Further Restrictions Announced by Johnson (22/09)

[island]

You already have to anyway in cafés, pubs and restaurants, unless that's Scotland only?

The current requirement as respects England is that if the restaurant/café/pub offers table service as an option, you do not need to wear face coverings at all (whether or not you are personally using table service). If it does not offer table service, customers need to wear face coverings unless sat down at a table, until they are leaving.

 

[DB]

That would match with what I saw when booking. Brighton was booked out weeks in advance for the days I was looking at, for example. Ones in less obviously touristy places were available and cheap.

I would guess the ones by a roundabout near a road intersection somewhere inland - the type which are mostly used by people on business - are not exactly busy at the moment.

 

[Crossover]

It ended on Sunday (at least in England & Wales).

Ah OK - I thought it extended towards nearer the end of furlough to be honest

 

[Steveoh]

No however she has banned meeting in other people’s homes throughout Scotland

Given the Scottish strategy of attempted elimanation / wait for a vaccine there's an element of sense here. If you can only meet outside where transmission is low or in a venue that takes your details and that of your party, then it makes contact tracing much easier. You will know who has been together where for how long.

Not saying that this is my view, just that there is logic around this step.

 

[bramling]

I would guess the ones by a roundabout near a road intersection somewhere inland - the type which are mostly used by people on business - are not exactly busy at the moment.

Demand seems to be odd at the moment.

We stayed in two premier inns in the Birmingham area at the beginning of the month, and I’d say they were roughly what one would have expected, simply going by price and how busy the car park was.

We then went to a Travelodge in Essex (essentially the only place to stay in the town we wanted to be based) and it was fairly empty, though plenty of vans in the car park which seems to be an increasing trend at these sorts of places.

West Wales has been curious however. Last week the whole place was apparently rammed - could barely get a room for love nor money pretty much anywhere. Even Llanelli premier inn sold out! Yet this week things seem pretty empty. In the hotel we’re in now there were only two cars in the car park on Sunday night. I know there was some kind of walking holiday group here which may have contributed locally last week, but that shouldn’t have made that much difference in the grand scheme of things.

Not sure if all this talk of rising infection has put people off, or whether the fine weather last week caused a late rush. So far we’ve been in Wales for seven days and it hasn’t rained yet, which to be fair isn’t bad going, indeed today is the first day the sky has been grey.

Interestingly from what I can gather the local lockdowns only apply to people living in Wales, so in theoretically one could go on holiday from England to somewhere like RCT. This seems sufficiently odd that it seems hard to believe, but I’ve heard it from multiple sources.

 

[greyman42]

Maybe if people had been sensible and done things in moderation instead of having pub crawls and multiple parties with as many people as possible, we wouldn't be in this situation

How do pub crawls make the situation worse?

 

[island]

More contacts between people (and reduced inhibitions as the night wears on and people get drunker).

 

[greyman42]

The current requirement as respects England is that if the restaurant/café/pub offers table service as an option, you do not need to wear face coverings at all (whether or not you are personally using table service). If it does not offer table service, customers need to wear face coverings unless sat down at a table, until they are leaving.

As far as i am aware, there is no requirement to wear a mask in a pub at the moment, table service or not.

 

[island]

That is true. It is very difficult to keep abreast of all the rules.

 

[Mag_seven]

I suppose that all these restrictions that were announced were accompanied by peer reviewed scientific papers that show that they will slow the spread?

 

[greyman42]

More contacts between people (and reduced inhibitions as the night wears on and people get drunker).

You could apply that to pubs in general, whether people are on a pub crawl or not. I don't believe pubs are responsible for the "increase" in cases.

 

[ainsworth74]

I suppose that all these restrictions that were announced were accompanied by peer reviewed scientific papers that show that they will slow the spread?

Whatever gave you that idea?

I definitely think changes are required (though I'm not quite sure what but personally I'd be waiting to see what the Rule of Six achieves) but this mob will just flail wildly for the first thing that they think will appease those who are pro-hefty restrictions, those who are pro-limited/no restrictions, what they think the economy can withstand and what the headlines were talking about a few days ago.

 

[DB]

I suppose that all these restrictions that were announced were accompanied by peer reviewed scientific papers that show that they will slow the spread?

I'm sure they will have been - along with a clear monitoring methodology to measure their effectiveness! Just like with all the measures.

Oh....

 

[Peter Mugridge]

The Andrologists must be having a field day today; so many specimens to examine...


It will be interesting to see if the address to the nation at 20.00 tonight says different things from what the statement to the Commons at 12.30 did.

 

[theblackwatch]

You could apply that to pubs in general, whether people are on a pub crawl or not. I don't believe pubs are responsible for the "increase" in cases.

No the pubs aren't. A minority of their patrons, on the other hand...

 

[RT4038]

I find it telling that, as I write this, just below this story on the BBC News page is another with the headline "Covid a factor in 1% of England & Wales deaths".

So all this nonsense is about a factor in 1% of deaths (not the only factor), and stuff the rest.

I really do despair at the stupidity of those supposedly in charge of this nation.

But people were also saying that Boris/'The Government' were at fault for the large numbers of deaths in April/May [more than most other countries] because the lockdown was not introduced early enough, i.e. before much hospitalisation, and certainly before any deaths.
So just what are they supposed to do, apart from being blamed either way?

 

[Andyh82]

But people were also saying that Boris/'The Government' were at fault for the large numbers of deaths in April/May [more than most other countries] because the lockdown was not introduced early enough, i.e. before much hospitalisation, and certainly before any deaths.
So just what are they supposed to do, apart from being blamed either way?

I've always thought that the big increase at the start was needed so show that lockdown was required

Interesting those who complained about 'lockdown too late' will be same ones complaining that the deaths are too low to justify some measures

 

[Nicholas43]

will be interesting to see if the address to the nation at 20.00 tonight says different things from what the statement to the Commons at 12.30 did.

They've swapped. Alexander 'Boris' Johnson will be presenting Bakeoff on Channel 4, and Matt Lucas is satirising the latest Covid restrictions on BBC1.

 

[MikeWM]

The mask requirements for taxis have been published (that was quick) - coming into force tomorrow.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2020/1021/contents/made

No change to existing requirements/exemptions/fines etc.

 

[CaptainHaddock]

But people were also saying that Boris/'The Government' were at fault for the large numbers of deaths in April/May [more than most other countries] because the lockdown was not introduced early enough, i.e. before much hospitalisation, and certainly before any deaths.
So just what are they supposed to do, apart from being blamed either way?

They could try ignoring public opinion and stick to the facts?

We know lockdowns don't defeat the virus.
We know wearing masks doesn't defeat the virus.
We know social distancing doesn't defeat the virus.

So the only sensible solution is to live with the virus; give vulnerable people the option of self-isolating (on full pay), remove all restrictions and let the rest of us go about our daily lives.

 

[6Gman]

No don't. The trouble with letting people make their own choices is that in doing so they make choices for others. I'm wearing a mask when I enter our village shop, less for my benefit than for the poor staff behind the till who are faced by hundreds of shoppers every day.

Precisely.

 

[MattA7]

I’m wondering if finally the government are beginning to realize people are getting sick and tired of the nonsense (especially the low risk population)and that it may well be doing more harm than good. Judging by this news article from the BBC it would appear so.

Coronavirus: Last throw of dice before the really tough call

New restrictions are being introduced - but there is fear this will not be enough to curb the spread.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Bletchleyite]

The mask requirements for taxis have been published (that was quick) - coming into force tomorrow.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2020/1021/contents/made

No change to existing requirements/exemptions/fines etc.

Absolutely amazed that masks were not required in taxis and private hire as soon as that applied to other public transport - the closed environment means near guaranteed spread if driver or passenger has it, unless there is a full height screen with no "money hole". Indeed I thought they were!

 

[Class 33]

Boris saying these restrictions could last another SIX months! That will be hundreds more businesses closing down then, thousands upon thousands more people becoming unemployed. The theatre industry completely collapsing, HALF of the UK's leisure centres closing down. The s**t is really going to hit the fan come November when the furlough scheme ends. Plus of course the effect these restrictions are having on the nations mental health. We've had to put up with this for SIX MONTHS so far, and now we could well be looking at yet another SIX MONTHS! And Boris also saying that if these restrictions don't work and the infections continue to rise, there could well be far FAR tougher restrictions introduced. This could well push the nations mental health to the limit. The next 6 months are going to be pretty dire by the looks of it.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I’m wondering if finally the government are beginning to realize people are getting sick and tired of the nonsense (especially the low risk population)and that it may well be doing more harm than good. Judging by this news article from the BBC it would appear so.

Coronavirus: Last throw of dice before the really tough call

New restrictions are being introduced - but there is fear this will not be enough to curb the spread.

www.bbc.co.uk

What would be interesting would be if the "tough call" went opposite ways in England and Scotland.

Is there scope to close the border?

 

[stevetay3]

I don’t think covering your face with a bit of cloth does any good at all. The masks the medical profession use are a completely different product, in fact for months we were told not to wear masks by the scientists, and to leave them for the professionals as the ones offered to the public were no good at all.Full lockdown has failed to slow down the virus let alone eliminate it, now we are going to have half a lockdown to attack covid, how on earth will these half measures help to eliminate it when full lockdown did not. If the situation is as dire as the picture painted by this government then another full lockdown is required, if not we need to return to normal and learn to live with it while we still have some sort of economy.

 

[baz962]

I don’t think covering your face with a bit of cloth does any good at all. The masks the medical profession use are a completely different product, in fact for months we were told not to wear masks by the scientists, and to leave them for the professionals as the ones offered to the public were no good at all.Full lockdown has failed to slow down the virus let alone eliminate it, now we are going to have half a lockdown to attack covid, how on earth will these half measures help to eliminate it when full lockdown did not. If the situation is as dire as the picture painted by this government then another full lockdown is required, if not we need to return to normal and learn to live with it while we still have some sort of economy.

We have never had a full lockdown. Key worker's working and essential shop's and people who couldn't work from home , including builder's and we were allowed out for excercise. Plus we had exemptions e.g Dominic Cummings. That's not a full lockdown.

 

[Huntergreed]

We have never had a full lockdown. Key worker's working and essential shop's and people who couldn't work from home , including builder's and we were allowed out for excercise. Plus we had exemptions e.g Dominic Cummings. That's not a full lockdown.

Nor should we have had one, and we absolutely should not have another one.

 

[Yew]

We have never had a full lockdown. Key worker's working and essential shop's and people who couldn't work from home , including builder's and we were allowed out for excercise. Plus we had exemptions e.g Dominic Cummings. That's not a full lockdown.

Not the "no true lockdown" argument again.

 

[baz962]

Nor should we have had one, and we absolutely should not have another one.

Not that I personally want one , but an actual true full lockdown at the first opportunity , may well have worked.