U.K. lockdown

Hi just a quick note to all living in the U.K. 

Last night I watched Sky News... I heard Beth Rigby the Sky reporter say “ IF” the lockdown works ...

I have been talking to my mateys in U.K. all morning to say YES the lockdown does work...

Our figures (remember we are a small country, but you can scale it up)

Ten days ago new infections 1263 - yesterday 397....

We have been in total lockdown since Wednesday 21/10 ...and before that a hospitality lockdown and household restrictions since 6/10 ....

I felt watching the news from U.K. you were left in doubt as to weather this works.... and even though we share a border and are nearest neighbours, we are never news worthy ....

So keep at it!!!! your numbers will collapse!!!

And remember if you have to be near people ventilation ventilation ventilation...I won’t go anywhere without an open door or window ...

Hope this helps  ....

Hello!

Who would to be anybody having to make these sorts of decisions for us?

So where are you, WWHS? Trying to second guess and Ireland and Northern Ireland

both seem to be locked down.

PAN - Are the schools going to be open? It seems to me that it would be scary to send kids to school if everyone else is in lockdown.

Yep, schools and universities are going to be open - controlled environments where they've

missed so much - and it's all very staggered with very smail classes on different days here and

all the universities are doing hybrid teaching.....we have just had a natural break of a week's

half term holiday for schools too.....all non-essential shops, bars, restaurants, pubs closed and

no mixed households as before....

Hello Lizzy and Pan...from The Republic of Ireland

Second wave lockdown is a very different animal to the first...

All our schools have remained open this time, half term ends tomorrow (Monday) and all back to school... this does not appear to be a problem ... after saying that I think The opening of universities did have an impact. You can’t expect an 18/19 year old away from home for the first time to social distance and wear a mask while enjoying freshers week....Now they are doing lectures by zoom, so much money wasted on accommodation and fees, let alone mental health issues of locking down away from home alone....( Sweden had all students from age 16 school at home, sensible)... hopefully next term will zoom, but younger kids really need the structure and are proving not to be a problem.  We have rapid testing if there is an issue at a school on that very day!

The numbers in the North and South are very different ... Northern Ireland being significantly higher...

The South benefitted greatly at the beginning of Covid as our Prime Minister AND Health Minister back in March were both (young GP) Doctors. When briefed many Governments may not have taken on the FULL IMACT of the word Pandemic... they did...

I agree with you PAN it’s a poison chalice bring in government at the moment... you cannot win, if you save a life, you close a business with all the emotional and financial problem you carry the burden of...

As individuals we are more educated, more confident of exactly what keeps us safe ... no matter where we live... 

We have been told lockdown should end December 1. But not for all industries... and we may be shut again in February... to prepare for an open/shut economy... as long as the government can sustain this, then we simply have to do it ... Covid?  this to will end!

PAN ... you lock on 5th ... fingers crossed you see significant fall in numbers by 20th...

There's no nationwide cohesive plan for dealing with the virus in this country. Decisions are made state by state. Some put health above all, but some think opening the economy is more important. Then there are drumpf supporters who think the whole thing is a hoax (because he says so), won't wear a mask (because he won't) and would happily infect the world as long as they aren't inconvenienced and can get back to "normal". Maybe the climbing death rate will get through to them, but I doubt it.

NY is handling the school situation pretty much the way you are. They're having problems with remote learning, though. I think it will take them a while to work out the kinks, but they'll get there. Meantime it's driving parents and teachers nuts!

Just moving this thread to the non-George Clooney part of the forum.

Agreed that the governments are damned if they do, damned if they don't.  I think the upshot will be that we'll just accept Covid-19 as just another illness that's bearable for most, but kills others (exactly like the flu in fact, but with a higher death rate).  As with the flu, the vulnerable will get vaccinated, but it'll still take its toll.

I'd like to think that we'd permanently adopt health-prevention measures such as washing our hands more often, always wearing masks in public and so on, but sadly I think we'll just let that all drop.  

What I'd really like to see is a complete change in the way we live (that's not going to happen either).  How lovely it was to have clear skies, breathable air and hear the birds sing.  We've learned that we can shut down our industries and keep people at home (albeit at a very high cost and only for a limited amount of time, obviously) so why not NOW have a strategy for re-ordering the way we do things in order to keep protecting the environment?

Our reliance on having one car per person is just ridiculous.  Our consumption is beyond out of control.  And yes I'm a hypocrite for saying this given I worked 20 years in the holiday industry, but we need to address our addiction to cheap flights and going on holiday whenever we please.

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ETA: have just seen in the news that some UK businesses have tried using a clause in the magna carta as a loophole to stay open during the pandemic. Lest we forget, magna carta was one of the first ever charters of human rights (so to speak), which was signed in 1215. Yes, they're trying to use an 800 year old legal document against the current government!!

We’ve reached the point where a Freeman of the Land is trying to keep a soft play centre open using Magna Carta as a justification pic.twitter.com/fKAJItOKyk

— Gary Brannan (@garybrannan) November 2, 2020

In Germany, we've just started a 'light lockdown'. We've got about 15,000 new cases every day (we've got about 83 million people), about 10,000 have died so far, and our health authorities can't trace back about 75% of the new infections anymore.

So museums, public libraries, hotels, restaurants and pubs, casinos, sport studios, beauty parlors and tattoo studios have to close while shops, schools and kindergardens remain open.

Everybody's hoping that reducing our contacts will work go save christmas, being able to meet up with families. And yet, there are still people critisizing these actions, seeing them as disproportional. Others claiming that it's unacceptable to wear masks when you're shopping or walk a very busy area like a pedestrian zone (I like to advice them to tell any medical staff not to wear a mask if they should ever need a surgery). Plus those who still deny there is a pandemic.

Completely agree with your views, and why, oh why do people have to drive military tanks!!?

SUVs are really bad for the environment and here they all are sitting outside schools waiting for

children who don't seem to be able to walk(!?) and are then driven down leafy suburban roads

(outer, outer London) which were built because of gardens for two cars to cross each other. Not

any more. And unless you are going overland in the desert or difficult tracts of land do you need

four-wheel drive?!

Busy planting as many trees as possible and leaving moss to grow on some paving slabs (cos

I hear that it's the best thing in the world to absorb all the nasties from the environment) and

desperately trying not to eat meat cos the Amazon rainforest is being cut down so we can - and

I know I couldn't kill an animal myself......