Road map for lockdown easing

[Stephen]

Assuming the public and covid play ball.


What's the roadmap for lifting lockdown? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/explainers-52530518

[Bensham33]

June is the date that counts . Means things should generally be back to normal. Whatever that is.

[Kendhni]

I hope we can avoid the talked about third wave and that we have done enough so that lockdown can be released permanently or at least until next winter. I guess we all have to remain vigilant and use common sense (something that seems to amiss in many). I am not convinced tourism will open this year ... but fingers crossed.

[david63]

I am not convinced tourism will open this year

I expect "national" tourism to be open (well I hope so as I have several booked) but I doubt that international tourism will be without some measure of quarantine being in place, possibly at both ends.

[towny44]

It will be very interesting to see how the infection rate goes this summer, it dropped way down last year, and only started to increase in September. Of course we are doing far more testing now so the infection level will most likely not be comparable to last years figures, and we will need to take more notice of ONS and R rate data.

[Kendhni]

I am not convinced tourism will open this year

I expect "national" tourism to be open (well I hope so as I have several booked) but I doubt that international tourism will be without some measure of quarantine being in place, possibly at both ends.

Oops, yes you are right, I meant to say 'international tourism'.

[Gill W]

In many areas, the fall in new cases has now plateaued and has risen slightly in some areas.

But only to be expected as the schools are now back - the infections are prevalent in the 10 - 19 age group.

Personally, I don't think we can compare this year with last year - we now have about half the population half vaccinated, but we also now have the Kent variant, which is now the dominant strain, as it is more transmissible.

I think we will have to take great care for quite a long time to come, including social distancing and mask wearing at various times

Just because we are 'ok' here at present, doesn't mean everyone is ok. Brazil is in a terrible state at the moment, and it's not being reported on the news, probably because they don't want to depress everyone. We really don't want that Brazilian variant to get a foothold here.

This is a long way from being over.

[david63]

This is a long way from being over.

I don't think anyone, least of all the Government, have said anything other.

[Stephen]

You can guarantee it’ll all go pear shape from tomorrow when the idiots will think everything is normal again.

[Gill W]

You can guarantee it’ll all go pear shape from tomorrow when the idiots will think everything is normal again.

There’s certainly some people on social media who think that it’s all going to magically return to the December 2019 version of normal on 21st June!

[oldbluefox]

It'll be the same people who will cause infection rates to rise. Fortunately this time we have the vaccine to mitigate the consequences.

[Manoverboard]

Our only nailed on plan to date is to book a Pub meal, sitting outside of course, post April 12th providing we have both had our second jabs ... how exciting is that

[Jan Rosser]

I’m almost glad it’s raining today because hopefully it will put people off from “travelling” to the beaches/countryside etc. We have had localised outbreaks for reasons like baby showers and watching rugby with the family - excuse me 14 in one household !!! I just despair at how stupid and selfish people can be

[screwy]

I'm not surprised in the least.

[oldbluefox]

Pity there's not a vaccine for selfishness and stupidity.

[Stephen]

Pity there's not a vaccine for selfishness and stupidity.

There is, it’s called cyanide

[oldbluefox]

As they say "Some people are only alive because it's illegal to shoot them".

[Kendhni]

As they say "Some people are only alive because it's illegal to shoot them".

I still laugh at the interview with the Peacock family who travelled 1.5hours to get to a beach and then complained that it was like 'Tescos' due to the number of other people there ... I am guessing Old Ma Peacock was irony impaired.

[oldbluefox]

Like Jan we are not totally looking forward to the lifting of restrictions in the Lake District. Whilst it is good news for local businesses it seems some of our trippers leave their brains at home or just couldn't care less. Local roads become blocked as they park cars in passing places or on roads so narrow that two way traffic is impossible, problems with wild camping, litter such as never seen before, fires started by carelessly disposed of barbecues and overcrowding of beauty spots. Hopefully the council will get a few cones out of storage and the old bill will hand a few tickets out to the thoughtless ones.
Sometimes the wind and rain have their advantages.

At the moment it is very quiet in Keswick, and it's raining at the moment!!!

https://www.visitcumbria.com/webcams/keswick/

[towny44]

Let's all remember that the TV News and papers will only show crowds misbehaving, because a photo of people carefully social distancing is not their sort of news.

[oldbluefox]

Let's all remember that the TV News and papers will only show crowds misbehaving, because a photo of people carefully social distancing is not their sort of news.

But bear in mind some of us are local to these areas and see what happens first hand.

[Manoverboard]

Let's all remember that the TV News and papers will only show crowds misbehaving, because a photo of people carefully social distancing is not their sort of news.

But bear in mind some of us are local to these areas and see what happens first hand.

Pics of the Dorset beaches, and all the disgusting litter, were shown but yes it would have been possible to show a pic of an empty field some place with a couple of well spaced dog walkers ... but that would surely miss the point.

[oldbluefox]

It's not the sensible ones we are worried about.

[towny44]

It's not the sensible ones we are worried about.

But if the sensible ones are 99.9% of the population,you could have twisted knickers over a trivial problem.

[oldbluefox]

You would be quite right if.........................