Use Your Common Sense...

[SueEllen]

Apparently the government can't be bothered to tell people including the local directors of public health so we have to rely on journalists to notice.

The journalist, Ethan Davies, that noticed was from the Manchester Evening News.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-57232728


Government advice has emerged urging people not to travel into and out of areas hardest hit by the Indian coronavirus variant, unless necessary.



The guidance for Kirklees, Bedford, Burnley, Leicester, Hounslow and North Tyneside says people in these areas should try to avoid meeting indoors.



The advice was published online on Friday without an announcement and urges "an extra cautious approach".



A Downing Street source denied it was a local lockdown by stealth.



Advice against travelling to Bolton in Greater Manchester and nearby Blackburn with Darwen, other than for essential reasons, and for people there to meet outside where possible, was issued on 14 May.



Bolton recorded 451 overall cases per 100,000 people in the week to 20 May, the highest in England.



Some of the affected local authorities said they were not consulted about the new advice, with North Tyneside Council saying officials did not know about it until Monday.



Blackburn with Darwen's director of public health Dominic Harrison said the affected areas "were not consulted with, warned of, notified about, or alerted to this guidance".



But the Downing Street source told the BBC all the areas were told about the advice.



The guidance, published on a page titled "what you can and cannot do", advises people in the eight areas of England to:

• Meet outside rather than inside where possible
• Keep two metres apart from people who you do not live with (unless you have formed a support bubble with them), this includes friends and family you don't live with
• Avoid travelling in and out of affected areas unless it is essential, for example for work (if you cannot work from home) or education

Work and Pensions Secretary Thérèse Coffey told BBC Radio 4's Today programme the advice was "just about sensible extra caution and [trying] to get a grip locally with tackling the spread".

[ladymuck]

You'd hope that people in areas with a dodgy variant outbreak were already behaving sensibly but the government have taken over so much of our day to day lives with their regulations, guidelines and other moral edicts that the general public are no longer able to think and act for themselves.

It's a sign of the sorry state of this country that make it unfortunately necessary for HMG to issue these guidelines because general common sense exited stage left sometime last year.

[vetran]

You'd hope that people in areas with a dodgy variant outbreak were already behaving sensibly but the government have taken over so much of our day to day lives with their regulations, guidelines and other moral edicts that the general public are no longer able to think and act for themselves.

It's a sign of the sorry state of this country that make it unfortunately necessary for HMG to issue these guidelines because general common sense exited stage left sometime last year.

People are also desperate or terminally stupid.

Many people were found to not being isolating because they couldn't afford the loss of wages.
Many don't believe it will infect them.
etc.

[OwlHoot]

It's the Government's fault for pussy-footing around and delaying stopping flights from India by at least two weeks after they should have.

Boris was so keen to clinch his trade deal with India, and sell them more arms, and let hordes of IT guys travel here to undercut us!

IMHO they're fast losing any credit they gained, probably more by luck than judgement, for the rapid acquisition and rollout of vaccines.

Makes you wonder what the situation will be like this winter once the virus kicks off again. We'll probably be back in lockdown for weeks.

[mallisarealperson]

Could be worse.

Might have Gove in charge, with cummins as his helper.

[northernladuk]

I'm not racist but aren't they mainly areas with large ethnic communities? Exactly the same regions got mentioned last time there was a spike as well. I'd take a guess a few more like Oldham and others will slowly emerge.

I do wish the gov or someone would target these areas to find out exactly why it's the same regions that keep spiking and kick off some extra action around educating and vaccinations in these areas. If that doesn't work then a tougher approach is needed. It's the same ones every time and I would be willing to bet even once the vast majority of people who want to be vaccinated have been the same areas will still continue to run high figures when we are BAU.

[LondonManc]

I'm not racist but aren't they mainly areas with large ethnic communities? Exactly the same regions got mentioned last time there was a spike as well. I'd take a guess a few more like Oldham and others will slowly emerge.

I do wish the gov or someone would target these areas to find out exactly why it's the same regions that keep spiking and kick off some extra action around educating and vaccinations in these areas. If that doesn't work then a tougher approach is needed. It's the same ones every time and I would be willing to bet even once the vast majority of people who want to be vaccinated have been the same areas will still continue to run high figures when we are BAU.

Take that approach and they'll get accused of racism.

[OwlHoot]

I'm not racist but aren't they mainly areas with large ethnic communities?

Oh, you noticed. Well done

I do wish the gov or someone would target these areas to find out exactly why it's the same regions that keep spiking ..

<racist comment snip>

The only solution is to hit them where it hurts, in their pockets, by localised strict lockdowns.

[SueEllen]

I'm not racist but aren't they mainly areas with large ethnic communities? Exactly the same regions got mentioned last time there was a spike as well. I'd take a guess a few more like Oldham and others will slowly emerge.

Hounslow wasn't mentioned last time. It was an area in North West London/Herefordshire where the main ethnic minority community is different.

I do wish the gov or someone would target these areas to find out exactly why it's the same regions that keep spiking and kick off some extra action around educating and vaccinations in these areas. If that doesn't work then a tougher approach is needed. It's the same ones every time and I would be willing to bet even once the vast majority of people who want to be vaccinated have been the same areas will still continue to run high figures when we are BAU.

The local authority, public health and health officials know what the specific problems are in their area but the government won't listen.

[hairymouse]

Hounslow is certainly an area with large ethnic communities. I think the reason for the spread is that ethnic communities tend to live in smaller places with lots of people in big families. And those spread the virus well.