7pm Boris speech thread - anyone want to join?

[Therealfatshady]

I'm a nervy bee and thought it would be fun to watch with you all!

‘What is the current r rate? .5 to .9 is a massive range.’

There are regional variations. London and other urban settings who were ahead of other parts of the country in terms of infections and death rates are now at 0.5.
Other areas are 0.9 currently. Which is dangerously close to the >1 which could see another explosion in infections. But it’s impossible to introduce specific regional measures based on a specific R value on any given day.
Although looking at the devolved nations responses it seems as if that is exactly what’s going to be happening.

The furlough scheme at the moment only covers until the end of June anyway. Nobody can be clear on what the situation might be after that.

@foreversville
www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-for-wage-costs-through-the-coronavirus-job-retention-scheme

Therealfatshady inclined to agree. Tomorrow plus 2-3 weeks to the next peak to start, means that peak has just been scheduled for early to mid June.

Employees with caring responsibilities
Employees who are unable to work because they have caring responsibilities resulting from coronavirus (COVID-19) can be furloughed. For example, employees that need to look after children can be furloughed.

*So what do millions of parent do if their work opens but all childcare is shut.

Stop working?

Furlough is only meant to cover you if your place of business has been closed not if you can't get childcare.

Can you see the problem now?*

You don't go to work.
My work is open, some are furloughed some are not. We rotate some of the furlough.

School are only partially open... lots of kids still can't go back to school which means you won't be able to go back to work...
IF you can do so, then do - hence if you can't, don't

A lot of companies won't be able to operate anyway if half the workforce can't come in due to childcare.

Our head has already sent a message out basically saying tough if you now have to go back to work but school is still shut. Basically you are fucked.

Suddenly lockdown not looking as nice huh

Quite peppafrig, and those companies in sectors that could reopen in July but who have workers with childcare responsibilities are currently in a very unclear position. They don't even know if they'll be able to furlough these employees once the sector reopens.

*Tabbyzmum

Omg..he was clearly talking about people travelling from England to these places, or a fair distance, to avoid all the traffic at places like Snowden again. He didnt mean anybody at all. Wales is full of beaches and mountains. So clearly if you live in Wales, local to a beach or mountain, you can go there!!!!*

From gov.wales/leaving-home-exercise-guidance

Travelling by vehicle before exercising
13. The intention is that exercise should be undertaken locally – as close as possible to the home. In general this should not involve people driving to a location away from home for this purpose. No journeys of any significant distance should be taken, for example, just in order to exercise in the countryside or at beauty spots (many of which are closed in any event to prevent this).

A lot of companies won't be able to operate anyway if half the workforce can't come in due to childcare.

Not to mention those who do have children at school are unlikely to be able access before / after school care. So may potentially only be able to work within school hours.

Loads of companies still don't know what precise PPE their staff should wear, and they are being advised to 'tread carefully' (which is not helpful at all) - worried that they could be sued if they make bad choices.

Most firms know their normal working procedures well, so can risk assess very well, but they aren't microbiologist and don't know how to risk assess Covid-19 very well.

And of course, there's going to be a lot of staff who don't feel safe, and others pointing fingers about being 'overly cautious' etc. There will be tension in a lot of workplaces.

And Laura Kuenssberg on the BBC website:

You'll be able, from Wednesday too, to take unlimited exercise; to meet one person from outside your own household as long as you stay two metres apart; you can go and sit in your local park, to sunbathe, or to take part in sport with others from your household.

I don’t understand the difference between going to sit in the sun 2m away from a stranger, people will froth at the mouth of you do this with a friend or family member.

Yeah I don't think people should be sunbathing at all though... Maybe in very quiet places but in busy parks they're just taking up way more space for longer than people on the move do, and they make it harder for everyone else who wants to use the park to keep a 2m distance. Does my head in.

Wilbur.....hes moved on from then. We can travel to exercise, but locally.

to meet one person from outside your own household as long as you stay two metres apart

I'm guessing they have access to other information, as this wasn't covered in the speech.

He didn’t say locally did he?

I think the difference between 2m from a stranger vs from a friend is that one is unplanned and pure chance... but if you start co-ordinating a meet, you start skewing the odds. Park attendances then become less random, and there might be a tendency to start co-ordinating 3 people, or 4 etc...

The key word in that phrasing is can be furloughed. It doesn't say they have to be.

The employer has full discretion whether furlough, there is no law that says that they must do so.

Susie he was very clear that you could drive a distance if you choose to What distance?

does 'you can drive somewhere' for exercise mean you can drive to somewhere loved ones are and exercise socially distanced from them?

No. What is so hard to understand about "only with members of your household"?

Surely when he said you could go with members of your own household but maintain social distance he meant social distance from other people, you don't need to maintain it from people in your household. So if you can sit in a park 2 metres from people outside your household why can't those people be people you know?

Not clear really is it.

Are there any changes re driving lessons?

Or key workers only? I work in finance (Analyst) so technically am a key worker but I can work from home so I’m not sure if I qualify to continue my lessons?

@TabbyMumz
You can only drive somewhere to exercise if you have health or mobility problems thatcorevent you from exercising outside your home. Other than that any exercise must start and end at home.

So I guess if you are close enough to cycle/run/walk to the beach you'll be fine.

Taken from BBC Wales on Friday after first Ministers announcement for Wales.

Joke of leadership and communication really. Although I suspect it was designed to be, so that any further spikes are on the heads of the public not the Gov. Deliberately vague.

And another thing, he is PM Johnson, not Boris. It is always Keir Starmer, Nicola Sturgeon etc.

He is just another manufactured cuddly toy.

I think all this how many metres and how many families stuff will be irrelevant now. The general British public will be fairly confident they can do what they want with much less policing, so they will. Police have already made clear the situation has been unpoliceable this weekend. People doing what they want means more spread. More spread means after today a second peak in June.

Tabbymumz

This report on BBC 27 minutes ago

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-52605939

A member of the Welsh Government, Jeremy Miles, said exercise must be local to the home and people could face fines if they drove in to Wales for leisure.

"Wherever you can you should stay at home," Mr Drakeford said.

"If you need to leave home for work, exercise or shopping, you should stay local and stay alert."

"If you go out, stay local and stay safe."

"The health of the public is paramount. It will inform our decisions and we will continue to inform you as we plan for our future in the weeks ahead," he added.