Safe Distancing? Only When It Suits!

[needawin]

I am not allowed to sit on a park bench alone in the sun due to safe distancing regulations.
120 people sat on a plane with no vacant seats yesterday on a flight to London.
What a shambles!

[jno]

had they been tested before flying?

[fiction-factory]

So what do you suggest? People can still stand on a packed tube or get in a taxi- not ideal but can be unavoidable

[fiction-factory]

Testing before flying would have to be done several days beforehand to allow time for test results to come through.
Given that people keep repeating that 15000 people a day are flying in to UK (I'm not convinced but many are) I'm wondering why Matt Hancock hasn't put a testing station at the airports and insisted that everyone be tested on landing. If nothing else it would be easy to do and would boost his testing numbers significantly

[fiction-factory]

The reasons you are not allowed to sit on a bench are that it's not an essential activity and you could contaminate the bench

[teacake44]

needawin, you have to understand the police have very little to do at the moment, so someone sitting on a bench alone is an easy target. :0)

[naomi24]

FF, if as you say test results take several days to come through, where do you suggest we isolate those tested on arrival here whilst they await the results?

[Canary42]

That's even more outrageous than Piers Morgan being rated an essential worker.

[jno]

I had a little giggle at that too, Canary.

[fiction-factory]

I don't.
It's the same with people tested here who have symptoms- they self isolate until results come through.
Quarantining may be introduced though partly to close off the constant discussions about people flying in untested.
But my main point was it would (a) boost the testing numbers and (b) stop people asking why nothing is being done about people flying in. WIN WIN

[Zacs-Master]

‘FF, if as you say test results take several days to come through, where do you suggest we isolate those tested on arrival here whilst they await the results?’

The London excell and Harrogate Nightingale facilities?

As people can have it without symptoms and therefore spread it, the only solution would be to quarantine every person coming into the country.

[fiction-factory]

And for the same reason we should quarantine everyone already here who is found to be breaking lockdown rules/social distancing.

[tiggerblue10]

Wouldn't you need to quarantine those travelling in for at least 7 days? They may not have symptoms when travelling but incubation period is anything up to 14 days. Would they also be tested before boarding a flight?

[Zacs-Master]

Frightening:
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-health-coronavirus-britain/uk-covid-19-death-toll-rises-above-30000-highest-in-europe-data-idUKKBN22H0X5?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=twitter

[fiction-factory]

Yes, although our population is 10% bigger than Italy's and around 30% more than Spain's, but given that they are ahead of us in the cycle ours don't compare well.

[tiggerblue10]

There are also countries that have not counted all settings so figures may be underestimated.

[fiction-factory]

If people here are complaining about not being able to sit on benches or sunbathe on beaches then I doubt the stricter measure adopted in Italy and Spain would have been accepted here- eg children not being allowed out of the house, people not allowed out to exercise

[fiction-factory]

Only the excess mortality data will eventually show the international comparisons, but even those won't tell us how ell each country dealt with it- some places like London and New York are international hubs and always more likely to have more cases than say Iceland or Ireland

[tiggerblue10]

Population and density.....

[drmorgans]

The way each country has treated care homes - housing the most vulnerable people with complex health issues - seems likely to be a critical factor. As I understanding it, UK hospitals were discharging patients into care homes without testing for coronavirus.

[Theland]

They could have sat on the wings.