Forum Topic

SA variant in Ealing since December

So the latest bit of bad news to add to the stubbornly high cases and slow vaccine roll out as well as the low uptake.Never mind though it has only been here for a month so it is unlikely to have spread.

M Powes ● 1776d20 Comments

People or planes? If planes quite a large % are cargo and you need them for your food etc.

James Putland ● 1773d

Good point well made.it would be relatively easy to close Heathrow to passenger traffic while maintaining the vital air freight links.The 'issues' about airlines going bust and jobs at risk ring very hollow when people are dying.Having been recently discharged from Ealing Hospital myself any Covid-19 deniers need to spend a day on a ward waiting for the blue trolley of death to be wheeled past.  It is sadly an all too frequent occurrence.

N V Brooks ● 1774d

He might not but he doesn't control policy the government do.The map of Covid infections at the moment is very suggestive of Heathrow being a significant source of new variant cases. Just as Dover seems to have been ground zero for the December wave of infections now the airport is causing a problem. It would be very interesting to see infection rates among people employed at the airport particularly among contract workers but I suspect they are very high right now.Policy seems to be made by first looking at what other countries have done and if it has worked implementing it too late and ineffectively. The airport can't be closed because it is important for freight traffic but the sight of 'influencers' jetting off to Dubai shows that alot more could be done to stop it being a source of spread of the disease.

Andy Jones ● 1774d

For balance lest we forget both the current and immediate past Ealing Southall MPs have had inextricable links to Heathrow.  With the former deriving a significant stream of income from providing temporary staff to the operation. Doubt that he would want it to change.

N V Brooks ● 1774d

Lord Deighton (Conservative Peer)Chairman of the Board, Heathrow Airport, since 2016PPE czar, appointed by the government, April 2020You don’t upset your mates by being tough on the business they help to run.

Simon Hayes ● 1775d

Why passengers?  What about flight staff and those who work at the airport?I have never understood what seemed like a complete lack of controls compared to other countries.

Philippa Bond ● 1775d

Yes, privatised by Thatcher surprise surprise.

David Burke ● 1775d

Mr Brooks and Mr Hayes, I couldn't agree with you more.The Covid non-practices that have prevailed at Heathrow, and still do, are gobsmacking.Surely there's been no pressure brought to bear on Government so that Heathrow Holdings can continue flourishing and earning ££££s?  😂I mean, wouldn't that unnecessarily endanger the entirety of Great Britain?  😁Never mind, Heathrow is 100% UK Owned so we're "earning" something..Oh, wait a minute........Heathrow Airport Holdings Limited is in turn owned by FGP Topco Limited, a consortium owned and led by the infrastructure specialist Ferrovial S.A. (25.00%), Qatar Investment Authority (20.00%), Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) (12.62%), GIC (11.20%), Alinda Capital Partners of the United States (11.18%), China Investment Corporation (10.00%) and Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) (10.00%).

Rosco White ● 1775d

Sorry to read you've had to be admitted to hospital three times over the last year, I hope you're doing alright now.I haven't noticed a great deal of the rule breaking. No-one I'm aware of on my road has broken any rules, when I've been in the supermarket I can count on one hand the number of customers I've seen in the past few months without masks and when I've gone to get a takeaway from a café all but two of the people I've seen without masks have been builders. In Waitrose it's half the staff who don't wear masks due to being "exempt". When the pubs were open the ones I went in all had staff with masks worn properly and customers all wearing them when not seated. Regardless, people not abiding by social distancing and not wearing masks would happen everywhere - hardly something which only happens in Ealing, people from every area comment on it. I don't wear a mask in the street as the advice has never been to do so and we're told they don't make much difference outside, or have been so far - though I've seen quite a few people wearing them outside recently.

Harry Simmons ● 1775d

It’s a surprise not to see squadrons of flying pigs over Ealing these days. Having ‘taken back control’ of our borders surely the quarantine rules are being rigorously enforced.Surely every passenger arriving at our massive international airport is not using public transport to continue their journey? I can’t believe people would be as irresponsible as that.

Simon Hayes ● 1775d

Discounting the code shares that have been 42 international arrivals at Heathrow so far today.I would love to see evidence that every one of those passengers arriving is either self isolating for 14 days or has invalid covid-19 test certificate somehow I doubt it.

N V Brooks ● 1775d

It's pointless doing any testing in the south east, let alone Ealing/Hanwell, so long as Heathrow remains active to all frivolous travel. UK airports in lockdown?  Yeah, right. And I believe in Santa as well.

Tony Heath ● 1775d

We have all fuelled the exponential growth in the Chinese economy why have unwavering demand cheap consumer products.It isn't just covid-19 that has occurred as a result of a drive to ever cheaper goods but subjugation of whole elements of the Chinese population.

N V Brooks ● 1775d

Is the SA Variant really the Kent variant under a new name? Mustn't blame those new arrivals in Kent so blame SA. It's a new variant because that is what Viruses do, they mutate.Which like all others we have to build up a natural immunity to, like with Flu.If there is anyone to blame outside of China it is the whole worldwide Governments, who scared us all with those videos of Bodies in the Chinese streets being taken away by men in space suits. But then chose to allow travel from China to continue as all Governments want their Clothes, Electronics, Model Trains, Computers and everything else made extra cheaply in China.If all Governments had stood together and said no to travel to China and no to people from China, it could have been contained within China's boundaries,  now the whole world is blighted by it, because of China's cheap labour set up that manufacturers cannot ignore.

Leslie Bailey ● 1775d

There is no need to be confused about a rates of infection and spread in Ealing.One only has to look at the activities of our fellow residents with an absence of social distancing and a seeming blanket refusal to wear masks or any other form of protective clothing.I have, unfortunately, been  admitted to Ealing hospital on three occasions in the past 12-months and have noticed this stark difference between those within the building or a wearing full PPE to those just outside the door who are not even wearing the flimsiest of face coverings.  The ride home in the transfer ambulance on each occasion was an education as I looked from the safety of the vehicle at those in the streets of Hanwell at risk from aerosol spread of this pernicious virus.Look to your neighbours and your community to see the reason that the right in Ealing is so high

N V Brooks ● 1775d

I think the government response has been abysmal throughout, learning nothing and making constant blunders, due in my opinion to being lead by the most incompetent Prime Minister there's ever been (I don't think I'm biased either having voted for each of the main three parties before). I don't know enough to say for certain what I think of the council's response, but on this they had detailed information out far quicker than either Merton or Haringey Councils, the others in London impacted, who hadn't set out any clear information on testing by last night. I'm confused as to why Ealing has had high case numbers so often, I can't think of any particular reason why it'd be especially when you consider any factors which could be part of why in areas of the borough could apply to many London boroughs. In this particular case with the South African variant though I think it's just chance where it's been picked up - given it'll be in far more places and the cases identified will just be a fraction of those in the country. That'd also make it ridiculous for the government to come down harder on those areas it's been found in my opinion, especially as it's over a month since the people tested positive and given it was community transmission anyway that could have been picked up elsewhere. Nearly everything the government have done has been abysmal, though, and the price has been businesses ruined and lives lost.

Harry Simmons ● 1775d

It could be but in practice I don't see this happening or being linked to any coherent strategy eg on quarantine or isolation.Of course it should be a cue to look at what is behind the problem and what can be done to help but it never is. Ealing has had stubbornly high case numbers for the third time now - why has nothing been learned?My fear is a situation similar to that in Leicester which went into a never ending lockdown where nothing seemed to change.People are now desperate to get businesses back on track and resume education and I freely admit that my reactions are driven by fear and a complete lack of confidence in the Council and the Government.If you are happy with the vaccine roll out and Ealing's management of covid then fine but I am not.

M Powes ● 1775d

I find it odd that anyone thinks that community testing and tracing is 'making an example' of us. It's for our benefit.

Susan Kelly ● 1775d

That's as maybe but quite clearly the aim is to make an example of these areas 'we are coming down hard' Matt Hancock. So added to all the other problems in Ealing all residents will be ordered to take 'extra special precautions' what will these be I wonder? Given we are all in lockdown. Of course it may well be all over the country by now given that borders were never closed and that as well as South Africa the variant is endemic in many other African countries as well. It seems to be very similar to the Kent variant situation.It is the Government and Ealing Council response that I fear more than the variant - always too late, always trying to save face with pointless words and gestures 'we'll be coming down hard' etc. Always the people who were being careful anyway that will take the hit from restrictions.

M Powes ● 1775d

It's probably in a number of places I'd have thought, the areas announced today are where the random samples of test results found it aren't they? Three different boroughs in London none neighbouring and a handful of places in the country from south east to north west.

Harry Simmons ● 1776d