Up to £10,000 fine if you refuse to self isolate

[chomalungma]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-54221862

""People in England who are told to self-isolate by NHS Test and Trace face fines of £1,000 - up to £10,000 for the worst offenders - if they fail to do so. This includes those who test positive and those identified as close contacts of confirmed cases.

It also includes employers who force staff to ignore an order to self-isolate. NHS Test and Trace will make regular contact with those isolating to check compliance/

The measures apply from 28 September and will be enforced by police and local authorities . Those in receipt of benefits or on low income and who cannot work from home may receive a £500 one-off payment if self-isolating""

So :

1. What happens if you need to get some food? Will there be support to help people get food etc if they aren't allowed out

2. This is going to have a impact on the economy. People aren't going to want to go out and do anything which potentially has a risk of making you a close contact with the risk of a fine.

3. It's gong to have an impact on schools - for a similar reason.

4. What happens if you need to get a test? I see that you have to get a test if you are self isolating and then develop symptoms. The testing system is not working at the moment. Will this stop people going to get a test because they are worried about getting a fine?

Do we have to get a test? Why not just self isolate for 14 days. I don't have a car how.would I get to.a.test centre??

Do we have to get a test? Why not just self isolate for 14 days

Because that's a long time to self isolate and could be impractical for some people?

I don't have a car how.would I get to.a.test centre

There are walk in ones.
You can also get home tests - but I am not sure if you have to post these back by going to a post box.

Going out for essential food I believe is permitted if there is no local support available. Have not checked the legislation but I think this is the case.

1. will there be support to help people get food

Food deliveries, neighbours, extended family, local Facebook group volunteers, local church, food bank, age charities.

People have had 6 months to get an extra bag of pasta/porridge to store for this situation.

The state can’t start feeding everyone who gets a cough over winter.

Those who are in dire straits need to reach out for help locally and rely on kindness of others, as we all have to do sometimes.

Points 2 and 3 seem to suggest people will only bother to isolate if there’s a fine, which kind of supports having a fine?

Point 4 - there is an exemption for getting the test.

1. Food

"In England, you are allowed to leave your accommodation in exceptional circumstances. This includes such things as: • accessing basic necessities like food and medicines where you cannot arrange for these to be delivered"

www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-how-to-self-isolate-when-you-travel-to-the-uk/coronavirus-covid-19-how-to-self-isolate-when-you-travel-to-the-uk

As it is in the Travelling to the UK document I expect the same will apply for those self isolating for any reason, not just travel.

However it is strongly discouraged to go out in public, so local support networks I expect will restart to help provide delivery of essential food, medication etc.

I see they are finally talking about supporting people who can't afford to self-isolate. Assume it will be limited support.

They should have done that back at the start.

It makes so much sense.

When I had swine flu they used to ring me multiple times a day to make sure I was still where I was meant to be. Obviously more difficult to do on a bigger scale, but it was much stricter (to be bemusement of my sister who I was cat sitting for as she had to tag 2 days at my house onto her holiday as she wasn’t allowed home!)

That's just more reason for people to give false details to T&T and not answer unknown numbers to avoid being named a close contact.

I think basically our options as a nation are either:

a) Submit to increasingly Draconian measures in an attempt to control this thing until we can vaccinate against it.

b) Accept that this is going to tear through the population and let the chips fall where they may, allowing natural selection to run its course.

Which would you prefer? Maybe we ought to put it to a vote.

I think it will result in a lot of people not getting tested or reporting it.

You don’t post the tests, they collect them from your door. If you HAD to go out for food you make sure to social distance. At the moment most people aren’t social distancing

People really shouldn’t need to go out for food as we’ve known since March to have enough in for a self isolation period. I can’t imagine there are many who couldn’t book a delivery, ask family or friends, use local volunteers etc.

Not testing with symptoms and not isolating, ignoring T&T or giving false details are just show how selfish many are. This virus can be awful for some and devastating for families.

@squeekums

That's just more reason for people to give false details to T&T and not answer unknown numbers to avoid being named a close contact.

I heard people behind us in a queue for a bar a couple of weeks ago saying that they were going to give false info as they were down on holiday and wouldn't be going back to the place.

I dare say there are an awful lot of people with the surname of Smith or Jones going to bars and restaurants.

@pinkstripeycat

You don’t post the tests, they collect them from your door. If you HAD to go out for food you make sure to social distance. At the moment most people aren’t social distancing

You do post them. There priority post boxes that they can be posted in. They only pick them up if you can’t get to a post box.

Maybe they should just all be arrested and thrown in prison for the requisite 14 days.

If youve been told by track and trace to self isolate you shouldn't be going to school or the shop. There are local support networks that will help with food and you can order online.
If you need to get a text there are postal ones (I know, hens teeth) and you can get them collected from your home if you have no one who can go to the post box for you.

@IceCreamAndCandyfloss what about people who cannot afford to get two weeks worth of food in? I literally live to my means. Every penny is counted. I don’t have two weeks worth of food spare in my house. I’m lucky if I have two days worth!

You are allowed out to post your test. You just have to wear a mask and avoid contact with anyone.

@pinkstripeycat

You don’t post the tests, they collect them from your door. If you HAD to go out for food you make sure to social distance. At the moment most people aren’t social distancing

They were collected early on, we had some collected in June. But now most people will post them back, I think they still offer collection for people that cannot get to a post box.

@BehindtheBump, please no! Look at the last few votes we’ve had! All the conspiracy theorists would be out in force, voting for natural selection. Then we’d be told ‘you chose this’, when a huge number of us DIDN’T, but get told we’re sore losers. Noooooooo.

I’d say, there are people who’ll drop food at your door (local groups), so no you don’t need to leave. If your life is at immediate risk (eg. Severe domestic abuse), and you’ve run out of the house you’re not going to be fIned as that’s an extreme circumstance, or if you’re in labour for example. However, those who repeatedly left the house to get some sun on the beach or go to parties/BBQs during the time they’re supposed to isolate will be heavily fined. You’d need a home test as we would without a car. If you can’t get one before the isolation periods over (possible) then you’ll be self isolating anyway until going out. However, you won’t know if you’ve had it for sure and you wont be on the new cases statistics either.

We are in our second period of self isolating. First was on return from France. Now it’s because DH has tested positive, neither I nor DS have symptoms. There are NHS volunteers who can get medicines and food. And many community organisations too.

We’ve not needed them as can do online shopping. Although in return from France the notice given was so short that we couldn’t get a delivery until a day after our return. So we had Diet Coke and frozen hot dog buns for breakfast!

Our biggest issues is walking the dog (he won’t toilet In our garden) but friends have rallied round. One came a two hour round trip on public transport just to walk him. The local scout group I’m involved with have been great too and offered to walk him.

Yes it’s an annoying and inconvenient but not worth the chance of spreading it. I’d never forgive myself.

As for testing, at this point a test could be a false negative. Me or DE could get Covid at any point in the 14 days. And in fact we aren’t eligible for a test despite being in such close contact with a case. So isolating is more effective than us getting a test, thinking we are alright and potentially spreading it.

Of course it’s going to be harder for some people than others. But I think we have to try, we have a very long road ahead of this. I can tell you it’s a horrible illness. My usually healthy DH is knocked sideways and his case isn’t even severe.

I’ve been pretty surprised at how bad the test and trace is. We are pretty sure we know where DH got it (he was in very few places) and there’s no suggestion of contacting people who were also there. Worrying.

@BehindtheBump I refuse to live in a society where we sacrifice our vulnerable. The fact is that this disease has been proven to have long lasting debilitating effects. So if it does tear through a lot of people will never be the same again.

Great. Are people who cannot afford to self isolate being given financial support then? Some people literally live week to week and can't afford not to be at work.

I will not for anywhere where I could be tracked and traced. I am self employed and if I have to self isolate (with no symptoms so I can't get a test) I will loose 2 weeks income. This could be anywhere between £200 and £3000 depending what I have booked in, my work cannot move to another date, I would loose all the income. It's not worth the risk for me.

[quote Runssometimes]@BehindtheBump I refuse to live in a society where we sacrifice our vulnerable. The fact is that this disease has been proven to have long lasting debilitating effects. So if it does tear through a lot of people will never be the same again.[/quote]
And if we impose lockdowns and isolation with no real plan then a lot of people will never be the same again. Lost businesses, lost houses, suicide, child abuse, domestic violence.

It's not a zero sum game. Imposing this with no support system will kill people as well.