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.

I have to say in my area of London I had multiple places offered to me to have the jab, the closest of which was a five min walk away and the longest was a 15 min tube ride away. As it happens I went to the local hospital but again only a 5 min drive away. I doubt many of the areas affected by the guidance have similar levels of vaccine accessibility.

I'd agree that deprivation, a lack of understanding, difficult circumstances and misinformation are fueling the rise in these areas. The numbers in Bolton, in particular, are dreadful and the spread seems to just be creeping up there with half-hearted measures being put in place like a sticking plaster on a gaping wound.

I can completely understand how/why people are not being vaccinated/isolating/still mixing and agree wholeheartedly with @Moondust001post at 09:01

Thinking about my own vaccination. I work from home and have a home office, I have unfettered access to the internet so was able to monitor when my age group was opening up and complete freedom to browse for suitable appointments. As it happened, the only appointment that was suitable was 20 miles away, I have a car and money for fuel. Furthermore, I have a husband who would willingly look after the DC while I went to the appointment. Therefore, it was very easy for me to have my vaccination at the earliest possible opportunity and I very much took the approach of taking matters into my own hands and taking responsibility for my own situation.

The situation would have been significantly more difficult if:

• English wasn't my first language
• I wasn't an avid follower of the news/internet/keeping myself completely informed
• I had no transport
• I had an inflexible job or one that I would be unable to do if I had any vaccine side effects
• I didn't have any childcare

I'd agree that in these areas, as much as possible the vaccine should be 'taken to the people' and there should be further support for those required to isolate.

[quote loginfail]@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.[/quote]
Yes I wondered about the testing and think this needs looking into more especially before summer holidays.

They need to look into whether the tests were done properly, and if they need to be done closer to departure day or if anything needs to change.

It’s difficult to comprehend how this has spread so quickly if people have done the tests at the correct times and isolated properly...

I think it would be really helpful to know what the demographics are of those getting hospitalised, and whether they are vaccinated or not.

It’s guidance, which I have not seen formally announced by Boris and co

Which means most won’t know about it

@Hazelnutlatteplease

Its guidance because they dont want to have to announce they are locking down an area again. The government are burying their head in the sand

It could well turn into a lockdown as a country we tend to ignore guidelines.... It will then need to be longer and harder. They also dont want to close the schools which is probably necessary.

It's really just the government being spineless.

I agree. There is a race to vaccinate enough people for enough variants. The vaccination programme is going well but weve not won the race yet. This Govt always always reacts too late, and we suffer more that way.

Oh for crying out loud - I live just outside of one of the places and had no idea. For the first time in over a year I had to go into the city this weekend - on public bloody transport. No idea the advice was to now not travel into it out of the area.

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.

Quite.

@Overthebow

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

Cos we have a shit government who would rather feather their own nests and look popular than actually govern. They make me so mad!

Oh and stop banging on about poverty.

It’s lifestyle and lack of interest in following the rules!

Flights to India aren’t cheap and you only have to look at everyone rushing back to avoid having to hotel quarantine with flight prices massively inflated, plus testing costs!

No one should have been allowed to travel unless to visit a dying relative or small funeral.

@GlobetrottingPercy just saw that Beaumont keys was a 2 day event but take a look here www.swiftqueue.co.uk/leicesterc19v.php and here www.leicestercityccg.nhs.uk/my-health/coronavirus-advice/coronavirus-%20vaccine/

I'm not going to visit any towns that start with a B. Other than that it seems our half term plans are going ahead.

@Watermelon222

Oh and stop banging on about poverty.

It’s lifestyle and lack of interest in following the rules!

Flights to India aren’t cheap and you only have to look at everyone rushing back to avoid having to hotel quarantine with flight prices massively inflated, plus testing costs!

No one should have been allowed to travel unless to visit a dying relative or small funeral.

^ this! The worrying thing is that there will end up being increased racial division and mistrust in some of these communities.

@Watermelon222

Oh and stop banging on about poverty.

It’s lifestyle and lack of interest in following the rules!

Flights to India aren’t cheap and you only have to look at everyone rushing back to avoid having to hotel quarantine with flight prices massively inflated, plus testing costs!

No one should have been allowed to travel unless to visit a dying relative or small funeral.

Believe it or no, not everyone in the affected areas has been to India. Poverty effect community spread, it's not that difficult to understand.

@Carycy

As far as I am concerned it was the governments choice for people to come in and out of India so they can duck off with any local restrictions now. I haven’t left the country since 2019. I just want to go to wales with my family and be by the god damn beach. I am done with this.

I agree with you about the beach and that the government should have done more to make sure they fined people who broke the law and travelled.

But they did make it illegal to travel- so ultimately the people who did so illegally should take the blame. It should have been specific circumstances only with tighter rules- not massive weddings and funerals and because they had not seen family for a year. (Should have been the same as we had to put up with over here)

It wasn't anywhere on Leicester Mercury website this morning
Also yes the footy went ahead on Sunday in Leicester with I think 8000 fans !?!

Weren't there a number of people diverting their travel from India so they came here via another country to avoid quarantine hotels. I wonder how many of them have transmitted the virus to their families and the ones who rushed back before they had to quarantine

Yes, that's it, make it about you, rather than those of us who actually are caught up in it again

@SofiaMichelle Calderdale was pretty much under the same restrictions as Kirklees last year, there is nothing wrong in what the OP posted. The boarder for Huddersfield is just up the road from where I live, and Calderdale also boarders Lancashire so I expect we’ll be the same as Kirklees in the next week or so.

No no not the 'boarders' on MN again 🙈. Borders mate, 'borders'. (Sorry! )

[quote LadyPenelope68]@Lissy23
I’m Calderdale as well. I’m involved in regular Public Health updates as part of my job, our rates are rapidly increasing, we’ll be included in this group before long I imagine ☹️[/quote]
I knew this would happen as we boarder Kirklees and Lancashire.

It’s funny that the announcement happens now there’s a half term break next week.....

@AIMummy

No no not the 'boarders' on MN again 🙈. Borders mate, 'borders'. (Sorry! )

Border

@AlMummy oh bore off lol! 😂

@Watermelon222

Oh and stop banging on about poverty.

It’s lifestyle and lack of interest in following the rules!

Flights to India aren’t cheap and you only have to look at everyone rushing back to avoid having to hotel quarantine with flight prices massively inflated, plus testing costs!

No one should have been allowed to travel unless to visit a dying relative or small funeral.

I agree people shouldn’t have been travelling, I agree with you there but don’t deny the effect that poverty has on health issues. I have already stated I live right in one of the hotspots, there is some money here yes, but it sits alongside a lot of poverty. It takes one or two people to bring this variant to the area, they go to mosque(using mosque as an example because there is a huge one on my doorstep). it is passed on to others there, those others work in jobs where they are meeting many others because low paid jobs tend not to be those working from home and it gets already through the local community.

Bythehairywartsonmywitchychin

My apologies 😂

Local lockdowns clearly don’t work for these areas (or at all). If they worked, these areas wouldn’t have been locked down for the last year. There are as many rule breakers in these areas as any other area. I live in the east of England, which has had low case numbers throughout. Using the BBC tool and a quick google of population for these areas, vaccination rates are in line or higher than where I live. Current vaccination rate in Bolton is approx 85%. In the east of England it varies from approximately 50% in the cities to approx 60-65% in the rural areas. Leicester and Burnley have vaccination rates of approx. 50% which is in line with Cambridge and Peterborough. I would assume that vaccination rates are lower in the cities because they tend to have lower age demographics and these groups won’t have been called up yet.

So clearly, the government needs to examine why these areas are so hard hit. Rather than changing the guidelines without publishing them and going down their usual route of fuck the north because it’s their own fault.

I live in Bolton. They might as well put a fucking red Cross over the town and shout plague. I've had enough.
I've followed every guideline, law, suggestion. We do lateral flow tests twice a week a d the adults in the house have been fully vaccinated. I've not been in a pub/restaurant / cafe basically anyway since restrictions were eased.
There was no communication about these new guidelines, even Yasmin Koreshi has said she didn't know. People don't check the gov website every day for hidden messages.
Next week is half term. I've booked a night at the seaside. I don't know if they'll even let us stay at the hotel but I'm going to try. My kids have had enough, I've had enough.