Close the F-ing boarder!!

[ilovesouthlondon]

Not sure why I'm using AIBU because I've already made up my mind that i'm not, but interested to hear the thoughts of others...my friend is an air stewardess and says she flys to India regularly in an empty plane but comes back with the plane full! I was surprised as I wrongly assumed that with all systems go prepared for the 21st, travel to the UK from India would be banned unless you are returning home to quarantine or had an emergency family/business issue to attend to. WTF is flying in from a scientifically proven covid varient hot spot still allowed when we're preparing to free ourselves from bondage? Also how come the USA is never on the red list (of course we all know why, I'm just being sarcastic). Rant over!!!

@Bekindbepositive

I really doubt you have a friend who is a air stewardess. Because most flights operating from UK to India are Airindia, and I’ve never seen a foreign Air hostess in that Airlines. So stop posting xenophobic posts.

The delta variant is even found in China which built a tight monitoring system. UK variant is dominant is USA,Europe and once in India did people start xenophobic comments that time?or accused people from UK? No... then why now ?

What you believe is of no consequence to me. Personally I tend not to bother responding to what I regard as "hate speach" or I report it which is what you should do if you genuinely belive that I came on here to spread any form of hate. Go on, report it...I'll wait

The usual pile on about spelling. So fucking predictable. Yawn. Seriously, get a life.

It’s Friday night actually.

Remember in December / January it was the South African variant due to people "flocking" in and out. Quite well contained really. Success story. No mention anywhere of this. And no - the December/January spike wasn't the SA variant it was the Kent variant. Last time I looked, Kent isn't outside of our borders.

@ilovesouthlondon If the government were to act fact and reintroduce some low level restrictions now then we could avoid it.

But like usual they'll leave it until the last minute and have no choice other than to implement another lockdown.

@ilovesouthlondon So you don’t disagree that u don’t know any air stewardess. 😁

And as far as closing borders are concerned I think our govt officials and civil authorities are better educated than people here to make a informed decision.

I do get the argument for closing the borders, but isn’t it shortsighted? I mean...how long do u think we should close down our economy for? Forever? It’s the basis of our whole economy and globalised way of life! There’s no easy answers is there!

I am amazed that you would write a long and angry ' rant' about the need for quarantine without checking if there was indeed such quarantine. It would have taken you seconds.

Last time I looked, Kent isn't outside of our borders.

No. There is zero chance of an outside influence in Kent!!

We’re going to really struggle adapting to being ‘semi-communist’ countries in Europe.

Surely we’re relying on the global vaccination programme and our allies to enable our economy/way of life to function long-term. But I get the argument (and anger) for ‘tightening border controls/quarantines’.

@Bekindbepositive

I really doubt you have a friend who is a air stewardess. Because most flights operating from UK to India are Airindia, and I’ve never seen a foreign Air hostess in that Airlines. So stop posting xenophobic posts.

The delta variant is even found in China which built a tight monitoring system. UK variant is dominant is USA,Europe and once in India did people start xenophobic comments that time?or accused people from UK? No... then why now ?

Both BA and Virgin are operating on that route right now. They each have flights coming in this weekend from Delhi and Mumbai.

Haven't read the thread so this might've been mentioned already.

We don't need to put the US on our red list. Their borders are closed to high risk countries like the UK.

Yes we should restrict the borders to (genuinely) essential travel only with proper quarantine.

Aside from anything else we have a responsibility not to spread another strain. We've already done it once. We exported the Alpha variant (known as the Kent strain here, and the UK strain everywhere else) around the world.

The delta variant is even found in China which built a tight monitoring system

There's a very big difference between finding a few cases (either in quarantine or leaked out) and then taking swift action to contain it, versus having a growing number of cases, letting it spread - and inviting in any and all other new strains. The point of limited travel and proper quarantine is to contain new cases before they take hold and spread across the country.

So Biden closed the US borders but he’s not racist? However, if we restrict entry from hot spots it’s because we are racist?

I mentioned this rhetoric to a friend with Indian family and she thinks it’s ridiculous. If we were talking about a Canadian variant the issue would be exactly the same. We need to restrict entry and apply control. Border should be closed unless absolutely essential, eg coming home/to work here - we’re recruiting Indian nurses for example.

As for quarantine. It’s believed some are catching covid in the hotels and leaving while infected because they caught it later, after testing would be effective. And PCR tests aren’t 100% anyway.

The situation in india is heartbreakingly awful. Not helped because they didn’t lock down cities earlier. This is down to the leadership in the country, not because the people are in anyway bad. Same as Trump did. Countries should do whatever they can to prevent this happening elsewhere regardless of skin colour or religious beliefs - India’s elected leader being a racist/islamaphobe would have no problem closing borders.

Exports and imports would always be allowed as covid safe measures can be used for planes and sea freight. Lorries are trickier but can be managed with some imagination. It’s much easier to track these people than hundreds of the general public. And we know travellers in home quarantine aren’t being checked.

OP I have a child with dyslexia and I find border/boarder tricky too, among many others. In fact dyslexics can often have more trouble spelling “basic” words than longer ones.

So your “friend” is OK with the airline flying in and out of India and making a quick buck selling tickets for the flights, and she’s ok making a living by flying back and forth to India, but woe betide anyone else who wants to fly? Bet your mate will be the first to complain if she’s made redundant because all the borders are closed.

www.gov.uk/guidance/red-amber-and-green-list-rules-for-entering-england

@ilovesouthlondon - the problem with your posts is, you are having knee jerk reactions to anything that is said to you, by anyone whatsoever, without making any apparent attempts whatsoever to educate yourself by searching for the facts, rather than just relying on anecdote. Don’t “avoid the news” if what you mean by that is, actually, invent the news for yourself by cobbling together your own panicked interpretation of other people’s comments, all of which you have misunderstood, because you avoid facts and news.

And fwiw, you probably panicked because your friend is going to India, coming back with a planeload of people, and is not quarantining, because she is exempt from that as working cabin crew... just like lorry drivers are exempt and a great many other essential workers travelling in and out of the country (and then around the country, seeing friends and relatives like everyone else). Why would you therefore, without looking into it, assume everyone else on the plane has to spend the next 10 days quarantining in a hotel?

I don't understand the nastiness on this thread for both grammar and the content, the op had a concern and asked a question, it was simple enough to say that those flying from red zones have to quarantine on return.

StoneofDestiny
But India’s on the red list. You do have to quarantine when arriving in the UK from India. In a quarantine hotel. At a cost of £1,750 a person I think

I know people who flew to India with a special visa to get married - then are returning via another country to avoid quarantine costs.
Ridiculous they were allowed to travel - and ridiculous they (and others) can by pass quarantine so easily..

Wow....anxiety back up again...

If this story is true, then as other posters have pointed out, the only possible way it could have worked is if the travellers had spent two weeks in the intermediate country (and that country will almost certainly have imposed its own quarantine rules on arrivals from India itself).

Then, depending on which country it was, they will have had to follow from the rules for that country on arriving here. So say for the sake of argument it was France - they’ll still have had to follow the rules for arrivals from France on returning.

In relation to the USA, it’s worth being aware that their borders are closed to anyone who’s been in the U.K. or Europe in the preceding 14 days (unless they’re a US citizen). And the CDC advises against all but essential travel here.

@MissChanandlerBong90 yes you're correct. It's not an issue what it's called or where it's from. It is an idea as to why borders should be closed. Not all countries check variants of covid. Britain does.

I don’t understand what you’re implying?

OP doesn't seem to have responded to any of my questions, and now it transpires she didn't know there was hotel quarantine.

And probably also doesn't know that some airports even have separate terminals for Red arrivals

@MissChanandlerBong90

StoneofDestiny But India’s on the red list. You do have to quarantine when arriving in the UK from India. In a quarantine hotel. At a cost of £1,750 a person I think

I know people who flew to India with a special visa to get married - then are returning via another country to avoid quarantine costs.
Ridiculous they were allowed to travel - and ridiculous they (and others) can by pass quarantine so easily..

Wow....anxiety back up again...

If this story is true, then as other posters have pointed out, the only possible way it could have worked is if the travellers had spent two weeks in the intermediate country (and that country will almost certainly have imposed its own quarantine rules on arrivals from India itself).

Then, depending on which country it was, they will have had to follow from the rules for that country on arriving here. So say for the sake of argument it was France - they’ll still have had to follow the rules for arrivals from France on returning.

In relation to the USA, it’s worth being aware that their borders are closed to anyone who’s been in the U.K. or Europe in the preceding 14 days (unless they’re a US citizen). And the CDC advises against all but essential travel here.

People spent the two weeks in quarantine in Turkey instead of England before it became red list so did nothing wrong, they did it because it was cheaper.

So Biden closed the US borders but he’s not racist? However, if we restrict entry from hot spots it’s because we are racist?

I mentioned this rhetoric to a friend with Indian family and she thinks it’s ridiculous. If we were talking about a Canadian variant the issue would be exactly the same. We need to restrict entry and apply control. Border should be closed unless absolutely essential, eg coming home/to work here - we’re recruiting Indian nurses for example.

It was actually Donald Trump who originally closed the US’ borders, and yes, he is incredibly racist.

But I don’t understand this idea that borders haven’t been closed in case we’re branded racist - I think that’s something the DM must have made up as an excuse on behalf of the government. The fact is that the failure to have a coherent border strategy has been a feature of this government’s response to the pandemic from day one. The virus took hold in the country because of rich white tourists returning from ski resorts!

What is racist is the subtle and not-so-subtle blame directed towards ‘foreigners’ for the pandemic.

No, it didn’t - it was a home grown variant! They tracked Patient Zero a while back (hospitalised in Kent with Covid , aggressively tested, and how the mutation arose in him

(thought I had quoted the poster saying the Kent variant was imported)