Monday, the 23rd of March, 2020
I have not posted since last Wednesday, so there's a bit to catch up on. As a re-cap, our family was in isolation last week, following W developing a very mild, intermittent and sporadic cough. W and N stayed home from school all week, and G worked from home for the week. On Wednesday, the 18th of March, schools were ordered to be closed at end of the day on Friday, the 20th of March. Schools would continue to be open for children of health care personnel, and "key workers"-workers at supermarkets, carers, delivery drivers, police, etc. Also, exams have been cancelled for the year. No GCSE's or A levels. Finally, up to 40 tube stations were to be closed. I don't believe they were ordered closed by the government, but I believe by TfL. Probably outlying stations (not Zone 1). In train and buses that are still running, they are running less frequently, and for reduced hours.
On Friday, I also ventured out for my weekly grocery shop. I went to the Aldi that I usually go to. This week, the car park was full, and I needed to park several minutes walk away. The queue to get into the store was wrapped around the building and stretched to the back of the car park. When I did get into the store, most items were available. The limit at Aldi was 4 of each item. I picked up a bunch of bananas. When I got to the till, the cashier counted the bananas in the bunch-6-and asked me to pull 2 bananas off, so I did not exceed the limit of 4 of each item. I then went to Sainsbury's to get the items on my list that I could not get at Aldi. At Sainsbury's, the limit was 3 of each item. Different stores have different limits. At Lidl, the limit is one of each item. Between the 2 stores, I was able to get 95% of my grocery list.
Boris Johnson has been speaking nightly, at 5pm, with a news conference, followed by a Q and A session. On Friday, (20th of March), he announced that all social gatherings must stop. All restaurants, bars, clubs, theatres, gyms must close at the end of today (Friday, 20th of March). It is no longer optional for these places to close-it is mandated. Restaurants may continue to do take away meals, but there is no eating-in allowed. A lot of restaurants and cafes were either only doing take away already, or just closed. There were not a lot of people eating out. But this decree made these businesses close, to be revisited in one month. It will be interesting to see what difference one month will make.
On Friday, the 20th of March, the Prime Minister also announced a "Corona Virus Job Retention Scheme". This is a grant to cover MOST (80%) of workers pay up to 2500 GBP/month, for those that are not allowed to work at this time (restaurants, pubs, theatres....). They will backdate the bill to the 1st of March, and it will be revisited in 3 months. Business loans interest will be free for 12 months, and deferring next quarter's VAT to the end of June.
Sunday, the 22nd of March, is Mothering Sunday in the UK. In days leading up to Mother's Day, Boris Johnson had told people NOT to get together for Mother's Day. G went to Leeds to pick up J. We continued to stay home otherwise. The PM spoke at 5pm, and advised those >70 years old, and other medically fragile/immunocompromised/clinically vulnerable people to stay inside for 12 weeks. This affects 1.5 million of the UK. The NHS will be contacting those affected by letter and urge them to stay home, and follow up with a text and phone call. They should have family or neighbors looks after them for groceries, etc. If they don't have anyone who can assist, they will arrange assistance. Deaths in the UK are now 281. It is estimated that we are 2-3 weeks behind Italy.
On Monday, the 23rd of March, 2020, Boris did not have his 5pm meeting, as he was in a Cobra meeting. He conducted it at 830pm. During this speech, he ordered all that we must stay home, only to leave for food shopping, which is to be done as infrequently as possible. You may go outside for one form of exercise/day, or if there is a medical need to do so. You may go to work if absolutely necessary, and can not be done from home. Police have the power to order groups to disperse, and fine people. All shops that are still open (selling non-essential items) are ordered closed-clothing, hair salons, places of worship. All gatherings of greater than 2 people are banned. Social functions such as wedding, baptisms and ceremonies are off. Funerals can still go on. These measures will be reviewed in three weeks. Playgrounds, tennis courts, etc closed. We will continue to do as we have been-just now it is enforceable by the police.
Before Boris's speech, I ran to our local Tesco Express, to grab some milk. Not much on the shelves, not able to get our skimmed milk-only organic semi-skimmed available. But desperate times call for desperate measures. I heard on the radio as I was going to Tesco, that milk deliveries are up by 25,000 customers, who now want their milk delivered.
From
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-information-for-the-public :
As of 9am on 23 March 2020, a total of 83,945 people have been tested, of which 77,295 were confirmed negative and 6,650 were confirmed positive, an increase of 967. There are 16 cases in CWAC.
As of 1pm on 23 March 2020, 335 patients in the UK who tested positive for coronavirus (COVID-19) have died.
More to come.......We must stay home.
