Tighter restrictions? What else can be "tighter"??

[R2221]

Schools closed, work places closed, nailbars, hairdressers, clothes shops, closed. My high street is dead and a couple of big shops are permanently closing down. We've been totally indoors, going out only to get grocery and exercise.

Oh, gyms are closed, no play dates, birthdays, dinners or even coffee with friends. WHAT ELSE CAN BE DONE TO STOP THE SPREAD??? What would "tighter" restrictions mean? To me, next tighter level means no grocery and exercise :(

My local hospital is totally full. I don't understand why.

Shit everything that did before. Building sites etc.
Nurseries to shut
Playgrounds to shut
1 exercise a day
Close off all the non essential bits in the shops. So range to stay open but just food, and toiletries etc (ours has Iceland in it)

Not saying I want or agree with all of them but they're just ideas.

"One person per household shopping once a week would help."

That's tricky though if you're a medium-large sized family with no car, and can't get a delivery slot - it wouldn't be physically possible to carry enough shopping home once a week.

@PinkSparklyPussyCat

Ration fuel? I’m sure some people are completely insane. What’s going to happen, a government appointed minion is going to come and siphon off the excess in my fuel tank?

Some people have no idea.

How on earth would you police this? How do you decide who gets fuel and who doesn't and what is a sufficient amount? How does this work for rural areas like Cumbria where you NEED more fuel?

People arent half dumb and don't think things through and just open their mouths instead of engaging their brains.

Oh ffs. What isn't paid weekly

Ok then, what if you don’t have room to store a weeks shopping?

They can’t stop support bubbles, that’s just abject cruelty. I honestly think that’s the point at which people would start to think right, enough.

With regard to transmission, Covid was brought into my family via carers coming in to my housebound FIL. FIL was dying in hospital (not of Covid, he was asymptomatic) and this is where it was passed on to DH and his siblings, and in turn everyone else in the family. Everyone I know who has had it caught it in hospital or a care setting and though I’m no expert I think transmission in these settings is what’s driving the numbers more than domestic transmission. I can’t speak for others but most people I know are following the rules, and I don’t know anyone having parties.

Once a week? What happens if you r in our of baby formula, your prescription runs out etc, tough shit die quietly?.
You learn to think ahead. If your prescription is on repeat, you’d need to order ahead anyway. The answer is don’t run out.
I actually think most prescriptions should probably be delivered rather than having queues of ‘at risk’ standing around in pharmacies.

@Aixenprovence

It's interesting that none of the papers are reporting consideration of the overseas arrivals angle - maybe introducing supervised hotel quarantine for arrivals - is that just not considered effective once the virus has spread? In fact does anywhere do supervised quarantine for arrivals apart from Australia and New Zealand?

(I realise a requirement for a negative test is being introduced here, but not sure how that addresses the issue of people catching it after the negative test - at the airport, on the plane and so on, then travelling home on public transport?)

There should be no travel allowed in and out of the country full stop.

Cherry "I’d close schools and offer secondary children of essential workers and the vulnerable boarding places in are excellently resourced public schools."

And how many people do you think would want to send their children to boarding school? What infection control measures would be in place? Where are the staff coming from?

Honestly, if this pandemic had happened when I was a child, I'd be scared they'd make my dad (hospital doc) separate from us. As it is, I suspect posters here think he should have isolated himself from us in previous pandemics and when he worked with viruses in labs.

You’ve got to be on a wind up @CherryRoulade, surely no one is this deluded

@DisgruntledPelican

Household mixing. That’s where it’s spreading.

Exactly.

And a support bubble being a household.. including them. Have a support bubble if you need one, but follow the same rules.
So I'm in a support bubble with mil, and between us we can only shop once a week and only one of us can go? How does that work if Mil and I live 2 hours apart??

I’m trying to figure this out. In a rural area I get through about 2 tanks of fuel a week. That’s with 1 KW out of the home. Sometimes more if a road is blocked and I detour. Do I get a special card or what?

@CherryRoulade

Once a week? What happens if you r in our of baby formula, your prescription runs out etc, tough shit die quietly?. You learn to think ahead. If your prescription is on repeat, you’d need to order ahead anyway. The answer is don’t run out. I actually think most prescriptions should probably be delivered rather than having queues of ‘at risk’ standing around in pharmacies.

You learn to think ahead? Ah right. As a mum who had a baby with horrific reflux, who visited many a 24hr supermarket in sheet desperation for milk he wouldn't throw up I beg you to stop being so narrow minded. Some shit you cannot plan for.

And thanks but for this vulnerable athsmatic a walk to a pharmacy and a socially distanced outdoor queue hasn't killed me off just yet, and the exercise is good for my athsma.

@SproutMuncher

I can see why it's scary for them to do that. But do they honestly think that another six months to a year of this uncertainty, NHS strain and repeated lockdowns is going to be any better for the economy?

Do you honestly think the things you suggest will prevent further lockdowns? They won’t. They might help bring this wave to an end but they won’t stop future ones once we open up. Only the vaccines can do that (we hope).

Well, New Zealand, Australia and Vietnam have stopped most of the chaos we've been experiencing, pre-vaccines. So yes, I do think there is pretty good evidence for an actual hard lockdown for preventing further waves.

@Handcarthell

One person per household shopping once a week would help.

And a support bubble being a household.. including them. Have a support bubble if you need one, but follow the same rules.

I'm in a support bubble with my DP. Neither of us has a car, so I walk to the supermarket, he gets the bus to a different one. I can only just manage to carry home a week's worth of shopping for myself, I certainly couldn't carry his too.

Because I’m not going to be told when I can and can’t use my car. Me being out, generally alone, isn’t going to have any impact whatsoever on the spread of the virus. If the environment is that much of a concern then perhaps you could organise a group pick up of all the single use masks currently littering everywhere.

RedToothBrush You police as used to happen, with vouchers.

Why would Cumbrian folk need more trips out by car than people in Essex or Suffolk? It mine a slightly further distance but no greater frequency is needed. Easier to exercise somewhere remote and beautiful by foot too.

I’m not sure it’s me not engaging my brain. I live rurally too, as happens.

Lower the age of mask wearing and make it compulsory in classrooms as well as corridors.

@CherryRoulade

Once a week? What happens if you r in our of baby formula, your prescription runs out etc, tough shit die quietly?. You learn to think ahead. If your prescription is on repeat, you’d need to order ahead anyway. The answer is don’t run out. I actually think most prescriptions should probably be delivered rather than having queues of ‘at risk’ standing around in pharmacies.

Which is fine, you've got a box of formula that lasts 3 more days. You drop it on the floor. Does the Mom feed the 3 week old cows milk, toast or let is go hungry cos she should have breast fed?

'Household mixing' is not the same as 'household transmission'. Look at this chart and compare the combined total of 'household visitor' + 'visiting friends/relatives' with the huge top bar that is just labelled 'household'.

That huge top bar is just the contacts people live with, in their homes. We won't ever control this unless we tackle transmission within households.

There are around 160,000 mostly empty hotel rooms in London alone. Why aren't we using them to make it at least possible for people to isolate away from the people they live with?

There are around 160,000 mostly empty hotel rooms in London alone. Why aren't we using them to make it at least possible for people to isolate away from the people they live with?

Do you mean compulsory or voluntary?

If they removed bubbles. I for one would break that law / rule. And I'm sure probably over half would too. That's cruel. Many need for MH issues etc. Everyone has their own circumstances which are for no one else to judge or say otherwise

@HoppingOnSteppingStones

Shit everything that did before. Building sites etc. Nurseries to shut Playgrounds to shut 1 exercise a day Close off all the non essential bits in the shops. So range to stay open but just food, and toiletries etc (ours has Iceland in it)

Not saying I want or agree with all of them but they're just ideas.

It's really tragic that we've got a 13 pp thread of "just ideas" with no mention - I think - of better infection control in nosocomial settings.

That's how much people think lockdown is infection control, while over the course of a year, having learned zero about infection control.

@LangClegsInSpace

'Household mixing' is not the same as 'household transmission'. Look at this chart and compare the combined total of 'household visitor' + 'visiting friends/relatives' with the huge top bar that is just labelled 'household'.

That huge top bar is just the contacts people live with, in their homes. We won't ever control this unless we tackle transmission within households.

There are around 160,000 mostly empty hotel rooms in London alone. Why aren't we using them to make it at least possible for people to isolate away from the people they live with?

Ooh! I dunno... maybe because the last thing anyone wants to do when they're ill is move out of their own home away from their family and spend two weeks entirely alone having to fend for themselves in a place with massively limited facilities? Just a guess.