Is it really worth keeping everyone isolated?

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It's a question of balance. Ultimately when and if the vaccine becomes available and is effective.

Quarantines historically are used to prevent the spread of contagious (and not so contagious) diseases. Quarantines were imposed and enforced.

In America, and probably in most 1st world countries (I hope that isn’t an insulting term and if it is, I take it back) because our medical care has advanced to the point where few people alive today remember any pandemics or witnessed their effects, we don’t “get” how disastrous pandemics can be.

I don’t know how it is in other countries, but Americans tend to put individual freedom higher than community. This makes a quarantine more difficult to accept.

Focusing on how things might have gone better with different procedures is not much help, at least to me. I would spend my time trying to figure out how to do things differently that I can change.

That said, I know how easy it is to slip into a funk. I have some things I miss too, but I know that is a slippery slope and try to stay out of it.

My mum's survival is more important than anything else.

^same with my wifes. we isolate for her.

I cannot exactly relate with the question...


Especially not when in spite the supposedly one of the strictest quarantine, and overall willfulness to implement it.

Pandemic or not, there will still be deaths and ruin of livelihood around here.
The concept of loss and unaffordable vulnerability is just so normal, people might as well make fun of make the most of it as usual.


Personally, I'm basically surrounded by frontliners.
The whole house had to be strong AND careful.

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The exact situation does vary a lot depending on where you are and how your government has handled the pandemic. Locally, we've been lucky - the state government hard-locked the border against the wishes of the federal government (and at least one whiny billionaire), and our death rate is now zero and infection rate is nearly so.

[Everyone liked that.]

As a result, we're not locked down in any meaningful way at all. Life is pretty much the same as pre-pandemic life, with the exception of more people working from home, "social distancing" floor-stickers and posters in stores, and not being able to travel interstate or overseas. With a million square miles inside the border, people are exploring intra-state tourism and the economy's better than anywhere else in the country because businesses can operate pretty much as usual.

So if you're in a lockdown area, I guess it's a case of seeing if you can pressure some level of your government chain (city, state, federal) to address the issue better than they're doing, or look into moving elsewhere for the duration (which at this stage could be months to years), even if it means a short period of quarantine.

I live alone. Tthe highlight of my week is usually going to the grocery store and saying "Hi" to the checker. That's the extent of my human interaction these days. I have family nearby but they are keeping their distance. Over the last 5 months, I've had such debilitating depression that has brought me to the point of suicidal ideation at times. I really hate to sound like a self-absorbed prick, but if I had to choose between risking contracting COVID and staying mentally healthy and sane, I'd choose the latter without hesitation.
Not to sound insensitive, but the reality is most people are quarantined with families and don't have as difficult a time adjusting to the new lifestyle of being quarantined. I find it quite ironic that in order to keep us "safe", some of us have to be subject to prolonged conditions that make us wish we were not alive in the first place.

In my humble opinion (IMHO), a lockdown at this point makes very little sense. Vulnerable people should take extra precautions to prevent them for contracting the virus. I am elderly (71 years old) and even though I am in the vulnerable group, I am stretching the limits of a quarantine. But I take good precautions. For example I eat at sit-down restaurants, but I do not eat inside, instead I eat in their outdoor seating. If they don't have outdoor seating, I just refuse to eat at those restaurants.

In the U.S., the level of lockdown varies by location. And the level of lockdown is driven more by politics than actual science. So in the region where I live. Fine restaurants have been opened for a couple months now. The same with barbershops. I have been to the YMCA around 5 times since they opened. I enjoy swimming and feel that swimming is chlorinated water is fairly safe. They opened up movie theaters a week ago and so far I have watched 3 films. Strangely this is very safe. The movie theaters are mostly empty when I visit them. The death rate from the virus has dropped off dramatically. It is a little hard to say if this is due to better medical options and care or if it is the effect of summer since it is a seasonal virus. So life is about as close to normal as possible. Even the schools have reopened. It is being treated more like the influenza than the coronavirus. If a child gets sick, they stay home, get COVID tests, get well and return to school. Students are divided into small groups by the administration. They generally only associate with their small groups. They attend the same class together and eat together in the dining hall. If someone becomes infected, then the small group is alerted and they isolate themselves and are COVID tested.

Other parts of the country, such as California is in pure lockdown mode. There is no need for that. It is fear that is driving the lock down and the media is constantly stroking the fear. These lockdowns are affecting individuals in a host of negative ways.
* Many people are either laid off or have lost their jobs.
* Without their jobs, many are losing their independence. (Some are returning to live at home with their parents.)
* The lockdown is causing a large increase in mental health problems.
* The lockdown is causing many to slide into alcoholism and drug use.
* The lockdown is causing an increase in serious health problems. People who would normally seek medical attention are avoiding the doctors and hospitals. Meanwhile their medical conditions worsen and can become life threatening. Children are missing their vaccination shots.

If someone is missing family during lockdown: go on zoom etc. If they are too old for this or technology is hard for them for another reason: pick up the phone.

If someone is missing family and it isn't lockdown: go meet up, 2 metres apart, in their yard or garden.

If neither of you has a yard/garden: go for a walk. My dad does this with his friends.

The trouble isn't the elderly who have retired. The trouble is the emphasis on back to work and people who are in work but also in the vulnerable group. The expectation that you go back. The expectation that you socialise and 'help get the economy back on track' etc.

No. Lives come first.

It's different if someone is suicidal or it's because they're missing out on other things that keep them alive. But my mum was working fine from home.

They should at least guarantee that it will be treated like any other sick leave.

And I think it's different to just be in the age category like my granddad and my stepdad to being specifically told by a doctor 'if you get it, you will be hospitalised'.

It's politics which is getting in the way of the science.

Isolating people from the virus will create a "Mixer" effect.