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?

@KeepWashingThoseHands well yes but I also have all the same restrictions here as well , and most people were able to see their families when restrictions relaxed in the summer or on Christmas Day for example .

Should have been done from the start. And should be no exceptions.

And watch them give so much notice that everyone rushes back to avoid having to do it, like the crowds leaving London before the deadline.

Really loving this. Will make it doubly impossible to ever see my family again in Australia without quitting my job as will be 4 weeks of hotel quarantine at £5k with 2 toddlers before I actually get any time with said family.

Just want to cry.

There is a travel update tomorrow I gather. Keen to know plans. What does it mean for people visiting less than 10 days or essential business trips? Impossible situation if they implement quarantining in hotels. Clear tests and tracking movements should be enough I would hope

Problem is exemptions

It usually is
Don't worry though - doubtless footballers "elite sportspeople" will be exempted so we can all heave a sigh of relief

@Watermelon999 and yes I get that . Don’t get me wrong I understand why it’s probably needed but I just wish that they had done it last feb/ March then we’d all be in a better position in the U.K.

As it stands it’s been a year of shite and half arsed attempts at things and just seems never ending now

Be pointless as those who think they are important will some how get out of it - z listers like the towie lot etc think they can do what they want.

@stealthbanana yup , also want to cry , well I already have

@NastyBlouse

Given that proof of a negative covid test is now mandatory for entry into each of the four nations that make up the UK, including for UK citizens, there seems to be minimal point in this.

Sounds like government by opinion poll, again.

Negative covid test only means you were negative and not shedding the virus at the point of testing. You can have proof of negative test, come into the U.K. and still go around spreading it if you weren’t yet infectious when you arrived.

Too late. Should have done it this time last year.

I can't see any of the government being stuck in a Holiday Inn for 2 weeks/10 days or anyone connected with them

I was just telling DH I'm afraid of being locked out of UK if my dad or step-mum died (covid). I wouldn't be able to physically attend the funeral, for fear of not being let back in. Hopefully the vaccine will work for my folks so glad this didn't become my dilemma.

I’m not in favour at all. Think it is too late now and once started it is hard to stop. It’s just going to cause a lot of unnecessary hardship and expense for people that do need to travel, not to mention the livelihoods in the travel industry.

It should have been done earlier and I suspect the list of exemptions will be too long

@sashagabadon

I’m not in favour at all. Think it is too late now and once started it is hard to stop. It’s just going to cause a lot of unnecessary hardship and expense for people that do need to travel, not to mention the livelihoods in the travel industry.

Yes, and all the ones with money will be the ones with exemptions

I'm glad they are now seriously considering it. The last thing we need is someone going on holiday and bringing back new variants of the virus that are resistant to the vaccines - then we'd just be back to square one. It seems no one expected there would be so many new variants this soon and there are of course likely to be many more.

The problem is they'll have to keep it up for a very long time, at least until virus levels in every country are very low so that there isn't much community transmission anywhere. That also seems to be why they didn't do it this time last year - if they had, it would still need to be in place now and going forward...

So basically even with a vaccine things aren’t going to get better is what this message is!
The list is exemptions will read like a key worker for schools list- basically 70% of people like love islanders will be able to travel and we will read of a mother with two disabled children quarantined in a hotel after going to a grandparents funeral in Ireland.
The U.K. has such high rates of infection why are we going to take the added expense of quarantining people from less infectious countries!
It’s also the final nail in the coffin for the holiday industry.

My question is when would it end? If the rationale is to prevent potential new variants from being brought into the country then are we not looking at until the whole world is vaccinated?

Don't know how long that will take. 5 yrs? What would be the rationale for reopening once this step has been taken.

I have family abroad too. Now having to face the fact that I may never see my father again.

There need to be exceptions (not me).
More than 150,000/yr Irish hauliers cross the land bridge between the Republic of Ireland and Europe via the UK.

@Changemaname1 it’s so hard isn’t it. Sorry you’re in this position too.

Bloody pointless now- should have done this 10/11 months ago. Now all you’re doing is ruining any hopes of things improving this year- I fucking hate this useless government

My feelings exactly @OnlyFoolsnMothers

I have Chinese friends & colleagues unable to visit home in China now for about a year. I've heard from them & from friends in Australia, how the quarantine hotels operate. THe UK scheme seems rather badly and far too loosely organised in contrast.

The problem is they'll have to keep it up for a very long time, at least until virus levels in every country are very low so that there isn't much community transmission anywhere

So, two or three YEARS as that's how long the vaccine roll-out is likely to take globally.

A friend went to South Africa in July. The whole flight was taken by coach to a hotel where they had to stay in their rooms for 14 days. They had their temperature taken daily and had to report any covid symptoms. Meals were left on a tray outside their room, and they could receive packages from family but those were to be left by a family member at reception and again left outside the room. I think they were allowed outside for 15 min exercise/day. If no one on the flight had a temp or tested postive in 10 days they were allowed to leave.

The voluntary quarantine here was very lax by comaprison.

This was discussed on Radio 4's PM programme this afternoon (about 5.15pm I think). They had a contributor describing the Australian set-up and a big issue is that the number of people allowed into the country is limited by the number of hotel rooms being used for isolation.

She said in Sydney they can only accommodate an amount of people equivalent to 3 jumbo jets' worth of passengers arriving in one week. Only Australian nationals are currently allowed to travel to Australia (apart from VIPS such as tennis players...) and there are thousands of Australians abroad who are unable to return home because of the restricted capacity of isolation hotels.

So it's not just a matter of whether you can afford the time/money to spend 2 weeks in an isolation hotel, it's whether there is actually enough capacity to accommodate you.

So if say the Beckhams pop overseas in a private plane as they do, I can't see them being shoved in a Holiday Inn for quarantine with the general masses