What is going on in Bolton?

[Cloudsurfing]

Over 300/100,000 rate now, and still rising. This surely can't just be the Indian variant can it? Nowhere else seems to be this high and 86 counties now have the variant. Will the government do a local lockdown? surely they can't let people meet inside when cases are so high there?

By the time we had the second lockdown in November, we’d already had to start cancelling non-urgent treatment due to the number of Covid patients and he number of staff self-isolating. So locking down before then if you want us to start catching up on the backlog.

I’ve no problem in theory with using admissions, rather than cases, but we probably need to act earlier than we have in the past. If we act when it ‘looks like the NHS is about to be overwhelmed’ then the NHS opus probably already using all it’s coping mechanisms to survive.

There’s a real combination of things happening in Bolton, you’ve got lower vaccination rates in the areas where the majority of the South Asian community live, a large Indian population that have brought back the Indian variant from India, many arriving back in that short window before it went on the red list - those areas are also more likely to live in overcrowded, multi generational housing, more likely to have public facing jobs and are more deprived so less likely to be able to self isolate, they can’t afford to. So put all of that together and you have a new variant, with a higher transmission rate, surging through the community. And we just had Eid, so expect an impact from that in about a weeks time…

Actually local lockdowns do work. If they are carried out properly.
I don't get why in some areas we have had local lockdowns. 2-3 weeks problem solved. Yet other areas don't do them properly and ppl just accept that.

Maybe I just live in a place where ppl have seemed to follow the rules since the start

People are keen & taking it now they have a way to get it without apps or travelling out of area

Ive said on previous threads that some wont have smartphones or be able to travel because of just not being able to afford them.
Maybe someone should remind Matty Hancock and co. of his former colleagues advice to communities from just two years ago.

www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/tory-esther-mcvey-suggests-poor-14210844

Tory Esther McVey says poor families 'prioritise new phones over food'
The former Work and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey, who was the face of Universal Credit, appeared to blame low-income families' wanting 'new phones' for poverty

Torvean I imagine it’s because in some areas the restrictions apply to the cause of the spread, and in other areas it doesn’t. It’s tempting to you to think of it as people not complying and breaking rules, but it’s much more likely that it happens that in their particular area the spread is happening in workplaces, medical settings, and so on - all places that people have to go to and do so without breaking any rules.

@Torvean A lot of the garment factories are in those areas.

Not one employer NOT ONE has been prosecuted or fined for pressuring ppl to come into work with Covid symptoms.

Plenty of members of the public have been fined though.

FGS stop assuming its down to ppl not following arbitrary rules.

Have ppl reported employers? Or is it a scenario where ppl feel they can't. I'm assuming maybe ppl might go in with symptoms as they can't afford time off?

Earlier in thread someone from Bolton said ppl hadn't been following the rules.
There's always the entitled minority ruin it for everyone.

It’s easier to blame an “entitled minority” isn’t it. Makes you feel like bad things can’t happen to you because you’re not like them.

Why are the government to blame for not closing the border? WHY are PEOPLE not expected to take responsibility for unnecessary travel?! That combined with a higher likelihood of multigenerational households and some scepticism was/is a recipe for disaster.

TAKE responsibility for your actions. If you visited India or the nearest countries maybe, just maybe, it’s your fault. Nobody else’s.

Couple that also with the fact that there has been blatant ignoring of the lockdown rules by so many (everywhere) also btw.

Why the fuck should the responsible majority of us still lock down because a few can’t behave? No. Fuck off. Deal with the consequences.

The vaccination set up does seem to be more conjusive for the middle classes. Book on the internet, maybe travel some miles to your appointment which is not on a direct bus route, free jab but pay a fortune to get to it in some cases and lose time off work. Lots of people on here say, oh just get public transport or a taxi to a jab miles away. Just take a whole day off work and spend a fortune getting there.

I live near Bedford which is another hospital. Not one vaccination centre is on a direct bus route from where I live. If I had to go by public transport it would take me have a day and at least one change of bus with a wait in the town centre each way. When I booked my jab it took 3 days of checking before I could get one that close. By car I could drive there, have the jab and backed home in 45 minutes. If that's the situation in Bolton it's hardly surprising if take up is lower in some groups.

Hotspot not hospital

I live in East Northamptonshire and had a choice of a hub in Northampton or Bedford, nothing nearer, I waited 2 weeks after being invited for it to see if I could get a local GP appointment, nothing came from GP so I had to travel to Northampton which is OK as I have a car but it is not on a direct bus route if I hadn't got one.

I looked to book a vaccination and the nearest to me was Burnley,if I couldn’t drive this could have been 2-3 bus rides away taking over a hour,Luckily I eventually got one in Bolton.

People are mixing households,a lot of places of work are asking staff to test and providing lft but they can’t force them to do it,Some households have multi family members living there and they are going out to work and potentially passing/catching it.

The queues at ESSA academy show that we don’t want yet another lock down here in Bolton.We’ve all been delivered pcr tests and had them collected,but as with other towns some won’t test as they think they won’t get paid.

It’s an awful situation here in Bolton

I’ve got a feeling the vaccine refusal narrative is just to distract from the real issue of the government not closing the border soon enough.

The Indian variant is all over the world now, including in countries with very tight border controls.

As long as not many people are being hospitalized, I'm not sure I can get very excited about the situation, to be honest.

Covid has highlighted just how much of a divide there is is some geographical areas and between what some people get from life.

It's just absolutely abhorrent that people are forced into work with COVID symptoms just to feed their family and are too scared to report their employers in case they loose their jobs.

How did we be some a country that respects some employees so little their health will be sacrificed in a public health crisis for profit

I live in bolton what you are all reading is Bull s#!t we had the longest lockdown of you all, we complied we stayed indoor just like everyone eles yes there were a handful that did not follow kin Jon ung rules like everywhere eles as I'm sure other place had , there were 19 people in hospital not 19000 some had not had the vaccine yet why I don't know home life work not had time in the wrong age group there own reason who are you to say. The queue for the vaccine in bolton are ridiculous the are miles long the pictures are not faked most people I have spoken to have had both vaccine very few have had one and very less had none, we had 6 weeks out of lockdown last year while everyone eles got to get back on with there live while we were locked up and know people who don't live here are screaming lock them down again, yes I'm frustrated the area in live in has very few cases some areas have high cases because if certain ? . But nothing was done about people flying to India and other places that had a high variant with no checks then coming back here people from bolton have done nothing wrong it is the government who have done wrong not closing borders so please stop asking what is going on in bolton and ask what in going on with the government

I’ve struggled to book my second dose of AZ despite being eligible and I have to travel a long way for it. I imagine some of these factors would have put people off in Bolton. Now it is much easier to obtain the jab hopefully things might improve.

@countrygirl99 @TheAlphaandtheOmega @KaySam that’s awful. I would email the local MP and Matt Hancock if I were you - let them know the specific areas where there’s an issue, and their teams will have data to know whether uptake is low in these areas so could get a vaccine bus/local centre set up to improve uptake if it’s low due to poor access. At least I hope that’s how it would work, but there will always be oversights and it’s important to flag them as often as possible.

[quote lurker101]**@countrygirl99* @TheAlphaandtheOmega* @KaySam that’s awful. I would email the local MP and Matt Hancock if I were you - let them know the specific areas where there’s an issue, and their teams will have data to know whether uptake is low in these areas so could get a vaccine bus/local centre set up to improve uptake if it’s low due to poor access. At least I hope that’s how it would work, but there will always be oversights and it’s important to flag them as often as possible.[/quote]
They’ve now opened a few vaccinations buses/centres close by with long opening hours, over 3000 first vaccinations were done on Sunday so people are taking them up.
The local mosques and temples are telling everyone to take the vaccination which should help.
I live in one of the areas with high rates,and it’s worrying but the other sad thing is that it’s brought the racists out.

We’ve been in a local lockdown for longer than most,pubs closed with a couple of hours notice,but we live close to other towns so people travel to have a night out.

Me too countrygirl. Vaccine rollout painfully slow at first in both Bolton and Bedford. Bedford seems not to make national news as much (assume it doesn't meet media requirements to tar the NW?) Bedford is not getting surge testing til next week and , unlike neighbouring MK and S Northants, schools with cases are not getting mass testing. There have been 10 cases in DS's (relatively small) college in less than 10 days.

Nothing except AZ for miles around for most here so people 40 and under often unable to get vaccinated.

Vaccine rollout improved when two large vaccine hubs opened in the town. Apparently vaccination hub provision was woeful in Bolton until about a week ago.

This bit of your OP is inaccurate

Nowhere else seems to be this high : but the media seem only to focus on Bolton with the odd mention of Bedford.

I would email the local MP and Matt Hancock if I were you

The Bedford MP and the mayor are brilliant and very on the ball. Matt H has a record of ignoring them.

@Piggywaspushed

I would email the local MP and Matt Hancock if I were you

The Bedford MP and the mayor are brilliant and very on the ball. Matt H has a record of ignoring them.

All the more reason to land it at his door 😂 If they are getting many specific example of where there’s a problem with access to vaccines it’ll support the points the MPs are making

Not everyone who is eligible for the vaccine is called and there’s fuck all you can do if you aren’t. Ds should have had his in March and had it last week. We have been calling the GP every week. Be careful with those pesky stereotypes being thrown around.