Coronavirus - how is it/has it affected you?

France and Ireland have now banned any lorries from entering there countries due to the new Covid strain. Bottom line they have isolated us. I totally understand. What I don’t understand is why we did not isolate ourselves as an island from the very beginning.

I'd like to think that is purely Covid related but the realist in me thinks that it is as much, if not more related to current negotiations than to disease prevention.
 
France and Ireland have now banned any lorries from entering there countries due to the new Covid strain. Bottom line they have isolated us. I totally understand. What I don’t understand is why we did not isolate ourselves as an island from the very beginning.
By all accounts this strain has been in the UK since September. If Europe thinks it isn't rife over there then they are kidding themselves. They are either keeping quiet or not testing for it. 3 months of unchecked travel? It must have spread already.
 
By all accounts this strain has been in the UK since September. If Europe thinks it isn't rife over there then they are kidding themselves. They are either keeping quiet or not testing for it. 3 months of unchecked travel? It must have spread already.

Can't blame them though. If we are going to go on TV and say how quick the new one spreads and how it's been past week etc you can't blame everyone from shutting borders until they can get more information

Ironically what should have happened to start with rather than wishy washy allow planes in all time
 
Can't blame them though. If we are going to go on TV and say how quick the new one spreads and how it's been past week etc you can't blame everyone from shutting borders until they can get more information

Agree. Cannot understand how you can announce a new strain that spreads quicker etc etc and then be surprised with other countries reactions.

It appears to me that this was an ill thought out announcement designed to scare the population into compliance whilst giving an excuse to cancel Christmas that has now backfired spectacularly with these unintended consequences.
 
Can't blame them though. If we are going to go on TV and say how quick the new one spreads and how it's been past week etc you can't blame everyone from shutting borders until they can get more information

Ironically what should have happened to start with rather than wishy washy allow planes in all time
I agree but there is no way we are on our own with this. I think road2ruins post above is bang on as well.
 
I'd like to think that is purely Covid related but the realist in me thinks that it is as much, if not more related to current negotiations than to disease prevention.

It is entirely rational and precisely what any responsible Govt would do. Interesting that all these countries are able to act based on their own decisions. It is almost like they have sovereignty and control over their own laws. Oh, the irony.
 
Once the EU borders are fully shut and so lorries etc in and out of the UK are stopped what happens to the food supply chain. Will be back to shelves stripped and panic buying by the new year

They need to work out logistics with the EU

ATM we are accepting lorries in but they might refuse to come as can't get back so need to get it acceptable for food lorries to go back

Talks about using hs1 services to run food supplies into England and then empty back to France etc
 

Viral load is one possible explanation for greater transmissibility. There is also some discussion that the new strain attaches more avidly to ACE-2 receptors which are responsible for initial entry to the body. Both effects may occur at the same time.

Either way, greater transmissibility will obviously cause this strain to dominate. London and the SE today, the rest of the the country soon enough.
 
The world is too mobile for this to keep contained. Britain is an island and had peak conditions to exclude it, but once you let the 1st boat or plane in ...
I can’t remember who it was, but someone on this forum lives on a warm island that went for full lockdown and they kept it very much out.
And if they never ever want a tourist then they could keep it out.

I think it was always about buying time for a vaccine, we are nearly there now. That’s my hope, at least.

Didn't manage to keep it out here in Mauritius with 500 cases and 10 deaths; but you're right the ability for it to spread was cut off with a strong medical curfew that was put in place very quickly
At the time it was pretty brutal and i remember reading posts on here and other articles most days that seemed like it was being treated in the uk like a long summer holiday at home (not in anyway to belittle the efforts from those that self-imposed a stricter lockdown on themselves, lost jobs or work in key sectors)

it took just 40 days to stop the spread, identify every person infected and get cases down to zero, then another month of continued curfew 'just to be sure there was no more and prepare for our 'release'
But in those days there was no leaving home without a permit, no food shopping unless it was your designated one per household alphabetised allocated day, no large scale online shopping services to help, no outdoor exercise, no dog walking, no travel to work outside essential services personnel... just stay indoors 24 hours a day & call if you get sick

Mask use is well down on its peak period but still a daily thing even now and certainly a 'self-exemption' from wearing one would not be tolerated here, a mask was required as soon as you left home.
Just yesterday when I went to the shops the door security guard refused access to one of the family behind me for not wearing a mask... with zero covid cases in the community! No fuss, just told, no entry, go away

But we do desperately need tourists to return, the island is ready, the weather is great, the people are covid free... but as it stands any flights coming in from anywhere will undoubtedly bring it back
 
Agree. Cannot understand how you can announce a new strain that spreads quicker etc etc and then be surprised with other countries reactions.

It appears to me that this was an ill thought out announcement designed to scare the population into compliance whilst giving an excuse to cancel Christmas that has now backfired spectacularly with these unintended consequences.

Do you think it was so much the "announcement" , or more the report to WHO ,which is certainly a moral requirement, maybe even a legal one.?

So WHO informs the rest of the world, officially, and so they are acting as they are.
The absence of the announcements you are saying were ill thought out would not have changed nor prevented these actions., I think.

And then when these countries acted as they have, Hancock gets hammered for not telling us, the population?
 
It is entirely rational and precisely what any responsible Govt would do. Interesting that all these countries are able to act based on their own decisions. It is almost like they have sovereignty and control over their own laws. Oh, the irony.

Then why not put it in for a month like Bulgaria has, rather than 48 hours; a month's ban could always be lifted or modified later if the information changes; in real terms, what difference will 48 hours make to preventing the spread? A 48 hour ban at this point smacks of something other than a rational decision based purely on preventing the spread of the disease.
 
Then why not put it in for a month like Bulgaria has, rather than 48 hours; a month's ban could always be lifted or modified later if the information changes; in real terms, what difference will 48 hours make to preventing the spread? A 48 hour ban at this point smacks of something other than a rational decision based purely on preventing the spread of the disease.

They are considering the data, just like Johnson said NERVTAG and SAGE did, and presumably will announce further measures. I would be surprised if they did not extend them indefinitely. The fact they made it short should be welcomed as being flexible and appropriate, especially with you-know-what looming.
 
Once the EU borders are fully shut and so lorries etc in and out of the UK are stopped what happens to the food supply chain. Will be back to shelves stripped and panic buying by the new year
Over 60% of the RoRo comes across via container and are picked up by drivers both sides of the channel and are still being carried across the channel.
 
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