We need to be very clear about the consequences.
With a transmission rate of 2.5, the number of cases was initially doubling every 2-3 days. Had we delayed lockdown by a week the number of deaths would likely have been 4 times as high - at its peak around 4000, rather than about a 1000 deaths actually reported. We would have been fortunate if the Nightingale hospitals could have coped.
The impact of a let it rip policy would have had 10-30000 a day dying. NHS completely and utterly overwhelmed. Even simple support to the seriously ill (not just CV-19) would be unavailable. We still don't have reliable figures on mortality - but whatever it is would be made much worse by an NHS melt down.
There would be little alternative to mass burials due to the number of deaths. Within 3-5 months it would all be over - survivors could get back to life as normal - whatever that is.
This scenario is politically suicidal and morally bankrupt. The other extreme of long term lockdown is, as noted, a non-starter as people will simply start to ignore the rules - the government realise that public tolerance was likely to be limited at the outset. In the UK we govern and police based mainly on public consent. Police states behave differently.
The only realistic option is a gradual relaxation of lockdown to limit economic damage and avoid over-stretching the NHS capacity. Test track and trace is part of the strategy - the relaxation of rules can be optimised only if swift corrective action is possible. The alternative is a slower (safer??) process which is more economically damaging.
I am late 60's and in a vulnerable group. Personally I detest the idea of ever having to make use of one of gods waiting rooms - life is for living not a slow death. So I suspect for the older and vulnerable, rather than impose rules it should be left to the individual to decide and manage their own level of risk. Although I hope it is not the case, when I am lying in hospital gasping for a breath I would rather remember the pint in a pub garden 2 weeks earlier, than regret never having had it at all.
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