i'm just not sure what else people suggest? We go back to lockdown 1? Realistically, what else do we suggest should be done about this virus?

There isn't a hard and fast solution, but it's very easy to be cautious when opening up and keep *some* mitigations in place i.e masks in shops/public transport, rather than going full throttle and potentially getting very high case numbers that could easily lead to restrictions coming back in stronger form over the winter.

If you look at other countries like New Zealand who have relatively low cases and low deaths, they have only managed this by actively suppressing the virus. I believe it is possible we could return to something more normal but that will require some form of restrictions for the foreseeable future. The alternative is utter chaos and spiralling problems caused by an ineffective and dangerous policy of allowing everything to open up too early.

Edited July 8, 20214 yr by slowdown73

New Zealand has half the population of London lol and it's completely spread out differently as a Country, so I'm not surprised it's been easy to reduce numbers.

Also NZ (+ Australia) are gonna be in a bit of a predicament in the future with next to zero natural immunity levels, very low vaccine uptake (so far) and seriously strict protocols on even a single case becoming apparent. Don't see how they're not gonna be shut off from the rest of the world.

But Aus/NZ have far far fewer excessive deaths (and people's lives are important to me) and have had several months of maskless living so I disagree. I fully understand the issue to do with immigration and families being shut off but that can be overhauled by a robust quarantine system.

Also NZ (+ Australia) are gonna be in a bit of a predicament in the future with next to zero natural immunity levels, very low vaccine uptake (so far) and seriously strict protocols on even a single case becoming apparent. Don't see how they're not gonna be shut off from the rest of the world.

 

They're going to be in exactly the same situation as we all are in 12-18 months. Even if they have good levels of immunity through the vaccine, there is zero natural immunity so they will inevitably have a wave. It will be interesting to see whether they open up Summer 2021/2022 or leave it to Summer 2022/2023. Inevitable there will be deaths, but fingers crossed there will not be as many needless deaths as happened across the rest of the world.

Finally England announces it will join half of the rest of the world in allowing quarantine-free travel for double jagged. I expect Scotland to follow next week when Sturgeon addresses Holyrood (it’s on recess currently).

No quarantine only if your vaccinations were administered in the UK which is utterly nonsensical. We still have to quarantine coming to England from France and Germany if our vaccines were given there because the English government don't consider us to be vaccinated despite using the exact same vaccines used in England. Ridiculous and petty.

Edited July 9, 20214 yr by Harve

New Zealand has half the population of London lol and it's completely spread out differently as a Country, so I'm not surprised it's been easy to reduce numbers.

 

I agree the population density is much less but New Zealand had a more robust plan to manage covid from the beginning, unlike the U.K.

Edited July 10, 20214 yr by slowdown73

No quarantine only if your vaccinations were administered in the UK which is utterly nonsensical. We still have to quarantine coming to England from France and Germany if our vaccines were given there because the English government don't consider us to be vaccinated despite using the exact same vaccines used in England. Ridiculous and petty.

 

The rules are confusing and inconsistent. They constantly keep changing too.

No quarantine only if your vaccinations were administered in the UK which is utterly nonsensical. We still have to quarantine coming to England from France and Germany if our vaccines were given there because the English government don't consider us to be vaccinated despite using the exact same vaccines used in England. Ridiculous and petty.

I fully agree that it’s idiotic. Same factories made our doses so it is nothin other than ridiculous and petty. They have been rightly hounded on it and they’ve had to quickly come out and say that they were working on it and the EU would probably be first because of the pan-EU digital verification system. No idea when tho so still cannot actually plan or book anything which is useless.

 

He did at least put a lot more focus on family reunification than ever before so I’m taking the small win that it finally got through to him that not everyone is trying to go for a week in Marbella (if you Are, have a banging hol when you can go. I don’t say this with disrespect) and that there are folks who just want to see family. By estimates there are like 5m people who are either Brits in EU like us or EU in UK. Thats a lot of People who haven’t seen family for a long time.

When is the final decision made on England’s ‘freedom day’ when all restrictions get lifted on July 19th? Here in Scotland we are due to move to level 0 on the same day a final decision is made on that on Tuesday. Level 0 still has basic restrictions in place it just means you can meet more people in your house and in indoor public places etc and pubs and bars don’t have a curfew time anymore. The indicative date for Scotland removing all restrictions is August the 9th at the moment but obviously we just need to wait and see how things go. I feel once enough people are vaccinated and the hospital admissions are so low and aren’t rising we should be able to remove all restrictions regardless of how high the cases are.

When is the final decision made on England’s ‘freedom day’ when all restrictions get lifted on July 19th? Here in Scotland we are due to move to level 0 on the same day a final decision is made on that on Tuesday. Level 0 still has basic restrictions in place it just means you can meet more people in your house and in indoor public places etc and pubs and bars don’t have a curfew time anymore. The indicative date for Scotland removing all restrictions is August the 9th at the moment but obviously we just need to wait and see how things go. I feel once enough people are vaccinated and the hospital admissions are so low and aren’t rising we should be able to remove all restrictions regardless of how high the cases are.

 

Monday 12th July - there is set to be an announcement. I think it’s crazy that each of the different segments of the U.K. will set their own dates and rules. It should be universal.

Anyone know how many new ICU admissions there’s been this week?

Anyone know how many new ICU admissions there’s been this week?

I’m not sure how many have actually been admitted, but as of today there are 417 in ICU in the UK. 2,731 in hospital.

I’m not sure how many have actually been admitted, but as of today there are 417 in ICU in the UK. 2,731 in hospital.

 

According to the guardian, hospital admissions have increased by 815 cases to 2731 in the last week.

I'm honestly aggravated that people are refusing the vaccine, then getting covid and ending up in ICU.

 

It should be mandatory or treatment refused, especially if the people fall into vulnerable categories.

I'm honestly aggravated that people are refusing the vaccine, then getting covid and ending up in ICU.

 

It should be mandatory or treatment refused, especially if the people fall into vulnerable categories.

 

100%!

 

This is natural selection in action as far as I'm concerned.

 

Not that I disagree entirely but can we try not to be so blunt on some quite sensitive issues? Some of us have been struggling for months with the fact that family members are refusing the vaccine. I’m sure none of you think I’d deserve to lose my parents if something did happen, but that’s not how it’s coming across.

 

I’m sure there are also many young people catching it before they get offered the vaccine. People working in schools, for example. A few of my colleague had to delay their second dose due to catching Covid through work and a couple even had to wait for their first dose. They were forced into mixing before they even had a chance.

I didn't think of that. Sorry if that was triggering.