What do people think of the government’s message wrapping every newspaper today?

[Rollergirl11]

In all shops today

Sdad (80 impaired lungs) buys one very day for my Mum ( wheelchair user, multiple health conditions) but it’s fine because it’s “allowed” so has a magic built in Corona shield.
I asked them if the Daily Mail is worth dying for

😂these newspapers will be worth a fortune one day

I remember buying a copy of The Independent the morning after the Berlin Wall was breached (10 Nov 1989). I can still remember the headline: "So ein Tag, so wunderschön". I thought this would be worth money one day.

Do I still have it? Do I hell! It got chucked away in a house move God knows how long ago.

My FIL has dementia and the daily newspaper is one of his few constants. He wouldn’t manage online reading. At the beginning of lockdown, I was fetching it for him, but have finally managed to find somewhere to deliver. It makes him happy and is a lifesaver for MIL!

Since lockdown we've started getting papers delivered.

I think the message will reach some people who might not 'get' it another route.

Just as TV messages don't reach everyone, or SM don't reach everyone.

I think it is important to keep the message there, as now the figures are improving a bit, people might start to relax social distancing a bit too much before they should.

It's a strange use of funds considering the compliance to the rules has been better than they expected.

Paper news reaches a pretty broad base and probably the most resistant to change. So it's a good choice.

I think many of the most elderly people won't understand the graphic. It should be in plain English that everyone can read and understand.

It bothers me.

If non absorbent shiny surfaces like plastic wrapping must be left for 72 hours before safely touching, but absorbent ones like newspaper need be left for only 24 hours, then storing for 24h before opening won't work anymore. I did this.

Neither will sticking newspapers in low oven as I advised my mum to do before reading, because she wanted todays news.

Now we are left with leaving it 3 days,
or
rubber gloves to wipe the plastic wrapper with bleach or alcohol or hard-to-get wipes, followed by leaving the paper part 24 hours.

My verdict on the plastic wrapper:
An unnecessary complication.

The police guidelines say that going out to buy a newspaper is allowed. Reading the news on a screen is not the same and you don't get all the sections. Some people don't have access to the internet or an appropriate device at home.

Of course it's not 'essential' in the strictest interpretation of the word but the risk is low enough to be acceptable - note that's an important factor that many people seem to be forgetting. It's not the aim to reduce the risk of infection to zero as that's pretty much impossible and other risks then come into play - impact on mental health, the economy, accidents or illnesses going undetected in the home etc. Merely to slow down the risk of infections to a level at which the NHS can cope with.

Walking to the shop for a paper could be someone's daily exercise, which is also allowed and they're likely to come into contact with fewer people than in a big supermarket.

Stay at home. Unless you want to congregate with 1000 other people on a bridge. Then go for it

• My verdict on the plastic wrapper: An unnecessary complication.*

It isn’t a plastic wrapper.

OK. Supposedly coronavirus can live on paper and cardboard for up to 24 hours and on plastic for up to 72 hours. So wrapping paper in plastic really makes a whole lot of sense.

The interesting thing about the coronavirus is just how quickly it's caused common sense to fly out of the window. Or perhaps it's just exposing how rare a phenomenon common sense already was.

It’s replicated on digital media too

It's not on The Times digital app front page. Or on the front page of The Daily Telegraph's web version. Strange.

Neither will sticking newspapers in low oven as I advised my mum to do before reading, because she wanted todays news
Did she do this?

Or people could just keep washing their hands and not touching their face instead of quarantining anything that anyone else might have touched or slow cooking their newspaper.

I'm surprised people haven't installed tacky mats, air showers and irradiation facilities at the entrances to their homes, given the lengths some people are going to.

Are people seriously putting newspaper in the oven??
There are some very strange people around

Don't see what harm it could do?

Bit pointless now that they've said people can leave home to go and stay with a friend if they need to cool down following argument. This will be totally abused by most teens

Oh here we go again, bashing teenagers. Give it up, seriously.

I mean putting this on the front page, not putting the paper in the oven.

It’s replicated on digital media too
It’s not on a single one of online editions of newspapers that I can see.

Why does it have be such a 'hip' message. Most of the people who actively purchase a newspaper are unlikely to understand the @ in a house. What's wrong with just writing Stay At Home??

My elderly neighbour goes to the shop to buy a paper every morning along with a few 'essentials'. Then every couple days the counselling volunteer brings bags of 'essentials' to put outside neighbour's door because 'they're vulnerable and can't get out'.

Neither will sticking newspapers in low oven as I advised my mum to do
What on earth? Where did you get that bit of advice?

Loving the irony of having to go out of your home to buy the newspaper telling you to stay at home.

Surely the point of this it to reach exactly those people who insist on going out every day for a paper? If they're faced with a wall of 'PLEASE STAY AT HOME' then it's more of a jolt. I agree with PPs saying that the sign isn't clear: maybe they should have gone back to basics and had a big picture of Lord Kitchener pointing and saying FFS GO HOME NOW.

Our elderly relatives all have the newspapers delivered. Just because some posters are in shops doesn't means everyone buys their newspaper in the shop. Although clearly as a display stand it gives the message to all those who've "nipped out".

The message will be unclear to many people. It just says Stay, and then a squiggle which many won’t be able to decipher.