Coronavirus precautions: Has the world gone mad?

[LAX54]

One of the most depressing things about the "new normal" is the way people so readily accept it, and even prefer it to the "old normal".

As an example, a cafe near where I live in Birmingham announced that it would not be re-opening for indoor eating and drinking despite being allowed to do so by the government. It said that this was "...to protect the health of our staff and customers and ensure that we are all safe..." (or words to that effect).

Never mind the fact that this is complete nonsense, as they could have adopted appopriate measures such as extra cleaning routines, at least 1 metre between tables.. etc.

What was even more depressing was the number of people on their Facebook page who actually agreed with them and said comments such as "...thank you for being considerate.." or "thank you for protecting the my family's health" etc.

We'll see how much people like this in the middle of winter when they have to consume their coffee and cake standing up in the street in the pouring rain and freezing cold, and with no possibility of access to a toilet afterwards.

I wouldn't suprprise me if someone doesn't enforce compulsory face masks in restaurants, cafes and bars, where you are graciously allowed to pull the mask down while you sip your beer, but you had better pull it up pronto in between sips, just to reduce transmission of the big bad killer virus. (Hope there are no mask enthusiasts reading this as it might give them ideas )

The 'new' normal, is rubbish, solves absolutely nothing apart from hassle and stress ! and the sooner we get back to 'normal' normal the better, or there will not be a normal to go back to! also seeing how some of the masks are 'stored' I think I would rather take a so called chance getting the bug, I reckon there are far far more nasties on the mask than you'd get from another person, and have you seen the video where thousands are made ? !

As for the beer and food thing, yes just makes a mockery of wearing the stuoid thing in the first place

 

[bramling]

Give it a few months. Furlough/govt assistance will have ended. The cafe will likely have gone to the wall (deservedly), and the idiots commenting on Facebook will either be back at work, or wondering how they’re going to pay their mortgages.

And in the meantime the rest of us have essentially lost a year of our lives.

 

[43066]

Which is his choice, any business owner is at liberty to close their business at any time if they wish (and get a different job or whatever). What they can't expect us to do is pay for that decision.

But this is the worry, isn’t it!?

Presumably many businesses owners doing this have calculated they can simply exist on the various government support systems that are available. There may be some which are “hobby businesses”, run by people who don’t need the income, but I can’t believe your average greasy spoon or local boozer are in this category.

EDIT: and of course each businesses that decides to do this is chucking a few more people onto the rapidly growing unemployment pile. I worry that the measures to help businesses through the situation may actually be backfiring, as it seems many business owners have the luxury to simply choose not to bother reopening!

 

[Huntergreed]

But this is the worry, isn’t it!?

Presumably many businesses owners doing this have calculated they can simply exist on the various government support systems that are available. There may be some which are “hobby businesses”, run by people who don’t need the income, but I can’t believe your average greasy spoon or local boozer are in this category.

EDIT: and of course each businesses that decides to do this is chucking a few more people onto the rapidly growing unemployment pile. I worry that the measures to help businesses through the situation may actually be backfiring, as it seems many business owners have the luxury to simply choose not to bother reopening!

Precisely, and that’s why we need to both end the furlough and support schemes and stop the “YOU’LL DIE IF YOU GO OUT” messaging that still happens. It’s simply not going to be possible to return to any form of functional, economically sustainable society if this is still happening.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Precisely, and that’s why we need to both end the furlough and support schemes and stop the “YOU’LL DIE IF YOU GO OUT” messaging that still happens. It’s simply not going to be possible to return to any form of functional, economically sustainable society if this is still happening.

The furlough scheme is ending. It's quite right that it's being phased out, as a "dead stop" would result in a load of redundancies at once from businesses not reopening.

 

[Bantamzen]

Which is his choice, any business owner is at liberty to close their business at any time if they wish (and get a different job or whatever). What they can't expect us to do is pay for that decision.

It is their choice, but I can almost guarantee that they will expect to be covered by the government for it.

 

[43066]

The furlough scheme is ending. It's quite right that it's being phased out, as a "dead stop" would result in a load of redundancies at once from businesses not reopening.

It is their choice, but I can almost guarantee that they will expect to be covered by the government for it.

But are we in a situation where the support for businesses is actually delaying their reopening, and artificially keeping people on the furlough scheme? The harsh reality is a lot of this businesses may well no longer be viable once support is withdrawn. I suppose the question is how long should the inevitable keep being delayed, at vast expense to the public purse?!

What I find deeply suspicious is that many businesses, which are presumably relied on by their owners for an income, can seemingly pick and choose when they reopen. A pub near me spent a lot of money refurbishing shortly before lockdown, has an enormous bar area and beer garden (so should be well capable of “social distancing etc”), yet remains closed pending reopening later this month...

 

[birchesgreen]

Re: compulsory face masks in England. I wonder if they actually will dare to do this, i've just been to a large shopping centre and (at most) 5% were wearing masks. I wonder if mask wearing in shops was that popular people would be doing it already.

 

[westv]

Re: compulsory face masks in England. I wonder if they actually will dare to do this, i've just been to a large shopping centre and (at most) 5% were wearing masks. I wonder if mask wearing in shops was that popular people would be doing it already.

It's not a case of what's popular with the population, it's a case of what politicians/the media want.

 

[Journeyman]

It's not a case of what's popular with the population, it's a case of what politicians/the media want.

Sturgeon seems to have got away with it, despite most people being opposed. If you say anything in public, you're accused of being a mass murderer.

 

[Bletchleyite]

What I find deeply suspicious is that many businesses, which are presumably relied on by their owners for an income, can seemingly pick and choose when they reopen. A pub near me spent a lot of money refurbishing shortly before lockdown, has an enormous bar area and beer garden (so should be well capable of “social distancing etc”), yet remains closed pending reopening later this month...

One challenge for pubs is getting the beer in! It's not normal that every single pub in England needs fully restocking from nothing on the same day, and the breweries can't necessarily provide that. Some might choose to reopen with a reduced range, while others might prefer to wait until they can get all their popular beers in.

There are also different mechanisms of ownership and operation for pubs. There are actual chain pubs employing managers like 'Spoons which will essentially do what head office says. There are tenanted tied houses which have a bit of flexibility, and then there are free houses which can do what they like within the law. Within the latter, there'll be pubs that are run to make the owner a living, and there'll be some that are run as a hobby with the owner not making much money or actually taking a loss because they enjoy running their pub as they want, perhaps as a retirement thing. Clearly the latter can wait much longer to open if they feel it sensible.

 

[ScottGallagher]

The whole thing is now a joke, quite how they can encourage eating out (and even launch a voucher scheme.for it)and going to pubs etc without a face mask and imply you should wear one while you're in Superdrug for all of 10 mins is utterly stupid.

 

[Ianno87]

The phrase ‘a new normal’ I too hate as it implies all these changes will be permanent, hence my suspicion I raised on another thread that some people do want these changes to be permanent.

If they said a temporary normal I could understand that, but the phrase new normal is definitely one that the media and politicians should be avoiding.

Oh there's no suspicion about it, there are plenty of people who actively try to force the "new normal", usually to their own ends.

The 'new' normal, is rubbish, solves absolutely nothing apart from hassle and stress ! and the sooner we get back to 'normal' normal the better, or there will not be a normal to go back to! also seeing how some of the masks are 'stored' I think I would rather take a so called chance getting the bug, I reckon there are far far more nasties on the mask than you'd get from another person, and have you seen the video where thousands are made ? !

As for the beer and food thing, yes just makes a mockery of wearing the stuoid thing in the first place

I prefer the phrase "Normal, for now"

 

[Huntergreed]

I prefer the phrase "Normal, for now"

But, sadly, if we can't get a vaccine, it won't just be 'for now'

 

[RomeoCharlie71]

But, sadly, if we can't get a vaccine, it won't just be 'for now'

Even if and when we do get a vaccine, I imagine the mask nonsense will still be compulsory until a significant proportion of the population are vaccinated, which could take some time.

 

[kylemore]

Oh there's no suspicion about it, there are plenty of people who actively try to force the "new normal", usually to their own ends.

Do as I do and refer to it as the "New Stupid"!

 

[45107]

Oh there's no suspicion about it, there are plenty of people who actively try to force the "new normal", usually to their own ends.

Indeed. As seen by the majority oF comments on here

 

[6862]

Re: compulsory face masks in England. I wonder if they actually will dare to do this, i've just been to a large shopping centre and (at most) 5% were wearing masks. I wonder if mask wearing in shops was that popular people would be doing it already.

I think mask wearing in shops varies quite a lot across the country. I spent the main part of the lockdown in a northern city (max 5 % of people wearing masks in shops) and have since returned home to a town in the south (I'd estimate about 40 % of people wearing masks).

 

[PHILIPE]

I think mask wearing in shops varies quite a lot across the country. I spent the main part of the lockdown in a northern city (max 5 % of people wearing masks in shops) and have since returned home to a town in the south (I'd estimate about 40 % of people wearing masks).

I think that Boris rewoke from dreamland yesterday and realised there was a pandemic taking place and having heard of masks decided off the top of his head that it might be a good idea to wear them in shops.

 

[bramling]

I think that Boris rewoke from dreamland yesterday and realised there was a pandemic taking place and having heard of masks decided off the top of his head that it might be a good idea to wear them in shops.

That could sum up the way this whole thing has been handled.

 

[John Hunt]

I think that Boris rewoke from dreamland yesterday and realised there was a pandemic taking place and having heard of masks decided off the top of his head that it might be a good idea to wear them in shops.

Give him some more quality dreamtime and he'll suggest Domestos injections. (oops - someone else already did that!)

 

[45107]

That could sum up the way this whole thing has been handled.

I suspect that we differing views on what has been done and when, but I agree with that comment

 

[island]

My employer has announced that our buildings will be re opening at the start of August. At a teams meeting, I asked a question that as initially things are very restricted should the date have been pushed back to September when the restrictions have eased.

The answer I got from the Senior Manager chairing the meeting was along the lines of,

We had to be seen to be doing something.

There are a few people who have very great issues with home working and something has to be done for them. My employer is keen on helping people who want special arrangements. It is called the golden order of the boot.

One restriction imposed is no personal deliveries to the buildings. The number of people, and it says a lot about their home arrangements. Have stuff that they ordered delivered to the office. They find out the hard way when the delivery is at a weekend when the building is closed. Whoever receives it, thinks happy birthday, merry xmas and so on.

At my workplace (retail banking) I have a back office non customer facing job. We had a recent update from our director stating that we would be 100% work from home until Q4, most likely mid to late November. Even at that stage, it will be expected that employees like me will spend no more than 40% of our time in the office going forward.

Teams calls are here to stay.

 

[adc82140]

From the face coverings in shops thread:

We digress from face coverings a bit but are they seriously mandating that measure on an open top ferry that takes about twenty cars on a ten minute trip? Are they suggesting that there is a risk of infection through the open windows of adjacent cars as they travel across the breezy entrance to Poole Harbour? Ye Gods!

Utterly daft. I think we can safely say that any outdoor situation or activity is safe. The figures back that up. The jury's out on pubs etc. till we see figures next week.

However as has been proven by Tesco, sooner or later the novelty of these restrictions wears off, and they get revisited and replaced with something more sensible.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Utterly daft. I think we can safely say that any outdoor situation or activity is safe. The figures back that up. The jury's out on pubs etc. till we see figures next week.

The relative spike today is a bit concerning and is precisely one week after "Super Saturday", but we'll have to see if it is sustained or a one off.

 

[adc82140]

It's hardly a spike. Cases dropped a lot earlier in the week, unnaturally so. I feel there's a bit of settling of the numbers going on. France and Spain are still recording figures close to 900 and they have ways been 2 or 3 weeks ahead of us.

 

[PHILIPE]

The figures are bound to fluctuate even as the overall position improves. Some people seem to get all panicky if the numbers increase by just a few and this leads to frightening some people sick. The figures over the recent period have improved so let us have somebody saying this is encouraging instead of painting a picture of doom and despair.

 

[scotrail158713]

Do as I do and refer to it as the "New Stupid"!

I think I might join you in that. There’s certainly nothing “normal” about it.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

One challenge for pubs is getting the beer in! It's not normal that every single pub in England needs fully restocking from nothing on the same day, and the breweries can't necessarily provide that. Some might choose to reopen with a reduced range, while others might prefer to wait until they can get all their popular beers in.

I grabbed a pint near to the station in St Albans yesterday evening (he has scraped a tiny living with some take-outs in the lock down) - had an excellent pint of Chiltern IPA - and he assured me that fresh and frequent deliveries were well in hand and of no issue. We need to support these valuable businesses. I will to a reasonable level.

 

[Jonny]

Even if and when we do get a vaccine, I imagine the mask nonsense will still be compulsory until a significant proportion of the population are vaccinated, which could take some time.

The longer it goes on, especially if people refuse vaccination, it will look more and more like collective punishment (and those who decide and enforce such things but claim otherwise will look more and more like liars).