Lockdown tightened in parts of Northern England

[PatriciaHolm]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-53602362

Still breaking so no exact detail on location yet but -

"Separate households will not be allowed to meet indoors in Greater Manchester, East Lancashire and parts of West Yorkshire from midnight, the government has announced.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said an "increasing rate of transmission" had been identified in those areas."

@Flaxmeadow I’m at one end of RV and adjacent to a rural part of Pendle; my parents are at the other end and are three miles from Blackburn town centre. Just seems odd that we’re in the middle and unaffected. Cases are as low as some areas which have been caught up in this.

Ah it does say that. I missed that.

It's far more likely that the govt wanted to avoid locking more places down, but given the criticism their inability to move decisively in the past has engendered they acted at the 11th hour because the risk to communities would be amplified due to Eid celebrations.

[quote usernotfound0000]@wowfudge no, indoor gyms have been ordered to close again.[/quote]
Only in Blackburn and Bradford.

It's not been on the cards for all Greater Manchester. Blackburn areas and Oldham yes but parts of Manchester it was a shock and totally unnecessary.
Going by what I've seen on social media this morning even people that were fully supportive of lockdown and critical of others not following are very annoyed about this .

@MRex

The main message is that cases are too high and rising in those areas. It looks like lots of people got that message, but I hope this time effort is being made on translation for non-English speakers.

Yeah right.

They couldn't get the guidance in bloody English for 9 hrs.

@islockdownoveryet

It's not been on the cards for all Greater Manchester. Blackburn areas and Oldham yes but parts of Manchester it was a shock and totally unnecessary. Going by what I've seen on social media this morning even people that were fully supportive of lockdown and critical of others not following are very annoyed about this .

Same as my social media.

@Flaxmeadow

It is about eid. They waited until everyone had already spent money buying things and announced it couldn’t go ahead last minute.

No they did not. This has been on the cards for weeks now in these areas and widely reported in local news. It isn't just Eid where people have spent money, people have booked staycations and holidays as well. Booked days out with family, will miss pub meals and so on.This is about everyone in these areas. Not just Muslims and a religious food festival

No it absolutely has not

@usernotfound0000 and @RedToothBrush - gyms which have been closed due to local lockdowns are to remain closed. Anywhere else in the areas affected by last night's announcement you can workout inside!

I am so confused by all of the changes. I'm not in an affected area, just outside, but have lots of friends within it. General feeling is that it will continue to be ignored.

Papermonster
I'm more surprised Leeds isn't on the list, being right next to and practically joined at the hip to Bradford (which has the highest infection rate). Leeds is the largest city in the north, densley populated and so expect a lot of people from Bradford will head there now, with all the family ties between the 2 cities and shared family properties.

@TheLegendOfZelda - each announcement says things along the lines of "the government recognises this will be a blow to those celebrating Eid", so it has been acknowledged.

The situation is changing rapidly across Europe, if there's any way to reduce the spread here in the UK by acting quickly then I'm supportive of it. As I was back in March. Having a load of infected people go to their families risks a lot more illness and deaths, if/when cases get that high in my area then I certainly wouldn't visit family, we would all isolate as much as possible.

Absolutely too broad brush. In 13 of the 19 local authority areas affected, the rate of Covid-19 in the seven days to 27 July went up - why don't they restrict only them? I agree with someone on another thread who said the government don't want to be seen as targeting the south asian community, which of course could cause racial attacks etc. But treating one of the causes of a rising infection rate as 'the elephant in the room' is going to get us nowhere fast.

Read the guidance user. The guidance is clear apart from the fact that you can go to the pub, a restaurant, etc with members of your own household and thereby be inside with members of other households, but you can't go to their houses or gardens which is illogical.

I think part of the problem is that families and friends have mixed ignoring the social bubble rules - the guidance refers to these.

@StarFreak

I'm in Calderdale. I go for a local walk every evening and without fail see groups of young Muslim people meeting. Tonight I passed one notorious spot where they hang out in cars- 4 and 5 squashed in, obviously from different households as all the same age. This has continued from the very beginning of lockdown. It's not racist, it's fact. I've observed it with my own eyes. Blaming language as a barrier is ridiculous- these are second and third generation immigrants that have been born here- their English is fine! It's blatant disregard for the restrictions of which I have not seen to the same degree in the white teens around here!

I live in rural Hampshire. We have practically no families here from South East Asia.

It's like 99.9% white and we've had groups of white teens meeting up since the beginning. It's an age thing, not a race thing.

Government is damned if they do and damned if they don't

Lockdown and spoil Eid they're being damned
Dont lockdown and cases sky rocket, especially BAME, and they'd be damned for that as well

If it’s been on the cards for weeks why wait last minute until everyone has spent money?

I disagree that this is about not being seen to target the South Asian community - it's about the govt cocking up in terms of how long they took to act in locking the country down earlier in the year and now they are acting decisively in a way which seems draconian by comparison.

In saying this though I still think it’s right to cancel eid as the cases are rising too fast- I just think it’s a cheek to do it last minute when everyone had already spent money

I'm genuinely confused. Surely if you go to a pub or restaurant you are in an indoor environment with people from multiple households. Even if you distance it's still a poorly ventilated indoor environment. Perhaps I am missing something. You can't mix in each others houses but you can go to the pub and mix but distance. I think I must be missing something because I can't see the logic.

@U8myufo I think it's because social distancing can be enforced in public places such as restaurants but not in private homes.

@PleasantVille I assume it's because they want to celebrate Eid with their family and they think it's a risk worth taking.

My oh and I would not as we don't want to potentially expose our elderly in laws to the virus and I think what they are doing is selfish. If he was my brother I would be having words with him.

Not sure that many EID celebrations will be booked for pubs ...perhaps that's behind the logic. It's spreading between families intermingling in their homes not in public places ? Why shut a pub or restaurant if none of the transmission is happening there?

If it’s been on the cards for weeks why wait last minute until everyone has spent money?
Science. A tipping point has been reached. It's the infection rates, they've gone up and they're not going down. I expect they had a time limit for improvement but it didnt improve

I live in one of these areas and what I've noticed is that for the last few weeks these areas have jostled with each other for the top 10 of the rates of infection. Some higher one day, then another higher the next day. It looks about right the areas chosen.

Also you have to remember these places are all very close to each other and on the M62. People travel between these urban areas all the time

@wheresmymojo - the same thing was pointed out on the BBC last night, that groups of young people have been meeting up and cases have risen. The area specifically mentioned, Trafford, is largely white with high numbers of professionals. Oh, and a huge shopping mall. My parents went to the Trafford Centre last week and said the people not wearing their masks correctly were all young men/teenagers and centre staff were stopping them and asking them to put them on correctly. That's just anecdotal, but given that young people are less likely to be badly affected if they catch Covid you can understand they will also be less likely to follow the guidance and law to the letter.