Is there another lockdown now or not?

[Overthebow]

BBC is showing new guidance for Bolton, Blackburn, Kirklees, Bedford, Burnley, Leicester, Hounslow and North Tyneside.

Is this supposed to be another lockdown? I’m confused.

@MaudesMum

Oh sod this. Have family in Burnley I've not seen for a year, and I'm planning a visit in about a month. I'm fully vaccinated, and my visit wouldn't involve doing anything high risk - mainly staying in their home and walking on the moors. I can't imagine not going at this stage, especially if the rules stick at "guidance", but would be happy to do a lateral flow test afterwards in case I bring something home.

Just go anyway. There's no way to enforce any of this anymore anyway.

Just a hunch but reckon the Government have already realised it's too late for local restrictions to contain the spread and so they'll wait until it's significant before blaming the public and making them turn on each other. Just a hunch.

Can I ask why this is necessary? If deaths and hospital admissions are staying low?!

You really need this question answered again?

@Overthebow

On Friday? So people have had the whole weekend without realising? Hoe has this happened without being publicised?

The PM doesn't want to be unpopular - also wants to make it look like the public is to blame - furious arse-covering now from Coffey . Telling people the guidance was there last week (but the govt didn't bother announcing it or telling local authorities or local health authorities). Seems Johnson thought we'd rather know about his latest marriage.

How does poverty stop people from accessing testing and vaccinations that are on their doorstep?

Not sure about England, but it is ridiculously difficult to book a test online in Scotland.

The guidance has changed (and at short notice), but not the actual regulations.

@freckles20

So many theories as to why Leicester is struggling again are being thrown about. Many contradict each other- how is it both down to poverty, plus down to people visiting India and not quarantining? Are people both very poor, and jetting off to India?

What we need is proper research, followed by support and solutions.

Of course now there is also news of a "Yorkshire variant" (oddly, also identified in Greece and Chad). Is that down to Yorkshire people jetting off to Manchester or Liverpool? Yes, some people - of all races - have ignored all sorts of restrictions. It will always be thus. But equally, I find it disturbing how racialised this debate has become.

Not all Asian heritage people are poor, and some, a few, may have been to India or Pakistan. And a few of those may not have isolated on their return. I'm absolutely positive of course that every single "English person" to jetted off to Spain last week will follow all the rules totally. It might be nice if everybody always did what they should all the time. It doesn't happen.

But there is more than enough research about the health outcomes of poverty to wallpaper the planet several times over. We don't need research, we need action. Not just now, but when everyone has forgotten the pandemic and it's just a past memory - because the effects of poverty will still be with us if we don't learn the lessons. Just as the lessons of the pandemic will be forgotten and we will be unprepared for whatever the next one is - we had more than enough reports telling the government we weren't ready for one long before Covid existed.

People mostly tend to live for today. Doing that isn't always good for them or for society in general. But there is no excuse for government doing it, and that is how governments still operate.

@Overthebow

On Friday? So people have had the whole weekend without realising? Hoe has this happened without being publicised?

Apparently the "guidance" was published on the .gov website on 14 May but no-one was told. How crazy is that?

@sotiredofthislonelylife

I will probably be flamed for this, but people have obviously travelled back from India, untested, not isolating, and then passed on the virus into multi-generational households,

As Horizon.. has pointed out you have needed a test to get on a flight into the UK from anywhere for several months now ( from memory certainly since the collapse of last summer's travel corridors?) and that test result has to be shown to Border Force Officials on arrival.

Self isolating (at home) might be an issue, but for quite a few weeks now anyone arriving from India has been escorted by officials to hotels to go straight into managed quarantine.

What we need is proper research, followed by support and solutions

No doubt, but that's a long term issue and Covid is here now

It will have escaped nobody's attention that it's always the same areas where hotspots first crop up and some in them will never comply with restrictions, knowing perfectly well that enforcement won't even be attempted

So I'll ask again - what solutions would people suggest in the short term?

It's like the guidance not to drive with your infected family from London to Durham, and have a day out to Barnard Castle on your wife's birthday.

You shouldn't really do it, but nothing will happen to you.

How does poverty stop people from accessing testing and vaccinations that are on their doorstep?

The vaccinations are not on our doorstep, I booked ours last week and the closest available to us was in another town(in another council area) a few miles away. We have a car, many here don’t, many here rarely leave the town at all.

@newnortherner111

It is nowhere near the restrictions even pre 17 May. Nothing is being closed.

People are being advised not to meet indoors or leave their area. Other than the fact this is guidance not law, it is very similar to restrictions pre-May. I'm not sure why you're struggling to see that.

Is it because you don't live in these areas?

@LadyCatStark

It’s just the same areas over and over again. What about the poor people in these areas that are being sensible. It’s devastating for them and there’s nothing they can do to help the situation. Clearly something else needs to be done in these areas.

Yes that’s what I was going to say.

It must be so frustrating for them.

The government needed to be much firmer with those travelling back from abroad and making sure they quarantined properly. It was illegal to go and illegal to not quarantine but so many have ignored this...

[quote loginfail]@sotiredofthislonelylife

I will probably be flamed for this, but people have obviously travelled back from India, untested, not isolating, and then passed on the virus into multi-generational households,

As Horizon.. has pointed out you have needed a test to get on a flight into the UK from anywhere for several months now ( from memory certainly since the collapse of last summer's travel corridors?) and that test result has to be shown to Border Force Officials on arrival.

Self isolating (at home) might be an issue, but for quite a few weeks now anyone arriving from India has been escorted by officials to hotels to go straight into managed quarantine.[/quote]
Too little too late.

The proverbial stable door and horse.

@HalfShrunkMoreToGo

When do we think BoJo or Hancock will do a little announcement about the hotspots then? Its obviously hit the news today that they've changed the guidelines so we should probably expect some kind of bumbling speech about local lockdowns not being wanted, but maybe being needed, not being ruled out, but not being enforced just yet and if we all just do our but then things maybe, could be, possibly will improve. Bad Leicester, if residents just did their part and Hands, Face, Space, but clearly not blaming the individuals, he knows how careful everyone's being, but if they were more careful..........in it together, will see this through, unprecedented times.......blah blah blah.

Have you been spying on the speechwriters? This is excellent.

@Watermelon222

Too little too late. The proverbial stable door and horse.

It may well be but I was responding to the allegation that this up tick in cases was down to people arriving in the UK untested...

My point still stands.

I just the UK legislation website including for new CV19 statutory instruments. As far as I can see the guidance is just voluntary so entirely up to anyone if they want to follow it or not - which in my view is the way it should be in a free society.

How does poverty stop people from accessing testing and vaccinations that are on their doorstep?

Am sure there are many reasons but a few I can think of are:
-not being able to afford transport costs and taking the time off work to go (there are long queues at many places), doing multiple low paid jobs and again not being able to take the time off.
-Many would be doing manual jobs and the side effects even the most common one one such as a very sore arm will prevent you for e.g. sewing in a factory, driving all day in a taxi etc.
-Not having the childcare available to spend a long time travelling and queuing up to take the jab. Again same issue if you have an elderly, immobile dependent living with you whom you can't leave unattended for ages nor can you take with you.
-Not being able to plan ahead to commit to an appointment because of the insecure nature of your work.

I read that in Turkey, they are doing home visits to catch up with those that did not have the vaccine when first vaccinated and it's been a huge success. They even had public health info people and 'leaders of the community' accompany the vaccinations to address any vaccine hesitation. I think this is the way forward.

Well I booked one of those vaccinations on my doorstep, the only appointment I could get is in a village 15 miles away. It's a 20 minute drive, but if I didn't drive it would be more like 2 hours across 3/4 separate buses with long waits in-between. Is it surprising that people aren't doing that if they had preschoolers with them and have to be back in time to collect older kids from school. Or if they would have to take most of a day off work, so not be able to afford food that week.

As for testing, while I don't think it's right, I can appreciate that some people genuinely cannot afford to isolate if the test is positive. So can understand some will convince themselves (possibly subconsciously) that it's just a cold, so no need to test because if they take the test, they risk been stuck at home, not working or getting paid with no food, no electric and with kids who can't go to school so aren't getting any restpite from what can be a pretty grim home life.

I'm guessing you've never really had to think about what poverty really entails.

It's guidance not law. I think at the moment it is about people using commonsense about what they do and who they meet and is aimed at those who might think twice about doing certain things. Those who will ignore it will ignore it anyway.

I live in an area that was really bad in Nov/Dec, talking as if the residents are dirty really is upsetting. It is not the case, the majority were taking things very seriously-we were unlucky with the Brazil variant (I think that was the one) and got clobbered with ristrictions.
I do see why they would want to halt the spread, wherever you are you should be careful. It annoys me everyone thinks they are ok if vaccinated, you still need to be careful-don't go around as if everything is normal.

I hope we don't go back into a lockdown as I think everyone is incredibly fragile.

@CuriousaboutSamphire

Listening to the news now it seems that Leicester council have complained that they were not advised of the new travel restrictions that have appeared on the government website!

So it's hardly surprising residents had no idea!

Someone in London fucked up!

Didn't the government previously hold press conferences to announce local restrictions? I don't think they've simply fucked up, they've deliberately tried to sneak it under the radar, although I don't know why they thought they could get away with it.

@NonagonInfinityOpensTheDoor Same here, I have been advised to now book my jab and have received the text / letter from my GP and have been offered appointments in Gamston, Pride Park or Chesterfield.

As a Leicestershire resident (not Leicester city council) I can avoid the city centre quite easily but if the government want to control this latest variant and stop people leaving the city where possible, they need to do more locally to offer local appointments to local people in order to get vaccinated. It's a contradiction to say not to travel out of your area but then only offer appointments in other counties. Someone has mentioned about a drop in at Beaumont Leys - I'm off to research that now, thank you!

@Moondust001

I don't see how it's disgusting, there is clearly a serious systemic issue there that must be down to behaviour of residents.

Yes, of course, just blame the people who live there. It couldn't possibly, despite the conclusions of many significant studies across the world including in the UK, be down to endemic poverty in some areas of the country, which very firmly lies with government policy.

Yes to this ^.

I'm sure the gov would be delighted if we all started blaming each other and pointing the finger at particular regions with accusations of bad behaviour etc, because if we do that we will less inclined to question the gov's own policies.