I don't disagree as that is a reasonable position. Rather than spending significant amounts of money and potentially infecting people on a flight back then "stay put" in the short term, aided by Embassy personnel in country seems also realistic position.

Bringing 200 people who could be infected by 2 people on a flight adds to NHS. Where as keeping them where ever they are isolated / safe and providing them with funds to see it out limits potential spread. China worried about people bringing it back in now in flights from Europe.

I have zero criticism of what people have done on holiday, it is their choice but asking them to stay away and providing support in doing so is a probably more realistic option. Some will complain poor FiFi the cat will be stuck in kennels for a month longer. In the whole scheme of things bringing people back into a country where the virus is still growing does not make a lot of sense.

If it was Oz or NZ or another civilised country, I'd agree (indeed my stepdaughter is on her gap year in Oz and we have encouraged her to stay put) but there are many other countries in the world I would not want to be stuck in.

Of course testing of individuals prior to repatriation would be a good idea so that no-one suspected of being infected got on board but then the tests don't seem to be that effective (~75%) but as long as anyone returning went into strict self-isolation for the minimum necessary period, I'm not sure it would be so difficult. BA are still flying, as are Qantas and a few others and I'm sure they've completed their due diligence so I guess it's up to them, not a bunch of bored keyboard warriors.

Well written article on the BBC news pages explaining why it is such a problem ... essentially .. no-one has a magic wand !!

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-52093009

A bit of a crass comment there...
Following your train of thought we should also leave those cruise ships offshore to deal with their on board pandemic's problem alone correct!?

Looks like the USN have now lost operational capability of the USS Reagan and the USS Theodore Roosevelt.due to Covid19 infection on board. Steaming for port. Let's hope nobody fancies invading Taiwan.

WWW

So..... given the loads on many commercial flights into the UK were prior to all this kicking off just how easy do you think it would be for every Mr and Mrs Bloggs, perhaps on multi week holidays, to change travel plans and get seats on an earlier flight back to the UK?

Not everybody has been selfish, some people have been left stranded despite their best effort to get home quite some time ago...

Not good,



https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zon...ng-crew-ashore

WWW

https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/...h-15167883.php

Exclusive: Captain of aircraft carrier with growing coronavirus outbreak pleads for help from Navy

The captain of a nuclear aircraft carrier with more than 100 sailors infected with the coronavirus pleaded Monday with U.S. Navy officials for resources to allow isolation of his entire crew and avoid possible deaths in a situation he described as quickly deteriorating.........

Given the tight crew space allocation on military ships, any CoV infection will spread rapidly. So these ships are crippled.
Meanwhile, the Navy's 2 hospital ships have been sent to help NYC and San Diego. Maybe that will be reconsidered.

The navy ships are pretty zero use in a covid outbreak because of exactly the same reason. My understanding is that they are there to take the pressure off ER by taking the coventional ER cases allowing the a land based ones to a concentrate on covid. The hospital are setup and equiped for combat injuries so disease control would be somewhat limited

https://www.defensenews.com/news/cor...ier-roosevelt/

Pacific Fleet Commander outlines plans for containing outbreak on carrier Roosevelt

Hours after a leaked letter from the Commanding Officer of the embattled carrier Theodore Roosevelt pleading for more support from the Navy leaked to the public, the head of U.S. Pacific Fleet told reporters he is working as fast as he can to get a plan in place to rotate sailors off the ship.

In the letter, Capt. Brett Crozier said he needed to get the bulk of the crew off the ship and into quarantine on Guam, where the carrier pulled this weekend, arguing that it would be impossible to contain the spread otherwise. “Sailors do not need to die,” Crozier wrote in the letter. “If we do not act now, we are failing to properly take care of our most trusted asset — our Sailors.”

But in remarks Tuesday evening Pacific Fleet Commander Adm. John Aquilino told reporters on a conference call that he has to balance the security and safety of the carrier with measures to protect the crew.

“Some people want to compare a cruise liner to a ship, let me tell you there are no comparisons,” Aquilino said, making reference to the Diamond Princess cruise liner outbreak, an incident cited by Crozier in his letter. “There are requirements that I have to protect that ship. I need to be able to run the reactors, fight fires, do damage control, feed the crew that’s aboard: All those things are a requirement. And the team that’s aboard is working through how to do that while at the same time executing our approach to delivering fully healthy and COVID-free sailors.”

As for Crozier’s request to pull the bulk of the crew off the ship, Aquilino said the Navy is working the request, and is in contact with Guam’s local government to secure hotel rooms for sailors. “We understand the request,” Aquilino said. "We’ve been working it in advance, we continue to work it, and I’m optimistic that the additional quarantine and isolation capacity being discussed will be delivered shortly. But there has never been an intent to take all the sailors off of that ship. If that ship needed to respond to a crisis today, it would respond.”

Of Crozier’s letter, Aquilino said he understood the CO’s concern “is associated with the pace that we get sailors off, not that we’re not going to get sailors off.”

The plan is to rotate sailors into quarantine facilities for 14 days with the aim of getting them back on the ship after they’ve tested virus free, he said.

“That is the best way, the most accurate way, to validate that a sailor does not have the disease," Aquilino said. "The flow plan allows us to take some number of sailors off – so I can get to some number that I would be comfortable with to do all the missions the ship needs – work the remaining sailors through this quarantine/isolation/test model, then clean the ship and put only healthy sailors back on.”

Of the sailors who have tested positive, they continue to exhibit only mild symptoms, Aquilino said. “I have no sailors hospitalized, I have no sailors on ventilators, I have no sailors in critical condition, no sailors in an [intensive care unit] status on Theodore Roosevelt,” he said.

Don't make me laugh!! BA are doing nowt about checking who is getting on their aircraft. And neither Heathrow or Gatwick are checking incoming passengers. I know that from personal experience i.e.very recent experience of BA at Heathrow and Gatwick!

It is but mere speculation on my part but think it is likely that someones career may hit the buffers because in the eyes of some he did not follow chain of command and his letter was published in the press. Hopefully it is not the case.

Me too! Nothing at Heathrow when we came through last week, but then that's nothing to do with the airline is it, that's the airport and Border services, under control of the Govt.

The Navy is expected to announce it has relieved the captain who sounded the alarm about an outbreak of COVID-19 aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt, according to two U.S. officials. Capt. Brett Crozier, who commands the Roosevelt, an aircraft carrier with a crew of nearly 5,000, will be relieved of his command, but keep his rank and remain in the Navy.......

The move is expected to be announced in a briefing by Acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas Modly Thursday evening. The official reason for Crozier's relief of duty is a loss of trust and confidence, according to the officials who spoke to NBC News.....

Some are leaders, some are managers. Captain Brett Crozier seems to fall into the first.

The Navy seems to have a tin ear on these people issues, remembering the recent brouhaha regarding a Seal.
I'd not be surprised to see a Trump tweet on this shortly, it seems dumb to dump a commander who fights for his people.

An excellent article.l have friends who are consular staff and not only is the scale of the task enormous, they are also having to deal with tens of thousands of ex-pats who, for tax reasons or for climate, have lived abroad for years and have now decided that the British Government should fly them home. The FCO has adopted a risk-based approach: if the individual is in no particular danger they are a low priority for repatriation.

Looks like they have shot the messenger. I would imagine the crew will be very unhappy about this not good for a fighting ship.

They have sacked the Captain of the Roosevelt for doing what a good captain should,looking after his men.


https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/coron...nd/ar-BB126S3v