Why we are still in deep trouble

The app is only part of the tracking and tracing, just an additional tool. There needs to be teams of people doing it. I agree there needs to be financial and other support for those who need to isolate and penalties for those who don't.

Now Preston.
Preston City Council chief executive Adrian Phillips said: “The number of cases in Preston have increased rapidly in recent days leading to Government categorising the city as an area of intervention. *It is also alarming to see that the under-30s are contracting it at a significant rate*".
There does seem to be a bit of a pattern emerging with that age group.

It’s much more difficult for working people, and especially those on low pay. My sons can both work from home, but my daughter can’t. After cancelling one holiday, she then booked a villa in France, but if quarantine after visiting France comes in, she’ll have to cancel that, and hope to find somewhere in Britain.
On a good note, we won two mini breaks for her and her husband by entering the Rewards for NHS Workers competitions. We described what they’d done, how they’d managed, the extra hours, the stress, etc and we won two for them . Just rewards I think.
One of the things I’ve loved since I retired eight years ago, apart from the gorgeous grandchildren, was the ability to travel. Whatever happens in the future, I have got some lovely memories of the places we visited.
Did you enjoy holidays in the past growstuff?
Who knows if things will ever return to ‘normal’ in our lifetime.

It's different for working people on minimum wage or self-employed and few savings. Not working for two weeks is a disaster for them. Many people don't have alternative childcare either. They juggle shifts, so that there is always a parent at home or they rely on older siblings. It's understandable that they find it almost impossible to self-isolate, so they need support. The government has thrown billions at all sorts of schemes, so a little more wouldn't matter that much.

I haven't had a holiday for 13 years, so I can't say that I miss one this year.

Well if we decide to go to Normandy, or possibly one of the Greek Islands, we will make preparations for quarantine before we go. Freeze plenty of milk and bread, stock up on tinned food, and book a couple of delivery dates for shopping to be delivered. School holidays will have finished so no need for childcare. However we’re lucky because we’re retired, so not a problem to self isolate for a couple of weeks.
I do feel we could do with a holiday, something to look forward to after this awful year, possibly to be followed by another equally awful year.

Worryingly, it's now becoming apparent that many thousands of people have been left with long-term, maybe permanent, damage. Some of the damage, for example to the heart, has the potential to shorten life expectancy.

There is not going to be a vaccine for ages (if ever) and we don't know how long immunity lasts, so the only solution (if we don't want hundreds of thousands of people to be killed or disabled) is to concentrate our minds on cutting transmission.

It was downgraded from a HCID (High Consequence Infectious Disease) yes, because it has a relatively low death rate compared to some other diseases and we have the ability to test for it.
All four nations HCID Group agreed this.

However, it does have a high infection rate.

Hondaboy

Lets remember that he ‘deadly c-19 virus’ was downgraded in March 2020 to the status of a ‘flu virus or common cold. The ‘’flu virus and the common cold are still around and we live with them - or die of them if we have weak immune system - and be more prone to frequent infections usually the elderly (FACT).Trying to eradicate C-19 is a pipe dream and beware of co called untested C-19 vaccines which the government is spending million of pounds on.

I disagree with you totally and so do many scientists.

I agree that there is not likely to be a vaccine in the near future, but it's not rocket science. The virus needs hosts to transmit. Take away the hosts and it ceases to exist.

The narrative needs to change from seeing lockdown as a form of detention to making people see that it's for protection.

maddyone

I agree that it’s a civic duty, but I worry that people won’t do it, or do it halfheartedly, so if they need milk for example, thinking oh I’ll just pop up the road to the little local shop, that can’t hurt. But obviously it can.

That's why they need to be provided with what they need, so there is no excuse. If they break the rules, they should be punished.

We need proactive leadership.

So far Ask I read ...EVERYONE IS NOW AN EXPERT !!

Lets remember that he ‘deadly c-19 virus’ was downgraded in March 2020 to the status of a ‘flu virus or common cold. The ‘’flu virus and the common cold are still around and we live with them - or die of them if we have weak immune system - and be more prone to frequent infections usually the elderly (FACT).Trying to eradicate C-19 is a pipe dream and beware of co called untested C-19 vaccines which the government is spending million of pounds on.

I agree that it’s a civic duty, but I worry that people won’t do it, or do it halfheartedly, so if they need milk for example, thinking oh I’ll just pop up the road to the little local shop, that can’t hurt. But obviously it can.

It would be a civic duty to self-isolate, like jury service, but people need to have the barriers taken away. They won't stay at home, if they can't afford to feed themselves and their families without work.

I seem to remember a similar conversation months ago regarding people working on zero hours contracts. Months later and we’re almost back where we started. What I don’t understand is that we can send people into space etc and yet we can‘t get a track and trace app going. Then again I suppose unless an ex Etonian has the expertise to do it no one will get the contract.

That's why we need to get the numbers right down, so there aren't too many people involved. People told to isolate must then be given support to make sure they do isolate. That would include financial compensation for lost work, delivery of basic food and medication, childcare, maybe even accommodation if they live in cramped housing. Anybody breaking their isolation should be punished in some way.

I agree hondagirl. I suppose it’s pointless now to go over all the mistakes/ bad judgements that were made, but even if text and track was up and running perfectly, I think a great many people would ignore instructions to isolate themselves if it didn’t suit them for any reason.

I'm fairly sure I won't be able to run the app, as my phone, a pre 2017 Samsung, is too old. There's a list of phones which can run it and mine isn't on the list.

The tracking and tracing is a vital part of keeping the virus contained. Unless you can identify all the contacts and get them to isolate then you have a problem. With so many cases now in the UK it is an impossible task and has now got away from them. Only a Melbourne style lockdown is going to make any difference. The UK seems reluctant to go down this route and so will not be able to get a handle on the virus for a long time if ever. They should have locked down much harder and much earlier when it started and also closed the borders and put quarantining and effective tracking and tracing in place.

Heard today that tracking and tracing uses a 0300 phone number which is blocked by many phones because it is usually a nuisance phone call. Whose idea was it to use a phone number that many phones would automatically block ?

Disagree NatashaGN. I don’t follow Twitter but I’m well aware of what is being said as it is made public all the time. On Facebook you can share posts publicly too.

It is not just up to us to challenge fake news and conspiracy theories. You are ready enough to delete posts that are ‘against guidelines’ in some very nebulous way so you should step up to the plate when something much worse is posted. Some poor confused person might actually believe some of these lies (not an opinion that’s a fact).

As nobody else has I’ll put the record straight, Bill Gates is backing the World Wide Polio Eradication which has almost succeeded, the problem countries are Muslim Countries who for political reasons spread the sterilization rumour, men in those countries forbid their families from vaccination.

Asian and African countries are prime places where polio could spread to polio free nations.

Damned if they do. Damned if they don’t. The government cannot please anyone. As soon as they announce a measure it is flamed.

On the whole, given that one cannot compare apples and pears so that other countries’ actions are not entirely relevant to us, I think it will be found that we didn’t do too badly.

I’ve reported my own post above to GNHQ as I feel very strongly that if you’re not part of the solution then you are part of the problem.

If you don’t hear from me again I’ve probably been banned!

Greeneyedgirl

Twitter last month temporarily suspended Mr Trump's son, Donald Jr, for sharing a clip it said promoted "misinformation" about coronavirus and hydroxychloroquine.

Yet even though I complained to GNHQ nothing has, at this point in time, been removed.