Coronavirus /Covid 19

^ That's Soviet-style living.

Shopping centres are open where I live, but many of the fashion shops are closed. I had to queue to get into the bank, but no dramas otherwise. It was pretty quiet

So what's your prediction about what happens next?

When will the lockdown end?

Will restrictions still continue?

I imagine that the lockdown will end but social distancing might remain in place for quite some time afterwards

Hard to imagine big sporting events, theatres, cinemas etc opening any time soon

Sounds about right PU

So any football is likely to be behind closed doors too? Or not at all?

I'm not sure there would be that much appetite for watching any football without crowds. But who knows? Perhaps our thirst for footie will be so great we'll accept anything, on the other hand....

While we pace about indoors, wondering if the season will be cancelled, there is a greater fear that we all must face together, a bewildering, destabilising thought that stirs in the void and grows between the cracks: what if we find ways of dealing with football’s absence? What if we get used to it? It could happen, perhaps it already has?

The Isle of Man is starting to unlock tomorrow, with construction contractors and gardeners returning to work. Restrictions on people exercising are also being relaxed. However, the borders remain sealed: only island residents are permitted to return, and are transferred by sealed coach from the Sea Terminal under police escort to a hotel outside Douglas, where they are locked in and supervised by armed police for 14 days. A Scottish fisherman got a £5,000 fine for entering Manx waters without permission, even though he had made no attempt to set foot on the island:

www.iomtoday.co.im/article.cfm?id=55249&headline=Fisherman%20is%20fined%20for%20entering%20Manx%20waters§ionIs=news&searchyear=2020&cat=Crime

Yes, we've conducted fairly extensive testing out in the community, and unlike the UK we're using Singapore-style contact tracing to follow up on positives. So far, we've conducted 2,674 tests out of a population of 84,000, with 307 positives. 221 people have recovered, 22 are in hospital and 16 have died, 12 of whom were from the same nursing home, which has been put in special measures and taken over by the government.

Still, looking on the positive side, at least no one over here is suggesting injecting disinfectant

^ All the best PU. Pubs opened for business here again last Friday lunchtime. You had to order food and you could only stay two hours. I don't know how they policed all this, but I understand 'food' could be the minimum order on the bistro menu, eg, chips, garlic bread. They were all packed out. People are very keen to get back into social life, and we have hardly even had a lockdown where I live.