Coronavirus (COVID-19)

[superbigal]

Austria to reopen brothels

Bethany Bell

BBC News, Vienna

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

Brothels will be allowed to re-open in Austria on 1 July, in an easing of coronavirus restrictions.

The health ministry is working with groups representing the country's 8,000 registered sex workers to develop hygiene measures, according to the Austria Press Agency.

Earlier this month, Eva van Rahden, the head of “Sophie”, an advice centre run by the Volkshilfe charity, said many sex workers were struggling to survive as a result of the pandemic.

She said the crisis had led to an increase in calls to ban prostitution, something her organisation strongly opposed. She said making sex work illegal would lead to more violence, trafficking and exploitation.

Elsewhere in Europe, the Netherlands also plans to reopen brothels on 1 July.

Those in Greece opened last week. Rules brought in by the Greek government include card-only payments, a time limit of 15 minutes per customer, compulsory face masks and workers taking a list of clients' contact details in case they need to be traced.

[D.A.F.C]

Austria to reopen brothels

Bethany Bell

BBC News, Vienna

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

Brothels will be allowed to re-open in Austria on 1 July, in an easing of coronavirus restrictions.

The health ministry is working with groups representing the country's 8,000 registered sex workers to develop hygiene measures, according to the Austria Press Agency.

Earlier this month, Eva van Rahden, the head of “Sophie”, an advice centre run by the Volkshilfe charity, said many sex workers were struggling to survive as a result of the pandemic.

She said the crisis had led to an increase in calls to ban prostitution, something her organisation strongly opposed. She said making sex work illegal would lead to more violence, trafficking and exploitation.

Elsewhere in Europe, the Netherlands also plans to reopen brothels on 1 July.

Those in Greece opened last week. Rules brought in by the Greek government include card-only payments, a time limit of 15 minutes per customer, compulsory face masks and workers taking a list of clients' contact details in case they need to be traced.

Stick it through letter box, sorted.

[jimmy boo]

I've never got my head around why sitting out in the open on a hot day for hours on some sand near the sea with hundreds of other folks doing the same thing and just to damage your skin is a great idea.

Do you have kids?

[Musketeer Gripweed]

15 minutes. I wish.

 

[D.A.F.C]

15 minutes. I wish.
 

Also imagine getting a phone call.
Darling that's the hoor hoose on the phone, you've got aids and covid 19.
Cheers, thanks for phoning.

[Mark Connolly]

6 minutes ago, Musketeer Gripweed said:

15 minutes. I wish.

 

Yeah, do you have to stay in for the entire 15? Plenty of other things I could be doing with 14 and a half minutes of my time

[H Wragg]

The pictures of the beaches in England today are extremely worrying

Saw that but some folk saying that pics look worse due to be taken at distance by telephoto lenses.

I think it’ll have nothing to do with telephoto lenses and be every bit as bad as it looks because despite it being the sun in the sky, it turns British folk into absolute moon-howlers. 

Major incident declared in Bournemouth..

[Mark Connolly]

1 minute ago, H Wragg said:

Major incident declared in Bournemouth..

I am shocked, I really am.

[D.A.F.C]

People are irresponsible, shocker. Didnt see that coming.

 

 

[Clockwork]

Given the news that for the first week in months, new infections across the EU as a whole have risen, it's too early to get too cocky, yes I agree with the lifting announced here but we need to still take the same care as we have been as a population. Portugal for example has 111 cases in one incident traced back to a "party" on the Algarve this week. Danger is still out there.

 

Localised outbreaks in Leicester, Wrexham and West Yorkshire recently, should serve as a clear warning that we’re far from out of the woods just yet. It would be reckless to discard the safe practices that most people have been carefully observing for the last three months. It would also be sorrowful waste of the hardship, stress and grief that many have suffered throughout, only to see a return to high infection rates.

Could anyone feel really confident that this hapless bunch in No10 would be able to make a much better fist of handling a second wave?

I’m afraid I couldn’t.

[aaa]

 

[DeeTillEhDeh]

Major incident declared in Bournemouth..

That isn't a telephoto lense - it's just absolutely heaving. 

 

 

Not my cup of tea - not because of social distancing - but because I generally hate crowds like that - there will be lots of arsehole day trippers from London getting pissed whilst their feral offspring run riot.

 

 

 

[John MacLean]

With rates of new infections continuing to fall I was going to say that levels of compliance  are probably higher that what we suspect. Certainly higher than what I feared. 

You do see people, to varying degrees, disregarding social distancing restrictions particularly those in large groups hanging about parks etc. but you don't see those that are, by and large , complying. 

Collectively I think we all deserve a wee pat on the back. This has been anything but easy and people in the main have been good and sensible with what they've done. 

Then you read about what is happening in Bournemouth. 

It's, obviously, good that numbers have been falling but it has allowed people to slip into a comfort zone. A kind of 'this happens to other people, not me' kind of attitude. And if that attitude and subsequent approach is repeated throughout society then there is potentially a danger. 

The mixed signals from the UK Government don't help. I'm not turning this into a England v Scotland pissing contest but there is a sharp difference in the respective governments' message and I much prefer the message we are being given. 

In Westminster they are cutting down on the daily briefings. That sends out the signal that the pandemic is over, get in your car and head down to the beach. 

Up here the danger of the virus is still emphasised and I think that has led us to being more cautious, more circumspect in our daily activities.  

 

[Guest bernardblack]

 

Surely it should be #covoidiots ?

[Michael W]

Bournemouth Beach doesn't look any less safe than the protests from a couple of weeks ago. 

To hell with that, though. Even were it lot for Coronavirus there's no chance I'd be bothering. No fun at all when the beach is that busy. 

[Billy Jean King]

Scenes at the station a disgrace. The kids used to pile onto trains from Glasgow to the Ayrshire coast a few years ago until the police simply stopped them boarding (the train) up the line. Will need something similar to prevent those sort of scenes here. Clearly no one in England gives a flying f**k, police and govt included.

 

 

[Eddie Hitler]

30 minutes ago, John MacLean said:

With rates of new infections continuing to fall I was going to say that levels of compliance  are probably higher that what we suspect. Certainly higher than what I feared. 

You do see people, to varying degrees, disregarding social distancing restrictions particularly those in large groups hanging about parks etc. but you don't see those that are, by and large , complying. 

Collectively I think we all deserve a wee pat on the back. This has been anything but easy and people in the main have been good and sensible with what they've done. 

Then you read about what is happening in Bournemouth. 

It's, obviously, good that numbers have been falling but it has allowed people to slip into a comfort zone. A kind of 'this happens to other people, not me' kind of attitude. And if that attitude and subsequent approach is repeated throughout society then there is potentially a danger. 

The mixed signals from the UK Government don't help. I'm not turning this into a England v Scotland pissing contest but there is a sharp difference in the respective governments' message and I much prefer the message we are being given. 

In Westminster they are cutting down on the daily briefings. That sends out the signal that the pandemic is over, get in your car and head down to the beach. 

Up here the danger of the virus is still emphasised and I think that has led us to being more cautious, more circumspect in our daily activities.  

 

Yup, and this was not an accident. Signal received as well.

[Marshmallo]

This is what all of you lot sound like crying at the throwaway phrase "second wavers". I remember this site used to be fun baby!

 

[Eddie Hitler]

10 minutes ago, Michael W said:

Bournemouth Beach doesn't look any less safe than the protests from a couple of weeks ago. 

To hell with that, though. Even were it lot for Coronavirus there's no chance I'd be bothering. No fun at all when the beach is that busy. 

Agreed that protests were not necessarily wise in the pandemic.

Folk need to stop being children about everything though. The 'he did it!' whataboutery response (and I am not saying you are saying this, but it's been a common refrain for weeks 'oh, but they did it for their protest!') is the level of argument I would expect out of an immature wean. 

Ditto with Cummings; he's a walloper and Boris is a p***k for keeping him in post but we don't all have to be 'monkey see, monkey do' about everything if we don't think something is a good idea but just want to use someone else's behaviour as an excuse to do our own thing.

[welshbairn]

19 minutes ago, Michael W said:

Bournemouth Beach doesn't look any less safe than the protests from a couple of weeks ago. 

To hell with that, though. Even were it lot for Coronavirus there's no chance I'd be bothering. No fun at all when the beach is that busy. 

Don't see the point of going to the beach if you can't paddle naked with the waves lapping at your balls without being arrested.