Coronavirus Thread

[Matt]

Apart schools closing I don’t see what else has changed or what this pathetic excuse of a lockdown will help - infact as I said last night I think it’ll do more harm than good with all the little darlings playing round each other’s houses or in the street mixing in the their groups and gangs, atleast in school they were a little more restricted, controlled and socially distanced - if that isn't happening that’s on the schools to enforce.

 

What has really changed under the new announcements and restrictions?

 

This isn’t a lockdown, it’s nothing like a lockdown, not even near one.

 

Atleast teachers got their way.

 

Edited 5 January 2021 by Matt

[Strokes]

1 hour ago, Facecloth said:

This was shared on a spotted loughborough group on Facebook. This school is completely closed tomorrow, no children in or online because of the last minute change, they need to time to sort things out.

It’s not giving the kids time to prepare either, how could we tell our kids what too expect the next day before they went bed, when we didn’t know ourselves?

This sort of shit is why we have had to make the decision for my wife to quit her job as a nurse and go back on the bank. If they are going to fire from the hip and make last minute calls, then we have to be able to do it too. I can’t afford to not work again, (there is no mortgage break this time that I’m aware of) (people who went self employed after April 2019 are still left in the cold) I’ve missed out on all the self employment rescue monies. 

[FoxesDeb]

54 minutes ago, Facecloth said:

Did you read what he said? Its not about providing money and equipment, its about the planning. They've planned for one thing, knowing things could change in the future, only for things to change at the drop of a hat and put all that planning to waste. Again something that could have been decided over a week ago, but was left until the day before the schools went back.

Yes I did. As I said previously though, SWHS have had plans for this in place for months, so rightly or wrongly I assumed that other schools would have had also. I'm pretty sure SWHS doesn't have any more foresight than any other school. As far as I understood it, schools remaining open has always been a priority, and closing them a complete last resort. Presumably the decision was finally taken yesterday once the alert level was increased to 5, idk.

 

Regarding your point about conceding anything 'Boris' does is wrong, if you remember I have done that before, and was ridiculed for it. Of course I don't believe everything the government has done throughout the last year has been perfect, there are many things which I wish had been handled differently. But I do think that you have to work with what you've got, and I certainly don't think they are going out their way to get things wrong on purpose as has been suggested many times (not by you). At the last election we didn't have much of a choice in my view, next time may be different depending on how KS fares. And for what it's worth, I think one of the government's biggest failings throughout this was refusing cross party collaboration, why you wouldn't take that up in times like these I really don't know. 

 

 

 

 

[FoxesDeb]

6 minutes ago, Strokes said:

It’s not giving the kids time to prepare either, how could we tell our kids what too expect the next day before they went bed, when we didn’t know ourselves?

This sort of shit is why we have had to make the decision for my wife to quit her job as a nurse and go back on the bank. If they are going to fire from the hip and make last minute calls, then we have to be able to do it too. I can’t afford to not work again, (there is no mortgage break this time that I’m aware of) (people who went self employed after April 2019 are still left in the cold) I’ve missed out on all the self employment rescue monies. 

Has anything been said yet about financial help this time around? I haven't seen it mentioned

[kyleolly]

2 minutes ago, FoxesDeb said:

Yes I did. As I said previously though, SWHS have had plans for this in place for months, so rightly or wrongly I assumed that other schools would have had also. I'm pretty sure SWHS doesn't have any more foresight than any other school. As far as I understood it, schools remaining open has always been a priority, and closing them a complete last resort. Presumably the decision was finally taken yesterday once the alert level was increased to 5, idk.

 

Regarding your point about conceding anything 'Boris' does is wrong, if you remember I have done that before, and was ridiculed for it. Of course I don't believe everything the government has done throughout the last year has been perfect, there are many things which I wish had been handled differently. But I do think that you have to work with what you've got, and I certainly don't think they are going out their way to get things wrong on purpose as has been suggested many times (not by you). At the last election we didn't have much of a choice in my view, next time may be different depending on how KS fares. And for what it's worth, I think one of the government's biggest failings throughout this was refusing cross party collaboration, why you wouldn't take that up in times like these I really don't know. 

 

 

 

 

I think all schools have these plans in place but it can take a bit of time to implement them. Teachers would have had a lesson plan for face to face learning for today for that to be overturned late yesterday 

[Strokes]

2 minutes ago, FoxesDeb said:

Has anything been said yet about financial help this time around? I haven't seen it mentioned

Not that I’m aware of, but given the  tougher restrictions start today, and I was waiting months for anything last time. I’m going to assume I get sweet fùck all, until told otherwise.

[FoxesDeb]

2 minutes ago, Strokes said:

Not that I’m aware of, but given the  tougher restrictions start today, and I was waiting months for anything last time. I’m going to assume I get sweet fùck all, until told otherwise.

Would my ST sweeten it any for you? Obviously no use for actual matches, maybe you could use it as an ice scraper for your windows instead?

[The People's Hero]

Odd for a Tory Gov to be so anti the self-employed and risk-takers who try to push the economy forward.

 

Suppose they'd prefer us all on the dole?

[SpacedX]

8 hours ago, adejo92 said:

The government have blood on their hands and can shove the new lock down up their arse .

Meaning that you intend to flout it? 

[SpacedX]

8 hours ago, Fktf said:

Staggers me that more didnt hold off going for a year. Although I think they were sold somethkng of a lie in that they were told it would be a blended approach, where big lectures would be online, but all the smaller classes would still be face to face.

To be fair, this is very much the direction that many 'Modern Universities' have been heading in well before the outbreak of the pandemic. 

[Ric Flair]

This lockdown is pretty much the same as November's but with schools closed. Now, forgive me for being a neanderthal but as we have been repeatedly told, the spread in schools is very low compared to other sectors and cohorts so how will this make much difference? 

[Pliskin]

8 hours ago, StanSP said:

Fair enough. 

 

On that last point though, and this is in general to anyone mentioning Johnson's shortcomings, not just yourself - that isn't Starmer's fault and I'd rather have him pounce on whatever Johnson does wrong as opposed to always sit in the shadows and not speak out when the time comes. Johnson being inept and making it easy isn't a stick to beat Starmer with. 

Yea like I said it was more me being in a mood, and wanting to be cynical about everything. I have since slept, I do feel Starmer is in a tough position himself, as it must be tempting to go for the jugular, because he could and really attack Boris, but it could be counter productive. I do think however he has conducted himself very well thus far when scrutinising the PM. So far most of his calls for change have happened, so he is certainly heaping pressure on Boris and his party when it comes to decision making. The aftermath of this is going to be interesting, politically anyway going to be interesting to see how things will be once we are finally ready to resume normal life. 

[Ric Flair]

Starmer is a smarmy bell

[rachhere]

8 hours ago, Fktf said:

Staggers me that more didnt hold off going for a year. Although I think they were sold somethkng of a lie in that they were told it would be a blended approach, where big lectures would be online, but all the smaller classes would still be face to face.

That's not a lie though, that's exactly what we have been doing, and will continue to do so once allowed 

 

We actually ended up with more students than usual, and all of those I have spoken to (across both undergraduate and Masters level) are happy they made the decision to come. No doubt there are some unis who aren't doing a good job of it and there are unhappy students, but the way that it's portrayed in the media isn't reflective of what I am seeing around me. 

[FoxesDeb]

3 minutes ago, rachhere said:

That's not a lie though, that's exactly what we have been doing, and will continue to do so once allowed 

 

We actually ended up with more students than usual, and all of those I have spoken to (across both undergraduate and Masters level) are happy they made the decision to come. No doubt there are some unis who aren't doing a good job of it and there are unhappy students, but the way that it's portrayed in the media isn't reflective of what I am seeing around me. 

The only Uni student I know personally is devastated she can't return, she has been thoroughly enjoying the experience so far

[Guppy Assist]

19 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

This lockdown is pretty much the same as November's but with schools closed. Now, forgive me for being a neanderthal but as we have been repeatedly told, the spread in schools is very low compared to other sectors and cohorts so how will this make much difference? 

All the people I know locally who have caught COVID have been from schools.  Quite a few to be honest, some families have been hit very hard, some not so much.  To do any form of lockdown I feel schools had to close.

[RowlattsFox]

If most of my  university stuff was done through online learning I'd have been happy  comfortably the worst part was sitting in lectures and seminars. 

It's everything else that I'd be gutted about. 

 

 

[RowlattsFox]

14 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

This lockdown is pretty much the same as November's but with schools closed. Now, forgive me for being a neanderthal but as we have been repeatedly told, the spread in schools is very low compared to other sectors and cohorts so how will this make much difference? 

Don't have to pay school staff any furlough. Only reason I can think why Nurseries stay open is because they'd have to pay their staff to be off work. 

[Jon the Hat]

15 minutes ago, RowlattsFox said:

Don't have to pay school staff any furlough. Only reason I can think why Nurseries stay open is because they'd have to pay their staff to be off work. 

It is because you cannot work from home with pre school age children to entertain.  Groups are also smaller than school classes, and don't mix at play time etc.  Much smaller bubbles.

[Ric Flair]

1 minute ago, Jon the Hat said:

It is because you cannot work from home with pre school age children to entertain.  Groups are also smaller than school classes, and don't mix at play time etc.  Much smaller bubbles.

And you can work from home and not have to entertain a 4 year old thats now not at primary school? 

[StanSP]

It's only taken 10 months

 

 

[Ric Flair]

23 minutes ago, Guppy Assist said:

All the people I know locally who have caught COVID have been from schools.  Quite a few to be honest, some families have been hit very hard, some not so much.  To do any form of lockdown I feel schools had to close.

Interesting, my son's school only had a couple of staff and/or children isolate from September through to the Xmas break. Must have been extremely lucky or their protocol somehow worked.

[Jon the Hat]

3 hours ago, Crinklyfox said:

It's worth reflecting on the 'lockdown' imposed in Spring 2020.  The restrictions announced yesterday are not more severe.  The R number was reduced to 0.7 - 0.9 last Spring, which resulted in falling numbers of infections; however the new variant is more transmissible, which may increase the R rate by approximately 0.7.  So if the new restrictions are as effective as those previously applied, the R rate will still be in the region of 1.4 - 1.6, which will result in a continued significant increase in infections.  We should expect a worsening situation until such time as the vaccination programme has covered the sections of society most likely to be hospitalised as a result of Covid-19 infection.  Hopefully this will be before the NHS is overwhelmed but right now I'm concerned that this crisis will only deepen over the next month or two.

I think the treatment has also changed quite a lot - I am not hearing daily reports on lack of ventilators now for example - so i think the CPAP etc is taking a lot of the strain.  There has been very little talk about this though.  We must have a lot more capacity than we had last year when they were talking about 4,000 ITU beds.  Now 27K in hospital suggests the NHS has responded well, and continues to grow capability.  A lot of people were thrown into environments they were not trained for last year, but 9 months of experience must have a huge impact.

[Jon the Hat]

2 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

And you can work from home and not have to entertain a 4 year old thats now not at primary school? 

It is easier as they get older.  My 7 year old would watch some twat on Youtube play minecraft all day given half a chance.

[CosbehFox]

37 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

This lockdown is pretty much the same as November's but with schools closed. Now, forgive me for being a neanderthal but as we have been repeatedly told, the spread in schools is very low compared to other sectors and cohorts so how will this make much difference? 

It’s been bollocks - the SAGE report on the new variant published on 22nd December shown significant increase in school environments. They have finally taken that advice