UK enters almost-lockdown: Brits urged to keep calm and carry on – as long as it doesn't involve leaving the house
- Reference: 1585002464
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/03/23/uk_coronavirus_lockdown_measures/
- Source link:
In short, Britons should remain indoors, and [1]work from home if possible. They should only leave to buy food and medication, exercise once a day, or travel to work if it's absolutely necessary or essential.
Under sweeping stricter measures, announced on Monday evening, all shops deemed non-essential will be shut, and meetings of more than two people, excluding those you live with, are banned. People should also keep their distance from one another. The police are authorized to fine those flouting the rules, and break up gatherings.
The public will be allowed out of their homes for "one form of exercise" a day and only with those they live with – which will leave many Brits wondering if that’s compulsory. Weddings, concerts, and so on, except funerals, will be forbidden.
“The coronavirus is the biggest threat this country has faced for decades,” Johnson said in [2]his five-minute telly address , which you can watch below.
“You should not be going shopping except for essentials like food and medicine – and you should do this as little as you can. And use food delivery services where you can.”
PM [3]@BorisJohnson gives an important update on [4]#coronavirus [5]#StayHomeSaveLives [6]pic.twitter.com/MQo2EVVDcD — UK Prime Minister (@10DowningStreet) [7]March 23, 2020
The Prime Minister made a particular point of saying electronics shops will be shut. Any travel for work that can be done from home is prohibited – Microsoft Teams and Zoom network load-balancing managers may [8]be sweating .
Johnson insisted the government will have a support system in place for Brits caught up in the disruption, and said the restrictions are under constant review. There are fears this safety net won't catch self-employed people and contractors who lose work during the pandemic shutdown.
“In this fight we can be in no doubt that each and every one of us is directly enlisted,” he said. “Each and every one of us is now obliged to join together, to halt the spread of this disease. To protect our NHS and to save many many thousands of lives.”
You can find the government's stay-at-home rules for people, here
[9]PDF
and for businesses, here[10]PDF
. We note that hotels and restaurants must close, except for delivery and takeaway, as well as pubs, and clubs, and shops, except supermarkets, corner stores, petrol stations, bike shops, post offices, banks, car rentals, and others.Britain is not alone in such an almost-lockdown: the San Francisco Bay Area, and then the whole of California in the US, has been in similar circumstances for a week already, and other states are following suit, while France and Italy have been under strict quarantine for a while now. Expect a baby boom and divorce spike by Christmas.
There are 6,700 reported cases of COVID-19 in the UK, and 336 deaths, out of 375,000 and 16,411 worldwide, respectively as of, well, [11]right now . ®
[1] https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/03/21/home_working_register_guide/
[2] https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-52011928
[3] https://twitter.com/BorisJohnson?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
[4] https://twitter.com/hashtag/coronavirus?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
[5] https://twitter.com/hashtag/StayHomeSaveLives?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
[6] https://t.co/MQo2EVVDcD
[7] https://twitter.com/10DowningStreet/status/1242187244733161474?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
[8] https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/03/16/zoom_teams_outage/
[9] https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/874714/Full_guidance_on_staying_at_home_and_away_from_others.pdf
[10] https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/874732/230320_-_Revised_guidance_note_-_finalVF.pdf
[11] https://www.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html?fbclid=IwAR0GYdJ1RQEZdE8HwGAOgyFc7uIQu4QzTb32JTIdvQsXrPlaVwKMpdut7Go#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6
Re: "One form of exercise a day"
He literally couldn't have explained it any clearer.
If you still don't get it, let me summarise it for you. Stay in your f*cking house, unless you need to get something you need to keep you alive, like food and medicine.
It really, really isn't rocket science.
Re: "One form of exercise a day"
Full guidance, quite detailed, is [1]here
[1] https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/874714/Full_guidance_on_staying_at_home_and_away_from_others.pdf
Re: "One form of exercise a day"
He literally couldn't have explained it any clearer.
We, Australia, are in lock-down because there are some people idiots roaming on the streets flashing without-a-care-in-the-world attitude.
If people heeded the simple advice of "social distancing" in the first place, we wouldn't be in this bind.
And if nobody takes heed to the "lock down" then things can get ugly.
## Stay in your f*cking house, fools!
(And don't make me come over!)
What about the airports?
The borders are still open, especially the airports, with no obvious attempt to stop or quarantine people entering the country. This makes a mockery of Boris' attempts to put everyone else under house arrest.
Re: What about the airports?
"This makes a mockery of Boris' attempts to put everyone else under house arrest"
No it doesn't.
And use food delivery services where you can.”
Who is going to pay for millions of home delivered meals, I wonder. Also where are the extra numbers of delivery people going to come from?
Spain has been locked down for a week and a half and we have just had 15 more days added, construction is still going on, so professional builders merchants are open but DIY stores are not. Some other parts of industry are also still in action but in general we are only allowed to shop for food and medications. Dog walking is permitted but exercise anywhere is not, none of these regulations anywhere are well thought out but that is in the main because they are ad hoc responses to a changing situation.
Oddly, during the cold war Civil Defence had disaster plans for bio warfare or pandemics as well as WWIII but apparently once the cold war had finished it seems disasters were no longer likely, hence the patchwork regulations each country is introducing.
Re: And use food delivery services where you can.”
That's OK: every single UK supermarket has buckled under the load, and is either not accepting new registrations (Sainsburys) or hanging when you try to do it (Waitrose) or not allowing you to buy anything (Tesco) or simply not bothering with a website any more (Ocado). So I guess it's go out and try to pick what food there is off the nearly-bare shelves.
Food markets *are* still open, so those of us lucky enough to live in market towns can still use those as our primary fresh food supply. They seem to be a bit less stricken by panic-buying than the supermarkets.
Re: And use food delivery services where you can.
not accepting new registrations (Sainsburys)
That's kind of irrelevant. I was able to sign up with my local Sainsbury's after the curfew was imposed and before the time-banding of purchases was introduced, but, and its a big BUT , its not worth a damn because the website shows no delivery slots are available and the select your slot page has a note at the bottom saying they they can't do deliveries at present and don't know if/when/how they'll do them in future. No reason for non-performance is given.
My local branch doesn't offer an order and pick-up service either.
However, I have a modest proposal: let the Army to do the deliveries. Unlike normal military activities that can't easily be done in isolation, this can be done using their usual vehicles while maintaining isolation and will keep them active, unlike the rest of us with our minimal permitted out-door activities. Besides, I quite like the idea of getting my groceries delivered in an armored car.
Exercise
So, does fighting for toilet rolls in Tesco count as shopping for essentials or does it use up my one-a-day exercise ration?
Re: Exercise
so long as there's just the two of you, shouldn't be an issue. may be arrested if someone else joins in :o)
"One form of exercise a day"
Johnson's favourite form of exercise appears to take place indoors, so he's OK.
This morning I managed to replenish our essential stocks of cleaning materials (one of each, not stockpiling.) What of the people left without them due to the activities of the antisocial? Are they not allowed to buy them even if they are in the shops? If it's food and medication,why are hardware stores allowed to stay open? What about garages?
Johnson explains things terribly, about as bad as Trump, and with a lack of clarity that makes one wonder whatever caused the dons to rate him as high as a 2:1. How is it possible for so many apparently educated people to do such a poor job of conveying important information?
Perhaps this explains the many IT failures of government in this country - yes, the politicians and Civil Service really are this clueless about writing specs.