Mandatory hotel quarantine in the UK

[Circumlocutious]

There was the New Zealand thread which touched on this, but I thought it’s helpful to have a more targeted discussion. Mandatory hotel quarantine for all UK arrivals, likely to be signed off on tomorrow.

Twitter thread from FT journalist discussing some of the complex aspects involved:

mobile.twitter.com/SebastianEPayne/status/1353657496716660737

Do you think it’ll ‘work’? (presumably its main purpose is to stop new covid variants from coming in). Why / why not?

Why do people try and get round the rules when the rules are to try and stop the virus spreading and a new variant causing the death and destruction the Kent variant has

Exactly. Aren't 100,000 deaths enough?

I just don’t understand the reason for two weeks quarantine if you were to arrive in the U.K. and have a negative test? Am I being thick here, arrive & quarantine, test straightaway, if test is negative, go home

10 months of constant discussion of this virus, and you still don't understand ...?

Crikey, the UK education system has declined.

[quote Remaker]@IcedPurple but the summer was post lockdown was it not? We have DH’s entire family in the UK, plus dozens of friends. Everyone we know other than the elderly went on holiday, most on multiple holidays and many went abroad. Not just in the summer either, SIL ended up testing positive while on holiday in the autumn. So to us it looks like: big lockdown, party all summer long, travel as much as possible, oh shit, lockdown again.

And now I read threads on MN with people planning holidays abroad during 2021. It’s just so odd to us. Once of the first things we were told was no overseas holidays for a long time and the vast majority of people accept it. I have family in the US as well so it is a hardship but I think if you are upfront with people and give them the hard facts early instead of faffing around it is easier to get them onboard.[/quote]
We were meant to go to Australia (for the first time, to visit family) at the end of last year, of course it was cancelled. I had resigned myself to it in about May. We haven't rebooked for this year because we thought there are too many uncertainties, and not knowing what Australia's stance will be, we'd rather not get our hopes up so have put off til 2022.

In regard to people booking holidays abroad, I think most people in the uk go away is they are desperate for sun! (if not visiting family)

It was great to see Serena Williams praising the Australian quarantine approach. Likewise with Nadal encouraging other players to settle down and stop complaining. Life in Aus is essentially back to normal, just ongoing social distancing. It's not easy, I work in tourism and had a 9 month stand down, but the sacrifices are worth it!

I'm not a Covid is hoax person, but I don't believe in the new strains being more transmittable, very convenient. Keep us all complying. I hope this hotel quarantine thing ( which I think is ridiculous) is just to stop Half term and Easter holidays not go on all summer. I know so many people who went abroa sin the summer and didn't catch Covid but I suppose people are catching it from somewhere.

@beingmorehappy the scientists can track the rise in rates from the different variants, and the rates rose with the new variant

@Mousehole10 I’m saying to quarantine on arrival in the hotel in the home country and test them then again. Surely if that is negative, they’re negative 🤷🏻‍♀️

@QueenoftheAir Oh fuck off. I’m anxious about seeing my elderly parents who I haven’t seen for a long time, who live to see their grandchild and who I’m currently seeing are going into decline. I’m asking questions, no need to be so nasty in such a difficult time for all.

@Twirlywooooo I’m slightly confused, when do you think people should quarantine and where?

You know @Twirlywooooo I will be lucky if I see my elderly parents alive in person ever again. They're in Australia. I'm not. My mother is in a decline - I'll be lucky if she even knows who I am the next time I see her.

But I'm managing, and I'm trying to think of the bigger picture. I'm also aware that these are the risks we all take with far-flung family. I'm not special and neither are you. This is not just about us as individuals - it's not all about you (or me).

Your lack of understanding of simple normal science - the likely incubation period for any virus, let alone a devastating disease - is quite worrying.

@QueenoftheAir So let’s just continue to make each other feel crap by nasty comments then.
I don’t feel I’m in any way special, I totally sympathise with your situation, I completely do, therefore I wouldn’t go out of my way to say nasty things as I understand and wouldn’t want someone to feel crappier than they do. Take your anger and bitterness out on someone else, engaging with this, there’s no need.

@Twirlywooooo I’m confused now, that’s what they are doing, I thought you didn’t want it? People coming in from those countries will quarantine in hotels in the UK and be tested before release, but it needs to be the whole virus incubation period.

This measure the government will bring in regarding hotel quarantine is half hearted-go the whole whack or don’t bother. People, as already evident in the posts above, are thinking up ways to get around the hotel quarantine.

@Twirlywooooo

I’m in Aus and they report the daily covid cases from quarantine facilities in each state. Most of them being reported are several days after arrival.
If someone contracts covid whilst on a flight, it’s unlikely to return a positive test if they test on arrival only.

@Mousehole10 I misunderstood, ignore me, I don’t have the British news here so am catching snippets online whilst a toddler shouts down my ear 😂 I need to read more about it all later, or perhaps I really am that thick, as the previous poster said!

@beingmorehappy

I'm not a Covid is hoax person, but I don't believe in the new strains being more transmittable, very convenient. Keep us all complying. I hope this hotel quarantine thing ( which I think is ridiculous) is just to stop Half term and Easter holidays not go on all summer. I know so many people who went abroa sin the summer and didn't catch Covid but I suppose people are catching it from somewhere.

We saw graphs at work (nhs) which showed them to be hugely more transmissible.

How do you know the people who went abroad didn’t catch it when 1/3 are asymptomatic? Unless they quarantine they could be unwittingly passing it to anyone they have contact with...

@Thedramasummer Thank you so much, I understand 💐

So to us it looks like: big lockdown, party all summer long, travel as much as possible, oh shit, lockdown again.

Yeah, but in fairness you're on the other side of the world so what it looks like to you is not the reality. As I said, a small fraction of the usual numbers travelled abroad so it certainly wasn't as 'much as possible'. As for partying all summer long, again that's simply not true. There were restrictions on all forms of hospitality throught the summer.

I should also add that plenty of Germans, Swedes, Dutch etc travelled during the summer. So it wasn't just Brits.

And now I read threads on MN with people planning holidays abroad during 2021. It’s just so odd to us.

Yeah, but what's odd to you doesn't really matter as your circumstances are very different. Surely you know that? And if you've read those threads on MN surely you'll also know that anyone who's booked holidays, and again it's a tiny % of the number who normally book in January, knows perfectly well that they may very well be cancelled? Your post is a bit patronising.

“There were restrictions on all forms of hospitality throught the summer.”

Though eat out to help out was a big, stupid mistake.

Though eat out to help out was a big, stupid mistake
If looked purely through the prism of covid, yes.
If looked through the prism of everything else in life, not necessarily a mistake at all.

Serena Williams explains Australia's quarantine to Stephen Colbert. twitter.com/ElliotG78/status/1354308694356332545?s=19

www.gov.uk/guidance/travel-advice-novel-coronavirus

[quote PurpleHoodie]www.gov.uk/guidance/travel-advice-novel-coronavirus[/quote]
Worth knowing but last updated 16th Jan so presumably will be updated or replaced later today to reflect any new requirements announced by HMG.

Yes not, you're right.

Good to have a handy clickable link for anyone who doesn't know about Gov. web links.

My neighbours, who have had visitors staying at various times throughout the pandemic, and people regularly going in and out, have just gone abroad on holiday. There's absolutely no way they will quarantine when they get back (unless they have to go into a hotel). Sometimes I can't see how we get out of this mess. Everything the government does is half measures.

There's absolutely no way they will quarantine when they get back (unless they have to go into a hotel).

Whatever measures are introduced IMHO they need to be enforced by the authorities on arrival i.e. "Border" or the police themselves.

For example according to some sources Ms Patel has announced

" we will introduce a new requirement so that people wishing to travel must first make a declaration as to why they need to travel.
This reason for travel will be checked by carriers prior to departure.."

It shouldn't just be checked by check-in staff or gate-staff, it should also be checked by uniformed government officials, the ways it's done already in many other countries. If people had to convince a police constable or a Border Official that there reason for travel was legit it might concentrate a few minds.