Covid - coming out of Lockdown 3 - no politics, less opinion and more facts and information.

[Ohmisterporter]

IIRC the mouth to mouth breathing element of the CPR was abandoned some time ago. I did my last first aid at work course some eight years ago and it was absent then. If it has been re-introduced and the need for CPR arose I would still not do mouth to mouth.

[hayfield]

42 minutes ago, AY Mod said:

 

You make it sound like that's a good thing. I hope you've never had to survive on either.

 

Track and trace has not caused these problems, the biggest problem is the virus being transmitted from person to person. The sooner this transmission process is broken the better it is for all.

I never bought the poor into this, those who flout the rules come from all ages and income groups. As I said many who cannot afford to do so have still done it.

 

 

[Phil Parker]

1 hour ago, hayfield said:

 

So that's a good reason for going out infecting people, some of whom may be hospitalised or even die

 

The UK has a benefits system, plus there are hundreds of charities giving away food etc to those in need

 

I am sorry Phil but many extremely poor people are both isolating or shielding as requested, but its not just the poor who are doing this, its also many who are not financially disadvantaged

 

You would be happy to watch your family starve to death locked away at home. Others, it has been reported,  aren't. 

 

Lack of provision for those self isolating has been discussed widely in the media. There is some cover, but plenty of gaps for people to fall between. 

[hayfield]

59 minutes ago, bradfordbuffer said:

Go back to pre November 2019....how many peaple use to come to work with a stinking slobbering heavy cold/man flu ...infecting 50% ...I cant sit at home I'll be bored! I'll soldier on! No one can do my job better than me! Self proclaimed work alcoholic....pre covid i tried as much as possible to give driving controls the once over with the antibacterial from the galley on board that was just for my own self cleanseing but glad I left in feb 2020...(hats off to all that kept the wheels turning in all transportation...! May and June was prity harrowing as a civilian sat on my arse at home receiving amazon and supermarket on line shops)...different world now....cough or sneeze in public see the reaction around...mask or not!..indoors or out.

 

As a straw poll how many foke would be prepared to administer full CPR? In regards to c19 infection rate.? Cant do it at 2 meters.(again hats off to emergency personnel who have had too)..Suppose just like the 90s when no one would do it coz of the fear of aids!...remember the little one way mouth guard that was in first aid kits! Got to find it first before recipient pegged out!

 

In 2019 the health and safety regulations at work demanded I stayed at home (away from work). You are quite right in that after suffering a PE I went back to work too early, but then it is not contagious. Covid is completely different, as was bird flu, a work colleague caught it on holiday, and was off work for a few weeks, as it happens a newspaper paid him a tidy sum for his story

 

As you have said the world is different and to our detriment many died in the early days because we treated it as if it was similar to the flu

[jonny777]

1 hour ago, Pete the Elaner said:

 

I agree. Surely the vaccinations are having an effect now around half the population (& most of the more vulnerable) have had their first dose?

I don't listen to closely to politicians because they seem to say a lot of things for popularity & to discredit their opposition.

 

Fortunately there are certain figures we can access easily.

The first wave was slightly later in the year than the second. The lockdown did help a lot to reduce the infection rate, but it seemed to get a huge boost when the weather got better.

The figures were also skewed a little because deaths from some institutions were not being recorded properly until the media exposed it.

The 2nd lockdown contained the 2nd wave but did not reduce it. When this was relaxed, things got badly out of hand.

The 3rd lockdown was already in place before this year started, so was 3 months earlier in the year than the 1st one. It therefore had to cope with the coldest months when viral infections are usually higher. Should it have been a surprise that the 2nd wave was worse & longer than the 1st?

It would be some time before the warmer weather would be here to help.

Looking at deaths in the UK, the 2nd wave was in quite a steep remission during February, so the weather was not helping this time around. If the lockdown adherence had been the same as in lockdown 1, then the remission should have been slightly slower.

Many places stayed open (take-aways, DIY stores) & people seemed to be moving around a lot more, so the remission should have been slower still.

But it wasn't. Death rate remission was far greater than lockdown 1.

So something else must have been having an effect. What else was happening around the same time?

 

Draw your own conclusions...

 

I think you may be misinterpreting the influence of the weather. 

 

Warm weather encourages people to be outside much more. This is now seen as the best place to be with the air dispersing the virus. 

 

Ironically, the early advice during lockdown 1 was to stay indoors and the police were even fining people for sitting on park benches even if many yards away from the nearest other person. 

 

We thought the virus would be floating around in the air and infecting us all. Fortunately, experience has taught us the exact opposite is the problem. It is in closed indoor spaces with groups of people congregating together where the virus spreads the quickest. 

 

Then comes travel which moves the virus around the quickest. Most forms of transport, other than the private car, are going to be rapid spreaders as they consist of groups of people in confined indoor spaces where outside direct ventilation is poor, and air conditioning is prevalent. 

 

Cold weather merely forces the majority of people inside their homes, closing doors and windows. This is no problem when lockdown restrictions also force everyone to remain in discrete household groups; but last autumn that was not the case. 

 

I think the next (vaccine limited) spike will be linked to how quickly the public insist on getting together within enclosed areas, restaurants, cinemas, theatres, and the like; and also how quickly the long distance travel market - especially by air - is opened up. No one really knows whether the vaccinated people will continue to spread the virus, while experiencing much milder symptoms, or not. 

 

I shall remain cautious. 

 

[hayfield]

9 minutes ago, Phil Parker said:

 

You would be happy to watch your family starve to death locked away at home. Others, it has been reported,  aren't. 

 

Lack of provision for those self isolating has been discussed widely in the media. There is some cover, but plenty of gaps for people to fall between. 

 

So its fine to disregard the rules and go and infect as many as you can.

 

Its also been widely reported there are many welfare groups in addition to the government welfare system helping to support those who are in need.

 

 

[lapford34102]

SWMBO and I had our 2nd O-AZ jabs this afternoon, that's just over 7 weeks from the 1st. Done at a local mass vacc centre it was busy but very well organised. No queueing but quickly processed for name etc and directed to a socially distanced seat set in twin rows and the vaccine brought to you, Very efficient.  So far sore arms only.

Stu

[bradfordbuffer]

36 minutes ago, Phil Parker said:

 

You would be happy to watch your family starve to death locked away at home. Others, it has been reported,  aren't. 

 

Lack of provision for those self isolating has been discussed widely in the media. There is some cover, but plenty of gaps for people to fall 

27 minutes ago, hayfield said:

 

So its fine to disregard the rules and go and infect as many as you can.

 

Its also been widely reported there are many welfare groups in addition to the government welfare system helping to support those who are in need.

 

 

 

Also many needy who dont ask for help and fall through the cracks...for different reasons...

 

Local gov food parcels in LD1.0 where a joke rubbish content and sporadic...but became more frequent when he requested them to stop! As he had plenty of help and wanted others more needy to get them so this is where some could fall down cracks...it was a learning curve for all gov..local and national so cant blame one colour or the other

[APOLLO]

So, many questions - most unanswerable at the current time - but questions none the less.

 

Are we (in the UK) currently coming out of this pandemic, or will it go on and on and on with new lockdowns etc ? Another 6 month lockdown will finish the UK as we know it.

 

Are vaccines safe or not ? - Self & Mrs have had the AZ jab, and have no qualms re the second dose. Is the clot problem a real issue statistically / medically ?

 

Once the majority have had their 2 doses (say by Autumn), is that it ? Freedom for all ? Back to normality ? What will the "new" "normality" be ? 

 

Foreign travel - will it restart when other countries are suffering increases in cases ? Should we lock down / have locked down like Australia N/Z ? - which brings us to the question - Will Australia / NZ EVER open up again to travel (holidays) ? To me they are now as isolated as they where 150 years ago.

 

Cases are kicking off in Thailand which up to now has fared well - so no holidays there for a while, or perhaps quite a while. (20% of Thailand's GDP is tourism). Many other countries in a similar position, 

 

Time will tell, but I am beginning to have serious concerns going forward which are non medical related.

 

Brit15

 

 

 

 

[John M Upton]

Let us not forget the gig economy and many employers in the lower paid cash in hand sectors who operate a simple policy of if you don't turn up for work, you are fired.

 

Supposed to be illegal of course but it does happen and someone with a sniffle or mild cough will be unwilling to take the risk and will go into work anyway.

[LBRJ]

I would hope that the formerly too easy availability of "international travel" is gone for good.

 

Don't quote me, cos I cant quote it, but I am sure I read (somewhere) that about 60% of all airline miles are people who are just going off on a bit of a jolly  - surely that has got to change?

[NIK]

22 minutes ago, John M Upton said:

Let us not forget the gig economy and many employers in the lower paid cash in hand sectors who operate a simple policy of if you don't turn up for work, you are fired.

 

Supposed to be illegal of course but it does happen and someone with a sniffle or mild cough will be unwilling to take the risk and will go into work anyway.

Hi,

 

My brother in law works for a company contracted to NHS 119 and providing telephone booking for COVID tests.

 

He decided he wouldn't risk asking for time off when moving house even though he had to work from home and was reliant on high speed broadband being switched to the new house to do his job.

 

Regards

 

Nick

[monkeysarefun]

7 hours ago, woodenhead said:

Money does indeed talk, especially in Australia who has been welcoming many a Hollywood celebrity to it's shores whilst denying it's own citizens a fair chance to return home because of the cost of getting a seat on a plane plus the quarantine.  The rich can also specify where they will quarantine contrasting with the rest who don't get such a choice.  It was also a kick in the teeth when Australia welcomed all those tennis players on specially chartered flights, but no special charters to return it's citizens home.

 

Money always talks, I wonder how many rich folk set off for their bolt holes in New Zealand when the pandemic began.

 

 

I can understand where you are coming from but please understand  that the reality of the situation has been highly  distorted and over-simplified by the BBC and other overseas outlets.

 

1) In March 2020 Australian government announced impending border closures and gave expats 2 weeks to return. Understandably for those with longterm or established overseas commitments this time limit would have been impractical, as would organising travel via countries that were imposing restrictions or closing their borders at the same time, but there were also many holidaymakers who chose to take the risk of continuing on with their overseas holidays. 

 

2) Since March 2020 over 500,000 expats HAVE been flown back to Australia.

 

3)  Airlines flying into Australia are very limited, understandably  given the poor return - flights have very low maximum passenger limits, less than 40 per flight and the cost of flying 40 people to Australia is prohibitive, hence the sky-high costs of a ticket. If you can afford to pay first class and above premium prices you will obviously get more chance of a seat. Thats how airlines recoup some of the costs, but many  are still bleeding out cash  with each flight here. Additionally numbers of tickets they can sell are capped according to number of quarantine rooms available on arrival. 

 

4) The government IS running repatriation flights for those stranded, but numbers  flown in are entirely predicated by available quarantine hotel rooms on arrival. We have a finite number of rooms available and the staff to support them and given each room is required for 2 weeks per arrival, then requires a deep clean, this is yet another  bottleneck causing issues. Health experts have recommended maximum numbers of hotels rooms for each state in order to keep control on the number of positive covid cases that arrive, so this limit is unlikely to change any time soon.

 

5) The tennis was  an unpopular decision here especially given Melbourne had just finished the worlds longest and strictest lockdown, and made even more unpopular as players started whinging about not being allowed out of quarantine  to practice hitting a little ball over a net while many 'normal ' people here had lost jobs or were still having their livelihoods restricted or curtailed. In practice though the flights they came in on were 2 special charters put on specifically for the tennis and paid for by them so were not denying returning Australians a seat, and they quarantined in hotels that were not previously quarantine hotels but were specially set up by Tennis Australia for that purpose, then handed over to the government to use as extra quarantine space after the tennis, so the result was actually greater capacity for later arrivals.

 

6) Private charters are still allowed here with permission, most celebrities arrive here that way, so again they are  not denying stranded Australians a seat. Celebrities can be given special permission to self-isolate as long as strict compliance is maintained, and pay for the privilege of having security details and so on. The Sydney Morning Herald obtained figures under the freedom of information act which show that the bill handed to celebrities has been as high as $500,000. Again, way beyond the possibility of  normal plebs who therefore have to wait for a hotel room. (Ed Sheeran and Julia Roberts quarantined together with their families at an isolated Hawksbury River holiday resort just  North of  Sydney and  got cut off during the  recent floods, so they definitely were in isolation!)

 

7) Celebrities are mainly here to work. Many Hollywood movies have relocated shooting here due to the freedom of movement and lack of covid restrictions compared to other parts of the world. As a result this has given windfall opportunities to local film production companies and support staff which had been badly affected over the last 12 months like similar organisations throughout the world were ands still are.  It has been reported that the current and future  films that are being produced here are worth over 2.5  billion dollars to the local film industry alone, a three fold increase on 2019 levels and a huge rebound on the 2020 numbers which were almost zero, so the arrival of celebrities has had a positive effect on our economy except probably Rita Ora.

 

8) I personally know of 2 people allowed to travel OS on compassionate grounds at short notice, one in July last year, one in January this year. Neither had any issues booking return flights, so although they are obviously genuine I'm not sure what many of the people reported as 'trapped overseas' are doing wrong, unless they are in locations that have their own travel issues. Try it for yourself if you log onto one of the flight booking sites and search for a one way ticket London to Sydney for example. I found two seats available on expedia.co.uk on the  random day I checked ( 28/04 two weeks from today) at 3200 pounds each. Exxy, and if there are more than 2 of you it'd be a nightmare co-ordinating flights and quarantine on arrival  but they ARE there. In addition loans and grants  are available from the Government to cover a portion of the airfare. From the UK the loan amount available is 850 pounds 

 

9)  Australia is taking covid incredibly seriously. Given our long history of strict quarantine rules for people, livestock and produce covid is just another one on the list for us. There is almost universal support for all actions the state and feds have done in order to control the virus here, including the almost  total lockdown of our borders.   Unfortunately as a result  there is very little compassion for those overseas amongst the general population, the general mood is "They should have come home when they had the chance.."  This is obviously an unfair opinion in many cases - some stories are heartbreaking but until or unless this consensus in public thinking  shifts  the situation will not change.

 

Edited April 14, 2021 by monkeysarefun

[monkeysarefun]

4 hours ago, Phil Parker said:

 

You would be happy to watch your family starve to death locked away at home. Others, it has been reported,  aren't. 

 

Lack of provision for those self isolating has been discussed widely in the media. There is some cover, but plenty of gaps for people to fall between. 

 

 

It was pretty simple here, if you had to self isolate you either got sick leave if you were an employee ( didn't come out of your 'standard' sick leave entitlement, it was extra.)  If you were casual or on a contract they averaged your last 6 weeks of pay, and you got that amount.

 

Luckily covid got stamped on pretty quick so the cost to employers/government was much much less than initially budgeted for.

[Pete the Elaner]

9 hours ago, jonny777 said:

 

I think you may be misinterpreting the influence of the weather. 

 

Warm weather encourages people to be outside much more. This is now seen as the best place to be with the air dispersing the virus. 

 

Ironically, the early advice during lockdown 1 was to stay indoors and the police were even fining people for sitting on park benches even if many yards away from the nearest other person. 

 

We thought the virus would be floating around in the air and infecting us all. Fortunately, experience has taught us the exact opposite is the problem. It is in closed indoor spaces with groups of people congregating together where the virus spreads the quickest. 

 

Then comes travel which moves the virus around the quickest. Most forms of transport, other than the private car, are going to be rapid spreaders as they consist of groups of people in confined indoor spaces where outside direct ventilation is poor, and air conditioning is prevalent. 

 

Cold weather merely forces the majority of people inside their homes, closing doors and windows. This is no problem when lockdown restrictions also force everyone to remain in discrete household groups; but last autumn that was not the case. 

 

I think the next (vaccine limited) spike will be linked to how quickly the public insist on getting together within enclosed areas, restaurants, cinemas, theatres, and the like; and also how quickly the long distance travel market - especially by air - is opened up. No one really knows whether the vaccinated people will continue to spread the virus, while experiencing much milder symptoms, or not. 

 

I shall remain cautious. 

 

 

Maybe I have .

My aim was to promote individual thought rather than take a politician's word for things.

The fact that you have questioned one of my factors is good.

[Pete the Elaner]

6 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

 

I can understand where you are coming from but please understand  that the reality of the situation has been highly  distorted and over-simplified by the BBC and other overseas outlets.

 

1) In March 2020 Australian government announced impending border closures and gave expats 2 weeks to return. Understandably for those with longterm or established overseas commitments this time limit would have been impractical, as would organising travel via countries that were imposing restrictions or closing their borders at the same time, but there were also many holidaymakers who chose to take the risk of continuing on with their overseas holidays. 

 

2) Since March 2020 over 500,000 expats HAVE been flown back to Australia.

 

3)  Airlines flying into Australia are very limited, understandably  given the poor return - flights have very low maximum passenger limits, less than 40 per flight and the cost of flying 40 people to Australia is prohibitive, hence the sky-high costs of a ticket. If you can afford to pay first class and above premium prices you will obviously get more chance of a seat. Thats how airlines recoup some of the costs, but many  are still bleeding out cash  with each flight here. Additionally numbers of tickets they can sell are capped according to number of quarantine rooms available on arrival. 

 

4) The government IS running repatriation flights for those stranded, but numbers  flown in are entirely predicated by available quarantine hotel rooms on arrival. We have a finite number of rooms available and the staff to support them and given each room is required for 2 weeks per arrival, then requires a deep clean, this is yet another  bottleneck causing issues. Health experts have recommended maximum numbers of hotels rooms for each state in order to keep control on the number of positive covid cases that arrive, so this limit is unlikely to change any time soon.

 

5) The tennis was  an unpopular decision here especially given Melbourne had just finished the worlds longest and strictest lockdown, and made even more unpopular as players started whinging about not being allowed out of quarantine  to practice hitting a little ball over a net while many 'normal ' people here had lost jobs or were still having their livelihoods restricted or curtailed. In practice though the flights they came in on were 2 special charters put on specifically for the tennis and paid for by them so were not denying returning Australians a seat, and they quarantined in hotels that were not previously quarantine hotels but were specially set up by Tennis Australia for that purpose, then handed over to the government to use as extra quarantine space after the tennis, so the result was actually greater capacity for later arrivals.

 

6) Private charters are still allowed here with permission, most celebrities arrive here that way, so again they are  not denying stranded Australians a seat. Celebrities can be given special permission to self-isolate as long as strict compliance is maintained, and pay for the privilege of having security details and so on. The Sydney Morning Herald obtained figures under the freedom of information act which show that the bill handed to celebrities has been as high as $500,000. Again, way beyond the possibility of  normal plebs who therefore have to wait for a hotel room. (Ed Sheeran and Julia Roberts quarantined together with their families at an isolated Hawksbury River holiday resort just  North of  Sydney and  got cut off during the  recent floods, so they definitely were in isolation!)

 

7) Celebrities are mainly here to work. Many Hollywood movies have relocated shooting here due to the freedom of movement and lack of covid restrictions compared to other parts of the world. As a result this has given windfall opportunities to local film production companies and support staff which had been badly affected over the last 12 months like similar organisations throughout the world were ands still are.  It has been reported that the current and future  films that are being produced here are worth over 2.5  billion dollars to the local film industry alone, a three fold increase on 2019 levels and a huge rebound on the 2020 numbers which were almost zero, so the arrival of celebrities has had a positive effect on our economy except probably Rita Ora.

 

8) I personally know of 2 people allowed to travel OS on compassionate grounds at short notice, one in July last year, one in January this year. Neither had any issues booking return flights, so although they are obviously genuine I'm not sure what many of the people reported as 'trapped overseas' are doing wrong, unless they are in locations that have their own travel issues. Try it for yourself if you log onto one of the flight booking sites and search for a one way ticket London to Sydney for example. I found two seats available on expedia.co.uk on the  random day I checked ( 28/04 two weeks from today) at 3200 pounds each. Exxy, and if there are more than 2 of you it'd be a nightmare co-ordinating flights and quarantine on arrival  but they ARE there. In addition loans and grants  are available from the Government to cover a portion of the airfare. From the UK the loan amount available is 850 pounds 

 

9)  Australia is taking covid incredibly seriously. Given our long history of strict quarantine rules for people, livestock and produce covid is just another one on the list for us. There is almost universal support for all actions the state and feds have done in order to control the virus here, including the almost  total lockdown of our borders.   Unfortunately as a result  there is very little compassion for those overseas amongst the general population, the general mood is "They should have come home when they had the chance.."  This is obviously an unfair opinion in many cases - some stories are heartbreaking but until or unless this consensus in public thinking  shifts  the situation will not change.

 

 

Australia have certainly managed some things very well.

I follow speedway, a sport in which Australians are well represented & rightfully so because it was invented there back in the 1920s.

Back in January, one rider (Jake Allen) made a statement explaining why he will not ride in the UK in 2021:

 

His UK work permit allows him only to earn money by riding speedway. He is not allowed to supplement this with something else.

Their pay is very much influenced by how many points they score. A few bad meetings means their pay is poor. They are then less able to maintain their bikes which means it is even harder to score anything.

If things go badly during a normal season, they can go home & work but..

This season, returning home will cost £3500. This covers the cost of flights & isolation, so the rider must keep this in reserve. Without it, they are stuck in the UK with no way of earning it.

If you have a sick bike & have just over £3500 left, what do you do? Use it & maroon yourself in the UK? Another failure in your next race would be trouble.

 

The point is, Australia have made it very clear that he is responsible for his on immigration on return & will need £3500 to get back home.  He was able to make an informed decision based on this.

[eastglosmog]

10 hours ago, Ohmisterporter said:

IIRC the mouth to mouth breathing element of the CPR was abandoned some time ago. I did my last first aid at work course some eight years ago and it was absent then. If it has been re-introduced and the need for CPR arose I would still not do mouth to mouth.

Mouth to mouth was included in the last first aid course I did (about 2.5 years ago, now) and was the recommended method.  We were recommended to use a mask (or even a clean handkerchief) over the mouth before doing it.  Make sure a face mask is in your first-aid kit!

[boxbrownie]

10 hours ago, bradfordbuffer said:

Also many needy who dont ask for help and fall through the cracks...for different reasons...

 

Local gov food parcels in LD1.0 where a joke rubbish content and sporadic...but became more frequent when he requested them to stop! As he had plenty of help and wanted others more needy to get them so this is where some could fall down cracks...it was a learning curve for all gov..local and national so cant blame one colour or the other

After we registered for vulnerable and isolating in LD1 we received the food packages each week reliably, we were surprised as we really don’t need them but they were very welcome, especially to the local food bank who we arranged to come and collect the package each day it arrived.

 

In most areas I assume the system worked.

[Reorte]

17 minutes ago, boxbrownie said:

After we registered for vulnerable and isolating in LD1 we received the food packages each week reliably, we were surprised as we really don’t need them but they were very welcome, especially to the local food bank who we arranged to come and collect the package each day it arrived.

 

In most areas I assume the system worked.

I suppose the effort to decide who really needs them would be rather intrusive, poking around in to peoples' affairs, and may cost more than it would save by being a bit more general in their distribution.

[hayfield]

37 minutes ago, boxbrownie said:

After we registered for vulnerable and isolating in LD1 we received the food packages each week reliably, we were surprised as we really don’t need them but they were very welcome, especially to the local food bank who we arranged to come and collect the package each day it arrived.

 

In most areas I assume the system worked.

 

A stark difference from claims of starving people, as you say may differ from area to area and seemingly dependent on the good will of volunteers. plus the beneficiary being savvy enough to access the benefits

 

Thanks for the info

 

[AY Mod]

11 hours ago, APOLLO said:

Are vaccines safe or not ? .... Is the clot problem a real issue statistically / medically ?

 

Whilst many of your questions can't be answered I think this piece from yesterday is very useful on that question.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/apr/13/how-uk-doctor-marie-scully-blood-clotting-link-astrazeneca-covid-jab-university-college-london-hospital

 

There's definitely a link it seems but clever people and science means that there could be faster and more effective treatments for anyone affected.

[AY Mod]

Food parcels - we have a fantastic local community charity (supported and funded mainly by locals) who delivered a basic food parcel to each and every household in the darkest days of last spring without any discrimination between who was in need or not. Most people we know put it all back into the charity chain but it was heartwarming that such a thing was done across the board. They probably increased their profile and support by this sign of activity than it would have cost to do.

[Oldddudders]

47 minutes ago, AY Mod said:

 

Whilst many of your questions can't be answered I think this piece from yesterday is very useful on that question.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/apr/13/how-uk-doctor-marie-scully-blood-clotting-link-astrazeneca-covid-jab-university-college-london-hospital

 

There's definitely a link it seems but clever people and science means that there could be faster and more effective treatments for anyone affected.

These people are the WW2 Fighter Pilots of our age, taking on a new foe and identifying the means to defeat it. And thank God for the Internet, allowing instant updating of info among the experts. 

[boxbrownie]

1 hour ago, hayfield said:

 

A stark difference from claims of starving people, as you say may differ from area to area and seemingly dependent on the good will of volunteers. plus the beneficiary being savvy enough to access the benefits

 

Thanks for the info

 

All we did was register for a priority shopping slot on the Gov website, and waited for the supermarkets to contact us (of which only ASDA and Waitrose did, although waitrose had NO priority slots available, crazy eh?), the food package coming was a complete surprise as we didn't specifically ask for that, as for the volunteers ours was delivered by a Brake van, the massive food service. 

[boxbrownie]

1 hour ago, AY Mod said:

Food parcels - we have a fantastic local community charity (supported and funded mainly by locals) who delivered a basic food parcel to each and every household in the darkest days of last spring without any discrimination between who was in need or not. Most people we know put it all back into the charity chain but it was heartwarming that such a thing was done across the board. They probably increased their profile and support by this sign of activity than it would have cost to do.

Same round here, it wasn't until we contacted the local food bank about collecting our "Gov.parcel" that we found out about the local shops and services (round table, lions, harbour authority etc) were arranging deliveries from shops, taking vulnerable to doctors appointments, hospital and all, as you say most heart warming and just shows when needed sometimes good people do step forward, not that you'd know by anything reported in the media!