Morning papers. Lockdown & adele

The problem with no known underlying health conditions is that you only find out when you are suffering from them. There are 10million+ children at school in the UK, so probably a similar number of parents (some parents have multiple kids, some kids have more than 2 parents). If we open up schools, then we need to be sure that those children who are vulnerable or have vulnerable parents are protected and can receive an education if they don't go back to school. The same applies to the 500000+ teachers, many of whom are over 45.

So, let us say that you allow under 45s to return to work, and only half of teachers go back - who looks after the children then? (although you could use the older teachers to teach the more vulnerable children online perhaps). But class sizes would increase and many parents would be ill or die. Maybe a few hundred if we are lucky. Maybe 10000+ if we are not.

I'm not advocating indefinite lockdown BTW. I'm advocating the Taiwan/South Korea squash and quarantine model. A proper lockdown for 3-4 weeks until the daily new cases are well under 100 then track, test and isolate anyone with symptoms + mandatory masks outside the house (Taiwan are supplying 3+ per week to all inhabitants for free), quarantine for anyone/thing entering the UK and temperature checks on all shops, offices and public transport with nobody with a raised temperature allowed inside We are an island - and apparently one of the richest countries on Earth - so why can't we do it properly? If you discount tourism, which has obviously fallen and from overseas will be reduced for a long time, just about every other sector of the economy in Taiwan grew in March.

 

This. We have not had a lockdown, we have had restrictions.

There are benefits to both strategies, ours will have restrictions for longer (in theory, although who knows with this government in charge) but will have a lower economic impact with more deaths direct from the virus.
A proper lockdown would have meant closing down all businesses that cannot work from home. That would have lasted about 4 weeks, then people coming into the country are quarantined.

The problem is that it requires the general public to be considerate and have common sense. Hence the UK and US are the worse affected nations. The nations that brought us Brexit and Trump having questionable compassion and intelligence. Who would have thought it.

 

The problem with "reducing restrictions on those individuals healthy enough" is the increased likelihood that they will catch the virus and then pass it on to someone who isn't healthy enough. This has never been just a personal risk, it's a disease with person to person transmission. The figures are nowhere near low enough to make any lockdown changes and they haven't even got contact tracing in place yet. All this speculation is making people far too complacent.

 

Correct. Raab has said it will be absolutely minimal changes to the restrictions for another three weeks so all the panic heads on here can breathe a sigh of relief.

 

It's a good job too.

It would have been utter madness and stupidity to lift it now.

 

It's in the papers so it must be true. That's how it works isn't it?

Of course the only changes will be minimal tweaks but that doesn't make good headlines.

 

I don't think that is a cynical view however reading random headlines and listening to the radio I don't think any of them have a clue, in fact I know they don't. They know changes are coming and have gone into speculation overdrive printing a multitude of variations on the same theme.

The government have made it clear that they will be relaxing the restrictions and I think you're right that they will consider the public reaction to the headlines, however specious and inconsistent they were, before they confirm just how far the relaxing will extend.

 

I went through Sprotbrough today, I might have passed your house in my new lycra . And yes, I agree, loads more traffic on the roads now - are the kids back at school?

 

More than likely, I quite possibly saw you as a spend my days starring out the bedroom window these days

 

No, but definitely you.

 

It doesn't help when journalists like Beth Rigby ask ridiculous questions. I don't understand what she finds confusing. Until Boris speaks at 7 pm on Sunday night everything carries on as usual. She shouldn't believe what the papers say and instead wait for official word from those in charge, instead of believing media speculation. Also even if you can't sunbathe sunday but were allowed monday, you wouldn't want to because the weather looks cold next week.

 

I heard her on LBC and I wanted to weep but it reminded me, right there in that microcosm, why the trust in the press is so low.

 

Laura Kuenssberg is the same......



She's a good bet to waste asking a question. I've lost count of the times over the weeks she's asked about when lockdown will ease and now press have speculated it could be Monday, all of a sudden she's backtracking.

 

I think there might be a sweepstake amongst journalists to see who can be the most intolerable jerk in press conferences.

 

I did argue last week that the questions should stop, it's just become journalists trying to out do each other with the most difficult question, which often becomes the most stupid question. Leave the daily update as information, leave the taking the government to account for Question Time.

 

Unfortunately those paper headlines and general gossip are sowing seeds in the heads of people that its more acceptable to do stuff. The government is losing the narrative.

 

1. Yeah the NHS is coping if u ignore the level of infections and deaths within the frontline and also ignore (4).
2. can't see that the fact that it's currently briefly and marginally declining equates to 'sustained and significant'.

So I'd say none of its being met, but the populist opinion is everyones doing great, behaving themselves and it's time for everything to get back to normal for the sake of the economy.
My guess, it'll start being eased, the great unwashed will ignore it even more than they already have, there'll be a huge spike in deaths around September and we'll have a very severe lockdown, army utilised, even food supermarkets partially closed.
And then atleast I might get some bleedin time off work!