Covid restrictions enforcement

[SteveH]

Interesting and scary article and photo gallery .........................

Covid:  'Don't blow it' says health secretary as thousands gather in sunshine

"When I see the pictures I do get anxious," Prof Sian Griffiths, a senior public health official, told BBC Radio 5 Live.

"If we're not in a household bubble we need to be two metres apart and I don't think those pictures look like that's happening."

cont / photo's    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-56588196

[DVT]

A friend told me today about when things were a little relaxed after the first lockdown.  A friend of hers from south Wales visited Llandudno and was amazed how people stepped aside and everyone was abiding by the social distancing regulations... it was stated that in the south Wales towns such as Port Talbot and others social distancing was totally ignored ... those that chose to abide by the regulations did not go out, those that didn't abide just carried on as before.

Yes, there are pockets in north Wales where social distancing has been ignored, but it does seem that the majority of us within the three towns area have been penalised due to non-compliant people in other parts ofthe country.  Whether you like Boris or not his idea of different towns/cities being in different tiers seems much better than Drakeford imposing Tier 4 on the whole of Wales just because of the southerners.

I have today spent most of the day outside in a well-known tourist venue, with 1500 visitors - and I saw no instance of anyone breaking the 2 metre rule, everyone complying and enjoying the day out.

[SteveH]

Every Welsh lockdown rule change and what to expect for the rest of 2021
All the key stages as Wales sets a path back to a post-Covid-19 normality

First Minister Mark Drakeford has revealed his step-by-step plan on how measures could change between now and June but we may have to accept that some measures are due to stay until next year.

All the upcoming changes for Wales by date
From April 12:

Schools can fully re-open to all pupils following the Easter break while all post-16 learners will return to further education and training centres and university campuses will be able to open for blended face-to-face and online learning for all students
all remaining non-essential shops can re-open
close contact services like massage therapists and tattooists can open again and this includes mobile services
travel into and out of Wales from the United Kingdom and Common Travel area (the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man, and the Republic of Ireland) is once again permitted but travel to any other country requires a reasonable excuse, such as work or compassionate grounds
viewings at wedding venues can resume by appointment
outdoor canvassing for elections can begin
driving lessons can resume
From April 26:

outdoor attractions, including funfairs and theme parks, would be allowed to re-open
hospitality can resume outdoor service including at cafes, pubs, and restaurants but indoor hospitality will remain restricted
From May 3:

organised outdoor activities for up to 30 people can take place
weddings receptions can take place outdoors but will also be limited to 30 people
From May 10:

gyms, leisure centres, and fitness facilities can re-open. This will include individual or one-to-one training but not exercise classes
extended households will again allow two households to meet and have contact indoors
From May 17:

Wales would enter alert level three
children’s indoor activities would be able to resume
community centres would be able to re-open
organised indoor activities for adults, including exercise classes, would be allowed to resume limited to a maximum of 15 people

The next review will take place on May 13. After May 17 consideration will be given to enabling indoor hospitality and remaining visitor accommodation to re-open “in advance of” the spring bank holiday on May 31. All changes remain subject to public health conditions continuing to remain favourable.

more https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/every-welsh-lockdown-rule-change-20323781

[SteveH]

FURTHER changes to the coronavirus restrictions have been announced by the First Minister Mark Drakeford today.

The Welsh Government has confirmed further relaxations will be brought forward from 17 May to 3 May – including the resumption of indoor supervised activities for children, indoor organised activities for up to 15 adults, such as exercise classes, and the re-opening of community centres.

This means Wales will have completed the move to Alert Level 3 by Monday 3 May.

From Saturday 24 April, the rule of 6 will allow for up to six people from six households to meet outdoors, not including children under 11 years of age or carers from those households.

more cont  https://www.northwalespioneer.co.uk/news/19252830.coronavirus-restriction-relaxations-brought-forward/

[SteveH]

Everything you need to know before visiting a pub, café or restaurant in Wales from today

FROM today, people in Wales will be able to enjoy the spring sunshine from a pub garden, restaurant or café.

More rules have relaxed across the nation from today, Monday April 26, after Welsh Government gave hospitality businesses the green light on Friday that they could reopen their doors and welcome back customers for the first time physically this year.

Are cafes, restaurants, pubs and bars able to open?
Outdoor hospitality - including cafes, restaurants, pubs and bars providing outdoor services - are allowed to open.

There are no longer any limits to when alcoholic drinks can be sold as normal licencing laws now apply.

How can cafés, restaurants, pubs and bars operate safely outdoors?
The Welsh Government says that venues are required to take all reasonable measures to minimise the risk of exposure to coronavirus.
For example:
• all food and drink should be consumed at tables
• contact details will be required for contact tracing purposes
• customers will be encouraged to pre-book with details of all members of the group.
• entry to the premises will be controlled
• face coverings must be worn other than when seated to eat or drink
• licenced premises, such as pubs, will be providing table service only
• physical distancing measures will be applied, such as tables being spaced out

When utilising outdoor spaces, hospitality venues are required to ensure that the use of physical coverings, awnings, gazebos, marquees and similar structures are implemented in a way that is aligned with current public health advice.

Generally, this means that structures with a roof or ceiling must be open-sided (at least 3 sides or more than 51 per cent open).

Who can I visit outdoor cafés, restaurants, pubs and bars with?
You can visit outdoor hospitality venues such as cafés, restaurants, pubs and bars with your household or up to six people from no more than six households (not including any children or carers from any of these households).

What are the current rules on who I can meet up with outdoors?
Currently, up to six people from up to six households (excluding any carers or children under 11 from any of these households) can meet outdoors at any one time.

This includes public outdoor spaces such as parks and outdoor areas of regulated premises and private outdoor spaces such as gardens.

However, Welsh Government ask that people do try and reduce the number of different people they see. They say it is better to see the same people regularly than to see lots of different people occasionally.

It is also stressed that people continue to maintain social distancing and good hand hygiene.

You must not meet up with people from outside your support bubble, if you have one, indoors.

[SteveH]

The rules on car sharing amid warning over 'clusters' of Covid-19 cases linked to mixing in vehicles
The official guidance issued for England and Wales, separately, discusses the rules around travelling with other households

cont  https://www.dailypost.co.uk/whats-on/rules-car-sharing-amid-warning-20502371?IYA-reg=49560bcd-5a9c-47f0-8fc5-ba2e71710589

[SteveH]

CARE homes across North Wales will not be returning to the pre-covid “open house” approach after visiting restrictions were eased by the Welsh Government.

That’s the warning from Care Forum Wales chief executive Mary Wimbury who sounded a note of caution saying that all visits would still need to be risk assessed before they were allowed go ahead.

Ms Wimbury said it was still a challenging time for the social care sector and some care homes would be more nervous than other.

One major stumbling block was the fact that insurance companies were now refusing to provide cover for any Covid-related claims.

Previously only two designated visitors were allowed to make indoor visits but now any two people can visit.

But according to the Welsh Government it is still down to individual care homes or local authorities to make the final decisions whether to allow the visits to go ahead.

cont  https://www.northwalespioneer.co.uk/news/19329212.care-homes-across-north-wales-will-not-return-open-house-visiting/

[SteveH]

 

Nearly 1,300 Scotland fans who travelled to London to watch their team play England on 18 June later tested positive for coronavirus, with a total of almost 2,000 football-related cases emerging from Test and Protect data on Wednesday, as Scotland continued to break its record for daily case numbers.

Public Health Scotland (PHS) analysis published on Wednesday revealed that 1,991 people who later tested positive had attended one or more Euro 2020 events during their infection period, a time when they “may have unknowingly transmitted their infection to others”.

Nearly two-thirds of cases reported travelling to London for a Euro 2020 event, including 397 people who were at Wembley for Scotland’s match against England.

cont  https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/jun/30/younger-male-euro-2020-fans-driving-covid-rise-in-scotland

[SteveH]

How to tell if your child is faking their school Covid test amid TikTok trend

Last week, education leaders warned parents of a “massively unhelpful” TikTok trend where teenagers were faking schools Covid tests.

A number of videos uploaded to the popular social media platform show British teenagers mixing various liquids to get a positive test.

Fizzy drinks and acidic fruits are known to have the potential to display a false positive result which has called into question how reliable tests can be.

Clips on TikTok show youngsters mixing various liquids including apple sauce, Coca Cola, vinegar and kiwi fruit to trigger a positive reaction in the test and get sent home from school.

Given this, you might expect that the acidic drinks would result in completely blank tests. But denatured proteins are sticky beasts. All of those perfectly evolved interactions that would normally hold the protein together are now orphaned and looking for something to bind to. So a likely explanation is that the immobilised antibodies at the T-line stick directly to the gold particles as they pass by, producing the notorious cola-induced false positive result.

Is there then a way to spot a fake positive test? The antibodies (like most proteins) are capable of refolding and regaining their function when they are returned to more favourable conditions. So I tried washing a test that had been dripped with cola with buffer solution, and sure enough the immobilised antibodies at the T-line regained normal function and released the gold particles, revealing the true negative result on the test.

full story  https://www.northwalespioneer.co.uk/news/19420543.tell-child-faking-school-covid-test-amid-tiktok-trend/

[SteveH]

MINISTERS have confirmed face coverings will continue to play an important role in helping keep us all safe from coronavirus in Wales.

In this, it is said that face coverings will continue to be required in certain settings - such as on public transport and in health and social care settings - while coronavirus remains a public health threat.

Active further consideration is being given to whether face coverings should also be required in other settings - such as retail - if restrictions are relaxed further.

Wales is currently at alert level one – and face coverings are mandatory in all indoor public places at alert level one and above.

They will also publish new plans setting out how Wales will move beyond alert level one to a new alert level zero, with fewer legal restrictions.

But Ministers today confirmed face coverings will continue to be required by law in some places while coronavirus remains a public health threat.

First Minister Mark Drakeford said: “We will need everyone’s help to keep coronavirus under control as we continue to respond to the pandemic – this virus has quite certainly not gone away.

“We know many people are still worried and anxious about going out. We will maintain the requirement to wear face coverings in certain places – on public transport and health and social care settings, and others where necessary – to help keep us all safe.”

Scientific evidence supports the use of face coverings, alongside other measures, as a way of reducing the transmission of the virus.

Health and social care settings can be high risk environments where sick patients and staff could be at increased risk of exposure to the virus

Health Minister Eluned Morgan added: “Wearing face masks is an effective way of reducing the transmission of coronavirus.

“We all have a duty to help to protect each other. Keeping everyone safe has been the Welsh Government’s priority through the pandemic and will continue to be the priority in future.

https://www.northwalespioneer.co.uk/news/19434495.welsh-government-look-ahead-new-alert-level-zero---say-face-masks-set-stay/

[Ian]

"this virus has quite certainly not gone away."

I hope people take note of that.

[SteveH]

Following on from the above posts, about stopping safety regulations, masks etc. and the comment "this virus has quite certainly not gone away." it seems the government are going to make another mistake, possibly equaling the non closure of our borders at the outset of the virus, and it now appears that 120 scientific experts disagree with the government's decision.

I do watch Dr John Campbell's You Tube videos and find some very good linked and referenced information, as is his latest video, discussing a letter to the Lancet medical journal from the above scientists.

Dr Campbell's video   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_DDqsqhrfE


Letter to the Lancet    " Mass infection is not an option: we must do more to protect our young"
                                 As the third wave of the pandemic takes hold across England, the UK Government plans to further re-open the nation. Implicit in this decision is the acceptance that infections will surge, but that this does not matter because vaccines have “broken the link between infection and mortality”.1 On July 19, 2021—branded as Freedom Day—almost all restrictions are set to end. We believe this decision is dangerous and premature.
cont   https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(21)01589-0/fulltext
                               


Scientist's Zoom meeting on You Tube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYTyi2pFXxk&t=346s       this video is summed up by the comment  " it should ideally have  been aired at 6.30pm on the BBC."

[Ian]

Worrying.

[andyCYD]

Please read this and then decide what we are protecting our young people from. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-57766717

[Ian]

From New Scientist:

"Information on the clinical outcomes for children who catch covid-19 is scarce. The good news is that it is usually asymptomatic or manifests as a short, mild illness. However, some children do seem to experience prolonged symptoms. It is unclear how common this is, and the WHO is working on a separate definition for long covid in young people.

As with adults, estimates of prevalence of long covid in children vary. For instance, results from an ongoing study of children in the US, Costa Rica, Canada and Spain suggest that 6 per cent of children who get covid-19 have ongoing symptoms, rising to about 10 per cent in children who are hospitalised.

A second study of 151 children in Melbourne, Australia, found that about 8 per cent had lingering symptoms, most commonly cough and fatigue, which lasted between three and eight weeks after the initial infection. At the most recent review in March 2021, all 151 children had recovered fully (The Lancet, doi.org/gj9p7b).

In research from the UK, about 4.4 per cent of a group of children who tested positive for covid-19 experienced symptoms more than 28 days later (medRxiv, doi.org/gjg8).

“The largest published studies worldwide suggest persisting symptoms three months later in approximately 5 per cent of children who have had covid,” says Terence Stephenson at UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health.

In the UK, the latest figures from the ONS say that as of 2 May, there were about 30,000 children between the ages of 2 and 16 living with long covid. Of these, around 14,000 felt their activity was limited a little, and 3000 said their activity was limited a lot."

There's still a lot we don't know or understand about Covid and 'Long Covid' is, as yet, poorly understood. But the evidence is growing that Teens may be more at risk of lengthy symptoms that was first thought.