Coronavirus

[Graham Breeze]

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However, we got to thinking, how would the local hospitality industry cope (presumably similarly all over the UK), when pubs, restaurants and cafes, and the like, have vastly reduced capacity. I can't envisage so many visitors/tourists being satisfied with remaining in their B&B rooms or holiday cottages, when they might want to be eating and drinking out during the day or of an evening.

But when the demand obviously exceeds supply again won't all those closed restaurants reopen because of the abundent business opportunities - possibly even with the previous owners? Where I live (Ilkley) businesses and notably restaurants/coffee + tea rooms close in the bad times but reopen with great speed when the good times return.

[Mossdog]

But when the demand obviously exceeds supply again won't all those closed restaurants reopen because of the abundent business opportunities - possibly even with the previous owners? Where I live (Ilkley) businesses and notably restaurants/coffee + tea rooms close in the bad times but reopen with great speed when the good times return.

My point was primarily about visitors' experiences rather than the financial viability of a reduced customer capacity affecting the sustainability, or not, of businesses.

Maybe these indoor restrictions will promote a healthy 'pop-up' outdoor form of trading! We'll see. I can see the sale of warm, weather proof clothing getting a boost as well as outdoor heaters, etc!

[Fellbeast]

We recently camper vanned around Wales and, although we did eat out a couple of times at pubs in the evening, most times they were either already fully booked or just looked too busy for us to want to go there. So we just ate in in the van.

That's not nearly so easily done though if you're staying at a B&B. Maybe more B&Bs will need to open up an evening meal option too??

[Witton Park]

We recently camper vanned around Wales and, although we did eat out a couple of times at pubs in the evening, most times they were either already fully booked or just looked too busy for us to want to go there. So we just ate in in the van.

That's not nearly so easily done though if you're staying at a B&B. Maybe more B&Bs will need to open up an evening meal option too??

I bet you feel liberated now you've been outed. You can speak openly once again

[Graham Breeze]

We recently camper vanned around Wales and, although we did eat out a couple of times at pubs in the evening, most times they were either already fully booked..

Well did you not say "But I'm really Stolly!"

[Mossdog]

Well did you not say "But I'm really Stolly!"

Let's at least have the old Stolly Avatar back with the Hes, Rooks print.

[Fellbeast]

Let's at least have the old Stolly Avatar back with the Hes, Rooks print.

Magpies 😉

[Mossdog]

Magpies 😉

Doh! Of course. Apologies. More a reflection of my addled memory than the quality of the print.

[Mike T]

https://www.bmj.com/content/370/bmj.m3702/rr-2

Let me summarise my view: children and young people have a great deal to lose from measures that restrict their education, social development and freedom and have relatively little to lose from the infection. Older people like myself (67 years of age, retired, married and an Indian male) have little to lose from restrictions. Indeed, several friends and colleagues have welcomed them as a restful period when they become more prosperous. I have much to lose from the infection. Nonetheless, I am not prepared to sacrifice the well-being of children and young people for society to try to reduce my risk to zero, which is near impossible until the virus is vanquished worldwide. I believe society should concentrate the scarce resources we have to protect those who are frail or for other reasons cannot protect themselves. People in a privileged position like myself have to apply well-known solutions: hygiene, social distancing and face masks.

Raj Bhopal
Emeritus Professor of Public Health

We would all like to be able to protect the vulnerable whilst at the same time letting the young "live", not so they can catch it, but knowing they will. But no country in the world has succeeded in doing this - Covid always leaks from the young to the old/vulnerable. Lots of the vulnerable are not old - they work, have kids, are in contact with lots of the public, and have high blood pressure/diabetes/auto-immune disease/malignancy and so on - without Covid most have many quality years to live - if they catch it, things may be very different. And we need to remember that a significant number of young people with no underlying illnesses end up unwell for months.

Yesterday's More or Less on BBC R4 was interesting - it well and truly put to bed the "They are mainly false positives" story. Statistics are not simple, yet some non experts think they know more about this field than trained statisticians - the all too common not knowing what we don't know. Worth a listen - and it covers caffeine in pregnancy as well.

[Witton Park]

We would all like to be able to protect the vulnerable whilst at the same time letting the young "live", not so they can catch it, but knowing they will. But no country in the world has succeeded in doing this

That's because they all seems to have made that same error in the early stages of the disease.

I don't know the exact figures, but it's around half of the deaths attributed to Covid are from care homes.

The Christopher Snowdon piece went further, suggesting a voluntary individual lockdown.

You want to lockdown? The Govt will support you, if they aren't already.