Covid restrictions enforcement

[norman08]

That's the problem Hugo they don't care and until the courts come down very heavy on them they will keep doing it, going up Conwy rd this afternoon they had stopped a car and were body searching him.

[SteveH]

Reading comments in a DP article this morning, reminded me of something that I have thought of since the beginning of the pandemic, why bring suspected infected people back into the country, I always thought people were quarantined at the place of infection, to control the spread ?        I posted on the 31st January last year Post numbers 84 and 85 http://www.threetownsforum.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,502.75.html the following...........

"Still a lot of Social media chat.... why use nurses accommodation, how long before can be used again ?,.... why are they issuing face masks, hand sanitiser etc, to everyone entering the hospital, visitors and patients alike ?..... it does raise the question, if this is the response to dealing with 83 possible infected people, I dread to think, if this was a more serious situation,...... also the explanation below still leaves me wondering, should we trust those who thought using public coaches and hospital buildings for quarantine  purposes, the best solution. ? surely this country has contingency plans ?"

and the comment I read sum it up quite well...........

"No, we are all in this situation because the UK didn't close the borders 12 months ago (& actually brought people back from infectious hot-spots, then let them wander around without quarantine).

We then put Covid victims into care-homes while infectious.

Results -
UK - open borders with several lockdowns, ~100,000 deaths = 0.159% of population
Taiwan - closed borders immediately, No lockdowns; total 7 deaths = 0.000003% of pop
New Zealand - closed borders a bit later, Several lockdowns; 25 deaths = 0.0005% of pop
( For context, population density's person/km2.
UK = 278.67 ; Taiwan = 651; New Zealand = 17.87 )
Early isolation is the first & most effective defense against a virus.

Jan 2021: UK has now just implemented a partial border closing 12 mths late !!
Closing stable door after Horse bolted.
Virologists & epidemiologists were screaming for boarder closure (like Taiwan did) in Jan 2020, but politicians ignored them.
So yes, it is ALL down to the inept politicians … but they'll keep their jobs & pensions.
The 100,000 + dead people, will be seen as collateral damage so they'll blame someone-else, say a few platitudes, erect a few memorials & move on. & WE will let them because that's what we do ! "

The comment comes from this article      https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/mark-drakeford-new-lockdown-rule-19739641#comments-section

[Hugo]

English travellers flout lockdown to sledge and capture drone footage in snow-hit North Wales
Police said 'numerous' fines had to be given out over the weekend to people breaking the rules.    If the Police could seize all the cars involved, I wonder if this would deter all the morons?


https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/english-travellers-flout-lockdown-sledge-19742400

[SteveH]

Bearing in mind my earlier post above, and the number of fake "fit to fly" documents being found at airports, not to mention a DP article today saying "While there remains some uncertainty about coronavirus restrictions, many people are still hoping to holiday abroad this summer." we need better controls at our airports.

Urgent testing for the South Africa variant of coronavirus is beginning in parts of England, after cases were found with no known links to travel or previous cases.
Over 16s in eight neighbourhoods in Surrey, London, Kent, Hertfordshire and Walsall are being asked to take tests whether they have symptoms or not.
Previous cases in the UK were traced back to South Africa.
But random checks have identified 11 cases that cannot be linked.

Public Health England has been sequencing around 5% to 10% of all positive cases that enables them to identify variants so there could be more cases in the community, we need better
In total 105 cases of the South African variant have been identified.

The 11 cases cannot be directly linked back to people who had travelled to South Africa, prompting fears there may be community transmission of the virus.
And the government has now sent mobile testing units to a number of neighbourhoods where these cases have been identified.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-55889391



New COVID-19 variants: Will the vaccines still work?
As new COVID-19 strains are identified, questions are raised about the effectiveness of the coronavirus vaccines currently being rolled out in the UK.

cont  https://www.sciencefocus.com/news/will-vaccine-work-covid-variant/

[Hugo]

Covid: Dozens fined over south Wales house parties.    When will they ever learn?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-55888176

[SteveH]

Update on my posts above a couple of days ago, regarding the South African virus, it's getting closer ...........

Exact area where new Covid variant was found in Southport is released
Door to door testing will begin tomorrow for 10,000 people

"Councillors today said the case of the South African variant of the virus linked to Southport was located in the Norwood ward which covers areas including Blowick and High Park.

Those living in the PR9 postcode area had already been asked to limit contact outside their homes as much as possible as well as taking a test and long queues formed outside the Splash World testing site - set up for those without symptoms - on Monday night and Tuesday morning."

https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/exact-area-new-covid-variant-19756468

[SteveH]

Update on the above updates...........

South African variant found in communities across Wales

Mr Gething said two of these three cases are in North Wales, Anglesey and Cowny, and Public Health Wales is carrying our a ‘detailed and forensic investigation’.
He said that there are currently three new strains of the virus that are a cause for concern, one being the South African strain and two from Brazil.
He added these mutations are ‘more contagious’ than the original scheme which led to a variety of measures being put in place
cont  https://www.northwalespioneer.co.uk/news/19061735.south-african-variant-found-communities-across-wales/


PS another question to Mr Gething.......
Can people look forward to a holiday in the summer?
He says he is optimisitc people can have a holiday break of some kind but he cannot forecast where that will be
From this summer, international travel caused a re-introduction of the virus in the UK and promoted a growth through the autumn
If international travel restarts, they need to see what the rules are on testing and vaccines

We cannot go back to the days pre-covid, he adds
It is too uncertain. We are winning the battle at this point in time, he says, which will open more choices for the future

[Hugo]

Perhaps its time for the fines to be increased substantially to stop these Covidiots

https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/lockdown-flouting-travellers-manchester-stopped-19768434

[Hugo]

Lockdown-breaking 'Snowdon visitors' stopped by cops - and they found more than climbing gear
Two people were arrested after a car was stopped in Prestatyn

https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/lockdown-breaking-snowdon-visitors-stopped-19781329

[SteveH]

I was shocked when I saw the crowds at the Super Bowl on TV, also it is normal to hold house SB gatherings over the weekend, a super spreader event to say the least.

I did find an article that explained that only 25,000 attended, and the other 30,000 seats were filled with cardboard cutouts, 

cont  (not one of my normal sources  )  https://www.popbuzz.com/tv-film/news/super-bowl-how-many-people-attendance/

[Hugo]

What do the travellers not understand by the Stay at home rules,  do they think that the law doesn't apply to them?


https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/travellers-imprisoned-north-wales-caravan-19796916

[SteveH]

North Wales public urged 'we must stick with it' as new strains of Covid emerge in region
Police chief and top A&E doctor say it's more important than ever to keep following the rules

The Chief Constable of North Wales Police and an Intensive Care Doctor have urged the public to follow the government's guidelines following the emergence of new strains of Covid-19.

The Kent strain, which has quickly become the dominant form of coronavirus in Wales, and now the South African and Brazilian variant – mean it’s more important than ever that everyone follows the government guidelines in place.

Dr Ahsan, an Intensive Care Doctor at Ysbyty Gwynedd, sadly lost her father, aged 81, over the Christmas period after he contracted Covid-19.
However, over the last year he had been shielding, despite this he still got Covid, we believe it was one of the new variants which we know is extra potent and more transmissible.

https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/north-wales-public-urged-we-19813169

[Hugo]

We are not all sticking to the rules and that is the problem.      We are all tired of lockdown and want to see all our family and friends but if we all stick to the rules then hopefully the lockdown rules can be eased sooner
Someone said recently that a survey showed that just over 50% of people were sticking rigidly to the rules but I think that a more honest survey would be below 20%.
People going into houses where they don't live at and also driving to  beauty spots or even to start their exercise are just some of the things that people do and they don't seem to think that there is anything wrong with it.
At the West Shore car park you will see at least a dozen cars there on a nice day but even more will be parking in Trinity Crescent and they are not all people with mobility problems
Yesterday I was talking to someone on the phone about exercising nowadays and they said to me why don't you drive there and no one will know anyway!
I will know for instance but that is not the point.  The more we break the rules the longer the lockdown will be with us




”

[SteveH]

England's hotel quarantine system could be less stringent than Australia's scheme, a BBC analysis has found.

A copy of the government's official requirements for hotel operators, ahead of its launch on Monday, showed rules were looser in several key areas.

In England, the rules allow guests time outside with security staff, seen in Australia as putting workers at risk.

Home Office minister Victoria Atkins said the rules would be "amongst the strongest in the world".

She told the BBC those arriving from "red list" countries - deemed high-risk due to new virus variants - would face strict measures even before they departed for the UK.

cont  https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-56037420

[Ian]

You'd laugh, if it wasn't so serious. To enforce an effective quarantine, every single arrival would have to be confined, and armed guards would have to patrol the hotel perimeters. This UK government has dropped the ball repeatedly, and from day 1.