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Without wishing to add to your load... Your mum is likely to receive vaccine in the next few months. If you really think your sister is suffering could she come and see you?
The one thing solid guidelines from government saying no traveling (for instance) would do is stop a lot of potential arguments and make making the right choices easier for a lot of people. FFS it's 1 day. 2 at most. Vaccine in the horizon.
Yep. We cancelled plans a few weeks back. My mum will be on her own.
I will drive to hers on 23rd, and drop off a few gifts, go for a walk outside.
On Xmas day we will have a zoom call, probably an extended family quiz.
She’s 72, so hopefully a vaccine in a few months, same as my in-laws, then we can all get together.
Good compromise. I wish my Mum was a short enough drive away to do the same with the outside walk and gift swapping. We'll do the zoom/facetime though, for sure.
Anyone up for trying to name the British mutation in the style of "Wu-Flu" then?
10er on us being imprisoned on this island by both Brexit and this new variant. No one will let us off/in!
I'd love to be a fly on the wall in 10 Downing Street right now.
The point raised earlier about stricter rules making it easier for families to say “No” is very valid. I’m sure in a lot of cases, all concerned are worried, but nobody wants to be the killjoy.
How about the Boris Bug?
Staying at home with no mixing for us. Travelling over 400 miles to a tier 3 area to visit my Mam and family is not going to happen.
It was a fairly easy decision for us with time, money and logistics of who we couldor couldn't see. Then I saw a local news video of covid issues and a surgeon in James Cook hospital talking about the situation, and my (pregnant) daughter was in it in scrubs with her back to camera, and I'm actually tearing up writing this now. FFS I missing seeing my family and my elderly and fairly doiting Mam, but I'd rather not put any of us at un-necessary risk.
Luckily other family are very close by for my Mam. Fingers crossed for seeing them at Easter.
If you really think your sister is suffering could she come and see you?
If she did that the safest is probably for the family to self isolate ASAP now and sister to stay for 7+ days to avoid taking it back.
I guess that will depend on their mum being alone for the time though.
Vaccine in the horizon.
It would seem a disproportionate risk with that in mind.
The unknown is the transmission which is behaviours. Are they indoors or out, wearing a mask or not… is there a Covidiot in charge who packs 200+ into a room with Kelvin’s OH and orders the windows closed.
Only 200? Try full school 1,000 kids in hall for weekly assemblies at my wife's school. Parents complained about children being cold so all windows now closed too. No social distancing at lunch & not staggered so again 1,000 kids going through dinner hall at lunch time so sitting shoulder to shoulder each day. Teachers not told which kids have tested positive, only when wee johnie doesn't turn up for class. On top of this, my wife hasn't received a single piece of PPE.
It's staggering, yet despite raising with senior management, business continues exactly has it has done before covid - "we cannot degrade the pupil experience" being the schools managements strap line.
Yay. Bristol out of Tier 3 on Saturday.
Absolutely fed up with the London-centric reporting.
Huge swathes of the country staying in tier 3 and have been forever, but no, lets concentrate of London.
Also, what is the point if the tiers if, even with falling rates, you stay in tier 3?
Absolutely fed up with the London-centric reporting.
Something only actually exists once it applies to the population of London. We all know that.
You'll know when that point is reached because you'll then be able to hear the hysterical bleating from outer space
Londoners stunned to receive same treatment as the North for a bloody change
Absolutely fed up with the London-centric reporting.
Huge swathes of the country staying in tier 3 and have been forever, but no, lets concentrate of London.
But all we had for months was the midlands, north east and north west and a bit of wales, Andy Burnham, manchester, leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, Joe Anderson, Sheffield etc etc•
And why was that? because that was where cases were hitting 500-600/100k.
So now it’s going to be Sadiq Khan, dagenham and redbridge and the Medway towns.
first it was meat processing, then universities and now schools, the news follows current outbreaks or increases.
•apologies if your town or city wasn’t mentioned, don’t take it personally.
Only 200? Try full school 1,000 kids in hall for weekly assemblies at my wife’s school. Parents complained about children being cold so all windows now closed too. No social distancing at lunch & not staggered so again 1,000 kids going through dinner hall at lunch time so sitting shoulder to shoulder each day. Teachers not told which kids have tested positive, only when wee johnie doesn’t turn up for class. On top of this, my wife hasn’t received a single piece of PPE.
It’s staggering, yet despite raising with senior management, business continues exactly has it has done before covid – “we cannot degrade the pupil experience” being the schools managements strap line.
I think that should be some parents....
Some will be absolutely pooing themselves but I guess the majority will be like us and just have given up.
We gave up day 1 back to school (after inset day)... the lad came home Told to remove mask at school gate ... and said PE started by "put your hands on the person next to you". This was apparently the "Covid safe" PE in the classroom.
There's no point really is there.
He gets it, brings it home and mum takes it to her school.
How he's managed not to catch it or be in self isolation by now is just bad pure luck, it would have been nice to have it before XMAS.
He'll most likely be fine, his mum likely fine and I just don't care anymore. I'm only 53 and other than my autoimmune disorders in reasonably good health.
scruff9252, that's staggering! Are the unions, LEA (assuming it's not an academy) not involved? Not sure what the escalation process would be after that, local MP perhaps.
the news follows current outbreaks or increases.
erm or the testing follows ... it's hard to tell and I can't help feel a bit of both.
first it was meat processing, then universities and now schools
yeah imagine that....who'd have ever thought that for a coronavirus?
So glad my kids don't go to some of the schools some of yours do, which brings me back to my point earlier about them also having much lower infection/isolation rates.
I fell into a coma 5 months ago today
could anyone fill me in on how we defeated covid?
Last thing I remember is Johnson giving us the good news
Johnson realised he wasn't up to the task and resigned, Jacinda Ardern took over via Zoom and all was fixed.
Try full school 1,000 kids in hall for weekly assemblies at my wife’s school. Parents complained about children being cold so all windows now closed too.
That is insane!
@tthew, I know teachers that have quit, hoping to return to the classroom after the pandemic, because they have vulnerable people in their household and absolutely no agency over what happens in their workplace, even after involving the union and talking to the council (who were ultimately their employer). If the head wants to risk having hundreds of pupils, and all staff, crammed together without ventilation, there is nothing a lowly staff member can do... other than quit (and risk breach of contract implications).
But all we had for months was the midlands, north east and north west and a bit of wales, Andy Burnham, manchester, leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, Joe Anderson, Sheffield etc etc
Inadvertently, you've made my point.
I'm down in the Midlands, have been in tier 3 for a long time and no-one ever talks about us! The North West had Andy Burnham shouting about things, London is London, we have Andy Street who is absolutely useless.
Cases are down, hospitality is shafted, and still no change. I'm just fed up.
If I hear another minister call schools "Covid secure"... well... there's nothing anyone can do... is there? Other than make sure we act as a barrier between schools and the rest of the community, and hope everyone else does the same (ie act on the advice from Sage and government ministers to keep away from others outside the school environment, and ignore Boris' messages about having a jolly extended family knees up to save Christmas).
hospitality is shafted
Dropping to teir2 still means hospitality is shafted... they need financial help, not being told they can open their doors to people told not to go through them.
So Secondary schools are having a 'staggered return' after Xmas. Exam classes to go back as normal, others will be online.....what better time to announce it than lunchtime on the last day of term eh?!?!
What they actually mean is.....R rate is going to be through the roof in January after the 2 weeks of Christmas free for all so basically a full lockdown but exam classes can go back.....we'll leave it until May before we inevitably cancel exams.
**** me January is going to be grim 😔
140,000 people vaccinated so far according to Nadhim Zahawi
At that rate (108k) just 10 years to get one dose into all English citizens. Better to remain silent and thought a fool surely?
So Secondary schools are having a ‘staggered return’ after Xmas. Exam classes to go back as normal, others will be online…..what better time to announce it than lunchtime on the last day of term eh?!?!
In England.
Scotland cancelled exams already.
Edit - replying to sandwich.
Not just me that was unimpressed by that number then?
That's (very roughly) each vaccination centre getting one delivery of vaccine.
Hancock said the other day they hope to get a couple of million done by Xmas. They'd better get a wriggle on then... 🙄
I’m down in the Midlands, have been in tier 3 for a long time and no-one ever talks about us! The North West had Andy Burnham shouting about things, London is London, we have Andy Street who is absolutely useless.
Cases are down, hospitality is shafted, and still no change. I’m just fed up.
Just watched the news and they were live from Otley and then Birmingham talking about the drop in numbers and teir levels.
Though I guess the issue isn’t the reporting it’s Westminster (that Tory run place in the middle of a huge Labour run conurbation)
So glad my kids don’t go to some of the schools some of yours do, which brings me back to my point earlier about them also having much lower infection/isolation rates
Are they handling it well, or have you just not been told about any cases/been advised of the actual bare minimum?
I know my wife's school are only isolating the absolute bare minimum of pupils when a test comes back positive, not telling teachers who may have taught that pupil and sure as shit aren't notifying parents of the rest of the class.
So Secondary schools are having a ‘staggered return’ after Xmas. Exam classes to go back as normal, others will be online…..what better time to announce it than lunchtime on the last day of term eh?!?!
This is ridiculous - how Gavin Williamson has the nerve to carry on in his job is beyond me..
The latest... today is the last full day of Secondary School here... and the news dribbling out from the government is that January will be home learning... so the schools have just hours to prepare pupils for shifting to distance learning next term...
Slow hand clap for the government that can do NOTHING at the right time. Dangerous incompetent useless...
i wont disagree with your last three words kelvin, but to suggest that schools only have hours to prepare for distance learning in two and a half weeks is a little much.
@kimbers sorry to disappoint you but there’s been a new President in the US* which has caused a delay and Covid will now be over by Easter due to the delay.
*or any other reason you’d like to use to distract from the truth.
This is ridiculous – how Gavin Williamson has the nerve to carry on in his job is beyond me..
How that muppet ended up in the job in the first place is the question most of us have been asking since he was appointed
i wont disagree with your last three words kelvin, but to suggest that schools only have hours to prepare for distance learning in two and a half weeks is a little much.
Plus also a lot of schools are prepared. Our have has the ability via Google classroom since the start of term and Jnr just finishing his first whole week of schooling at home, seems to work well.
Understand the general sentiment though, 2 weeks to prepare over a Christmas is anything but kind to he teachers.
i wont disagree with your last three words kelvin, but to suggest that schools only have hours to prepare for distance learning in two and a half weeks is a little much.
And it's not as if they have no experience of delivering it either. Yes crap timing, yes dither and delay yet again, but doesn't really register against the scale of incompetence that we've seen (that's the normal scale, not the Grayling one)
but to suggest that schools only have hours to prepare for distance learning in two and a half weeks is a little much
I said prepare the pupils... they won't see them after midday tomorrow here... so they literally only have a few hours of the pupils being in school to prepare them for working from home in their next teaching week. If they'd announced this a week ago, all subjects would have had lesson time in which they could tell pupils what is expected of them at the start of next term, and made sure they had the materials to work from etc.
Plus also a lot of schools are prepared.
A reminder that THIS MORNING minsters in the Dep of Edu were insisting that schools were NOT ALLOWED to move to at home learning, and threatening councils will legal action if schools did move to home learning. So while many have done plenty of preparation, it would be surprising if the preparation in all schools for SOMETHING THEY WERE TOLD THEY MUST NOT DO was as complete as it would have been if they had forewarning that is was to become SOMETHING THEY MUST DO.
With the Tier 3 thing in Greater Manchester (well... the whole of the north), absolutely nobody thought we'd be coming out of it, but now the obvious question is; when will we ever get out of it?
With the this ridiculous government seemingly hell-bent on this ludicrous '3 households for 5 days' idiocy over Christmas, leading to the inevitable huge third wave in January, probably requiring us to go into full lockdown again (Tier 4?), when would we be realistically looking at getting back to Tier 2, never mind Tier 1?
March? April? Next summer? The summer after that?
Will there be any businesses left by then?
.
The only thing I feel happy about today is us staying in Tier 3. I think it is the right decision. My gut feeling (never proves me right btw) is that perhaps February onwards we could have some restrictions eased.
My anxiety is back to where it was back in October when the situation was getting worse. The mental health impact is serious, and will only get worse.
Wooo. Reading Berkshire Tier three. That means its about 8 miles from my house. I hope the virus can read the county signs.
I wonder if Didcot will get crowds from Reading heading this way for their late shopping on Saturday? I'd better get down the butchers tomorrow.
All too depressing. I'm off for a ride.
The irony of Covid is my sister, who runs an ICU is down with Covid and quite poorly, my sis in law who works in the ICU is now IN the ICU with Covid. Not good and very worried about her.
This virus is a proper pig, we've been uber careful at all times and I get very annoyed when i see 'friends' just cracking on.
Not just me that was unimpressed by that number then?
That’s (very roughly) each vaccination centre getting one delivery of vaccine.
They need to get a wriggle on as after 1 January I expect that there will be a complete logistics **** up!
Of course it will be a **** up, the ports are already backed up
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55329573
The irony of Covid is my sister, who runs an ICU is down with Covid and quite poorly, my sis in law who works in the ICU is now IN the ICU with Covid.
Really feel for you and them. So sorry to hear that.
In that last few months the focus really has moved away from hospital staff... and the family members I have working in hospitals say things are harder than ever right now.