I could (just about) believe the trip to Durham for reasons of isolation and family help close by (lucky him - not many other people have such luxury). But I struggle to find any justification for driving to Barnard Castle to "test his eyesight". Which brings many more aspects of all of this into question. I have just watched the Boris Johnson Q & A session. - well, some of it. I have turned it off because I struggled to find any comprehensive answers to any questions, both from the public and from journalists.
meh. The advice was that if you have symptoms you isolate at home. You can travel to help someone who is sick, so had he become too unwell to care for his child(ren), one of his family could legitimately have driven down from Durham to collect the child(ren) and take them home to care for them. That's what everyone else has been doing. It is completely obvious he broke the rules. Every other public servant caught out breaking the rules has had to resign. I don't often agree with bishops but I find I do agree with the one who said "Johnson has gone the full Trump".
Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
The advice was that if you have symptoms you isolate at home. You can travel to help someone who is sick, so had he become too unwell to care for his child(ren), one of his family could legitimately have driven down from Durham to collect the child(ren) and take them home to care for them. That's what everyone else has been doing.
So you are saying that it would be better for a family member to drive from Durham to London,collect a child from a household that may have Covid-19,put them in a car and drive all the way back to Durham,in 1 day as presumably they cannot stop along the way. I think Cummings got it right myself as he only drove one way and isolated when he arrived.
“Every day is ordinary, until it isn't.” - Bernard Cornwell-Death of Kings
The right thing is for the uninfected carer to travel to deliver the care ... not for the infected person in need of care to travel around the country risking spreading the virus. It’s so obvious. 🙄
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
The advice was that if you have symptoms you isolate at home. You can travel to help someone who is sick, so had he become too unwell to care for his child(ren), one of his family could legitimately have driven down from Durham to collect the child(ren) and take them home to care for them. That's what everyone else has been doing.
So you are saying that it would be better for a family member to drive from Durham to London,collect a child from a household that may have Covid-19,put them in a car and drive all the way back to Durham,in 1 day as presumably they cannot stop along the way. I think Cummings got it right myself as he only drove one way and isolated when he arrived.
What if he became too unwell to drive as he was on his way? What if he caused an accident, put other road users and emergency workers at risk?
It's not a witch hunt. Change the scenario. A poor'ish,single parent, living in a flat with 3 kids. Wouldn't they constantly be worried about getting the virus? So given their assumed concern - and assuming they don't have access to a car, would it be ok for them to get on a train (after rush hour) to travel 200+ miles to be closer to family support?
The rule was not to leave home - to stay at HOME and isolate. NOT to travel. Separately, the reason given for NOT travelling by car was given as three+ fold:
1) Risk of accident
2) Risk of breakdown
3) Stopping en route
4) Spreading virus at target
So, the single parent in this scenario, using Cummings 'common sense' and 'risk analysis' is being good eh? They eliminate points 1,2,3 and add 1 other point:
5) Spreading virus on route
I would have added 6) Catching virus en route - but that appears to potentially have been one of the reasons Cummings himself got the virus - being locked inside a car in what 12cubic metres, with someone with the virus.
AND if Cummings was SO, SO, SO concerned about the security at his London home, why was he in such a rush to come back to it? In such a rush - and we've seen the after effects of this virus on various poor sods - that he risked his son's and wife's life by driving in a debilitated state. 260 miles.
AND if Cummings was so concerned with his sons health, you don't risk that health on multiple occasions. Cummings would have been totally aware of the 'toxic shock' syndrome that some kids would have developed. He INCREASED the risk of both himself and his son getting the virus by sitting in a confined space with a KNOWN suspected virus carrier. Any PPE? Did he have his wife in a mask? Was his son protected?
Cummings knew (I hope) that any issue with eyesight, should preclude anyone from driving. Any issue that lays anyone so low that they can't recall conversations should preclude anyone from driving as well shouldn't it?
AND if Cummings' wife was 'so ill as to not be able to look after the 4 year old' - when was she start feeling unwell? (Well enough for a 4 hour car trip though). Obviously before the trip - so he shouldn't have been at work anyway should he? He should have already been isolating for 14 days. He can't argue it two ways - he can't say '...I thought she had the virus even though she didn't have the symptoms...' and then still continue to work, mixing with others can he? When did he suspect his wife of having the virus?
If Cummings was a member of the general public, then you'd think he'd just been on a bit of a jolly. Used the virus as a bit of an excuse. No great shakes - maybe a bit stupid. I'd just think he was another armpit that had acted like an idiot.
BUT like anyone in authority, they have to be judged in a harsher way - police breaking the law are dealt with differently. People in authority abusing their authority are dealt with differently. It has to be that way - to show that no one is above the rules. What's worse here, is that Cummings was in the group who defined the rules. To break the rules then needs to be shown as being a no-no. He flouted the rules that he helped define.
That's not a witch hunt.
Cummings is what's known here as a spin doctor. They spin. They work in that grey world between truth and lies. He's spinning his own story.
The advice was that if you have symptoms you isolate at home. You can travel to help someone who is sick, so had he become too unwell to care for his child(ren), one of his family could legitimately have driven down from Durham to collect the child(ren) and take them home to care for them. That's what everyone else has been doing.
So you are saying that it would be better for a family member to drive from Durham to London,collect a child from a household that may have Covid-19,put them in a car and drive all the way back to Durham,in 1 day as presumably they cannot stop along the way.
Yes, of course!
Most people who become ill with Covid are not incapacitated anyway and have still managed to care for their children, so actually neither journey would have been necessary.
Dom and his wife were probably just terrified at the thought of two weeks of having to look after their kid themselves!
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The witch hunt needs to stop now.
I have just watched the Boris Johnson Q & A session. - well, some of it. I have turned it off because I struggled to find any comprehensive answers to any questions, both from the public and from journalists.
The advice was that if you have symptoms you isolate at home. You can travel to help someone who is sick, so had he become too unwell to care for his child(ren), one of his family could legitimately have driven down from Durham to collect the child(ren) and take them home to care for them. That's what everyone else has been doing.
It is completely obvious he broke the rules. Every other public servant caught out breaking the rules has had to resign.
I don't often agree with bishops but I find I do agree with the one who said "Johnson has gone the full Trump".
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
I think Cummings got it right myself as he only drove one way and isolated when he arrived.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Most people who become ill with Covid are not incapacitated anyway and have still managed to care for their children, so actually neither journey would have been necessary.
Dom and his wife were probably just terrified at the thought of two weeks of having to look after their kid themselves!