Surely the government should ban traveling

renegadefm

Surely the government should seriously restrict or ban traveling in or out of the UK until they can contain the coronovirus. 
Why wait until its all over the UK and too late to contain. 

silvertooth

China were the one government who did things the best way with their extreme measures, they got the R0 down to very low numbers

other governments will see very high R0’s because they put the economy ahead of people’s lives

renegadefm

silvertooth said:

China were the one government who did things the best way with their extreme measures, they got the R0 down to very low numbers

other governments will see very high R0’s because they put the economy ahead of people’s lives

Exactly.  But why not contain it until its completely gone by banning all forms of overseas travel such as flights,  cruises etc? Holidays are not an essential thing to do over the cost of life.  Or is that seen as extreme? In my eyes its not.
I never thought it would reach the UK but it has. We must not become complacent surely? 

Herzlos

It would still destroy the economy, and the people in charge care more about money than people.

If you suspend all international flights you'll put the airlines and holiday companies out of business, and you'd seriously hurt any businesses who have staff travelling.

Adding sanitation and quarantine stations on the inward paths would help, I'm sure I saw them for one of the previous pandemics. Give people a quick screen, make them wash their hands and hold the ones who may be carrying it.

Do you also stop haulage in case the driver has it?

Plus, at the moment I think people are far more at risk due to austerity than coronavirus, and hurting the economy means more austerity.

strawb_shortcake

Banning all forms of travel would hit the supply chain for lots of medicines, stopping people getting their insulin, cancer drugs etc, do you really think that's the best course of action? 
The economy is going to play a huge part in whatever decision any government makes, the Air industry  is one of the most expensive industries to be in and will need careful consideration. It's far more reaching than just holidays, and quite shortsighted to seebit so simplisticly. 

Nebulous2

Containment was the first measure. It may already be too late for that, as it is here already. Slowing it down is next, partly to help the NHS cope. We may have just as many cases, but spread over a longer period to help the hospitals deal with them. 
Once it becomes more widespread, closing off towns to stop it coming in may be possible, rather than closing them off to stop it getting out. 
Here’s an interesting story about quarantine for Spanish flu. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/01/gunnison-colorado-the-town-that-dodged-the-1918-spanish-flu-pandemic

Enterprise_1701C

China should have cut off Wuhan immediately, they are ground zero.  What happened to the first doctor who tried to speak out?  He is dead.  They did nothing about it until they realised the world was watching.

you simply cannot ban international travel these days, too much depends on it.  The people screaming that it should be banned would be the first ones to scream that the government is neglecting it's people by not allowing imports in, not allowing refugees in, not allowing migrants in, destroying holiday companies, destroying airlines etc etc.  And plonking the economy in a bucket to try to stop this would destroy more lives than the disease.

People should follow government advice, use a tissue when coughing or sneezing, self isolate when you have potentially been in contact with it, normal hygiene should be stepped up.

silvertooth

Most governments should have acted quicker

containment has now failed

doesnt mean they shouldn’t try to reduce the R0 now the cat is out of the bag 

movilogo

While the govt won't admit it, they are actually more worried about economy than few people die of virus.
Not everyone infected is going to die. 

molerat

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/02/07/health/coronavirus-travel-ban/index.html

"All of the evidence we have indicates that travel restrictions and quarantines directed at individual countries are unlikely to keep the virus out of our borders," Jennifer Nuzzo, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, told lawmakers on Capitol Hill this week. "These measures may exacerbate the epidemic's social and economic tolls. And can make us less safe."

The director-general of the World Health Organization also weighed in this week, calling on countries not to impose travel restrictions.

pjcox2005

There is the point that banning flights in and out of the UK would massively impact the economy, similar to quarantining everyone for two weeks. The impact on businesses  and knock on impact to tax take would be huge both with reduced income from taxes and higher benefits (e.g. jobless). I'd expect there is an argument that the impact of that to the NHS and deaths to people with other critical illness will be more significant than the cases of Corona virus to date and number of deaths given many who catch it will be hardly impacted.

Mental health and associated suicides, flu , cancer etc will all kill many more than Corona virus I would expect so perhaps the focus should be on those. That's not a case of whataboutary, just acknowledgement that there are limited resources available for Government and NHS.