Coronavirus (Non-Politics)

[Member]

Why close schools then? Either teachers are 'key workers' or they're not... You don't hear NHS staff, supermarket staff, warehouse staff, delivery drivers, bin men etc. whining about having to go to work.

If teachers were on 80% furlough, I'm sure they'd have different views.

Schools are causing a significant amount of viral transmission, both directly (inside school through teachers and pupils) and indirectly (through people needing to get public transport etc.)

Teaching is a job that can't really be done 'safely' given the design of school premises, the nature of small children, and it being challenging to wear facemasks all day and effectively communicating with children (although I do think teachers should be wearing masks more often).

 

[OldBlueLady]

Feel your pain as my middle boy has the same teacher! I'm going to give the home learning a week and if it doesn't improve I'm going to write to the school governors.

That's what I told her to do. He's having trouble as well is he?

 

[Spenser]

It's similar for secondary schools from a safeguarding issue, and my point about the u-turns by the government remains, setting up live or pre-recorded lessons is more time consuming for regular teachers who haven't even be taught how to do this or given the equipment they need. Do agree though that it sounds like your school hasn't been very good and you should speak to them about this.

The whole thing is a complete ****ing disaster, I've never seen my kids look so glum as they are right now.

Certainly sounds from @Ricey comments that his school has not been great but there's two sides to it as always.

Some parents (and the Government) seem to think teachers can just swap all their lesson plans across year groups, subjects and abilities within classes back and forth from classroom to online at the drop of a hat.

You would be amazed at the content teachers are obliged (by Ofsted) to include in every lesson to accommodate different learning abilities in the same class.

Most teachers spend a great deal of time tailoring their classes to suit the children concerned and the whims of the latest Education Secretary with regard to the curriculum. Chances are the last year's lesson plans won't work the following year and at the least have to be re-worked.

It's not one size fits all and you can't just suddenly shift it all on or offline at the last moment.

Also bear in mind there are plenty that don't do the work they are set as well as those who don't get 'enough' set by the teachers.

 

[Mr Plow]

Seems simple to me.If HMG wants the schools to stay open (and they clearly do) then give teachers the same priority as NHS workers for vacinations.

I'm sure they'd love to do that, question though - How many teachers would need to be vaccinated to allow schools to remain open and how many doses will that take away from the most vulnerable groups already identified (the groups that if they catch Covid then they have an almost certain chance they will die). Remember we currently only have a finite amount of the vaccine to allocate, who would you choose not to vaccinate so that we can get schools back open?

 

[Ricey]

It's similar for secondary schools from a safeguarding issue, and my point about the u-turns by the government remains, setting up live or pre-recorded lessons is more time consuming for regular teachers who haven't even be taught how to do this or given the equipment they need. Do agree though that it sounds like your school hasn't been very good and you should speak to them about this.

The whole thing is a complete ****ing disaster, I've never seen my kids look so glum as they are right now.

There have been a few emails from the school about them having issues with live/pre recorded lessons so I assume I’m not the only unhappy parent. Hopefully they will have it sorted and fully operational by next week.

Your second point I’ve highlighted is huge! Kids mental health is massively suffering. It’s not as bad for those with siblings like mine they have each other. But kids like my niece who is an only child, other than via FaceTime doesn’t have that face to face interaction or play with other children. And like you say they are so glum. I generally worry for all of the kids and their mental well-being.

 

[GBJ]

Digital health passports. Think that's a crackpot conspiracy? The government has already awarded a contract to a supplier for them. So the vaccine won't be "mandatory" per se but you'll need it to travel abroad, go to events, probably do any of the 'normal' things we used to do. All part of the great reset. Mandatory face coverings were a compliance test, and you all passed.

You’ll have to show me your findings, because as far as I can see, they haven’t. The Government awarded a contract to a supplier to create a negative test result certification app.... which has nothing to do with vaccinations.

The government has awarded a contract to develop technology that proves you’ve recently had a negative Covid-19 test - Full Fact

This doesn’t mean that vaccination passports are planned.

fullfact.org

“There is no mention of vaccine status being recorded as part of this technology.

We asked DHSC if they had any plans to introduce such a vaccine passport, and it told us: “We have no plans to introduce immunity passports following this vaccination programme.”



As for “the great reset”, is this the same great reset that has been orchestrated by a shadowy and faceless cabal and which only Donald Trump can save the world from?

If so, he needs to get his skates on, because his clock is ticking....

How can people still not see that we are being lied to and manipulated?

I think it goes without saying that people know they’ve been lied to, right from the start of this pandemic. It was a mere 48 hours ago that the PM was insisting that schools were safe, only to prove that by shutting them down the next day.

That’s not manipulation, that’s weapons-grade incompetence.

We're only told the daily case numbers, deaths and hospital admissions (which actually include people who were admitted for another reason but tested positive) - we never hear about the number of people who recovered or how many tests were done. We only see the busy hospital wards on the news, not the empty ones. The scaremongering is appalling

You think that there are empty hospital wards out there? Lol. Have you ever known a hospital to have empty wards, at any point in history?

FWIW, I’m currently based at Basildon Hospital, and I can assure you the claims of empty wards are complete nonsense.

Call me a tinfoil hat wearer if you want. I'll happily be proved wrong when the government has given us back all our freedoms in a few months once the most vulnerable have been vaccinated...

Hey, it’s your choice to believe what you want mate. I’m just here to point out the inaccuracies in your claims. It’s nothing personal.

 

[Ricey]

Well, I’m not sure what school your kids go to, but with my wife being a primary school teacher I can advise this is NOT the case.

To state that ‘Teachers are mugging it off’ is extremely offensive.

My wife phoned and spoke to every pupil yesterday and worked on lesson plans and instructions for every parent. In addition she is running class Dojos for all children needing help and is providing written feedback to all pieces of work, which the children are requested to upload to the a school portal. She’s on calls now to parents needing help and will probably be working til well after the end of school putting plans for tomorrow together. Same as when she’s in school pre-Covid.

With the exception of NHS staff no one is working harder than many teachers. This was exactly the same as during 1st lockdown. Sadly teachers are easy targets, but in reality work hard and are under a great deal of pressure.

It’s not a Southend school so you’re alright.

I probably should’ve been more specific as I’ve had problems with both the junior and secondary schools since moving back to Essex. And they have been mugging it off especially with my son who needs extra support and has been brushed aside for years.

Yes I’m probably being a bit harsh on teachers as a whole. My mother in law and sister are both teachers and they agree we’ve been given a **** ride especially with my son.

 

[Mad Cyril]

Nearly 61k positive test cases yesterday.

I bet the effect of Christmas will see it hit 80k

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

I'm sure they'd love to do that, question though - How many teachers would need to be vaccinated to allow schools to remain open and how many doses will that take away from the most vulnerable groups already identified (the groups that if they catch Covid then they have an almost certain chance they will die). Remember we currently only have a finite amount of the vaccine to allocate, who would you choose not to vaccinate so that we can get schools back open?

Remember that any teachers over 50 and also those with an underlying medical condition would already be on HMG 's prioriy list for vaccination (currently at 2 million doses of the vaccine per week due to be completed by April).

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

I think it's easy to moan about different sectors of the UK work Force, just remember, the UK didn't create this, but left to deal with it.

Everyone is trying there hardest to minimise the impact to others, we're just in the sticky brown stuff and we have to protect the NHS and save lives.

Personally I'm very proud of all our front line staff, police, fire service, key workers and most importantly our NHS.

We just all need to bite the bullet until we get over this, our forefathers had it worse during the blitz but got through it in the end.

The sooner EVERYONE follows the rules, the sooner we'll see a light at the end of the tunnel.

This is often mentioned but more people have now died of covid in the UK than died during the blitz.Just saying. (and before anyone starts, my father was in bomb disposal during the war so I'm sure he had it pretty hard).

More people have probably been killed by coronavirus than were killed during the Blitz - Full Fact

An image being shared online is a fair reflection of what we know about the death tolls from Covid-19 and the Blitz.

fullfact.org

 

[Ricey]

I don't have a problem with teachers occasionally setting work but I do have problems making sure my kids have completed it satisfactory because I don't really understand the schools online portals. I occasional get in touch with their tutors to check up.

When they moved to secondary school we were told everything was on Go4schools. We kept checking that and no work was being put on there. The kids then told us that they used teams and 2 other outlets to do their homework on. It was a nightmare keeping an eye on it, but if they didn’t do it they ended up getting after school detentions. That was when we knew they weren’t doing the work. Only in some subjects as some of the stuff my son submitted was blatant copy and paste from Google but nothing from the teacher.

 

[Mr Plow]

Remember that any teachers over 50 and also those with an underlying medical condition would already be on HMG 's prioriy list for vaccination (currently at 2 million doses of the vaccine per week due to be completed by April).

Yes and they'll get the vaccine as per the priority list as you stated. If HMG were to decide to vaccinate teachers to get schools open then others higher on the priority would need to be sacrificed, my question was which priority group in your opinion would you like to choose as HMG would have to if they went this way?

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

Yes and they'll get the vaccine as per the priority list as you stated. If HMG were to decide to vaccinate teachers to get schools open then others higher on the priority would need to be sacrificed, my question was which priority group in your opinion would you like to choose as HMG would have to if they went this way?

And I refer you to my original point that. if HMG want to keep schools open (and they clearly do) then they should give priority to teachers for vaccinations on a par with that of NHS workers.

Fortunately, I'm not a politician or a vaccine modeller for the NHS, so I don't have to concern myself with the sort of question you're asking me.

 

[Mr Plow]

And I refer you to my original point that. if HMG want to keep schools open (and they clearly do) then they should give priority to teachers for vaccinations on a par with that of NHS workers.

Fortunately, I'm not a politician or a vaccine modeller for the NHS, so I don't have to concern myself with the sort of question you're asking me.

Yes they could very well do what you say to keeps schools open but I shall say again, who should they sacrifice from the higher risk groups to do this?

Ah and there it is, HMG please do so and so but I'm not going to concern myself with how you do it or what other groups it may affect.

 

[blueblueblue]

That was a very Sombre press conference. Jesus, things are bad right now, the question about kids going back to school by the summer was skipt over. 1.3m have the virus and restrictions next winter.

Just a few points I picked up on for those who didn't watch it.

I'm sure others will be able to add more.

 

[Leigh_Seasider]

Whitty didn’t say there’d be restrictions like there are now in winter. Unlike Boris he was looking at worst case and exercising caution. The virus isn’t just going to just disappear was the gist of it. Truth is nobody knows how quickly “normal life” will return as there’s so many ifs and buts. That’s not negative it’s realistic and I’d rather that than the usual cheery reassurances.

 

[Sandbach Shrimper]

Whitty didn’t say there’d be restrictions like there are now in winter. Unlike Boris he was looking at worst case and exercising caution. The virus isn’t just going to just disappear was the gist of it. Truth is nobody knows how quickly “normal life” will return as there’s so many ifs and buts. That’s not negative it’s realistic and I’d rather that than the usual cheery reassurances.

So the goalposts have already been moved back yet again since last night...

Normal life is never going to return until people say enough is enough. This it now, lockdowns every winter to "protect" the beloved NHS (by destroying the economy so there's less money to pay for it). Once these most vulnerable have been vaccinated, there is no justification whatsoever for anymore restrictions.

 

[Benfleet A1]

I must say, it doesn't feel like a lockdown outside at all, loads of cars and people about and mixing with others.

At this rate we'll have tier 10.

Starts at midnight

 

[blueblueblue]

Starts at midnight

They come into effect at the time it was announced, but by law at 00.01 this evening.

It will be interesting to see if anything changes.

 

[Chrisb]

So the goalposts have already been moved back yet again since last night...

Normal life is never going to return until people say enough is enough. This it now, lockdowns every winter to "protect" the beloved NHS (by destroying the economy so there's less money to pay for it). Once these most vulnerable have been vaccinated, there is no justification whatsoever for anymore restrictions.

Let's hope you or your loved ones don't ever need to use it then.