I have another ASDA story for fairweather!

Just got back from my local one in Wallington where they are breaking up couples and families and only allowing one member of a household into the store. The others have to wait outside. To make matters worse, they are only telling people when they get to the entrance after an hour long queue.

Makes no sense as people will just queue separately next time and pretend they don't know each other

Tesco do not have this policy. I imagine ASDA will lose a lot of custom if they don't change this 

While our infection rate is not surging is remains high. Even in Italy there still getting 3k infections daily. IMHO this doesn’t bode well for us, more so the fact their lockdown was even stricter.

We have been at the 4-5k mark for a while now and still seeing deaths between 700-800 daily.

My local Sainsbury’s has had this policy for at least the last 14 days.

Might calculate some reduced chi squared values if I get time. Advantage of that is that if I add additional parameters its easy to account for.

Regional data for new cases today in England

The 7 English regions 

• London +704 (3.5%) 20,215


• Midlands +533 (4.0%) 13,489


• North West +594 (4.7%) 12,687


• South East +552 (4.8%) 11,471


• North East and Yorkshire +578 (5.2%)11,211


• East of England +360 (5.2%) +6,859


• South West +309 (7.3%) 4,222

The 10 local areas with the highest cases

1. Kent +150 (7.1%) 2,108


2. Birmingham +82 (4.0%) 2,064


3. Hampshire +83 (4.3%) 1,941


4. Lancashire +73 (4.0%) 1,842


5. Surrey +32 (1.8%) 1,771


6. Essex +74 (4.3%) 1,721


7. Hertfordshire +86 (5.1%) 1,695


8. Sheffield +62 (4.2%) 1,474


9. Cumbria +58 (4.1%) 1,403


10. Brent +40 (3.6%) 1,126

The 10 local areas with the lowest cases

1. Rutland 12 - no change


2. Isle of Wight +3 (5.2%) 58


3. Hartlepool 79 - no change


4. North East Lincolnshire +3 (3.4%) 89


5. Torbay +3 (2.7%) 110


6. Peterborough +7 (5.8%) 120


7. Herefordshire, County of +2 (1.6%) 129


8. North Somerset +14 (9.9%) 141


9. Bracknell Forest +4 (2.8%) 143


10. Telford and Wrekin +4 (2.7%) 147

Appalling!

So do couples just get round it by standing separately?

Think the main failing was not using January and February to stockpile PPE or develop manufacuturing to produce it. We had two months, what was actually achived in that time?

With regards to reusing PPE I suppose it depends on the nature of the PPE being used. I can easily see gowns being washed and reused. N95 surgical masks? Not so much.

The inside was way too empty though. I think this particular ASDA is going OTT with the distancing and the security guards behaving like SS guards

My Tesco is far more liberal and is very busy inside, perhaps too much and no restrictions on families and couples. Perhaps more dangerous in terms of virus transmission but they are probably raking in the dough!

I thought all supermarkets had this policy.

I haven't been to a supermarket since February, the risk is simply too high imo. Got by on a combination of the stockpile + online deliveries where I can get them.

The problem is 2m is just not enough protection when you are all sharing the same air. Not to mention fomites everywhere on every possible surface.

You are young and fit Q. Why are you so worried about it? You will likely be one of those who just carries it and never gets ill

Clearly not, but perhaps its just my Tesco bending the rules, but I don't think its a Govt requirement?

Well, the irony is, we saw it coming. The government should have acted. And were so slow. 

I've worked in security and I can tell you that most of those who take on this job are little wannabe Hitlers with about as much humanity as a rattlesnake. 

You can buy a space suit on eBay fancy dress mind but it might do the job as others would think you are bonkers

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Orion-Costumes-Mens-Silver-Astronaut-Space-Suit-With-Helmet-Fancy-Dress-Costume/391373602809?hash=item5b1faf3ff9:m:mU1k7DTBuoUc4aEcv7P1BjQ

Its a roll of the dice but I'm more concerned about being in that 20% that needs a hospital bed and helping to overload the NHS. We also are less clear on potentially long term impacts of having this thing which may include permanetely reduced lung capacity in as many as 30% of cases.

And ofc with this much viral matter about, a more harmful mutation remains an ever present risk.

Indeed, and its not like it was particularly difficult to see it coming either. If the government had used that time to prepare the worst case scenario would be a small economic hit from overpreparing. Definitely worth it to mitigate the catostrophic outcome we are now in even though it might have been less likely than evens to actually happen.

It isn't a requirement. Tesco's official policy is that they'd rather you come alone, but if you have to take someone with you (i.e. a child who's too young to leave alone, or a carer) they'll let them in.

You need to update yourself, Q, unless you're over 80!

Nearly one in five over-80s infected with COVID-19 are likely to require hospitalisation, compared with around 1 percent of people under 30.

https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/196573/covid-19-one-five-over-80s-need-hospitalisation/

I would suspect the true rate is a mere fraction of one percent, given asymptomatics, people with mild symptoms not realising they have it, and the fact that younger people can get rid of the virus without even involving antibodies being produced...

And many more in care homes and private homes which don't get included

The European experience is that even with a strict lockdown, this can only be managed, and you have to accept a certain number of deaths  a week

We still allow unlimited home deliveries unlike China where you got govt rations delivered securely to your property

We allow exercise without a permit and don't have police numbers to check compliance

OK fine but 1% of all people in that under 30s age group still equates to a large strain on the NHS. Its probably a bit higher than 1% because of my gender anyway.

And like I say we should not assume that this thing will continue to be a relatively low threat to those who are young/fit. With such a long incubation period mutations are far more likely to be dangerous than they would be if this was a flu like virus.