So “Local Lockdowns” are now the mot du jour.
At the weekend the Govt announced yet another new scale, Medium, High and Very High or Tier 1, 2 and 3 as they’ve already been renamed.
Tier 1 aka Medium is basically where we’ve been since June, no more than 6 people meeting indoors or outdoors, pub/restaurant curfew at 10pm, hands, face, space, etc. Tier 2 is that plus no socialising at all outside your bubble indoors, and Tier 3 is lockdown – pubs, restaurants, venues, gyms etc must close, no socialising anywhere.
Although, inevitably, the wording is so complex its difficult to be sure. What is it about civil servants, that they cannot write clear English? “You must not do X unless these subconditions apply other than where legally permitted. You must not do Y, which is a subset of X, other than where different subconditions apply, unless some tertiary contradictory subsubcondition applies, other than where legally permitted.” But hang on, isn’t this the law, so what is with the “other than” clause? Surely this IS the law so how can there be legally permitted exceptions to it? For fucks’ sake.
As I write, Manchester, Liverpool, Lancashire and the North West and several other areas are already classed Very High. Some limited govt aid is being provided to those suddenly without a job due to lockdown, but not enough. The govt also refused to help families in poverty to feed their children. You can’t make this stuff up. £12,000,000,000 for track-and-trace, £40,000,000,000 for HS2, but nothing for hungry children. These people are inhuman. And the excuses – “nationalising children”, “parents responsibility”,
And meanwhile. Deaths, cases and hospital admissions continue to rise. 26,000 new cases on 21st Oct, 993 hospital admissions and 191 new deaths.
Hospital admissions in particular is worrying. These are rising fast too, along with deaths. Assuming a log growth curve, we would be looking at 200-3000 hospital admissions per day by mid November, and 1000+ deathsper day.