We are having to limit our freedoms to save the NHS. The problem is Johnson and his party have made no effort to do so themselves over the last 10 years. To make it worse they increase the workload by not testing those NHS staff having to isolate unaware if they actually have the virus. This in addition to the lack of PPE and ventilators which also increases the stress for NHS staff. This suggests that the biggest threat is not the public but the Conservatives.
I note that the deputy medical director is not so practiced at lying like Johnson because she indicated that we could remain under restrictions for three to six months or even longer. The current three weeks is only a test to see its impact before they decide how longer to extend it. Johnson indicates that the three weeks were to access if the current limits could be reduced.
The fact he is also sending a letter to every household is not just only a waste of money but puts the Royal Mail staff at increased risk. He could just do one of his now presidential tv appearances to say what he would have put in the letter.
I know it means him combing his hair but it would save several millions in postage which could go on the missing equipment.

My theory is some people are so stupid and self-centred, it'll take an official letter from the PM to finally get through to them. I wonder if he'll be sending one to Johnson Snr after his defiant "I'll still go to the pub", despite the nation being advised not to the day before? How many more people like old Stan will be dismissing this as 'just some bug that's going round'?

Nail on head there King Street.
Everyone thinks that they know best and especially the older generation.

The more spritely ones value their independence above al else and dont want to be "confined to barracks".
There ought to be an advert showing a grandparent giving the virus to their Grand Children or something. I know this sounds to be in extremely bad taste but, they either dont understand or, choose not to understand the severity of the thing.
This really isn't about how it affects you or me etc, it's about the other people who we may come in to contact with or the people that we meet, may com into contact with that will spread the virus and some wont recover.

My Mum and Dad were quite blase about it until only recently. Offering to look after our 3 year old so I could get some work done at home, and inviting us all round for dinner! It wasn't until I explained the severity that they realised how bad an idea all that was.

It tickled me when I read this. We aren't in our 70's but mid to late 60's. My wife, who is a very intelligent person couldn't understand why none of ours are able to come round for Easter Sunday and to be fair, I had a good think about it.

Reckon as you get older, change of any kind is hard to take in, especially as regards family.

Our daughter and two lads patiently explain why but grandchildren and grandparents relationships don't do logic, it's just sheer emotion.

I’ve heard that in these times of National Emergency that Lyin Boris is going to order that all private company and stock market dividends are to be diverted into NHS funds to purchase PPE and ventilators.

Any objections?

We’re all in this together

My Mum signs every phone call off with "so, we don't when we're going to see you all, do we?", and I reply, "you do, in about 12 weeks".

One of the problems is that people struggle to deal with the concept of risk, when it comes to very rare events. And also people's complacency increases with time. So bad events come as a real shock, eg home destroyed by floods or being diagnosed with a critical illness, even though maybe you've known for years you lived in an area prone to floods or have had lifestyle factors (obesity/smoking/drinking) that predisposed you to higher risk. The longer people live with risk, the less they worry about it, so its a shock when something happens. When there's been a terrorist attack, people are nervous in train stations and stadiums and taking the tube for a few weeks, but then gradually forget about it.

With the risk of pandemic, we've been fortunate that some of the feared outbreaks in the past never materialised. SARS got contained in the far East. Avian flu didn't develop in to human-to-human transmission. Swine flu did hit us, but had a low fatality rate so was just a "bad flu year". Ebola got contained in Africa. So I guess it was easy to think when we started hearing about Covid-19 in China, that this was going to be SARS again, something that got contained after a few months and never impacted us. Nobody has been through a serious pandemic before as we haven't had anything on this scale since Spanish flu a century ago, so nobody had any fears lurking in the memory. I bet if Covid had come about say in the 1970s or 1980s, the older generation then would have been the ones who were taking no chances, after having memories of what happened with Spanish flu when they were young, and the "boomers" who would have been in their 30s or 40s would have been more dismissive then, just like they are now they are in their 70s or 80s.

Another thing that has made it harder to get the message across is the way politics has been run in recent years, with a "counter-intellectual" culture being encouraged where "experts" are dismissed as being part of some kind of establishment elite with an agenda to undermine Britain, and "the man on the street" knowing best. So when scientists and health professionals started saying this is a big deal, a lot of peoples default reaction was to say "what nonsense, you're not going to stop me going out for a pint".

I think most people - including the older generation - thought until a week or so ago, yes this is a new virus and I will probably get it but it will be a few days in bed then recover, just like getting a normal virus. If we had locked down earlier, most people would have thought this is a load of fuss over nothing and not really complied. The rising death count is probably making people realise that this is a real problem and so compliance will improve as people understand it is necessary.

trolling again....

It must be cheaper to test everybody than the cost to an already failing economy. We are already heading for a recession and after our sacrifice to save the NHS next we will have the austerity to save the failing economy made worse by our withdrawal from the EC.