New Variant requires 3m Distance

[Jenasaurus]

Just watched Jeremy Hunt on BBC News. Sage have advised that the 2m distance isnt far enough for the new variant and recommend it changes its guidance to 3m. How realistic is this to be achieved and if you are one of the many working in a Covid Secure Office/Environent what impact with the change to 3m distance have on your company.

I work in a school. 2m is hardly ever possible, 3m is just impossible.

Huge. We'd need another full closure to remeasure, reassess everything. Not sure there would be any financial point in opening sites to the public (partly heritage/tourism industry) with so few people able to visit at a time and I imagine it would more or less cripple the events and hospitality industry if the 1m+ guidance was got rid of.

What the new variant really requires is for nobody to have any contact with another human being for a few weeks. Unfortunately that's not possible.

It might well be that 3 metres is better-if you can do that then great but there's so many instances wouldn't be possible. Completely unrealistic.

From what I can gather it's only being 'discussed' along with other measures.

If they do make it 3m is that going to make a lot of 'covid secure' businesses premises invalid

The new variant requires border closure and a 3 week heavy lockdown, this won't be done because MPs and their mates love skiing and the carribean.

Zero office is able to meet a 3m distance. 2m is barely possible.

The new variant requires border closure and a 3 week heavy lockdown, this won't be done because MPs and their mates love skiing and the carribean.

The general public can't seem to understand the idea of a 'lockdown' that doesn't help. They'll never manage with a heavy one.

2m or 3m is not really going to make all that much difference. The new variant is a virus that has googly eyes and wings! its not like it flies better. Its better transmissibility will have nothing to do with some special super power that allows it to float about better.

It now feels a bit like a free for all!
The government is incompetent on all levels and seems to be using the taxpayer as a cash cow for their mates. People no longer have confidence in Hancock & treat Boris announcements as the mutterings of a dithering idiot
Spending holiday with family next Christmas? Not at this rate

Wouldn’t 3m mean we all shout more which helps with spreading the virus?

That's not going to work in schools, 2m doesn't work, lucky if you can manage 1m

@MiniTheMinx

2m or 3m is not really going to make all that much difference. The new variant is a virus that has googly eyes and wings! its not like it flies better. Its better transmissibility will have nothing to do with some special super power that allows it to float about better.

This was advised by SAGE. I presume they have access to much better data and studies than the average mumsnetter, so yes, it will make a difference or they wouldn't be saying it.

B.1.1.7. is more contagious because it has found a more effective way to latch on to cells, not because it stays afloat in the air better.

This suggests that the droplets in which it floats through the air are smaller than first thought, though stops short of saying aerosol.

And yes it is concerning. But the current advice, which is to Stay At Home unless essential will still sharply reduce your risk.

Sorting out essential workplaces is a matter of some urgency though. All staff who can wfh should already be doing so, and so it's a case of looking at what remains that definitely requires in person services and how to space people out even further

Oh good, yet another practical and sensible suggestion for the “we’ve all got secure jobs” SAGE.

So why does it need 3m and not 2, whats the reasoning behind that? Has this variant grown wings?

*from

This is like some sort of bizarre comedy. We all have to stand 3m apart? Really? How will Boris do his Phalanx of Doom? Cameras will have to zoom so far out that they'll be barely visible.

In the first lockdown a paramedic friend of mine was told to treat patients from 2 metres away. It's a wonder really how the human race has survived this long, stupidity is so incredibly rife.

Is Jeremy Hunt the source for this? Is there a link to the evidence supporting it? I find it hilarious how *unt is regarded as some sort of hero by many, given his actual record when Health Secretary.

@Sparklingbrook

The new variant requires border closure and a 3 week heavy lockdown, this won't be done because MPs and their mates love skiing and the carribean.

The general public can't seem to understand the idea of a 'lockdown' that doesn't help. They'll never manage with a heavy one.

They understand, many can't be arsed because they can see the borders open and know lockdown is temporary and won't work with new covid flooding in each day. This is why people did it in March (when they thought it would work), and don't now I still follow the rules but I can see the thinking with the flouters.

@MiniTheMinx it's not about it "floating" better, it's about needing exposure to fewer viral particles to contract an infection.

@SexTrainGlue aerosols and small aerosols are mentioned in this paragraph, from the document below, along with 2m and 2m+ distances...

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/948607/s0995-mitigations-to-reduce-transmission-of-the-new-variant.pdf

There was a scientist on BBC News earlier saying he didn't think we needed a 3 metre rule, what we really need is for people to stick to the 2 metre rule we have now. Lots of people are not doing that (for example queues, shops, crowding in popular parks etc.)

Covid Secure Office/Environment

There is no such thing. Unless you do not move, do not use any shared facilities (loo, tap etc) wear masks 100% correctly all of the time, never face anyone to talk to them and deep clean several times a day, including fully airing.

Loads of the people I see with COVID have caught it from supposedly "safe" offices and alarmingly weren't contacted by test and trace, because either someone forgot they were in the office with them or they were not considered a "close contact" because they were 3 desks away.

This is like some sort of bizarre comedy.

Indeed.

Back in February I wrote a risk assessment for a vulnerable client, then went on to have an argument with his parents. I stated that I thought COVID infection could arise from airborne exposure to the virus under certain circumstances such as air conditioning, recirculated air, or with different air quality such as lower or perhaps higher moisture levels. I thought it might behave like TB. I think the virus is able to easily float on air, is aerosolised easily because the particles are probably so small. So, yes 2m or 3m take your pick. My feeling is I'd rather be further away than 3m in any enclosed space. This is why I think this latest Sage advice is nonsense. Just as I think alcohol hand gel is probably the least effective measure against Covid. The higher the alcohol content the less effective.

I agree with PicsInRed. Close the boarders.

I think the government need to issue more than guidance in respect of work places. Instead of placing emphasis on "stay at home if you can work from home" we should have law that places the emphasis on employers to prove their business is essential and can not be conducted offsite. Although I think the 3m guidance would effectively render some businesses unable to operate. But we all know of businesses that are not following the 2m guidance or insisting on any other measures such as masks.

This is impossible to achieve, especially in places like ours that have pavements that are so narrow. Supermarkets would be impossible to navigate - hospitals and all the rest.
3m is huge!!
2m wasn't really possible, 3m is cloud cuckooland.