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Covid: New lockdown for England as cases surge

bbc.co.uk

21–30 of 231 posts

Re: Covid: New lockdown for England as cases surge

#21
post #8

Woohoo - more inconsistent and unscientific policies! * Restaurants can continue to offer delivery for food, but takeaway alcohol will be banned __ So alcohol spreads COVID? Good thing restaurants don't count on alcohol sales to stay afloat. * Amateur team sports are not allowed, but elite sport such as Premier League football can continue __ 'Elite' athletes, as is the case for the rest of the 'elites', should not h…

> * Restaurants can continue to offer delivery for food, but takeaway alcohol will be banned Is restaurant takeaway alcohol even a thing in normal times in the UK? In CA at least, the state temporarily removed the normal restriction on takeaway alcohol in order to help restaurants during lockdowns.

Not sure if it’s really that common, but it’s a staple of Friday evenings at City firms if you have to stay late.

You order a meal via the corporate Deliveroo/Seamless etc., to the firm-paid limit and immediately call the restaurant and ask for beer of the same value to be delivered instead.

Re: Covid: New lockdown for England as cases surge

#22

Woohoo - more inconsistent and unscientific policies! * Restaurants can continue to offer delivery for food, but takeaway alcohol will be banned __ So alcohol spreads COVID? Good thing restaurants don't count on alcohol sales to stay afloat. * Amateur team sports are not allowed, but elite sport such as Premier League football can continue __ 'Elite' athletes, as is the case for the rest of the 'elites', should not h…

> So alcohol spreads COVID?

This always gets me. Isn’t it obvious that alcohol consumption is a social activity? Not all of it, but to a large degree. Limiting the consumption seems logical. Of course, you can’t assess the impact of individual measures at the moment, as you need a controlled experiment and proper statistics. But is this measure really something to be that upset about?

Re: Covid: New lockdown for England as cases surge

#23

Woohoo - more inconsistent and unscientific policies! * Restaurants can continue to offer delivery for food, but takeaway alcohol will be banned __ So alcohol spreads COVID? Good thing restaurants don't count on alcohol sales to stay afloat. * Amateur team sports are not allowed, but elite sport such as Premier League football can continue __ 'Elite' athletes, as is the case for the rest of the 'elites', should not h…

I agree with you on the football thing, although the players will be getting regular tests, and the sport generates a tonne of cash. The rest of it make sense to me. Your example of golf: the sport includes the whole social aspect (the golf club rooms etc). Remember they have to keep the rules simple. Also allowing people to order alcohol to be delivered within the hour probably isn't the smartest!

You can still buy alcohol in stores; by take-away this means in a ready-to-drink fashion.

Alcohol delivery to a house is fine unless you're assuming people are still having parties.

Re: Covid: New lockdown for England as cases surge

#24

Woohoo - more inconsistent and unscientific policies! * Restaurants can continue to offer delivery for food, but takeaway alcohol will be banned __ So alcohol spreads COVID? Good thing restaurants don't count on alcohol sales to stay afloat. * Amateur team sports are not allowed, but elite sport such as Premier League football can continue __ 'Elite' athletes, as is the case for the rest of the 'elites', should not h…

I agree with you on the football thing, although the players will be getting regular tests, and the sport generates a tonne of cash. The rest of it make sense to me. Your example of golf: the sport includes the whole social aspect (the golf club rooms etc). Remember they have to keep the rules simple. Also allowing people to order alcohol to be delivered within the hour probably isn't the smartest!

[deleted]

Re: Covid: New lockdown for England as cases surge

#25

In the UK, 95% of the deaths are people over 60. There are more deaths for people over 90 than under 70. When are we going to start putting all these efforts and resources into focusing on the vulnerable populations and not painting with a broad brush. We know that lockdowns are too blunt an instrument which is why most of Europe is having to engage in ever more draconian measures. We are mortgaging our future here,…

“nobody is asking the hard questions.”

Maybe they have asked these questions and concluded that this is the best path? Seems most countries are following similar paths.

Re: Covid: New lockdown for England as cases surge

#26

Everything seems so last minute and ad hoc with this Conservative government. Their announcement of another level 5 lockdown (which hadn't existed until today) and the u-turn on school closures makes it clear they are simply making things up as they go along. The goverment's level of incompetence is simply off the scale. How has this nasty, rotten government gotten away with some much? (No doubt helped by our nasty r…

How would it work otherwise? The lockdowns are announced when they happen. What's the alternative? Announcing them weeks before they go into force? Then people would be up in arms the nasty Tory government are delaying the lockdowns.

They are "making things up as they go along" or as it's more charitably known, reacting to events.

Re: Covid: New lockdown for England as cases surge

#27
Hopefully the two vaccines currently being rolled out in the U.S. and Europe will largely eliminate the need for future lockdowns.

Once the most vulnerable populations are immune, it's just a matter of weeks or months before herd immunity among the general population is achieved and life can pretty much go back to normal.

Re: Covid: New lockdown for England as cases surge

#28

In the UK, 95% of the deaths are people over 60. There are more deaths for people over 90 than under 70. When are we going to start putting all these efforts and resources into focusing on the vulnerable populations and not painting with a broad brush. We know that lockdowns are too blunt an instrument which is why most of Europe is having to engage in ever more draconian measures. We are mortgaging our future here,…

Hospitals are quickly filling up, young people need hospitals as much as anyone. What's your suggestion, allow elderly covid patients to die at home?

Re: Covid: New lockdown for England as cases surge

#29
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with you on the football thing, although the players will be getting regular tests, and the sport generates a tonne of cash. The rest of it make sense to me. Your example of golf: the sport includes the whole social aspect (the golf club rooms etc). Remember they have to keep the rules simple. Also allowing people to order alcohol to be delivered within the hour probably isn't the smartest!

>The rest of it make sense to me. Your example of golf: the sport includes the whole social aspect (the golf club rooms etc). Remember they have to keep the rules simple. closing the clubhouse is hard?

So now the rule is:

"Golf clubs can open but the club house have to stay shut"

Then you have to think of all the other sports and possible places people can gather and make rules about those too. My point was that the rules have to be simple otherwise people won't read them.

Re: Covid: New lockdown for England as cases surge

#30
post #3

One of the things that irritates me most is that Boris portrays the variant as a kind random piece of bad luck. Don't know much about genetics, but I guess such a variant becomes more likely when there are many infections (more of the virus to mutate), and the strategy has consistently been to run things "hot" and tolerate high case counts.

> Boris portrays the variant as a kind random piece of bad luck

It’d be hilarious if UK blamed China for engineering the virus in the lab at the same time. Or they do?

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