Greater Manchester

Casdon

My nearest town is the highest decile in Wales, it is is over 350 per 100,000. You can look up on the Public Health Wales website by medium super output area (c7000 population) to see what the rate is for the whole of Wales, I imagine probably for the rest of the UK as well. I wish you were right that at the levels in your area the virus is almost eradicated, but that’s not true - it only takes one party or similar work or social gathering for a flare up to happen very quickly -aka the Anglesey meat factory?

Yes, but the Anglesey meat factory was an isolated incident and seems to have been managed well. The big problem is in areas where hundreds of people are already infected and are mingling normally in shops, schools or in cramped housing.

As somebody upthread pointed out, the population of Greater Manchester is almost the same as the whole of Wales - and there are no mountains or bracing sea air.

farview, I'm Greater Manchester as well. We are 12 miles from the city and on the edge of open countryside, moorland. We feel blessed to have good walks from the house, which have kept us sane during this long difficult period. The Rate is dropping consistently in our area. That is a relief but, I cannot understand the nonsensical view that three families can meet for Christmas, over a five day period. All the experts agree this will cause the R to rise again.
The idea that families will chose which three of their extended family will form an exclusive bubble also seems impossible and unlikely to me.
Who is going to choose which much loved sister, aunt, grandparent is included and who is excluded. It's like the Judgement of Solomon.
My fear is that people will bubble with various groups of three. My grandchildren each have three sets of grandparents, three aunts/uncles (siblings of their parent) great grandparents, great aunts to live alone etc etc. How can any of them make the difficult choice that auntie jean gets left out? Which grannie is incuded?
I've made it clear, we are happy to stay home and wait for a cracking celebration around Easter time.

Casdon please forgive me if I’m wrong but there seems to be an underlying resentment that some areas are lucky enough to be doing better than others. The virus is bound to spread more in densely populated and poorer economic areas, this is absolutely NOT the fault of the people in those areas.
I acknowledge that Anglesey is lucky insofar as it has fresh mountain air and strong sea breezes, a low population fairly well spread. We have big advantages, again not down to people.
I did say in my original post that we can not be complacent and that it can all change on a sixpence.
I do believe that the tier system has the advantage that businesses can continue in low infection areas and that areas can be moved in and out of tiers according to infection rates, giving all businesses are better chance of survival albeit small.
I’m pleased to say that Growstuff and I are on the same wavelength on this, I think.

Yes, I think we are LauraNorder. I happen to live in a corner of Essex where the infection rates are low too (although not as low as North Wales currently is).

For some reason best known to itself (could have been something to do with the government grant ), Essex County Council volunteered to put the whole of Essex into Tier 2.

I don't resent the fact that we don't really need it where I live. It's a wealthy area with mainly low density housing. I'm just very grateful that I don't live anywhere where the infection is endemic, I don't have to share my house with many others and I don't have to commute to work.

LauraNorder Sadly there are irresponsible people living everywhere, not just in densely populated areas. The point I was making is that the fact that you live in an area that currently has a low prevalence doesn’t invalidate the Welsh Government’s approach to the whole of Wales being treated the same, because as you said yourself, it can change very rapidly. For example, I live in the Brecon Beacons (equal beauty and mountain air), and my area has an extremely low rate, much lower in fact than Anglesey - but our town, which is some miles away from me, is in the top decile. I think it would be wrong to treat the areas differently, we aren’t special, we’re just lucky at the moment, our turn could well be next, although I’m obviously hoping that the mountain air will keep us safe.

The point is Casdon that if you live in cramped housing or have to commute work or even do certain sorts of work, it's much harder to socially isolate. That's nothing to do with being irresponsible.

Casdon, I think I was pretty clear about the fact that I don’t consider any area to be special, some are luckier than others.
I do believe that at no time have I called anybody irresponsible. Your words. I simply stated that in areas of dense population it would be easier for the virus to spread. People living and working in close proximity to others makes social distancing more difficult through no fault of their own.
I do feel that for the sake of the economy the tiered system allows the survival of more businesses. When the r falls in Manchester, businesses will be able to open even if say Liverpool rates are rising or vice versa.
When the whole country is forced to lockdown all businesses are negatively affected even if they would be safe to continue.
No country can afford that scenario so we have to try a more measured approach.
Please believe that I am not blaming people of any particular region, we are all doing our best but some regions have greater difficulty for many reasons and others are luckier.
It isn’t a competition. We are all in it together.

Iam64..absolutely agree with your post re families meeting up...asking for trouble!
We live right next to the moors and thankfully have enjoyed them more than ever...nevertheless it's been a tough year and I've no intention of mixing socially after keeping safe and well thus far...
I will drop off presents and say a distanced hello to my two sons and families nearby,..facetime my other two children and families overseas....its going to be tough for everyone..but we will get through it...would have probably had a walk up to the local pub for a drink outside...but think as we have been put in Tier 3..that's probably where we will remain over Christmas....

I fail to see why Greater Manchester always gets a special mention except that Andy Burnham is so vocal.
It is the same for all of us especially where I live - we have been in lockdown since March with no letup!!

Sorry for those in GM to see that you will be in tier 3.

dragonfly46 - what exactly is it about Greater Manchester that you resent?

Most of the North is in Tier 3.

Iam64

dragonfly46 - what exactly is it about Greater Manchester that you resent?

Indeed. Where do you live Dragonfly ?

Blossoming

Most of the North is in Tier 3.

We were in Tier 1 but apparently going into Tier 2. In Yorkshire.

Andy Burnham being vocal is because he is worried and cares about people's lives/livelihood etc...
This particular thread is because I live in Greater Manchester...

I resent the fact that they seem to think they should be treated differently from everybody else.
I live near Leicester and have been in the equivalent of Tier 3 since March. The economic repercussions are exactly the same as Manchester's but we are just getting on with it.
Andy Burnham wants to be PM!

dragonfly46...I'm not disputing the fact that other places have had,...are having it extremely tough....but I started this thread about my area....

“ we have been in lockdown since March with no letup!!” really ? Lockdown ?

Yep Lucca it is a disaster for Leicester. Even when restrictions were lifted elsewhere Leicester was in lockdown. Of course you haven't heard about it because a fuss has not been made.

I do feel for you dragonfly46..you have had it very tough...
I'm glad that we do have AB fighting for us...

It's true that there is very little news on national TV about Leicester, travelsafar and we do hear much more about other areas.

farview

*dragonfly46*...I'm not disputing the fact that other places have had,...are having it extremely tough....but I started this thread about my area....

Wales has been mentioned rather a lot.

I wasn't getting at you Farview I am sorry if that came across. I am just feeling sorry for myself I suppose. 2019 and 2020 have been a write off for me.
I hope I haven't upset anyone.

No, I'm resigned.
I just hope that 2021 will be better and we're here to see it.

I live in rural Warwickshire - miles away from any large towns. Tier 1 until lockdown, now Tier 3. I only know one person who has ever had Covid and then not needed hospitalisation. There's been no mention of us. We've been so careful, as have our friends and family, so are really stunned.