Coronavirus - Part Two.

[HeHasRisen 3,370]

On 28/04/2021 at 13:32, RollingJ said:

OK - let us know how it goes,  though.

As promised....got there bang on 3pm, about 50 people queuing down the road. Got to the front and the lady managing the queue had just done a count and said it was over 100. Back home now with it done, all sorted.  She did say the uptake in the 40-49 age range in the S2 area had been poor, hence the expansion to the 30s.

[RollingJ 1,988]

3 minutes ago, HeHasRisen said:

As promised....got there bang on 3pm, about 50 people queuing down the road. Got to the front and the lady managing the queue had just done a count and said it was over 100. Back home now with it done, all sorted.  She did say the uptake in the 40-49 age range in the S2 area had been poor, hence the expansion to the 30s.

Glad you got sorted. 👍 Weird how some age groups in some areas seem reluctant to help themselves help others.

[Guest makapaka]

Finally some common sense being applied 

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-56958885

[petemcewan 27]

https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-mps-urge-ministers-to-maintain-ban-on-foreign-holidays-after-17-may-amid-variant-fears-1229377

Quote

 

2

 

"But we can only permit it if it is done safely, which is why the Global Travel Task force has produced the traffic light system allowing us to manage the risk from imported cases by varying restrictions depending on the risk of travel from a specific location.

 

Are we ever going to be able to travel abroad?

As far as importing new variants. Well, they are already here. The virus spews them  out interminably.

Edited May 3, 2021 by petemcewan

[Guest makapaka]

6 hours ago, petemcewan said:

https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-mps-urge-ministers-to-maintain-ban-on-foreign-holidays-after-17-may-amid-variant-fears-1229377

Are we ever going to be able to travel abroad?

As far as importing new variants. Well, they are already here. The virus spews them  out interminably.

You’ll do what your told which is pretty much the norm now.

 

they’re talking about letting you hug someone now which is nice of them.

[Thirsty Relic 206]

6 hours ago, petemcewan said:

https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-mps-urge-ministers-to-maintain-ban-on-foreign-holidays-after-17-may-amid-variant-fears-1229377

Are we ever going to be able to travel abroad?

As far as importing new variants. Well, they are already here. The virus spews them  out interminably.

As I've been saying for ages, our leaders have given the green light for foreign travel ages ago, by allowing the travel companies to advertise and sell such holidays, despite the Government not having given the final OK to such travel. 

 

Do you really think that now they are going to keep the ban in place when many of their .....  voters(!) ...... have already booked such holidays?

 

Expect to wave off many to sunny destinations, then happily welcome them back, wondering what exotic variants they'll have brought back for us!

[ECCOnoob 1,016]

5 hours ago, Thirsty Relic said:

As I've been saying for ages, our leaders have given the green light for foreign travel ages ago, by allowing the travel companies to advertise and sell such holidays, despite the Government not having given the final OK to such travel. 

 

Do you really think that now they are going to keep the ban in place when many of their .....  voters(!) ...... have already booked such holidays?

 

Expect to wave off many to sunny destinations, then happily welcome them back, wondering what exotic variants they'll have brought back for us!

So what's your suggestions then?

 

How long is reasonable for restrictions to remain in place, at what point are you ever going to deem it suitable for them to be lifted. Viruses like this mutate all the time. We may never be in a position where it will be 100% guaranteed that someone will not bring some variant back. What do you propose - ban all travel outside of the borders forever?

 

In the meantime, do we just let all the Airlines, hotels, travel companies, tour companies and their thousands and thousands of employees just collapse and become jobless?  What about the counter impact on the economy, public finances, overseas trade....

 

People want and need to travel. They cannot be imprisoned in their own borders indefinitely. There has to be a reasonable and calculated balance of risk.

 

Somebody has to make this very difficult decision and not be swayed by the multitude of polarised armchair critics all arguing the toss on anything between complete and unconditional bans through to complete open and unimpeded movement.

Edited May 3, 2021 by ECCOnoob

[tinfoilhat 11]

2 minutes ago, ECCOnoob said:

So what's your suggestions then?

 

How long is reasonable for restrictions to remain in place, at what point are you ever going to deem it suitable for them to be lifted. Viruses like this mutate all the time. We may never be in a position where it will be 100% guaranteed that someone will not bring some variant back. What do you propose - ban all travel outside of the borders forever?

 

In the meantime, do we just let all the Airlines, hotels, travel companies, tour companies and their thousands and thousands of employees just collapse and become jobless?  What about the counter impact on the economy, public finances, overseas trade....

 

People want and need to travel. They cannot be imprisoned in their own borders indefinitely. There has to be a reasonable and calculated balance of risk.

 

Somebody has to make this very difficult decision and not be swayed by the multitude of polarised armchair critics all arguing the toss on anything between complete and unconditional bans through to complete open and unimpeded movement.

I think NZ and Australia - despite normally welcoming tourists from around the globe for extended periods of time - are still very very careful on who they are letting in and quarantine is still, to my knowledge, strictly enforced.

 

On the other side of the coin, internally they're pretty much back to normal, full stadiums, theatres and festivals and all that good stuff.  

 

But you make a fair point, but when it comes to shutting any corridors that we open, Johnson will do it late!

[Thirsty Relic 206]

1 hour ago, ECCOnoob said:

 

 

Edited May 3, 2021 by Thirsty Relic
duplicate

[Thirsty Relic 206]

59 minutes ago, ECCOnoob said:

So what's your suggestions then?

 

How long is reasonable for restrictions to remain in place, at what point are you ever going to deem it suitable for them to be lifted. Viruses like this mutate all the time. We may never be in a position where it will be 100% guaranteed that someone will not bring some variant back. What do you propose - ban all travel outside of the borders forever?

 

In the meantime, do we just let all the Airlines, hotels, travel companies, tour companies and their thousands and thousands of employees just collapse and become jobless?  What about the counter impact on the economy, public finances, overseas trade....

 

People want and need to travel. They cannot be imprisoned in their own borders indefinitely. There has to be a reasonable and calculated balance of risk.

 

Somebody has to make this very difficult decision and not be swayed by the multitude of polarised armchair critics all arguing the toss on anything between complete and unconditional bans through to complete open and unimpeded movement.

I was replying to a poster who quoted backbenchers wanting the Government to maintain the ban on foreign travel:

https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-mps-urge-ministers-to-maintain-ban-on-foreign-holidays-after-17-may-amid-variant-fears-1229377

 

 

My point was that I've been saying for ages on here that we were wrong to let people book foreign holidays for the future before the government OK'd foreign travel again.  By doing so, the Government have piled pressure on themselves to allow it, whether the "science" says it's appropriate at this time or not.  My opinion (if I had one on this) does not matter, as these holidays will go ahead. 

 

My worry is that we are hoping that the hoards of people coming back do not bring with them new variants, as we do not have the robust border controls, checks and quarantining that other countries demand.  Furthermore, we are relying on border controls checking all the documentation of negative Covid checks, despite evidence indicating many are bogus: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/covid-certificate-fake-vaccine-passport-b1834590.html

Yes, we've got to open up the country, but we need to do so carefully to avoid a 3rd wave, and yet more lockdowns.  I don't think we are capable of stopping another surge in cases (and associated fatalities) with our current border controls.

If you want some good news on the Covid front though, this is our leader's hopes for the Autumn:  https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-britons-who-test-positive-for-coronavirus-could-be-sent-antiviral-tablets-to-take-at-home-12281366

 

Looks like  a wish to me.  I just hope it comes true, and the sooner the better!

 

 

[Guest makapaka]

If we’ve vaccinated most of the population and prob tens of millions have already had it.

 

you have to wonder at what point you say enough is enough.

 

the impact on young people is becoming a bigger issue for me.

[Guest sibon]

11 minutes ago, makapaka said:

If we’ve vaccinated most of the population and prob tens of millions have already had it.

 

you have to wonder at what point you say enough is enough.

 

the impact on young people is becoming a bigger issue for me.

I’m getting to the same conclusion, but I’m a bit more cautious. India thought they had it licked a couple of months ago, that didn’t work out too well.

 

We have 2000 ish cases per day at the moment. Unchecked, virus cases can double every 3 or 4 days, so within a couple of weeks, we could be back to 100 000 cases a day. You’d hope not, but ...

 

It hurts to say it, but the government are spot on. Open up a bit, monitor and act if you need to.  Then open up more if you can.
 

The virus isn’t going away, so we do need to know that we have it under control before moving on. That’s not to say that moving on needs to be the priority.