COVID-19 Pandemic (Coronavirus)
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DaRealness
I think very deeply
Refusing to self-isolate when told to is now illegal in England from Monday, with fines of up to £10,000.
Anyone who tests positive for Covid-19, or has been told they have been in contact with someone who has, now has a legal duty to quarantine.
It comes as a study commissioned by the government found just 18% of people who had symptoms went into isolation.
Meanwhile, the government has promised an "uninterrupted supply" of PPE for front-line workers over the winter.
Four-month stockpiles of PPE - personal protective equipment such as masks, visors and gowns - will be available from November, the Department of Health has said.
From Monday, it will be a punishable offence not to comply with an official instruction to self, with fines starting at £1,000 and rising to £10,000 for repeat offenders or serious breaches.
Police officers can check that people are complying with the rules in virus hotspots and among high-risk groups based on "local intelligence", the government said.
The law applies to people who have tested positive for corona virus, or who have been told by NHS Test and Trace to self-isolate as they have been in close contact with someone with the virus.
And if someone tests positive, it is illegal to knowingly give false information about their close contacts to NHS Test and Trace.
Media captionFive ways to self-isolate successfully to prevent the spread of coronavirus
People on low incomes who cannot work and are losing income while self isolating will be able to get a £500 payment.
Nearly four million people who receive benefits in England will be eligible for the money, and it will be backdated once the scheme is properly set up in their council area, the Department of Health said.
Home Secretary Priti Patel added the new fines were "a clear sign that we will not allow those who break the rules to reverse the hard-won progress made by the law-abiding majority."
And Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the government will "not hesitate" to introduce further measures if case numbers continue to rise.
Media captionAre the lockdown restrictions too strict?
As of the last week of August, more than 19,000 fines had been issued in England and Wales for alleged breaches of coronavirus laws, a letter from the attorney general said.
The UK government hopes the new fines will be replicated in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland - which all have powers to set their own coronavirus rules.
Earlier this month, the Scottish health secretary said the issue would be under discussion.
Men and young 'less likely to follow rules'
The government's self-isolation rules mean a person cannot leave their house - even to buy food or other essentials, or to exercise.
It requires anyone with symptoms or a positive test result to isolate for 10 days, while members of their household or people who have been contacted by Test and Trace must quarantine for 14 days.
The crackdown on self-isolating comes as research carried out for the Department of Health found that the number of people with symptoms following the self-isolation rules was low.
Although people's intention to self-isolate was high - around 70% - only 11% of people went into quarantine after being asked to by NHS Test and Trace.
The most common reasons that people gave for not self-isolating were because they needed to go to the shops for groceries or a pharmacy or because their symptoms got better.
Men and younger people were also less likely to follow the test, trace and isolate guidance, the research added.
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He said it had been a "massive challenge" to get enough at the start of the pandemic - when health and care staff warned of widespread shortages.
"That's why we have worked every day since to ensure we have an uninterrupted supply to meet the challenges in the coming months and protect those who are protecting us," he said.
The Department of Health said 70% of the expected demand for PPE will be met by UK manufacturers from December.
$cam-U-Well_Jack$on
Superstar
Damn near nightly.
$cam-U-Well_Jack$on
Superstar
$cam-U-Well_Jack$on
Superstar
This exactly what I do. It's way too much goin' on plus folks been buggin' da fukk out every other night here in Vegas, so it seems. Each day brings about new fukkery.
we just had the most cases ever today 
So I finally call to cancel my gym membership today. These muthafukkas holler out, I can’t cancel it over the phone.. I gotta come in to sign off on the cancellation, have someone come in to sign off on my behalf or send them a letter.
wtf! I’m def never coming back since they playing these type of games
wtf! I’m def never coming back since they playing these type of games
So I finally call to cancel my gym membership today. These muthafukkas holler out, I can’t cancel it over the phone.. I gotta come in to sign off on the cancellation, have someone come in to sign off on my behalf or send them a letter.
wtf! I’m def never coming back since they playing these type of games
Call your credit card company saying that you tried cancelling and to not authorize transactions by the gym too
My nikka! Gonna call them now
Georgia improves in coronavirus cases in latest White House report
J. Scott Trubey
Georgia is finally out of the COVID-19 red zone.
Citing decreasing cases and a lower test positivity rate, President Donald Trump’s coronavirus task force moved Georgia out of its most severe category in its latest report dated Sunday.
Georgia reported the 23rd highest rate of case growth in the United States from Sept. 19 to Sept. 25, according to the White House Coronavirus Task Force. It’s a marked improvement from mid-August, when Georgia reported the highest rate of new cases in the nation.
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Georgia’s improved ranking is also a function of worsening epidemics in parts of the Midwest, South and West.
“When we are moving in the right direction, it does not mean we’re out of the woods,” said Dr. Sarita Shah, a physician and associate professor of global health, epidemiology and infectious diseases at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health.
The White House report makes several recommendations to tamp down spread at colleges, some of which have seen significant spikes since the start of the fall semester.
State officials continue to urge residents to follow “Four Things for Fall,” which includes wearing face coverings, practicing social distancing, washing hands and following public health guidance and that of Gov. Brian Kemp’s executive orders.
Georgia reported 92 new cases of the coronavirus per 100,000 people in the week ended Friday, one case below the national average for that period. It was the first time Georgia reported a new case rate below the national average since June, according to a review of task force reports published online by the investigative journalism nonprofit Center for Public Integrity.
In the orange zone
Georgia is now considered to be in the White House task force’s second-most severe zone for new cases, the orange of four-color coded ranges, while the state is in the third, or the yellow zone, for test positivity. Most of the major metro areas including Atlanta, Savannah and Columbus are in the yellow zone for new cases.
Cody Hall, a spokesman for Gov. Brian Kemp, described the improving outlook as validation of the governor’s “measured, data-driven approach” to the virus.
“Significant decreases in new cases reported, positivity rate, and current hospitalizations show that Georgians have continued to follow public health guidance and be part of the solution — not the problem,” Hall said.
But not all the news from the report is positive. The rate of newly reported deaths in Georgia remained above the national average last week, the report said.
The percentage of skilled nursing facilities and long-term care homes with at least one new infection and new deaths also is above the national average.
Since mid-July, Georgia has reported declining cases in nine out of the past 10 weeks, an Atlanta Journal-Constitution analysis of state data shows.
The current seven-day rolling average of new cases of 1,135 is down about 70% from the July peak, an AJC analysis of state data found.
On Monday, the Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH) reported 596 net new cases and 15 net new deaths. To date, Georgia has reported 315,281 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 6,961 deaths attributed to COVID-19.
The number of people currently hospitalized stood at 1,319 on Monday.
Though cases and the number of people hospitalized for the virus have improved from their respective peaks, both figures remain well above their troughs.
The rolling average of new cases is nearly double the reported rate of May 31, while the rolling average of people hospitalized is nearly 70% higher than the bottom in early June.
Focus on colleges, flu season
The latest White House report continues to focus on outbreaks in college towns and reducing spread within long-term care facilities, which can be particularly deadly.
Though cases among young people tend to be less severe, health experts fear the virus can quickly spread to older and more vulnerable populations in the surrounding community, including residents of nursing homes.
In recent weeks, Athens, Statesboro and Dahlonega — home to the University of Georgia, Georgia Southern and the University of North Georgia, respectively — have scrambled to tamp down surges in the virus.
“Georgia is making progress and to sustain the gains, must continue the strong mitigation efforts statewide and continue mitigation efforts in university towns to decrease spread from universities to the local community,” Sunday’s White House report said. “Mitigation efforts must continue including mask wearing, physical distancing, hand hygiene, and avoiding crowds.”
Athens and Statesboro reported some of the highest rates of spread per capita in the nation after the opening of in-person instruction, before conditions started to improve in the past couple weeks.
“Ensure universities and colleges continue both rapid testing and contact tracing of symptomatic students and ... the rapid isolation of cases and quarantine of contacts,” the report said. “Residential cases and contacts should not be sent home to isolate or quarantine unless necessary.”
On Monday, Kemp announced the federal government plans to send 3 million rapid tests to Georgia in the next three to four months, with an initial allotment of 200,000. The White House report said the federal government also recently provided rapid antigen testing systems to Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the state.
The White House also urged the state to increase testing capacity and the budget of the state’s public health labs.
The report also recommends testing sewage in campus housing as an early warning surveillance system for the virus. Such detection has proven successful at other colleges, including the University of Arizona and Utah State. UGA recently developed a way to track the coronavirus in wastewater in Athens-Clarke County.
Unlike some previous White House reports, Sunday’s report does not call for a mask mandate. It does, however, urge Georgians to limit gatherings to 20 or fewer people, well below Kemp’s executive order, which caps gatherings at 50 people.
As cooler fall weather approaches, the risk of contracting the coronavirus is expected rise and officials also urge residents to get a flu shot to help prevent co-infection of COVID-19 and influenza.
“We don’t want to overburden the health care system with people suffering from complications of the flu that could be prevented or lessened by getting a flu shot, especially when hospitals are still treating hundreds of COVID-19 patients,” Department of Public Health spokeswoman Nancy Nydam said.
Considering we’ve been wide open since April, this is good news
Lol they said come catch these corona specials we got.So I finally call to cancel my gym membership today. These muthafukkas holler out, I can’t cancel it over the phone.. I gotta come in to sign off on the cancellation, have someone come in to sign off on my behalf or send them a letter.
wtf! I’m def never coming back since they playing these type of games
Cheech&Chong
rip chinx
Yup. That's what people don't get. Even when the virus dies down the Domino effect is going to be catastrophic
Mother of teacher who died of Covid-19 dies from it weeks later
By Melissa Alonso, CNN
Updated 10:49 PM ET, Sun September 27, 2020
Shirley Bannister, mother of South Carolina teacher who died of Covid-19, dies from it weeks later - CNN
By Melissa Alonso, CNN
Updated 10:49 PM ET, Sun September 27, 2020
Shirley Bannister, mother of South Carolina teacher who died of Covid-19, dies from it weeks later - CNN
First person I know got diagnosed with covid over the weekend. A cute Latina I used to work with years ago . She has symptoms. She's an RN now and just got engaged last week 
LeVraiPapi
Redemption is Coming
Considering we’ve been wide open since April, this is good news
Brother, you really believe those numbers? Don't tell me you are that gullible breh