UK cut off from EU, due to concerns over new Coronavirus strain

[Nicholas Lewis]

Hasn't been an airport since 2014. Whatever facilities there are will need a bloody good clean.

If there aint any portaloos down there alot of Kents going to need a good clean

 

[Ediswan]

Manston was supposed to be equipped to provide a holding point for lorries post 1.1.21 so ought to have been ready to go!

Exactly. The government have been making a great fuss about how they had a plan, for other reasons, to get thousands of trucks off the roads should cross channel traffic be disrupted. They don't seem to have noticed that all those trucks have drivers. It should not be down to the local food vans and county council to provide facilities for drivers in an ad-hc manner. Providing those facilities should have been part of the plan. There have been months if not years to put such a plan in place.

 

[yorksrob]

If there aint any portaloos down there alot of Kents going to need a good clean

I should imagine that the verges of the M20 should be quite fertile for a while !

 

[alex397]

This must be causing severe disruption to locals just going about their daily business, as well as key workers and emergency services.

An example of how it is affecting local public transport is shown by this update page by Stagecoach South East. Bus services in Dover largely unable to operate properly, whole routes suspended (such as the 10 from Ashford to Folkestone and the 17 from Folkestone to Canterbury), and diversions and delays for other routes. The depots of Dover, Folkestone and Thanet all having disruption from this.

Services disrupted in east Kent due to HGV situation23 Dec 2020​

We are experiencing a lot of disruption to services in east Kent currently.
Here's the latest service summary at 1400 on 23 December
Dover: Considerable disruption to all town services and routes in and out of the town. You should avoid travelling in the Dover area if possible. No buses are serving Pencester Road/town centre. Routes 61, 62 and 63 are currently suspended. Route 12 is operating with delay, route 15 buses are operating to and from Temple Ewell, The Railway Bell only. Routes 80 / 81 are operating from Whifield Tesco, subject to delay. Routes 90,91 and 92 are turning at Minnis Lane, River and cannot serve any closer to Dover.
Folkestone: route 17 buses have been suspended as unable to get past Channel Tunnel entrance on A20. Route 10 buses are suspended due to HGVs on the A20 at Sellindge. Route 102 buses are serving as far as Dover Priory Rail Station and not running to or from Dover town centre.
Thanet: HGV movements at Manston are affecting services. Hengist Way and Spitfire Way are closed to traffic and all roads around Manston Airfield are gridlocked.
Route 9 - some services are cancelled. Buses that are running will go via Wingham A257 to Sandwich bypass
Route 11 - service running on diversion
Route 48 - is only operating between Dumpton and Manston Tesco
Please follow us on Twitter @StagecoachSE for real-time service updates

If people in Thanet wanted to get a train instead, they will find disruption due to a lorry hitting a bridge near Margate. It is unclear if it is one of the affected lorries involved, but would be just typical if it was. Response staff have been delayed getting to the scene See this Twitter thread from Southeastern

NEW: We have had reports of a bridge being hit by a vehicle in the #Margate area. Trains are being disrupted whilst response staff attend to examine and clear the bridge for use. Please check your journey and allow extra time to reach your destination.

The German Ambassador to the UK has tried to get to Manston to talk to lorry drivers, but has got stuck in traffic so is unable to. Anyway, I like his number plate! (1 GER). See Tweet from the Andreas Michaelis himself.

Went to Manston Airport today. Scheduled to meet up with German truck drivers. Last stretch difficult. Could not reach the airfield. Could only speak to them on the phone. Still very difficult situation for them. Too little information.

 

[Ianno87]

Attached is a screen shot of Google Maps' traffic layer for Dover

(Image shows maps with road closures and very heavy traffic)

 

[Cletus]

If you zoom in on this website you can see some of the traffic cameras in the town.

Kent Traffic Information.

www.kenttraffic.info

 

[Ianno87]

Baffles me why people are even trying to drive around with the roads like that!

 

[Cletus]

If you've seen the one that says A256/Castle Hill Road - That's a two-way road

I live near the camera that says Crabble Hill -I'm planning to have to walk some of the way home!

 

[Richard Scott]

Depends on whether you can 'persuade' enough ferry and port staff to make it viable.

Might do this side but the French? Good luck with that.

 

[DB]

Might do this side but the French? Good luck with that.

They too might be susceptible, if the UK government were to make if financially worth their while!

 

[Cletus]

I’d imagine our government would want the French government to pay, as all these problems are down to them.

 

[alex397]

I’d imagine our government would want the French government to pay, as all these problems are down to them.

Except these problems are not all down to the French government (not saying they are perfect though!).

 

[DB]

I’d imagine our government would want the French government to pay, as all these problems are down to them.

The problem is entirely down to our government. If they hadn't decided to overplay the deadly mutant angle to try to justify their U turn over Christmas, the situation wouldn't have arisen.

And basically, it's the UK which has the problem. Why would France be sufficiently bothered as to put in serious effort to resolve it?

 

[Crossover]

Personally I think if we become a nation of constant sanitisers (and social distancers) out of habit, it's going to lower our immune response to many simple viruses in the future.

Agreed - being "too clean" can have its problems

 

[bb21]

Reminder that the WHO didn't give COVID-19 it's actual name of SARS because they didn't want to upset the East Asian community & to appease China and I really wish I was making that up. The entire UN is an unfunny joke at this point. The feelings of people and the appeasement of China was given a higher priority than the safety aspect.

Why won’t the WHO call the coronavirus by its name, SARS-CoV-2?

The broader contention over how to label the new coronavirus underscores how disease names do far more than convey information—they draw battle lines.

qz.com

All sounds eminently sensible to me. I think those feelings you described are mainly people putting 2 and 2 together making 5. The WHO, as a UN agency, has to try and work with all members, not just the western world, which many people in the west seem unable to accept.

The name IS important. It is not about appeasement. It is about reducing misconception and not creating unnecessary links in people's minds, and that not only includes the informed population, but the great unwashed too, especially in this social media-dominated world full of lies and hidden agenda. The less weapon you can hand the unscrupulous and/or the ill-informed, the better. Much of the western press were pretty oblivious to the increase in racist attacks against Asian communities following the outbreak, no doubt fanned by provocative lies perpetuated by the petulant buffoon in the white house, and his name-calling, until that incident with the Singaporean student in London. Even then coverage remained patchy. Imagine how much worse it would have been if the most well known part of the name referred to SARS.

There is nothing wrong with the name used by WHO. Science isn't always that black and white in this world. Calling it SARS-Cov-2 in news reports is both a mouthful, and serves the general population no real benefit over Covid-19. You need to look beyond China. This affects far more people in the wider pan-Asia community.

Apologies I may have started dragging this off-topic. Happy to discuss this separately if needed.

 

[DB]

All sounds eminently sensible to me. I think those feelings you described are mainly people putting 2 and 2 together making 5. The WHO, as a UN agency, has to try and work with all members, not just the western world, which many people in the west seem unable to accept.

The name IS important. It is not about appeasement. It is about reducing misconception and not creating unnecessary links in people's minds, and that not only includes the informed population, but the great unwashed too, especially in this social media-dominated world full of lies and hidden agenda. The less weapon you can hand the unscrupulous and/or the ill-informed, the better. Much of the western press were pretty oblivious to the increase in racist attacks against Asian communities following the outbreak, no doubt fanned by provocative lies perpetuated by the petulant buffoon in the white house, and his name-calling, until that incident with the Singaporean student in London. Even then coverage remained patchy. Imagine how much worse it would have been if the most well known part of the name referred to SARS.

There is nothing wrong with the name used by WHO. Science isn't always that black and white in this world. Calling it SARS-Cov-2 in news reports is both a mouthful, and serves the general population no real benefit over Covid-19. You need to look beyond China. This affects far more people in the wider pan-Asia community.

Apologies I may have started dragging this off-topic. Happy to discuss this separately if needed.

I see your point, but if this was going to be a matter for concern they perhaps ought to have given the virus a different name!

 

[alex397]

French firefighters have been sent to Dover to help with Covid tests. They have 10,000 tests which they have brought with them too!
The French are still our friends and allies, despite what the silly xenophobes are saying.
Guardian article here.

French firefighters arrive in Dover with 10,000 Covid tests for lorry drivers​

Josh Halliday
Thu 24 Dec 2020 04.22 EST

A team of French firefighters has been sent to Dover with 10,000 coronavirus tests for lorry drivers under a renewed Franco-British mission to let hauliers cross the Channel by Christmas Day.
France’s ambassador to the UK, Catherine Colonna, said the two countries were “neighbours, partners, allies and (yes) friends” and that 26 firefighters had brought thousands of rapid-turnaround tests to the port on Christmas Eve.
A picture posted on Twitter by Colonna – using the hashtags #StrongerTogether and #thursdayvibes – showed the orange-jacketed pompiers carrying out Covid tests on hauliers before dawn on Thursday.
The move came as the UK’s transport secretary, Grant Shapps, promised that ferries would sail on Christmas Day and Boxing Day to help unblock the logjam caused by a 48-hour border closureimposed by France in an attempt to stop the new hyper-infective Covid variant from crossing the Channel.
There were rising tensions at the port on Wednesday as lorry drivers, many of whom had been stuck in Dover for more than 48 hours with limited resources, remonstrated with the UK officials.
As many as 10,000 lorries were estimated to be backed up around ports on England’s south coast, including at a lorry park at Manston airfield, where 170 army personnel were called in to help with the NHS-led effort to test drivers that got under way on Wednesday morning.
But before sunrise on Christmas Eve, with a momentous Brexit trade deal hours away from being unveiled, a fresh take on Franco-British co-operation emerged in Dover.
The French embassy in the UK tweeted: “26 French firemen have arrived early in #Dover this morning, bringing with them 10 000 #Covid19 tests. They are already working closely with the British on the ground, testing drivers on their way to France! #StrongerTogether #FrancoBritishFriendship”
It is not clear why the 10,000 French tests were needed in Kent – the UK government said on Wednesday evening it had four mobile testing sites in operation with a further five being set up – but the help was welcomed by Shapps.
The ministers, who has been negotiating all week with his French counterpart to unblock the ports, tweeted: “As well as ensuring ferries will now sail on Christmas and Boxing Day, we’ve also got great cooperation by French firemen working with NHS test and trace and our brilliant military in a big effort to clear the backlog created by the French border closure.”
The Department for Transport and the French embassy in the UK were contacted for comment.

For balance, the Daily Mail is also reporting this story.

 

[bb21]

I see your point, but if this was going to be a matter for concern they perhaps ought to have given the virus a different name!

Perhaps, but I think some of us are a bit too hung up by the distinction between the virus and the disease. There will always be cases where the distinction is not clearly drawn out, and over time what they are known by evolve. HIV and AIDS is another obvious example. Science needs to be precise, so I won't doubt their reasons naming the virus SRAS-Cov-2, but the general public just needs to be clear what they are talking about. I don't think there would be many people confused when someone talks about "covid virus", or "AIDS virus", even though they may not know the scientific name.

 

[Philip Elliott]

AIDS isn’t a disease but a syndrome brought about by the conclusion of the disease. Thankfully modern medication means most people who are HIV positive don’t go on to develop AIDS. A better example of different disease and pathogen names would be Bubonic Plague vs Yasiria Pestis.

 

[duncanp]

However I do think the "English virus" or "UK virus" thing will catch on somewhere.

I can think of one politician in the UK who would love for the new strain to be called the English virus.

No prizes for guessing who though.

 

[Mojo]

At this time of year, more than half of fresh produce is imported so how is this not affecting us?

Supermarkets tend to have quite a diverse supply chain - much is said about oranges from Spain but all the ones I’ve picked up from the shops lately are from Morocco. Obviously even so much of the traffic will still come through mainland Europe.

A lot of our salads also come from the Netherlands - and the freight traffic that comes across from there is largely unaffected.

I think they said something like 80% of trailers are unaccompanied.

 

[bb21]

AIDS isn’t a disease but a syndrome brought about by the conclusion of the disease. Thankfully modern medication means most people who are HIV positive don’t go on to develop AIDS. A better example of different disease and pathogen names would be Bubonic Plague vs Yasiria Pestis.

Yes I know. But it doesn't matter what it is. My point is that people generally understand what these terms refer to without needing to get it spot on w.r.t. scientific definition.