Coronavirus

[Sniffer]

Is this the Mayor who broke lockdown rules to visit and fit windows at his partners home?

Are you asking why he was demanding proof of the outbreak in Leicester? The centralised test and trace system rather than a localised system meant the central government were aware of the problem before it was known locally. When Hancock announced this in his press briefing a couple of weeks ago the local council asked for the data so it could help and respond. I believe that this has only been provided in the last few days.

Edit: A link to the BBC Story

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-53234676

Sir Peter Soulsby, conscious no doubt about the knock-on effect to business in the city by a delayed easing of lockdown, was initially reluctant to extend restrictions. He was sceptical. Why, he wondered, is Leicester being treated differently to other parts of the country?
According to Public Health England data, Barnsley, Bradford and Rochdale all had a higher incidence of Covid-19 cases per 100,000 people than Leicester until new figures were announced by the health secretary in the Commons on Monday night.

 

[The Bear]

A lot of the restrictions in Leicester don't come in until Thursday, or so I've been told.

 

[Paul]

Edit: A link to the BBC Story

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-53234676

Sir Peter Soulsby, conscious no doubt about the knock-on effect to business in the city by a delayed easing of lockdown, was initially reluctant to extend restrictions. He was sceptical. Why, he wondered, is Leicester being treated differently to other parts of the country?
According to Public Health England data, Barnsley, Bradford and Rochdale all had a higher incidence of Covid-19 cases per 100,000 people than Leicester until new figures were announced by the health secretary in the Commons on Monday night.

I mean I could be wrong but wouldn't you have thought that a mayor would have figures for his own constituancy ?

 

[Tredman]

I mean I could be wrong but wouldn't you have thought that a mayor would have figures for his own constituancy ?

You’d have thought that, but you’d have been wrong. No regional figures include private test results - only national figures.

 

[Derby Wolf]

https://twitter.com/jburnmurdoch/status/1277960112691273728?s=19

 

[Dennisons Wrong Foot]

On mask wearing - I have been wearing one for a couple of months, every time I go out except for walking the dog. The medical advice over here is that they are absolutely critical to any attempt to control the spread of the virus. Even republican governors (maybe not all of them) recognise how important they are.

I just cannot comprehend why they have not been made compulsory in the UK.

 

[leedswolf]

Jersey reporting no COVID-19 cases.

 

[Parkins left foot]

Mask wearing - then only do so when I have to go to the shops as many don't follow the rules or observe social distancing.

Sensible on public transport though I haven't been on any since March - elsewhere it's not been necessary.

Though probably re opening the charity disability shop in 2 weeks & have full face visors to protect staff there.

 

[pr0sl0]

Interesting. Well, you all seem much more keen to wear masks than many people I know, and aware that it's a good idea!

I've just been finding it very weird that it's not more of a part of the national conversation, especially as lockdown looks to be breaking down completely this weekend. While there was uncertainty over whether making people wear masks might lead to a false sense of complacency, there's a fairly strong scientific consensus that's formed over the last six weeks or so that wearing masks (even just simple cloth masks) should be pushed as hard as possible. If two people are talking to each other, and both are wearing masks, it can reduce the chances of one of them catching the virus from the other by something like 75-85%, even in close proximity like during haircuts.

Japan didn't really lock down at all, and while at first it seemed suicidal, it turns out that simply banning large events and encouraging everyone to wear masks when leaving the house was enough to make the virus's spread slow enough to keep things relatively normal. Hong Kong's public health head says they have 97% of people wearing masks whenever they leave the house, and they think it's the number one thing that helped. Czechia made masks mandatory outside the home on March 30th, as they went into lockdown, and ran a massive public awareness campaign - they also had a lot of success. Even the US is having its own typical culture war over mask-wearing, but at least there's widespread recognition of how important it is.

But in the UK? I just don't get why there aren't huge massive posters and TV ads and ads on social media blasting WEAR A MASK IF YOU LEAVE THE HOUSE, especially as people are now more and more going back to work in offices and factories and other enclosed spaces where the virus is actually more liable to spread. There was a lot of focus on testing early on, and while that's still incredibly important for being able to catch what spread there is before it gets any worse, I don't see how there's any way to get people back into indoors situations with strangers responsibly without it being central to the plan, as much so as social distancing. And it's so cheap and easy, and yet I'm still pretty much the only person wearing a mask each day when I got out to walk the dog...

 

[Tony Towner]

Interesting. Well, you all seem much more keen to wear masks than many people I know, and aware that it's a good idea!

I've just been finding it very weird that it's not more of a part of the national conversation, especially as lockdown looks to be breaking down completely this weekend. While there was uncertainty over whether making people wear masks might lead to a false sense of complacency, there's a fairly strong scientific consensus that's formed over the last six weeks or so that wearing masks (even just simple cloth masks) should be pushed as hard as possible. If two people are talking to each other, and both are wearing masks, it can reduce the chances of one of them catching the virus from the other by something like 75-85%, even in close proximity like during haircuts.

Japan didn't really lock down at all, and while at first it seemed suicidal, it turns out that simply banning large events and encouraging everyone to wear masks when leaving the house was enough to make the virus's spread slow enough to keep things relatively normal. Hong Kong's public health head says they have 97% of people wearing masks whenever they leave the house, and they think it's the number one thing that helped. Czechia made masks mandatory outside the home on March 30th, as they went into lockdown, and ran a massive public awareness campaign - they also had a lot of success. Even the US is having its own typical culture war over mask-wearing, but at least there's widespread recognition of how important it is.

But in the UK? I just don't get why there aren't huge massive posters and TV ads and ads on social media blasting WEAR A MASK IF YOU LEAVE THE HOUSE, especially as people are now more and more going back to work in offices and factories and other enclosed spaces where the virus is actually more liable to spread. There was a lot of focus on testing early on, and while that's still incredibly important for being able to catch what spread there is before it gets any worse, I don't see how there's any way to get people back into indoors situations with strangers responsibly without it being central to the plan, as much so as social distancing. And it's so cheap and easy, and yet I'm still pretty much the only person wearing a mask each day when I got out to walk the dog...

We won't make it mandatory due to a misguided view on civil liberties.

John Oliver sent it up quite well this week with a montage of reasons in the US people use for not wearing one

 

[pr0sl0]

Yeah, that's probably it - but it doesn't have to be mandatory. Isn't in Japan or Hong Kong, but what it does mean is that those are societies where people understand what a pandemic is, how it spreads, and how everyone has to play their part in helping stop it.

Telling quote from the public health guy in Hong Kong in the interview I was reading, that the only people who don't wear masks in public are "Americans and Europeans".

 

[Dennisons Wrong Foot]

Almost 7,000 new cases confirmed in Texas today - a record high. For San Antonio is is even worse with 12,000 total cases and over 10% of that number recorded today.

 

[Tony Towner]

Yeah, that's probably it - but it doesn't have to be mandatory. Isn't in Japan or Hong Kong, but what it does mean is that those are societies where people understand what a pandemic is, how it spreads, and how everyone has to play their part in helping stop it.

Telling quote from the public health guy in Hong Kong in the interview I was reading, that the only people who don't wear masks in public are "Americans and Europeans".

Mask wearing in Asia has an interesting cultural twist to the west. People wear them to stop spreading the infection not to prevent getting it. It's a courtesy to others, not a protection of themselves

 

[Tony Towner]

Almost 7,000 new cases confirmed in Texas today - a record high. For San Antonio is is even worse with 12,000 total cases and over 10% of that number recorded today.

What's the general view locally then of the way the Federal and State Government have handled it? Are people's to put it generously 'libertarian' views being challenged locally? I can see Trump is doubling down on China to deflect attention, but is that really working on other than the real core MAGA brigade?

 

[Alan]

What's the general view locally then of the way the Federal and State Government have handled it? Are people's to put it generously 'libertarian' views being challenged locally? I can see Trump is doubling down on China to deflect attention, but is that really working on other than the real core MAGA brigade?

The problem is that the "MAGA brigade" is not a small group.

The area that I live just mandated wearing masks in public spaces and the outcry has been as enormous as it is unsurprising.

 

[Dennisons Wrong Foot]

Mask wearing seems accepted by pretty much everyone in SA. In smaller Texas towns it is different, and from what I have seen masks are not worn at all unless mandated.

Nationally there appears to be acceptance by an increasing number of republican leaders, albeit reluctantly. My own view (Alan may disagree) is that republican senators and governors are less beholden to the MAGA crowd than are some House members.

In Texas Greg Abbott admits that he should not have allowed bars to reopen as quickly as he did. Although he officially says that non wearing of masks cannot be criminalised, he has become willing to allow local leaders to circumvent his policies.

The MAGA brigade (inc Dan Patrick) have become very quiet since the number of cases has increased so dramatically.

Just announced this evening for San Antonio - from Thursday all indoor businesses must check the temperature of every person entering their premises, plus ask health questions. That would really make my life difficult, but grocery stores, convenience stores are exempt and I think/hope that also applies to liquor stores.

Also the US is becoming so polarised that some will accept literally anything trump says, and others (the majority?) will automatically disagree. Very little is judged on its actual merits.

 

[Sniffer]

Saturday will be telling when the pubs open, as to how many travel out of the lockdown zone to visit.

Remember this guy?

https://twitter.com/ColinBrowning14/status/1227906931450425344

Do you think people will actually do that?

https://twitter.com/ColinBrowning14/status/1277620445756473344

It looks like its cancelled now although he claims that a minibus is still going. Its amazing that his racist posts about Black Lives Matters and the spread of the disease is lost on him when he's organising coach loads of men to travel from a lockdown area to one that it isn't just so that they can get a pint

 

[pr0sl0]

Mask wearing in Asia has an interesting cultural twist to the west. People wear them to stop spreading the infection not to prevent getting it. It's a courtesy to others, not a protection of themselves

Yeah, 100% - people over in that part of the world have been closer to things like SARS, so by now it's standard practice.

Been thinking for the last few weeks that I'll only be convinced that this will really be over this side of 2021 if widespread mask-wearing becomes normalised in a similar way. It's a sign that a society understands that the only way to handle a public health crisis like this is to look after each other as much as yourself. Sadly I think we're still a way away from that.

 

[b3h]

I'd say the majority of people wearing masks now think it's to stop themselves catching manky people's germs, not the other way round

 

[Tredman]

Wolverhampton next for a local lockdown?