Coronaviral

[Vesper 28,853]

New lockdown restrictions announced

With cases of Covid-19 rising and the testing system in chaos, Boris Johnson is fighting to keep the pandemic under control. We reported this morning that ministers are considering reversing the return to the office, as the Government announces further restrictions in its bid to avoid another national lockdown. You can follow the latest on our live blog. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister is at risk of letting events overwhelm him and has just six months to save his premiership, writes Allister Heath.

The pandemic and Brexit have drawn much of the attention away from what would otherwise be a highly significant crisis – the crossing of the Channel by migrants in small boats. Our reporter spent the day at sea and became the first journalist to document what had long been suspected: that the French Navy is shepherding migrant boats into UK waters and abandoning them.

Raynor Winn’s life story is already lined up to become a film, after the first part of her tale – a middle-class life turned upside down by being made homeless and her husband being diagnosed with a terminal disease – became a best seller. But, as Louise Carpenter hears, even with financial security, the lessons and scars of homelessness remain.

Lynda La Plante is one of the most successful crime writers in history, so it may come as a surprise that, aged 74, she completely lost confidence in herself. Three years later, though, she has overcome her challenges, recovered from failed eye surgery and blindness, and is releasing her second book of 2020. She tells Lina Das how she bounced back.

Finally, David Starkey is perhaps the most high-profile victim this year of “cancel culture” after he made public remarks that have been widely condemned as racist for the second time in a decade. But is he a victim of “wokeness” or simply reaping the whirlwind of deliberate provocation? In an extraordinary interview with Camilla Tominey, Dr Starkey excoriates what he says is the Left’s pernicious attacks on British history and public life.

PS. For a daily bulletin of latest coronavirus news, sign up for our free Global Health newsletter.

[Special Juan 27,429]

We are in serious danger here again in the UK with this shit....BJ is going to announce another u-turn by going "go to work" to now today "work from home if you can"

This government are an absolute laughing stock....EAT out to help out they said.....that has contributed to cases rising I am sure of that, now the pubs are closing at 10pm because COVID doesn't come out before 11pm

Dear me.

[Unionjack 7,531]

Been taking temperatures going into the office my mate works in the City. He had a temp and they did a test and he was positive. Sent him home. Locked himself away from wife / young grand kids they have custody over. They were tested - negative. 2 weeks later he was tested again. Negative. Said he had no signs of symptoms.

Ive heard various similar stories.

Yet my cousin 52 female very fit,runs/exercises. She got it and was hospitalized.

I dont see theres a particular type of people it hits stronger than others. If anyone should have gone down from it its me!

[Laylabelle 9,359]

11 hours ago, Special Juan said:

We are in serious danger here again in the UK with this shit....BJ is going to announce another u-turn by going "go to work" to now today "work from home if you can"

This government are an absolute laughing stock....EAT out to help out they said.....that has contributed to cases rising I am sure of that, now the pubs are closing at 10pm because COVID doesn't come out before 11pm

Dear me.

A few weeks ago there was a fuss how people aren't going back to the offices and should stop being scared blah blah...

Its been a shit storm right from the start. I know other parties/people might not handled it better but Boris.. all the guidance given been so wishy washy. His own bloke went off on a journey and nothing done..its daft.

He's a idiot and how on earth is he running a country?!

[Jase 43,479]

11 hours ago, Special Juan said:

now the pubs are closing at 10pm because COVID doesn't come out before 11pm

Also good to know the virus doesn't like cinemas, theatres...

 

[Fulham Broadway 16,860]

11 hours ago, Unionjack said:

Been taking temperatures going into the office my mate works in the City. He had a temp and they did a test and he was positive. Sent him home. Locked himself away from wife / young grand kids they have custody over. They were tested - negative. 2 weeks later he was tested again. Negative. Said he had no signs of symptoms.

Ive heard various similar stories.

Yet my cousin 52 female very fit,runs/exercises. She got it and was hospitalized.

I dont see theres a particular type of people it hits stronger than others. If anyone should have gone down from it its me!

Think it depends how much 'viral load' hits you - and young kids can apparently be carrying 50 times more but show no symptoms. Which is why a lot of schools are massive petri dishes for spreading it back to households

[Unionjack 7,531]

31 minutes ago, Fulham Broadway said:

Think it depends how much 'viral load' hits you - and young kids can apparently be carrying 50 times more but show no symptoms. Which is why a lot of schools are massive petri dishes for spreading it back to households

Well me an the old girl went to quacks yesterday and she had the antibody test which came back positive. So shes had it too. Which is a worry I wont go into why yet but I asked him if it would affect things and he wants us to go back weekly for tests. Hopefully she caught it months ago,

[Fulham Broadway 16,860]

2 minutes ago, Unionjack said:

Well me an the old girl went to quacks yesterday and she had the antibody test which came back positive. So shes had it too. Which is a worry I wont go into why yet but I asked him if it would affect things and he wants us to go back weekly for tests. Hopefully she caught it months ago,

Nightmare mate. So you both got to isolate now ?

[Unionjack 7,531]

Just now, Fulham Broadway said:

Nightmare mate. So you both got to isolate now ?

No bid the antibody test shows if you had it in the past. I had my test back in April so I caught it pretty early. There was many others that caught it too.
We dont know when she caught it but doesnt have it now. So we are both good. I dont know if it helps the immune system. Quack said the antibody happens but nobody knows how long for and peeps can get it again.

[Fulham Broadway 16,860]

9 minutes ago, Unionjack said:

No bid the antibody test shows if you had it in the past. I had my test back in April so I caught it pretty early. There was many others that caught it too.
We dont know when she caught it but doesnt have it now. So we are both good. I dont know if it helps the immune system. Quack said the antibody happens but nobody knows how long for and peeps can get it again.

Hopefully youve both a stronger immune system now to fight it off if need be.

[Vesper 28,853]

The Guardian view on Boris Johnson’s second wave: made in Downing Street

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/sep/17/the-guardian-view-on-boris-johnsons-second-wave-made-in-downing-street

 

The prime minister’s over-promising and under-delivering has to end. If he tries to spin his way out of the looming coronavirus disaster it will cost the country dear

The country is facing a second wave of coronavirus because the government is losing track of the outbreak’s spread. Testing capacity is being outpaced by an exponentially growing epidemic. Without testing the people who need testing, the authorities can’t see where cases are rising. With visibility of the disease’s extent obscured, its transmission is harder to slow. A second wave of Covid-19 could be more serious than the first. The NHS, still reeling from the disruption of the last few months, is dealing with a backlog of patients. Winter is coming and with it the possibility of a joint flu epidemic and Covid pandemic. Britain has been put in a dangerous place by Boris Johnson’s administrative failure.

The government messed up its Covid response in the first wave of coronavirus, making blunder after blunder. Britain had no mass testing capacity and was forced to impose a damaging lockdown that plunged the economy into its deepest recession in 300 years. England recorded the highest excess death rate in Europe. Ministers have had months to put things right. A new testing system was devised. The rationale of coming out of the national lockdown was that a functioning test-and-trace system would help the government to spot and suppress local outbreaks. This was the “whack-a-mole” strategy. But it only works if you know where the moles are.

There was little doubt that there would be a problem in autumn and winter. But we are barely out of summer and Mr Johnson’s system can’t cope. If the government can’t provide enough tests for people at this point in September, when ministers knew schools would be returning and have been actively encouraging people back to work, how will it achieve its “moonshot” ambition to process millions of tests a day? Mr Johnson, and his cabinet, do not look remotely up to the challenge. Instead of being open about the issue they alternate between being furtive, evasive and defensive. Public trust in the government’s Covid response is ebbing away: almost two-thirds of those polled think ministers have handled it badly.

The country has no option but for the government’s scheme to work. If it does not then we will face another damaging national lockdown. There needs to be a reset from the government in the way it acts and speaks. The over-promising and under-delivering by ministers has to end. One cannot spin one’s way out of disaster when there is a breakdown in frontline service delivery that affects millions of people’s lives. People are not at fault for demanding tests when they have been told to ask for them.

It is painfully clear that there has been a serious failure of the private laboratories that ministers created on the hoof to rapidly scale up testing operations. Ministers built the labs to run with itinerant PhD workers, who predictably caused staff shortages when they returned to their universities. The government needs to come clean about the mistakes it has made and demonstrate it has the leadership to put them right. A new political and communications strategy will be required to move the country on. Caution, not overconfidence, should be the order of the day.

Time is running out for Mr Johnson to show he recognises the danger ahead and is willing to prepare voters for difficult times. The government needs a humbler and more realistic way of going about things. Belief in a form of national exceptionalism led to lack of preparedness. Mr Johnson’s excessive self-confidence telegraphs hubris about the country’s ability to withstand a public health crisis. This may have been electorally successful but it has led to overreach and complacency. Britain’s painful Covid-19 experience ought to put a premium on competent and decent government. Yet Mr Johnson stokes Brexit’s politics of resentment to trump the politics of problem-solving. The country will pay a high price unless he changes course.

[Tomo 21,733]

15 hours ago, Special Juan said:

We are in serious danger here again in the UK with this shit....BJ is going to announce another u-turn by going "go to work" to now today "work from home if you can"

This government are an absolute laughing stock....EAT out to help out they said.....that has contributed to cases rising I am sure of that, now the pubs are closing at 10pm because COVID doesn't come out before 11pm

Dear me.

It's not about it not coming out before 11, it's about trying to balance the health of the nation with making sure we maintain an Economy that gives us a sustainable life to live when this is finally over.

And i say that as no Tory fan, i couldn't stand the slimeball Boris long before it became a hipster trend!

[Special Juan 27,429]

7 hours ago, Tomo said:

It's not about it not coming out before 11, it's about trying to balance the health of the nation with making sure we maintain an Economy that gives us a sustainable life to live when this is finally over.

And i say that as no Tory fan, i couldn't stand the slimeball Boris long before it became a hipster trend!

Fucking hell Tomo I thought you could tell a tongue in cheek comment

[Unionjack 7,531]

18 minutes ago, Special Juan said:

Fucking hell Tomo I thought you could tell a tongue in cheek comment

Mate Ive got in so much trouble thru sarcasm not converting to text.

[Laylabelle 9,359]

Nursery work at has had 3 confirmed staff cases...lucky have room bubbles so in theory slightly isolated but shut until Health people call back management..fun fun

[Unionjack 7,531]

All going bonkers again.

That demonstration in Trafalgar Sq was crazy. No idea why the old Bill were even there, There was no trouble at all till they moved in. There were the majority of normal people there. Families,old people, Just lost and confused. Asking questions our govt. dont have the answers for.

Add a bunch of bad attitude,none mask wearing cops swinging sticks to move people on and you get bonkers. This is nothing new.

That lockdown at that college typifies the random rules set in place. PLEASE tell me what different things will happen after 10pm when they have pubs shut? Does covid become stronger then? 

Made me laugh as its about right,

 

[Tomo 21,733]

25 minutes ago, Unionjack said:

That lockdown at that college typifies the random rules set in place. PLEASE tell me what different things will happen after 10pm when they have pubs shut? Does covid become stronger then? 

Three hours could make a big difference if hypothetically there's an average of 1 infection every 40 pubs between 10-1, that alone would stop over 1,000 new cases.

We can't go back into full lockdown nor can we go back to February's world, until a vaccine or it runs it's course a balance between trying to slow the spread and actually having a world to come out of this too has to be struck, the pub curfew is seen as one of them, time will tell if that proves to be the case.

[Unionjack 7,531]

1 minute ago, Tomo said:

Three hours could make a big difference if hypothetically there's an average of 1 infection every 40 pubs between 10-1, that alone would stop over 1,000 new cases.

We can't go back into full lockdown nor can we go back to February's world, until a vaccine or it runs it's course a balance between trying to slow the spread and actually having a world to come out of this too has to be struck.

So theres no problems upto 10pm? They cant use 1/2 measures. Its plain daft.

And does covid stay away from work places? I know peeps that work in factories on work lines with 100s of peeps ion. No mask rules. All working together. 8-12 hours a day. Do they not catch it? Whats the difference with pubs opening longer? Not all hitting the streets at 10pm?

I do see another lockdown coming tho. Boris is in panic mode.