Living inside the Leicestershire ‘ring of doom’

[HarleyD45]

Yep unfortunately...sigh...in Oadby & Wigston...sigh
Just wondering what others might be making of all of this?
I’m very alarmed at the lack of transparent and reliable information being shared with residents caught up in this local lockdown.
It seems we don’t really know (or aren’t being told) what the original triggers or cause of infection spread is. I’m wondering how we can be expected to find the right solutions if we don’t have a basic understanding of what exactly has gone so wrong here.
I’m not a conspiracy theory subscriber and worked as a health professional for the NHS for 30 years...I’m just confused and I don’t know anyone at all that’s tested positive despite 3 pop up testing centres within walking distance and thousands locally included in an asymptomatic testing programme.
I can see very little respite on the horizon lovely people.

I'm also in the plague zone! Feeling very fed up after last nights announcement, I've got two teen dc who are in desperate need of a walk in the countryside or day out somewhere. We'd obviously love a holiday but a picnic in the woods would be exciting for us at the moment!
This is actually worse than ever for me, prior to the Leicester lockdown I was able to visit my parents etc Now we are trapped in a small area, while the rest of the country, mostly seem to be going back to something that resembles normality?

I'm no conspiracy theorist either but there is definitely something wrong about all of this. I think our very outspoken, labour mayor is probably hated by Boris & co?
The testing thing is a farce, the amount of testing that has been done in Leicester over the past two weeks must be way more than any other part of the country?
Anywhere would look like they had an unusually high rate if mobile testing units were literally going door to door and testing entire households but no, that doesn't seem to be highlighted.

Can I ask those if you in Leicester-what did Matt H mean when he said Leicester schools could open next week (or the week after) ?!

Is it not the holidays already?? He doesn’t mean they’ll be opening in the holidays, does he?

What it means is yet again the government are incompetent! They are making life changing decisions about a city they clearly haven't done their research on. Schools closed in Leicester last Friday!

I’m not in Leicester but agree it sounds like a farce and you’re right about testing. If they are testing hundreds and finding hundreds of cases that doesn’t necessarily mean there’s many more cases in Leicester than anywhere else. In the last few days I’ve noticed there are more deaths reported in our local smallish hospital than in Leicester and we’re not even mentioned on any hot spot list.

What are you allowed to do now? Are shops opening? Hope you get to catch up with the rest of us soon and that the local media kicks up a stink.

Sorry I can’t really shed any light on school related plans but I’m guessing it’s as incoherent as everything else.

I suppose I just can’t accept that residents in Leicester and the surrounding county have been any worse than most other urban areas around the UK with regards to social distancing etc
There are surely workplaces that have also been irresponsible and exploitative, large protest marches, BBQ’s with friends and neighbours and raves up and down the land without causing a catastrophic spike!?!?
So what has gone wrong here? We need to know so we can address it and move forward

I think it seems limited to a few postcodes but there were higher rates in Oadby and Wigston too..

From what I read seemed to be mainly due to multigenerational households in Asian communities where many live under same room, and all getting it when one person brings it home. Also something about groups of young Asian men meeting up

more here too theconversation.com/working-and-living-practices-may-explain-leicesters-coronavirus-spike-141824

I live just outside of Leicester and we were released from lock down yesterday thank god. It's very odd about the schools. My dd only went back for half a day for two weeks before being locked down again and now they are on school holidays.

@Orangeblossom78

From what I read seemed to be mainly due to multigenerational households in Asian communities where many live under same room, and all getting it when one person brings it home. Also something about groups of young Asian men meeting up

Yes exactly - so we all got punished for their flouting of the rules.

Yes exactly - so we all got punished for their flouting of the rules.
I'm not in Leicester but not far from Blackburn which is also very multicultural and also at risk of lockdown.
It's the culture to mix households , I do think if the government said this it would be feared that they were being racist .
I'm sure many are obeying the rules but it's no coincidence.
Perhaps the government needs to work with the Asian community better so there is better understanding .

Yep still in lockdown here, very frustrating as I'm literally around the corner from the border line, 1 minute walk, actually crossed it today walking to the local park.

I have to walk past non-essential shops to get to the park but I'm not supposed to go in them tomorrow but I can on 24th July when the ones in the lockdown area are allowed to open. Does that sound like madness to anyone else?

So annoying, rates for my postcode are under 5 cases in last month (lowest category available) but a small part of the city is really high. Why can't they lock down those streets???

Well I’m none the wiser on another rather flat Friday with a fairly limited weekend ahead, very grateful for the sunshine, that helps a bit.
About to enjoy a cider to help forget what an absolute shit show it is out there...peace and love people 🤪

I found this new interactive map showing coronavirus cases in the last week by postcode. I am in London and at first I thought it wasn't working because no area near me has any cases, but then I went north and it gets a lot more colourful. It is apparent that something is happening in these areas to make covid spread and that is what needs investigating.

It is also obvious from this map that Leicester has been singled out because of the number of cases, not because Boris doesn't like the mayor!

www.thesun.co.uk/news/12142077/new-interactive-map-coronavirus-cases-postcode/

I took myself and the dc down to one of the walk-in centres today for a test. Not very easy to do as we were expected to swab ourselves. I don't suppose they've got enough trained staff now they've rolled out testing to everyone in the lockdown zone. I did the youngest 2 and mine, and dd did her own. Tbh I'll be amazed if they come back with any sort of meaningful result. It was devilishly difficult to swab the tonsils without touching gums and tongue and then getting the damn thing in the tube wasn't a walk in the park either.

Oooh blimey that does sound tricky and the prospect of inaccurate results isn’t great is it, for you and your family and the wider perspective.

I happened to walk past the Station Road Council Offices test centre today. I was really surprised to see staff working there from what we know are our high risk communities, I would think that’s quite risky given that O&W is such a hotspot.

Hey thanks for that...yep very obvious I agree
There’s plenty of data around to justify a local lockdown and although I understand some wards like my own are lower in numbers and some specific streets have had no positive results, I can’t see a way of easing small areas, as suggested by some, within a wider problematic area unfortunately.

"So what has gone wrong here?"

Nothing, just really bad luck.

And a virus that can still take hold rapidly

There are rises in lots of places worldwide, whether nationally, regionally or smaller area, causing local restrictions. It's really important to learn how to spot small outbreaks and quash them, to prevent them linking up intoma more general rise.

Is it hard to see others having freedoms you don't - yes, and you can ask any of the shielded 2.5million. They were (and still,are) under closer restriction that everyone else, and even when deshielded, will still have fewer freedoms (in the sense that there will, unless advice is updated again, only be some out of the home activities that are OK'ed - essential shopping not all shopping, outdoor not indoor leisure etc).

And just like you, it protects them - but the reason the government did it was not concern for the individual but to stop the exceptionally medically vulnerable from filling all the NHS beds

(Nearby, but not inside the place zone)

Yep we're living in the 'ring of doom!' And it's bloody frustrating especially when most other people in the county can go shopping, take their kids to parks etc, go on holiday and travel.

I agree with things other posters have said especially the ones that live here, because you can see that a lot of people here are really not happy about it and think there is more to it.

And yes , what he said about the schools was a joke- they'd closed a week before. So by the time he even reviews our lockdown our kids will have missed half of their summer holiday. ☹️

Oh yes and I'm also right on the borderline , drive 60 secs down the road and you would be out of the lockdown area! My DH still can't play his sport with his team because his ground is out of the lockdown area, it's a 5 min drive 😩

@EdithWeston

"So what has gone wrong here?"

Nothing, just really bad luck.

And a virus that can still take hold rapidly

There are rises in lots of places worldwide, whether nationally, regionally or smaller area, causing local restrictions. It's really important to learn how to spot small outbreaks and quash them, to prevent them linking up intoma more general rise.

Is it hard to see others having freedoms you don't - yes, and you can ask any of the shielded 2.5million. They were (and still,are) under closer restriction that everyone else, and even when deshielded, will still have fewer freedoms (in the sense that there will, unless advice is updated again, only be some out of the home activities that are OK'ed - essential shopping not all shopping, outdoor not indoor leisure etc).

And just like you, it protects them - but the reason the government did it was not concern for the individual but to stop the exceptionally medically vulnerable from filling all the NHS beds

(Nearby, but not inside the place zone)

Maybe you’re right and beyond our own neighbourhoods there are plenty of spikes and local interventions taking place. As a nurse for 30 years, that is now as it happens shielding, when able I live an incredibly full life. For me, health takes precedence over everything so I’m compliant and although it’s crap and I can’t now even go for a blast on my Harley (one of the only things I can do) I accept this is the way it has to be.

My biggest issue with our experience in Leicestershire (that isn’t really being discussed by any of the government/health bodies) is where the fuck was track & trace at the start of this spike.
Imagine the impact an effective system could have had at the start of the Leicestershire avalanche.

Hee hee...I’ve just learnt how to reply to a specific post on MN
First posters hey, what are they like 🤓

There are surely workplaces that have also been irresponsible and exploitative, large protest marches, BBQ’s with friends and neighbours and raves up and down the land without causing a catastrophic spike!?!?

If no one infected is in a sweatshop or at a bbq then it won't cause a spike, and so the luck of the draw does come into it a bit when you look only at the short term. Over the long term, any dangerous workplace has a an equal chance of leading to a local cluster of cases, but in the short term, it will be some of them not all, because not all will have infected people in them in any one week.

This is what makes it hard to persuade people that their behaviour matters, because on any one day most who take unnecessary risks will be fine, and also it takes time for increased infection rates to look significant.

I think inaccurate figures could possibly be a factor, apparently lots of people saying our high cases are because they've given the total figure from March! Not for the last few weeks!

Also in the local news today Oadby and Wigston are not even in the top ten new covid cases in the whole country , in the last week. But still in lockdown.

I've read today on the BBC news too that scientists are saying a " one size fits all" lockdown approach doesn't work because it's not effective in areas with a high BAME community due to possibly living arrangements, working in front facing roles and language barriers.

They could have dealt with those areas a couple of weeks ago with smaller lockdown areas and closing buildings and premises etc , like Boris announced the other day would be coming into place!
Clearer communication about the rules for everybody might help too!
Too bloody late for us I'm afraid 😡