Am I missing something or can we slow the spread

[Roughasabadgersbum]

I am totally open to being told I'm missing a trick or not seeing the bigger picture here.
Why haven't we closed our borders off like Australia and New Zealand have? We are an island so we could, in theory, stop/ slow the spread of variants. And why have we been the only country to have variants
Think I've read that a Ryan air flight came in with 52 cases of Covid?
Please feel free to correct me on this ....
Please don't be too unkind!

"only country to have variants?" Vast majority of countries have the variants, Kent, sa, brasil Indian etc....

No idea why You think we’re the only country to have variants. The clues in the name, Indian variant etc.

As for closing the borders, a large amount of our food is brought by lorry so we can’t close completely unlike say new Zealand who have everything brought in on container ships.

Well apart from the long, porous and politically sensitive border with the EU across the middle of the island of Ireland you mean? Or does that border not count somehow?

I am totally open to being told I'm missing a trick or not seeing the bigger picture here.

What you've missed is the great number of threads over the past 15 months explaining the vast differences between Britain and Australia o NZ. I would have thought those differences were obvious but if they're not, do a search. Or look at a map.

And while you're looking at that map, it might also become clear that the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is not, in fact, an island.

We can. But the government won't.

Don't even know where to start OP

Discussed like a zillion times before.

Come on OP, tell us how

*New Zealand shares a land border with another country
*Taiwan is an important land bridge for freight between major trading countries of other sovereign states
*Cambodia is a major transit hub to the world
*Laos has 18% of its population that are age 65+ just like UK does
*Australia imports >50% of their food by accompanied road freight
*South Korea has signed an international treaty to keep its land borders unpoliced & open to all trade & movement of people
*Japan has a just in time manufacturing sector that also relies on lots of accompanied freight
*Viet Nam has an economy & population with financial & personal ties to communities all over the world
*Hong Kong has strict personal data controls that would never allow them to put on a public website which buildings in the city are residences of people who have tested + for covid
*Thailand has a population density similar to England

When you can provide careful explanations of how all those things are entirely TRUE (hint, #sarcasm, they are NOT true) then you will know why UK didn't just "close the borders" like those countries did and end up with their low rates of circulating covid.

ps: I keep hearing that vaccine hesitancy is high in the low-covid countries, I guess they aren't bothered about opening up any time soon.

ps: if people want a comparison to better management of covid given similar challenges, then look to Germany or even Italy.

@NannyAndJohn

We can. But the government won't.

How would you close the border with Ireland then, without provoking an almighty political furore?

@NothingIsWrong

Well apart from the long, porous and politically sensitive border with the EU across the middle of the island of Ireland you mean? Or does that border not count somehow?

I was going to say just this!

I've never heard any of the 'Shut the borders!" brigade give a reasonable answer to the thorny question of the Irish border. Most prefer to pretend that it does not exist.

Ok.. thanks for the replies ..sorry if I've revisited a thread that's been on before. I am thankful for those who have been kind and not sure why some are being not so kind. But hey ho ..thank you anyway I'll go and bury my head again

As for closing the borders, a large amount of our food is brought by lorry so we can’t close completely

I am assuming the OP meant shutting the borders to PEOPLE coming through, not food.

ie flights into Heathrow and Gatwick. People going on holiday. Fair enough that the border in Ireland is a non border, but the government certainly could have curtailed flights a lot more.

not sure why some are being not so kind.

Because being obnoxious on an anonymous forum is so easy - anyone can do it, and they do!

ps: if people want a comparison to better management of covid given similar challenges, then look to Germany or even Italy

Germany did very well in the first wave. This is because Merkel (a scientist) understood the threat and locked down early. She was an experienced leader and was supported by a talented, experienced team. This contrasts with the inexperience and small talent pool of the UK government at the time.

Infections and mortality rates in the second wave have been similar to those in UK despite a vastly better resourced health care system. The vaccine procurement and delivery plans have been shambolic and Germany is only just emerging from a six month lock down. The structure of the German economy - more manufacturing and less services dependent- means it is better able to survive lockdowns. But the picture is far from rosy.

[tell us how] Japan has a just in time manufacturing sector that also relies on lots of accompanied freight

it does on both points, but that hopefully doesn’t take away from the rest of your points

www.ifm.eng.cam.ac.uk/research/dstools/jit-just-in-time-manufacturing/

They have kept open accompanied freight routes, as they rely on them for pretty much everything, but “personal” travel is next to impossible. For eg, dh is Japanese, and could return to Japan (with quarantine) but I as his wife couldn’t automatically accompany him (as my spouse visa has lapsed). That’s helped clamp down on transmission of variants into the country, although not perfectly.

I think they’ve had about 10,000 deaths in total, and have only just started their vaccination program with any kind of enthusiasm, in line with a pp’s comment that countries with low levels of transmission have been more vaccine-reluctant/resistant. Their vaccination program started with the elderly and vulnerable, trailed off for a while and is now focused on sex/entertainment workers, office workers and students. Possibly even in that order

@springblossom2

As for closing the borders, a large amount of our food is brought by lorry so we can’t close completely

I am assuming the OP meant shutting the borders to PEOPLE coming through, not food.

ie flights into Heathrow and Gatwick. People going on holiday. Fair enough that the border in Ireland is a non border, but the government certainly could have curtailed flights a lot more.

And there was me thinking lorries were driven by people.

Everydays a school day.

Springblossom2

Thank you ..
Yes I meant people on holidays and visiting from abroad. .
Of course food transportation is a different story.

Thank you for your comments.

@Roughasabadgersbum

Springblossom2

Thank you ..
Yes I meant people on holidays and visiting from abroad. .
Of course food transportation is a different story.

Thank you for your comments.

But food is transported by people.

Which is one of the many reasons why the 'Shut the borders like Australia!' argument doesn't work.

I suppose you could have unaccompanied freight across the Channel. But then you would need a driver and a lorry on each side, not just one. And given that 10,000 lorries a day cross the channel, that is almighty fuckton of extra lorries and drivers to find...

Why haven't we closed our borders off like Australia and New Zealand have?

And then what? As we can see from Australia, they are trapped now with no plan out . They cant open borders because they will be flooded with cases, and they are at risk of being plunged into lockdown at any time because they can't accept any level of cases. For example, Melbourne this week which is likely being extended now. The number of citizens stuck abroad is growing by the month and people are looking at not seeing their families outside the country for another year at least. Its a myth that they "did the right thing". The rest of the world will be well moved on while they are still fighting outbreaks.

Thank you iced purple for your many comments. I am aware of how food and medical equipment etc is transported.

Nothingiswrong
Thank you for your reply ...yes it would be a massive amount of driver etc. .. I guess something's I hadn't factored. Thank you though for not being sarcastic.

Springblossom2
Yes unfortunately being anonymous does mean some can be rude or plain horrid.

Thank you all again.

Thank you iced purple for your many comments. I am aware of how food and medical equipment etc is transported.

So then you must also be aware that asking "Why haven't we closed our borders off like Australia and New Zealand have? We are an island so we could, in theory, stop/ slow the spread of variants" is being disingenuous, to put it mildly.

Sorry if that's not 'kind'.

Icedpurple ..

Thanks once again.

I think I'll leave this now as I have had many replies and I am aware that I have probably annoyed some by bringing up a topic already discussed.. I was unaware.
Apologies.
Take care everyone. Xx