Covid-19: Boris Johnson announces four-week England lockdown

[T_i_B]

Source: BBC

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced a second national lockdown for England as the UK passed one million Covid-19 cases.

He said the steps were necessary to avoid the "medical and moral disaster" of the NHS being overwhelmed.

Non-essential shops and hospitality will have to close for four weeks on Thursday, he said. But unlike the restrictions in spring, schools, colleges and universities will be allowed to stay open.

After 2 December, the restrictions would be eased and regions would go back to the tiered system, he said.

Read more: Covid-19: PM announces four-week England lockdown

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Necessary measures, but the manner with which they have been brought in has been abysmal. Leaked to the press extensively, causing the announcement to be brought forward and then Johnson was an hour and a half late for his press conference. And he isn't a good speaker to put it mildly.

[bucolic_frolic]

1. Yeah, Boris, lockdown your hair first /nt

[Luciferous]

9. 😂

[progree]

2. Here's the link 😊

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-54763956

[BigmanPigman]

3. I know they knew it was coming, especially after France and Germany

did it already. Belium will be lockdowned Sunday night and I expect Italy to come next.

[flibbitygiblets]

4. How is this going to help with schools still open? Do they at least have testing and masks?

Unlike the free-for-all we have going on here in the states?

[muriel_volestrangler]

7. Schools are typically using masks in connecting areas, but not in classrooms

Nationwide, the government is not recommending face coverings are necessary in education settings generally because a system of controls, applicable to all education environments, provides additional mitigating measures. Schools and colleges will have the discretion to require face coverings in indoor communal areas where social distancing cannot be safely managed, if they believe that it is right in their particular circumstances.

Examples of where education leaders might decide to recommend the wearing of face coverings - for pupils, staff and visitors - in communal areas of the education setting include:

where the layout of the school or college estate makes it particularly difficult to maintain social distancing when staff and pupils are moving around the premises

where on top of hygiene measures and the system of controls recommended in the full opening guidance to schools and FE colleges and providers, permitting the use of face coverings for staff, pupils or other visitors would provide additional confidence to parents to support a full return of children to school or college
...
On the basis of current evidence, in light of the mitigating measures education settings are taking, and the negative impact on communication, face coverings will not generally be necessary in the classroom even where social distancing is not possible. There is greater use of the system of controls for minimising risk, including through keeping in small and consistent groups or bubbles, and greater scope for physical distancing by staff within classrooms. Face coverings can have a negative impact on learning and teaching and so their use in the classroom should be avoided.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/face-coverings-in-education/face-coverings-in-education

And this means the infection rate is highest in the school age groups:

https://www.ons.gov.uk/visualisations/dvc1037/age/index.html
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/conditionsanddiseases/bulletins/coronaviruscovid19infectionsurveypilot/30october2020#age-analysis-of-the-number-of-people-in-england-who-had-covid-19

At 23rd Oct:
age 2-school year 6: 1.0%
school years 7-11: 2.0%
school year 12-age 24: 2.3%
25-34: 1.3%
35-49: 0.8%
50-69: 0.8%
70+: 0.5%

Testing is a national joke: a search for "Dido Harding", the Tory loyalist in charge, will turn up plenty of jokes and criticism, but very little achievement.

[T_i_B]

8. A major thing holding our government back is cronyism

Dido Harding is the poster girl for this. She may have a terrible track record (I'm still boycotting Talk Talk broadband from her time running that firm) but she is incredibly well connected and married to a Conservative MP. Which means she gets big government jobs such as running Test & Trace in spite of her total unsuitability for those roles.

[progree]

5. It's really getting bad in Europe

Some selected large European countries, plus Belgium and Netherlands because so high and close to France and UK
Also, U.S.A.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/world/coronavirus-maps.html

Daily new cases, per 100,000 people, 7 day moving average
131 Belgium
62   France
57   Netherlands
43   Spain
38   Italy
34   UK
24   U.S.A.
14   Germany

Some object to comparing countries this way, because of different rates of testing and different positivity rates, and one of these countries is led by a corrupt delusional evil madman and will be for 2 2/3 more months, but it's a starting point. It is what it is. If there is a website that tries to adjust a list like above for these factors, please let me know.

[DeminPennswoods]

6. Lockdowns are only a temporary solution

As soon as things open back up, cases are going to come back.