To think “Eat out to help out” will go down in history as one of the all time stupid policies?

[Skysblue]

Round here in August all the pubs cafes and restaurants were crammed with people eating out because they were excited about the discount. Some places had plastic screens but most didn’t. No distancing, just a load of strangers crammed together because the government was paying for them to eat out.

Now a couple of weeks later covid cases are rising and the government reckon it’s not their fault. So now it’s criminal to have meet ups over ) people.

Is it just me, or was encouraging people to go to restaurants (and offices) in the middle of a pandemic, a blindingly stupid policy?

Estimated cost of £500m, think the money could have been better spent.

Wasnt crammed where we went, bags of space between tables. Never felt safer.

@thecatsatonthewall, I'm in Cornwall too and it has been very noticeable hasn't it? All the hysteria and worry back in June and July about the inevitable second wave we didn't even get a first wave seems so over the top now. Cornwall was utterly heaving, yet the cases remain tiny

I think it's a lot to do with low density housing, very little industry and tightly packed workforces, lots of fresh air and little pollution and more of an outdoor lifestyle, despite the shit weather.

We'll see what this winter brings.

I enjoyed it, think it was great for the country, mental health and economy. Helping people come out of lockdown, easing them back into real life. I personally feel that restaurants have played no part in spreading the virus, most are extremely safe. Parties, raves, socialising and travelling has caused this spike. If you look at the age group most affected, most can not afford to eat out. Honestly the moaners in this country know no limits.....eat out to help out was much enjoyed by every single person I know, and most would love to see it return!!!

@GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER. You are so right! No one in the world knows the best way to navigate this. Our government , shit as they are, are doing the best they can (like every other government). Only hindsight will tell us who (if anyone) got it right. The likelihood is that every country will have done some things right and some things wrong. A bit like parenting really!

People seem so determined to find fault and assign blame for this but the truth is that pandemics happen sometimes. Luckily they are rare but this means they can’t be predicted or planned for. You might as well try and assign blame for hurricanes or earthquakes or meteorite strikes.

This Twitter thread was interesting about eating out, contrasting NYC and Madrid:

mobile.twitter.com/_MiguelHernan/status/1304424019450630144

I went out and felt safe. It wasnt crammed. I ordered using my phone and paid on my phone. Staff wore masks. It was clean and spaced out. I did wonder a bit about how much the meal was really going to cost in tax. But then i thought at least the staff still had jobs so swings and roundabouts.
It was massively safer that where i work.

None of the restaurants I cam across had people crammed in, and that covered a fairly wide area.

There has been a sharp rise in cases in France and Spain with no Eat Out to Help Out scheme, so I think we have to assume the explanation lies elsewhere.

As per usual nothing wrong with it as everywhere round by use followed cover guidance pre booked ,spaced out tables, oneway systems and limited numbers .
The downfall is as per usual the public will not do as there told or follow guidelines
So your plan is shut everything where the fuck do people think the money comes from.
Yes shut everything how many desperate people who loose everything jobs ,business and homes end up topping themselves what would that death rate be.
The difference between meeting 6 people in a pub/restaurant is there will be covid measure as I listed above rather than 6 sat on each other knees with no covid restrictions in there mothers frontroom

I thought it was great for people to have a bit of fun over a summer when many people would have difficulty going on holiday, so much else was shut and these businesses were crying out for a boost.

At the same time, I did feel that anything getting people together inside, during a pandemic, carried significant risk.

Much as we normally like eating out, we didn't use this deal.

I’d happily pay £40 NOT to catch it
So we avoided the whole thing
But ate out the day after it ended and as predicted the restaurant was deserted.

Staff said it had been really stressful

@GreenGoldRed

Disagree. All the evidence is that biggest spread of Covid-19 is within households - not from going to a pub/restaurant. I went to a couple of restaurants in August. All taking SD seriously, one way systems etc. It definitely helped footfall into the local town.

Of course the biggest spread of COVID-19 is within households @GreenGoldRed. That's true of many diseases. You spend more time in close contact with people in your own home than anywhere else (in general). Then add to that, if you are sick, you stay at home. Then add quarantine (in the case of COVID-19), if you aren't going out, you can't infect anyone other than your household.

Obviously that isn't the case with diseases that are blood borne or sexually transmitted, for example, but it is true of diseases that are airborne, spread by droplets or fomites if there is no significant level of immunity in the community i.e. transmission of measles or flu within households is less than in schools because it is likely that older members of the household will have immunity.

Someone in the household has to be infected and bring the disease into the home before they can spread it to other members of the household. There isn't a huge amount that you can do to effectively prevent spread within a household but you can minimise the risk of bringing infection into a household. The risk of transmission of COVID-19 within an individual household is largely determined by what the members of the household do outside the household and the level of contact they have with people outside the household e.g. going to pubs and restaurants regularly.

The statement, "All the evidence is that biggest spread of Covid-19 is within households - not from going to a pub/restaurant," is a bit like saying that there was little evidence of transmission in schools during the summer term when, for most of the time, very few children were at school and there was room for social distancing, and most of the country was at home 24/7.

It was done to support the restaurants. Better to pay half the bills than to pay the staff to stay home on furlough. It probably cost less than it would have cost to furlough people for another month.

I have family in Vienna and they were given a €25 voucher to eat out so not just a British thing.

A CDC study out of the US found that the primary risk of COVID was through contact with friends and family.

But the study also found that people testing positive for COVID were more than twice as likely to have eaten at a restaurant in the previous two weeks. It obviously doesn't prove correlation/cause and effect. But here's some interesting parts of the article:

"Surveying 314 people who sought outpatient treatment for respiratory symptoms, the researchers found those who tested positive for COVID-19 were more than twice as likely to have been places in the prior two weeks where food and drinks were served compared with those whose symptoms weren't related to the pandemic.

The two groups were similar in rates of shopping, attending churches and going to gyms, suggesting an independent risk for people who inevitably had to take off masks while eating and drinking at establishments, said Dr. Heidi Erickson, a co-author of the study and a pulmonary and critical care specialist at HCMC in Minneapolis.

"In these places where people can't necessarily wear their masks, where they're eating and drinking, it's not surprising to me at all that there would be increased transmission," Erickson said Thursday.

The association between dining out and positive tests was strengthened when researchers looked only at people who hadn't been in close contact with others who had COVID-19. In that comparison, people who tested positive were nearly four times as likely to have gone to bars or coffee shops as people who tested negative, and 2.8 times more likely to have gone to restaurants."

www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6936a5.htm

www.startribune.com/study-finds-more-restaurant-goers-among-covid-19-patients/572377112/?refresh=true

My family are eating out as normal. Restaurants, bars, and cafes won't lose their livelihood and the public are enjoying meals out with friends and family. But they're in Australia, where measures were taken to protect the economy (and lives).

The lockdown, or at least it lasting more than the original 3 weeks, is what will go down in history as the greatest mistake.

Costing billions of pounds and more lives than the fucking virus itself.

If establishments didn’t socially distance it’s their own fault and the fault of stupid people for dining in those conditions.
The scheme was brilliant and just what that sector and general public needed.

I've eaten at one restaurant and a couple of cafes since the start of August. Stacks of space between tables, hand sanitizer everywhere, feeling that everyone taking biosecurity seriously. Safer there than at work.

Amazing isn't it? all this increases in infections but its all someone else's fault.

Anyhow, we wont be getting EOTHO again but we will be getting more lockdowns and i predict pubs bars will shut v soon.

Infections are soaring and as soon as night follows day, that will mean more hospital admissions and deaths.

Did you actually see people crammed in to lots of places, or are you the queen of exaggeration?
Strange post, because I haven't seen people crammed in. Lots of organised distancing by businesses.
I have seen young people (twenties) not social distancing outside bars on crowded pavements at weekends. Nothing to do with the government scheme.
The scheme tempted people out of their homes and gave them confidence to do normal things again. I think it was very helpful and boosted morale.