Its a ridiculous idea

How the hell can anyone prove you see the same 10 people , it will be a free for all

Mental 

Regional data for new cases today in England

The 7 English regions 

• London +267 (1.1%) 23,608


• Midlands +393 (2.2%) 17,975


• North West +380 (2.2%) 17,089


• North East and Yorkshire +391 (2.5%) 15,822


• South East +356 (2.3%) 15,810


• East of England +150 (1.6%) 9,325


• South West +96 (1.7%) 5,797

The 10 local areas with the highest cases

1. Kent +59 (1.9%) 3,185


2. Birmingham +41 (1.5%) 2,659


3. Hampshire +58 (2.3%) 2,577


4. Lancashire +56 (2.2%) 2,517


5. Surrey +48 (2.0%) 2,381


6. Essex +42 (1.9%) 2,244


7. Hertfordshire +9 (0.4%) 2,101


8. Sheffield +27 (1.4%) 1,928


9. Cumbria +22 (1.3%) 1,697


10. Staffordshire +54 (3.5%) 1,560

The 10 local areas with the lowest cases

1. Rutland +1 (5.3%) 19


2. Isle of Wight +15 (14.9%) 101


3. North East Lincolnshire +2 (1.6%) 125


4. Hartlepool +10 (6.3%) 159


5. Torbay 182 - No change


6. Peterborough +1 (0.5%) 189


7. Bracknell Forest +6 (3.1%) 191


8. Bath and North East Somerset +3 (1.5%) 201


9. North Somerset +5 (2.4%) 205


10. Calderdale +2 (0.9%) 218

Agree . From a couple of more legally inclined forums I've been looking at there seems to be an opinion that the regulations have not been that well drafted in the UK and there has been confusion between regulations and guidance in the media.

There have been similar issues here  - someone was fined for rollerblading with his kids in a closed parking lot recently https://globalnews.ca/news/6810568/coronavirus-oakville-ontario-rollarblading-fine/ - difficult to see how they were really doing anything wrong but I think the emergency city bylaws mean you can't use closed parking lots.

It's ended up with it all getting a bit silly in some cases - like arguing about the difference between 'resting' and 'lingering' on a park bench https://www.rcinet.ca/en/2020/04/16/covid-19-canadians-upset-at-fines-for-simplest-of-things/

In theory yes depending on their similarity but I suspect only temporarily. In the midst of the many many horrible aspects of the current situation there will bealso be a lot of new understanding in several areas of science.

There was an excellent interview on BBC News24 with a virologist from Cambridge Uni and a Cell Biologist from Kings College, London. They answered viewers questions clearly and brilliantly. Mostly about vaccine research, drugs and so on. Wished they were our official spokespeople and they were relativeley young.

LOL

The local locksmith will be busy.

Italy will begin easing restrictions from May 4th

Stage 1 - May 4th

• People can move within region but not beyond


• Visiting family members allowed but not social gatherings with masks 


• Private fitness allowed again such as running with parks reopening


• Funerals restart with a maximum of 15 people


• Bars/restaurants can reopen for takeaways only


• Professional athletes can train on their own and behind closed doors 


• Manufacturing, construction and wholesale companies can restart work

Stage 2 - May 18th

• Smaller construction businesses reopen


• Libraries, museums, exhibition venues reopen


• Sports teams can train behind closed doors.

Stage 3 - June 1st

Bars, restaurants, hairdressers, beauty salons all reopen

Social distancing must be maintained the above is all subject to change should cases begin to increase again

Ain't that the truth!!

I'd venture that there was some ambiguity deliberately built into the legislation to allow some interpretation when certain situations arise. There's certainly been some double-standards on display by the government (from BBC 9th April: "Downing Street said people who were in their second-homes should not travel back to their primary residences now.") and this has watered-down how seriously many people are taking the restrictions. 

Sorry, my potential rota is already full 

This could be more obvious to people having close relatives abroad, but there is quite a disconnect between coverage of the crisis here from our media and from media abroad. Foreign media describe our situation in more apocalyptic terms (like ours did with Italy in mid-March) and they tend to be much more critical of our leadership.

I certainly had calls and messages from people abroad who are genuinely worried about what is happening in the UK.

It appears the UK government has not ordered 50 million antibody tests after all. It raises an obvious question. Despite their known deficiencies these tests are considered worthwhile in a growing number of other countries. Why not in the UK?  

'Game changing' Oxford antibody test claims 'overblown'

Government sources said the test, which claims to produce a result within an hour, had yet to be approved by a regulator

Hopes for the discovery of a ‘game changing’ immunity test for Covid-19 were dealt a new blow on Sunday when the Government was forced to deny claims it had ordered up to 50 million home testing kits.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/04/26/game-changing-oxford-antibody-test-claims-overblown/

We should copy this in the UK. Excellent move IMHO: 

Germany’s labour minister Hubertus Heil is working on legislation that would give employees the right to work from home, even after the current crisis when social distancing will be no longer needed.

“Everyone who wants to and whose workplace allows it should be able to work in a home office, even when the coronavirus pandemic is over,” Heil told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper.

About 25% of Germans are now estimated to be working from home, up from about 12% normally.

Heil said he would table legislation later in the year to enshrine the right to work from home in law, even full-time if that is what employees want.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2020/apr/26/coronavirus-live-news-trump-steps-back-as-deaths-worldwide-pass-200000

There are still no reliable antibody tests available, but there might be in the next 1-2 months as many big players are trying. I doubt they will be rapid tests though (they'd need to be processed in the lab).

A number of countries including Germany (I think) and the US are conducting antibody tests:

https://www.businessinsider.com/germany-covid-19-antibody-testing-nationwide-2020-4?IR=T

Even if accuracy is around 90% they are surely still worth doing to get more information on how many people have had the infection. 

If the accuracy is only 90% though, that obviously means that you misdiagnose 100,000 people per 1m. So, they will give an idea of how widespread the infection has been, but any idea of immunity certificates should be forgotten.

Anyone else think that the weather over the past month has been the very worst in terms of people sticking to the restrictions?

The UK has such a bloody crap climate that any dry, sunny weather seems to trigger a reflexive response amongst us Brits to need to be outside and doing stuff - days out, beer gardens, bbq's, get togethers, etc. Anything not to waste precious nice weather. The yearning seems even worse during that first nice spell of the year.

Persistent drizzle alternating with wind and rain and temps in that drab 9-11c range would have kept us all more in that hunker-down mindset.

It would work for some for sure. For me anything would be more efficient than working in one of those ghastly big open plan offices which seemed to becoming the norm when I left the workplace. Saving the time and the fuel on the commute would also be a big bonus. However, it would mean that those duck and dive types who somehow manage to get away with doing no work whatsoever in a normal office environment would have lot more scope for work evasion.

It really is a stupid idea.

What happens when a person's 10 choices don't all reciprocate? 

I think so, but the coming week may test the premiss. A bit of a double-edged sword though.  The virus   doesn't like UV, so  that may counter balance things.  Not so much UV likely next week !

I have been reading the spring moaning thread and apparently we should be fine here. 

I think it's too late anyway; too many people now are disregarding the restrictions and the whole facade is collapsing. 

I have a contrary view. The good weather has helped keep my spirits up. If we had been in a run of typical British "permanent autumn" weather through the lockdown so far I think I might have topped myself by now.

The lack of UV in the next week will be interesting. Will it affect the stats? Will more disinfectant be needed?

From reading that thread, I deduce that the Aberdeen temperature has been remarkably similar at around 10c for nigh on 7 years, and during that time total sun hours remain in single figures.

Only useful when mainlined into the pulmonary artery.