Why doesn’t U.K. just shut borders & have mandatory quarantine?

[Singaporeslings]

I live in a country where the government shut external borders 9mths ago (similar to Australia but not quite as tough!).
Citizens are allowed back but people like me on a long-term work visa have to apply for permission to leave and re-enter.
And EVERYONE who enters has to do 14-day quarantine at a designated facility. You’re taken from airport to your allocated hotel (which you have to pay approx £1k for but have no choice in) and locked in. Sounds extreme but that (with other strict mandated measures) has kept our case/death numbers v low.
Why haven’t the U.K. govt done this yet???

I really wish they had. Would have kept the hotels open too!

Because that would be too easy?

Because it’s all about money?

Because it’s a reasonable suggestion?

Because they are a bit useless.

Probably a bit late now, just about anywhere on the world is probably less risky than the U.K. at this point.

Because it's all about not wanting to take any responsibility and instead rather enjoying saying things like "it'd be a good idea not to go to parties" so that three days later Johnson can say "but I said it wasn't a good idea, now I'm going to have to say "we really must ask you to not go to parties" etc.
See also the unwillingness to use the word "mask" for masks in case...well, no idea on that one tbh. In case the public thinks it's going to be made to watch a shit film? Have an obligatory beauty treatment? Or maybe the "face covering" sign writers are his mates too and get more money the more letters they use.
The way things are going, masks might be mandatory by about the end of 2022.

I stopped watching the press conferences because of BJ, but what does he say when asked the question? Please tell me the journalists ask him the question direct...

Probably would have been a better idea back in Feb/march etc.

We are an island it need never have even got here.

No point now really though

Imagine the reaction if the government forced people to pay £1K to quarantine in a hotel.

I think desperate times desperate measures, so this is exactly what we should have done too, but people and the press would have ripped the govt to shreds and not had any of it, and probably refused.

Because the majority of people still flying in and out of the country are wealthy, powerful and have high-up business connections.

Wealth, power and business are what the Tory's are about.

I wish they would.

I wonder how many hard lockdowns we will have to endure before the government finally uses the one and only advantage we have of being an island, and closes the borders.

They could do it now. Keep the lockdown going, and close the borders until we have driven the infections down to rock bottom. But dh tells me we are an international hub, we can't be closed, and I tell him of course we can! They just choose not to.

I think it's because there are too many people entering the country and leaving. Google says nearly 90 million people passed through Heathrow in 2019, even if that was slashed in 2020 you are still looking for accommodation for, say 20 million, that's over a 54,000 a day - do we have 54,000 bedrooms available near to Heathrow?

Or we could simply close the borders to everyone but residents pinky

Imagine the reaction if the government forced people to pay £1K to quarantine in a hotel

I know, imagine the horror of telling people before they went anywhere so they could decide whether or not to bother going. Such a breach of human rights isn't it.

Not like locking law abiding citizens down and having them receive no education or be able to work. I mean that's perfectly fine

The UK could have done what other European, international hub countries and cities did. Borders are still open, but there is a strict testing and quarantine regime everyone adheres to. Why? Because the authorities monitor each returning traveller and make sure they're staying inside if required.

I live in one of those countries and since early summer, negative tests and quarantines have been compulsory when coming back from a risk area. You are spot checked during your isolation. You need to email your negative results to the local health service at the end of the 5/10 days, then you're released from quarantine. There is no faffing about and you don't risk breaking isolation because it's up to €25k in fines, and you do get caught because they are monitoring you. Result - very few imported cases.

I can't believe how almost a year on, the UK has absolutely no system. They're only now considering asking for a negative test on entry?? 10 months on??? How do they plan to monitor those negative tests and the quarantines that follow? Because a negative test on entry doesn't mean you aren't incubating the virus.

Yes, it's probably unrealistic to go full Australia mode and ask people to isolate at the cost of £1k per person. But they should have definitely come up with a system which ensures people are staying in when they need to. No going to the supermarket, or leaving the house for a walk early morning, or having people around during your isolation. If people were monitored and scared of getting a huge fine (or infecting others, that's worse than a fine!) this wouldn't happen.

It's doable, but the UK government decided to not even attempt it. And people feel too special and always have a reason why the rules don't apply to them.

They're not going to now, because the virus is out of control in the country so frankly it makes little difference.

They should have done it in February but by the time they realised that it wasn't just people coming in from China or 12 small towns in Italy, again it was out of control because too many different people in too many different areas across the country had been infected.

Australia doesn't have hundreds of trucks and drivers arriving and leaving every hour. Stupid to think we could act like Australia.

I think there was also a plan to allow some natural spread and gain natural immunity within the country. What would we have done if the vaccines didn't work?
Close the borders indefinitely?

Because people still wanted their summer holidays in the Mediterranean. I wish they had shut for two weeks teo

It's too late. The virus is in every corner of the world.

And EVERYONE who enters has to do 14-day quarantine at a designated facility.

And how will countries like NZ fare when they rely so heavily on tourism? They will be in trouble when they open their borders as there will be zero immunity in the community. This virus is here to stay, the sooner we achieve herd immunity the better and our government know that.

Wealth, power and business are what the Tory's are about

And are also largely what pays the taxes to cover our health care etc Be realistic - someone has to pay for all the vaccines and health care and it aint Jo Bloggs' caff profits.

Because it’s a reasonable suggestion?

This!

But the only way we are ever going to going to achieve herd immunity is through vaccination. We’re never going to achieve it by just letting the virus spread through society. That just results in a lot of needless preventable deaths.

Given the amount of money the government have wasted, including massively overpaying for a test & trace system that doesn’t really work, I think it probably could have at least subsidised the 1k, possibly by paying it to hotels who were closed and possibly being paid furlough anyway.

And I don’t think anyone was suggesting we don’t allow freight in. It could either come in unaccompanied or we could make an exception, with restrictions on what hauliers are allowed to do.

It’s pretty pointless whilst infection rates are so high. Yes they should have done it ages ago but they didn’t so pointless keeping going on about that.

The problem with asking people to quarantine when they return back to somewhere with a higher infection rate than where they came from is people don’t take it seriously because they think they had less chance of catching it when they were away. And that’s probably true. So you might catch a few cases coming in, but that doesn’t even touch the sides of the in community transmission you have.

Now that there are so many variants around it becomes a whole different issue.

I think they should do it for international travellers from hot spots where mutations have been proven or are likely. Even if it was 5 days monitoring in a hotel that would be so useful. They won't though. They don't care and would just prefer to bang on about people getting a socially distanced coffee and killing granny.

They've blocked entry from Brazil, Portugal and the Cape Verde Islands, could be others

Remember back in Feb and March when people returned from China, Italy etc. They were only told to isolate (and this wasn’t checked) if they had symptoms! Yet many are asymptomatic.

It’s too late now anyway. We’d have had to act quickly and decisively. That doesn’t happen often does it?

Partly the WHO fault. They said there was no point in shuttting borders!

I know! I can’t believe that it’s only 9 months later they are asking for a negative test before arrival. Like wtaf