4 Covid related articles!
The most recent one first!
As reported on ‘X’ (Formerly Twitter) A US congressional hearing discovered that the US government conspired with either China or Japan to produce the Corona virus. In doing so, it was claimed that those responsible will be held to account.
effective was/is social distancing?
1 Year on, and the TRUTH takes a detailed look back.
The evidence will surprise, astound, and possibly even shock you!
Without a doubt, the best way to view social distancing is that of a chess board.
A King is restricted to any of the other vacant adjacent squares, provided they are not threatened by opposing pieces, and so there is no equal distancing from their original square.
The Queen, on the other hand, is restricted solely by the edges of the board (8 X 8), its own pieces and the opposing King, which cannot be taken.
On any empty board and from one of the four centre squares, it can move horizontally and vertically, the same as signs on buses and floor markings in shops and diagonally and, at a social distance. Admittedly, a diagonal move is equal to the width of a square + 50%, however, when it comes to a matter of people social distancing, it’s all the more significant.
When it came/comes to social distancing on buses, however, it is/was woefully inadequate, as noted by the Queen’s move.
First and foremost, the seats directly behind or a diagonal move from the driver were marked as unusable. That meant, sitting one and a half seats away from the driver’s back was a risk.
On single decker buses where the only door is at the front, the seating capacity is either 8 or 11, while the available seats are 9 pairs plus the long back seat.
In the case of the 11 capacity, that means, despite one person per pair of seats plus a passenger at either end of the back seat, although there was/is social distancing horizontally and, moreover, diagonally, there was/is ZERO social distancing vertically and like that of the social distancing requirement towards the bus driver.
Although single decker buses that have an exit door in the middle have a capacity of 14 (12 pairs plus the long back seat), the problem is exactly the same as the 11 capacity bus, while it is also worth mentioning that, on the lower deck of double decker buses, the seats directly facing the long back seat have seating restriction signs on them the same as those at the front.
Sport and social distancing: Following ‘project restart’ as the resumption of Premier League matches were called, a limited amount of fans were allowed into football grounds, seen here in Arsenal’s Europa League match against Rapid Vienna, from the METRO.
Some while later and to-date, despite those who attended the 2020 season’s 2nd FA Cup semi-final at Wembley on April 18th 2021, the government called a halt to fans in stadiums, while, from the lack of social distancing in the above photo, it is clear and obvious to see why!
A close group of 8 bottom right!
From my own viewpoint and experience, as soon as the government recommended face covering, I did what everyone else, to that of being exempt from wearing a face covering mask, should have, while not everyone did, and that was to order three re-usable black face masks from amazon and at a cost of less than £8.00. I decided against disposable ones for the clear and obvious reason that the pandemic was far from short term, while, even now, 13 months later, it is mandatory to wear face coverings on public transport and in shops, and with no lifting thereof in sight.
Many’s the time, in queues, I’ve had to call a person out for not respecting my ‘Queen’s’ space. On one occasion, the customer retorted (words to the effect) ‘I thought it was only one metre if you wear a face covering.’
On an occasion in my local Sainsbury’s, I noticed an un-masked member of Sainsbury’s stood right on top of me (a King’s move). When I mentioned he was too close, he told me to ‘Mind my own business.’ The business of my being ‘safe’ . Noted by the signs: Hands, face, space!
Having left a shop, exited a bus, or just walking along a street, scores of people, millions throughout the length and breadth of the UK, still felt/feel it’s okay to forgo the important aspect of those signs, by taking off or not wearing a face covering.
To them and those who didn’t I have but one thing to say, and it is this:
Less people will have lost their lives to Covid19! People you either know or are related to.
Conclusion:
On the evidence above, the answer to this article’s title and question is, 'less effective than it should have been', starting with public transport and wearing face coverings IN PUBLIC!
Update: 20th May 2021. Following last night’s News at ten on the BBC, the broadcaster trailed the Government’s latest public information notice on staying safe from covid, adding two white horizontal wavy lines with the words ‘Fresh air’ in between them to their pre-existing notice:
‘Hands, Face, Space’
It goes without saying that, the greatest amount of ‘fresh air’ is outside, outdoors. That said, while out shopping today, I noticed that only 1 in 6 (16.5%) of people respected the Government’s adivice: ‘Hands, Face, Space & Fresh air’ meaning that, outside, you must wear a face covering!
Little wonder then, that according to the Metro, there were 2,696 new covid cases the previous day. All of which meant, a % of those 2,696 people came in contact with and, therefore, possibly spread the virus to others, which is exactly how they, themselves, most likely became infected.
How the Premier League could resume!
Aside from two yet to be scheduled games involving Man City, Sheffield United, Arsenal and Aston villa, nine more match weekends remain to conclude what has been a contrasting season, and, that, without the concerns of covid19.
As I’m sure everyone reading this and everyone who loves the game of football knows, the two contrasts I’m referring to are:
1) The performances of the top 3 sides in the Premier League, in particular, that of Man city and Leicester City, while Chelsea, without their talismanic playmaker of many years, one Eden Hazard (by name and by nature), have captured fourth and made it their own. And
2) The total misuse and incompetency of VAR (see the TRUTH’s incisive scathing article: ‘How some referees and VAR treat Premiership players with contempt!’).
Fundamentally speaking, the pandemic has resulted in something other than VAR’s disrespect for the rules, more so that of the fans, for people to talk about.
The longer the delay in concluding the season, the greater the chance there is of it being cancelled; rendered null and void, while Liverpool only need 6 points to be crowned, and rightfully so, Premier League champions, something that, despite who you support, should not be denied the players, manager and club, along with their many loyal fans.
That, of course, and if you apply three words, ‘All Things Considered’, need not happen, as I will now explain.
The players. Those that travel to away matches outside of their home town should travel by train rather than a convoy of team coaches, and arrive the day before the game, staying in separate hotel rooms. If, as is the norm, two players share a room, it would need to be big enough to maintain a level of social distance.
When travelling from the hotel to the match ground, a convoy of coaches from a local coach company can take the players, manager/coach and his support team to the ground.
Arriving early, the players, in groups, can get changed and then go out onto the field to warm-up.
It has to be stressed, no one, not even the Prime Minister, is immune from covid19, meaning that, anyone who hasn't had it is vulnerable to it!
For obvious reasons, players could not parade out of their respective changing rooms at the start of each half, while the substitutes, possibly needing to be limited as far as the available options go, would remain in the changing room until needed and with a two-way communication between coach/manager and those in the changing room so that there is little to no delay in substituting players.
Okay, and since, as Alan Sheerer commented on MOTD Oct 5 2019 ‘It’s a contact sport’, how do you maintain social distancing? And here is the answer.
The two tone strips of grass in this screenshot – one light the other dark – coincidentally are 6 yards (rather than the metric 6 metres) apart:
A free kick is about to be taken by the two Watford players top and left of the centre circle. Despite the fact that the match referee is looking in their direction, he failed to take any action with regard to the fact that the Wolves player, the one with a red ‘>’ pointing at him, should be 10 yards away from the ball, and is, in fact, around 3 yards away. In studying the screenshot closely, you will note that, apart from the 3 players mentioned and the Watford player to the left of the encroaching Wolves player, only two others, not counting the referee, are less than 6 yards away from one another. A football field, even one with 20 outfield players on it, is quite big and roomy.
Conceivable changes to the game. Tackles will have to be minimalised. Instead, it will be a game of pass accuracy, reading the game and pass interception, skills that, in recent years, have gone from the game (where is the next David Beckham?). A lack of tackling at close quarters also reduces the need for VAR (hooray!) for anything other than offside and handballs inside the penalty box. Reducing tackling will also negate the need for a wall between the player taking a free kick and the goal. Alternatively, and since the free kick is outside the 18 yard box and a penalty is taken from a distance of 12 yards, the free kick could be taken the same as a penalty; no one between the ball and the goal. Of course, the player taking the free kick should not be obliged to attempt a shot on goal.
Corners. The amount of players permitted inside the penalty area, an equal amount from each side, not counting the goalkeeper defending the corner, would need to be reduced from the throng seen in better, safer times.
Rather than return to the changing room at halftime, and provided it’s not raining, players can remain on the field, with the coach/manager giving his players a team talk in three groups. For those players wishing to sit down while their coach/manager speaks to another group, fold out chairs could be provided.
Fans. Again, this is so simple. 9 games, 10 for four teams, while the pandemic, along with the ongoing need for social distancing, will hopefully be over before the final match day of the season. Until then, no away fans can attend matches. Home fans, those with season tickets, would need to be spread out over the remaining games.
For example, let us say a ground has seating capacity of 60,000 and that in order to maintain social distancing, only a fifth of those seats, 12,000, could be used. If season ticket holders total 24,000 then, and with 5 or 4 home games left, a group of 12,000 would be allowed in for 2 games while the second group would be allowed in for the two other games; groups alternated from one game to the next. Unfortunately, children, those who go to games with a parent etc would have to say at home.
To reduce a need for the toilet, fans should be advised not to drink excessively, while food can either be brought in or vendors could go around the crowd, just like they do at US sports games, selling comestibles.
VAR!
As mentioned in the TRUTH’s article: ‘How some referees and VAR treat Premiership players with contempt!’, come the end of the season, all 10 games would kick off at the same time. That means, ‘Stockley Park’, mentioned as the HQ’s of VAR, has 10 individual, sound-proof rooms; 1 for each of the 10 games.
According to this screenprint from the Premier League’s site, there are two VAR’s per game; the main VAR and their assistant:
The first photo, of a VAR room, shows as many as seven people in it; five sat down plus two onlookers. For those of you who think there is a mirror, simply because those sat either side of the table’s dividing screen are lacking in hair, the person sat beside them, is posed differently. The one with the number ‘1’ left of their head is VAR Anthony Taylor. I cannot see why, while there is no mention of them on the list of officials, there are as many as seven people in the room, moreover, the two onlookers.
By scheduling the games as five on Saturday and five on Sunday, even if they all kicked off at the same time, the main VAR’s could reside in five of the 10 VAR rooms while their assistants reside in the other five rooms. If that is not possible, then all that needs to be done is to modify the table layout to maintain a 6 yard distance.
FA Cup. There are 7 matches outstanding. The final 3 of which would be played at Wembley. Why not, instead, play all 7 games at Wembley and on a non-Premier League match weekend for all but the final?
There you have it. The solution to: ‘How the Premier League could resume!’ One can only conclude that those who failed to work it out, the Premier League, BBC Sport etc, are devoid of the sufficient amount of brain cells to do so.
Footnote: Having published this 26 years update of the original printed TRUTH from and since 1994 to the internet, the TRUTH has contacted, by e-mail, one or more of those named in this article. Specifically, BBC sport and the Premier League as well as Liverpool FC and Burnley FC.
UPDATE! May 18 2020. According to the news, Man City’s Raheem Sterling ‘Can’t wait’ to play but asks for a month of full training. That would mean a projected start of mid June with, as mentioned, 10 games for Man city and 9 for 16 others. Even with two games a week that works out to a projected end of August for the 2019 season while there are European games for Man City and others to compete in along with 3 FA cup rounds.
Taking all of that into consideration, while one can only wonder if the FA (Football Association), Premier League and UEFA have, and allowing players a holiday before the start of the 2020 season, its projected start will come around or after Mid October.
One can only, likewise, wonder if those responsible for producing the 2020 fixtures, have worked that out. Meaning that, with two games a week, in order to avoid the congestion next season, 2020, there will ‘have to be’ more midweek matches than usual.
The police are a danger to the
public from covid19!
What is wrong with this picture from the Metro, dated March 25 2020?
Answer. The two police officers, seen here talking to two of the three youths, are hypocritically failing to keep to the very thing they are meant to be enforcing, that of ‘Social distancing’ and the Government’s lockdown.
If that was not bad enough, and a health risk to the public in general, this next photo, from the internet, clearly shows three police offers, each one wearing a hi-vis jacket, sat inside a moving marked police car:
In as much as the photo is old, Police officers, nonetheless, can and have been seen driving around in pairs; two officers per car, while just yesterday, May 27 2020, I observed a police car, one with 3 officers inside it, stop at traffic lights.
Be aware, be very aware. So far, to date, Sunday April 27 2020, and according to statistics, a total of 20,732 people have died in the UK as a result of covid19. Over 100 of them are NHS or other caring staff, some, many of who, like the police, worked in close proximity to their fellow colleagues, while, like them, the police are not immune from the deadly threat of covid19.
First and foremost, as with any disease, the symptoms come after the person is infected, and so someone who has covid19, while not showing the signs to begin with, could easily pass it onto someone else before the signs and symptoms make themselves clear, something that was true of HIV and AIDs from the previous century, which is why those who’ve had it and gotten over it and those who’ve died from it is so high.
Fire crews are the next emergency service at risk to the public. I suggest that, while the lockdown and social distancing continues, we be extra cautious where a fire could suddenly happen. The kitchen, and un-watched frying pans, as noted by a sign on one fire engine I noticed, is the number 1 possibility, while how many firemen are needed to get a cat down from a tree? Certainly, not the entire crew.
Ambulances, thankfully, are more spacious, enough for the paramedic to sit in the back and where they would sit when transporting a patient to hospital.
What of those who’ve died, not necessarily from the virus? They need to be examined, by a pathologist according to US hospital drama ‘Diagnosis murder’, in order to ascertain the cause of death before being taken to the morgue.
Those who deliver goods from on-line shopping, especially if the item is too heavy for one person to lift. Clearly, and unlike the police car, the one not driving should sit in the back of the truck or van just like the paramedic. I point out again, no one is guaranteed to be immune!
According to recent news reports, crime, in particular, burglaries, has gone down; the felons not wanting to come in contact with someone who has the virus, which rather spells out what we, as citizens need to do, and that is to be model citizens, thereby avoiding any contact with the police whatsoever.
I leave you with this, something that happened to me several days ago.
I recently had cause to go to my local Post office. As I made my way to the line marked out on the floor, I noticed two police officers, one male the other female, coming towards me. When I mentioned that they were not 6 yards apart, the male police officer sniggered disparagingly.
I don’t know about you, but I find that to be an insult to all those who have contracted this deadly virus and a total disrespect for those who have died from it, over 20,000 in the UK.
Footnote: Having published this 26 years update of the original printed TRUTH from and since 1994 to the internet, the TRUTH has contacted, by e-mail, one or more of those named in this article. Specifically, the British government and the NHS.
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