Ways to tighten up this lockdown

[Fambo Number Mive]

It's clear that the current lockdown isn't tight enough, especially given how more transmissible this variant is.

I would suggest the following:

- Campaign to remind people about social distancing. Get rid of the "1m plus" shite and make it 2 metres indoors or outdoors.
- Close nurseries
- Stop having police at outdoor locations and get them doing spot checks on buses and in supermarkets, I don't disagree with preventing people from driving long distances across the UK but ensuring indoor compliance is more urgent. ANPR can be used to stop out of county cars and check why they are there on motorways.
- Require all shops to keep their front door open to aid with ventilation
- Proper enforcement of COVID rules. Have sliding scales for fines linked to income, at the moment the wealthy can afford not to care if they breach regulations. Also use community service to be carried out when the pandemic is over.
- Advise everyone to ensure their mask has at least 3 layers and double up masks if not, and to wash their reusable masks in hot water and soap after use, tell them not to keep masks in their pockets after they have been used.
- Pause competitive sport, there seem to be a lot of COVID cases among sports people.
- Regular interviews with people who have had severe COVID to be shown as government public safety ads.
-Require bus companies to lock open two windows on each bus (two upstairs and one downstairs if a double decker)
-Require masks to be worn outdoors near shops and in town centres
- Bring in UBI
- Youtube web series for children on how they can help keep COVID safe, and on iplayer

Any other ideas? I know many on my list will never be adopted by this vile government.

[thenoise]

Zero tolerance for people who spread Covid-19 hoax shit online. If police can issue spot fines to people who have illegal picnics or whatever, then they can send postal spot fines to people who post dangerously incorrect things about the pandemic online.

Let's have a free discussion about it after it's over.

[confettiinmyhair]

It's too little too late, there needed to be a 'this time it's serious' message from the get go. They've made compliance of the rules a choice, and there lies the problem.

[Chedney Honks]

Full police state, ultra violent, no exceptions, no trials. Really hurt a small number of people really quickly and publicly and the rest will fucking shit themselves into line. Kick people's doors down for posting hoax shite and turn them into paste in front of their neighbours and families. Batter a politician or a journalist to death on breakfast telly for a minor infraction.

Fuck welding the cuts into their flats. Weld them into a sarcophagus, two people per sarcophagus, in fact, and put it on telly. I saw a cunt eating a pastie in Tesco the other day. He needs to be in a sarcophagus with the mother of his kid and the neighbours can hear the fading hollow reverbed screams. They will never ever take their mask off again.

People wearing a mask improperly, decapitate them and put the heads on spikes around town with the mask under their fucking nose. People will be screaming themselves to exhaustion with fear every night and they will start wearing a nappy at all times because they're so terrified beyond any perspective.

Like in China.

[flotemysost]

Agree with everything but a bit confused by this:

- Advise everyone to ensure their mask has at least 3 layers and double up masks if not, and to wash their reusable masks in hot water and soap after use, tell them not to keep masks in their pockets after they have been used.

I keep my reusable mask in my pocket when I'm not wearing it (although at the moment I keep it on pretty much the whole time I'm outside my flat door, unless I'm in a park or somewhere very open) - it's the easiest way of keeping it to hand and ensuring it gets minimal germs on it (the insides of handbags are Petri dishes). I should add that I always fold them away with the outer side on the outside, and chuck them in the wash when I get home.

I understand why anyone would feel these suggestions are too little too late, but the lack of enforcement around mask wearing, particularly in supermarkets and on public transport, has been really infuriating to see. It should be a relatively simple, cheap but effective measure and even at this point could make a real difference in reducing spread. It's not going to happen though is it.

[Ominous Dave]

Is this just the 'weird totalitarian fantasy' thread now?

The fact is that a successful lockdown requires a populace that basically accepts the rules and conventions of their society and its institutions in the first place, which thanks to decades of socially-divisive neoliberal policies we no longer have. 'Send in the police' and 'send in the army' aren't really solutions to this, partly because they tend to massively overestimate how many police officers and squaddies we actually have.

The best thing to do is just be as responsible as possible in public, and hope Covid kills as many Tory voters as possible.

[Chedney Honks]

Borin

[Fambo Number Mive]

Agree with everything but a bit confused by this:

I keep my reusable mask in my pocket when I'm not wearing it (although at the moment I keep it on pretty much the whole time I'm outside my flat door, unless I'm in a park or somewhere very open) - it's the easiest way of keeping it to hand and ensuring it gets minimal germs on it (the insides of handbags are Petri dishes). I should add that I always fold them away with the outer side on the outside, and chuck them in the wash when I get home.

I understand why anyone would feel these suggestions are too little too late, but the lack of enforcement around mask wearing, particularly in supermarkets and on public transport, has been really infuriating to see. It should be a relatively simple, cheap but effective measure and even at this point could make a real difference in reducing spread. It's not going to happen though is it.

I use one of those food bags with the plastic zip to keep my mask in if I'm taking it off once it's been used, which I then put in my COVID basket to take home. I guess with the pocket it's just because some people might forget it's in there and not wash it. Maybe I was getting a bit too anal with the not in the pocket suggestion.

[George Oscar Bluth II]

At the basic level the problem with this lockdown is in March and April a load of businesses shut because they were not "covid safe". This time they are open. McDonalds, Greggs, Subway are just the tip of the iceberg. So those people are working, they're possibly also sending their kids to school. Then you get the people who've had it already and can't be fucked anymore. And then you have the people who get it but can't afford to stop taking shifts at work and to properly self isolate.

Instinctively against any behaviour policing of individuals, so I think the two things we can do:

- proper sick pay. Maybe even a lump sum of cash to anyone who tests positive, to encourage people to get tests.
- government to be more strict about what can open, with proper support for those they force to close. So fuck off "The Range" and McDonalds and the letting agency near me where all five desks were occupied every time I walked past after Christmas.

[Twit 2]

Climb in a potato sack and get in a ditch till June.

[kittens]

CLOSE ALL HEARING AID SHOPS

[chveik]

furlough for everyone but essential worker kittens

[Captain Z]

Spend 10 minutes clenching every evening.

[imitationleather]

I just remembered that this lockdown I wanted to do something about my faulty ear. In the second half of February I'm definitely going to swing by the old hearing aid shop and get measured up for one.

No way should they be allowed to close before then.

[flotemysost]

proper sick pay

I think this could also make a huge difference (and obviously should be available anyway). I'm not sure if it's changed with the most recent furlough announcements, but just before the current lockdown, individuals classed as extremely vulnerable were being advised not to go to work even if they can't work from home, and the guidance around pay was a vague "see what your employer can offer, hopefully statutory sick pay, or you can always go on Universal Credit".

Admittedly I'm fortunate enough to not know very much about either system, but if that advice still stands then I wouldn't be at all surprised if loads of people were forced to choose between breaking the rules (and putting their lives at risk) and paying rent/eating.

[Zetetic]

The first port of call for the vulnerable is supposed to be furlough.

But, yes making every subject to the whims of their employer when also we're hitting a mix of terrible weather and people having exhausted their financial buffers is not good.

[idunnosomename]

put the blame on boris johnson and carrie symonds, shoot the fuckers in the head, drive corpses up to Middlesbrough, hang him from a scaffold and have people throw shit at his bloated corpse

[disclaimer not an actual threat but a learned reference to the fall of Mussolini!!!]

[poo]

Kill all the poor and thick people they failed to kill through austerity. 👍👍👍👍

[evilcommiedictator]

Ahh the joy I get reading this - in Australia we've got techbros abusing doctors who have been warning about not taking this seriously and complaining about travel restrictions.
Wouldn't it have been grand to close the Scottish border?

[Huxleys Babkins]

One of the biggest problems we have now is supermarkets. Hearing Nadhim Zahawi say "I am worried about supermarkets and people actually wearing masks and following the one-way system and making sure when it's at capacity they wait outside the supermarket", I have to ask "what one way system? What queuing system?" The ones that were in place for a month before they laid off/redeployed the staff who were enforcing them and let it turn into a free for all during Dishy Rishi's Summer COVID Bonanza? They ones you let them forget about with your irresponsible 1m+ fudge?

All the supermarkets near me have had their tape and arrows off the floor for months, there's staff out with cages restocking shelves on the shop floor not giving a shit about distancing or creating adequate space for people to navigate around them. My local Sainsburys has a staff member standing by the front door encouraging people to sign up for Nectar cards. You literally cannot enter the store without being less than 2m away from this woman for at least a few seconds.

The government need to be cracking down hard on supermarkets and ensuring they return to what they were doing during the first lockdown.

[dissolute ocelot]

A lot of businesses still seem to be open and forcing staff to go in unnecessarily. The focus should be on targeting businesses that are endangering people: nobody should be allowed to open unless they can justify they are an essential service, and even then all non-essential staff must be sent home, enforced by big fines and inspections. Businesses that remain open (e.g. supermarkets) must be forced to come up with a COVID plan, and be inspected, and forced to stick to it, as Huxleys says. And organisers of illegal events, parties, businesses opening against rules, need to be dealt with: a combination of more intelligence-led operations and injunctions to stop things happening, with big fines after.

Plus definitely considerations of tightening rules on children based on the latest knowledge of how much they're spreading. But the focus should be on targetting businesses and organisations, and people when they're out in busy public places, not micropolicing how far they drive, how much exercise they do, or what kind of mask they have.

[shiftwork2]

If you're not taking it seriously at this point you are a full-on thick twat.

[frajer]

Sadly a combination of the average thickness of your twat on the street, plus more importantly our incredibly incompetent and morally corrupt leadership mean that this is the most secure lockdown we're going to get.

The fact that face masks were rolled out as "unnecessary" means this was a losing game from the start. Once that initial reasoning has been embraced (by a public who the majority of which would rather not take precautions anyway) you can't take it back no matter how many changes you try and make.

Throw in a governing body that would prefer a large percentage of us died in service to the economy, and don't bother following their own rules (and of course aren't punished when they break those rules) and it's an all-round clusterfuck that basically says "Keep Calm and Carry On stepping over the corpses of your fellow human on the way to work."

EDIT: Sorry, that's proper doom and gloom, and not in the spirit of the thread. I like your ideas and dearly wish they would be used.
Cycled past the train station (a commuter line which goes straight into London) this morning and less than a quarter of the people on the packed platform were wearing masks. There was no way distancing was possible. Left me feeling wretched.

[George Oscar Bluth II]

One of the biggest problems we have now is supermarkets. Hearing Nadhim Zahawi say "I am worried about supermarkets and people actually wearing masks and following the one-way system and making sure when it's at capacity they wait outside the supermarket", I have to ask "what one way system? What queuing system?" The ones that were in place for a month before they laid off/redeployed the staff who were enforcing them and let it turn into a free for all during Dishy Rishi's Summer COVID Bonanza? They ones you let them forget about with your irresponsible 1m+ fudge?

All the supermarkets near me have had their tape and arrows off the floor for months, there's staff out with cages restocking shelves on the shop floor not giving a shit about distancing or creating adequate space for people to navigate around them. My local Sainsburys has a staff member standing by the front door encouraging people to sign up for Nectar cards. You literally cannot enter the store without being less than 2m away from this woman for at least a few seconds.

The government need to be cracking down hard on supermarkets and ensuring they return to what they were doing during the first lockdown.

Absolutely this. The only place I could possibly have got it is the supermarket and it's a free for all in there now, no queuing system, no limit on numbers, cunts wandering around without masks, the full lot.

[confettiinmyhair]

They could've extended supermarket opening times, particularly at weekends, to enable less people to go at the same peak times.

I'm concerned about the talk of banning support bubbles, but that's mostly due to my own current personal circumstances after a seperation late last year. I'm not sure how something like that could affect me seeing my son.

[Uncle TechTip]

They could've extended supermarket opening times, particularly at weekends, to enable less people to go at the same peak times.

I'm concerned about the talk of banning support bubbles, but that's mostly due to my own current personal circumstances after a seperation late last year. I'm not sure how something like that could affect me seeing my son.

Shitting on key workers there. People could just observe the rules. And ultimately it's not down to government, it's up to each of us to reduce contact. Shopping alone for instance is something that it's said people aren't doing this time.

[Fambo Number Mive]

Many of us are doing the best we can to reduce contact but others aren't, and there's not a lot individual people who are obeying the rules can do about that. Government can't do everything but they are the ones in charge and the ones who can implement additional regulations.

[MojoJojo]

I'm concerned about the talk of banning support bubbles, but that's mostly due to my own current personal circumstances after a seperation late last year. I'm not sure how something like that could affect me seeing my son.

The guidance was:

"Where parents or someone with parental responsibility do not live in the same household, children under 18 can be moved between their parents' homes to continue existing arrangements for access and contact."

..and if anyone in either household has symptoms everyone has to self-isolate.

But now I look the document that was in has been withdrawn https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/full-guidance-on-staying-at-home-and-away-from-others/full-guidance-on-staying-at-home-and-away-from-others

... and the replacement is less clear. Although phrases similar to the original guidance can still be found in documents like: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-guidance-on-supporting-children-and-young-peoples-mental-health-and-wellbeing/guidance-for-parents-and-carers-on-supporting-children-and-young-peoples-mental-health-and-wellbeing-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak

Note this is separate to support and childcare bubbles.

I'm also dubious the government will scrap support bubbles. It's good clickbait.

[bgmnts]

Treat the people like the children they are. Either go full on shaming or congratulate them for staying in. "Clap for quarantiners" or some shit.

I know nothing of any effectiveness would ever happen with this turgid excuse for a govt but oh well.

[Fambo Number Mive]

A competition for the best local social distancer.