Originally posted by BigMackCam If
everyone takes proper social distancing, self-isolation and santiary precautions as advised - if
everyone takes their own and other folks' safety seriously and acts accordingly - then there's reason to be hopeful the overall impact on public health and risks to us all can be significantly reduced. If the rate of spread can be retarded, our healthcare systems should be able to cope without maxing out, and once effective treatments and vaccines are identified and/or synthesized, we can start to deal with virus head-on.
Please, take precautions and stay safe. Good luck and good health to you and your family
As much as I wholeheartedly agree, it's unfortunately not quite
that simple. The NHS* has the potential to be a vicious cycle, with staff contracting the disease so becoming patients, therefore requiring more staff who may become infected. Similarly, key industries unfortunately can't slow down right now so are in contact with peers in that regard, or public in the case of delivery drivers etc.
*plus the 500k volunteers here in the UK (albeit that's due to strain on the service).
My significant other falls into the former category of NHS, despite being asthmatic (I've suggested she chats to her seniors given she takes a daily pump) and I fall into the latter (chemist for company producing military/survival equipment including, more recently, hand sanitisers).
I'd love for there to be a total 1-month effective lockdown to reduce spread as much as is possible, but my H&S training tells me that it's not 'reasonably practicable' unfortunately.
That's also not to say that I don't socially distance wherever possible. Whether it's taking the dogs for the one walk I'm allowed or keeping my distance from people in work wherever possible. It's the people who flocked to the nearby beaches, town and promenade who get my goat! It's not the summer holidays after all.