Coronavirus in the UK - news, lockdown and discussion

[mr steev]

The council are trying to encourage a voluntary lockdown here to try and avoid an (inevitable imo) official one

Voluntary lockdown measures for Wolverhampton after Covid cases surge again

People in Wolverhampton have been asked to follow new voluntary lockdown restrictions after a surge in the number of Covid-19 cases.

www.expressandstar.com

 

[cupid_stunt]

Assumed they will fined heavily at very least?

I hope so.

They can thank their lucky stars that they don't live on the Isle of Man, if you don't self-isolate there, it's off to prison you go.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

We had a hell of a spike in Worthing, after weeks of just 2 or 3 new cases a week, it shot up to 37 in the first 7 days of this month. The County Council said most the cases were linked, and they had been successful in contact tracing, the 7-day rolling average has started to drop again, and we are down to 2 cases a day, still 7 times more than in August.

I was in a zoom meeting earlier and found out what had happened, apparently three guys in their 20's returned from holiday and decided the self-isolation rule didn't apply to them, went and met some mates at a pub, which had to close for a deep clean, then went on to a house party, and general mixing in the community over several days, spreading it about.

Fucking cunts.

Facepalm at the idiots of course, but I'm still encouraged by the response as you describe it. A system working in this instance, and at council level by the sounds of it, which is the level at which most of this kind of heavy lifting needs to be done.

An example of the level at which the system can still work too I guess. Multiply the idiots by 10 or 20 and things get messy.

 

[frogwoman]

I'm not so sure. (Also any rules like this will have bits that seem to make no sense.) I think there's quite significant internal disagreements in the Tory party and the wider establishment about how to deal with the coming months and what we have now is a holding pattern until things change and then the balance of pressure will swing towards stricter measures,

The grouse shooting and stuff though

 

[brogdale]

Comes to something when the Daily Star goes with a 'politics' story on their front page*..



* usual shite greyed out

 

[Teaboy]

Daily Star has been doing that for a while. It's been a running theme.

 

[cupid_stunt]

Facepalm at the idiots of course, but I'm still encouraged by the response as you describe it. A system working in this instance, and at council level by the sounds of it, which is the level at which most of this kind of heavy lifting needs to be done.

An example of the level at which the system can still work too I guess. Multiply the idiots by 10 or 20 and things get messy.

Yeah, West Sussex County Council does seem to have done a good job, but as you knowledge, it's easy for them to focus on one outbreak in one borough, when cases across the county are very low.

 

[brogdale]

Daily Star has been doing that for a while. It's been a running theme.

Bow to your greater knowledge; haven't been in a newsagent since March.

 

[Teaboy]

Bow to your greater knowledge; haven't been in a newsagent since March.

I just read the round-up of the front pages each morning:

Newspaper headlines: Coronavirus testing 'circus' as Hancock says it may last weeks

The government's testing system faces criticism on many of Wednesday's front pages.

www.bbc.co.uk

Good to see The Times really focusing on the important stuff like poisoned Russian oligarchs and how much booze women should are shouldn't be allowed to drink.

 

[Buddy Bradley]

I just read the round-up of the front pages each morning:

Have they stopped doing that on the BBC Breakfast news now? Used to see it every morning, but I don't remember them mentioning the print media at all for months.

 

[editor]

Following Caerffili, Rhondda Cynon Taff is to go into lockdown:

A second county in Wales will go into lockdown because of the rate of coronavirus cases.

The 240,000 people living in Rhondda Cynon Taff will have restrictions imposed on their daily lives.

From 18:00 BST on Thursday, people will not be able to enter or leave the area without a reasonable excuse, such as travel for work or education.

All licensed pubs, bars and restaurants will have to shut at 23:00 every day, once the lockdown comes into effect.

Rules allowing people to meet others from their extended households indoors will be suspended in the county.

Coronavirus: Rhondda Cynon Taf to go into lockdown

No-one can leave or enter Rhondda Cynon Taf without reasonable excuse from Thursday evening.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[elbows]

Never mind invisible muggers, more like invisible marshals.

The widespread introduction of Covid marshals to towns and cities in England is "unlikely" and "almost impossible", some local authorities have said.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson suggested the marshals would enforce rules about social distancing, gathering in groups and wearing masks.

But a lack of detail has been criticised by council and health officials.

Questions about funding, recruitment and enforcement powers remain.

Local authorities "are best placed to determine the model of deployment and responsibilities of marshals in their areas" and "further details will be set out in due course", a government spokesman said.

Coronavirus: Marshals 'unlikely' in England, councils say

Introducing Covid marshals across England is "unlikely" and "almost impossible", some authorities say.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[frogwoman]

‘No muzzles allowed’: Chichester shop owner explains why he put up signs banning face mask-wearing customers

A shop owner in Chichester has put up signs saying customers wearing face masks will be banned from entering.

www.chichester.co.uk

 

[two sheds]

Next week: 'Chichester shop owner gets coronavirus and demands to be treated by NHS'

 

[StoneRoad]

‘No muzzles allowed’: Chichester shop owner explains why he put up signs banning face mask-wearing customers

A shop owner in Chichester has put up signs saying customers wearing face masks will be banned from entering.

www.chichester.co.uk

He's the that should be muzzled, or maybe charged with reckless endangerment or similar.

Add him to list of companies / places to boycott !

 

[Wilf]

I don't normally go with the 'thick/selfish twats' line when it comes to specific outbreaks, preferring to focus on the context created by our inept rulers. But in this case you do have to wonder, whilst still noting it was the government that allowed crowds into Doncaster Races:

South Wales outbreak no longer blamed on 'Doncaster races trip'

Cases in Rhondda Cynon Taff linked to club outing that ‘stopped at a series of pubs’

www.theguardian.com

Looks like the race meeting was forced to ban spectators after the first day:

Doncaster Racecourse told to stop spectators attending St Leger meeting

Doncaster Racecourse is told by local health officials to stop spectators attending its St Leger meeting after Wednesday's opening day.

www.bbc.co.uk

So, yeah, people make some bad decisions, leading to a spike in cases, but they do it in a shitty context create by Johnson et al.

 

[existentialist]

He's the that should be muzzled, or maybe charged with reckless endangerment or similar.

Add him to list of companies / places to boycott !

He's made himself very obvious. I expect a lot of people will be keeping an eye on mask wearing on his premises...

 

[editor]

‘No muzzles allowed’: Chichester shop owner explains why he put up signs banning face mask-wearing customers

A shop owner in Chichester has put up signs saying customers wearing face masks will be banned from entering.

www.chichester.co.uk

Here's the twat and the staff he's reckelessly endangering

 

[Artaxerxes]

1) and 4) are particularly fucking stupid

 

[Looby]

I drove past a house that had some sort of rant in an upstairs window. I just caught ‘Bill Gates’ but was busy driving. I’m going to go back with Mr Looby to check out the full glory and try and suss if they need to be on a list.

 

[Buddy Bradley]

People like the guy pictured do make it very difficult to not judge a book by its cover.

 

[crossthebreeze]

Local restrictions set to come into force across North East

[edited to put in correct article - third times the charm]
Local paper is reporting that a regional lockdown will take place in the North East from Friday - possibly going as far as banning any socialising with people outside your household even outdoors (though falling short of shutting businesses or schools).

 

[DaveCinzano]

Have they stopped doing that on the BBC Breakfast news now? Used to see it every morning, but I don't remember them mentioning the print media at all for months.

Himself formerly of this parish (the one who went undercover in the ALF for a tabloid TV show in the 90s) does that for the Beeb

 

[crossthebreeze]

Local restrictions set to come into force across North East

[edited to put in correct article - third times the charm]
Local paper is reporting that a regional lockdown will take place in the North East from Friday - possibly going as far as banning any socialising with people outside your household even outdoors (though falling short of shutting businesses or schools).

Hancock announcement due 11am tomorrow - according to leader of Newcastle council

 

[chilango]

de Pfeffel talking openly about the need to avoid a second nationwide lockdown suggests to me that it's pretty imminent.

 

[elbows]

de Pfeffel talking openly about the need to avoid a second nationwide lockdown suggests to me that it's pretty imminent.

Him talking about it is certainly a sign that its back on the agenda, a signal of its own.

I dont know where exactly they have set bar for reimposing stuff based on stats. I dont know if its number of cases, percentage positivity, hospital admission rates or ICU capacity triggers or a combination. So I dont know how close it is. And how quickly things spiral also determines whether they will get a chance to go through a series of intermediate steps or end up skipping ahead to the big ones.

 

[chilango]

Him talking about it is certainly a sign that its back on the agenda, a signal of its own.

I dont know where exactly they have set bar for reimposing stuff based on stats. I dont know if its number of cases, percentage positivity, hospital admission rates or ICU capacity triggers or a combination. So I dont know how close it is. And how quickly things spiral also determines whether they will get a chance to go through a series of intermediate steps or end up skipping ahead to the big ones.

They'll wait long enough - if they can - to get the students into Uni and "partying" so they've got a scapegoat for the "gentler" measures failing (and later down the line, the economy tanking further).

Murdering public school bastards.

 

[elbows]

Nick Triggle, the BBC health correspondent thinks a second national lockdown is extremely unlikely.

But he is the reporter whose 'analysis' on Friday 13th March included the idea that we should still be getting on with our lives, and that analysis was replaced with someone elses in the online article that same day. So at the very least I dont think I'll be placing much weight on his judgement and analysis, and it is also tempting to mock parts of this analysis. A better grip, officials are quite confident, oh but there will be loads of death. Fuck off.

Coronavirus: Second national lockdown would be 'disastrous', PM says

Boris Johnson says the government is doing "everything in our power" to prevent another lockdown.

www.bbc.co.uk

A second national lockdown is extremely unlikely for two reasons.

Firstly, it is hugely damaging - to the economy, to education and to wider health for reasons other than Covid.

You only need to look at the latest figures for falling cancer referrals, the hours spent out of school and the rising unemployment to see the cost of the UK's spring lockdown.

Secondly, the government and its medical advisers have a much better grasp of the virus.

Current infection rates and hospitalisations remain much lower than they were in the spring and, despite the problems with testing, there is pretty rich data on exactly where the virus is and how quickly it is spreading.

Even if things get worse, officials are quite confident the NHS will cope.

But that does not mean there won't be further restrictions - or that it won't be a very difficult winter with a high number of deaths.

 

[chilango]

Nick Triggle, the BBC health correspondent thinks a second national lockdown is extremely unlikely.

But he is the reporter whose 'analysis' on Friday 13th March included the idea that we should still be getting on with our lives, and that analysis was replaced with someone elses in the online article that same day. So at the very least I dont think I'll be placing much weight on his judgement and analysis, and it is also tempting to mock parts of this analysis. A better grip, officials are quite confident, oh but there will be loads of death. Fuck off.

Coronavirus: Second national lockdown would be 'disastrous', PM says

Boris Johnson says the government is doing "everything in our power" to prevent another lockdown.

www.bbc.co.uk

I read that. I hope he wasn't paid for it.

 

[William of Walworth]

Quick note on that Chichester arsehole -- we've had two recent visits to Glastonbury (town), including the weekend just gone ( )..

But!
Even with all the ultra-hippy shops that dominate the centre, and even with all the fruitloops and conspiacists that hang out in the town, there were no signs anything like the Chichester ones that we could see in any shop window ....

There are a couple of shops (including the well known one at the bottom of the High Street owned by Free Rob Cannabis) that put a prominent sign up saying it's 'your choice' whether or not you wear a mask

Vastly outnumbered though, by all the other shops that impose limits on numbers, and have big signs insisting on face-coverings/masks.