What can we expect from tomorrow's announcement?

MOnica,
You obviously know a great deal more about this situation than I do but I think you are being grossly unfair to a Govenment which is trying to deal with a problem that none of us could have imagined would ever happen.
I doubt if the Labour Party for all their complaining could do better

Had everyone abided by the rules laid down, we would not be in this situation.

I also think that this increase is obviously due to the return of students to University..
Liverpool and Manchester for example have more than one University.

I went with my husband to our local hospital for an outpatients appointment.
A woman two seats away from me wasn't wearing a mask.
I asked the receptionist why this was so and she said that maybe she was exempt.
Maybe?
I must have given her a look because she then went and asked the woman.
She wasn't .
She then put a mask on.

Question.
Surely people who are exempt could still pass on the virus so hard as it sounds surely if you are unable to wear a mask you should not be within 2metres from anybody.

JenniferEccles Universities are frequently mentioned but of course we have plenty here in the south so that can’t be the whole story.
Of course you have but not such concentrated numbers of students. London is the only comparable Southern city. Manchester, Newcastle, Liverpool all have between 40,000 and 50,000 students Sheffield and Leeds around 40000. As I have said within a couple of weeks of their arrival in Newcastle over 1000 students had tested as positive.

Link to national map - pull in to see your area. www.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=47574f7a6e454dc6a42c5f6912ed7076

Up north is a bit sweeping - Exeter is Very bad - students. I think it is 'everything' at the moment. People are tired of caution, spacing in small houses on terraced streets with close families is hard, cold weather is better for viruses and worse for humans - etc. Do think that turning to alcohol is the worst thing we could do. In hindsight alcohol licences should have been suspended early on. Then businesses would have had to adapt to other beverages or closure. But hindsight is a fine thing.

I know of people who call themselves "careful" but they're not, even when they are over 70 and diabetic or with other health problems. They go out and about, they don't follow the rules properly, they don't wear masks (or wear them incorrectly), they say they have a "bubble" but it seems that all their friends and family are in it!

Multiply this across the country .........

JenniferEccles Quoe: Universities are frequently mentioned but of course we have plenty here in the south so that can’t be the whole story. - I have to disagree.

Exeter! The numbers in Exeter leapt up to 438 per 100,000 residents for the week to 6 October, up 358 from the week before. They will be having restrictions. Most of the cases are students. Exeter now has the seventh-highest infection rate in England.

While the number of cases rose by 576 in Exeter in the last week, nearby Plymouth - which also has similar student population - only saw 107. Plymouth's students are mainly local to the South West. Students at Exeter come from around the UK and overseas.

Could people stop taking it personally when I say Northerners- I am one you know- just because you are isolating etc doesn't mean everyone is. You only have to look around or visit a popular area to see what is going on. No masks, no social distancing. How on earth can you imagine if you won't wear a mask in a shop you will follow the other rules? And yes I know some people have medical reasons but not everyone has.

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

To be honest I have seen very little breaching of the rules- we live in a town in Surrey. We went out to dinner with friends last week & everyone in the restaurant came in wearing a mask & left with one on. The tables were well apart & the serving staff had those full face plastic shields. I have just got back from Sainsbury's & everyone there were masked from the car park on.
A lot of people wear their masks out in the street- I don't as not only am I claustrophobic but it steams my glasses up - I walk well away from other people too.
Funnily enough if I do see someone not wearing a mask when it would be appropriate it is always an elderly person- the younger ones are very savvy.

Regarding the large difference in numbers of infections in the north compared with the south I am sure several factors are involved.

Universities are frequently mentioned but of course we have plenty here in the south so that can’t be the whole story.

I think the many multigenerational households up north are a significant factor, along with higher levels of deprivation and overcrowded housing generally, although as GG13 pointed out, Jaywick in Essex is often cited as the poorest place to live. It is however quite small.

I think the government is right in targeting the hardest hit areas for the strictest restrictions although I realise how difficult it must be for those living in those areas.

Let’s hope something comes of the latest research into the BCG vaccine.

I have a lot of neices and nephews in 20 to 30 age group and Im amazed at how they justify so things.
Like I can come to yours/grannies etc as I havent been near anyone testing positive ( I`m over 65, granny over 80). They have been to the school with their kids, been to work, the supermarket etc.
So I think the idea that they can be infectious without being ill is lost on them.

M0nica, that's not quite true. Whilst Leicester admittedly was the first city to have stricter measures introduced, Nottingham consistently had one of the lowest infection rates until the University students returned.

I'm afraid the government are damned if they do and damned if they don't at the moment . One thing is for sure is what they are doing isn't working at the moment . Covid cases are on the rise as well as death . They are not going to please everyone but they need to come down harder to stop the spread of the virus .

Roni

Is the PM going to include or exclude Dominic Cummings from these rules ?

I can’t think why you thought it necessary to ask the question.

It's even dafter up here. Pubs and restaurants in the central belt are closed. Cafes can open until 6 but, until a hurried change, licenced cafes couldn't open. Now they can as long as they dont sell alcohol. Restaurants aren't allowed to pretend they are cafes by just not serving alcohol. Hotels can sell alcohol to residents inside until 6 after which its outside only. So many cancellations.
The very small highland hotel on a single track road that we stayed at last week has had many cancellations. What do the Scottish government think the residents are going to do if they have a glass of wine inside with a meal? Run around coughing on each other?
Also we are advised not to leave our health board areas but it's OK to go on holiday. DD doesn't know what to do for the half term break. Go/don't go/will the hotel still be open? Etc etc etc.
As everywhere else it all comes down to personal responsibility. Proposed restrictions should be debated and all aspects considered in Parliament and not just imposed then hastily amended as at Holyrood

Is the PM going to include or exclude Dominic Cummings from these rules ?

Live in Cornwall where the covid rate is fairly low, generally the locals, especially in the villages where we have an older population, have been careful, many of not venturing far and staying away from the tourist hot spots .There are pockets with a few cases ie Falmouth with its university.Even during the summer with the huge numbers of visitors the rate has stayed low, but it was also low across the country.But now with the rate climbing I am waiting to see if Boris and co will stop those from lock down areas coming down here on holiday.Half term is looming and many campsites etc are booked up...will it be business or health first.....

Funny how no-one ever mentions schools, always regarded as germ factories and impossible to make safe. Numbers prohibit social distancing and masks are impractical. Whilst this situation obtains, the virus will spread.

That sounds good and clear. Allow to meet with one other household only per week, or every ten days, no limit on numbers. Rule of six is easily manipulated, you could meet up with six people from six different households one day, then the next day meet up with a totally different group of six people, so in two days at least 36 different inter actions between different people, (maths not my strong point) . A household is a bubble of sorts, allow one meet up per week between two bubbles. There should be a new dictionary for Covid...furlough, mothball, r rate, curve, asymptomatic, unprecedented, self isolate, shield, test trace, toilet paper, pasta, Cummings effect, Masks . What a year!

Another northerner here, I can't help feeling that the Government in London wants to be seen to be taking decisive action so they've decided to lockdown "The North". What are the infection rates in Central London? Is there no infection among students in Oxford or Cambridge?. Watched Kay Burley this morning who pointed out to Oliver Dowden that out of 750 new cases only 33 came from the hospitality industries - this makes a mockery of closing pubs and restaurants.

If you actually raised your eyes and looked at other countries you would find that the virus is behaving in exactly the same way as it is in the U.K.

There are waves of it across countries, where it was not necessarily very bad in the first wave.

Look at the bigger picture and don’t go with what is easy by believing everything you are being fed and read about people in particular areas being non-compliant.

Thank you for your follow up comment trisher. I'd spent so long on my comment I've just seen yours.

MOnica, I agree re households vs present rule of six. Much better to allow households to either nominate another household with whom they can “bubble”, regardless of one household having to be a single person or single parent or, as you suggest, limit number of households you could mee each week. My concern is for the mental health of children and adults as we go into what looks like being a very long winter!

trisher Your quote: "It's very doubtfull if people in the North will abide by any rules." How rude to say this trisher

Thank you for your comment Knittynatter. I agree - There are many in the North following rules.

My daughter and GD lives near Warrington (between Liverpool and Manchester) and are following all the restrictions. Her colleagues where she works in Liverpool and friends around her are doing the same. She's worked from home since beg. of March and hasn't seen her partner (he lives near Swansea) for over a month now. She's had one visit out recently and that's to complete dental work (crown) she had started in January. Due to the delay the tooth now couldn't be saved and she has had to have it removed.

We ring every day and she sounds so depressed. It's so hard knowing that she could have to live like this for months and months.

The annoying fact is that her area has never had a lot of cases/death (currently 0-2 cases) but it is close to Warrington so her area has to abide by the restrictions now imposed on Warrington.

I wish all GNers would follow the rules. There are a few who still think they can break them. Iffing and Butting - Planning parties. Planning family gatherings for Christmas. Planning holidays. Less movement for everyone would help.

I'd like a clearer breakdown of the number of cases a day, As well as daily number of cases, it should be broken down daily into age range, particularly in the high spots. That could help with policing.

I have no idea why Northern England has got such a high rate of infection 800 + cases per 100,000 in some areas 600+ cases per 100,000 in Liverpool, but facts are facts and something has to be done to put a halt to it.

Not all of The North has poor housing etc. Here in the S E we have the most deprived town in the UK (Jaywick). The virus is here to stay, it’s not going anywhere, it is up to all of us to do our best to control our own immediate environment and our socialising.

The media is yet again setting The North and The South of UK against each other, I think it is called click bait in media terminology.