I am 66 years of age and, along with my father and grandfather have watched Trinity play
at Bell Vue throughout the 20th and now 21st centuries.
We have watched the game during the depths of winter with ice, snow, rain, hail, fog (Widnes anyone?) etc.
We have travelled with thousands of others in cars, vans, buses, trains have walked many a time through the above winter conditions to get our rugby league fix at both Belle Vue and a host of other rugby grounds with only a cup of Bovril, a jar of vapour rub or a tot of the hard stuff to keep the harsh winter conditions at bay.

Our generation and those before us have dodged or coped with the common cold, flue, the flu, sore throats, norovirus, achy joints, cold sores, dry and cracking skin, asthma (the wife). Sinus infections, bronchitis, pneumonia, etc all caused or aggravated by those gruelling winter trips to Belle Vue to stand for two to three hours in the above mentioned weather before walking or driving home cold, freezing and completely wet through. And for a few of us that was after playing a game of winter rugby that very morning.

No doubt that over the past 150 years some have succumbed to the experience of trudging to Belle Vue, Odsal, Noughton Park, the Watersheddings and Fartown and have sadly succumbed to whatever ailment they contracted enjoying their rugby. But hey, ho, it happened and no one, as far as I know, coincided closing down these stadiums, not in a 150 years did they consider such draconian action.

So, here we are in the summer of 2020. A virus that 99.7% of people will simply never know they have or even had it. A virus that 100% of people I have asked, most over 65 years of age, do not personally know anyone who has died from C-19. A virus so deadly we need a test to find out if we have it or not.

My question is, what of the future of Trinity and Belle Vue. How many deaths are the club willing to accept in future years from complications or directly from, lets say, influenza. A condition that leads to the death of thousands every year, vaccine or no vaccine.

Pop Tart on these boards told us a few months ago that he was, to paraphrase, willing to give up a foreign holiday if If it saved just one life. I put it to him that watching and playing rugby has no doubt resulted in many deaths (see above) over the years. He did not respond to that.
I see he still supports the game being played.

So, what of the future given most on here appear to support the draconian measure currently being taken.

If I support these measures, which I do not, but if I did I would say that we should never, ever, re-open our stadiums for fear of catching something or other or risking a players death or that player becoming paralized, etc.

C-19 may come and go but death from influenza will not go away nor will other the complications that afflict us whenever we attend rugby matches along with thousands of our fellow human beings.

Stop this madness now and lets get back to normal, Lets get back to watching rugby without fear as our forefathers did. NOT the crazy “new normal” they(???) have attempted and in most cases, succeeded, to brain wash us with.

But back to the question re Belle Vue. If, let us say, we needed 5,000 attending to break even and we can now sumize that will never be allowed nor should it so long as inflenza, let alone Covid-19 is lurking in the air.What of the future of Wakefield Trinity? And rugby league.

By all means if you want to stick your head in the lions mouth then go for it but please stop all this let's get back to normal stuff because it never will, it will be always lingering around and rear it's ugly head up, take France for instance the thousand new cases yesterday isn't a sign that it will go away.
Just use some common sense, as for poptart he tends to shy away from replying

Miro, you and I must be of a similar age, but you forgot to mention the polio epidemic in th the 40s 50s and early 60s, killed thousands, and the smog that killed possibly millions every winter over decades, before the clean air act was introduced in the 70s. Yes you’re right our generation just got on with it, people die, but we can’t live in a cocoon. God only knows why governments are acting as they are.

I am not advocating which way is best but I suppose the only European country to take the above stance was Sweden, which I could now travel to and back without quarantining.

population of Sweden just over 10 million, population of the UK nearly 70 million 7 times the amount where it can spread among humans, we talk about flu being a killer but I have never heard of anyone ever dying from it but covid 19 has been rife

The strain on the NHS showed at its peak could you imagine what it would be like if it was let to do its worse

Yes, I do sometimes think about the NHS being overwhelmed, but every winter we are told it’s at breaking point due to the winter flu, and many people do die, but out of our 70 million, population, it’s a small amount of deaths, however painful they are to loved ones. I’m in my 70s, I have older relatives, young grandchildren, but past events have shown me no one knows When a loved one will be taken.

And this is the key issue. Its not about death in part but the strain on services.

Oh and those stating its a small percentage it is but the death rate currently based on tests is around 3.25% but that is not the whole picture is it? 4 out of 5 show no symptoms but the out of the one in 5 or 20 out of 100 about half get quite poorly the other half end up in hospital where around 2/3rd's die so to put that simply

out of 100

80 no issue

20 issues

out of those

10 ride it out
10 in hospital
5 in ICU
3 at the moment die

Now multiply that by a population of 66 million

660,000 potentially in Hospital, 330,000 in ICU with 198,000 deaths.

I accept that the exact figures maybe give and take and also the vulnerable groups may increase or decrease this. Sop far there have been 42,00 deaths give or take , so about 20% of the way there. Also as yet nobody knows how long a person who has it is immune.

Raw maths but make of it what you will but the key reason for Social Distancing in the Western world is to prevent health services choking up. They will not lock down again like last time but will try and better manage the number of infections.

Exactly DS, and what about the Hong Kong flu pandemic of 68 to 69 that killed 80,000 in the UK (our population then around 55 million compared to 68 million now) well over a million died worldwide. There was no lockdown then with a much higher death rate.
As you state 99.7 per cent of us will survive this virus even if we contract it. I'm 71 so am supposedly in the at risk group, well I'm willing to take the risk, life cannot go on like this.
I also see that it is now positive tests they are now using to justify these new rules, not deaths or hospital admissions which are very low and in many areas of the UK ( I think most recent to 3rd September over 70 per cent of areas had no hospital admissions due to Covid.
These latest measures just don't make any sense and they will destroy the social fabric of this country, not to mention the economy.

Snowie, if you look up online,current death rates in the UK for all fatalities, you will find that on a daily basis Flu is killing more people than Covid 19, [and has been since the middle of June according to a recent article in The Spectator, which published the figures] Covid 19 the last time i looked was down in 7th place in the top 10 of most common causes of deaths in the UK.
The statistics / facts are all out there now for anybody to look up.

According to the WHO 650,000 die yearly of seasonal influenza.

Anyway, I thought this thread was about "what now for fans watching" ?

Snowie says I am "burying my head in the sand or a lion or something" yet I think I acknowledged that never again will we have thousands of spectators inside Belle Vue. yes, we could go back to normal but it appears people are too scared to and more than willing to facilitate this covid madness and in doing so you have perhaps unwittingly backed yourselves into a corner. Take the club itself, on e mails they are advising us to "stay home" while at the same time asking us to buy a season ticket for next season. So be it but I shall not buy one.
So what now happens to Belle Vue and the club as it once stood. Is it now simply a team playing on Sky with fake crowd noise?

Correct, but I do know this is not about a virus any more than the invasion of Iraq was about "weapons of mass destruction".

(Not the pat on the Iraq war which was all about oil but), really ??

Not wanting to get too political on this matter it is what it is ,and until a vaccine is available this might be a sign of the times , I for one have nearly lost my business and are far from out of the woods but that’s life as we know it now and I don’t gripe about it .But just a point on this Covid choking up the hospitals ,it’s all the other services that have been cancelled like cancer treatments and the likes that I fear for.There are plenty more services that have been put on hold or are with severely restricted services which will ultimately shortly peoples life’s or quality of life ,so I look at my personal predicament and think hey things could be a lot worse .Wether you agree with the government or not we have to trust the people/scientists who are far more knowledgeable than we are .On a side note I nearly lost my son to Covid who is a strapping 30 year old Whilst his partner who also had it only lost her taste ,so please don’t think it just us old cranky people who peg out from it , if that strain hits you get ready for the fight of your life .