and I don't think the next new one will be much different.

I suspect a reasonable proportion of the bereaved are looking to allocate blame somewhere, rather than accept that sometimes unfortunate things happen. Unfortunately, as I've said many times over the last few years, this expectation that *all* bad things can be 'blamed' on someone or something, and that they could have been avoided somehow if things had been done differently, is at the root of much that is wrong with our society right now. As you say, 'sadly viruses kill people', but it seems much of the population can't cope with that idea anymore.

 

[yorkie]

100% agree. I'm currently watching "This England" on Sky which, for those that haven't seen it, focuses on Boris and the government in the early weeks of the pandemic. For each date it gives the number of reported cases and the estimated number of actual cases.

To have any meaningful impact, we would have had to lockdown at the beginning of March. After that it was pretty much pointless. Even Chris Whitty pointed out that lockdown just pushed the problem down the road. As soon as you unlock, cases go up again.

Their argument was that if you lock down early enough the virus won't become rampant. But that only works if you keep locking down; as you can cases will rise once you unlock.

They could in theory argue for an early lockdown until a vaccine was rolled out to all vulnerable groups but that would have lasted a year.

Also the first lockdown was really effective because 1) the virus was less fit ("transmissible") at that time, and 2) people took it really seriously and 'lockdown fatigue ' hadn't yet kicked in.

People will be arguing that we should have suppressed the virus for that year but they are in cloud cuckoo land if they think it would have been remotely viable.

I don't know what the enquiry will achieve or what the bereaved hope it will achieve. Sadly viruses will kill people and I don't think the next new one will be much different.

The lockdown brigade will be unhappy with or because it won't go far enough towards pandering towards their agenda

However it will still pander to them, I am sure, so I doubt I will be impressed with it.

I predict very few people, if anyone, will find it gives a balanced outcome.

However I hope to be proved wrong; I'm just very pessimistic based on the current information we have available regarding it.

 

[Eyersey468]

As I said over 18 months ago:

https://www.railforums.co.uk/thread...ayor-candidate-and-covid.215331/#post-5048283


Nothing so far has persuaded me that this 'inquiry' will be anything different than I expected back then.

That is my concern too. I would love to be proved wrong

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 5 Oct 2022 ==

That said, we do urgently need proper scrutiny of the events of March 2020, in particular the weekend of the 14th-15th March when the government completely changed course from a sensible approach to a totally unprecedented and dangerous one. That's what we need the inquiry to do, but I strongly suspect it won't.



I suspect a reasonable proportion of the bereaved are looking to allocate blame somewhere, rather than accept that sometimes unfortunate things happen. Unfortunately, as I've said many times over the last few years, this expectation that *all* bad things can be 'blamed' on someone or something, and that they could have been avoided somehow if things had been done differently, is at the root of much that is wrong with our society right now. As you say, 'sadly viruses kill people', but it seems much of the population can't cope with that idea anymore.

I agree with all of this

 

[Bikeman78]

I found it incredibly irritating to live through at the time, I don't really feel up to going through it all again as 'entertainment'!

That said, we do urgently need proper scrutiny of the events of March 2020, in particular the weekend of the 14th-15th March when the government completely changed course from a sensible approach to a totally unprecedented and dangerous one. That's what we need the inquiry to do, but I strongly suspect it won't.

I can see where you are coming from but I'm enjoying watching it. Even in March 2020 it was known that Covid posed little threat to the working age population and almost zero threat to children. This information was freely available on the internet. I did some research and, having established that my kids would be fine, I wasn't worried at all. I took my then three year old son out on the Midland Mainline one week before lockdown. I'm glad I did; we both had a good time.

I suspect a reasonable proportion of the bereaved are looking to allocate blame somewhere, rather than accept that sometimes unfortunate things happen. Unfortunately, as I've said many times over the last few years, this expectation that *all* bad things can be 'blamed' on someone or something, and that they could have been avoided somehow if things had been done differently, is at the root of much that is wrong with our society right now. As you say, 'sadly viruses kill people', but it seems much of the population can't cope with that idea anymore.

The lockdown was never aimed at saving individuals but saving the NHS and, to an extent, saving the face of the government. I only know one person who died of Covid. In the same period three other people I knew died of other causes. Two colleagues died suddenly and unexpectedly. The third will be well known to many people on this forum. He died at Cardiff Central in May last year doing what he loved best; running for a train. None of those deaths are any less tragic than Covid deaths and they were all under 60 years old.

 

[MikeWM]

I can see where you are coming from but I'm enjoying watching it. Even in March 2020 it was known that Covid posed little threat to the working age population and almost zero threat to children. This information was freely available on the internet. I did some research and, having established that my kids would be fine, I wasn't worried at all. I took my then three year old son out on the Midland Mainline one week before lockdown. I'm glad I did; we both had a good time.

Oh, I agree entirely. My attitude originally was something like 'well, there's not much I can do about it, everyone is going to get this eventually, may as well get on with it'. As I've mentioned on here a few times, I started a 7-day rover on March 22nd 2020 though I only got two days use out of it before Johnson locked us all down.

 

[yorkie]

In order to ostensibly save the lives of generally older people, our society has caused harm, including in some cases loss of life, to younger people.

Charley-Ann Patterson was sent upsetting TikTok before taking her life

Charley-Ann Patterson, 12, was left visibly distressed by the video, her mother tells an inquest.

www.bbc.co.uk

...The inquest heard some messages were sent by pupils via laptops being used to work remotely after the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020...

...She added she believed Charley "felt very isolated" due to not being able to go to school. After then being allowed to attend two days per week, she was placed in a "bubble" with a pupil she was having issues with...

Admittedly this is an extreme case however the period of Covid lockdowns and restrictions was very damaging for many young people, though the extent to which damage was done was very variable. In some cases the children have recovered, but only because those who called for even longer lockdowns and even longer restrictions didn't get their way.

Even when schools returned in September 2020, much of the fun was taken out of schools for up to an entire year, and there was also a lengthy closure again in early 2021.

I personally know of young people who have been negatively affected by restrictions, so when any Covidian tries to justify these restrictions, I am well up for an argument with them. I have had people in the past call me "selfish" for calling for restrictions but the people who are selfish are those who called for restrictions.

That said, those who called for restrictions on young people who later realised the harm this caused and changed their minds have my respect for that.

The people I can't respect are those who insist that it was right to trash the lives of young people; those people are a disgrace and need to be challenged at any available opportunity.

The average age of a Covid death is around 83; those who were most at risk of harms from restrictions are young people.

Those who support restrictions are enemies of young people and I cannot forgive them unless they admit they were wrong.

 

[Sorcerer]

With mention of the negative impact lockdowns had on young people, I feel like sharing my own personal story on the matter. Pre-pandemic I was very active, going to the gym four times a week doing moderate exercise, and two days a week doing martial arts lessons. This allowed me to not only improve my fitness but it was my primary source of socialising with people. However when the pandemic struck things took a turn for the worse. My gym closed down for a few months due to the restrictions, and because of the already struggling finances my dojo was forced to close down permanently after already being closed for a months since the pandemic began taking off in the UK. As a result I was left mostly at home with my primary interactions with friends being on social media. Unfortunately because of this increased time the negatives effects of it began to take hold.

This wasn't helped by the fact that I lost two family members due to medical conditions that otherwise could've been treated had the government and NHS management of the pandemic not lead to them either having check-ups being delayed or them simply being put off going due to the fear surrounding Covid, especially since they were both of the at-risk group. As such I ended up personally ordering food a lot more than I usually would and spending more money on gaming until I almost cleaned myself out to cope with increasing issues with depression due to the increased isolation. As such I believe this eventually lead to an onset of diabetes which went weeks without treatment due to poor service by my local practice. It wasn't until it got to a point of ketoacidosis that they finally stopped with the phone calls and sent me to hospital for two days so I wouldn't slip into a coma and die.

I particularly remember when the vaccines were being rolled out in 2021 just before I started having the DKA that I was hesitant on getting it simply out of distrust for government after their disastrous policies. In the end though I did book my vaccines because it was objectively the best way of attaining necessary immunity that would allow us to live with the virus and end restrictions. So of course you could probably understand why I was so angry when even the mention of vaccine passports and further restrictions were in the news because it felt like I'd been cheated. Thankfully it never escalated beyond that point, but even now at the tail end I still find it hard to go back to the gym and have only just managed to start saving again. I don't blame anyone else for my actions because they were ultimately mine, but I genuinely believe the lockdowns were what kickstarted the whole thing.

That's just my story as one young person though. I can't imagine how much worse it could be for others, particularly those who may have been victims of cyberbullying who, due to school closures during the first lockdowns, likely had little to no escape from it because the only thing available to them was being online since many other activities were closed off to them. Others may have been in situations where the only socialisation or friends they had were at their local youth clubs which were likely closed during the initial lockdown. Maybe like me there were young people whose fitness declined because of gym closures. There could be a vast number of other stories from young people who got negatively affected by lockdowns and restrictions.

Ultimately, it was always going to be the younger generations who paid the heaviest price for lockdowns. Children and young students would have had extended periods of missed or limited education, career prospects were negatively affected due to the economic effects of the pandemic and subsequent responses, and because of the poor policy meant to protect those most at risk such as discharging patients to care homes without testing them, many will have even lost grandparents or older relatives due to Covid itself, or like me would've lost them for other reasons that could've otherwise been dealt with. It is genuinely disheartening when you think about it. The younger generations had to deal with restrictions against a virus that was mostly low risk to them, all in the name of helping the vulnerable which arguably was all for nothing because of us still having the highest death toll in Europe.

 

[Razorblades]

Your well-reasoned response is palpably from the heart; thank you for taking the effort to share these thoughts, it can't have been easy. You have my utmost respect. Good luck.

 

[Eyersey468]

In order to ostensibly save the lives of generally older people, our society has caused harm, including in some cases loss of life, to younger people.

Charley-Ann Patterson was sent upsetting TikTok before taking her life

Charley-Ann Patterson, 12, was left visibly distressed by the video, her mother tells an inquest.

www.bbc.co.uk

Admittedly this is an extreme case however the period of Covid lockdowns and restrictions was very damaging for many young people, though the extent to which damage was done was very variable. In some cases the children have recovered, but only because those who called for even longer lockdowns and even longer restrictions didn't get their way.

Even when schools returned in September 2020, much of the fun was taken out of schools for up to an entire year, and there was also a lengthy closure again in early 2021.

I personally know of young people who have been negatively affected by restrictions, so when any Covidian tries to justify these restrictions, I am well up for an argument with them. I have had people in the past call me "selfish" for calling for restrictions but the people who are selfish are those who called for restrictions.

That said, those who called for restrictions on young people who later realised the harm this caused and changed their minds have my respect for that.

The people I can't respect are those who insist that it was right to trash the lives of young people; those people are a disgrace and need to be challenged at any available opportunity.

The average age of a Covid death is around 83; those who were most at risk of harms from restrictions are young people.

Those who support restrictions are enemies of young people and I cannot forgive them unless they admit they were wrong.

Completely agree @yorkie , though to them only Covid mattered and to hell with the collateral damage.

 

[DustyBin]

Your well-reasoned response is palpably from the heart; thank you for taking the effort to share these thoughts, it can't have been easy. You have my utmost respect. Good luck.

I’ll second that. Thanks for posting @Sorcerer, I hope you can get your life back to where it was pre-lockdown.

 

[island]

Their argument was that if you lock down early enough the virus won't become rampant. But that only works if you keep locking down; as you can cases will rise once you unlock.

Indeed. China, Australia, New Zealand etc. provide ample evidence for this.

 

[yorkie]

With mention of the negative impact lockdowns had on young people, I feel like sharing my own personal story on the matter. Pre-pandemic I was very active, going to the gym four times a week doing moderate exercise, and two days a week doing martial arts lessons. This allowed me to not only improve my fitness but it was my primary source of socialising with people. However when the pandemic struck things took a turn for the worse. My gym closed down for a few months due to the restrictions, and because of the already struggling finances my dojo was forced to close down permanently after already being closed for a months since the pandemic began taking off in the UK. As a result I was left mostly at home with my primary interactions with friends being on social media. Unfortunately because of this increased time the negatives effects of it began to take hold.

This wasn't helped by the fact that I lost two family members due to medical conditions that otherwise could've been treated had the government and NHS management of the pandemic not lead to them either having check-ups being delayed or them simply being put off going due to the fear surrounding Covid, especially since they were both of the at-risk group. As such I ended up personally ordering food a lot more than I usually would and spending more money on gaming until I almost cleaned myself out to cope with increasing issues with depression due to the increased isolation. As such I believe this eventually lead to an onset of diabetes which went weeks without treatment due to poor service by my local practice. It wasn't until it got to a point of ketoacidosis that they finally stopped with the phone calls and sent me to hospital for two days so I wouldn't slip into a coma and die.

I particularly remember when the vaccines were being rolled out in 2021 just before I started having the DKA that I was hesitant on getting it simply out of distrust for government after their disastrous policies. In the end though I did book my vaccines because it was objectively the best way of attaining necessary immunity that would allow us to live with the virus and end restrictions. So of course you could probably understand why I was so angry when even the mention of vaccine passports and further restrictions were in the news because it felt like I'd been cheated. Thankfully it never escalated beyond that point, but even now at the tail end I still find it hard to go back to the gym and have only just managed to start saving again. I don't blame anyone else for my actions because they were ultimately mine, but I genuinely believe the lockdowns were what kickstarted the whole thing.

That's just my story as one young person though. I can't imagine how much worse it could be for others, particularly those who may have been victims of cyberbullying who, due to school closures during the first lockdowns, likely had little to no escape from it because the only thing available to them was being online since many other activities were closed off to them. Others may have been in situations where the only socialisation or friends they had were at their local youth clubs which were likely closed during the initial lockdown. Maybe like me there were young people whose fitness declined because of gym closures. There could be a vast number of other stories from young people who got negatively affected by lockdowns and restrictions.

Ultimately, it was always going to be the younger generations who paid the heaviest price for lockdowns. Children and young students would have had extended periods of missed or limited education, career prospects were negatively affected due to the economic effects of the pandemic and subsequent responses, and because of the poor policy meant to protect those most at risk such as discharging patients to care homes without testing them, many will have even lost grandparents or older relatives due to Covid itself, or like me would've lost them for other reasons that could've otherwise been dealt with. It is genuinely disheartening when you think about it. The younger generations had to deal with restrictions against a virus that was mostly low risk to them, all in the name of helping the vulnerable which arguably was all for nothing because of us still having the highest death toll in Europe.

Thanks for having the courage to post this; I feel it's important that experiences such as this get heard.

I hope the pandemic enquiry gives serious consideration to experiences of this nature, but what worries me is that the enquiry gives "core participant status" to others, but not to people such as yourself, which is absolutely ludicrous.

I am glad things are better for you now. I can't really imagine having to go through what you went through.

 

[Sorcerer]

I appreciate the kind words of support from you all in regards to my own personal story!

I hope others like it get more awareness as time goes on, because otherwise I fear that ignoring or simply not documenting the impact restrictions had on young people will lead to them being considered as potential options for plans to deal with future pandemics.

Hopefully by then the decision-makers in power will be of the generation who dealt with the impact of restrictions or who will at least understand them enough to take a more balanced approach.

Perhaps the one thing that I can take solace in though is that the pandemic response in this country proved how much Boris Johnson was woefully unfit for office, but even then that came at a cost of thousands of lives.

Whatever way you look at it, one cannot rationally argue that the restrictions didn't come with their own set of negative impacts, and hopefully that will be well remembered.

 

[greyman42]

Perhaps the one thing that I can take solace in though is that the pandemic response in this country proved how much Boris Johnson was woefully unfit for office, but even then that came at a cost of thousands of lives.

The worrying thing is that things would have been a lot worse had Labour been in power.