To wonder what the ‘sweeping new measures’ will be?

[Greatthumbsdown]

As covered widely in the media, Boris Johnson is now said to be considering ‘sweeping new measures’ for the whole UK, sooner rather than later. What do people think these will be? No mixing between households? Pubs closed at 10pm?

Redwine125 So, a lot of people are asking why all the preparing for a pandemic years in advance? I don't know the answers

It's called business continuity planning and there's an entire sector based around it.
We had near misses with SARS, MERS, and to an extent Ebola within the last decade.
Any major business without a pandemic plan would be pretty negligent.

There's also a civil sevice dept in charge of planning for unlikely but devastating scenarios, forget what it's called but I'm sure Google knows

Well if the “new measures” are going to be “stringing” they are likely to be a bit more than “No mixing between households” and “Pubs closed at 10pm” because this is what already happens in the locally imposed lockdown (eg north east restrictions that are in force now).
What really needs to happen is for the “track and trace” to actually work- tests available locally (Within a few miles of home) to anyone who needs them when they need them; then stricter enforcement of isolation for those traced. Just like many countries have been doing for months. Unfortunately this seems to be beyond our ability in the U.K.

@TheHeathenOfSuburbia I also did not know this, cheers.

From Twitter - Professor Chris Whitty and Sir Patrick Vallance will give a public briefing on coronavirus tomorrow (Monday).

The briefing will be broadcast live at 11am.

I think they should bring back Shielding. Most of the Shielders that I know (including my DH) are still trying to Shield as much as possible anyway because they just don't feel safe. It is hard though, without having the back up from the government Shielders dont have a leg to stand on when it comes to their employers etc. The government need to mandate Shielding and provide support for those people, there has been no further advice since it was paused, cases are going back up quite quickly now and still no advice for the Clinically Extremely Vulnerable! I would bring Shielding back and put a blanket ban on households mixing. Shutting pubs early won't do anything, if you're out drinking and the pub shuts at 10 who will be around to stop people piling back to their friends houses to continue drinking!

This government is not especially any more incompetent than any other. No one has the answers to this pandemic. If one country or government somewhere in the world did have the answers, then there wouldn’t be a pandemic! Everyone is feeling their way forwards, trying to figure out what is the best way to deal with the virus ( and we can only deal with it, we can’t eradicate it). It has all become politicised which is tedious. I think the government should say that we have two weeks to bring the rate right down. We do that (or the majority do that) by hand washing, hygiene, face masks, social distancing, just for once dropping the national fixation with going to the pub at any cost, staggering journeys on public transport, avoiding foreign travel. If that doesn’t work then it’s back into lockdown. It really has to be over to us the public at large to take as much responsibility as we reasonably can to contain the spread. We have to get ourselves ready for continual waves. This won’t magically stop after the “second wave” either.

And as for all the criticism around lack of testing, I find that a bit baffling. A test only speaks for the moment it is performed. You can quite easily catch the virus on the way home from your test.

People like me & my mum have been isolated right through, other than the hospital & an emergency dental appointment I haven't been out & my mum hasn't been out at all. Ds goes to school, comes home, straight in the shower, clothes in the washer. We can't do any more. The pubs closing at 10.00pm doesn't do much, everyone goes out earlier instead, round here people are still coming home at midnight, if they are having lock ins or visiting friends on the way home, I don't know. The government really need to get their fingers out now before it runs away like it did in the beginning, don't leave it so late before making the decision to go to full lockdown. They knew that chances were there would be a second wave, they should have preoared for it. The economy has been in much worse places than it is now, don't forget we were bankrupt at the end of WW2, we recovered, that was nearly 5 years, we have only been under Covid for 8 months.

Leicester and Oldham both been in special measures extra time and are either near getting released?

hairwizard

as no-one has answered your query about why there aren't running daily totals of deaths from cancer, diabetes etc, let me go out on the limb and try to tackle it...

Those illnesses do not spread exponentially. One cancer death this week does not lead to 2 next week.

To an extent I agree that the number of cases is an irrelevant total to get hung up on. The only number that really matters is the covid hospital admissions. They don't update these daily, but are currently around the 100-200 people a day mark.

Cases are doubling every 8 days or so at the moment (half the rate of Feb March, so clearly distancing, mask wearing, and isolating positive cases is having some impact - just not enough).

Because covid is still spreading exponentially, 200 hospital admissions this week, becomes 400 next week; 800 in week 2; 1,600 in week 3.

The health service was totally swamped at 2,000 admissions a day in April, so waiting until 1,600 admissions a day is already too late.

If we want businesses to stay open, we need a functioning health service.

Unless you have a plan for who it's ok to leave dying in the car park at the end of October, we need to act NOW.

Yes, there are regional variations.
Yes, the % of people going into hospital may drop as a proportion of total positive tests (particularly if universities returning drives up cases in younger age groups).

But once hospitals start filling up with covid cases, they don't leave in a hurry (via either option). So the hospitals grind to a halt and can't help those with cancer, heart problems, diabetes etc in the volume needed.

I know it's frustrating, but we don't have enough doctors, nurses, or hospital beds to let this virus 'just rip' through our country. Unless you want a new job piling up bodies in the car park at the hospital?

Perhaps treating this virus with the respect it deserves, for its ability to stop society functioning properly, would be helpful.

We can't stop everyone from dying, but we can modify our behaviours enough that the NHS stands a chance of treating people who still need help for non-covid problems.

Please be part of the solution, not part of the problem.

Lockdown please.

@Toomuchtrouble4me

Lockdown please.

Get a grip

“Oh please, please lock me in my house!”

Pathetic

"@blue25

I believe schools here are preparing for two weeks on, two weeks off."

If the government does this what about parents who work? It is a daft idea, there was no contingency plan for a pandemic, they are floundering, history books will be full of this fiasco

and a very strong chance that Christmas will be cancelled.

Christmas can't be cancelled, you dingbat.

People can celebrate Christmas, regardless of what is going on in the world. It may not be their usual celebration, but needs must.

No exams this year.
Lock down until Xmas not year 11s or year 13s.

How many people thought in March/April “this is only for a short while, it will all be dealt with by July and we’ll pretty much be back to normal”. Well we’re now in September with no end in sight and a very strong chance that Christmas will be cancelled.

no one with a thread of common sense thought that, not one single person! The whole world going into lockdown and the issue magically vanishing 2 months later? Really?

As above, no one is cancelling Christmas

People haven't learnt, people don't care so we are diving straight into a complete mess. Blame the selfish idiots, not the authorities.

Restrictions ARE temporary, which doesn't mean they vanish after a week. If at least many businesses have proven people can work well or even better by staying home and WFH becomes the new norm for many places who can, then it's a very good thing if some things have changed for ever.

I just hope people don't ransack the shelves of supermarkets and bulk/panic buy again because that was absolutely abysmal.

@Redwine125

I just hope people don't ransack the shelves of supermarkets and bulk/panic buy again because that was absolutely abysmal.

Too late, the pasta shelves at my local Waitrose were bare yesterday. Tinned good shelves also looked a bit meh. Flour is restricted and I saw a woman buying baking staples in large numbers.

People didn't learn.....

To all who want to have shielding back and maybe even mandatory: it is very damaging for mental health, you don't just restrict you, you restrict the family living with you .

I do understand the reasoning, friends are still not back fully, don't go to physical shops, they haven even seen their family in the garden yet. The children go to school but didn't return to hobbies if hold indoors.

I have seen a bubbly teen changed into a quite girl, DD mentions all the time that her friend is sad when they facetime.

You lock people away.

@reluctantbrit *Too late, the pasta shelves at my local Waitrose were bare yesterday. Tinned good shelves also looked a bit meh. Flour is restricted and I saw a woman buying baking staples in large numbers.

People didn't learn.....*

That's absolutely ridiculous and so selfish if people are doing that.

@Redwine125 I doubt people are buying up whole shelves of pasta or toilet rolls, but everyone I know including ourselves are buying an extra bag of pasta and flour and making sure we're stocked up with toilet rolls.

If nothing else it means I can deliver some to my DPs if it starts getting hard for them to get supermarket delivery slots again.

It's human nature to protect your own family and hardly selfish to buy some extra supplies when you're worried about what the future will bring.

One of the worst things about this pandemic is that people now seem freely able to judge others on every little action.

Lockdown please

Lock yourself down. I’m already under enough restrictions as it is.

[quote Redwine125]@Smallereveryday I don't think it's right that you call people "conspiracy theorists" and say they are "brain dead"... I have a first- class degree and a masters degree.. I don't consider myself more intelligent than anyone else, but people are entitled to do thier own research outside of what the mainstream media are forcing on us, and form thier own opinion. I'm certainly not brain-dead.. I have a family member who's a nurse... She doesn't agree with my views and that's fine.. But she also doesn't berate me for thinking differently either.[/quote]
When you did your degree and masters were you not required to do any research? and to ensure that the source from where that research were sourced was factually correct ?
I’m sorry but comparing hair brained and actually quite dangerous ‘Opinion’ to facts supplied by the likes of the ZOE app, Local Gov statistical reporting and the ONS as ‘equally’ valid .. is simply not true

Leicester and Oldham both been in special measures extra time and are either near getting released?

Well the rates haven’t significantly decreased. Neither have they in the other areas of Greater Manchester which are under various levels of restrictions. And yet local lockdowns are being hailed a success and rolled out to more and more of us.

@rookiemere one or two extra bags of pasta is fine.. But if you're standing in an Isle that has 6 bags of pasta left and take them all, then id call that selfish. Taking all nappies/wipes/baby formula like people did last time.. Is selfish. Especially when if people just did thier normal weekly shop there'd be enough for everybody.

The videos I saw back in March of people playing tug of War over bog roll and becoming violent was absolutely appalling. Acting like animals.