COVID-19

Think fordy might have missed the point a little. The point was that Boris’ own constituency has the same rate of infection currently as Bradford had, in July, when we went into our first set of local lockdown measures.
The question is why have we not followed the same method there as he did here?

 

I know one lad who got his corona test back in less than 14 hours, and one lad who got his result back over 3 days later. Luck of the draw on the lab that’s processing them I suppose.

 

Because at the time that level represented a hot spot but now it doesn't because everywhere has gone up?

 

The idea with a pandemic is to get ahead of the curve. We didn’t learn that in March and we don’t appear to be learning it now. You need to bolt the door shut before the horse bolts. Not the other way round as we keep doing. SAGE have said this today on their twitter feed.
The government are not learning. They will put them into lockdown too late.

 

I agree but there seem to be no will for a national lockdown either inside or outside of those in charge.

Is that what you're pushing for. Another full lockdown like March. I can never gauge what you actually want?

 

Why are you talking about a national lockdown? I asked the question originally as to why, if these measures are designed to work, has Boris own constituency not been put into the first local lockdown measures like Bradford was?

I think I’ve answered this earlier, my optinion is these local lockdown measures do not work as they not strict enough but to show consistency and to give people confidence the government need to share the rationale and science behind them. And they must follow the same approach for all and not handpick like they seem to be doing now.
My view is if it’s as bad as it is now in areas they must be shut down. You don’t go to the pub/school/work and we keep furlough until March at the minimum for those that need it. We then review in 2 weeks and 4 weeks and 6 weeks etc and we look to reopen softly.
We bed down For a bit because this is not going away. Do that in particular areas but do it quickly and not wait until we are at the rate we are now

 

This is what the readers of the T&A are suggesting, if the economy isn't screwed already it would be with another nation wide lockdown.

 

you've a weird sense of humour then. loads of tests, but there are rapid reaction tests that look v positive and are about to undergo a clinical trial detailed here - https://www.residentadvisor.net/news/73711 . if it can be done we need to look at how we can apply any of that to venues here to keep them open. I don't see how you can say the industry is moaning when people just want to be allowed to open safely so they dont have to be on furlough.

 

And the answer is because they were targeting hotspots. When Bradford was put into lockdown it's rate was 60 (or whatever it was - does anyone remember?) and that was enough to get it towards the top of the list, I'm not sure what Boris' constituency is at the moment but if that pure numerical value was the criteria then basically every built up place in the UK would be under lockdown. It would in essence be a national lockdown rather than targeting hotspots.

I think I mentioned earlier that I don't know what science we expect. All we can see is where people have been before testing positive so not actually where they caught it so the granular science just isn't there. Knowing that we have to limit interactions between people is surely enough science?

I'm not sure anyone is going to shut schools again but I reckon everything else is fair game. The issue that you've got is that the areas that will need to be properly shut down is enormous and tantamount to what happened in March unless you live in the countryside.

 

Okay but how many of them would we need. 10 million every Thursday, 10 million every Friday? Every week. Would they be free?

How many can we produce now?

People are moaning because they're not taking into account the reality of the current situation. Hanging onto things that don't even currently exist and would need the whole infrastructure building to produce 50 million + accurate tests per month show how bloody difficult the situation is but people expect easy answers to it.

 

Pure comedy gold!

 

Coming round to the idea we should properly isolate and shield the sick, disabled and elderly and others deemed at risk and then for everyone else to get on as normal hopefully achieving a herd immunity while hopefully not overwhelming the NHS (ie like Sweden )

 

Last suggestion was those over 45

 

I think that's the only other possible suggestion that's sensible but I don't think anyone has actually figured out how to do it.

There was a Guardian article earlier in the week that said something like half the adults in the UK could be classified as vulnerable for one reason or another.

In an unofficial way it wouldn't actually surprise me if they're seeing whether that works on a smaller scale in the universities.

 

Would have thought over 50 a better choice, But short of a reliable vaccine herd immunity is the only alternative to what has been a series of shamble by this government

 

They haven’t managed to get this season flu vaccination right. DCHS keep saying there are 30m vaccines in the system but speak to any GP, pharmacy etc and they will tell you about supply issues.