Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Chat

[Excalibur]

Re the link in Wayne's post, it now links to the page he wanted.

Re his dilemma, it's simple.

Partly.

First, the easy bit. Wayne, it's a contract, you fulfil it, Simples.

The caveat, is whether it's illegal. I could probably live with immoral, but doing something illegal in public, well that's a whole different ball game. And Wayne, my first cancellation was a private party, in a village hall, with a BYO drink policy. I thought they might slip under the radar, but my client decided not to, and I can't criticise her for it.

Edit: Wayne, I've read the link. Fell asleep twice, but I read it. Key word: Business. Your clients are fireproof, gig's on.

[lazersounds]

I too have a wedding on June 6th Held on Private Land in a marque, Its a festival theme, my bride and groom are trying to find out where they stand and whether can still go ahead or not.

The registry office has told them they can now only have 2 witnesses and the photographer, nobody else can attend the ceremony. The Hen party to Blackpool in May has been cancelled.

The Bride and Groom are friends of mine so I have told them I will be there for them whatever happens but its such a stressful time for them both and feel so sorry for them.

[DJ Jules]

We started in on the debate on the penalties for breaking the rules on MDJN yesterday so I went and tried to read the draft legislation going through parliament and discovered I can't, I can only see the summary that shows the spirit of it. The legislation is not going to target types of businesses, it can be used to shut down specific venues or premises but primarily it's going to block types of activities. That's far wider reaching and is likely to be used to ban weddings/gatherings/parties or gatherings with specific numbers, regardless of where they are or what type of venue they're in.

What I haven't seen yet is any mention of the actual penalties for breaking the legislation. They're introducing powers to allow persons who they believe to be infected to be ordered to self-quarantine or be forcibly quarantined for anything from 24hrs to 1 month so, in theory, it could be possible for them to walk into any gathering and detain everyone present based on that premise - I can't see that happening, they're going to have bigger worries. I suspect we might see a few examples made of venues/gatherings in a low key fashion or something like street patrols and written slips and on the spot fines like they have in France to make people stop and think. As soon as this starts to happen it's going to really hammer home just what freedoms we have to be prepared to sacrifice to control this bug.

[Excalibur]

but primarily it's going to block types of activities. That's far wider reaching and is likely to be used to ban weddings/gatherings/parties or gatherings with specific numbers, regardless of where they are or what type of venue they're in.

Types of activities? Whoa, Neddy! I haven't seen that ( but haven't been looking, so no surprise there, really). Persons of my age are doubtless thinking of " reading the riot act". Never expected to be contemplating that one!

I've now got visions of door staff at all gigs saying" sorry, you're guest number 100, you're not coming in", or enforcing two metre exclusion zones to forbid " social intercourse". Sorry folks, don't expect me to re-enter orbit round Planet Sensible any time soon.

[DeckstarDeluxe]

What part of unnecessary social gatherings are people having a problem with? It's really simple.

Go outside solo or only with members of your own household. Don't go within a couple of metres of strangers. How can you seriously conduct a wedding with these measures in place is beyond me.

[Jim - Scotland's Party DJ]

What part of unnecessary social gatherings are people having a problem with? It's really simple.

Go outside solo or only with members of your own household. Don't go within a couple of metres of strangers. How can you seriously conduct a wedding with these measures in place is beyond me.

I'm not sure if you've been shopping in the past week but people in general are ty. Christ they had to send a bunch of cops to a PUB in Greenock yesterday which stayed open, ended up rammed and they all started fighting with each other.

[Imagine]

I'm not sure if you've been shopping in the past week but people in general are ty.

Sadly, I'm having to go on pretty much a daily basis (more risk of exposure) just to get food into the house because we didn't join the stupidity of stockpiling. The supermarkets here have been stripped completely bare

[rth_discos]

So I've been following closely what the experts are suggesting is likely to happen over the coming 2 years (yes 2 years).

This virus isn't going away anywhere fast. The current measures won't stop the spread. They're designed to slow down the spread of it, to stop our NHS being overwhelmed (which will occur in the next 2 weeks as we're already well behind the curve).

Restrictions will become even greater over the coming weeks. Sadly, it will take seeing the NHS collapse under the strain, with mass numbers of coffins being cremated for many people to start taking this seriously.

But it appears that any vaccine is 12-18 months away. Even then, this is the kicker, it seems this virus is mutating all the time. So the vaccine will need to be adjusted for the mutated versions. The experts are suggesting we may never actually get this 'herd immunity' that was previously suggested by Government, because of its mutations.

The mass gatherings of people may be many years away from returning to what we've been used to. They're suggesting these restrictions on social gatherings will be common for quite some time.

It may be hard to imagine, but the world will be very different - possibly for many years.

Now this is worst case scenario, but the wedding and entertainment industry may never return. Few pubs will survive this lock down - and I doubt the hotel industry will either. With both corporate travel cut and down leisure (weddings) now stopped, I can't see many of these venues surviving a long lock down.

I only mention this because I know many rely on this industry for their income. If you're sat thinking you can ride this out for a couple of months and have a bumper summer and end of the year, I wouldn't rely on that. And these measures could stay in to place right in to next year.

Even if we do come out of it, with less venues, the landscape will be very different.

The idea of 'social distancing' may become standard practise moving forward. The idea of getting 100 people in to a room from all around the country might not happen again in the levels it has been happening in recently. Who knows, we may see a return to very small weddings only consisting on friends and family only.

This is a 'bad case' scenario. It might not be that bad - and I don't intent to alarm - but right now I wouldn't take anything off the table.

I just recommend thinking very carefully about your future

[Imagine]

So I've been following closely what the experts are suggesting is likely to happen over the coming 2 years (yes 2 years).

This virus isn't going away anywhere fast. The current measures won't stop the spread. They're designed to slow down the spread of it, to stop our NHS being overwhelmed (which will occur in the next 2 weeks as we're already well behind the curve).

Restrictions will become even greater over the coming weeks. Sadly, it will take seeing the NHS collapse under the strain, with mass numbers of coffins being cremated for many people to start taking this seriously.

But it appears that any vaccine is 12-18 months away. Even then, this is the kicker, it seems this virus is mutating all the time. So the vaccine will need to be adjusted for the mutated versions. The experts are suggesting we may never actually get this 'herd immunity' that was previously suggested by Government, because of its mutations.

The mass gatherings of people may be many years away from returning to what we've been used to. They're suggesting these restrictions on social gatherings will be common for quite some time.

It may be hard to imagine, but the world will be very different - possibly for many years.

Now this is worst case scenario, but the wedding and entertainment industry may never return. Few pubs will survive this lock down - and I doubt the hotel industry will either. With both corporate travel cut and down leisure (weddings) now stopped, I can't see many of these venues surviving a long lock down.

I only mention this because I know many rely on this industry for their income. If you're sat thinking you can ride this out for a couple of months and have a bumper summer and end of the year, I wouldn't rely on that. And these measures could stay in to place right in to next year.

Even if we do come out of it, with less venues, the landscape will be very different.

The idea of 'social distancing' may become standard practise moving forward. The idea of getting 100 people in to a room from all around the country might not happen again in the levels it has been happening in recently. Who knows, we may see a return to very small weddings only consisting on friends and family only.

This is a 'bad case' scenario. It might not be that bad - and I don't intent to alarm - but right now I wouldn't take anything off the table.

I just recommend thinking very carefully about your future

My little brain cell is struggling to process all of this if I'm honest.

I've just read that Primark are closing their UK stores at close of play tonight, and not reopening tomorrow morning. John Lewis and others are doing likewise. The death of the High Street has arrived already because they'll find they can run more efficiently online rather than paying the millions it costs in rent, staff, rates etc.

I can actually foresee the supermarkets closing and turning into Ocado type operations where you order online and have it delivered. Local independent corner shops however might do very well out of what's happening at the moment. Milkmen already are....there's a waiting list to get on the round that goes through my village because he hasn't got capacity.

I think long term there's going to need to be some sort of help from the Government for a mass re-training of the workforce - so many trades are going to disappear (retail, pubs, nightlife, caterers....). On the retail front, don't forget there's a mass of DJ shops who are no longer making money either.

The next worry if it goes on too long and looks like no return to "normal"....how in the name of all that's holy do I sell off what amounted to around £30-£40k of equipment when it was brand new. I know even before last week it wasn't worth anything like that, but it's now virtually unsellable!

[Pe7e]

The next worry if it goes on too long and looks like no return to "normal"....how in the name of all that's holy do I sell off what amounted to around £30-£40k of equipment when it was brand new. I know even before last week it wasn't worth anything like that, but it's now virtually unsellable!

I'm facing the exactly same dilemma myself. taking my age and heart condition I doubt I will be still involved in the hire business in the medium term future. I'm currently self isolating since if I caught corvid-19 I would probably only have a 1 in 4 or 5 chance of surviving it and that's a gamble I'm not prepared to take. For the time being I'm having a 'practice' retirement. I would have a lot of equipment that would need selling if I actually retire, but as you pointed out at the moment it's value has fallen through the floor so I'm currently retaining it until the situation we are in at the moment becomes more predictable. Although I could survive OK on current resources without working, a little extra income turns survival into living, I still want to travel, go places and experience new things rather than die of boredom within the 4 walls I live in, that's not life.