Brace yourselves Cornwall.

[SidsWife]

been doing trips up and down the A30 the last few days delivering bits to vulnerable family members. I reckon I’ve seen probably over a thousand campers, caravans and cars loaded with luggage heading towards Cornwall, full of passengers. Very worried for my gran who lives there. Cornwall is full of old people and has one hospital which only just manages to keep up on a normal day. People running away to their second homes ought to be ashamed.

elderly people who live in Cornwall will lose out
invaders from the city land on Cornwall and slaughter the locals via coughs and sneezes:(

Yes that's exactly right UYScuti - if you are travelling to the SW we have one hospital - which struggles in normal circumstances. Also Its not just the destination it is the infection you could spread on the journey. I expect you are a troll but I felt the need to reply to your post.

I love Cornwall, and the Cornish people, but would I travel there atm? No! It will make it all more worthwhile going in the Summer, if we're able!

Same thing has happened in the Highlands.. a local DJ yesterday held no punches.. get to fuck he told them

I do actually get it. I understand your concerns. Although I think the real target of your anger should be successive governments and their failure to ensure there is sufficiently well funded and equipped hospitals and infrastructure (allowing for changes in population) everywhere. Some places might sometimes be better than others but really we don't have that anywhere.

However, replace Holiday maker or second home owner with migrant. Which is relevant in cities. Do you think London or Manchester or Liverpool or any other city's elderly should be prioritised over incomers? How about young people from Norfolk and Cornwall and Suffolk and other rural areas. Who've moved in the past year or so to a big city. Relative newcomers. Should city elderly be prioritised over them? It's a slippery slope. From what I've read, if the worst case happens and there's full ICU capacity, people more likely to survive will be prioritised wherever they are - even if that means a transfer to another area's hospital.

Incidentally, would you accept a woman and her children fleeing domestic abuse being placed in your area? If they were self isolated?

It's a shame the government didn't give clearer instructions about non essential travel weeks ago, which would've avoided all this.

I live in SW Cornwall and my husband and I fall into the vulnerable category. I can understand people thinking they would be safer here than in the city but it's really not true. The are 5 intensive care beds this side of Plymouth. Doctors from Treliske have been begging people to stay away and predicting that things are going to get very much worse here. If it comes to it, I don't really expect to be ventilated. Let's face it, those are the decisions that will have to be made. We are self isolating and hoping for the best.

I have cancelled my family's ten day trip to Cornwall for Easter. I live in Putney. Booked it with my sisters family about a year ago. Very disappointed but know we need to stay in our own homes.

Highland Scotland yesterday - 30 campervans /motorhomes in a car park in a village where the nearest hospital has 34 beds. Not ICU beds but 34 beds in total

This makes me furious. I have family in Devon and Cornwall, one is a bloody nurse so I’m incandescent about this. Stay. At. Home. You selfish twats.

in Dorchester the elderly r still going about their day.. I've had to isolate due to slightly weaker lungs and I'd just rather not get ill people r crazy

Linda, that's very thoughtful of you - on behalf of us rural dwellers, thank you. We'd love to welcome you and your family back when this is over

Well the good thing is they will all be sent packing as campsites close, as will hotels.

Just hope that happens sooner rather than later before it’s too late.

Now that we’re in lockdown will people on holiday/in a second home have to return to their main home? How will that work?

I don’t think they will. I’m in South Devon in a town with 4 large holiday camps. Most of the caravans are owned and can be lived in 50 weeks a year (but obviously aren’t). Suddenly all the people that have turned up at the parks are insisting that it’s their primary residence (even though it can’t be) and if they close the parks they’ll be homeless 🙄. All these parks are used by locals for parking during the winter months, there’s never a car there. Suddenly it’s absolutely rammed with people insisting they’ve always been there. Absolute bellends, the lot of them.

It is basically the sense of entitlement with people , they think well if "I've " got to be stuck somewhere bored & only allowed out for fresh air & exercise " I'll" go where " I'll" enjoy it the most! I'm cornish & live in one of the busiest towns in Cornwall what's worrying is for weeks now the supermarket shelves have been bare, there's been no calpol or paracetamol in general & as others have pointed out we're a rural county with very basic facilities ! I really don't think we have the infrastructure to cope in general with covid 19 let alone with a vast influx of people , for food , meds & especially not healthcare ! It's very sad as a race you always hope that in the event of some sort of disaster people would ultimately do what's fair what's right for the greater good ! But sadly there'll always be the people that just look after number 1 😤

Luckily the hamlet I live in near Redruth has absolutely no 2nd homes. People with 2nd homes will probably feel entitled to occupy them as an escape from any upcountry hotspots. If they bring 2 week's worth of food, loo rolls, soap, milk, paracetamols and stay in bloody doors for the two weeks, then okay; but they won't, of course because people who feel entitled to anything will generally ignore anything that obstructs them from what they want to do.

One could argue that people who have second homes don’t really give a flying fuck about the communities in which they live in the first place.

Sorry for this but- if I had a place ( second home) in Cornwall, I would be there now.
If I had young children and was facing the overbearing prospect of keeping them entertained, in practical isolation, for the next 4 months or so, I would go to Cornwall. If I was on my own, over 60 and facing wrote off if I become ill, I would go to Cornwall. I love Cornwall, like most of us do. Why wouldn’t we want to come to your lovely towns any time, but especially in crisis.
I understand your need to protect your limited NHS resource, but the NHS resource is limited every where. That’s the problem! Not that people want to improve their options by coming to Cornwall in this national crisis.

Now we’re in lockdown I’m glad all the dicks who’ve come for a holiday will get arrested if they’re caught on the beach!

successive governments and their failure to ensure there is sufficiently well funded and equipped hospitals and infrastructure
I think this is a very valid point, corona has thrown so much up into the air and exposed so many failings, will we address all this in the post corona world?

Even if these people don't care about others ( which they don't), I can't think of anything worse than being so ill, in a caravan. How awful.

And how are they going to isolate from the rest of their own family in one space?

I really hope so @UYScuti

It would be a silver lining if we all finally realised how important it is to have a well funded, well equipped, and also well managed (so much waste goes on) health service. With equally good provision across the UK.

This is causing so much stress, trauma and shock for everyone I think the only way that we will get over it as a nation is by thoroughly examining what happened and doing everything we can to protect ourselves from similar events in the future.
Kind of like a collective 'processing' of things?

There must be no cover-ups or sweeping things under the carpet, everything must be brought out into the light🌞
(for thorough disinfection 🧐)

Every time I find the stress taking over I try to focus on something positive. Hope. It's awful it has to take a tragic event but a lot of progress has come out of terrible events. Peasants had improved circumstances after the black death, WW1 was a catalyst in gaining women the vote, loads of medical advances came out of both world wars. It's a terrible shame it takes something so dreadful for it to happen but definitely there's precedent.