Westministenders: The Virus

[RedToothBrush]

Its like living in a Bad Disaster B Movie.

If you thought Brexit on your TV every day was Bad, The Virus is a whole new level.

The 5pm broadcast with Johnson and friends, and the public infomation video with the unblicking Chris Witty (who has such unfortunate mannerism he makes me think he's me a Dr Who alien akin to the Slitheen).

Who knows what will happen. Just that everything has changed and our entire economy is now on life support whilst we figure out how to deal with the crisis and what on earth our exit strategy is.

Johnson has however refused to join a joint EU purchase scheme designed to assist countries through the crisis.

Meanwhile the US is about to go nuts... so what does that do to a trade deal?

More money for the NHS? More hospitals?

Well its possible that might just happen...

BigChoc
I live in an area with huge numbers of single elderly people in council run accommodation.
The mental health leading to physical health benefits of getting them out and about each day outweigh the death rate of Covid
and that is according to friends who are at the sharp end of the local hospital wards

It is counterintutive
but chances are they have been exposed
so the best hope is that they fight it off by being well

ditto my aged parent who is unable to store food and stay home

You may think the authorities should have chosen a strategy that allowed for individuals to use their common sense

.... but we can't blame them for deciding that a substantial section of the public have none

and of course in an emergency reducing the need / time for the police to assess whether each individual person is acting safely or in a potentially dangerous way

Remember too that your Elsie & her son will be moving around touching things, like benches and fences etc
which other people 10 minutes later may touch

and if they drive there, then they need more fuel and petrol pumps are another source of potential virus transfer

Every day we spend locked down is the economy bleeding money.

If we have to stay locked down another 2 / 4 / 8 weeks, because people did not properly socially distance this time, then just visualise lifeblood of the economy gushing out every extra week

fgs, let's get this lockdown completed properly asap;
saying to do it half-arsed, because you disapprove of it just makes it longer

• and maybe with outdoor exercise being banned too

German govt also says outside exercise up to once daily can be helpful

• but we know that if it is abused it will be taken away

because the death rates for the extra COVID cases if this continues to spiral exceed any possible benefits from exercise

e.g. Italy averages about 4,000 suicides per year
Within just a few weeks, it has suffered well over 9,000 deaths,
so over 2 years worth in just a few weeks

It would take the most enormous jump in suicides to balance allowing CV-19 to get put of control

This is so funny along with the comment about the stolen cutlery!
Dominic Cummings running out of no 10

twitter.com/AllieHBNews/status/1243520576007872513?s=09

Cummings does look like he's either nicked something, or is scared of catching something 😂

Temporary mortuary being built at Birmingham airport

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/mar/27/temporary-mortuary-being-built-at-birmingham-airport

Hangar facility could have space for 12,000 bodies as West Midlands sees sharp rise in Covid-19 deaths

There ARE NO POLICE here. We have the coastguard helicopter, which I imagine is looking out for poor sods in inflatables trying to cross from one CV infested zone to another. But seriously, any police/drones will not be down here. Sometimes that is to our detriment...

So you needn't obey any other laws either ?

No BCF I'm not saying that at all, and would say that I am pretty law-abiding.

What I am saying is that for people who live in rural areas the idea that there will be police around is absolutely ridiculous - we don't get them for crimes, so I dont see why a virus would be any different.

Varadkar announces tighter new lockdown until 16 April:

• emphasised that people should only be going to work if their work is "essential"
  Stops employers forcing workers to commute and work on unimportant shit

• can briefly leave home to exercise only within 2 km of home

• they must have had twats driving around there too

https://www.rte.ie/news/2020/0327/1126904-leo-new-update/

Agree with yolo
We do not need police presence to do the right thing

and those who are determined to bollocks it up will not be deterred by the universally invisible massively cut by the Tories Police

It is not about controlling the few who will always rebel and disobey rules

but about setting rules for the majority who will obey legal requirements

It is also not just about trying to flatten this exponential growth curve,
but about avoiding having to extend & deepen this lockdown because people were determined to exploit loopholes

The economy is bleeding all the time
We shouldn't make it bleed any longer than necessary

I wasn't sure if the propensity of Germans to collect in a crowd, drink beer & eat sausages could be stopped

but after police imposed swingeing fines on a number of people in some towns, almost everyone has fallen into line

and "almost" is all that public health officials ever expect

Compliance is ever greater in Germany now, because today we have over 50,000 cases including 7,000 new ones and 75 new deaths
95% approval of the tough rules vs 3% against

Hardly anyone standing on their right to be special at this stage
Will be the same situation in the UK in 2-3 weeks - it concentrates the mind

Merkel warned the peak was coming and not to expect things to get better until after Easter
I haven't even left the house today and may not do so for weeks
I can exercise indoors and I have magnificent views over the Rhine

To expect the public to be sensible, you first need to give a clear and sensible message.
Which BJ hasn’t done. No wonder people then don’t follow the guidance if he isn’t able to follow it himself (see him shaking hands after asking people to use social distancing etc....)

I don't know how to say it more explicitly... there are NO POLICE HERE. The ones we do have are focussed on the big towns - Dover, Folkestone - either splitting up groups of lads, or more commonly at the moment, and ongoing, working on illegal immigrants.

Lived in our little village for over 20 years - we have one PCOS who might as well be invisible for all anyone sees him. It's just bizarre to say that there will be resources available to police areas like this - and actually quite rightly IMO, everyone seems to be doing it for themselves.

I was reading an article the other day about how people in deprived areas are flouting the lockdown, the trains are crowded bla bla bla. Absolutely no recognition by the journalist of the fact that people without washing machines need to go to launderettes and people can't get to their crappy minimum wage jobs on foot if they can't afford to live in central Paris. Pissed me right off.

I had to go out earlier - roads were quieter than Sunday, and no police to be seen.

And yet, despite me being the only car for about a mile on a stretch of road, I still had to stop for another single car at a roundabout, and at a set of pedestrian lights for the only pedestrians for half a mile.

Rules are obeyed when people think they will be caught

where there are no police nobody will get caught

how hard is that to understand ?

Germans do not jay walk
Brits do

So, in rural/coastal areas, where we have NO police, no one will get caught, so everyone will break the 'rules'?

I don't think that's true actually, I think it's more the case that because we have the space to self distance then we can do it more easily.

I am really sympathetic to those in cities, it must be awful, and especially if you are trapped indoors in a flat with littles who need fresh air and exercise.

I suspect they will put the Polic where they know they are likely to catch people up @yoloPenguinsEatfish.
This might nit be where you live. The IDEA that the police is out there stopping people doing stupid things might be enough to stop people ding so. Just like the idea that the police might be around catching people speeding can be enough to make most people slow down.

Well, if Brits are less willing to obey the rules than the French & Italians & Spanish & Germans when the deaths really ramp up
.... the results won't be pretty

What we've found though, is that these deaths are at least as effective as any police officer
Then your right to do as you please just looks irresponsible and unnecessary, even if the police can't track you for a fine

Especially when we know lockdown will just be tightened even further and extended if we don't follow the rules

Many govts can't track individuals, but they can track anonymised congregation and movement
e.g. The Netherlands a coiple of weeks ago sending text messages to everyone congregating in a park
Some countries use drones instead of texts

Many govts can't track individuals, but they can track anonymised congregation and movement
e.g. The Netherlands a coiple of weeks ago sending text messages to everyone congregating in a park
Some countries use drones instead of texts

civil liberties once lost are tricky to restore

Drove from one side of Glasgow to the other at about 11 to go and do shopping for my dad and his neighbours (who were the ones who should have been doing his shopping for him but had themselves had to self-isolate as one of them fell ill).

Didn't see any police.