Xenophobia and Covid variants

[Bekindbepositive]

Recently started seeing many hateful comments regarding particular country due to raising no of new variants, e.x Posters blaming variant spread due to not sticking to quarantine rules.
Only people travelling from amber countries need to isolate not the whole household, as far as I am aware. So even though most people quarantine it may spreed through from someone in household who doesn’t needed to quarantine. And please stop saying we should close borders as UK is heavily dependent on exports and many people have family members outside UK who they may need to visit in case of emergencies.
Just a rant...

And we had a variant in Kent last year did we all blame people from Kent?

UK is heavily dependent on exports

We certainly do well with exporting variants...

What used to be known worldwide as the UK strain (reported here as the Kent strain) caused dreadful problems around the world. Now named the Alpha variant, it became the dominant strain.

Not one country in the world (with the exception of North Korea) has stopped essential travel. Imports and exports are still going on.

What many have chosen to do, however, is restrict travel to truly essential only.

They wanted to avoid the need for repeated long lockdowns.

They protected lives, health - and economy.

We had largely wide open borders, mostly without proper quarantine.

More than 130,000 dead (that's a lot of bereaved people who will never see their families again).

Vietnam, for example, has tightly restricted borders.

They have had around 50 deaths. In total. Since the very start in 2020.

As a high risk country we have a responsibility to not go spreading new strains around the world.

We've already done it once.

Just to point out that Vietnam is so poor, their economy and way of life surely can’t be compared. Pretty much most of them are self-sufficient farmers. That alone would put u in good stead against this virus.

Plus due to genetics and environment, surely can’t be easily compared?

I’m not saying UK should keep their borders open without restrictions.

We need proper quarantine rules e.x for the whole household and better test and trace rather than blaming public who needs to travel for valid reasons.

@Tealightsandd which country avoid second wave? There might b only a handful. And ppl comparing Uk and Auz, the later has a population density of 3 per sq km and uk above 200. And I’m not sure how many ppl travel for Vietnam from UK or from other parts of the world as the pp said.

Xenophobia, prejudice and racism are going to exist whether there are COVID variants or not. What people are calling out is, firstly the government’s lax border control measures. They believe India should have been put on the red list earlier and that the idea of an amber list is daft. They are also calling out individuals who didn’t follow quarantine guidance having decided to travel.

We need to be able to call out the government and we need to be able to call out individual bad behaviour.

@WuhanClanAintNothingToFuckWith

Just to point out that Vietnam is so poor, their economy and way of life surely can’t be compared. Pretty much most of them are self-sufficient farmers. That alone would put u in good stead against this virus.

You say so poor. But still put in place an excellent very well managed border control and real quarantine.

Puts us to shame. We, a supposedly wealthy country, couldn't (wouldn't) do the same.

Many different countries chose pandemic border control.

The UK government opted for repeated long lockdowns, more than 130,000 dead, over half a million (identified so far) long term debilitated with Long Covid - and wrecked economy.

The UK government prioritised international travel above lives, health, and the economy.

Now as a high risk country, we have a moral responsibility to not go spreading yet another variant around the world. We've already done it once with the Alpha (UK) strain.

High risk countries like the UK have moral responsibility to not spread cases around the world - particularly to places that are behind us on vaccine rollout and/or poorer with less ability - less health infrastructure and money - to deal with the widespread outbreaks we've experienced here.

So your right to see family abroad means that I haven't been able to see my brother since last March (well over a year, since before the pandemic) who lives right here in the UK because we are a front-line NHS family and he has still only had one vaccine....

Those treating Covid patients at close quarters and high viral loads have had to sacrifice seeing their own families for over a year, while people with family abroad think their rights to see their family and keep bringing in new variants is more important.

@WuhanClanAintNothingToFuckWith

Just to point out that Vietnam is so poor, their economy and way of life surely can’t be compared. Pretty much most of them are self-sufficient farmers. That alone would put u in good stead against this virus.

Vietnam closed its border to foreigners in March 2020 Decisive govt Comprehensive system of testing, tracking and quarantine I think these are the key factors.

And countries that have closed borders are by no means self-sufficient. It is entirely possible to allow freight in and out but not travellers. Other countries have protocols to do this and the UK could adopt the same procedures.

What ShanghaiDiva says.

@Bekindbepositive
China did not have a second wave.
They have had hot spots of new cases, but these are addressed through mass testing eg Guangzhou is implementing mass testing in some of its districts now as 6 new cases were noted on 3rd June.
Mass testing, effective tracing of contacts and strict quarantine have been effective in both China and Hong Kong.

@LedByFools

And countries that have closed borders are by no means self-sufficient. It is entirely possible to allow freight in and out but not travellers. Other countries have protocols to do this and the UK could adopt the same procedures.

This

When it comes to your brother, you'll no doubt be told that you and he should 'stop cowering' and to ignore the risks because you and he 'just have to live risk dying unnecessarily with it'.

There's been very little sympathy for people with vulnerable loved ones in the UK, who haven't yet been able to safely see each other.

@LedByFools

And countries that have closed borders are by no means self-sufficient. It is entirely possible to allow freight in and out but not travellers. Other countries have protocols to do this and the UK could adopt the same procedures.

Indeed Vietnam closed its border, but did allow entry to experts, skilled workers etc. Despite the economic impact of the pandemic their economy grew by 2% in 2020 . Their approach was one of caution: extra quarantine measures were out in place prior to the 2021 lunar new year celebrations. Conversely, here in the UK our govt’s plan was to have a five day break over Xmas for people to meet up. (I am aware this was subsequently amended)

And please stop saying we should close borders as UK is heavily dependent on exports and many people have family members outside UK who they may need to visit in case of emergencies
And people in New Zealand don’t? They closed their borders and are able to maintain a fairly normal lifestyle for everyone, which I think is a higher priority than allowing a small number of people to visit family.

We had the self sabotage of Brexit in the name of controlling our borders and they shit the bed when it comes to actually doing it the time it was needed.

Blame the government.

Blame the government.

Definitely.

@Tealightsandd

Blame the government.

Definitely.

Maybe blame the Chinese government who let this shit out ... more and more stories it came from a lab ... they way they treat people including their own is vile !

Maybe blame the Chinese government who let this shit out

We didn't have to let it in. We certainly didn't need to keep importing any and all new strains. Nor did we have to let cases spread so wildly out of control. Time and time again.

they way they treat people including their own is vile !

That may be so, but people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. We have plenty of our own human rights abuses to sort out before pointing the finger elsewhere. For example, our treatment of the disabled, which was condemned by the UN.

@Tealightsandd

Maybe blame the Chinese government who let this shit out

We didn't have to let it in. We certainly didn't need to keep importing any and all new strains. Nor did we have to let cases spread so wildly out of control. Time and time again.

they way they treat people including their own is vile !

That may be so, but people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. We have plenty of our own human rights abuses to sort out before pointing the finger elsewhere. For example, our treatment of the disabled, which was condemned by the UN.

Disagree

@Tealightsandd

Maybe blame the Chinese government who let this shit out

We didn't have to let it in. We certainly didn't need to keep importing any and all new strains. Nor did we have to let cases spread so wildly out of control. Time and time again.

they way they treat people including their own is vile !

That may be so, but people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. We have plenty of our own human rights abuses to sort out before pointing the finger elsewhere. For example, our treatment of the disabled, which was condemned by the UN.

Exactly. We did not have to let it in. Compare our response with Taiwan’s, Hong Kong’s, Nz, Australia, Singapore, Vietnam...