Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

London put in emergency lockdown as U.K. fights new strain

bloomberg.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

261–270 of 448 posts

Re: London put in emergency lockdown as U.K. fights new strain

#261

Post by jbb67 »

rweir wrote: post #88
LatteLazy wrote: post #59

I live in London. The core issue here is that the government hasn't really taken any action. There are "rules" but they are full of loopholes and totally unenforced. 2 cases in particular stand out to me: Compliance with mask wearing on TFL is less than 50%. "Covid enforcement" officers walk around about one train in 50, and despite it being 8 months since this started, "I don't have one" is an acceptable answer to w…

> Compliance with mask wearing on TFL is less than 50% where? my counter-anecdote is I've taken to counting everyone on the carriage I'm on (between zone 2 and 1), and it's never more than 2-3 people without a mask, something like 90-95% compliance (seems down from a few months ago, though). in supermarkets it seems higher than that, to the extent I was quite weirded out to see a single person not wearing a mask last…

I agree. I would estimate about 90% both on the tube and supermarkets. Perhaps if varies by area somewhat?

Re: London put in emergency lockdown as U.K. fights new strain

#262

Post by LatteLazy »

andyjohnson0 wrote: post #255
LatteLazy wrote: post #59

I live in London. The core issue here is that the government hasn't really taken any action. There are "rules" but they are full of loopholes and totally unenforced. 2 cases in particular stand out to me: Compliance with mask wearing on TFL is less than 50%. "Covid enforcement" officers walk around about one train in 50, and despite it being 8 months since this started, "I don't have one" is an acceptable answer to w…

> Supermarkets continue to be rammed, but staff aren't required to wear masks. The wearing of masks by retail employees has been mandatory in England since 24th September [1]. Up here in Manchester I don't recall seeing any supermarket workers not wearing them. I can easily believe that conditions in London are different though. [1] https://www.retailgazette.co.uk/blog/2020/09/face-masks-made...

I'll take some pics next time. As I say, we have a huge enforcement gap here.

Re: London put in emergency lockdown as U.K. fights new strain

#263

Post by throwaway316943 »

dvfjsdhgfv wrote: post #32
Someone1234 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why "should" they be?

Well, if the "aim" of the virus (what is ours, btw?) is to replicate as much as possible, the best "strategy" would be to be highly contagious and remain dormant for as long as possible; fatality would be an obstacle rather than advantage. There is just one problem with this approach: as far as we can tell viruses aren't intelligent and they don't think. On the other hand, if you consider the possibility that viruses…

They don’t think and they don’t control their mutations but selection acts on them and “chooses” the strains that reproduce more. Pathogens become less deadly with subsequent generations because those strains which kill the host quickly limit their spread. It’s not impossible for them to become more deadly but it is unlikely due to the fitness cost.

Re: London put in emergency lockdown as U.K. fights new strain

#264

Post by spoonjim »

dboreham wrote: post #163
LatteLazy wrote: post #59

I live in London. The core issue here is that the government hasn't really taken any action. There are "rules" but they are full of loopholes and totally unenforced. 2 cases in particular stand out to me: Compliance with mask wearing on TFL is less than 50%. "Covid enforcement" officers walk around about one train in 50, and despite it being 8 months since this started, "I don't have one" is an acceptable answer to w…

Wow. Here in deepest Republican middle America mask wearing by _staff_ in supermarkets is universal. Customers around 90% if you count "nose-slingers" as non compliant. Pretty much nobody just swanning around with no mask these days. Costco has heavy mask enforcement -- they will hunt down and eject anyone with their nose out. Where masks are not worn here is in smaller family owned businesses. Some have notices requ…

Staff enforcement is much easier in the US since losing your job results in homelessness.

Re: London put in emergency lockdown as U.K. fights new strain

#265

Post by shash7 »

raarts wrote: post #229
stevesimmons wrote: post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your timing is out. Melbourne started their lockdown in winter. Everyone obeyed it. It was strongly enforced [1, 2]. They beat coronavirus. And now they can enjoy their summer. I live in London. At one point in the summer, our covid rates were lower than Melbourne's. But the UK's messaging was confused and contradictory ("eat out to help out", test and trace was shambolic, rules were not enforced). So no one is the l…

But numbers seem to be up again, this article is speaking of another lockdown: https://t.co/2S9b4HfUhg

For context, that's in another state and the number has rose from 0 > 35 so its still manageable. You can't even remotely compare that to UK.

Re: London put in emergency lockdown as U.K. fights new strain

#266

Post by hummusman »

MaulingMonkey wrote: post #259
dboreham wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow. Here in deepest Republican middle America mask wearing by _staff_ in supermarkets is universal. Customers around 90% if you count "nose-slingers" as non compliant. Pretty much nobody just swanning around with no mask these days. Costco has heavy mask enforcement -- they will hunt down and eject anyone with their nose out. Where masks are not worn here is in smaller family owned businesses. Some have notices requ…

Here in the liberal northwest, where we at least have a token amount of public transport, I see the bus signs alternating between their usual route number + description and "masks required". Haven't been on one to verify use by ridership, or to see what the driver's reaction to noncompliant riders is. The higher staff-to-rider ratio might help? Outdoor mask use is limited (50%?) but at least quite sparse and distant…

I don’t know where either of the London-based commenters go shopping but all staff are legally required to wear masks at shops in the U.K.

Re: London put in emergency lockdown as U.K. fights new strain

#267

Post by MaulingMonkey »

smcl wrote: post #242
curiousllama wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"nose slingers"

That’s a nice phrase. In my group we called it “dick-nosing” - iirc it came about due to: 1) you wouldn’t (shouldn’t?) go around with your dick hanging out of your trousers, so why would you do the same with your nose and your mask 2) you’re a dick if you do this

A decent amount of it is unintentional I suspect. Subconcious fiddling, poor feeling / awareness of slipping masks... a gentle reminder that "your mask has slipped a bit" can do wonders.

Re: London put in emergency lockdown as U.K. fights new strain

#268

Post by twic »

pmoriarty wrote: post #9

As has been pointed out in an earlier article about the "new strain"[1]: "Let's not be hysterical. It doesn't mean it's more transmissible or more infectious or dangerous." That there are new strains of COVID-19 has been covered over, and over, and over, and over again on the This Week in Virology podcast[2] (which usually has 4 to 6 virologists on it every week discussing COVID-19 news), and they've always had the s…

We should acknowledge that this new strain is different [1] in some ways:

> The B.1.1.7 lineage carries a larger than usual number of virus genetic changes. The accrual of 14 lineage-specific amino acid replacements prior to its detection is, to date, unprecedented in the global virus genomic data for the COVID-19 pandemic. Most branches in the global phylogenetic tree of SARS-CoV-2 show no more than a few mutations and mutations accumulate at a relatively consistent rate over time.

It's certainly still not proven that it's definitely more infectious than the other strains. But it's a bit of a stretch to infer from previous experience here, given the quantitative difference.

[1] https://virological.org/t/preliminary-genomic-characterisati...

Re: London put in emergency lockdown as U.K. fights new strain

#270

Post by mainstreemm »

spoonjim wrote: post #264
dboreham wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow. Here in deepest Republican middle America mask wearing by _staff_ in supermarkets is universal. Customers around 90% if you count "nose-slingers" as non compliant. Pretty much nobody just swanning around with no mask these days. Costco has heavy mask enforcement -- they will hunt down and eject anyone with their nose out. Where masks are not worn here is in smaller family owned businesses. Some have notices requ…

Staff enforcement is much easier in the US since losing your job results in homelessness.

This is a common meme but it isn't really true, there are safety nets, though fewer than other countries. A lot of chronic homeless in the US have mental illnesses and don't trust authorities enough to accept the help that is available, and involuntary commitment of these people is considered beyond the Overton Window.

And the places with the biggest safety nets at the state level in the US, like California, Oregon, Illinois, and New York, also have the largest homeless problems. Figure that out.

Post reply on HN