Looks like the UK will be in full lockdown from Friday.

 

Edit: just London

I will be surprised if the whole of the UK is not in lockdown by next week. With almost everything shutting down one by one it's only a matter of time until a lockdown becomes official.

The National Trust are opening up all their gardens for free to encourage people to get out still even though the houses and cafés are shut.

I assume there won't be any T in the Paaarrrraaarrrkk* either

^{* reference to iconic Radio 1 advert a few years ago}

 

Announced last year that T in the Park is no more.

Edited March 18, 20205 yr by zenon

TRNSMT is basically T in the Park with a different name anyway

T in the Park died when it left Balado.

Never a truer word spoken

The National Trust are opening up all their gardens for free to encourage people to get out still even though the houses and cafés are shut.

 

I usually like the National Trust. But...

 

What an idiotic idea. Just because it's outside doesn't mean the virus can't transmit. Will do far more harm than good, the gardens will be crowded especially at the entrance leading to spread of the virus.

Local pubs around me still open. As for food, I got essentials.

TFL have announced that trains and Underground are to reduce certain Services and close 40 Underground Stations from Monday.

I usually like the National Trust. But...

 

What an idiotic idea. Just because it's outside doesn't mean the virus can't transmit. Will do far more harm than good, the gardens will be crowded especially at the entrance leading to spread of the virus.

National Trust gardens aren't exactly like your back garden, they'll likely be just as spread out as any other public space right now (just a bit nicer).

The number of confirmed cases in Germany has risen to 12,853, with the number of deaths reaching 34.

 

Politicians, police and prominent figures appealed to Germans to ‘stay at home’, or risk the introduction of curfews as in France, amid widespread evidence that many people are still not sufficiently reducing their movements to halt the spread of coronavirus.

 

 

The Robert Koch Institute, the leading public health body in Germany, has said it is planning to track mass amounts of mobile phone data, to establish whether Germans are reducing their movements enough.

 

Deutsche Telekom is giving it access to the anonymous data of millions of its customers. A data protection ombudsman has said the measures are acceptable, as long as the data remains anonymous. The move would usually raise the hackles of those who recall the mass surveillance of German citizens in the communist east by the state police, the Stasi, but in general it is being seen as an acceptable measure in desperate times.

 

Curfews could be imminent. Bavaria’s minister president, Markus Söder, said: “I understand that the isolation of many people is very difficult, but if you don’t restrict yourselves, there will be no other possibility. In Bavaria there are more than 1,700 confirmed infections and 14 people have died.

 

The mayor of Berlin, Michael Müller said he was appalled by the lack of consideration many Berliners were showing. “People do not understand. It is unacceptable that people are actually inviting each other to Corona parties. It is terrible!” he said.

 

He also condemned the extent to which people were stockpiling, saying there was no need to do so.

 

A curfew for the 3.6m Berliners could not be ruled out, he said. The German capital has 519 confirmed cases so far.

 

Germany's stats are interesting. They have more cases than the US, France and the UK, but significantly fewer deaths than all three, so they must be doing something right?

Germans are very health conscious as a rule, my cousin lives in Germany atm and I video called her yesterday. People are much more likely to go the doctors, keep themselves healthy and of course their health service is pretty great.

 

Not so great at curfews though it would seem.

I haven’t seen the full breakdown of the statistics but I posted the Berlin breakdown a few pages back that showed the 18-50 bracket makes up an unusually large portion of the cases here. The city has said a third of all cases in the city trace back to a single night at a club. Not usually known for its 80+ market :lol:

 

If those numbered are replicated across the nation then that would account for the significantly lower death rate.

 

 

A lot of businesses have closed here and restaurants and cafes have adjusted hours but so so so many of them haven’t put any ban on eat-in business or enforced any social distancing. Same for all of the supermarkets and stuff. They’re often small and cramped in the inner city and there’s no social distancing at all. The parks are still very full. BVG, the TfL equivalent, has cut services across the board but all it’s lead to is overcrowded buses. They’re now rapidly reversing some bus cuts. The trams that I saw this morning were very quiet for rush hour. Lots of green spaces, and this is an insanely green city, have massive groups of people in them

 

It’s already a struggle to get some supplies. (No milk, bread, loo roll, frozen or long life items) so the no stockpiling is being wholly ignored.

 

 

Being honest, I don’t think it will be long before we’re on a full lockdown given the volume of people still going about life as normal. I imagine other parts of the country will heed Merkels words more, but a substantial part of Berlins population, especially of the low risk of death but highly likely to be superspreaders, are non-German 18-45 year olds*. A full lockdown is the only way to stop this spiralling out of control.

 

On that note, I’m going to venture out to the Edeka up the street to see if it has milk. Wish me luck!!!

 

 

*myself included. By this i mean there’s a good chunk of people who don’t speak German and therefore a lot of the news and guidance is passing them without sinking in. The Federal government is trying to provide translations but Merkels excellent speech from last night is only available in German except for some short clips on DW with subs. Lockdown only way to really get the message out effectively to this expat population that i am part of in my opinion

Germany's stats are interesting. They have more cases than the US, France and the UK, but significantly fewer deaths than all three, so they must be doing something right?

I've seen comments that that Germany is only reportig deaths solely due to corona. So someone who was dieing of cancer already wouldnt be counted. Not sure how true that is but the deathrate in Germany seems off

 

This outbreak has made me realise how dependent I am on being surrounded by people :'). I feel like I'm going crazy, I havent spoken to someone face to face for only 6 days

I've seen comments that that Germany is only reportig deaths solely due to corona. So someone who was dieing of cancer already wouldnt be counted. Not sure how true that is but the deathrate in Germany seems off

 

The US deathrate seems unusually low too compared to other places, perhaps they are doing the same. Maybe Iran too.

 

National Trust gardens aren't exactly like your back garden, they'll likely be just as spread out as any other public space right now (just a bit nicer).

 

I also read they are taking precautions with social distancing so maybe my criticism was too much.

 

Speaking of your own gardens, do hedges block coronavirus spread if your neighbour is outside on a nice day and has it? Hopefully but I am not taking chances. Luckily I have a big enough garden to find a spot away from neighbours' gardens if they are out.

Edited March 19, 20205 yr by Social Hisstance

Has anyone read the new Coronavirus Bill? Authoritarian power grab would be a good description.

Has anyone read the new Coronavirus Bill? Authoritarian power grab would be a good description.

 

The government has to be authoritarian during times like these. My only complaint is this all should have happened sooner before over 100 people had died from the virus. Yes I am a big fan of the hardline approach!

The government has to be authoritarian during times like these. My only complaint is this all should have happened sooner before over 100 people had died from the virus. Yes I am a big fan of the hardline approach!

 

There is a difference between implementing important measures to save lives and being opportunistic to serve your agenda.

 

This bill allows immigration officers the ability to detain people they think are infected for the next two years — or longer. There are more alarming little nuggets like that scattered throughout.

 

The anti-terrorism laws have to be renewed every 28 days. Even the emergency powers in WWII had to be renewed annually. The government's proposals contain no such provision. That is why people are calling it a power grab.