I totally sympathise with your friends and the members of your family; "Any man's death diminishes me".
Just to offer an alternative perspective.
My pension pot has dropped by a quarter; I don't know if I will need to go back to work or not. However, I've been out of the labour market so long that the best that I could hope for is a greeter at ASDA. My wife is in a similar state.
About half the shops in local towns are now boarded up.
For the first four months of lockdown I suffered from toothache. Not bad enough for the dentists to open for me. "Buy painkillers".
It finally settled down just in time for another tooth to break off in my mouth. The dentists were open by then. "The NHS won't fix that till phase 4; I don't know when that will be". But magically it could be addressed privately - for £450.
My wife suffers from B12 deficiency due to an inability to absorb it orally. The consequences of B12 deficiency can be serious and irreversible. When the time for her injection came round she was denied one and offered tablets. When she explained the situation on the phone, the nurse said to her (and I **** you not) "Well what do you want me to do about it". But again it could be addressed privately for £250.
One of our friends had her diabetes pain intervention cancelled. She was subsequently housebound on high strength morphine for months.
My mother is house bound; not due to ill health but because there is literally nothing to do outside. I have had to talk here down from a literal state of hysteria three times now. When she's not actually hysterical then she's on the edge. She's also reached a state where she refuses to speak to my wife.
I could go on. For pages.
This is all down to the lockdown. The lockdown can't go on indefinitely. It's not fair to say that people don't care. Even the WHO says that lockdowns should only be a short term measure until better measures can be brought in. Better measures. That's what 'living with the virus' means. But the only better measures that the politicians can think of is to put numbers on the levels.
Just to offer an alternative perspective.
My pension pot has dropped by a quarter; I don't know if I will need to go back to work or not. However, I've been out of the labour market so long that the best that I could hope for is a greeter at ASDA. My wife is in a similar state.
About half the shops in local towns are now boarded up.
For the first four months of lockdown I suffered from toothache. Not bad enough for the dentists to open for me. "Buy painkillers".
It finally settled down just in time for another tooth to break off in my mouth. The dentists were open by then. "The NHS won't fix that till phase 4; I don't know when that will be". But magically it could be addressed privately - for £450.
My wife suffers from B12 deficiency due to an inability to absorb it orally. The consequences of B12 deficiency can be serious and irreversible. When the time for her injection came round she was denied one and offered tablets. When she explained the situation on the phone, the nurse said to her (and I **** you not) "Well what do you want me to do about it". But again it could be addressed privately for £250.
One of our friends had her diabetes pain intervention cancelled. She was subsequently housebound on high strength morphine for months.
My mother is house bound; not due to ill health but because there is literally nothing to do outside. I have had to talk here down from a literal state of hysteria three times now. When she's not actually hysterical then she's on the edge. She's also reached a state where she refuses to speak to my wife.
I could go on. For pages.
This is all down to the lockdown. The lockdown can't go on indefinitely. It's not fair to say that people don't care. Even the WHO says that lockdowns should only be a short term measure until better measures can be brought in. Better measures. That's what 'living with the virus' means. But the only better measures that the politicians can think of is to put numbers on the levels.