Pressure is growing for more social isolation after a sunny weekend and Monday. We cannot change the virus and how quickly it transmits but we can control the amount of contact between people who could possibly pass it between themselves.

Abingdon Library closed soon after my Saturday post. The Abbey House is also closed.

Many information desks can still be contacted by phone or email. Volunteers have started a new website called abingdon.help. They are starting to put together lists of how to contact various services and where help may be found.

There is also an email address to try and get volunteers to help people who are socially isolating in Abingdon.

There will be a big shout for the NHS on Thursday to show appreciation for their efforts. With immediate effect from today (Monday 23 March) the Oxford University Trust will not allow any visitors to their hospitals – with a few exceptions.

More non food shops have now closed in Abingdon town centre.

Other shops have reduced their hours. There was a queue outside Savers who were later opening this morning. They had a stack of toilet rolls visible through the door.

The other large queues I saw in town were at Boots, and Santander (the bank). Those queues had more social distancing than the one outside Savers.

The Market was also in town today and had food and flower stalls. Some prices had gone up.

As the first week of schooling at home starts, a lot of school children will now be doing their school work with only telephone contact from teachers – or however different schools find ways to communicate with pupils. There is an initiative to get school children to put up rainbows or other pictures of hope.

We used to think of 21st March as the first day of spring, but the newspapers had the 20th March as the Spring Equinox. Magnolia are in flower as seen here in Stratton Way. It has been a cool sunny day so far.

R&R has closed, but a lot of the other coffee places are still open, and serving takeaway coffee. People were chatting as they drank coffee, trying to keep some social distance in the open air.

There is now only one charity shop open in Abingdon. The rest have closed. Acacia UK were due to open soon but will delay the opening.

Queues for the Boots pharmacy start before they open and continue throughout the day. The queue sometimes manages to keep a social distance and then people, after a while, can get talking and forget the government advice.

Abingdon Library seems to be the only public building open. Libraries were not one of the services told to close yesterday. Some Counties have closed their libraries, but not Oxfordshire County Council.

There was another dramatic government announcement today.

As a result gyms and leisure centres closed this evening. As have cinemas and theatres. The Abbey Cinema took the decision to close yesterday.

The White Horse Leisure Centre said ‘In line with Government instruction, we will be closing all of our Better Leisure Centres and Better Gyms across the UK at the end of Friday 20th March, 2020.’

‘The health and well-being of both our staff and valued customers is paramount. We have a social responsibility to everyone in the local community to take action to protect ourselves and others.’

Restaurants also closed this evening. Some will still provide a takeaway service.

The pubs closed. It was not like a normal Friday night and there were not a lot of people out. For people whose life revolves round the pub or gym it is going to be difficult.

Nobody knows when such businesses will reopen but the government will help by paying 80% of the wage bill so they have a better chance of reopening as going concerns.