Start of next season

Quoted from lew chaterleys lover

Assuming the virus continues to decline and ways of limiting its spread continue to be followed and after a further 3 months of progress why would football be singled out?

Football is a business and unless we get back to normal quickly clubs will go bust.

If you feel apprehensive and a lot of people will then don't go.

So why should football be singled out?

Football is particularly problematic for track and trace (as are all mass events). Say if you have a someone come down with the virus 5-6 days after a match, it's really hard to know who they interacted with at that match. The bloke who they stood behind in a queue for the toilets or burger kiosk, or the person they stood next too as they enter the stadium as well as everyone sat in the vicinity of the infected individual. Tracing these people is particularly hard. People come from all over the country to football games so you might be seeding the virus in areas where infection rates are low.

So Football has the problem that it is high risk for individuals attending the matches and for the wider community.

However, there are ways to lower that risk. As mentioned earlier masks, temperature checks, socially distanced crowds, free hand sanitiser, designated seats where you have to sit, mandatory sign up to the trace app.

Quoted from horsforthmariner

So why should football be singled out?

Football is particularly problematic for track and trace (as are all mass events). Say if you have a someone come down with the virus 5-6 days after a match, it's really hard to know who they interacted with at that match. The bloke who they stood behind in a queue for the toilets or burger kiosk, or the person they stood next too as they enter the stadium as well as everyone sat in the vicinity of the infected individual. Tracing these people is particularly hard. People come from all over the country to football games so you might be seeding the virus in areas where infection rates are low.

So Football has the problem that it is high risk for individuals attending the matches and for the wider community.

However, there are ways to lower that risk. As mentioned earlier masks, temperature checks, socially distanced crowds, free hand sanitiser, designated seats where you have to sit, mandatory sign up to the trace app.

That's the same for shoppers and pub goers.

With the precautions you mention I don't understand why you think football should be singled out.

Anyway time will tell.

New Zealand have dropped all forms of social distancing and resumed capacity spectator events (indoor and out) as normal. They've been able to do that because they've effectively eradicated the virus.

Granted, New Zealand is a different proposition to the UK, not least because it is geographically isolated and will not have imported the volume of cases that we did. However, it peaked with 146 cases (one case per 33,500 people) in March, whilst we are currently between and 1,000 and 1,500 cases per day (so around one case per 50,000 people). At our peak, one in around 7,500 people were being infected each day (which will have been much higher, given how poor testing was back then) - we've come along way already.

I believe that within the next three months, it will be considered safe to hold mass gatherings such as football matches. We will have to be very careful as to how we open up our borders - don't expect any of your Brazilian friends to be popping over anytime soon, but it can be done sensibly.

Odd pockets of cases here and there do not necessarily result in major outbreaks (provided they are managed properly); a recent report suggested that the virus was imported to the UK on at least 1,300 separate occasions:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-52993734

Incidentally, it points out that the Liverpool v Atletico game in March wasn't a significant player in our outbreak over here, because at that point over 20,000 people per day were flying into the country from Spain. Rather than defend the decision to let that game go ahead, all it really does is hammer home how foolish we were to be allowing so many people to cross our borders from badly affected areas at the height of the pandemic in Western Europe.

Granted, all of this requires sensible and effective actions on behalf of our government, and that is by no means a given. However, New Zealand has shown that it is possible.

September I tells ya!

Quoted from Poojah

New Zealand have dropped all forms of social distancing and resumed capacity spectator events (indoor and out) as normal. They've been able to do that because they've effectively eradicated the virus.

Granted, New Zealand is a different proposition to the UK, not least because it is geographically isolated and will not have imported the volume of cases that we did. However, it peaked with 146 cases (one case per 33,500 people) in March, whilst we are currently between and 1,000 and 1,500 cases per day (so around one case per 50,000 people). At our peak, one in around 7,500 people were being infected each day (which will have been much higher, given how poor testing was back then) - we've come along way already.

I believe that within the next three months, it will be considered safe to hold mass gatherings such as football matches. We will have to be very careful as to how we open up our borders - don't expect any of your Brazilian friends to be popping over anytime soon, but it can be done sensibly.

Odd pockets of cases here and there do not necessarily result in major outbreaks (provided they are managed properly); a recent report suggested that the virus was imported to the UK on at least 1,300 separate occasions:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-52993734

Incidentally, it points out that the Liverpool v Atletico game in March wasn't a significant player in our outbreak over here, because at that point over 20,000 people per day were flying into the country from Spain. Rather than defend the decision to let that game go ahead, all it really does is hammer home how foolish we were to be allowing so many people to cross our borders from badly affected areas at the height of the pandemic in Western Europe.

Granted, all of this requires sensible and effective actions on behalf of our government, and that is by no means a given. However, New Zealand has shown that it is possible.

September I tells ya!

I seriously hope you can turn round and tell us all "I told you so" in a few weeks time!

The time will come where crowds have to be “welcomed” back otherwise anything relying on spectators, sport, cinema, theatre etc. will simply be gone by the time a vaccine or cure is in place. Be interesting to know, but not feasible to measure, if there is any increase in cases from all those attending marches over the last two weekends where social distances were completely out of the window.

I would attend matches as soon as we are allowed but accept that others will not want to take that risk be it a large or small risk. Certainly believe away fans will be excluded for quite some time which should help reduce police costs although no doubt your average idiot will probably ignore this instruction as they visit long lost relatives!!!

My money is on 3 October start to make it a good day in our house as it’s the twins birthday 😄😄

Quoted from Heisenberg

I seriously hope you can turn round and tell us all "I told you so" in a few weeks time!

Don't get me wrong, I'm very aware I could well be spectacularly wrong. I just feel there's an unduly pessimistic narrative being by the government and the media right now, talk of this 'new normal' like the restrictions and inconveniences placed on our lives right now will be there forever, when I don't think it's true.

I understand why; if they came out and said "relax everyone, everything's gonna be just fine in a few weeks" then any remaining semblance of lockdown would be gone. All over the world the same pattern has occurred - post peak the restrictions are eased and the numbers continue to go down, down, down. Yes, there have been mini-outbreaks, but thus far far all seem to have been dealt with.

This will pass.

Quoted from Poojah

Don't get me wrong, I'm very aware I could well be spectacularly wrong. I just feel there's an unduly pessimistic narrative being by the government and the media right now, talk of this 'new normal' like the restrictions and inconveniences placed on our lives right now will be there forever, when I don't think it's true.

I understand why; if they came out and said "relax everyone, everything's gonna be just fine in a few weeks" then any remaining semblance of lockdown would be gone. All over the world the same pattern has occurred - post peak the restrictions are eased and the numbers continue to go down, down, down. Yes, there have been mini-outbreaks, but thus far far all seem to have been dealt with.

This will pass.

I absolutely agree with you. I just hope it’s not mainly me following my heart rather than my head.

This new normal term grates me a little. A temporary normal, yes, but never permanent. You can already see that the young ‘uns have had enough,

Quoted from Heisenberg

I absolutely agree with you. I just hope it’s not mainly me following my heart rather than my head.

This new normal term grates me a little. A temporary normal, yes, but never permanent. You can already see that the young ‘uns have had enough,

And us oldies!

It was never going to be a new normal, simply a temporary change till the epidemic passed.

If infection rates continue to fall then it will be up to individuals whether they attend games.

We cannot live in fear of an illness that you are unlikely to get, assuming that by say September most other things are back to normal.

Just to reinforce my views that this be virtually over sooner than many think, Italy, who in the run up to all this were generally considered to be 3 weeks ahead of us, have consistently reported under 50 deaths per day this past week.

The entire country has only 177 people in ICU with coronavirus, down from over 4,000 at its peak. New cases are now consistently down below 350 per day in a country of 60 million people, and of newly reported cases the percentage requiring hospital treatment is falling too.

Slowly but surely, we will get there.

Quoted from Poojah

Just to reinforce my views that this be virtually over sooner than many think, Italy, who in the run up to all this were generally considered to be 3 weeks ahead of us, have consistently reported under 50 deaths per day this past week.

The entire country has only 177 people in ICU with coronavirus, down from over 4,000 at its peak. New cases are now consistently down below 350 per day in a country of 60 million people, and of newly reported cases the percentage requiring hospital treatment is falling too.

Slowly but surely, we will get there.

And cases on the up in Texas, Florida, Arizona. Beijng is locking down and the disease is running rampant in South America.
It's a bit of cherry picking Im sad to say.