So, I made it back to Blighty today and into quarantine (at home) and I was just reviewing the rules from the government website. This one surprised me: "The people you’re staying with do not need to self-isolate, unless they travelled with you or you develop the symptoms of coronavirus." https://www.gov.uk/government/publi...lp-you-self-isolate-in-your-own-accommodation I'm staying on my own so I hadn't given much thought to this but it seems to me to be a strange kind of quarantine where one can mingle with others who can then mingle with the general public. The information does go on to give further guidance on reducing the risk of contamination in the shared accommodation but even so, in practice it's not so much self-isolation as mingling by proxy, IMHO. Edit: this isn't intended to be pro- or anti- the principle of quarantining arrivals, just an observation that the implementation seems a little half-arsed.
It is ridiculous. You could have gone back to a family of 4 or 5, say, unknowingly have Covid and then pass it onto them. They can then do as they please and if asymptomatic spread the virus. They have not thought this through at all! Should have been a covid test for a nominal fee on entry to UK, all in household isolate until receive result, then no further quarantine if negative.
A friend of mine in Alaska emailed me this morning and she was saying that there one can choose to pay for an official Covid test on arrival and then exit quarantine if and when it comes back clear. Or one can just sit out the 14 days. It's also worth noting that some people here in the UK are exempt from quarantine: - Travellers from within the Common Travel Area (Ireland, Isle of Man and Channel Islands) - Members of diplomatic missions and consular posts in the UK, officers, servants or representatives of international organisations, representatives at an international or UK conference granted privileges and immunities, and their families or dependents - Representatives of a foreign country or territory and representatives of the British overseas territories, along with their families or dependents travelling to the UK to undertake official business with the UK - Defence personnel, visiting forces and government contractors who the Ministry of Defence has confirmed are required to deliver essential defence activities - UK officials and contractors required to work on essential border security duties - Non-UK officials and contractors required to work on essential border security duties - Crown servants or government contractors travelling to the UK for essential government work - People who live in the UK but work in another country and travel between the UK and country of work at least once a week - People who live outside the UK but work in the UK and travel between their country of residence and the UK at least once a week - Drivers of goods vehicles or public service vehicles and other employees of community licence holders for the international carriage of goods or passengers by coach and bus - People transiting airside (individuals who arrive in the UK but do not pass border control) - Civil aviation inspectors engaged on inspection duties - Eurotunnel train drivers and crew, Eurotunnel Shuttle drivers, freight train drivers, crew and essential cross-border rail freight workers operating through the Channel Tunnel - Drivers and crew of trains operated by Eurostar International Limited, essential cross-border workers working for Eurostar International Limited - Operational rail maintenance, security and safety workers working on the Channel Tunnel system - Workers engaged in essential or emergency works to the rail network as part of a specialist team with or for Network Rail - Seamen and masters as defined in section 313(1) Merchant Shipping Act 1995, maritime pilots as defined in para 22(1) of schedule 3A of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995, and inspectors and surveyors of ships appointed under section 256 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995 - Pilots and crew, as defined in paragraph 1 of Schedule 1 to the Air Navigation Order 2016(h), where such crew have travelled to the UK in the course of their work - Seasonal agricultural workers who have an offer of employment for seasonal work to carry out specific activities in edible horticulture on a named farm - Workers engaged in essential or emergency works, related to water supplies and sewerage services - Workers with specialist technical skills for essential or emergency works or services (including commissioning, maintenance, and repairs and safety checks) to ensure the continued production, supply, movement, manufacture, storage or preservation of goods - Workers with specialist technical skills required for essential or emergency works (including commissioning, maintenance, repairs and safety checks) or to fulfil contractual obligations or warranty specifications in, or in connection with, waste management facilities used for the management, sorting, treatment, recovery, or disposal of waste (including energy from waste) - Workers with specialist technical skills required for essential or emergency works to ensure the continued safe and secure operations of generating stations, gas or electricity transmission or distribution networks, electricity interconnectors, gas terminals or district or communal heat networks - Workers required for the continued safe and secure operation, maintenance and essential support services for offshore oil and gas infrastructure in the UK - Workers with specialist technical skills required for essential or emergency works to ensure the continued safe and secure operations of space infrastructure - Nuclear personnel who are essential to the safe and secure operations of a licensed nuclear site - Nuclear emergency responder - International nuclear safeguards and chemical industry inspectors, representing the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Euratom - Specialist aerospace engineers, or specialist workers responsible for ensuring the safe operation of aircraft. - Workers with specialist technical skills required for essential or emergency works to ensure the continued safe and secure operations of a downstream oil facility that has a capacity in excess of 20,000 tonnes - Postal workers involved in the transport of mail into and out of the UK - Individuals arriving to attend pre-arranged treatment, when receiving that treatment in the UK - Registered health or care professionals travelling to the UK to provide essential healthcare, including where this is not related to coronavirus - If you’ve travelled to the UK for the purpose of transporting, to a healthcare provider in the UK, material which consists of, or includes, human cells or blood which are to be used for the purpose of providing healthcare - Qualified persons and responsible persons for human and veterinary medicines, clinical trials, clinical investigations and pharmacovigilance - Quality assurance inspectors for human and veterinary medicines - Sponsors and essential persons needed for clinical trials or studies - People involved in essential maintenance and repair of data infrastructure required to reduce and resolve outages, or in the provision of goods and services to support these activities - Information technology or telecommunications professionals whose expertise is required to provide an essential or emergency response to threats and incidents relating to the security of any network and information system and ensure the continued operation of any network and information system - People engaged in urgent or essential work on electronic communications networks - People engaged in urgent or essential work for the BBC’s broadcasting transmission network and services - International prison escorts, designated by the relevant Minister under section 5(3) of the Repatriation of Prisoners Act 1984(a) https://www.gov.uk/government/publi...vid-19-travellers-exempt-from-uk-border-rules I think it might only be me that's doing it.
After the BBC found that no fines had been issued for non-compliance with the new quarantine rules, with some police forces adding that there had been no enforcement action whatsoever. a spokesperson for the Home Office said: "We are seeing a high level of compliance". https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-53252096 They're so full of shït. I'm on Day 11 and nobody's contacted me. I doubt anyone is following this up at all unless they're maybe responding to tip-offs. Again, that's not to say it's a bad idea but the implementation is so half-arsed as to be laughable.
The rules are laughable. However, quarantine exists to prevent disease spreading from where it is to where it isn't. We haven't got rabies in this country, other places have, so animals are quarantined to prevent the disease entering this country. We've got Covid-19. In spades. At higher infection rates than in the countries people are traveling from. So what purpose does it serve? There was a time for it. We missed that time spectacularly. By months. Now we're putting sand bags against the front door when the first two levels of the house are completely submerged.
Thanks @JamDrop. I do think there's a place for it, even when traveling from a low risk area, because the journey itself is an infection risk. What we have officially though is just a box-ticking stunt which as @Jay says was brought in far too late. Sadly my Grandad passed away two days ago (not Covid-related, at least not directly) and I wasn't able to leave the house to see him before he died or to support my Mum. That was tough but I know there have been many other people in the same boat recently. Up until then I was quite enjoying the break.
I`m all abart haif arsed (big or little,) bewildering statements, rules, advice and fridge interiors by God I just love those interiors.
I'm due back from Germany, via Holland, on Tuesday. I've got a freezer full of Indians as I expected to be "Home Alone in Dodworth" for 2 weeks. Now it looks like I might actually be able to go and get a proper unfrozen Indian.
I spotted those down the bottom, not giving me much room so had to do a U-turn and get out off there sharpish.
Sorry to hear about your granddad. A far safer and more effective system could be brought into operation that doesn't cause as much inconvenience, doesn't impact on business and travel, and does a far better job of restricting the spread of the virus. Everyone, including everyone on the exempt list, is screened at the point of exit from the country they're leaving. A temperature check, look if the person has symptoms, ask if they've had any symptoms. If there's any doubt, they don't travel, they're sent to get a test and to self-isolate until the results of that test are known. My friend's a nurse in Australia and they've been screened when going to work right from the start of this. It takes seconds. It could easily be completed as part of the checks when going through security without any further delay. And when you get to your destination, exactly the same checks again and then some. Check your passport, check your temperature, check for symptoms, and have a test. No further delay. If there are symptoms, you're taken somewhere to self isolate until the results of that test are known, and depending on the results, maybe a further two weeks. None of this going home and deciding whether to self isolate or not. Exactly the same if you display no symptoms but test positive. You leave an address where you can be contacted for the next three days. If you can't, you don't enter. For everyone else, symptom free and no temperature, and a subsequent negative test: you're given an information leaflet with the protocol in that country: what exactly to do if you begin to develop symptoms. No one is charged for following protocol. No charging for tests, for health care, for accommodation and food if you require treatment or have to go to an Isolation Centre (for want of a better title that doesn't sound so Nazi). But if you don't follow protocol you're heavily fined. Let's not have people self-isolating when they don't have the disease and walking round the streets when they do.
You might want to delay for a few days. Quarantine requirements for many countries will indeed be scrapped but not until next Friday. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-53273048
