Cornwall 'could have lockdown lifted before the rest of the UK' - thoughts??

[doghairismyglitter]

According to former Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt Cornwall could be one of the first places in the UK to have lockdown lifted.

www.google.com/amp/s/www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornwall-news/cornwall-could-lockdown-lifted-before-4058329.amp

Not sure if that link will work. Apologies if it doesn’t.

But does anyone have any thoughts or views? I live in Cornwall myself.

[DobbyTheHouseElk]

Loads of ways to Cornwall! A30 is one. Loads of coastal roads too. I never go over the river way.

[justdontatme]

You’d have to block all the back roads too, I live about 45mins away from Cornwall & I don’t cross the Tamar to get there...

[doghairismyglitter]

I’d of thought it wouldn’t be that difficult to keep people out of Cornwall, block the Tamar??

[transformandriseup]

I wouldn't be happy with this, so far social distancing has been easy as our village is fairly rural and has been dead quiet up until now. If people start mixing too early it could be a disaster for the elderly people in our village.

[MrsTerryPratchett]

Have any other countries started lifting lockdown in specific areas/towns?

More 'federal' countries have managed different places differently. Canada, America. For example, Canada has very different trajectories for different provinces. However, it's a massive country. No one in Vancouver is going to think 'infection rates in Nunavut are low, I'll spend days driving there'. A couple hours driving and you're still very much in the same province. Britain is very small so it's less realistic.

[Gingerkittykat]

In Italy, they tried locking down the North where there were most cases but people just travelled out of area spreading the virus. The same would happen if they opened up parts of the UK.

[TedsFederationRep]

Jeremy Hunt - not Health Secretary any more, not in the Cabinet any more, will undoubtedly be regularly briefed by SAGE in his capacity as Chair of the Health & Social Care Select Committee but not included in either Cabinet meetings or COBRA.

I'll wait a bit longer for reliable information about the way forward.

[Intastellaburst]

I live in Cornwall - if they started off slowly by allowing schools and nurseries and a few other businesses to open again, I would be over the moon. I’m struggling looking after two small kids alone all day though! Think a lot of people would still avoid small enclosed places like cafes, will take a while to restore confidence in going out.

[BiarritzCrackers]

What would people find objectionable to restrictions only being in place in certain areas Umm
Orangeblossom78 I mean it entirely seriously! If we are crediting people with wisdom and sense, what is the objection to low risk areas 'opening', and keeping infectious areas 'closed' while the peak there settles. The peaks will move - areas will be more open and closed responsively. All the while maintaining restrictions against travelling between regions.

Unless it's because it's somehow seen as not fair. But it seems disproportionate to keep low infection areas under restriction when they could be being economically and socially active, so that others in other parts of the country don't feel hard done by. Collectively, we would all benefit from a more staggered and responsive approach.

[Fluandseptember]

If lockdown is lifted in one place, won't people flock there and then there WILL be problems that didn't exist before? If Cornwall was out of lockdown, but where we live is still shut, I'd be sorely sorely tempted to visit - which would be wrong and ridiculous. But even if only 1 in 100 people who were tempted actually DID visit, that would be quite enough to cause trouble.

[BBCONEANDTWO]

I think they could trial it but would be worried about other people venturing over for a coffee or something - on saying that - with the feelings of the UK public I'm not sure anyone would.

[Orangeblossom78]

What would people find objectionable to restrictions only being in place in certain areas Umm

[Orangeblossom78]

They talked before about just closing London but leaving rest open and decided not to do that so probably not.

[Forgone90]

Roadblocks would not be too bad as just block the tamar and a couple of small roads... Not like there are many ways into Cornwall....

[doghairismyglitter]

Have any other countries started lifting lockdown in specific areas/towns?

[jenjen71]

I agree.

[okiedokieme]

The sw is not badly affected, yet at least. Only 156 here apparently (diagnoses, we didn't call the dr even) but how do you stop people travelling around? Not practical in a small country like Britain

[BiarritzCrackers]

Both mayors Andy Burnham & Andy Street were on, I think it was C4 News, in the same segment last week - both were adamant that people in Gtr Manchester and the West Midlands will not stand for lockdowns being lifted in certain areas (London was talked about) and not others.

What would people find objectionable to restrictions only being in place in certain areas, which reflect the virus spread at at given time? It seems like a practical idea to try.

[LangClegsInSpace]

It makes sense to not treat all areas of the country the same.

Big urban centres like London and Birmingham will obviously have very different infection rates from rural areas like cornwall.

We need to drill down into the data and find out which parts of the UK have infection rates that are low enough to properly put in place case finding, testing and isolation, contact tracing and quarantine. Where that is possible we could start carefully lifting the lockdown. Where it's not yet possible we need to keep emergency containment measures in place.

We shouldn't be treating the whole of Cornwall, or anywhere else, as all the same either. The situation will be very different in major Cornish towns from how it is in the countryside. We need to be working with the most reliable, most local data we can get, all the way down to small rural parishes.

And of course we would need road blocks to enforce these measures. I don't understand why some people think this is so extreme compared with what we are currently all subjected to, regardless of local threat of infection.

I say this as someone who lives in London and made the decision at the beginning of March not to travel outside the capital again until we got to grips with this.

We haven't yet got to grips with this, we've just been 'having a lockdown'.

Lockdown measures immediately and dramatically slow the spread of the virus but that's all they do and only as long as they are in place. Lockdown measures just buy us a bit of time and unless we use that time wisely, to set up all the things we actually need to do, then we are still fucked.

[Surroundedbyeediotics]

Don’t know why people would go there. Everyone knows the Cornish hates outsiders

[Bubbletrouble43]

With summer season coming I think it would be crazy. I also live in Cornwall.

[LastTrainEast]

People are still thinking of it as being released from prison. It's the other way around. The unlucky ones are those encouraged to go out to see if they die.

[P1nkHeartLovesCake]

Lifting lockdowns in certain parts and others is never going to work, it’s ridiculous!

People aren’t going to stay in lockdown when other parts of the uk are allowed out, they just aren’t.

[UnderTheIroningBoard]

Assuming for a moment that this would be the government position (bearing in mind JH isn't a member of the cabinet), you would have to stop people from entering the county, travelling to second homes etc. It would be a logistical nightmare.

[Ihaventgottimeforthis]

Cornwall Live are full of shite as usual.
This is just Jeremy Hunt spouting off.
If Cornwall came out of lockdown we would soon see even more visitors and we would start to catch up the rest of the country with deaths. We don't have the infrastructure to deal with high numbers of people needing emergency care, it's the perils of being a peninsula.