New lockdown in England, including school closures, announced by Johnson, 4/1/21

[yorksrob]

I live in the regions and my good private doctors who specialise in my condition are 70+ miles away. That's the disadvantage of living out in the sticks.

I hope I'm not breaking any guidance by travelling by train to Farringdon for a medical appointment!

Indeed - although I suspect you're not breaking the guidance to go to a medical appointment !

 

[ChrisC]

The only problem with the stay in your village, town or city message is that for many villages in particular staying in the village might not be an option. There are many with few, if any amenities, and so people living there have no option but to leave them or struggle for online delivery slots. Even defining a local radius could be problematic for many places. Better just to ask people to stay as local as possible.

Completely agree with you there. People just need to be left to use a bit of common sense and to stay as local as is practical and possible. I live in a village with no shop and as I’m only in my 60’s with no serious underlying health issues, I found it impossible to get online food deliveries during the first lockdown as I was not a priority customer. I was able to walk or drive 2 miles to a small Co op in a neighbouring village, but if the rules had been taken to an extreme that may not have been permitted because it is over the border in a different local council area. The difficult thing for those without a car was that the bus service through the village was suspended for almost 3 months but that hasn’t happened this time. My village is fairly close to a town with other shops but some rural areas are miles from the nearest shop.

 

[Envy123]

Indeed - although I suspect you're not breaking the guidance to go to a medical appointment !

I'd be leaving home for a reason listed in the guidance but I'd not be staying local.

Hopefully I won't run into any trouble.

 

[Class 33]

Another Downing Street Press Conference today at 5, with Johnson, Whitty and Valance! Not those two yet again!! I don't know whether to watch this one or not, as am well and truly sick of the sight and sound of Whitty and Valance now. And with those two appearing, it's probably going to be bad news, it certainly won't be good news. Whitty will have his usual charts and graphs and doom mongering I expect. Hope Johnson isn't going to announce tougher measures. This new variant from Brazil might start inflaming the situation now, just a few weeks after the variant from South Africa flared things up massively! Oh god. When will this nightmare ever end?

 

[MikeWM]

Another Downing Street Press Conference today at 5, with Johnson, Whitty and Valance! Not those two yet again!! I don't know whether to watch this one or not

For the sake of your sanity, I would strongly suggest not!

 

[Cowley]

For the sake of your sanity, I would strongly suggest not!

That’s very much my approach these days as well.

 

[Yew]

That’s very much my approach these days as well.

They did 208K vaccinations yesterday I imagine they'll be celebrating that, as it takes them to around their 2m a week total?

 

[jtuk]

A leadership contest is the last thing the country needs right now. Regardless of what people think of Johnson, we need stability. Stability is the best route for getting on top of this wave of cases and ultimately the easing of restrictions as soon as possible.

Every day that Johnson and Hancock remain in power is another day where more people die because of their choices, more people lose their jobs and businesses because of their choices, and more kids fail to get an education because of their choices.

 

[Philip]

Every day that Johnson and Hancock remain in power is another day where more people die because of their choices, more people lose their jobs and businesses because of their choices, and more kids fail to get an education because of their choices.

What is the alternative which doesn't see the health service break down?

 

[brad465]

Another Downing Street Press Conference today at 5, with Johnson, Whitty and Valance! Not those two yet again!! I don't know whether to watch this one or not, as am well and truly sick of the sight and sound of Whitty and Valance now. And with those two appearing, it's probably going to be bad news, it certainly won't be good news. Whitty will have his usual charts and graphs and doom mongering I expect. Hope Johnson isn't going to announce tougher measures. This new variant from Brazil might start inflaming the situation now, just a few weeks after the variant from South Africa flared things up massively! Oh god. When will this nightmare ever end?

While I wouldn't rule anything out, I imagine if anything more in the way of new restrictions were to be announced it would have been leaked to the press by now (or this morning more specfically), and so far I haven't seen anything.

 

[Class 33]

For the sake of your sanity, I would strongly suggest not!

Well, I usually watch all of these press conferences to see what they have to say. But I think this will be the first one I won't be watching in full. Will probably just watch the start to see what Johnson has to say and whether there will be any changes to restrictions. But once he hands over to Whitty I'll probably switch off as he'll no doubt be babbling his usual doom mongering yet again. Not really worth watching the questions from the media either, as most of the journalists don't ask very good questions and/or a few or more asking basically the same questions, and some annoying journalists even asking questions such as "Isn't it about time you tightened the restrictions?" such as Emily Morgan from ITV News the other day!

I'm feeling very fatigued by all these never ending Downing Street (Coronavirus) Press Conferences now. Some 10 months this has gone on now!

 

[Bantamzen]

Another Downing Street Press Conference today at 5, with Johnson, Whitty and Valance! Not those two yet again!! I don't know whether to watch this one or not, as am well and truly sick of the sight and sound of Whitty and Valance now. And with those two appearing, it's probably going to be bad news, it certainly won't be good news. Whitty will have his usual charts and graphs and doom mongering I expect. Hope Johnson isn't going to announce tougher measures. This new variant from Brazil might start inflaming the situation now, just a few weeks after the variant from South Africa flared things up massively! Oh god. When will this nightmare ever end?

A quick glance at the BBC Leve Apocalypse feed, the first hint that the Brazilian variant might be here already, just in time for SAGE to invent a new excuse to "demand" stricter lockdowns. Add to the mix Dr Doom, aka the First Minister for Wales announcing evidence that supermarkets are major sources of spread, chuck in a pinch of the French not accepting lateral flow tests as proof of not having, and a few slices of the insurance business losing their case against small businesses in Lockdown 1.0 & BoJo & Co will be looking for scapegoats.

I predict the threat / implementation of more restrictions such as 2-3 metre distancing in supermarkets and the inevitable queues outside, more "non-essential businesses to be forced to close", more travel restrictions, a ban on families meeting each other in private, a curfew between 18:00 & 17:55....

Well OK maybe a few slightly exaggerated ones there, but brace yourselves for round #457 of "The Blame & Shame Game". I would recommended those of us who have passed the point at which we can pretend that any restrictions are for "the greater good" to turn off all internet, television, radio connected devices, crack open a nice bottle of wine, beer or spirit, and take a deep, deep breath...

What is the alternative which doesn't see the health service break down?

The ones that didn't involved throwing over half a trillion pounds, over three times the current NHS budget, at stupid restrictions which have completely failed to stop the virus (an impossible ask) & all the money they, ahem, wasted on PPE contracts for friends & family of senior government figures that couldn't or didn't deliver PPE that could actually be used. Instead the government should have listened to senior figures in the health service during the summer & done whatever they could to increase capacity in terms of beds, ICU facilities, getting back trained staff that had left the service without ridiculous amounts of bureaucracy, put more attention & help to the care system (still the number one source of infections), and most importantly off all giving healthcare staff the help, support, and the pay rises they deserve.

 

[brad465]

This is still only on the live feed, but apparently the UK's R-rate is between 1.2 and 1.3:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-55673006

This sounds like absolute nonsense: the ZOE study shows an infection peak a few days ago and is now going down, even doom monger Neil Ferguson said infections were "levelling off" just yesterday, neither of which suggest an R value like what's touted here.

Latest Daily UK COVID-19 Data: Vaccines, Cases, Trends | ZOE

COVID infection & vaccination rates in the UK today, based on public data and reports from millions of users of the ZOE Health Study app

covid.joinzoe.com

 

[greyman42]

Johnson will be going eventually before the next election, and likely this year, either because he's forced out as a liability to his party, or because he's running away from all his mess.

There were rumours that if the vaccine rollout goes well and he can significantly ease restrictions, he may call a snap election in the summer?

 

[Dent]

This is still only on the live feed, but apparently the UK's R-rate is between 1.2 and 1.3:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-55673006

This sounds like absolute nonsense: the ZOE study shows an infection peak a few days ago and is now going down, even doom monger Neil Ferguson said infections were "levelling off" just yesterday, neither of which suggest an R value like what's touted here.

Latest Daily UK COVID-19 Data: Vaccines, Cases, Trends | ZOE

COVID infection & vaccination rates in the UK today, based on public data and reports from millions of users of the ZOE Health Study app

covid.joinzoe.com

View attachment 88688

The official R-number always lags by a week or two.

 

[Watershed]

This is still only on the live feed, but apparently the UK's R-rate is between 1.2 and 1.3:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-55673006

This sounds like absolute nonsense: the ZOE study shows an infection peak a few days ago and is now going down, even doom monger Neil Ferguson said infections were "levelling off" just yesterday, neither of which suggest an R value like what's touted here.

Latest Daily UK COVID-19 Data: Vaccines, Cases, Trends | ZOE

COVID infection & vaccination rates in the UK today, based on public data and reports from millions of users of the ZOE Health Study app

covid.joinzoe.com

View attachment 88688

They are telling the Government that the R value they have calculated based on their data is 0.9 (with a CI of 95%).

 

[initiation]

Extract from the weekly influenza/Covid-19 report. All this obsession over people having coffee in a park or cycling not very far or not wearing a mask in a shop, and yet we still have hundreds of outbreaks in care homes. The very place where the most vulnerable live. How is this not more widely known?

 

[MikeWM]

There were rumours that if the vaccine rollout goes well and he can significantly ease restrictions, he may call a snap election in the summer?

I saw that flying around too, but I don't see the point when he has a fairly cast-iron majority until May 2024.

 

[birchesgreen]

I saw that flying around too, but I don't see the point when he has a fairly cast-iron majority until May 2024.

Lets hope he goes it for and regrets it like his predecessor did.

 

[Bertie the bus]

There were rumours that if the vaccine rollout goes well and he can significantly ease restrictions, he may call a snap election in the summer?

Where have these rumours originated from? What possible reason would he have for calling an election when he already has a large majority and the next one isn't due for nearly 4 years?

 

[Yew]

Could this be to do with the pressure from Steve Baker, and the Covid Recovery Group?

 

[Bertie the bus]

Could what be to do with Steve Baker? Do you think he wants a spell on the opposition benches? I suspect these "rumours" emanated from nobodies on Facebook and Twitter. There are no reasons a single Tory MP would want an election, they can't call one without Labour's support anyway and Labour would also not want an election at the moment.

 

[greyman42]

Where have these rumours originated from? What possible reason would he have for calling an election when he already has a large majority and the next one isn't due for nearly 4 years?

Possibly to win the election before all the official enquiries begin and the truth comes out?

 

[Bertie the bus]

So you're not going to provide a source then? Just tin foil hat theories.

 

[yorksrob]

Extract from the weekly influenza/Covid-19 report. All this obsession over people having coffee in a park or cycling not very far or not wearing a mask in a shop, and yet we still have hundreds of outbreaks in care homes. The very place where the most vulnerable live. How is this not more widely known?
View attachment 88692

Very illuminating.

So essentially it's Care homes, work and "other" (in the home perhaps ?).

This very much suggests to me that this lockdown is unjustified.

 

[greyman42]

So you're not going to provide a source then? Just tin foil hat theories.

I believe it was mentioned in one of the newspaper reviews that Sky News and the BBC News do at 2230 and 2330.

 

[HSTEd]

There are no reasons a single Tory MP would want an election, they can't call one without Labour's support anyway and Labour would also not want an election at the moment.

Well that is simply not true.

Someone with a Parliamentary majority can call an election at will - by the simple expedient of passing an Act of Parliament stating that there shall be an election.
This is what happened in 2019 in the end.

 

[Philip]

Lockdown has never been intended to eradicate the virus in UK, it might have been in New Zealand and China, but not here. The virus cannot be eradicated. Restrictions/lockdown are to control the effects of it.

Things aren't great right now, but I see light at the end of this tunnel in the form of vaccination.

 

[Domh245]

Very illuminating.

So essentially it's Care homes, work and "other" (in the home perhaps ?).

This very much suggests to me that this lockdown is unjustified.

Bear in mind the limitations of ARI reporting. Those are just the number of multiple case 'incidents' reported to PHE (and even then, only a subset of them presented in that report) - there'll be far more actual outbreaks occurring elsewhere, just going unreported

 

[Yew]

Could what be to do with Steve Baker? Do you think he wants a spell on the opposition benches? I suspect these "rumours" emanated from nobodies on Facebook and Twitter. There are no reasons a single Tory MP would want an election, they can't call one without Labour's support anyway and Labour would also not want an election at the moment.

Apologies, the conversation at 5pm; I was wondering if it could be to outline a plan for after the vulnerable have been vaccinated, as the CRG have been pushing for.