Are we heading to completely isolating areas?

[joncombe]

It has been widely reported today that the South African variant has been found in certain parts of the UK, that they don't believe it's linked to international travel and that in these areas people will be going door-to-door to distribute tests.

It has been stated that Councilors will be visiting every household in this area to give out Covid tests and coming round to collect the completed tests later the same day. My concern is that if any (or perhaps more than a certain % of) tests come back positive these areas will be subject to even stricter controls, perhaps with the police preventing anyone from moving in or out of the area at all, for any reason (except perhaps to distribute food). Certainly from the maps the selected, it's not (as Matt Hancock suggested in the briefing) the entire post code area that is subject to these restrictions, it's more localised to a set of streets.

Matt Hancock suggested that "we need to come down on it hard, and we will", which leads me to believe these areas will be subject to even stronger restrictions (unless perhaps the tests show no new cases).

I should add that I live in one such area so I am very concerned that I'm now going to be entirely confined to home for the foreseeable future.

 

[Bikeman78]

It has been widely reported today that the South African variant has been found in certain parts of the UK, that they don't believe it's linked to international travel and that in these areas people will be going door-to-door to distribute tests.

How did it get here then? Unless it's considerably more fatal than other strains, why the concern?

 

[joncombe]

How did it get here then? Unless it's considerably more fatal than other strains, why the concern?

Well it was implied there is community transmission NOT linked to international travel. It has, in a later question (after I posted this), that the cases are probably linked to asymptomatic cases after international travel.

 

[6862]

Matt Hancock suggested that "we need to come down on it hard, and we will", which leads me to believe these areas will be subject to even stronger restrictions (unless perhaps the tests show no new cases).

Does he even stop to think that you can't come down hard on a virus without coming down hard on people? I doubt it, he seems to have left compassion and other similar human emotions behind some time ago.

More generally, it's hard to see what they could do to make life more miserable for people living in those areas control this new variant, apart from as you suggest much stricter rules on leaving your house.

 

[yorksrob]

Matt Hancock suggested that "we need to come down on it hard, and we will", which leads me to believe these areas will be subject to even stronger restrictions (unless perhaps the tests show no new cases).

It's a pity the Government didn't come down on it hard at the border a month ago, instead of waiting for it to become entrenched here.

The Government seems to be very good at telling us what we can't do, but less adept at stopping every variant getting here in the first place.

 

[duncanp]

My concern is that if any (or perhaps more than a certain % of) tests come back positive these areas will be subject to even stricter controls, perhaps with the police preventing anyone from moving in or out of the area at all, for any reason (except perhaps to distribute food).

I don't see how they can seal off an entire postcode area, as some postcode areas are quite large.

There will always be key workers and others who have a perfectly legitimate reason to travel out of the area.

In my case, I live right on the boundary of a postcode area, and I would have to cross into a neighbouring postcode just to visit the nearest supermarket.

I think the most that will happen is that advice will be given to people in those areas to minimise social contact, and people from outside those areas asked not to travel into them for non essential reasons. (A kind of voluntary lockdown as it were)

Otherwise we will end up with the situation that you have in Australia where you have a full lockdown over ONE case.

 

[joncombe]

I don't see how they can seal off an entire postcode area, as some postcode areas are quite large.

There will always be key workers and others who have a perfectly legitimate reason to travel out of the area.

In my case, I live right on the boundary of a postcode area, and I would have to cross into a neighbouring postcode just to visit the nearest supermarket.

I think the most that will happen is that advice will be given to people in those areas to minimise social contact, and people from outside those areas asked not to travel into them for non essential reasons. (A kind of voluntary lockdown as it were)

Otherwise we will end up with the situation that you have in Australia where you have a full lockdown over ONE case.

I don't think they will because despite what Matt Hancock said, it's not specific postal areas, the area is already much more specific than that. My local Council has a maps of the street in the area and those outside - which is why I suspect this is preparation for a much stricter set of controls, which probably could be implemented by putting up road blocks and questioning anyone trying to go in and out of the areas for the reasons they are doing so (though whether they'd have the intelligence to do the same on footpaths and so on remains to be seen).

 

[Horizon22]

It's almost certainly already gone beyond these postcodes anyway - after all the variant has gone here in the first place through travel from the affected area. These are only the cases they know about more than likely by someone getting an symptomatic test. By that point it's already been spread, although the extent might be lessened by the lockdown and that the numbers (11) are very low.

 

[philosopher]

It's almost certainly already gone beyond these postcodes anyway - after all the variant has gone here in the first place through travel from the affected area. These are only the cases they know about more than likely by someone getting an symptomatic test. By that point it's already been spread, although the extent might be lessened by the lockdown and that the numbers (11) are very low.

The ideal situation would be that the lockdown has already eliminated community transmission of this variant. I am not sure how long genomic sequencing takes, but if it takes a few weeks then these cases would date from before the lockdown.

 

[notlob.divad]

How did it get here then? Unless it's considerably more fatal than other strains, why the concern?

The concern seems to be that they think the vaccines may not provide the same level of protect against this South African strain (and possibly the new Brazilian strain) as they do against the strains that have been in circulation for the past 12 months (and the one that appeared in the UK just before Christmas).

 

[duncanp]

I saw a South African doctor on TV tonight who said that, whilst existing vaccines may be slightly less effective against the South African variant, the vaccines offer the same protection against serious illness and death.

So whilst there may be more cases, there should be fewer hospitalisations and deaths as a result of the new variant.

Lockdown restrictions are being eased in South Africa tonight.

 

[Yew]

I saw a South African doctor on TV tonight who said that, whilst existing vaccines may be slightly less effective against the South African variant, the vaccines offer the same protection against serious illness and death.

So whilst there may be more cases, there should be fewer hospitalisations and deaths as a result of the new variant.

Lockdown restrictions are being eased in South Africa tonight.

Let's not let facts get in the way of some good scaremongering!

 

[Hadders]

I don't see how they can seal off an entire postcode area, as some postcode areas are quite large.

There will always be key workers and others who have a perfectly legitimate reason to travel out of the area.

In my case, I live right on the boundary of a postcode area, and I would have to cross into a neighbouring postcode just to visit the nearest supermarket.

I think the most that will happen is that advice will be given to people in those areas to minimise social contact, and people from outside those areas asked not to travel into them for non essential reasons. (A kind of voluntary lockdown as it were)

Otherwise we will end up with the situation that you have in Australia where you have a full lockdown over ONE case.

It would not be feasible to 'hard' lock down a specific postcode area.

There are insufficient police to seal the area
What about essential businesses operating in the area, a supermarket for example, some staff are likely to live outside the area
What if there is a large food distribution centre in the area. It could be sending supplies across the whole country, it's supplies and many of its staff will come from outside the area.

I could go on....

 

[GodAtum]

Downing Street has delivered a tough message that people should only be leaving home in the affected areas if it is unavoidable - suggesting that means using tinned food at home if possible rather than going to the shops.

 

[david1212]

Downing Street has delivered a tough message that people should only be leaving home in the affected areas if it is unavoidable - suggesting that means using tinned food at home if possible rather than going to the shops.

???? ( the forum needs a puzzed smilie ) I do not find that when I use a tin then look the next day that a replacement has appeared like a magic trick .....

One sensible approach would be to commit to covering the cost of home delivery once a week for a household of one or two and twice a week for three or more.

 

[Skimpot flyer]

It's a pity the Government didn't come down on it hard at the border a month ago, instead of waiting for it to become entrenched here.

The Government seems to be very good at telling us what we can't do, but less adept at stopping every variant getting here in the first place.

My partner and I came back from Australia in April last year, and were astonished that not so much as even a temperature check was done.
Horse > stable door > bolted

 

[yorksrob]

My partner and I came back from Australia in April last year, and were astonished that not so much as even a temperature check was done.
Horse > stable door > bolted

Indeed. There's arguably less excuse now, several months in.

 

[Hadders]

One sensible approach would be to commit to covering the cost of home delivery once a week for a household of one or two and twice a week for three or more.

Where is the capacity going to come from to deliver to these households? Supermarket home delivery services have already more than doubled in the last year and are operating at full capacity.

Also, even if you could manage it many staff used to pick and deliver the goods will be travelling in and out of the affected areas.

 

[Bantamzen]

???? ( the forum needs a puzzed smilie ) I do not find that when I use a tin then look the next day that a replacement has appeared like a magic trick .....

One sensible approach would be to commit to covering the cost of home delivery once a week for a household of one or two and twice a week for three or more.

Why only one delivery per week for couples? Don't we need fresh produce as much as larger families?