The penny has dropped

PamelaJ1
No I don’t have a problem with that. Many people went on holiday even as things took a turn for the worse. It’s my belief that people who went on holiday, often on holiday in Europe, but not always, were extremely irresponsible.

Maddyone, no I am certainly not suggesting that the Government were right not to insist on quarantine for everyone. I’m my opinion it would have been a good move.

I was trying to reassure you that not all of the 18 mill. returners didn’t realise that it would be a good thing to stay at home.

You are minded to know why I wasn’t in the U.K. when this started? Well that would be because I was visiting my DD in Australia and we went before Covid 19 was an issue.
Do you have. A problem with that? If you do then get over it!

It's not just airlines either is it. There are ferries and Eurostar to think about as well.

And I’m damn sure you’re right Kandinsky.

They could keep us looked up forever, but if they allow people from other countries to just swan in off a plane what’s the bleedin’ point?
They should have closed our borders 2 months ago like other countries did.
Would have saved 1000’s of lives & I’m damn sure if it

It’s ironic that the main reason for Brexit was to “ control our borders”, yet a Brexitty government has been unwilling to do just that. Unlike countries still in the EU which did close their borders early on.

I didn’t watch today’s propaganda broadcast but I did hear something about how potholes were going to be repaired now that people were being encouraged to cycle to work. Why now? I’ve been saying for weeks that it was an ideal time to fill every pot hole as there were so few cars on the road.

oscaroll and EMMF1948. It seems you have seized with relish the opportunity to claim the reason nobody was quarantined was due to human rights "bleaters" and the fear that the government would be accused of racism. I would suggest that it had nothing whatsoever to do with that. It would certainly be racist if only certain ethnic groups were placed in quarantine but I don't think that has ever been suggested.

I am actually all for human rights but I don't see the introduction of a quarantine system during a pandemic as an abuse of those rights. In any event, I read that a large number of the people coming to Britain are British returners and presumably a fair percentage of them are white.

No: from what I’ve read they stay in their room and food is left outside their door. No one even collects the dishes until the 14 days is up. Need to work out which country/countries I’m talking about. Read so much at the moment I lose track of what I’ve read and where I’ve read it.

Well I guess that would be okay Maybee except wouldn’t people still come into contact with other people in a hotel? There are a lot of staff working in hotels, from check in to room service. Obviously for foreign people a hotel would have to be used, but I’d have thought quarantining in their own home would bring Brits into contact with fewer people.

I think you're right MayBee. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people who will fall for it too.

It's ironic how people have changed their tune. This time last year, they were claiming that the economy didn't matter, as long as they had their blue passports and bent bananas. These days, they're full of crocodile tears for the economy and airlines.

I think the scientists are actually getting rather angry at being misinterpreted by the government as they're obviously being lined up to take the blame.

When had Neil Ferguson been discredited? Sound like you're jumping on the anti-Professor Lockdown bandwagon.

I'd rather follow properly researched advice than your common sense.

PS. I have two children too, but I don't see how that qualifies me to know what to do in a pandemic.

maddyone; That's why people should be quarantined in hotels near to where they land. It's what other countries do.

Total reliance on the so called Government approved Scientists has proved a foolish strategy. Neil Ferguson and his theories had been discredited previously and scientists at Oxford Uni proposed other strategies several weeks ago. In this day and age Common Sense has gone out of the window and perhaps Boris et al should have gone in that direction.
As a mum I used my gut instinct with regard to welfare of my 2 DS.

So that’s a good reason not to is it Maybee?

I’d like to visit my family and they’re only ten minutes car ride away, but I can’t, like all the other grans on here who are respecting the rules.

Even if you self quarantine you still come into contact with people on the journey home.

Razzy
Are a few more deaths okay then so long as people can go on holiday for a couple of weeks or visit their families for a week?

Incidentally Maizie’s post at 22.19 is almost certainly correct in its assessment that the true total of deaths in the UK is probably nearer to forty thousand people.

PamelaJ1
Just because you did the right thing, gives you absolutely no justification for assuming that others did the same. Are you actually defending the fact that our country didn’t ensure that travellers went into quarantine? Can you please provide evidence that the other eighteen million people aswell as yourselves went into voluntary quarantine?

I’m minded to wonder just why you were out of the country in the middle of a pandemic, and hadn’t made sure you were at home in Britain like the rest of us. If you were visiting family, perhaps you would have done well to stay with them, and if you were on holiday, well, I’m speechless.

Someone asked why the quarantine is a problem for airlines. Well people won’t want to go on holiday or visit relatives for a couple of weeks as they’d have to spend the whole time in quarantine!

Airlines are on their knees. They make money in summer - will be a loss this summer season, a loss in winter and maybe start to pick up for summer 21. Airlines are still paying £100s of thousands of pounds per month to lease and park aircraft. There will be many more airlines going bust if we have the quarantine for any length of time. The air industry is huge and there are going to be a massive number out of work.

We have to wait months for more accurate worldwide figures. Maybe not for a year or more.

I did hear pretty much that said by Professor Yvonne Doyle at the Downing St briefing in recent days.

We have to wait months for more accurate worldwide figures. Maybe not for a year or more

Why? What will the wait do?

We have the ONS figures published every week, based on death certificates issued. Are you saying that they will be more accurate in a year's time? How could they possibly get more accurate when they are recording actual deaths from actual death certificates?

I think that what you seem to be suggesting is that other countries, being foreigners and therefore not as honest and open as the British, are fiddling their figures. Why on earth would they do that any more than we would?

As it stands, to the week ending 24th April, the ONS recorded 38,400 deaths in excess of the average of deaths normally recorded over the same period. That was just for England and Wales, Scotland & NI have their own registration authorities. With their deaths it comes to over 40,000. These may not have been all directly due to Covid, but they are clearly a direct result of this pandemic. We have the 2nd highest figures in the world. These figures won't be any different in 52 weeks time...

I'm not saying that as a Tory vote either.

As what, then? An apologist for this apalling government?

maddyone, I was one of the returners in April, so were my nieces.
We all went into isolation when we arrived.

The people on the plane and in transit in Doha all intended to do the same.
Although we were given no guidance at the airport , not even a leaflet, I would think that a huge proportion of the 18million did the right thing.