“We need to get on with it” – Readers’ shared their views on the reported two-week October half-term lockdown

The vaccines minister had stated that a ‘fire break’ lockdown could be necessary but only if the booster jab program isn’t executed well enough. However this was later denied by the government who said that there were no plans for an October half-term lockdown but it did say that the option remains open if the NHS were to be overwhelmed.

We asked our readers what they thought and naturally people were not happy, here is a selection of responses to the story:

Tracy Dawson added some perspective with a pretty rational take; “I do think they will restrict before Christmas, deaths are 200 a day, they don't want NHS overun that's all, they not bothered about the deaths, people are going to die still, but it annoys me when people complain about masks and restrictions, don't comply then we get lockdowns again...when are you going to understand? It's here to stay and the more you take precautions yourself… less deaths… less lockdowns, it's that simple… and just think about vunerable/cancer/renal/immune suppressant/ they are gonna have to be careful forever! If I get a transplant if i get covid I will die it's a fact! So stop being selfish and just take responsibility.” This struck a chord with quite a few of our readers, who agreed with her take.

A straight to the point reply came from Simon Pidgeon who said, “Who will listen without furlough.”

Donna Parkin responded saying; “I’m sure they said the same thing this time last year”, and Dave Bott responded saying, “shame we didn't abide by the rules?”

One of the responses showcased a clearly frustrated tone but resonated with a number of our readers, John Crompton said; “Who’s actually going to listen anymore it’s all bull s**t all it will do is damage business.”

Elaine Ann Scarrott added her take, “Nope, its ridiculous, we need to get on with it.”

Chris Toyer wrote; “lol. If the government think anyone would take any notice then they’re totally deluded.” This received a number of approvals from our readers.

"The reason the hospitals are struggling with the imput of patients if because no one can see a doctor now. I rang up and was told go to A&E. Doctors are not taking appointments”, said Hazel Smith. Do any of our other readers have this issue with being able to see their local GP?

Julie Anne Stribley believes that the “Lockdowns are only necessary because our twit government made huge cuts to the NHS and we can't cope with the staff shortages and shut hospitals/services. What did we do before the cuts? We had less scary flu pandemics that killed more people than they are now, or were less of a problem because we had staff.” She clearly struck a chord here with 15 thumbs up, but not everyone agreed with her take.

However there are a (growing) number of people who seem to have had enough, Rebecca Loakes says that she “won't be paying any attention, I've been double jabbed and I really don't care what they say anymore, it's all a farce!”

Debra Jayne responded quite angrily, saying that “the government said no to this just yesterday stop scaremongering and do some positive reporting for a change”.

Some people did feel that being cautious is the best approach, as noted by Pat Sellars, who said “Yes if helps slow the virus down, we have winter to think about. Better then than [a] complete lock down.”

Sue Hutchinson simply responded by saying; “If it's got to be done, I will.”

Finally, Renars Simenovskis said; “I think this question need to be asked to small businesses who is struggling or who already went bust because of this nonsense. And stop saying about government help…that so called grant barely pays rent and don’t forget there is two rents if you have a shop unit or something like that.” That’s a good point Renars.

There were a number of comments regarding ‘scaremongering’, however it is important to note that this was being reported across multiple outlets and ultimately the government did not rule out a two-week circuit breaker, stating that it ‘remained an option if the NHS were to be overwhelmed. It is frustrating at times but these discussion topics are put out there as a means of gauging your thoughts on breaking news that is being reported either here or nationally.

Once again thank you all for your contributions, stay safe.