Coronavirus

That's not an argument at all. It's Covid, and that's that.
Maybe there wouldn't have been a new strain, it may have started in schools.
You said it was obvious schools were a breeding ground. But they always said they weren't, until the new strain. And it's this more virulent strain that has meant schools closing etc
 
As you have said yourself, schools were obviously going to be a breeding ground for the virus, but not just IN schools. The kids with no symptoms all taking it home to mums and dads, siblings, aunts and uncles and the knock on effect. It was a disaster sending kids back to school regardless of efforts made to make it as Covid safe as possible (at school). Did you see your local streets at schools out time? swarms of school pupils in large groups just being kids and carefree with no covid safe measures whatsoever!
I didnt realise school teachers werent furloughed and now having that awareness I have to ask why? Couldnt go to their workplace and highly unlikely they could do their job from home.
I dont think it is poor form or bad taste to suggest your opinion may have been financially motivated at all. Since the first lockdown period many decisions from many people on different levels have made decisions putting finance above health concern.
Starting with the Government, who only take tough action when it looks like the NHS will not be able to cope, because economy is king over health and this works its way all the way down to household level.
You yourself have previously advised on here that you had concerns about the lack of Covid Safe measures in construction site offices that you went to work in. But you didnt go shouting it from the rooftops did you? and indeed you chose to stay in that environment (and get on with it)!! You made that choice for a reason(s) and it wasnt for personal or public health based reasons.
So tell us why you had acceptance of it?

Yeah I know it’s been a mess they gave schools no wiggle room to reduce numbers by putting some year groups on part time, masks were not made mandatory at the start and once the kids are out the gate it’s a free for all but teachers can not control that. They also keep changing the rules for opening right up until the last minute making it a mad rush to get ready. I believe we actually agreed that as the lockdowns were removed in the summer we had to try and now learn to live with this virus and keep it under control.

It did however seem like the numbers were at a level where the NHS wasn’t being overwhelmed until this new strain emerged. The numbers were still high but the NHS could cope with those numbers. The new strain was a game changer because the evidence showed it spread much quicker especially in younger age groups. As soon as tier 4 came in schools should have been closed and told to prepare for online learning not shut 1 day into the new term. Teachers could have used those 2 weeks to get everything ready for online instead they were left in limbo.

I have looked into the furlough and some teachers were furloughed teaching assistants and some teachers mainly primary years and supply teachers all had contracts cancelled as they weren’t required. The vast majority of teachers carried on.

I do think it’s poor form because it suggests I’m thinking about my pocket before others health when you had no evidence of that being the case. I fully understand plenty of people have had to take risks with their health going into work because they can’t work from home and don’t want to risk losing their job. Construction has been a mixed bag luckily the firm I work for has been pretty good with disciplines on our own sites some of our clients not so disciplined so I’ve tried to avoid those sites. Socially I’ll hold my hands up and say I’ve pushed a few boundaries amongst friends so I’m no saint who’s followed every single rule to the letter.

I’ve actually worked from home nearly every day since lockdown our guidance is to only visits sites or offices if essential. Generally this has been 1 day on sites per week and those visits were in and out minimum time spent on site as possible. I’ve never been pressured to attend a site in person by my employer it has been my choice at times to deal with the mental fatigue of working from home every day and other times because the task could not be done remotely.
 
Yeah I know it’s been a mess they gave schools no wiggle room to reduce numbers by putting some year groups on part time, masks were not made mandatory at the start and once the kids are out the gate it’s a free for all but teachers can not control that. They also keep changing the rules for opening right up until the last minute making it a mad rush to get ready. I believe we actually agreed that as the lockdowns were removed in the summer we had to try and now learn to live with this virus and keep it under control.

It did however seem like the numbers were at a level where the NHS wasn’t being overwhelmed until this new strain emerged. The numbers were still high but the NHS could cope with those numbers. The new strain was a game changer because the evidence showed it spread much quicker especially in younger age groups. As soon as tier 4 came in schools should have been closed and told to prepare for online learning not shut 1 day into the new term. Teachers could have used those 2 weeks to get everything ready for online instead they were left in limbo.

I have looked into the furlough and some teachers were furloughed teaching assistants and some teachers mainly primary years and supply teachers all had contracts cancelled as they weren’t required. The vast majority of teachers carried on.

I do think it’s poor form because it suggests I’m thinking about my pocket before others health when you had no evidence of that being the case. I fully understand plenty of people have had to take risks with their health going into work because they can’t work from home and don’t want to risk losing their job. Construction has been a mixed bag luckily the firm I work for has been pretty good with disciplines on our own sites some of our clients not so disciplined so I’ve tried to avoid those sites. Socially I’ll hold my hands up and say I’ve pushed a few boundaries amongst friends so I’m no saint who’s followed every single rule to the letter.

I’ve actually worked from home nearly every day since lockdown our guidance is to only visits sites or offices if essential. Generally this has been 1 day on sites per week and those visits were in and out minimum time spent on site as possible. I’ve never been pressured to attend a site in person by my employer it has been my choice at times to deal with the mental fatigue of working from home every day and other times because the task could not be done remotely.
No worries, I wasnt actually looking for an apology but it's accepted nonetheless.
 
They surely need to consider some sort of catch up plan for the summer with the primary/secondary school kids will be a tough one to get past the teachers but surely they need to look at reducing the summer break from 6 weeks to give some face to face teaching time back to kids even if it means paying the teachers a bit more to do it.
It seems Gavin Williamson's catch up plan is to encourage parents to report teachers to ofcom if they consider the standard of remote education being offered to be lacking.
Im sure the teachers are delighted with his confidence in them!
 
It seems Gavin Williamson's catch up plan is to encourage parents to report teachers to ofcom if they consider the standard of remote education being offered to be lacking.
Im sure the teachers are delighted with his confidence in them!

That is a pretty obvious "not my problem anymore" attitude.

At least they're not going to try and award grades based on some flawed algorithym this summer and trust the teachers to award a suitable grade based on performance.
 

Can't say I condone the death penalty but in this case I might be prepared to make an exception what an absolute scum bag.

There's also a lot of scams going around people getting sent text messages/emails pretending to be from the NHS with links to malware.
 

Can't say I condone the death penalty but in this case I might be prepared to make an exception what an absolute scum bag.

There's also a lot of scams going around people getting sent text messages/emails pretending to be from the NHS with links to malware.
I understand there are always going to be idiots trying to make money out of every situation.

But he's actually injected her with something by the sounds of it! Hope they find him before he can act again.
 
I understand there are always going to be idiots trying to make money out of every situation.

But he's actually injected her with something by the sounds of it! Hope they find him before he can act again.

Yeah even if he's just jabbed her with an empty syringe there's risks of infection what he's done is so dangerous and doing it to vulnerable old people makes him absolute scum of the earth.

Some real sick and twisted people out there sadly who prey on the vulnerable.
 
Moderna vaccine now approved for use in the UK.
 

Police saying they'll be getting tough with the fines this time around as there are no excuses for not knowing the rules.

The case of the two girls in Derby being fined for meeting for a walk sort of highlights how tough they are and while that fine has now been withdrawn it has at least warned people what to expect.

The government last night refused to rule out toughening the rules if they have to but they are aware at the additional damage that could also do especially to those who live alone.

The positive news is the vaccinations are speeding up.
 
We need to have resolve for the next couple of months. Stick to the rules and think about your summer holidays.
 
Yep if they can really nail this vaccination process and get it done quickly you'd hope that the restrictions will ease slowly through the spring.

Think the tough part is track and trace just hasn't worked and probably won't ever work in fighting this virus now so it's going to be at what point can we send kids back to school without sending case numbers through the roof which inevitably ends up with the NHS being put under to much pressure.

Even if we can get back to the sort of tier 1 stuff we had in the summer while we do the rest of the vaccinations that would be a bonus.

The message from the scientists who tend to be the pessimists to Boris optimism is it will take the best part of this year to get everyone through this process.
 
I'm hoping we see a similar pattern to last year where as the temperature rises cases fall away a bit. If we could have that rest throughout the summer months with the vaccine movement in full force everyone will feel better for it. The months between June-September were kind to us.
 
I'm hoping we see a similar pattern to last year where as the temperature rises cases fall away a bit. If we could have that rest throughout the summer months with the vaccine movement in full force everyone will feel better for it. The months between June-September were kind to us.

Not sure how much of a role temperature plays other than it allows people to be outside more than inside where there's less risk of transmission if you maintain distance.

Yeah we were definitely over the hump it was still an issue and people were still dying but it wasn't out of control the new strain combined with schools obviously caught everyone out. Maybe if the track and trace programme had run a bit more smoothly we might have kept a bit more of a lid on it but the autumn months have created a huge problem that has put us back in lockdown.

Would be great if this summer we can get back to meeting in small groups outside and enjoying our lives a bit more as this winter is going to be very tough for a lot of people.
 
and have a holiday! I'd love to be able to pop over the border into Spain.

Yep be great to be able to take something close to a normal summer holiday a week or two relaxing around the pool but trying not to get my hopes up to much on that one.

Be great if the UK has another hot summer like 2020 it cannot be stressed how much easier lockdown was through 2020 when from March-September the weather was beautiful most of the time.
 
10 months after they originally should have they've finally closed our borders starting with a month to begin with (from the 18th).

I imagine Champions League games will need to be rescheduled. Liverpool were due to play Liepzig on the 16th of Feb.
 
Yeah hard to see how sport requiring international travel goes ahead in the current climate.

Border restrictions should have come in back in February and its crazy that we haven insisted on negative test evidence and quarantine periods for everyone entering the UK since the summer.

As the UK heads towards 100,000 deaths these questions need to be answered in the future as it’s shocking for a country of our resources to be this poorly prepared.
 
Government claim the target is to have offered the vaccine to everyone in UK by end of September.

Hope to start easing lockdown restrictions in March.

My guess is the schools will remain closed until after the Easter holidays which are the start of April.
 
Schools have been told they will get 2 weeks notice before re-opening sounds like they won't open until after the Easter break so kids won't be back at school until mid April.

The good news is the infection rate has started to drop but the NHS is still under massive strain and the death rate is higher than ever as a result so we're not through the worst of it yet but the vaccination process seems to be picking up speed which is good. I've tried to stop looking at the numbers every day as it's just draining.

How is everyone coping with Lockdown 3.0? Must admit I'm finding it a bit tougher the shorter darker days make it harder than the summer and it feels like the chime for Microsoft Teams calls is ringing in my head 24/7. The work from home novelty has 100% worn off I have no idea how people are doing it with kids at home too not saying I want to be back in the office every day but a few days a week wouldn't hurt.

Doing more exercise this time around got a few online class things but doing them on the hard floors is doing my knees and ankles no favours really need to invest in a bike to ease that strain a bit.
 
They have always said they expect the death rate to drop off from the 23rd onwards. Time to get ill and then the time it takes to die from it. Though I did read they're now still saying this could be weeks away. In terms of vaccinations the pace set seems to be good but can we keep this up? I read distribution and availability of glass vials will begin to be a problem.

My sleeping pattern is pretty much destroyed.

I've just finished watching Friends through again. You know lockdown has got to you when you've watched that seasons through 1-10!

Bring on March. Lighter evenings and a bit of cheerier weather. I'm just thankful that there is football on because without it this would be a much tougher struggle.
 
Yeah it takes about a month from infections to death so what we're seeing now is really a result of what happened before Xmas which is scary stuff we're going to fly past 100,000 people in a week and it'll be a while before that comes down. I really think if they'd shown us more of what Covid wards look like people might have taken the rules a little bit more seriously but this new strain has really kicked our backsides just as we saw light with Vaccines.

The vaccination infrastructure seems to be working pretty well few early teething problems but it's being rolled out by the NHS not some private firm so as long as we can get the stuff to the right places I think they'll be able to crank it up. They've even started looking at 24/7 sites in some cities across the UK to help.


My sleeping pattern is back to something close to normal after the 2 weeks off at Christmas first week back was a nightmare.

The box sets are certainly getting hammered got through 3 series of Cobra Kai in just over a week and now I'm on Series 2 of The Boys on Amazon prime. My concept of what day it is has been totally thrown by football being on every day of the week as well I'm only really watching Utd games as I can't stand watching the games without crowds it's just to sterile. Utd being good is certainly helping my mood imagine having to be in lockdown watching Van Gaal's Utd?

100% the last few days I've noticed the days are getting a bit longer and despite a bloody monsoon and flooding it gives you hope of brighter days ahead and dare we dream at some point a nice pint in a beer garden with friends.
 
The gov have done badly in the UK on the whole, worst death rate in world isn't it? per capita.

But they are really showing the way with the vaccine roll out and deserve big credit for that.

My sleep is the same, I haven't really got into any box sets, been playing COD. for an hour a night, maybe watch part of a film, in bed by 12:30 -1. Up at 8, at my desk 8:30, finish at 7 - 7:30. Eat, watch TV with family until 10. Repeat.

Although this week I have been getting up at 7:30 and doing a 30min run.
 
I try not to look at it as some sort of league table think most european and western nations have struggled big time with Covid as they have no experience of dealing with them. We seem to be making a health debate a political debate at every turn arrogance about the extent of the problem at the start cost us and they never really got over that.

They are doing well but they are doing it a different way to other nations with the 1 dose approach over a longer period so yes we might have delivered 1m doses last week but thats only step 1 until step 2 is complete those people aren't fully protected. As long as the science works I can see why it's done that way but it is massaging the stats a little bit.
 
Cases in my girls schools are starting to build up. The state school is pretty good at letting us know whats going on and what they have done. The private school seem to adopt the if we don't mention it no one will know school of thinking. Probably because of the hit in school fees when they shut last year.
 

Worse news today though. Estimated the new variant in the UK is 30% more deadly.

But possibly even worse than that is they say the variant in South Africa looks like it may be less likely to be susceptible to the vaccine.
 

Worse news today though. Estimated the new variant in the UK is 30% more deadly.

But possibly even worse than that is they say the variant in South Africa looks like it may be less likely to be susceptible to the vaccine.
And last week the new strain was more transmissible but less deadly, best avoiding the news now, I don't believe half of it.
 

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