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...

What do u mean by “we did not have to let it in”? Are u actually serious? It’s a human virus, not a runaway dog. No, we are not Australia, NZ, China or Vietnam etc. We are not geographically isolated, or in the tropics, or communist, or dirt poor, or self-sufficient, etc. We are a thriving globalised economy, with a thriving GDP relying on service/information industries (not raw mining/farming/manufacturing and basic survival. We are a tiny heavily/densely populated island operating/thriving/DEPENDING on movement of goods and people. It’s exactly what we are, and are about, which is exactly what this virus is designed to attack/disrupt and confuse. We weren’t given appropriate heads up about this virus (which was obviously being stifled/contained for a long time after effectively managing to decrease overpopulated areas of China) When pushed we also weren’t given the full genome of the virus, there were VITAL VITAL parts missing, hence they were fully away with their vaccination programme, long before we had chance, and vaccinating other Asian allies. We also have an excellent NHS with ‘accurate and honest’ reporting, and no desire/need to lie to the rest of the world about our numbers/figures. This is surely so not as simple (long-term) as many seem to think!

There is usually a clear, ulterior motive behind such simplistic claims which compare the incomparable. These are usually political (domestically or internationally or religiously) or just blind or hopeful.

Why do you think its essential to visit family abroad OP?
What will happen if people don't go?
And is that thing that will happen, worse that spreading a disease around the planet that has killed nearly four million people?

Germany has shut its borders to us because we are variant spreaders 🤷‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️

They have a point - we did seed the Kent/U.K./English (now alpha) variant around.

And I find it hilarious we've now called them Greek alphabet names.

Like no one can work out "new variant - X country now on red list" and make the same connection!

@Loubellbell

Exactly! And then people are trying to say that “the moral responsibility lays with us”. Seriously? Political motivations, blame-shifting, silencing, stirring division etc. Can we please just talk about the virus and completely cut the political bullshit.

@WuhanClanAintNothingToFuckWith

The way you describe the UK makes it sound a lot like South Korea.

With regard lying (and I am in no way defending China) currently, our PM lies more than any UK politician I can think of. If we remember back as well, CJD was denied by the UK government at the time. We even had a state dinner with foreign leaders given beef and no alternative. Absolutely, criticise China, they deserve it (and more) but don't think we're on some sort of pedestal.

[quote WuhanClanAintNothingToFuckWith]@Loubellbell

Exactly! And then people are trying to say that “the moral responsibility lays with us”. Seriously? Political motivations, blame-shifting, silencing, stirring division etc. Can we please just talk about the virus and completely cut the political bullshit.[/quote]
I know we would not have these variants of China had closed their borders we have never dealt with this on this scale but HK flu /Asian Flu /Sars/Mers now this when does it stop!

Like no one can work out "new variant - X country now on red list" and make the same connection!

Boris Johnson didn't seem to be able to work that out and was very slow putting India on the red list.

I think we missed a lot of opportunities with regard to protecting the Uk.
In Feb the emphasis was still on people travelling to the uk who had been in Wuhan or Hubei province. However, by Feb the virus was present in every province in China yet if you arrived from another province there were no additional checks or concerns regarding your travel history.
With regard to self isolation/quarantine that was also poorly managed. My dh arrived in the uk from China in July 2020 and self isolated for two weeks. He queried how he should travel to his final destination in the uk and Was told it was completely fine to use public transport. How ludicrous! What is the point of self isolation if you have used the coach, train , underground etc prior to self isolating?
Hong Kong is also a thriving globalised economy, more densely populated than the UK - compare their response to ours.
I am not sure any country can say they have accurate and honest reporting. Reporting methods are not standardised.
I don’t know if china’s figures are accurate, but can only comment on my experience; three week lock down at work, schools back by June 2020, shops and restaurants open, school sporting events and competitions taking place, parties being hosted...etc but this is due to several factors:
Strict quarantine regardless of arrival country
Transport directly to quarantine (not public transport)
Comprehensive and wide scale testing- the complete opposite of the approach in the uk. The Chinese approach has always been if you have symptoms- get tested. The approach by the uk govt in March last year was : if you have symptoms- stay at home.
Comprehensive tracking system,.

Back to politics then?

Well they’ve claimed Hong Kong back early, depopulated areas of ‘second class’ and elderly citizens, disabled the western economies, and now introduced a new ‘three child policy’. Make of that what u will.

I think it’s more about sloppy procedures and arrogance really: too little too late.

Can we please just talk about the virus and completely cut the political bullshit.

That is why I trust the opinion of scientific experts - like epidemiologist, Professor Deepti Gurdasani, over Boris Johnson, Matt Hancock, and Grant Shapps.

@ShanghaiDiva

I think it’s more about sloppy procedures and arrogance really: too little too late.

And we keep doing it. We don't learn from our mistakes.

@WuhanClanAintNothingToFuckWith

Well they’ve claimed Hong Kong back early, depopulated areas of ‘second class’ and elderly citizens, disabled the western economies, and now introduced a new ‘three child policy’. Make of that what u will.

What do you want me to make of it? I lived in China for 12 years and am well aware of the faults of the Chinese system. However, when it comes to handling the pandemic their repose was textbook: Isolate Test Trace contacts In March last year we were failing at points two and three. The one child policy was amended several years ago to allow parents who who had no siblings to have another child. As life expectancy and medical crew in China increases/improves the movement away from the one child policy was inevitable as they now need to support an ageing population. O

Apologies for all the typos!

I heard some politician from a south east Asian country on the radio a while back, I didn't hear what country it was. Anyway, they said the shambolic handling of covid in certain western countries has really changed the way they think of us. He said they used to look up to us as nations and hold us in high esteem, covid pulled the curtain away.

@Kendodd

I heard some politician from a south east Asian country on the radio a while back, I didn't hear what country it was. Anyway, they said the shambolic handling of covid in certain western countries has really changed the way they think of us. He said they used to look up to us as nations and hold us in high esteem, covid pulled the curtain away.

Indeed. Many of our friends and colleagues in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong were horrified by the UK’s handling of the pandemic. My dh’s colleagues urged us to come back to China as it was clearly unsafe in the UK. They sent my elderly mum 350 masks so that she would be safe if she went to the supermarket.

Oh no! Do they not like us, and our way of life?

When Trump wanted to close the US borders early last year to prevent the spread of the virus, people on here were up in arms. Now loads of Mumsnetters are calling for Britain to do exactly the same thing

@Kendodd

Like no one can work out "new variant - X country now on red list" and make the same connection!

Boris Johnson didn't seem to be able to work that out and was very slow putting India on the red list.

I meant by not naming the country of origin!

We knew this variant was spreading and likely originated in India and didn't close the borders.

If next week we suddenly had "variant zeta" at the same time as "X country now on red list" you be hard pushed not to make the connection!

Then we shall be communist and behave as they want us to.

@Kendodd

I heard some politician from a south east Asian country on the radio a while back, I didn't hear what country it was. Anyway, they said the shambolic handling of covid in certain western countries has really changed the way they think of us. He said they used to look up to us as nations and hold us in high esteem, covid pulled the curtain away.

I've long thought we in the UK lag far behind when it comes to understanding of infection control.

South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand, are not communist.