To those who think it's over

[user1497207191]

The Weston Super Mare hospital has announced this morning that it's closed it's A&E due to an increase in the number of Covid patients the hospital is currently treating.

This highlights why "tourist" hotspots have been trying to persuade people from away not to visit them.

Also highlights that there are still plenty of Covid cases around and it's still spreading.

This is why the lockdown needs to carry on, with very slight relaxations over a long time period. Those who think it's all over and we can get back to normal are deluded.

Restaurants & bars are not opening, they aren’t allowed?
they are around here, there are tables on the pavement!

This is specifically not permitted at the moment, but I am delighted to hear that people are disregarding this absolutely pointless restriction.

This hospital regularly closes. It's a tiny hospital.

That said, I have a family member who lives there and he said there are lots of tourists currently

@PigletJohn, that may be partly the reason. The poor vulnerable patients going into hospital in good faith, into 'safe' zones. No such thing in a hospital at the moment, as I mentioned above (staff mixing in canteens, wheelchairs don't get cleaned, a lot of hospitals don't have the peroxide bombs that is the best practice for cleaning infected wards). A good proportion of new cases recently have been caught inside hospital unfortunately. Testing inside hospitals is taking too long. Patients are unwittingly bring the virus in with them and spreading it. Staff are not being routinely tested, which other countries are doing. Staff cannot get an antibody test yet.

In South East, loads of pubs open for take out, people sitting in the beer gardens drinking away.

Lockdown is over, it's up to the individual now to Stay Alert and use common sense to judge a situation.

Am I going to the pubs? No, but hundreds if not thousands are.

Tbh if you still arnt seeing your loved ones from other households at a safe distance your heading towards being in the minority and mugging yourselves off.

But there are still around 10,000 new cases a day in the UK. That's not a secret so who thinks it's over really? No one with a genuine mild interest in the topic surely?

To the person who said driving to the beach in your own car and sitting on the beach outside is risk free because you don't go indoors is correct in theory, but incorrect in practice. Lots of the people arriving or leaving Weston by road will be buying food and using the loos in the supermarkets that the local population are relying on for their essential shopping. If you drive to the beach in Weston you have to pass Morrisons, then Asda and Waitrose.

Iced purple, what a relief you are not coming here.
Obviously you are the one who is 'culturally' deprived.

Anyone living in or close to W-S-M knows the A and E dept is closed from 10pm every day anyway, frequently closed in the day to new admissions (doesn't make the news usually) and has a shockingly bad history in regards to infection control and most other things. The CQC reports for years have been dire.

It is tiny. Just over 250 beds, not all of which are in use but have been closed to manage COVID like any other hospital. The trust recorded just THREE COVID related hospital deaths by May 15th.

In North Somerset which Weston General covers, 1 in 5 of the residents are over 65. And the number of residents over 85 is higher than in the general population in England.

It has a high number of elderly care homes as a consequence.

Given the demographic, infection rates and deaths are extremely low.

And thanks convenience store.

I was brought up to believe that if you travelled to a place that was not the place you currently lived that you would respect the culture, traditions and population of the place you were visiting.

Generally, in my experience of life, this happens and if you do this you are welcomed in a place.

However not this time, people trashing local health services are not respecting the wellbeing of those who live there.

Comingoutontop

What utter rubbish.

What you are basically saying is you are more worth as a human being than we are.

Weston General is not 'tiny'. It is in the catchment area of four primary schools if not five. And two huge secondary schools.

Not sure where your 1 in 5 are over 65 comes from but that does not match our daily reality of normally over ten schools on the school run with populations of THOUSANDS.

Well, we all want that! but we cannot until we have an effective means of tracking AND we have a far lower daily infection rate

Yes, we can. Our economy along with viable businesses (National Holidays for one) is sinking fast. There are potentially serious consequences for people with other illnesses, physical and mental. If people don't start returning to work soon, there'll be no work to return TO. The ramifications will be huge. It's the vulnerable who should continue to be shielded: the rest of us need to get some form of normality back and the sooner the better, IMO.

No, things are not back to normal and the coronavirus has not gone away. Nor may it. Vaccination is not guaranteed. 'Lockdown' was about not overwhelming the NHS. It was made clear from the very beginning that most people were expected to contract CV19 at some point. These measures were for the sole reason of stopping large numbers of people catching it all at once.

I guess finally the government's strategy for terrifying a whole populous has come home to roost. All very well while they were being meekly complicit with The Rules to the extent that surprised even the government - until such time as they had to get a decimated economy back on its feet.

The country can't afford to furlough huge swathes of its working population indefinitely. That time is now.

That's not a secret so who thinks it's over really?

People who are bored and genuinely believe that going back to "normal" will make the problem go away. If you read some posts, people at least convince themselves that we're done and we can move on because they've had enough.

over 85.

You are so utterly dismissive and disgusting about an area which you are entirely cruelly dismissing. Wait until it happens to your area.

I guess finally the government's strategy for terrifying a whole populous has come home to roost.

hardly. People always thought we were immune somehow on this island.

What are the culture and traditions of Weston? Just so I can stick to them if I ever visit.

Whilst I agree it's actually super common for hospitals to close a&e, especially during winter pressures! DP is a paramedic and during dec-Feb time is always phoning me to say they've shut the hospital and he has to go to the next one 40 minutes away

Most hospitals have been operating quite normally thoughout this crisis.

No they haven't, no elective surgery for months. No outpatient appointments, no scans or other tests. We've been incredibly quiet.

Blimey

@Westonsupermarebeauty a quick google tells me that Weston General is tiny. It has a very small number of beds at 250. My nearest hospital has 1300.

You are very defensive. Nobody is insulting Weston-super-mare but it's not a big place.

Dafodill,
Since you are so ignorant and 'culturally deprived' you had better stay put. Where are you in the country that you are so 'culturally' priviledged then?

I’m in a cultural hotspot. I listen to opera in the garden and everything.

There has not been a single time in the past eight years where Weston hospital has not been available to us.

Childhood accidents, broken leg playing football, etc.
This is just not true that they have not been functioning.

I can't imagine that Weston super mare hospital is very big so I wouldn't have thought it's a huge number of cases.

It’s small. It has around 250 beds. However, it has had 50 positive cases in the last 24 hours and that’s why it’s closed.

Waxonwatch

It may be TINY to you, but it is not TINY to our community.

Yes, I own being 'defensive'. Thank God there are still people defending their communities.and schools. And loved ones.

Nothing wrong with 'defensive'. About time.

There has not been a single time in the past eight years where Weston hospital has not been available to us

Unless it's after 10pm when it's closed and after next April when it's set to close permanently.