4 weeks to just over 6 weeks.....pretty much the same right now isn't it?

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I have read so many options on the relaxation of these restrictions , one I have heard several times is the relaxation for a month then back to a tightening for a month 

I wonder how possible that would be , I certainly see how that would help the NHS

? 

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Kent Police's view of my local motorway, the M2, yesterday afternoon. Remarkably quiet (as it's the main road to and from London and north Kent) and shows that the majority are staying in.

It's even quieter than it was in the 1960s!

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But our Cabinet is full of libertarians who want it over as soon as possible, so perhaps there will be some divergence in the coming weeks

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Well, consider that we can't get rid of this virus entirely and there won't be a vaccine until the winter at the earliest, and in all likelihood into next year.

That means whenever you ease restrictions the thing will pop up again (2nd wave, 3rd wave etc). Also bear in mind the 2-week lead time - by the time cases start rising again, you've another 2 weeks at least of ramping-up to come.

However, it's simply impractical to keep the country locked-down for another year. We are going to have to sacrifice some people, no matter what we do!

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Its a hell of a dilemma Darren , personally I  am in favour for the current set up to run through April and May and then see where we are , the last thing the Government will want is for us the have the largest death count in Europe by a country mile.

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And it will take much longer to make millions of doses and give them out, and will they be free? 

Of course, we don't know if the vaccine will work on the 3 different strains and if there will be further mutations

 

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Breakdown of the deaths in England 

• 118 on April 12th (Yesterday) - Down from 121 on Saturday


• 537 between April 1st and April 11th - Up from 531 from the 1st to 10th


• 12 deaths in March with one on March 26th - Up from 5 reported from March yesterday

The UK has reported 697 new deaths

Interesting story below about BlueSky ventilators which I missed yesterday. On a more positive note Dyson CoVents should start arriving in hospitals this  week. 

 

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain has cancelled an order for thousands of units of a simple model of ventilator developed by industrial companies to treat COVID-19 because more sophisticated devices are now needed, a source involved in the project said on Sunday.

The government confirmed it no longer required that particular model, known as BlueSky.

"We are no longer supporting the production of the BlueSky device following a reassessment of the product's viability in light of the ever developing picture around what is needed to most effectively treat COVID-19," said a spokesman for the Cabinet Office, which is coordinating ventilator orders.

https://sg.news.yahoo.com/uk-cancels-order-simple-ventilators-015022000.html

 

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TBH when a proven vaccine becomes available, I would happily pay as much as a couple of hundred pounds to have it and be done with it. The allure of being able to get back to normal would make that good value for money! Hell, the relief from not having to worry about catching it would be well worth it.

I would imagine it'll be free or at-cost for key workers such as NHS staff, school staff, police and so on. I would also imagine that bigger companies would hire a nurse for the day to get their staff done too - much as my school used to hire a nurse when I first started there, when we all got flu jabs for free.

There is a cautionary tale, though; the flu jab for 2009 didn't work for me and I came down with full-blown flu over Christmas (I strongly suspect it was the H1N1 strain, but of course can't be sure). That H1N1 outbreak in 2009 was also noteworthy - an initial wave in spring 2009, followed by a much larger secondary wave the following winter. Will we see the same this coming winter, I wonder?

 

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Seeing as this lockdown is to protect the NHS, I wonder if they intend to lift restrictions, as we now have a Nightingale hospital in both London and Manchester.  I assume they’ve increased capacity considerably. 

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If anything the divergence might be in the other direction because the lockdown took effect on the same date across the UK, it effectively came earlier on the curve in Scotland. I think outdoor activities (that require some degree of travel), outdoor sports sites and widening of shops permitted to open could be the first steps. 

As for pubs vs restaurants, I'm not up on the licensing rules in England - is there a differentiation in types of license, in Scotland establishments either have an on-sales license or they don't, there isn't a pub, restaurant or table service license. So opening certain types of premises on basis of license wouldn't be possible.

But perhaps some hope for Beast, if limited reopening of licenced premises for food service was permitted, wetherspoons should be fairly well placed to do it. With their App, entry could be limited to people who've reserved a table on the app and all ordering could be done on the app, on certain days and periods might have to restrict length of stay?  

Regional breakdown of the 667 new deaths

1. Midlands 170


2. London 158


3. North West 102


4. East Of England 83


5. North East and Yorkshire 79


6. South East 48


7. South West 27

The UK has reported 717 new deaths.

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34 deaths in the North East to 5pm Sunday down from 46 to 5pm Saturday

• South Tyneside and Sunderland - 13


• Gateshead - 9


• County Durham and Darlington - 5


• Newcastle - 3


• Northumbria - 2


• North Tees and Hartlepool - 2


• Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear - 0


• South Tees - 0


• Tees Esk and Wear Valleys - 0

4,342 positive tests including key workers

10,745 tests

Confirmed rate is 40.41%.

Positive tests down by 882

People tested down by 2,031

Agreed. It seems unfair to me that supermarkets and farm shops can sell plants and other gardening products whilst garden centres ar forced to close.

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Isn't that why they're talking about an app, more testing and contact tracing as part of any relaxation?  We have to minimise the risk of an uncontrolled rise in cases again.

They could make the app a condition of being allowed to move about more freely and arrange testing at GP surgeries, once an antibody test works.

 

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There is a massive on-line boom in demand for gardening stuff.  I really struggled to find  seeds (salad crop, kale, spinach (etc)).  I  suppose it's inevitable that gardners that usually use garden centres will go on-line. 

 Garden centre revenue  is  highly seasonal though and the time around Easter is when they usually do most trade.  They are loosing their peak time this year, I suspect  many, especially the small independents, will  go to the wall 

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Do we know how many of those deaths were yesterday as opposed to sometime in the preceding days and weeks?

Without the breakdown it's impossible to judge how well we're doing.

 

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I placed an order with Suttons on March 26th. I'm still waiting for some of it to arrive. 

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Gove's daughter has tested negative. Again it shows how difficult it is to be certain you've got Corona virus

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As I mentioned in an earlier post, it's estimated that around £150M of young plants are set to be destroyed as a result of garden centers being closed and if sensible social distancing regimes were set in place and the cafes contained within in them remained closed, I can't see much of a reason not to re-open. This is prime time and unless this market place is examined so many businesses, both industrial growers and retailers will be lost.  

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