Leicester facing full lockdown

[Ifailed]

According to the BBC www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-53206506.
Anyone living there - how do you feel about this? Personally I would feel terribly trapped, almost like I was being punished, like when teacher's used to keep a whole class behind due to the behaviour of a minority.

People saying the army can’t be called in, it can, it has been done before in Northern Ireland.

That started with the best of intentions but didn't end well

Anyone else worried about the colder months and what they will bring? I wasn't, but must admit I'm starting too.

@Alex50

So we know that unchecked this virus can double transmission every 2 or 3 days, yet the higher infection rates in Leicester have been known about for several weeks, even now, lock down notice was 3 days, a potential doubling of infection.

If the hospitals fill with ill people, then the only ones to blame are the Govt and their inaction on both enforcing the "guidelines" and then acting on the increased rates.

@danni0509 I am, I think we will be in for a rough winter.

@InOutofmymind yes they could and should have acted sooner and actually contained around the relatively small area.
Now they have included the county and people miles away who never go into the city have been included.
Yes, I mean me. I’ve not been shopping since lockdown and I’m upset because I can’t now go to my caravan at the weekend, not even to check everything is ok and I’m desperate for a haircut but that’s off now.
My hairdresser is distraught at being unable to open and genuinely worried about her business.
This has not been handled well at all.

@danni0509 I have mentioned it down thread but for example I know many multigenerational households who have carried on cutting hair, running gym sessions, having large family gatherings, and attending collective worship throughout lockdown.

@Chaotic45 do you think they will listen now? I think the government know exactly where the spreads are happening but don’t want to release the information.

Now they have included the county

The bit I read said Leicester and the surrounding conurbation including, for example, Oadby, Birstall and Glenfield.

@Chaotic45 If that is true, why haven't the authorities stopped this behavior?
Many chief constables said after the Cummings debacle we will no longer be able to enforce the rules now or instincts as they then became.

So they haven't, down here we saw regular Police patrols to beaches & beauty spots but after DC it all stopped, roads became busier and haircuts started to get done and cornwall does not have any significant asian community

Those teachers will stay be able to go to work. If you work somewhere outside the lockdown area you can still go there.

But how?
People are being told they shouldn't travel in or out of the lockdown area.
Teachers who travel from that area to other local towns and villages are not following the guidance.
Or do you expect teaching staff to ignore the local lockdown guidance?

@InOutofmymind yes some of the blame can be laid with the government but also to individuals, if they are not following the guidelines.

I think @danni0509 that part of the difference is that although there are many areas in the country where people have not follows the rules, people have been all jumbled up so a typical local area has lots of people following the rules and an unfortunate smattering of people not doing so.

In Leicester the same thing has happened BUT in addition we have large areas where whole communities have taken very little notice of lockdown. This includes both wealthy and poorer people, in large and small houses but all tend to have close knit families who they live with, socialise with and worship with daily.

I can assure you they are still not listening. Although to be fair no body has actually told them what to do so you can't really blame them!

Neil O'Brien MP was on Facebook answering questions last night. He's confirmed that the map will be released this morning. Great glen, Kibworth and Market Harborough are not included in lockdown.

He's confirmed the R in Leicester is 1 so no tolerance for increase.

[quote Alex50]@Chaotic45 do you think they will listen now? I think the government know exactly where the spreads are happening but don’t want to release the information.[/quote]
I have heard unofficial reports that a whole road was closed down and 30+ people found living in one 3 bedroom home who all tested positive for the virus, the road was closed off. It could just be rumour of course but I doubt this is the sort of thing that would be officially released for fear of causing more problems. I come across people living in these circumstances in the course of my job, multiple people crowded into small properties, often working opposite shifts and sharing beds in shifts. You can see how easily a virus would spread in these conditions. Of course this type of set up doesn't just occur in Leicester.

@InOutofmymind I have reported things to our local police. Nothing has been done. Their reporting portal on the website makes it clear that they will only respond to "large scale" breaches. I guess they don't regard this stuff as large scale.

In addition, there is little respect for the police in these communities. They are largely a close knit, hard working, law abiding (usually) community who do not cause any issues. The police don't usually need to get involved.

But they are concentrated into specific areas, and less integrated geographically into other areas than elsewhere on the country. There have been some very interesting studies on this, and it has sadly lead to this current issue.

My husband had to go into a flat in Luton as he had a leak into his business from the flats above, he said he saw at least 10 mattresses in a one bed flat.

It's almost definitely not going to be a good winter, I am concerned as I have two very young dc in infant school and one about to start nursery, they are highly likely to catch it if its going, and bring it home to us. How will we know if the usual winter virus is covid? I will be anxious throughout I am not looking forward to it.

People saying the army can’t be called in, it can, it has been done before in Northern Ireland
That started with the best of intentions but didn't end well

I've posted on quite a lot of threads over the years, including this one, to explain what 'calling in the Army' means in practical terms, because there often seems to be confusion.

It's not just the Army, it is any branch of the military.

There is an established mechanism for bringing in the military - called MACA (sometimes MACP or another similar term) which is Military Assistance to Civil Authorities.

It is the department, eg the police, to say they need specific reinforcements. The MoJ then negotiates with the MoD to make the request, decide can be done and how, assign costs etc. MoD then commission the work that actually get s them there. But no one moves until recent Secretaries of State have signed off the plan.

It's limited and specific. They don't for example, take over policing (so this would not be a N Ireland scenario) but might assist police so that trained police are freed up for other tasks. So if you have, for example, a vehicle checkpoint, with one police officer and the other personnel all military, then you can have loads more checkpoints.

@mpsw thanks for the clarification. I don’t think the government will call in the army unless there is no other option, as someone else said it didn’t end well in NI.

"Aragog
People are being told they shouldn't travel in or out of the lockdown area."

People are allowed to travel for work reasons, going to school, caring for a vulnerable person or any other essential travel, even for exercise in some cases. That has been the case throughout the whole of lockdown.

But how?
People are being told they shouldn't travel in or out of the lockdown area
Teachers who travel from that area to other local towns and villages are not following the guidance
Or do you expect teaching staff to ignore the local lockdown guidance?

None of the above. The Welsh model gives an excellent example of how it would work.

There would be enough checkpointd, turning round enough people, to deter people from travelling unless essential.

Keyworkers travel to work is essential, so can continue (and it is not a breach of lockdown, or the Welsh 5 mile restriction). You might be asked for evidence of your status (lots of threads back at the start of lockdown in March about this) so rewind to what you did then. Ot if your circumstances have changed, the two most used forms of proof were official work ID badge and employers letter

Alex50 I'm a big believer in leadership, people follow where they are led.
Of course individuals also have responsibility but houses of multiple occupancy have been known about for many years and not just in Leicester, so why there? or is it a wider problem that testing hasn't caught up with?
If folk are living 5 to a room, SD is meaningless.

I do not understand why the lockdown has been announced days in advance, it just allows those that can, to leave the area.

I live in Leicestershire and it is ludicrous that we have not been given a map and I feel really sorry for all the shop workers etc that have not heard anything from their work yet!

It was a ridiculous time of night to make such an announcement without any proper information :(

"mpsw thanks for the clarification. I don’t think the government will call in the army unless there is no other option, as someone else said it didn’t end well in NI"

What they were doing in NI was under a totally different system

This would be like running testing stations, doing Olympic security, or in the wake of 7/7 assisting with diplomatic premises protection - where you'd see one armed police officer with one trooper, this freeing up half the normal number of police to protect more sites.

@TorysSuckRevokeArticle50 no map or guidance yet. Shops are open, worship has been completed, roads are busy. No one knows what is happening or what to do.