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Quarantine

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johnnychips

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I couldn’t really find an existing thread to post the point I want to make, but to be fair, there haven’t been many posts on the quarantine from Spain, and now Belgium.

I’m currently in quarantine from Spain, and I’ve been a good boy. I went straight from my flight to Stockport on the bus and then by train to Sheffield. I am itching to go walking, but it has just been round my communal gardens and once to the shop when I needed something urgently.

The specific point I wanted to make was that I just realised Real Madrid are playing City tonight and apparently the Spanish players are exempt from quarantine! When I was in Spain one of the squad tested positive, so obviously he won’t be coming, but if he’s passed it on to one of his mates and it takes up to 14 days for symptoms to appear...

The Border Guard at Manchester Airport was superb. I explained I’d lost my phone and he went through everything on a tablet with me and explained the rules.

I am not sure how they are going to enforce any quarantine. Apparently they will try and contact one in five people by phone or text, but I am intrigued what they would text or ask you!

Fortunately I’m not due back to work till the 25th, but if I had been due to start back at work on my return, apparently there is no sick pay. I think I would have taken my chance.

Any comments or experiences?
 
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farci

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You make an excellent point illustrated by this recent incident in Glasgow
"Customersof a popular Glasgow barber have expressed concern after he appeared to be on holiday in Ibiza just days before reopening his shop."
https://www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/news/18590480.angus-macs-barber-in-ibiza-days-glasgow-shop-reopens/

In today's coronavirus briefing the First Minister of Scotland expressed her frustration in no uncertain terms about Aberdeen FC footballers breaking the quarantine rules
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/53694742

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon says Aberdeen players "blatantly broke the rules" in the lead-up to Saturday's Scottish Premiership game against St Johnstone being postponed.

Two players tested positive for Covid-19 and six others are self-isolating after coming within "close proximity" in an Aberdeen bar on Saturday.
 
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yorkie

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....I just realised Real Madrid are playing City tonight and apparently the Spanish players are exempt from quarantine...
Just to clarify, football will be exempt from the quarantine rules but will be subject to their own rules.
I am not sure how they are going to enforce any quarantine. ...
It's not enforceable; it's only done for show; to be seen to be 'doing something'. The rules make absolutely no sense. If it was based on Science, the list of countries would be rather different, and you'd have to quarantine if you visited some parts of Britain!
 

Jamiescott1

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I was in france when the spain quarantine was announced. Id been to Spain on a day trip from France on the Friday before quarantine was introduced.
2 government websites contradicted each other about whether I should of quarantined on my arrival back to the UK.
1 said only people arriving directly from Spain after 14th needed to quarantine, one said if youve been in Spain the past 14 days prior to arriving in the uk after 14th you needed to quarantine.
Technically I could of got away without declaring I'd been to spain as it was done overland as a day trip with no border checks

Just to clarify, football will be exempt from the quarantine rules but will be subject to their own rules.
It's not enforceable; it's only done for show; to be seen to be 'doing something'. The rules make absolutely no sense. If it was based on Science, the list of countries would be rather different, and you'd have to quarantine if you visited some parts of Britain!

On a Facebook group I'm part of someone asked if you really need to quarantine.
I replied that no one will check but people were adamant they knew someone who had recieved phonecalls amd emails to check they are at home. I asked who made the phone calls and sent the emails (was it the local police?) But got no response
 

Bantamzen

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Two of my family were in Spain when it was announced that they would have to quarantine on their return. They are now 10 days into it and have yet to be contacted by anyone!
 

trainophile

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I was in france when the spain quarantine was announced. Id been to Spain on a day trip from France on the Friday before quarantine was introduced.
2 government websites contradicted each other about whether I should of quarantined on my arrival back to the UK.
1 said only people arriving directly from Spain after 14th needed to quarantine, one said if youve been in Spain the past 14 days prior to arriving in the uk after 14th you needed to quarantine.
Technically I could of got away without declaring I'd been to spain as it was done overland as a day trip with no border checks



On a Facebook group I'm part of someone asked if you really need to quarantine.
I replied that no one will check but people were adamant they knew someone who had recieved phonecalls amd emails to check they are at home. I asked who made the phone calls and sent the emails (was it the local police?) But got no response

If you don't give them a landline number, and make sure to take your mobile out with you, how would anyone know where you are?
 

duncanp

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Another anomaly is that people who regularly commute from an affected country to the UK are exempt.

So a businessman who regularly works all week in Paris, and then travels home to London on the Eurostar, is allowed to spend all weekend at home with no quarantine at all. Apparently the big bad killer virus doesn't affect him, and he can carry on as normal.

Yet people like me who have booked to go to France next month are treated as plague ridden scumbags who must isolate for two weeks.

The irony is that if I do go ahead with my holiday to France and there is a quarantine requirement when I get back, I will have to travel from St Pancras Station to Birmingham entirely on public transport. I will then have to go to the supermarket and get two weeks supply of food.

I think I will probably feign some symptoms when I get back so that I can be tested.

If the government were really serious about quarantine, it would be a proper quarantine with no exceptions, or they would test everyone on arrival back in the UK, with a repeat test a week later to confirm that they were all clear.

But that costs money, doesn't it.
 

Huntergreed

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If you don't give them a landline number, and make sure to take your mobile out with you, how would anyone know where you are?
Presumably if they phone the number they’re able to track the source of the phonecall and check whether it matches the given address for quarantine or not (this is a complete guess though!)
 

duncanp

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And it would seem that there are plenty of people ignoring the FCO advice and heading to Portugal.



Fresh hope has emerged that Portugal could soon be added to the FCO's 'green list', according to a government source.

Ministers are thought to be happy with Portgual's low infection numbers, with a Whitehall member telling The Sun: “Portugal has made a lot of progress but the process for dropping quarantine is far more gradual, where we monitor progress in weeks rather than days.”

But Britons are already flouting the FCO's advice against all but essential travel, and are visiting the country anyway.

There has been "absolutely overwhelming" demand for a new insurance package launched by Portugal's National Tourism Authority that offers medical and holiday cancellation cover for foreign visitors; something that is hard to come by in the UK given Portugal's current status on its 'red list'.

Marco Pyta, commercial director for the insurance company, Bónus Seguros, told Portugal Resident on Friday that he's had to bring in a special task force to cope with the “unbelievable” number of enquiries; more than 1,000 yesterday, stating: “Nintey per cent have come from England.”

I will base my decision on whether to go to France on what the French Government says about the situation in France, as they are far better qualified to know the truth than the numpties at the Foreign Office.

Currently the two departements where I am going to (Nord and Paris) are both classified as vert (Green) which is the lowest level of alert.
 

Jamiescott1

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I've entered the country twice since they introduced quarantine from certain countries.
Both times I wss not asked if I'd filled out a form or was it checked.
But... as you enter your passport details, it could be linked to that and your passport rejected at self service booths if you haven't filled out of the form (I doubt our government is that advanced)
 

Mcr Warrior

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If you don't give them a landline number, and make sure to take your mobile out with you, how would anyone know where you are?
Isn't it possible to approximate where a mobile phone is by triangulating its location to nearby mobile service provider base stations?

For example, you are supposed to be quarantined at your home in South West London, and your mobile is connecting into a base station in Brighton cos you've gone on a day out to the seaside.
 

Richard Scott

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Isn't it possible to approximate where a mobile phone is by triangulating its location to nearby mobile service provider base stations?

For example, you are supposed to be quarantined at your home in South West London, and your mobile is connecting into a base station in Brighton.
Turn it off if you go out!
 

Huntergreed

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A good point, what if you don't/can't answer the call, are they going to send the police round? Surely not
 

geoffk

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Like a lot of people these days. The Quarantine enforcers can hardly insist you get one!
And of course quarantine should really be for 40 days, from the French quarante, or maybe Italian quaranta.
 

duncanp

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And of course quarantine should really be for 40 days, from the French quarante, or maybe Italian quaranta.

The French word for quarantine is quatorzaine, from the word quatorze, which means fourteen.

So it more accurately reflects the period for which self isolation is expected.
 

geoffk

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The French word for quarantine is quatorzaine, from the word quatorze, which means fourteen.

So it more accurately reflects the period for which self isolation is expected.

'Quarantaine’ daties back to the 14th century during the Black Death, when ships arriving in Venice had to be isolated for 40 days before passengers and crew could go ashore. In the days of coronavirus however, a new word, ‘une quatorzaine’, has emerged, referring to a period of fourteen days (or less) of quarantine.
(Source - P-O Life, the leading Anglophone magazine, website and weekly e-newsletter for the Pyrenees-Orientales.)
 

Chester1

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The specific point I wanted to make was that I just realised Real Madrid are playing City tonight and apparently the Spanish players are exempt from quarantine! When I was in Spain one of the squad tested positive, so obviously he won’t be coming, but if he’s passed it on to one of his mates and it takes up to 14 days for symptoms to appear...

The exemption comes with massive restrictions to prevent them coming into contact with people outside of their club bubble and City's players (who are tested twice a week). They are essentially in quarantine, just a different one to normal. It's the same for diplomatic visits, everything is planned to get them to a bubble location and have no contact with the public.
 

geoffk

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The exemption comes with massive restrictions to prevent them coming into contact with people outside of their club bubble and City's players (who are tested twice a week). They are essentially in quarantine, just a different one to normal. It's the same for diplomatic visits, everything is planned to get them to a bubble location and have no contact with the public.
Test cricket has followed the same regime, which is why there was a fuss about Jofra Archer going home between matches. Players, umpires and commentators are in different bubbles, so an umpire cannot take a player's cap or pullover, for example.
 

Jamiescott1

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Test cricket has followed the same regime, which is why there was a fuss about Jofra Archer going home between matches. Players, umpires and commentators are in different bubbles, so an umpire cannot take a player's cap or pullover, for example.

Id be interested to know the transmission rate through objects or touching the sane surface as an infected person
 

LAX54

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Another anomaly is that people who regularly commute from an affected country to the UK are exempt.

So a businessman who regularly works all week in Paris, and then travels home to London on the Eurostar, is allowed to spend all weekend at home with no quarantine at all. Apparently the big bad killer virus doesn't affect him, and he can carry on as normal.

Yet people like me who have booked to go to France next month are treated as plague ridden scumbags who must isolate for two weeks.

The irony is that if I do go ahead with my holiday to France and there is a quarantine requirement when I get back, I will have to travel from St Pancras Station to Birmingham entirely on public transport. I will then have to go to the supermarket and get two weeks supply of food.

I think I will probably feign some symptoms when I get back so that I can be tested.

If the government were really serious about quarantine, it would be a proper quarantine with no exceptions, or they would test everyone on arrival back in the UK, with a repeat test a week later to confirm that they were all clear.

But that costs money, doesn't it.

But of course, in reality everything we are doing right now, or even before has been / is really a waste of time, BUT it keeps the doom and gloom people happy.
 

duncanp

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I have been looking at the figures for the number of tests conducted per day (in the UK as a whole) and the number of cases detected per day.

The highest number of cases detected per day was on the 1st May, when 6,201 people tested positive, and on that day 84,215 tests were conducted.

So May 1st can be said to be the peak of the pandemic, using this definition.

The figures for 9th August are 1,062 cases detected and 165,176 tests conducted.

So since the peak of the pandemic we are conducting nearly twice as many tests per day, and yet finding about 17% of the cases.

What does that tell you about the incidence of the virus in the UK?

Remember this when the doom and gloom people shout OMG!! We're headed for another national lockdown just because the number of cases detected per day has risen above 1,000 for the first time since 21st June.
 

Jamiescott1

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It seems to me that the government are using quarantine announcements as some sort of power trip " we are in charge".

Spain announced with a few hours.
They won't deny or confirm that they'll add france to the list. Why not just say that france is a concern, if cases are over 1500 3 days running then it will be added to the list (as an example).
 

Richard Scott

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It seems to me that the government are using quarantine announcements as some sort of power trip " we are in charge".
Agree, don't think there's any science behind it, just ruins it for those trying to escape for a few days. The numbers are still so low in these countries that chances of you catching it and bringing it back is very slight. Even a few thousand new cases a day in a country the size of France is negligible.
 
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