| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Tremendous success! | |
| Posted by: | Francis Rowe | |
| Date/Time: | 08/09/20 10:27:00 |
| Extrapolating the 20+ infections seen in Chiswick last week the W4 area would be more than double the level at which the government is currently quarantining other countries and close to the level at which the government could put an area of the UK on a watch list for possible lockdown. These figures were probably released on the Friday evening before the market. It is very interesting that they were not mentioned in the Council Leader, Steve Curran's weekly Covid bulleting which is issued after the numbers come out. He had previously specifically highlighted Chiswick as an at risk area when there were just three cases. Why there was no mention probably only he will ever know the full reason but if the bulletin had highlighted the spike the question as to whether the market should proceed would have become a live one. Steve Curran has been very supportive of the market which, though not necessarily consistent with his previous hard line on Covid-19 restrictions as applied to Chiswick traders, has to be seen as a good thing. There is no reason to believe that the organisers knew about these numbers as I would imagine they were working flat out to get things ready for the market and as Chiswick's infection rate had been very low in previous weeks they had no cause for concern. The first thing they would have known about the spike would have been the item in the Chiswick newsletter. I don't think there is any point having an inquest into who knew what when but there is a possibility that public health was compromised to ensure the market went ahead. If this was a commercial event then it might be a different matter but personally I think it was right to press ahead given the balance of risks. The last minute cancellation of the market would have been truly disastrous all round. Next month with lessons learned, poorer weather, no novelty value the numbers as the market might reduce to a more manageable level and we should all be looking forward to it. By then we will have data which will show if the market did give rise to a significant number of new cases and we will know if the current large rise in infections in W4 has been sustained. |