When will you start back working following the lockdown

[Simon47]

I do not think there is any clear and unambiguous analysis of the 30k deaths.

There are people talking about the number of excess deaths - i.e. the difference between numbers dying now, and what the normal range of deaths would be expected to be for the time of year. Last number I read was something in the order of 10k excess so far.
But yes, it's "really complicated" (for one thing, the normal range is quite wide over a number of years) - and we won't know for quite a while what the reality is. How many of those dying now would have died in the near future anyway ? And if the answer to that is "quite a few", what is "near future" ?
We'll only know the answers in a few years time, when we can retrospectively look at the figures and see if we get a dip in the death rate later on, and how deep and long lasting it is.

 

[Midwest]

I agree the figures quoting the cause of death may not be 100% correct. And we may never know the true figures, but there may have been some, whose cause of death might have been COViD19, but cause of death was they underlying health issues, it’s not recorded as such. Not everyone can have a post-mortem.

But you have to accept we are in the middle of a pandemic, certain powers, however disturbing some feel, are necessary to fight the virus.

One of my colleagues the other day, commented how very quiet she noticed the roads when travelling to work, early on in the lockdown. Like a Xmas day. Now she times me it’s almost back to normal, just without the normal queues. What’s changed?

People are deciding it doesn’t affect them, and are not following the guidance. That’s why we need legislation, and someone to enforce it.
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I’ve seen Sweden put up as model comparison to the UK measures. But we have different way of life, culture and population to offer a comparison; as this disease (I’ve read) is a disease of crowded areas – New York is rather different from Reykjavik.

You might wish to compare Sweden’s death rate per million with Norway, who have similar measures, 263 v 39 (statista) and ask why such different figures. Population you might say. Then compare with the US, 206.

I don’t think the true accounting figures will come out for years, and who had the best measures, both medically and economically.

 

[Baddegg]

I’d say the problem is not so much the measures/laws/acts call em what you will, that the government has introduced but how certain people interpret and enforce them with little or no course of complaint for the poor sod that’s had they shopping searched or been interrogated for, as they see it, going about they business in a safe manner (most people in this country are not idiots)....it’s hard to believe someone that tells you do as I say not as I do, politicians are happy to travel to second homes and visit families (a quick “sorry” I’m the newspaper and all is forgiven for them is how they see it) there is an ingrained distrust of politicians and authority figures within this country (and long may it continue!)
I’ve said before this lockdown is purely about not exposing the NHS to crippling numbers of patients and exposing the sorry state of the nhs after generations of mismanagement and under funding the government doesn’t particularly care who lives or dies if they did they wouldn’t have thrown the self employed under the bus with a minimum three month wait for money, they know/knew most people would have to carry on working but that’s fine as the nhs would cope, every death is a tragedy but with regards figures I’d doubt even if anyone knew we’d know the truth.....politicians lie on a daily basis and feel as long as they don’t get caught it’s ok, and the media only want to sell advertising so again only print what sells.....I was speaking to a customer yesterday (a civil servant is all I can say) and they are running simulations to see how long the population will deal with this situation, in the long term I get the impression it’s more to do with how the government can keep some of its new found powers......they are also involved in a program dealing with a which point do people say, this isn’t a life and just take the risk.....
Whilst I’m not arguing there is a global pandemic here,I was in chichester doing a job for a doctor last week and you wouldn’t know there was a “lockdown” in place and as far as I’m aware (her words not mine) there’s not a single case over there, makes you think....if a politician told me it was raining I’d still look out the window! ?

 

[DPG]

No doubt some people will be saying that the app that the government have rolled out to monitor Covid spread is just a way for the government to track people and see what they are up to.

 

[Baddegg]

No doubt some people will be saying that the app that the government have rolled out to monitor Covid spread is just a way for the government to track people and see what they are up to.

I’m of the opinion that whilst initially it has been created for the right reasons by well meaning people there will always be those that will utilise it for more nefarious reasons........

 

[Midwest]

If it saves lives it’s worth. If the government want to keep track of my movements, there’re welcome. I’m not going anywhere at the moment

 

[NeilOrme]

Lockdown has been extended and it is possible it will be partially lifted in a few weeks. Jury is out on whether electricians are key workers unless it's emergency work etc but that's another argument.

If you are self employed then you can't avoid working forever. There are bills to pay and lifes to live.

I am rebooking jobs that were cancelled and have lots of car chargers to install from 6th May onwards. Looks like my holiday to South africa in June ain't happening so got 15 days to fill now with the backlog.
Rebooking other jobs that were delayed. Still managed to do quite a few during this period as the premises were otherwise empty. In all I have 3 1/2 weeks worth of work to reschedule. Only one customer cancelled completely due to being made redundant.

I appreciate the need to maintain social distance etc but with the right precautions such as PPE, keeping away from people and good hygiene then a lot of jobs can be done safely.

What are other peoples plans during this period and how will you decide to start back up?

On a positive note, my sister who is a planning officer in Bristol has said they have been inundated with planning applications over last month. They can't keep up.
They are predicting a boom in building related work based on that.
That's a positive sign for construction related trades. Coupled with the backlog of work I think things might bounce back a lot quicker than the doom brigade on the news and papers predict.
So time to get ready I say.

I am finding that customers don't want things done until it's over. Despite my usual salesmanship, they just won't get off the dime. I have over 40 installs for Tesla's Powerwall ready to go when the cloud lifts. Keeping my fingers crossed ...

 

[Sisyphus]

I never stopped working ~S~