Breaking News - Press conference

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I almost can’t stand it. What the hell will they be announcing now?

@EYProvider

Will London transport still be running as normal? I can’t find anything about this in the news.

How will key workers get to work if not?

I’m keeping an eye open

Very worried about this

If they make the same idiotic choice to reduce services, there’ll just be more people in tubes and buses.

@Beautifulbonnie I have lit a candle for her

Oh gosh

Thank you all. Thank you so much. I’ve passed your messages along to the parents

Thank you to the person who quoted about funerals. That’s a huge weight off shoulders. Thank you!!

Thank you so much all. It’s a dark time. But if you met her. She was wonderful. She was a bright light during these times of darkness

Thank you

motherrunner
I’m a secondary teacher (& so is DH) in the West Mids. I haven’t seen my mum since March as her nursing home has never reopened due to where we live. When I posted about my mental health I have been told to ‘suck it up’, ‘quit my job’ and ‘think about the greater good’.

Not by me you haven't! I think the pair of you are bleedin' heroes and should be treated as such. That's what.

A candle will be lit here on Monday for Beautifulbonnie and her friend and friend's family, too. It's a very hard time even without all the restrictions and added, piled-on difficulties. My sympathy goes to anyone who has had to not-go to a funeral at the moment -- we couldn't go to a funeral here yesterday, and the road that the cortege passed along was lined with mourners who were not supposed to gather and talk together or say anything to the immediate family. Heart-breaking.

I haven't seen anything new about TfL (and I'm signed up for their emails)

But they've already said there will be no free transport on NYE nor will there be extra services to keep it running all night.

And they're reducing night tube services sharply anyhow.

Got fuck all sympathy for Johnson.
He got one of his useless MPs to get 'smarmy lawyer' trending on Wednesday because of PMQs.

Look, on the subject of Christmas, my constituents in Lichfield and Burntwood and those in the rest of the country have had a torrid year with the covid pandemic, and we have this very small break over Christmas. People must use common sense, of course: do not start hugging granny; do not go wild over Christmas; and, as my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister previously said, let us be jolly careful over Christmas. I want to say to my Prime Minister that it would not be helpful if some smarmy lawyer, or somebody now at this late stage, were to argue for a change in the laws. May I ask my right hon. Friend, here and now, who is neither smarmy nor a lawyer—

Fuck all sympathy for him.

@SquirmOfEels

I haven't seen anything new about TfL (and I'm signed up for their emails)

But they've already said there will be no free transport on NYE nor will there be extra services to keep it running all night.

And they're reducing night tube services sharply anyhow.

Tfl will have heard when we did.

I would put it past khan to cancel services at the last minute.

*wouldnt

How many London based MPs will be hot footing it back to the rural second homes in the next few days I wonder?!

I can’t help thinking that if London had been put into tier 3 to start with, instead of tier 2, then this wouldn’t have happened. It was an illogical decision at the time.

@Beautifulbonnie I will light a candle too

i assume work is allowed did they mention any shops with click and collect cold open

@GabsAlot they said that those who can't work from home can continue to work.

No mention of click and collect so I'm not sure about that.

I hope so @QueenStromba. I really do.

I must say, I haven't felt this degree of foreboding, to be honest. It feels like we are facing the unknown somewhat with this new strain. I hope I am wrong.

I cant recall who at the press conf said it (it was Whitty or Valance) - the tier system was keeping things in a relative steady state in areas that don't have high prevalence of this new strain. Now I appreciate this doesn't prove causality. But it is unsettling. If this new strain is indeed the main cause of the major increase in cases in south east... well, it's troubling to say the least.

I know there has been a lot of debate online from various experts that the big rises were owing to human behavior (i.e. not complying with guidance etc) but I did find that pretty hard to believe - I don't beleive South East residents are that different from any other area's residents.

If South East residents were that wayward in complying with govt guidance, we would surely have seen bigger problems materlialise over the summer and early Autumn when some other areas were struggling. What was so notable about the issues in the South East was they seemed to occur so suddenly and were so incredibly difficult to explain.

I hope there is an explanation that isn't increased transmissibility. I guess we will just all have to wait and see. I think we will have a very good idea in a fortnight.

On a separate note, I take my hat off to the incredible scientists and data analysts working behind the scenes in realtime, who identified this strain and the transmission patterns and trends in such quick time. It's astonishing and testament to some of the phenomenal talent we have in this country, working around the clock to help get us through this.

So many unsung heroes.

On another separate note, it is hard to believe that 3 weeks ago, the vast majority of this cases table on the homepage www.covidmessenger.com/ was green

ie the vast majority of councils had falling cases week-over-week.

That trend has reversed completely.

Littleowl1 I'm in London. Until a couple of days ago I didn't know of anyone who'd had Covid since March. I know of more than 10 people testing positive in the last couple of days.

I can't believe that people aren't seeing that this is serious.

I must say, I haven't felt this degree of foreboding, to be honest. It feels like we are facing the unknown somewhat with this new strain. I hope I am wrong

I wonder if its the vaccine. If its us. I mean ultimately we are animals. Natural selection in the animal kingdom is alive and well has been since life on earth began really. Humans have fought it all the way. We must be one of very few species where instead if getting stronger we are potentially getting weaker. Maybe we have reached a point where the more we fight "the rules" the more nature fights back.

Have we, by creating a vaccine , by fighting this virus inadvertently created one thats even worse.

Disclaimer, its simply a theory im not sparking a debate on life vs death and the ethics of medical interventions etc thats a whole other thread

@GabsAlot

i assume work is allowed did they mention any shops with click and collect cold open

Yes, click and collect is allowed. It’s basically exactly the same rules as Lockdown 2.

Well the vaccine is hardly off the ground so it's not that

thanks chaotic-dh has to go in monday i'll check the trains

I didn't mean the vaccine directly its more that In figuring out how to fight this we did somehow upset the balance so to speak.

I just wonder how many times can we honestly defy the natural order of things before we inevitably end up killing ourselves anyway. Like those mice. The ones who invade farms eat all the crops breed like crazy, eat every last scrap of food material then when they run out of food and resources they start eating eachother. Then the eventual survivors move on to the next place akd it all starts all over again.

I feel unsettled. I know it's ridiculous as what can I do ? But nothing feels right today. Worse than March but maybe that's because the weather is so awful too?
Don't know.

@chomalungma

Have we got the best genomic sequencing in the world?

I actually think this claim is true.

@perditaplum

We're in a tier 1 area (a bit outing, I think there is only 1) and were seeing my DD on Boxing Day because she's working on Xmas Day. Am I right in thinking that we now can't do this?

I think tier 1 rules remain the same.

In fact all tiers 1-3 remain the same but in tiers 2/3 there is no indoor mixing which is what the Xmas bubble day is about.

@willsantausesantatize

I feel unsettled. I know it's ridiculous as what can I do ? But nothing feels right today. Worse than March but maybe that's because the weather is so awful too? Don't know.

I don't think it is ridiculous in the slightest,today's news was very worrying as mutations show us how little we can control what happens next

Take it easy this evening

@GabsAlot click and collect is allowed. I found it in the gov website within the T4 guidelines.
For some reason I can't seem to attach my screenshot, but here is a link.

www.gov.uk/guidance/tier-4-stay-at-home#going-to-work