News: 1586415250

The comments on their twitter page are saying much the same thing, albeit more succinctly:

"I lost a grandmother to Coronavirus. In 2013 ... But f**k me I'd lose her over again rather than have my son grow up in an informant-led police-state."

I predict a rash of reports about police walking around together but not keeping 2m apart...

Anyone got a list of police officers in the Cambridge area?

Try 39 Parkside, Cambridge CB1 1JG.

A lot congregate there.

I can see a rise in reports of companies streaming if this tweet of an empty streaming comedy club being raided is anything to go by.

https://twitter.com/JOE_co_uk/status/1244295903248289792?s=20

Where does it say that on the official advice, or did you just make that one up?

Oh bore off. Source? How about the United States fucking government?

[1]Use of Cloth Face Coverings to Help Slow the Spread of COVID-19

C.

[1] https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/diy-cloth-face-coverings.html

"Oh bore off. Source? How about the United States fucking government?"

You usually don't listen to them and spend all your time moaning about how much they upset you. Now they are your best friends? sigh...

I'm referring to the CDC. They are, right now, in a pandemic, my friends, yes. It's an agency of experts.

"spend all your time moaning about how much they upset you"

I dunno where you're from but, man, the American way is standing up to government and power - tech or otherwise - and scrutinizing it. Some of us at El Reg US are American citizens, some permanent residents, some legal immigrants, but one thing is clear: it is un-American to not probe and demand more from our elected officials.

So when we 'moan', we're doing our job scrutinizing the administration in a country we love.

C.

Some of us are American citizens, some permanent residents, some legal immigrants, but one thing is clear: it is un-American to not probe and demand more from our elected officials.

Has anyone informed the President of this?

I am sorry. I have much admiration for the US - and have lived and worked there for a respectable amount of time, but NO , the 'American way' does not include 'standing up to government and power - tech or otherwise - and scrutinizing it' - although some very decent and informed Americans (as in the rest of the world) do so. You seem to be living in an alternative universe.

The great nation-state of California says so ...

As a citizen of said great nation-state, good enough for me ...

Looks like Britain is heading for a tough spot ... take care and take action to flatten the curve ...

We are no the only ones......

They govern fucking now? Those damn puritans!

Not currently UK recommendation (though there is a growing grumble that it could be helpful, at least to protect others from you being infected). I see from the byline that Kieren is in San Francisco and I suspect that there is a lean to masking up in those parts of the world, so I think it's leaked over, plus some of the readership is situated that-a-ways so trying to find a blend of advice from everyone's official recommendations must be a little challenging.

Also worth pointing out that Los Angeles has mandated essential business workers wear masks and customers must wear masks.

In the San Francisco Bay Area / Silicon Valley, masks are frequently worn now. It's even recommended by the federal government, which is saying something given the political side of all this.

This virus is no joke. California, population 40m, has got it under control, thank fuck, through clear and well-defined early lockdowns, and cases may peak the middle of next week, well within hospital resources, depending on what model you follow. It may peak next month, but again, within resources. Which is more than you can say about the east coast.

I don't say this to gloat. I say it to mean there is value in locking down as early as possible and sitting tight. San Francisco closed all essential stores at 8pm, for instance. It sucks for everyone - I've donated cash to my local bartenders, via gofundme, to keep them going because they are among the tens or hundreds of thousands in the region screwed by this. I know most people are fucked by this thing. You really don't want to catch it, above all else.

C.

> bar-tenders

Aren't they furloughed under the government scheme? Or are they now reduced to penury and selling the big issue.

Long-term, can see a considerable difference in government approach; aside from your looney bell-end in chief. Looney bell-end in chief. Looney bell-end in chief. (How many times does he repeat himself whilst rambling?)

And since when do we need masks when out in rural areas? You town-dwelling nonces are a PITA to us carrot crunchers who's life carries on pretty much as it was. Get orrf my laaand...

He's in San Francisco...

If everyone was mandated to wear masks, how else would they get Herd Immunity to work?

If everyone was mandated to wear masks, how else would they get Herd Immunity to work?

Slower.

Which would keep infection levels, and more specifically hospital admissions, at a manageable level.

While we're on the subject, the US recommendation is 6ft separation whereas in the UK it's 2m. That extra 17cm might make all the difference, so perhaps we should err on the side of caution and go with the 2m one?

For reference, 6ft is about 13 linguine; 2m is a smidge over 14

> For reference, 6ft is about 13 linguine

I even bothered to log in to upvote that. Thank you sir/madam/rather-not-have-a-salutation,

It's a way of weeding out the pro-imperial measure nutters. They won't use any of those filthy foreign French metres, and insist on keeping apart by 2 of our brave victorious Great British yards.

Is that an Imperial or post-empire yard? People might want to know....

That's why we have units like the Osman. An Osman is one Osman is one Osman, even if you convert it into imperial or metric units.

Interest minds might be interested in knowing how an Osman is defined - is it a multiple of Osmandas?

For anyone unfamiliar with the linguine measurement system the distance is 1 Osman or 2 Toksvigs

Now that has cleared it up - thanks. But is that a Baking Toksvig or a (more outdated) News Quiz measurement? I am given to understand they differ by the occasionally obscure 1 unit Fielding?

In the context of this piece, I took it that "face protection" could be anything to thwart police facial recognition systems. The dual-function option would be a ski-mask with respirator underneath, but the usual urban choice would be hoodie with bandana or similar.

When I go out cycling into the (much quieter now) country, I take a shopping list with me. Item1: Loaves. Item 2: Fishes. If the 'Oy! What are you doing' moral guardians stop me I can tell them 'I'm going shopping and here's the proof!' If they don't get it, I'll point out the 5000 people with me.

Just make sure you go cycling in the general proximity of shops, not too far away into the boonies.

If you're stopped, your claim to be going shopping is then a lot more credible.

(Not at all. You're entirely welcome.)

Not easy where I live - miles away from the nearest town let alone village! But then I am a natural curmudgeon, so I suppose no one will be around to stop me on my daily ride.

Non-obligatory - but it had everyone who knows me in stitches.

https://www.gocomics.com/nonsequitur/2020/03/30

Christ on a bike!

At this time of year shouldn't you ride into town on a donkey?

Either way, you'll probably be crucified if the plod catch you.

Chapeau

Probably better to keep that shopping list on a Jesus phone.

Way to go, sticking it to the people (sic)

It will take a while for the 5000 people to pass if they are all social distancing 2m or 6ft (dependent on nationality or whether they are English Market Traders). Enough time to make your escape!

You do not need to carry proof of anything. Nothing has changed the burden of proof. Nothing has changed to oblige you to give your destination or even answer any question.

Let the Heiling begin.

Yes, during the Nazi period Germany had people called block warts "block wardens". It was their job to ensure that all the residents of their area of responsibility (40-60 households) toed the party line and informed the Gestapo of anyone not conforming to the regulations or even saluting the block wart. From what I have heard from relatives the ARP in this country had similar attitudes but did not, as far as I know, send anyone to Dachau.

Now I know that I am violating Godwin's Law by bringing in the Nazi party but although a pale shadow of the excesses of that time there does seem to be an authoritarian streak in some people and as the article says the present crisis is a God sent opportunity for these people to impose their views on everyone else. I am sure the police are agitating for even stronger powers but that's what you should expect. You have to have an authoritarian mindset to be attracted to the job in the first place.

The article sums up what a lot of people are thinking at the moment.

Mrs Commswonk and I ran foul of a couple of PCSOs when we drove 2 miles to a local park to have a walk. They were insistent that this was against the law, and (when pressed) even tried to use the current Statutory Instrument to back themselves up. Someone in authority had decided that a 2 km limit applied, which is utter bollocks; the S/I is quite clear about what the restrictions on movement are; see Section 6 of http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2020/350/made.

Somewhere along the line either the College of Policing and/or the National Police Chiefs Council had taken it upon themselves to come up with restrictions that were simply not included in the S/I. I find it deeply worrying that any part of the police service should think that it/they have the power to rewrite the law to say and mean something other than what it actually says.

Anyway within 48 hours the police (nationally) backed away from this sort of nonsense; I would like to think that my blistering email & letter to the local Police & Crime Commissioner* (who, from his website, was supportive of this sort of policing) had been a part of that rethink but somehow I doubt it.

I find it equally bewildering that Government & Ministerial spoutings are often still at lesser variance with what the S/I actually stipulates; read it - it is easily one of the most easy to read and understand pieces of "law" I have ever encountered. (Disclosure; IANAL)

* Lancashire, in case you were wondering.

Roll on a few years and you find the Stasi doing the same thing with their network of stooges.

Always cracks me up that the "hard right" and "hard left" hate each other so much, when they actually have more in common than any other two ideologies.

Classic linked headline just seen on Google News:

Coronavirus simulation shows a single cough can spread germans across two supermarket aisles

And there was me thinking that the only problem was with sun loungers and beach towels!

Well rather than that you can have a look at Vietnam.

A lot of neighbourhoods in Vietnam have block wardens, police/ gov informants,and the jungle drums in the average Vietnamese neighbourhood for gossip on who has moved in down the road etc is highly efficient, (I have had people houses down from where I have signed a housing contract know what house I am moving into before I have moved in).

During the initial stages of coronavirus in Vietnam, these two networks seemingly came together into a network that was ferocious in tracking self quarantine evaders, and those who had lied about where they were flying in from. People were hunted via social media, the longest evader lasted 18hrs and they were by a long shot the best AFAIK.

Patient 17 when they revealed they had evaded quarantine (they got to about two days) had every bit of their social media trawled over for their movements in the past two days, socially shamed, their neighbourhood got locked down, I doubt they will be able to go and live back in that area again the speed the country turned against her.

Normally all this network is totally harmless to the average guy (the neighbourhood bit anyway). But its amazing how ruthlessly efficient it can be, especially likely tied with gov informants.

I'm amused at the thought of jailing such people. Have the authorities really considered the consequences. It would only take one infected person in a prison and the virus would go through the prison population like a dose of laxatives, How do you enforce social distancing in a prison?

Got to catch them first...

"Oi copper! Don't infringe my two metre exclusion zone!"

Defer the sentence?

Anyone who lives in Cambridge will know that Cambridge police are far too busy dealing with serious crime to deal with minor stuff like "walking on the cracks in the pavement (more than once per day)". Their approach to (e.g.) cycle theft has been a bored shrug for years, so I confidently expect the same response. Curtain-twitchers will get the thrill of filling in a form, the police will send them an email thanking them for their help, and nothing will happen. Everybody wins.

I went to the Parkside police HQ to report a crime. "Oh, you can't do that here, you have to do it online". I duly went online and filled out the form. They couldn't even be bothered to give me a crime number.

Muppets.

Just do a transphobic tweet. They'll be on your doorstep in no time.