How is everyone in the current situation? General Chat

I think the reasoning behind introducing them now rather than before is that the 'extremely vulnerable' come out of lockdown at the end of this month so I guess it's to protect this category rather than the general population.

I think they were wrong in not introducing them earlier and more widespread. They reckon they only give the wearer 20-30% protection and those they come in contact with 60-70%. As I see it, any protection is far better than no protection at all

I don't think all of the supermarkets are going to be insisting on masks being worn, which just adds to the mixed messages that we are being given. Though I will wear a mask to avoid causing friction, if this virus was as microscopic and virulent as they say, there is not a readily available mask that could prevent the spread of infection - and surely the majority of people, (who have not been self-shielding), would have already had it.
I really do not understand why there have not been the predicted clusters of cases following the pictured crowds the beaches, or after the mass BLM demonstrations. Apart from Care Homes, the vulnerable areas seem to be where there is a dense South Asian occupation, and nobody seems to be very sure why this should be the case.
There is a Government scheme which is selecting random persons for immunity testing, (Pick me, pick me), but the ones that I know of have been negative, and not had the antibody.

A town in Lancashire and Luton have both announced going back to lockdown today so I'm guessing that we are seeing a rise again, but it's not being as well publicised.

I don’t believe it has anything to do with those in ‘high risk’ category, If that was the case then why is it that some places you need one and some places you don’t.

Personally I believe it’s to encourage more people into shops, but it might have the opposite effect, and is already causing confrontations, what a mess.

Yes, those are the ones which have a dense South Asian population. Leicester, Luton and Blackburn/Darwen.

We are currently in a weekend lockdown - from 4pm until 5am on Sunday, with all shops and malls closed. But it is Shabbat so they would be closed in any case, although some major supermarkets do usually open on a Saturday evening after Shabbat is out.
However, restaurants are allowed to open - but Kosher restaurants would of course not be open during Shabbat either, and as far as I know the beaches will still be open.

As for the figures, as of 20 minutes ago Israel had recorded 1,493 new cases, which is an increase of 2.57% from this time yesterday, and the day is not over yet. Recorded deaths so far today are up by 1.36%.

The figures for the UK are 178 new cases, up 0.26% and123 deaths, up by 0.27%.

When you think how small Israel is, about twelve times smaller than the UK and with a population that is a fraction of that of the UK, you can see how bad our figures are,

@Malka I appreciate that those are worrying statistics. I never realised that Israel was so much smaller than the UK.

Carole - this might give you an idea:

Israel [22,072 km²] - The UK [243,610 km² sq km] so Israel is about 12 times smaller being only 8.53% of the size of the entire UK and only 1.06 larger than Wales [20,800 km²]

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Size comparison Israel/UK so you can see how bad our figures are when you compare the sizes of the two.

https://www.mylifeelsewhere.com/country-size-comparison/israel/united-kingdom

Incidentally, we are about the same size in area as the State of New Jersey in the US but with a population of less than half of that of NJ.

So many interesting comments.
I wear a mask when I shop, I hate the blasted things they are so dang uncomfortable and steam up my glasses..lol.. I think they are best served if you 'have' the virus and start to splutter, the mask has a good chance of catching a lot of the particles. So its a kind of courtesy thing to wear one.
Personally I think the whole approach by the UK to the virus has been pretty shambolic, they could see how quickly the virus spreads yet in the early stages did very little about it until too late. They said the population does not need to wear face masks then does a U turn.... derr...
I was also shocked at the throngs of people tightly packed on the beaches and in parks. The government is sending out such weak signals the people are not taking the virus seriously enough.

This doesn't help....... silly old Boris...

Way too much reliance on common sense here in the UK. Unfortunately, way too little common sense being shown

The sooner major infection areas here are put back into full lockdown - preferably the whole country the way this second wave is spreading - the better. The situation is almost out of control in many places.

Yesterday the number of confirmed cases here was 150% higher than the number in the UK.

We have been very lucky here so far, be interesting to see what happens in few weeks time.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...-Staycation-hotspots-campsites-booked-up.html

Numbers are rising though Vee. It's worrying. I'm not so sure that there will be another furlough scheme after employers have been shown to use it and then lay people off as soon as it finishes. A bit of a kick in the teeth when the scheme was aimed at keeping people employed

It has all been a shambles.
Social distancing has gone out of the window,people crammed like sardines on the beaches.
No masks in gyms, Hairdressers, pubs or the work place ect: but you have to wear them in shops, who have been adhering to social distancing and where you pass someone in a second or two’ but you don't need one in a pub or restaurant where you might be with the same people hours ,
You couldn’t make it up, what a bl**dy joke.

And when the economy and society is completely wrecked we will still have Covid,

It's a nightmare here. 10 am this morning and all the car parks in town were full. We have a route where it's very quiet, but we daren't risk that tomorrow or Sunday. Now it looks like Fridays are out too.

It sounds like the police are being given a kick up the backside and will have to enforce the mask rules from 8th(?) August. Pubs here have gone crazy and fights are breaking out every weekend.

I hope the kids do go back to school in September as we might be able to get some measure of safety again. At the moment, social distancing is out the window. Small towns and villages designed to accommodate a couple of thousand inhabitants are swamped with thousands of visitors. It's a recipe for disaster

It must be a nightmare Chris. I read in the Mail this morning that Salcombe normally has a population of about 2,000 in the winter but it risen to about 25,000 after the lockdown ended last month. How are people who live there supposed to have any sort of normal life?

I am so glad that I live in a small place that most people would say is in the middle of nowhere.

I am becoming more and more convinced that the world outside my door and the world behind my monitor no longer exist, and that the only reality is inside my home.

We currently have various restrictions in place, one of which, and I quote, is "A prohibition on gatherings in the private sphere, the public sphere, public places and places of business, of more than 20 people in open areas and of more than 10 in a structure." That includes private parties.

Yesterday evening someone had a party a few doors away from my home. I do not know which side as it was impossible to tell, but there were cars parked across the road, opposite my home and both up and down the road. More cars were parked in the little side road where the macolet is, and in the small parking area opposite it for customers. There were already a few cars parked across from me before the macolet closed and once it did [just before 9pm] more and more cars appeared. Even from half way up my ramp, which was as far as I could get on my crutches, I counted at least 20 cars, all on the opposite side of the road - I could not see if there were any this side because I would have had to get up to the pavement to see.

Noise. Music. And believe me Mizrachi music is nothing but bang bang bang of drums and wailing voices. Even with my door and every window in the bungalow closed the bang bang bang could be felt through the ground. Forgetting the current restrictions for the moment, the law has always been that noisy parties must not go on past 11pm - this went on until nearly 1am - and of course our gates are closed at 11pm in any case so how they got off the Moshav I do not know.

I have no idea who it was and I can only think that it was someone who had recently moved here and was renting - the very few places that are ever available for rent are those that older people used to live in and that their families did not need so rented them out, and there are many people all over the country who have moved out of towns during the pandemic if they had the opportunity.

The police are supposed to go and shut down late, noisy parties at the best of times, let alone during the pandemic when restrictions are in place, but would they come out last night? No, because they are not interested in anything outside of town. I spoke with Amit this morning and he said I should have telephoned him however late it was, and he would have either come out or telephoned the person who is responsible for such matters on Moshavim and Kibbutzim in this area.

I really am beginning to wonder if there really is or has been a coronavirus, or whether I am just imagining it all and what I read and what I hear is just a figment of my imagination.

It's ridiculous how people are treating the epidemic without thought and have just gone back to normal. It's crazy and as a result, numbers are starting to rise again. I can see another lockdown here during the autumn/winter

I am sick of the words like furlough, lockdown, numbers, shielding, social distancing, spike, Could'. 'May'. 'Possibly', facemasks, mortality rates Blah Blah Blah.
One new rule conflicts with another leading to paradoxes and confusion.

I feel like there must be lots of people just bubbling under ready to explode,as an older person who ticks a few of the 'vulnerable' boxes i can't live like this forever so I am taking the necessary precautions and going out and living life as normally as possible in this situation.

It is 99% certain that we will be put in lockdown for the High Holidays - Rosh Hashana starts Friday-Sunday 18-20 September, followed by Yom HaKippurim on Sunday-Monday 27-28 September. Then Succot-Simchat Torah from Friday 2 October to Sunday 11 October.

Our school year starts on 1 September so even if they do open, and it will not be for all grades until who-knows-when, they will be shut during these dates.

Infection rates are going up and up and it seems that nobody believes them any more.