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Coronavirus in the UK - news, lockdown and discussion

The answer is “what lockdown”?

We haven’t had a second lockdown. Loads of shops are still open. Kids are at school. People are still going to work. The roads are still packed with traffic. Parks are packed with people.
well non-essential shops, gyms and pubs are closed, and i cant meet my friends outside or parents inside, so there is a degree of lockdown and it has very slowly reduced cases - R is probably below 1 in most places

the government has created huge resentment here, not because of their incompetence or corruption - the electorate seem endlessly forgiving on that score, in part because its not reported enough by the supine press - but they've miscommunicated their own plans. we're in strong degrees of restrictions right up to march now. they gave an impression of a little lockdown which will finish on the 2nd

Not doing a two week circuit breaker like SAGE said where everything stopped, - schools included - was another massive fuck up
 
The whole of the UK is leaving lockdown with better results than it started with (maybe not Sheppey but most of the UK).
It's not just Sheppey that's fucked (although Sheppey East's 1109.1 per 100k is particularly eye catching). The whole north Kent coast, spreading into east London has been deteriorating in recent weeks. Thanet, Medway, Gravesend and Willmington are all over 400 per 100k. So are Deal and Dover, round the corner away from the estuary. The whole area was tier 1 before lockdown.

Looking at the hospital admissions as well, I suspect that lockdown 2 has prevented a complete disaster happening in that part of the south east.
 
well non-essential shops, gyms and pubs are closed, and i cant meet my friends outside or parents inside, so there is a degree of lockdown and it has very slowly reduced cases - R is probably below 1 in most places

the government has created huge resentment here, not because of their incompetence or corruption - the electorate seem endlessly forgiving on that score, in part because its not reported enough by the supine press - but they've miscommunicated their own plans. we're in strong degrees of restrictions right up to march now. they gave an impression of a little lockdown which will finish on the 2nd

Not doing a two week circuit breaker like SAGE said where everything stopped, - schools included - was another massive fuck up
Conor Burns knows all this, so his tweet is just posturing.

He sounds like an interesting character:

He has resigned from Her Majesty's Government three times, the latest being from his position as Minister of State for Trade Policy in May 2020, after a Standards Committee inquiry found he had made "veiled threats" to use privilege to "further his family's interests" during a financial dispute involving his father.
 
The posturing from politicians on all sides does throw up a lot of shite - the narrative of the North being punished and suchlike from northern council leaders & MPs today is unlikely to aid compliance to necessary restrictions, but is likely to aid their reelection chances.

They could of course be critical of the government being late and too soft with their previous restrictions, had they not been, on the whole, resistant to those restrictions being imposed in the first place... I'm pleased to see Burnham at least accept the ongoing measures are necessary, but he's relatively rare if you look across the region

My own council leader wrote an open letter before the tiers were announced 'making the case' for tier 2 instead of tier 3, and is making disappointed noises now, although he must know like Burnham that it remains necessary. That said, he copped a massive amount of flak locally in September when he asked for extra support and measures to help bring down the infection rate, so I can understand him trying to take a different tack.
 
well non-essential shops, gyms and pubs are closed, and i cant meet my friends outside or parents inside, so there is a degree of lockdown and it has very slowly reduced cases - R is probably below 1 in most places

the government has created huge resentment here, not because of their incompetence or corruption - the electorate seem endlessly forgiving on that score, in part because its not reported enough by the supine press - but they've miscommunicated their own plans. we're in strong degrees of restrictions right up to march now. they gave an impression of a little lockdown which will finish on the 2nd

Not doing a two week circuit breaker like SAGE said where everything stopped, - schools included - was another massive fuck up

I think the media bear a huge amount of blame for this as well tbh. They're constantly reeling out a load of lockdown skeptics, giving Tory MPs and business owners far, far too much time on how the lockdown is 'unfair' or doesn't work etc. Not questioning them when they say clearly incorrect things, or correcting them when they come out with some bullshit idea about how to do things 'better'. That and the stream of vox pop bollocks they seem obsessed with presenting as news or important and worthwhile comment.
 
They're constantly reeling out a load of lockdown skeptics, giving Tory MPs and business owners far, far too much time on how the lockdown is 'unfair' or doesn't work etc.
I was just reading an article in the Graun where they're interviewing some landlords talking about their 'covid secure' premises as it happens.

TBF I'm not sure if I really blame the media or the landlords for this kind of thing - the government really sold the idea of covid secure businesses in the summer, and you can't blame people for believing them that it's a real thing.
 
These tory anti-lockdown rebels are going to be morally responsible for quite a few deaths ...
(pity we can't prove it well enough legally to put them in the slammer)

e2a - and the irresponsible media, and tbh I'm starting with that twat cummings and his trip to Barnard Castle ...
 
These tory anti-lockdown rebels are going to be morally responsible for quite a few deaths ...
(pity we can't prove it well enough legally to put them in the slammer)

I've not seen one of them questioned properly in the media. Never asked about what they propose instead of restrictions, how even with restrictions so far we've had thousands of deaths, about deaths that will result from their measures (or lack thereof), what they'd say to people who would have loved ones die with their plan, etc. etc. Just allowed to spout some bollocks about the economy and freedom or something.
 
The posturing from politicians on all sides does throw up a lot of shite - the narrative of the North being punished and suchlike from northern council leaders & MPs today is unlikely to aid compliance to necessary restrictions, but is likely to aid their reelection chances.

Yeah, the north is being punished just like that well known Labour voting county called Kent. :facepalm:

One of our MPs, Tim Loughton, the twat, is moaning about Worthing being in tier 2, because our numbers are so low, ignoring the fact that the borough is surrounded by areas with much higher rates, and loads of people from those areas travel into the town for work, shopping & leisure, hence the whole county needs to be in tier 2.

I am still puzzled by the fact the 3 most urban council areas in West Sussex have the lowest cases, compared to the 4 rural areas. :hmm:
 
The whole of the UK is leaving lockdown with better results than it started with (maybe not Sheppey but most of the UK).

Covid restrictions is a whole different question. They are needed.

That's not true in terms of cases per 100K. They're higher now than they were on Nov 4th here and no doubt elsewhere.
 


That ridiculous lack of understanding is like hurtling down a hill with the brakes only very gently applied, then belatedly being forced to press the brakes harder as a result, and then being shocked that afterwards, whilst still travelling down the hill, further applications of the brakes are still required to keep the car below a certain speed. Dont worry the drunk driver cried to his passengers, this black ice of winter will slow us down!
 
That ridiculous lack of understanding is like hurtling down a hill with the brakes only very gently applied, then belatedly being forced to press the brakes harder as a result, and then being shocked that afterwards, whilst still travelling down the hill, further applications of the brakes are still required to keep the car below a certain speed. Dont worry the drunk driver cried to his passengers, this black ice of winter will slow us down!
As good an analogy as I’ve heard so far :D :cool:
 
As good an analogy as I’ve heard so far :D :cool:

Cheers, I'm sure I can spoil it by pushing it too far.

The Roadside Recovery Group of MPs have obtained a report by the RAC (Reality Avoidance Club) which states that fitting cars with brakes that are too strong is clearly the problem. The group intends to shock the world into a new approach by holding a press conference with eminent epidemiologist F Flintstone, who will be demonstrating the latest innovations in foot-based braking technologies. This could also be a nice little earner for the chair of the Roadside Recovery Group, as he retains links to his old tennis partner who now heads up the R Soles footwear manufacturing empire.
 
i realise i misundestood the tweet
i took it to mean how can you end lockdown with more cases than before starting it - which seems to be the case in london

When that sort of question is asked sincerely, possible answers include:

Because more time is needed to see the results show up in the data.
Because the lockdown wasn't strong enough or long enough and was not intended to be the complete solution to winter.
Because the rise in cases maybe in groups that were not locked down in any meaningful sense at all, eg schoolchildren or people who still had to go to work.
 
And:

Because the testing regime continues to evolve and to vary more by location.
Because conditions and behaviours (more indoors stuff) get worse as we head into winter, forcing stronger compensatory measures.
Because more hospitals are closer to capacity than they were (although others seems to have passed the moment of maximum pressure)
Because the additional winter NHS pressures loom and they dont actually know how much these pressures will differ from a normal winter (eg whether there will be a large flu outbreak, much icy weather, or how many days there will be with temperatures that cause health problems).

Some of these dont alter the number of cases people will see in the data, but they are certainly factored into the thinking by authorities and the measures they feel the need to impose.
 
Meanwhile in Wales, thoroughly unsurprising new restrictions given that their firebreaker was rather short and some time ago now.

Wales' First Minister Mark Drakeford is giving a press conference about the new restrictions being introduced.

He says in the last few days, figures have started to rise again.

The overall rate is 187 cases per 100,000 people in Wales and it is rising - last week, the rate was 160 cases and falling.

It shows "once again how quickly things can change with coronavirus".

The R figure - the number of people that one infected person will pass on the virus to, on average - could be as high as 1.4 in Wales today, says Drakeford, with the ground gained during the firebreak "eroding".

There is concern about the rise in under-25s in particular, he says.

From 12:31 entry of https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-55098996
 
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