I do think the UK is sailing into some very unsettling territory. The daily death rate is too high and although there is a steady decline in cases, the problem is that the virus is running rampent across care homes.
Realistically, the UK needs to hold back until the death rate falls to considerable daily number. For example, getting the daily death rate below 100 a day for at least a fortnight before relaxing certain things. However, judging how the figures are showing - we could be waiting until July or August to get these daily figures right down. I do reckon that sadly, the death rate will pass 40,000 at some stage in coming weeks.
The problem is the economy DOES need to be protected. The hospitality industry (pubs & restaurants) will be completely shattered beyond repair and businesses working around health & fitness (gyms, health spa's) may never reopen.
As I've said mental health is now becoming an ever growing problem with people experiencing problems such as social isolation and alcohol dependancy has increased due to people spending alot of confinement drinking heavily. These types of issues will become just as much an epidemic as the virus itself.
I am finding that more people I speak to are now of the opinion - 'I would much rather carry on with life normally and run the risk of getting the virus than being left with no income or quality of life'. It does potentially feel that this attitude is a selfish one but more & more people are starting to get impatient about so much hardship being inflicted by a virus that is just like get flu symptoms for most people.
CJ
In an ideal world we would just sit back and wait for the infection & death rates to fall to a minimum. Sadly the world is not ideal, and as you point out we have no choice but to protect the economy, because it is central to protecting the essential services like the NHS as well as being essential for our collective wellbeing. The recent BBC report on how people are literally running out of money in Southern Italy should serve as a start warning to all those expecting and/or wanting a long lockdown. Speech is free, food, energy & housing most certainly is not.
What I am seeing within my own social networks & media feeds is a real polarisation into those that think a long lockdown is essential, and those that think its time to start moving again whilst getting the help to those that need it. Interestingly most of the people I know that support a long lockdown are also people that can either work from home, or who don't need to work, whereas those wanting to get things started are those that are now really starting to feel the strain. I count myself very much in the latter category, whilst I can work from home and do, my wife is self-employed and has self-furloughed for the last 7 weeks without any income. This is starting to bite, and although the government have promised help for self employed workers that is still very much a month and more away. And of course even if we do get some return on that, it doesn't compensate any loss of future business as a result of an economic downturn. This is the stark reality facing many businesses, some have already called it a day. The recent forecast of a 14% downturn in the economy was for me way more worrying than the virus.
More worrying still is how this polarisation is starting to cause arguments and divisions. There is definitely an element from some lockdown activists of righteousness and some are taking it upon themselves to "enforce" the lockdown message by shaming anyone they think is a lockdown cynic or breaching their interpretation of it. For example a couple of weeks ago I posted some pictures I had taken along the walk my wife and I did. One or two "friends" went straight into attack mode, calling us irresponsible for heading out into the countryside and putting the lives of nurses at risk. All this was despite the fact that the walk was along the river which is literally a 5 minute walk from our house, and that in the entire time we passed (at a distance) just 2 other couples. I seriously worry about the atmosphere when things do start to relax, are we going to see even more anger & angst as a nation tears itself apart because the government tried to shame us all into hiding in our homes?
I honestly fear for the future.