The Liverpool/Athletico may well be the dog that didn't bite. We're ten days on from that match(though doesn't it feel much further away now?). The average incubation period for the virus is apparently 5 days. So if the match was going to cause a spike in infection rates in Liverpool, you would have expected to see it by now. While I agree that that match shouldn't have gone ahead, we can be optimistic( though not yet certain) that Liverpool has dodged a bullet. 

​Coronavirus: Seaside visitors defy social distancing advice

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Thousands of people have been heading to seaside attractions in the sunshine despite government advice to avoid social gatherings due to coronavirus. One beach in Sussex is to close, while Lincolnshire's police and crime commissioner called for caravan sites and arcades in Skegness to shut. PCC Marc Jones said there were "hundreds of thousands of visitors". West Wittering Beach was being shut at 18:00 GMT after "thousands" of people turned up, the estate office said.

There are also reports of large crowds along the East Yorkshire coast. Other resorts, including Brighton and Hove, were also reported to be busy.

'Arcades open'

Mr Jones said it was "time for everyone to be socially responsible or be made to be". Local councillor Jimmy Brookes said it was "madness," adding: "Skegness is packed, cafes and arcades are open." A member of the management team in West Wittering said: "The crowds were into the thousands - dispersed on to the large beach - but it's the method of getting here... we're at the end of a peninsular, there's one way in and one way out." 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/uk-england-51988877?__twitter_impression=true&fbclid=IwAR3h2QlSqY0Yfll4pbrTlMUicSKKvwRN-eGX7aYrIaFccSr93HZsCUe1IE4

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My mum and dad have just had their (only) bathroom refitted this past week. It desperately needed it - it was a 1970s-era bathroom with leaking cistern etc. They moved out into an apartment on a quiet out-of-season holiday park while it was being done so remained pretty much in isolation. 

I think I just heard on the radio that the National Trust are shutting their parks and gardens after all?

you can’t keep it out maybe delay and manage it the best way you can it has been proven before.

Steep reductions in flights after the 9/11 bombings only delayed the subsequent flu season, and closing borders to the HIV-positive in the 1980s did not slow the HIV pandemic.

Have you looked into the germs at height thing

In both cases, that was because people carrying the infection still managed to get through, and that is likely now

Roads to Snowdon packed. Busiest day of the year on the footpaths up Swowdon. People are basically seeing this as a bank holiday because the kids are off.

Quick question. Did the PM address the nation today ?

I'm a little surprised at the NT. I would have thought that there wouldn't be a problem with people going to a park, provided you practice social distancing. We plan to go to the beach tomorrow and I don't see any difficulty with that. I was quite gloomy this morning but having spent a little bit of time in the garden and then a walk through the fields, I feel better. People need to get out of the house now and again and being outdoors is a tonic for most of us. 

Boris took the day off today. It was George Eustice.

Thanks Gavin 

For Mm you can’t keep them out one last time I keep repeating 

https://www.seeker.com/health/viruses-and-bacteria-travel-along-a-high-altitude-superhighway

I'm sure you are now mighty glad you made that decision, Maunder.

Persoanally speaking, I would had been rather less inclined to have had a pop at both our government and those elsewhere had this virus only appeared and then spread like widefire around the world in a few days, thus giving governments and people in different countries little time to react. There was plenty of warning that something potentially disastrous was afoot; for example the BBC were reporting on a daily basis back in mid-January of what was happening in Wuhan at that time, and then the rest of China and eventually other countries in Asia.

I am perfectly happy to concede that if governments in countries across Europe, including that of the UK, had imposed travel restriction and other similar measures early on that those would have meant the UK and other countries taking an economic hit. However, if the necessary actions had been taken by HMG two months ago, then I for one do not believe that we would be facing the same possibility of economic armageddon, not to mention the horrendous human cost, that we now appear to be facing.

From what I am hearing from some, the economic cost to this country when this is all over (whenever that will be) could be like something we haven't seen since Wall Street in 1929 and the depression of the 1930s. It could make the 2008/09 financial crash and subsequent recession look like the Teddybear's picnic.

The problem is that the most of us means to many. NT have closed for exactly this reason. To many people were turning up. It is absolutely the correct decision 

I think  it would be a mistake  to do a blanked close.   Some  of the more  "intimate" venues I can understand that you wouldn't want people crowding together but wide open spaces are surely fine for people   trying to get some safe exercise after being cooped up at home.  I'm very fortunate here being on the edge of Watership Down. Loads of scope for long walks and exercise, but then I do that normally anyway.  Given that it looks like I will still be going to work, I'm in an odd oasis  of normality (for the moment).  I even managed to buy a pack of bog rolls and some hot cross buns for the folks this morning at the local shop.   

Having a kitchen from B&Q?

I know that area well, one of my biking friends lives in Basingstoke and we often ride up towards Watership Down. I was up there a couple of weeks ago and we had lunch at the pub in Hannington. Basingstoke gets a bad press as a concrete jungle but there is some fantastic countryside very close by. 

Brian: I know the feeling. I am going to have to be careful of my alcohol intake, what with being home in the evening still quite a novelty after my previous job. I think I have a slightly addictive personality and could easily end up drinking too much!

Has anyone said that we could have kept it out permanently? I haven't seen anyone say that.

Like I said in my earlier response to Gandalf, it should always have been about mitigation and not prevention. Had more been done early on when the crisis in China and the rest of Asia first became apparent, then trying to mitigate against COVID-19 would likely have been rather easier to do than it is proving to be now.

I think everyone accepts that the virus was always likely to reach the UK at some point. However, it shouldn't have been a reason or excuse for our government to think "We won't keep it out, so let's just let it go right through the country and just hope and pray that as few people lose their lives to it as possible".

Perhaps and in fairness, I can see how if you get a big crowd at an NT garden, it could well be quite crowded. However, there is a balance to be struck and morale is important too. While I can see why the NT wants to err on the side of caution, I do feel sorry for people stuck inside often small houses with no outlet at all. I suspect that the disease risk while walking outdoors is minuscule. Then again, what do I know? I have no medical expertise. 

That would be the Vine.  Know it well - decent, honest pub grub and  pint - I just hope they survive the Corona Virus closure .  It's a nice walk over the downs from Kingsclere to there and back after a meal and a pint.

https://thevineathannington.co.uk/?utm_source=tripadvisor&utm_medium=referral

The Crown in Kingsclere has started doing take away.  I really must  use it to help it survive.

When people are queing to get into gardens and parks then surely you cannot distance enough. Because down here that is what has been happening and all because they were free and it was a nice day.

Possibly the NT's lawyers have been banging on about corporate liability.

Maybe they haven't printed the disclaimer notices "entirely at your own risk" and "all visitors must keep 2m apart" in a big enough font.

Well, that as well !  It's pot luck how good  the installer  it as well !

My  kitchen is a bit 1980's, which is hardly surprising as it was put in in the 1980s !  It must have been expensive though (limed oak) and  I couldn't justify a complete rip out - the floor is is still good tiles and the carcases are fine.  I suspect I will get a new top, sink and get the  doors refurbed at some point !  I'll probably get the bloke who did my extensions to do it.

I would have thought that it should be possible for people to stand a distance apart in a queue. Of course, while keeping an adequate distance may be possible, that doesn't mean that people will maintain sensible distance. 

Chichester itself was very quiet this afternoon, when we went out for some fresh air, with people delicately stepping around each other. Given that all Cicestrians know the score, i.e. don't even try to get to Wittering on a fine day, the queue can be 7 miles long, I suspect thickos from out-of-county who thought they would be the only ones going to the beach on a fine day.