It Would Never Work Here

[KARL]

Something tells me the Icelanders are being modest. Based on the population comparison, the UK would need to boldly build up an approximately 32,000 strong tracing team within a very few weeks and get the co-operation of the public to help with its work. Which is easier, for one person to find a lost needle in a given area or 100 people to search for 100 lost needles in 100 times the area ? An immediate recognition would need to without the slightest hesitation acknowledge that whatever it costs is worth it. Or is it really easier for 100 people to build and pay for a house than for 10,000 people to build and pay for 100 houses ? I am unconvinced of the benefit of being a small group unless the smaller one is significantly better organised and more imaginative/determined than the larger one. On the other hand, being truly united in purpose will be a distinct advantage as will having a certain preparedness at different levels (physically and culturally). And there we have some reasons why not......

https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-test-trace-isolate-iceland-pm-says-strict-strategy-has-controlled-outbreak-11979125

[Zacs-Master]

It is, as I’ve said before, stupid that flights are still coming and going without quarantine measures. I can only assume that this is a classic case of business before lives.

[brainiac]

How about closing our borders to non-British citizens - that might help.

[fiction-factory]

Are they not cargo flights Gromit? How do you know they are not relief flights?
Anyway, the point is the same. All those countries are now in a better place on the curve than us. I don't really care but I just think people are looking in the wrong place.

[fiction-factory]

How would quarantine work and what would it achieve and why is it any more necessary than, as Simon Calder says, quarantining people on our high streets. Just curious because the WHO and our scientists think the same

[Theland]

Ignored more and more as NJ says is better than riots which I fear will happen as in France and Germany.
Our media seem to keep a lid on rioting stories.

[ToraToraTora]

you wont have to have the app or a phone but your movements will be very limited if you cannot show a green.

[Zacs-Master]

You're simply risking introducing a new pocket of the virus, ff. Don’t forget this all started in China. The worldwide spread has been largely by humans travelling.

[Zacs-Master]

Peoples movements are very limited anyway, Tora.

[fiction-factory]

So what would you do Zacs?
And why are WHO and scientists not in favour of action?

[dannyk13]

https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/coronavirus-flights-ferries-tests-heathrow-airport-a9484616.html

[Zacs-Master]

It’s a tough one. Business has to keep going on some level. I think WHO scientists are probably also aware of this, or have been made aware via governments’ pressuring.

[diddlydo]

I don't have a smart phone either and have no intention of getting one.

[Zacs-Master]

But I certainly wouldn’t be letting BRitish nationals back into the country who normally live abroad just to be close to relatives. Which I believe is happening on some level.

[ToraToraTora]

they are now ZM, but the lockdown will not last much longer more and more will ignore it. We need to move to TTI soon and an app will be a very efficient way of doing it. They are using it in Wuhan and I think deployment of our own version is on the cards. So going forward, I suspect they'll introduce entry systems for public places etc using a QR code. No green, no entry.

[bhg481]

I wonder what would be the reaction at the next general election if the government introduced a policy such that only people who were rich enough to afford a smartphone were to be allowed in certain areas. There are certainly some newspapers who would word it like that.

[Zacs-Master]

What would ‘a green’ be based on, Tora?

[fiction-factory]

I agree with that, Zacs, and I suspect that's happening- I saw of one family group of about 25 coming from Pakistan.
I don't mind if we stick passengers in quarantine on arrival or make them take tests a week before they fly, then on the day, but I just think it's all a bit of red herring and something people get worked up about when there are much bigger issues with people crammed on tubes or not following social distancing here.

[ToraToraTora]

bhg: "I wonder what would be the reaction at the next general election if the government introduced a policy such that only people who were rich enough to afford a smartphone were to be allowed in certain areas. " - you can get a galaxy ace for £30! Hardly need to be "rich"!
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-3G-Samsung-Galaxy-Ace-GT-S5830-Unlocked-Android-Basic-Cheap-Smart-Phone-UK/133221825410?hash=item1f04a3bb82:m:moFQYQAM8jn0xtn_gzGZvIg

[Zacs-Master]

ff, the overcrowded tubes connect directly with LHR.

[ToraToraTora]

ZM: the whole system is based on proximity. The propagation of RAG among smart phones is itself exponential viral behaviour.