Topic: COVID-19

[neesy111]

Yeah even for me that's a bit soon I reckon. To be honest I wish they'd just delay the Euros until next summer. World Cup is in the winter anyway, just rejig the league seasons a bit.

Got to get that Nations League in for the $$$.

[Disco]

If they're going to reopen schools in a fortnight, I really don't know why they've not set aside one or two days and just vaccinated as many school staff as possible. At the rate they've been going they could have done first doses for the lot in a couple of days.

Imagine the fewm. People would be going absolutely acka.

[tgarve]

Yeah even for me that's a bit soon I reckon. To be honest I wish they'd just delay the Euros until next summer. World Cup is in the winter anyway, just rejig the league seasons a bit.

Imagine that would only be with rapid tests etc outside

Which by that point and all the vaccinations I can’t see why that wouldn’t be ok- we have to go back to normal life at one point

[Shearergol]

If they're going to reopen schools in a fortnight, I really don't know why they've not set aside one or two days and just vaccinated as many school staff as possible. At the rate they've been going they could have done first doses for the lot in a couple of days.

Could make that argument about all key workers.

Always seemed a slightly strange concept to me that the priority was to vaccinate the people who were shielding before the people who couldn't, but I do understand that in the first instance this was all about reducing deaths and protecting hospitals. Surely now though they can change the vaccination rollout plan and ensure any front line staff are prioritised?

[madras]

If they're going to reopen schools in a fortnight, I really don't know why they've not set aside one or two days and just vaccinated as many school staff as possible. At the rate they've been going they could have done first doses for the lot in a couple of days.

Could make that argument about all key workers.

Always seemed a slightly strange concept to me that the priority was to vaccinate the people who were shielding before the people who couldn't, but I do understand that in the first instance this was all about reducing deaths and protecting hospitals. Surely now though they can change the vaccination rollout plan and ensure any front line staff are prioritised?

I'm a key worker and we have e a series of measures put in place to avoid interaction etc that I'm pretty sure couldn't be put in place in schools and wouldn't want to be.
I've no issue with school workers being prioritised over those who work in the role that I do.

[Shearergol]

If they're going to reopen schools in a fortnight, I really don't know why they've not set aside one or two days and just vaccinated as many school staff as possible. At the rate they've been going they could have done first doses for the lot in a couple of days.

Could make that argument about all key workers.

Always seemed a slightly strange concept to me that the priority was to vaccinate the people who were shielding before the people who couldn't, but I do understand that in the first instance this was all about reducing deaths and protecting hospitals. Surely now though they can change the vaccination rollout plan and ensure any front line staff are prioritised?

I'm a key worker and we have e a series of measures put in place to avoid interaction etc that I'm pretty sure couldn't be put in place in schools and wouldn't want to be.
I've no issue with school workers being prioritised over those who work in the role that I do.

No, absolutely, I believe teachers should be vaccinated first. Then other key workers. Shouldn't be on age groups now the vulnerable age groups are vaccinated imo.

[Shearergol]

Like bar staff

[Wullie]

If they're going to reopen schools in a fortnight, I really don't know why they've not set aside one or two days and just vaccinated as many school staff as possible. At the rate they've been going they could have done first doses for the lot in a couple of days.

Could make that argument about all key workers.

I don't agree, schools are massive drivers of transmission unlike most other key worker roles which don't involve spending all day in large groups with people who won't/can't socially distance.

The common denominator separating the measures that have reduced transmission and those that haven't (the tier system etc) is the schools.

[Shearergol]

I don't agree, schools are massive drivers of transmission unlike most other key worker roles which don't involve spending all day in large groups with people who won't/can't socially distance.

The only common denominator between the measures that have reduced transmission and those that haven't is the schools.

Which bit didn't you agree with? I said teachers should be vaccinated as a priority.

[Wullie]

Sorry, I amended my post to include your quote. I think we generally agree but I think school staff are in a fundamentally different position from most other key workers.

[neesy111]

Sorry, I amended my post to include your quote. I think we generally agree but I think school staff are in a fundamentally different position from most other key workers.

I agree with this.  Teachers and school staff should be vaccinated as a priority.

[Shearergol]

Sorry, I amended my post to include your quote. I think we generally agree but I think school staff are in a fundamentally different position from most other key workers.

Ahh ok. I expanded in my next post.

My family are all teachers, so I do have understandable sympathy with them anyway.

[Shearergol]

Sorry, I amended my post to include your quote. I think we generally agree but I think school staff are in a fundamentally different position from most other key workers.

I agree with this.  Teachers and school staff should be vaccinated as a priority.

I'm not disagreeing

No, absolutely, I believe teachers should be vaccinated first. Then other key workers. Shouldn't be on age groups now the vulnerable age groups are vaccinated imo.

[triggs]

Why do you hate teachers so much @Shearergol ?

[Shearergol]

Why do you hate teachers so much @Shearergol ?

[St. Maximin]

So we're essentially going back to the level of restrictions that didn't work to contain the Kent strain before this lockdown but we're still at 10k positive tests per day and now the Kent strain is the dominant strain everywhere and we'll have 25% of the population walking around with partial immunity thinking they're invincible. What could possibly go wrong?

33% of adults already vaccinated, the groups responsible for 90% of deaths have all been vaccinated, that will increase by the time the Schools go back and even further again by the time the next set of restrictions are lifted. The objective was always stopping the NHS from being overwhelmed which should be the case moving forwards.

Setting the objective as being the NHS not being overwhelmed has resulted in 120,000 deaths. It is a lagging indicator, if the NHS is anywhere near being overwhelmed we're already at the point where we have 2 months+ of 500+ deaths per day, 15,000+ deaths per month, and countless other people being left with long term heath conditions. The objective should have and should be to get a keep case levels down to a level that can be controlled by testing and tracing. Each time we have left our lockdowns far too late and come out of them too soon, and we've clearly haven't learnt any lessons from that either in the government, scientific community or population.

We have had three technical lockdowns and I agree we've locked down too late each time. Saying that we've had fairly tight restrictions since September in many areas of the country before this lockdown came into place and I don't see this as being too soon at present. By the time we can merely do things like meet in groups of six outside, the lockdown will have gone on nearly three months (longer for those in tier four), which is longer than we had last year. We have an excellent vaccine programme with studies producing more positive results, plus better understanding of how to treat covid, so this isn't the same. It's been an awful winter and people just need some hope and optimism - I'm not some covid-denier or someone who thinks lockdowns don't work ignoring all the evidence, but the harm they cause is pretty apparent and if they keep going on they are taking significant parts away from people's lives.

Ultimately everyone's situation is different and we all have different priorities. People who are vulnerable or have vulnerable family members have every right to be concerned for their well-being when restrictions are eased, while people fearing for their jobs shouldn't feel guilty when they are told they can open up their businesses also. Personally I think the government have approached this well (for once), but fully accept I could be wrong about that as I have been before.

[relámpago blanco]

Why do you hate teachers so much @Shearergol ?

Know it all w*****s innit

[Anon]

I think I mentioned earlier in the year, but the main issue within schools is that a low percentage of staff absence renders the school unworkable. They have now changed the guidance that the LFTs won't be used to keep close contact students and staff in school so they still have to isolate for 10 days. So, we're back to how it was (albeit with a few vulnerable staff vaccinated) before this lockdown with a more contagious variant and more testing which will pick up more cases. If teachers don't get bumped up the list, they will still keep getting sent home and schools will be sending kids home. I'm personally in no rush to jump the queue myself, but I can't see any other solution?

[joeyt]

So they are talking about having 90k of fans at Wembley in June for the Euros.  That's far far too quick imo.

International fans or just British fans?

[Cf]

Labour have been calling for teachers to be vaccinated for a while. Isn't going to happen.

And for it to actually be effective it needed to have happened by now. Or at least get started right this minute.

[neesy111]

So they are talking about having 90k of fans at Wembley in June for the Euros.  That's far far too quick imo.

International fans or just British fans?

Think just British fans.

[madras]

It's not helped by loads of posts on the likes of FB about how things WILL be open by certain dates as opposed to "no earlier than".

Love how people can hear a particular set of words and then get a completely different meaning from them.

[St1pe]

I’m surprised at the amount of collective Stockholm syndrome that seems to have taken place on social media because Boris has set out a roadmap to lift restrictions he’s imposed. Everyone seems happy to forgot how woeful this government have been because the carrot of being allowed out has been dangled.

[tgarve]

I’m surprised at the amount of collective Stockholm syndrome that seems to have taken place on social media because Boris has set out a roadmap to lift restrictions he’s imposed. Everyone seems happy to forgot how woeful this government have been because the carrot of being allowed out has been dangled.

Can’t blame people for having hope

[St1pe]

It’s honestly not the hope side of because I, like pretty much everyone else, got a massive boost from seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. It shouldn’t be forgotten how bad this government have been though. I’ve seen a lot of pro-Boris status because of it and it just seems mental to me. There has to be accountability.