Coronavirus General Discussion

I photographed this at my local station this morning. Over the months I have thankfully noticed more compliance with mask wearing

If that's the case then why is theatre always the first to close? Places with highly enforced safe distancing and seating while people are packing into supermarkets and shops?

I think history will be harsher. I think she'll say 'well you bloody voted for him three month earlier'.

And those of us who have spent money on transport to legally go home instead of spending Christmas alone.

I'm afraid (for those who would want us all to lock ourselves in our houses and not move) that I'm still going to go unless it is made illegal by law (not guidance), for mental health purposes if nothing else, and because it might be the last time I ever get to see my 94 year old grandmother (through a window and talking on the phone). I won't be breaking any rules in terms of bubbles as it stands, and I am currently self-isolating out of an abundance of caution (not because I have been asked to), so I won't be changing my plans unless travelling could get me arrested. I have travelled before during this year and taken all precautions, and I won't be coming into contact with anyone who hasn't chosen either to travel themselves or to receive me, we aren't a big family.

Please could you provide the case number statistics to back up that theory? I haven't seen anything to suggest that is what is actually happening in practice. It also presumably runs on the assumption that ventilation systems have not recently been modified, which I'm sure is not the case for the Palladium and some others. I'll have to look back at what was published about the adjustments made to theatres before they re-opened and the Government-approved risk assessment requirements in that regard.

I haven't read the article, but I would have thought if the government/sage had any inkling theatres were dangerous they wouldn't have let them open. After all the article they put out on hospitality dangers was pretty wafer thin in evidence

In the pandemic nothing is going to be 100% secure, just look at footballers, supposed to be in a bubble, being tested, playing and training outside, they have still caught it

I think they don't get officially announced until tomorrow (decision gets made today) but it'll probably leak sometime later today...

Keep in mind as well that the risk in any type of setting is not just down to how safe you can make it but also the prevalence of the disease. What was suitable for August is not necessarily suitable now. When you start to hit 1 in 50 infected then any enclosed venue where people are sat still for a length of time will be a risk, as ther chances are than one of those infected people is sitting near you. With a significant fraction of people showing little symptoms (not even temperature so the check wouldn't pick them up), you won't even know who passed it on to you. Those venues such as pubs and restaruants where no masks are worn are obviously riskier still (remember the mask largely protects others from you - the overall effectiveness may reduce the viral load you get as a recipient but you'll likely still end up infected if there's enough of it). They can't track good statistics on this because Track and Trace is so poor. It was easier when case numbers were lower when single instance type events in pubs etc were clear (the 2 infected oil rig workers on the pub crawl in Aberdeen after having been sent home; the Celtic fans on their trip to Blackpool, a hotspot at the time, to watch a game because pubs were shut in Glasgow). Shops, if they are keeping to the numbers they are supposed to have should be less of a risk, simply because people are moving and spend relatively little time in any one, though some definitely are (the persistent student scrum in the Leeds centre Morrisons was a good example of how not to do it, and an unfortunate member of staff died, and several others fell ill in that branch). The one type of venue that could probably feel truly hard done by with the tier 3 restrictions are museums, since people are moving, they tend to have lower numbers than things like shops, and at least the main ones are large airy buildings. Note that in terms of ventilation only aircraft really come up to scratch. Modern trains are moderately safe (they adjusted the air conditioning on them to change the flow pattern). The Tube really can't be particularly. Ventilation improvements in old theatres, whilst welcome, won't really bring them up to anywhere near the best practice.

Come on though. What do we really expect the government to do? We slag them off when they lock things down, we slag them off when they make concessions.and open things up. There is so much political mischief around this entire circus that I can’t even keep track.