Boris doing an announcement at 4.45pm today

[PrincessHoneysuckle]

Think on BBC

For people concerned about not being able to go to Sunday lunch or going to the gym, that's a pretty minor issue in the grand scheme of things.

Here in Ireland, my friend had her wedding reception cancelled following the government announcement on Thursday. She went ahead with the ceremony with a handful of close family members and tried to do a small dinner afterwards in the local rugby club but lots of people stayed away. It's awful but necessary considering what we're dealing with.

Bars are closed and only a handful of restaurants are open. The local shopping centre is a ghost town. People here are heeding the advice. We need to stop the spread.

Keeping UK schools open is absolutely crackers.

Iremembertheelderlykoreanlady
CAN I JUST CLARIFY SOMETHING
(Putting it in capitals as no one seems to be realising this)
Those with health conditions are not being asked to self isolate - they are being asked to avoid social contact.
There's a difference

Apologies if I've missed it, but I've been looking on the gov.uk and nhs pages and can't see that information there. DH get a flu jab every year for health reasons and we can't seem to find information to state this.

Keeping kids in school in general stops them going stir crazy

And guarantees they'll spread the virus around and pass it to vulnerable people.

If you are facing the option of test or treat but you don't have enough people /resources to do both, then treat is a priority over test in my book, no matter what the who might want

Ireland closed schools, colleges and childcare facilities on Thursday. Banned mass gatherings and advised public to social distance. By yesterday most restaurants and bars , hairdressers , gyms etc volunterily closed. I work in an office of 1100 and by Wednesday we will be either working from home or spacial distancing ourselves in the dice my 2ms. The public are taking this very seriously and are willing to comply for the Better of everyone. Similar happening all over. The EU. UK are marking a fuckfest out of it with unclear and confusing advise. And I can’t for the life of me understand why the think what they are doing or in this case not doing is for the better of its citizens.

You're right middleager. Im surprised at the dickishness I've seen today from people I'd expect to be less self centred. I think they must still be in denial.

I don't think we can trust people to be sensible, unless they are told in no uncertain terms.

This. We have a family member who is currently self isolating as they and another family member in the household have symptoms, during a text exchange about the new guide lines when asked if they would now self isolate for 14 days -

"No fuck that"

People STILL aren't taking this seriously at all.

I don't think we can trust people to be sensible, unless they are told in no uncertain terms.

I predict we'll have a lockdown if people don't do it voluntarily. and I think that's when they're planning to close schools.

No you need to work out how you are going to stop children mixing with vulnerable people.

Teachers who are vulnerable should not be in school

Keeping kids in school in general stops them going stir crazy, means that parents can keep working , with a very small risk to their health from corona

Yes there is little risk to their health but what about the families that they go home to?

Can I just ask if I stayed in my house and just had shopping delivered until this calms down would be okay and not catch it? I'm lucky enough that my only child to go school is under 5 so pulling her out would be fine and then we could just stay in until this passes? My partner works but only two days a week and in a supermarket however he's more than aware of the situation and happy for me and the kids to stay indoors. My kids are 4,3, and 3 months.

Those with health conditions are not being asked to self isolate - they are being asked to avoid social contact.
There's a difference

They is a difference, but many people with health conditions will come across far more social contact during work than actual social events. I know I do.

@QuentinWinters It's exactly that. Boris won't impose anything set in stone because then he'll have to fork out for it. My dad can only claim UC (I think) but will have the normal wait (5 weeks?) and all that jazz - he's earning so little I reckon they'd penalise him too.

He's got chest pains now because he's so worried about how he's going to survive, let alone pay his bills.
Never had a state handout in his life, worked from the age of 16 and has been a cab driver for over 20 years.
Working from 6am till midnight trying to earn enough to pay for his bills, but basically spending more money on fuel than what he's earning. He earned £9 in 3 hours when I spoke to him this morning.
Nearly 60, working 18hours a day and not even earning minimum wage.

But fuck him, ay Boris? Only collateral at the end of the day

What don’t people get? The advice is clear. The reason aforementioned places are not on lockdown is because if the government has to spend a ridiculous amount of money keeping everything afloat then the economy will be up shit creek. The government isn’t a separate financial entity from its people - it is US who will have to pay. Along with paying for the publicly funded teachers who will inevitably have to be at home when the schools will eventually shut, the additional mounting costs to facilitate emergency treatment for those with the virus needing critical care, to potentially pay for a “pause” on rent/mortgage/utility bills to make sure that the nation doesn’t go bloody bankrupt.

Just look at the other measures and costs mounting in other countries. The longer we can stall this here the better we will be on the other side of it once the pandemic is over. The country still has to function after, ffs. We still need tourism, industry, schools and the NHS.

The government is trying to balance all of that with trying to figure out how rigid the measures they impose to keep the virus from killing a load of people en masse have to be. It’s an incredibly fine line. As they’ve already said, the majority of us will get this at some point. The idea is to spread the infection rate as thinly as possible to make sure the impact is as little as it possibly can be.

The sooner schools are shut the quicker people will have to stop working to look after their children and the quicker businesses will lose money and go bankrupt. If they do that then people will lose jobs, poverty and homelessness will increase. People won’t spend money. The economy will be fucked.

What don’t some of you get about this? The government isn’t doing this for FUN or because they are “Tory bastards” who don’t worry about their own pocket. These are real human beings doing a thankless bloody task who are trying to follow the advice they are given in an effort to keep us safe.

Scaremongering on the god damn internet and panic buying toilet roll whilst only giving a shit about “little Johnny being at school”
Is not going to help any of us.

Big picture, folks. The government are here to try and do their level best for ALL of us not just individual personal interests.

@Ventilatorshortage The point is that we should ALL be socially distancing wherever we can. I find it hard to believe that anyone's visit to the pub is more important than other people's lives.

And also if there is a lockdown what do people do for fresh air if you live top floor of a tower block with three kids for months?

IMO they should be testing frontline emergency services staff (that means me!) as the NHS can not afford for every member of staff or staff with people with a cough or high temp in their household to self-isolate for 14 days when it could just be a common cold or lots of the workforce will be off!

Also, we have flights to Japan that leave in 3 weeks and the Government have just said to avoid all but essential travel have they not?Yet the airline are still only issuing refund up to the day before we're due to travel....

How do we know if we are eligible for a flu vaccine? Would we know if we are? May have to ring my GP as I do have a heart condition but it is minor and does not affect me day-to-day but I don't want to busy up their phone line.

These briefings need to be broadcast more widely, with normal TV programming interrupted.

Also, looking at the St Patrick's Day revellers and massive concert in cardiff. People won't keep away.

Bananas. If Ireland can cancel their main St. Patrick's Day parade (and all the smaller regional ones) over a wek ago, you would think that might send a message to other countries.

@Writersblock2 absolutely agree.

It's amazing how people are still letting their own petty self-interests blind them to the fact that this is an unprecedented situation.

@Writersblock2

Fuck the self-employed people he's selling down the river with his pathetic, yellow-bellied apathy though right?

@ aLilNonnyMouse

What they say, or the main points I gathered:

-Avoid all non essential contact and travel eg avoid pubs, clubs, theatres, cinemas, etc should be avoided.

• If you have symptoms eg persistent cough isolate yourself and your whole household for 14 days.

-Work from home where possible.

-If you have underlying health condition or are elderly or are pregnant take particular care to avoid social contact.

-Schools still open.

God the toilet roll hoarders are going to go crazy now.

Exactly what @Writersblock2 said 👏🏻