Not So Smart Silverstone
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Bloody idiots for posting a photo like this with their news article when they are trying to get the Government to allow spectators back for next months British Grand Prix.
I am thinking Silverstone have shot themselves in the foot especially as the article had the photo above highlighting what crowds do. the argument that crowds are spread out over the 2.5km circuit is just not that true and should have kept a lower profile and waited for this weeks announcement first. Whoever jumped the gun printing their press release is not super intelligent and has definitely jeopardized how many fans could attend.
I saw people were getting excited on twitter tonight as Silverstone the home of the British Grand Prix announced ticket allocations will be announced later this week. The extended lockdown is supposed to end on the 19th July which happens to be one day after the event on the 18th lol. Bad timing or just maybe close enough to opening up so will it be allowed or not? The problem is what happens from now until then as anything is still possible. Fingers and toes crossed as I would also like to travel to the UK sometime in the future to see my family.
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The British Grand Prix would normally expect to have a crowd of around 150 000 which I just don't see happening to be honest. The argument is the crowd is spread out around the circuit which is not exactly true as they do have grand stands just like you would for football or any other sporting event.
The British grand Prix is one of the test sports for covid research on the government list along with Wimbledon and the Euro 2020/1. The current ruling is 25% of fans so if the capacity is 150 000 then 37 500 would be the ticket limit. Not what Silverstone would be hoping for, but at least better than nothing like last year.
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Obviously this is not what the racing fans will want to hear but realistically this is the best scenario. Donnington who announced ticket sales for next months World Super Bike Races had to retract that statement earlier tonight as according to the Government no fans are allowed still. maybe Silverstone should have waited a little longer.
Hopefully, the results from those test events plus a few others (The 2nd Test last week was a test event and there have been a few non-sports related ones too) will show that there is very little risk, particularly when everyone going in has to provide a negative result and take another test after the event.
I was meant to be going to two T20 games this coming weekend, Friday is definitely off and I'm guessing that the Monday match will be as well. The Oval is giving priority to members to for the limited capacity which seems fair as most of them got to watch zero cricket last year but stayed loyal. Still waiting to see what happens with the England vs Sri Lanka ODI on 1st July!
I just think it is a lottery as don't trust the testing one bit. It literally means nothing as I had it and I gave it to my daughter who was sick as a dog and was negative for 4 days and bingo then she had it. Common sense has to be the only way as we are not going to get rid of this thing. I hope they bring everything back and also don't rush things as another lockdown would be catastrophic for the economy. We can't afford another one here as the Government is broke and can't afford the printing ink.
I just read that for the Wimbledon final they're going to have a full house!
I see the figures for testing positive have risen quite a bit from around 1K back to 8 but the confirmed deaths have stuck at around the 10-12 a day rate suggesting that the vaccines are doing as they should and stopping most cases from developing into a critical illness.
Of course, you don't see the conspiracy theorists screaming about these correlations.
It would still be prudent however, to take a common-sense approach as they have at the football. People need to realise this isn't a simple on or off situation and keep taking precautions.