In the eyes of the Media, speaking up against the continuation of the COVID-19 Lockdown is far from being a popular choice. But it has to be done.
NOTHING THE GOVERNMENT CAN DO IS GOING TO STOP PEOPLE DYING FROM CORONAVIRUS until there is a tried, tested and working Vaccine that has been given to EVERYONE.
This is not going to happen in 3 weeks or even 3 months. If we are lucky, a Vaccine MIGHT be ready for production in 6 Months. Estimates suggest it’s likely that a Vaccine will NOT be ready for use for 18 Months.
18 Months is too long for the Country to be held at a standstill during a full Lockdown.
We already know that:
Job Losses
Lay offs
Businesses closures
Debt
Depression
Mental Health Issues
Domestic Violence
Abuse & Safeguarding Issues
Bankruptcies
Administrations
Suicides
– are ALL rising as a direct result of the UK being in Lockdown.
This so far hidden crisis being played out behind closed doors in people’s kitchens and lounges across the Country today will very soon break out into the open.
It’s going to hurt ALL of us. And its going to hurt all of us a lot more as a Country than Coronavirus ever could.
The Government needs to prioritise the effects of COVID-19 on Everyone. Not just those who are critically ill or at risk of losing their life to this horrid illness.
It is vital that the Government ensures that those left alive are left with lives to live.
The only way this growing crisis can be stopped and the damage limited to the minimum that it can be is to begin to END THE LOCKDOWN NOW.
Please SIGN and then SHARE the Petition to END THE LOCKDOWN NOW on Change.org so that we can make our Politicians aware that its time to respond to the COVID-19 Crisis by making choices that are helpful for EVERYONE and not just some.
In 2008, politicians turned to economists and Economic Theory to solve the Financial Crisis because they believed the solution and remedy could only be solved by thinking about the problem in economic terms.
It didn’t turn out well. The UK bailed out the banks and financial sector on terms that quickly returned them to profit and bonuses. Whilst the Public were saddled with the continuing devaluation of money and a National Debt that will never be repaid under the same thinking.
The point was painfully made that economists think about any problem in economic terms. Or rather, doing what’s good for the economists.
In that specific case – it was all about what was good for the bankers first.
Whilst very different, the principles of the response to the Covid Pandemic are exactly the same and the Government has surrendered its strategic thinking to medical specialists and scientists when the Crisis itself and the response to it reach far beyond being just a medical matter.
Nobody could or should seriously attempt to suggest that the medical and scientific response to the Covid Pandemic shouldn’t be a priority. But the real priority of the response should be the prioritisation of ALL the different priorities that exist, collectively. Thereby ensuring that ALL of the British People are being considered fully and appropriately within that response, so that it is not just those who are or will be critically ill – which is a medical priority made the general priority, by default choice.
The Pandemic has become much more than being simply about fighting Covid itself. The growing problem that is going to affect everyone was caused because the Government appointed a medical piper to play us through what only began as a medical problem and they have inevitably been playing everyone a medical tune ever since.
Meanwhile:
Job Losses
Lay offs
Businesses closures
Debt
Depression
Mental Health Issues
Domestic Violence
Bankruptcies
Administrations
Suicides
– are all on the rise since the Lockdown began.
The impact on people, the economy and our Country as a whole is going to come at an immeasurable price.
This leap into a black hole by a few people with a name and title has to be stopped right now. Before its too late for us all.
Every part of the response to the Covid Pandemic has to be appropriate, proportionate and above all, made in consideration of the full impact upon us all.
This cannot be achieved if the only direction and advice followed comes from those who are looking at a problem affecting us all through a lens which only reflects their own specialism and cause.
It’s time to end the Lockdown, let everyone get back to living their lives and tackle this horrible Virus in a more considered and considerate way.
13 days into this brave new world and you can see that the novelty of the Lockdown and social distancing is beginning to wear thin.
A week from now, the news that 3 weeks of this was just the start of something much longer will be beginning to sink in.
But by then the pain will already be less about being kept inside our homes. It will be more about how people can continue to live and the question of how businesses will survive an indefinite Lockdown, just so they can get to the end of the Lockdown and still exist.
There is a disaster unfolding behind the media coverage and focus on equipping and preparing the NHS to treat a significant number of critical-case Covid Patients.
This real crisis is much bigger than many could comprehend, even if it was something that they could now visibly see.
Already there are businesses that have closed for the Lockdown that will never reopen. Others will close as the Lockdown continues. Some will survive until it is clear they cannot service a growing mountain of debt that accumulates daily, simply because the Government did not think through the implications of what a full Lockdown would mean on so much of our business sector and industry.
The Government has simply failed to comprehend how businesses and the people who own and run them need to be supported so that they will be there to provide services, products and employment for the many others who will need them when the time comes to restart.
Yet to hear the media and read the non-stop commentary wherever you look, the only game in town is ‘Protecting the NHS’.
Don’t get me wrong, we need the NHS to be fully equipped and ready to do the best for people that it can. But with Field Hospitals like the London Nightingale now open and others around the Country clearly earmarked for opening very soon, the political focus needs to move swiftly to the unseen crisis that is beginning to evolve across our Country.
The hard truth is that deaths that will sooner or later become inevitable anyway should really be a lower level priority against what is now set to become a very extensive list of problems that people attempting to live their lives are having to or soon will have to face.
It feels very unpalatable to even think, let alone say that you have to accept and be prepared to let some people die, so that the majority of others can continue to live.
The problem is that it is also the truth.
The Government has backed itself into a corner by implementing the Lockdown. There is no risk-free way out.
Using tools such as Immunity Certificates would create massive social problems – if the Government then used the force that would be necessary to keep people who haven’t had Covid at home – which is what they would have to do if they let those who have had it are able to have lives and everyone else does everything they can to catch it, so they can do the same too.
Whilst no politician wants to hear it said of them that they deliberately let people die when some of them could be saved, the harsh reality is that if we are to get out of this Crisis and the Covid Pandemic in the best shape possible, we must all accept that in the world we live in, a life isn’t life if a person cannot actually live.
It is difficult for some to understand this, because in the form of the personal tragedies that we see rolled out continually on TV and the stories of he NHS in crisis that we hear daily, Covid has given the intrinsic fear of death that we all share both a face and a name. It has taken on a very visual and highly emotive form.
The reality is that people are going to die from Covid with or without the Lockdown and it would be much healthier for people, the whole Country and our economy if the Lockdown was ended and we got life restarted as quickly as possible and then dealt with each case of Covid and its respective knock-on effects as we go along.
The genuinely vulnerable members of our society who are likely to be most at risk will continue to be at the same level of risk until a vaccine has been identified, tested and administered to them.
The time that it would take as a minimum to vaccinate everyone – given what will be a worldwide demand – will simply be too long for any civilized Country to wait for whilst keeping a shutdown in place.
Our high-profile Politicians like to talk up the Crisis as if it is like fighting a war. In the Second World War when Campaigns such as Operation Overlord and the D-Day Landings were planned, Prime Ministers, Presidents and the advising Generals around them literally worked out how many lives they would have to sacrifice on the battlefield to get the job done, so that the wider populations of their Countries and the World itself would win the fight against oppression in the end.
Such responsibility and leadership in strategic thinking is required of the leaders that we have now. The Politicians have talked the talk to win power. Now they must walk the walk to enact that power and see this through.
But they didn’t, and this means that how the end of the Lockdown and the restart of life is managed must take into consideration where things are right now and where they will be rather than where they were before it started, because this whole situation is evolving each and every day.
It’s time for the Lockdown to end now. It’s time for life to restart.
There is no perfect way to plan the fight against Covid, or to put together a strategy for ending the Lockdown, letting life restart and managing cases of Covid either now or thereafter. There are simply too many unknowns and variables within what is a live and evolving Crisis for that ever to be the way.
However, we can ask that the Politicians do their best, and in terms of ending the Lockdown now and getting life back on track, these are some of the key things that they can now do.
Notification of Coronavirus Symptoms
Perhaps the key factor or source of information that the Government needs going forward, is clear and decisive record of who has experienced Covid Symptoms – even if no medical intervention has been involved.
Upon first experiencing Covid Symptoms, individuals should be able to Register using their individual identification data on the Government Portal.
This responsibility to register would become that of parents, carers and guardians for children and vulnerable people
Nobody should be able to claim Covid Sickness Benefit without having registered first.
In the first instance and until such time as it is confirmed whether Symptoms of Covid could be suffered more than once, individuals would be able to claim only once,
The data can then be used to distribute the Covid Antibody Test once it is universally available and thereby technically available to all
On completion of registration, the Government Portal should allocate a unique reference number for every individual to use to claim benefits such as Covid Sick Pay and payment holidays
The NHS
It will remain essential to keep resources flowing towards the NHS so that it can manage the critical stages of the Covid related illness that some people will inevitable suffer – just as they are now.
Field Hospitals, Intensive Care Units, Ventilator numbers and the recruitment rate of staff will have to continue to rise until the natural infection rate and the number of people it will effect critically at any particular time has been reached.
This will not be long once the restart has begun. But there is likely to be a period of time where it doesn’t look like the NHS can cope and numbers of people are dying who might have been saved, had more resources been in place.
‘Protect the NHS’ is the Trojan horse argument that led to the shutdown as the chosen way to attempt to manage demand in the first place. It’s where the Government went fundamentally wrong.
Local Trusts should set up Designated Reception Centres, separate to GP Surgeries and Hospital Reception areas used for other purposes
Local dedicated helplines should be provided to field calls from those with symptoms
Dedicated Ambulance provision should be put in place for Covid sufferers
The general emergency Ambulance fleet should be kept separate.
Serious consideration should be given to requiring benefits claimants to report for duty as healthcare assistants, with full pay, work and training options to be offered after a qualifying or probationary period.
The Restart itself
The way to lift the shutdown isn’t to try and overcomplicate things by using terms such as calling it ‘gradual’ or ‘taking things in steps’, or anything else that even hints at there being some form of managed delay.
Whilst we might all like to think that the world as we knew it before March could just be switched back on at 9am on Monday morning it won’t happen no matter what we do. The time it will take those businesses still operating to return to full operation will take a lot longer than it took them to shut down. That is before you take into consideration the natural trepidation that many people are going to have as a result of the negativity and scaremongering that has taken place on the part of the media.
Even now, barely a fortnight in to the Lockdown, things will have changed markedly and they will continue to do so each and every day until the new norm for life begins.
People and businesses are going to work differently, travel differently and think differently. So the resumption of participating in everyday life will take time under its own steam, without anyone or anything else being involved.
Social Distancing
Social distancing in areas where people are usually in close proximity will be a good measure to retain formally, even though people are likely to keep their distance for some time as it has already become an accepted part of life.
Even if social distancing plays no further active part in dealing with Covid – given that there are very recent suggestions that the Virus can remain active in air for up to three hours – it will help address any social awkwardness that will exist for some people once the Media’s negative messaging campaign is over and done.
Sick Pay
Everyone working who has unable to work because they have caught Covid should be able to rely on having Covid Sick Pay
The Sick Pay should last a calendar month from the date of registration
There should not be a laborious process of application involving claims for Universal Credit or applications via Jobcentres or the DWP.
The Covid sick pay should be claimed on behalf of employees by employers and paid as part of the monthly PAYE process
The self employed and/or contract workers should be able to claim their sick pay back as part of their next Annual Tax Return.
The reference number allocated at registration should be used by employers for PAYE purposes and on individual Tax Returns.
People
Fundamentally, it is essential that every member of the population is treated like an adult, trusted to do the right thing and given no excuse to do otherwise. To support everyone, the Government must ensure that all practical issues people may experience if and when they suffer with Covid has been mitigated against adequately and given added value as an incentive too.
Put simply, if there’s no way people can lose out, they will do the right thing.
Any individual, their parent, carer or guardian will register Covid Symptoms using the Government Portal
Upon registration, individuals should be required to immediately self-isolate and remain isolated for a minimum of 14 days
Upon experiencing escalating symptoms, individuals should report to local NHS designated reception centres or call designated helplines if transport or an ambulance is required
All domestic bills, rents, leases, loans, interest and debt repayments to stopped for a month as a ‘Payment Holiday’
Individuals to use the reference number provided when they registered with the Government Portal to confirm they are on a legitimate payment holiday with debtors or those they should normally pay.
A payment of approx £100 per week to be payable to every individual Registered in the ‘Covid Window’ for a period of four weeks to cover food and essentials
The Vulnerable
The vulnerable have to be allowed to make their own decision about the risk, about remaining in isolation, or returning to ‘normal life’. They should not be pressured to go either way.
Benefits Claimants without medical conditions and unemployed should be tasked with providing the support currently provided by volunteers.
For Business
Businesses of all sizes should be protected from the impact of the Lockdown for the period of time it will take things to return to or find the new normal, once the Lockdown has been lifted.
Where necessary support should be applied retrospectively to the 23rdof March 2020, if not the point in time before that when levels of business within marketplaces are recognised as having began to decline in response to the early stages of the Covid Pandemic.
All businesses should have a 3-6 months ‘payment holiday’ from rents, leases, mortgages, repayments, interest, debt
Heavy fines and/or jail terms should be immediately awarded by a District Judge without trial or appeal, to any Creditor, Company, Director or Partner thereof refusing to facilitate the ‘payment holiday’ and/or attempting to recover any related sums using other or additional debt devices or levying additional payments or raising prices relating to that relationship
Funerals
For the duration of the Covid Pandemic, the Government should intervene to ensure that the disposal of bodies is facilitated without delay, without price gouging or profiteering and is provided on the basis of a same-level, community service for all.
The Government should set a fixed, realistic cost for a ‘standard’ funeral with a transparent minimal fixed margin and no additional payments being made for anything not specified
The Government should pay the cost of ALL Funerals at the standard rate for the duration of the Covid Pandemic
Local Authorities should administer the allocation of care of the deceased and funerals to local undertakers on a take-it-in-turns basis
Local Authorities should administer payments to undertakers and make them immediately
All funerals should be provided on the same basis and not open to change or being ‘upgraded’ by additional payments from families etc
Funeral Insurance payouts to either be split with the cost of the standard funeral being returned to the Government and any outstanding balance returned to the family or estate, or simply paid out to the family or estate
The Media
Whilst free society needs a free press, the current approach, lack of ethical standards and reliance on dressing up subjective opinion as news requires that Government take a different approach and one that doesn’t play into the system as it is.
The forward briefing, advance copies of Government speeches and embargoed press releases need to stop.
Regulation needs to be introduced that requires news to be news, and for the mainstream media to promote the wider concept of the principle of charity in all things, rather than constantly looking for every opportunity to create negative spin.
Some of the ideas that the Government is coming up with are astounding. Not for their leadership. But for how shortsighted they are and how serious the problems are likely to be from the impact and consequences of taking these steps will create.
Nobody can argue that this is good time to be in Government. But the Politicians we have in these roles today found their way to having these responsibilities voluntarily and by choice.
As members of the Electorate, we should be able to rely upon and trust that ALL Politicians have the experience, motivation and outlook to make good decisions in a national crisis – without ever taking a second look.
However, awarding ‘immunity certificates’ to those who have tested positive for Coronavirus Antibodies, certifying them ‘immune’ and able to return to normal life and work, will simply create a two-tiered system of life for us all.
If people are CV+ive, then all well and good. But what about the people who are not. Do they stay at home indefinitely?
What about the Companies who employ them. Do they replace them with other people who are able to leave home to work?
If this system proposed by the Health Secretary were actually manageable, all it would do is create different social castes. It would be little more than the creation of yet another divide between us, but this time worse – because it will have been created by the Government – and by choice.
The reality is that ‘immunity certification’ isn’t manageable.
If people are faced with the choice of being stuck at home or going out to socialise, shop and of course work, Coronavirus Parties or self-infection will become an immediate majority choice.
Beyond the effort to get the Field Hospitals up and running, the Government is failing spectacularly at every other Coronavirus Crisis-related choice.
We are being set up for a fall over talk of Tests for Coronavirus and tokenism like ‘Immunity Certificates’ being the way that the Shutdown will be lifted.
But this is not the way that normality – if that’s what we are actually going to ‘return to’ – is going to be ‘restored’.
Testing is not going to help us all return to normality at the same time or collectively as one – even if it could be rolled out and all 60 Million or more of us could be tested and have the results come back on the same day.
If we were all required to test CV+ive for antibodies before we could come out of shutdown, lockdown, isolation or call it what you like, at a rate of 100,000 tests per day, it would be over 600 days before everyone in this Country knows if they have had Coronavirus, has Coronavirus OR will be expected to stay at home and wait.
This approach simply isn’t sustainable for us personally, as communities, as industries, as an economy or as a Nation and Country as one.
The Shutdown needs to end now and then we have to take what happens as it comes.
In the eyes of the Media, speaking up against the continuation of the COVID-19 Lockdown is far from being a popular choice. But it has to be done.
13 days into this brave new world and you can see that the novelty of the Lockdown and social distancing is beginning to wear thin.
Adam Tugwell 