ADs and the hardon colanders

[CruCru]

Here’s the new thread.

Oh dear, they're back to kids in front of screens with masks and Chinese-style military lockdowns on my PS thread.

@GarlandaChynoweth

I wonder if one of you lovely lot could help me out as I'm feeling pretty ignorant. The point of lockdowns, restrictions etc is to protect the NHS, we're told (not, as some think, to stop anyone catching covid, ever). I'm sceptical about how much protection it needs in my area as DS2 was in and out of A&E with a fractured collarbone within an hour last week. Despite five layers of warning covid messaging getting through to 111 and then the doctor I spoke to warning me how busy A&E would be 'because covid'.

Like so many of you, I fear that the 'cure' is worse than covid itself, my DC have had their childhoods restricted in so many ways for nearly a year now for a virus that is likely to be milder than many illnesses they catch as a matter of course. But what really is the alternative if the NHS is not to be overwhelmed? Not being dementory, just seeking to be better educated when I'm moaning about how crap all these bloody restrictions are.

My issue with the "protect the NHS" message is that a lot of the people who are getting really sick are people who are habitually in and out of hospitals and their doctor's surgeries, or people in care homes. They're likely to be picking it up in clinical setting and that is probably hard to prevent.

Lots of school kids and uni students getting sniffles and 1-day fevers and flu is unlikely to overwhelm the NHS!

Take my borough of London. Our case rates are still super high. But we have had very few deaths and actually the local NHS trust's 4 major hospitals are less full than they are usually at this time of the year.

@Jourdain11

Oh dear, they're back to kids in front of screens with masks and Chinese-style military lockdowns on my PS thread.

Course they are. We are in a world where a fucking teaching union tweeted something referring to children as "walking fucking biohazards" at one point (they pulled the tweet - but someone thought that was an acceptable way to refer to people's children... the child-haters are rife.

My kids are exasperating at times and never shut up - but they don't deserve the venom directed at them by teachers who you think would go into the job to enjoy teaching kids.

Same as Jourdain here, numbers are rising in the town but not being reflected in hospital admissions at the moment. Can’t point that out though as you’ll get hung, drawn and quartered.

I’m having visions of teachers at the front of their classroom encased in some sort of perspex tube!

@Iheartmysmart

Same as Jourdain here, numbers are rising in the town but not being reflected in hospital admissions at the moment. Can’t point that out though as you’ll get hung, drawn and quartered.

I’m having visions of teachers at the front of their classroom encased in some sort of perspex tube!

The kids' school have a mobile perspex screen they cart around the classroom if a TA needs to go near a child to help them with their work (like a bank-teller screen). I find that fucking horrendous but grit my teeth and thank that they're in school.

That is awful, can’t believe children are being treated like that! DS isn’t at school any more and I didn’t realise some of them were that bad!

@Iheartmysmart

That is awful, can’t believe children are being treated like that! DS isn’t at school any more and I didn’t realise some of them were that bad!

Parents banned from crossing the school threshold and unable to speak with teachers. Teachers wearing face visors and so much hand sanitiser you could get high on the fumes if you walk past the street... reading books are quarantined, Christmas cards were quarantined and sorted in PPE, the perspex screen, 2m distancing lines on the playground that they line up on, playground zoned so classes go nowhere near each other - it's horrendous and they're restricted so much that the new kids from September don't know their way around the school as they're only in their classroom.

I fucking hate sending the kids in (and DD2's class teacher is using it as an excuse to do fuck all) but it's the best we can get at the moment. It's horrible.

Garlanda we've had four brushes with A&E since March in two different hospitals, and all times much much quicker than previously. DD was admitted and her ward was half empty.

I think there are bottlenecks at times with an unequal distribution of patients because of having to segregate by covid, plus staff shortages but it's not what we've experienced, and we're in an area that has been locked down forever.

Did anyone see the thread where the OP was thrilled that her elderly relative had had the vaccine and was counting down the 4 weeks until she could give her a hug?
Lots of people saying “why on earth would you think the vaccine mean we can hug people?”, “we won’t be hugging people in 2021” etc
WHY not? I did actually google the laws even and I can’t find any law prohibiting me having close physics contact with someone, providing I am allowed to see them (obviously quite a restricted group). Obviously there are guidelines and some general advice but I’d be shocked if a majority of people had not been close to someone outside their household for 9 months.

I can’t say that anyone I have seen socially in that 9 months (obviously not really seeing people socially now) has made any attempt to distance from me.

I wouldn’t hug an elderly relative now but I did in the summer so I fully expect to again once it’s spring and once vulnerable people have been vaccinated.

@DominaShantotto I am thankful every day that our school is experience is nothing like that. I only have one old enough for school and he’s in reception though which makes the difference but teachers happily stand close to children, nervous children are encouraged to hold hands etc.

@DominaShantotto I don’t blame you for not wanting to send your kids in, what sort of message does that give the poor things. We are going to end up with a generation of seriously fucked up kids at this rate.

The school closest to me seems to be operating relatively normally, kids running around and playing with their friends so I assumed most of them were the same. How wrong was I.

Grrr deleted some by mistake! Parents are stood outside without masks chatting, kids are taking in bags and bringing home books and drawings etc, the only thing I’ve noticed as being different is the kids go in one door and out another way.

I feel very lucky as my dc's school have been amazing since september. They're adhering to the guidance so enforcing several ridiculous rules but they've given the children so many experiences I didn't think would be possible. It's been different but we joke about the silly things and they've had a blast overall. I'd hate to see that end to days of solitude and screens.

One thing I have a problem with is I think they're too open with discussing the covid rules. I have a little covid marshall on my hands at times as they discuss any new rule changes in assemblies on zoom before I've had chance to get my head round them myself. Like when the rule of 6 come in to play I had the dc working out how many of us would be together before meet ups etc and I don't think that's on really, it's an adult problem requiring an adult solution and shouldn't have been planted in dc's heads.

I remember reading somewhere that social distancing is NOT law, and never has been. It's merely a polite request. Therefore hugging is not illegal. The government just like to brainwash us and tell us that it is. Masks (face nappies) on the other hand, those are a bit easier to define in law.

@wanderings

I remember reading somewhere that social distancing is NOT law, and never has been. It's merely a polite request. Therefore hugging is not illegal. The government just like to brainwash us and tell us that it is. Masks (face nappies) on the other hand, those are a bit easier to define in law.

Tbh I'm quite shocked when people seem to think hugging is illegal. I think it might go back to an interview given by Matt Hancock. I admit, it upset me hugely, but that in itself made me check laws.

I can remember hugging being discussed on a public question on one of the daily deaths briefings in the spring. It is discouraged, but not illegal.

We're off for a walk with friends tomorrow. They're happy to ignore a couple of surplus children. We've mutually agreed to keep things outdoors even before the rules were tightened. Anyway, with 4 energetic boys, burning them off with walking is the best way to hold some kind of conversation!

I just want schools in as normally as possible. It's the best way to educate children, and whatever age they are, losing over half a year of education will impact them. This years exam years get some allowence made for them. Possibly next year's cohort? But by the time any younger than that get to formal assessment, it'll all get brushed under the carpet, but the damage will still be there. And socialisation is essential for their development at any age.

Someone's come borderline close to personal attack on a C thread.

Why did I start that flippin' school thread?! Remind me of all the reasons why not to next time!!

I kind of want to explain for any Ds reading this that when I say I haven’t ever socially distanced ... well, my social life is down a LOT on normal and as an introvert who doesn’t miss DC’s bedtimes ever my baseline is lower than most people’s to start with.. But yeah, my basic stance on meeting people is that if it’s too risky to sit next to eat other or touch then it’s too risky to meet in the first place.

There is a children’s book I see in the window of the bookshop with a hedgehog on it called “while we can’t hug” and every time I see it I wonder what kind of sick person wrote that or buys it. My children don’t socialise as much as I’d like. They haven’t seen grandparents much this year. But when they have there have been no rules against hugging or sitting on laps.

OK, so my local hospital is at about half of its covid capacity by my estimation. Numbers look low to me (we are tier 2) but without data on what would result in them being 'overwhelmed' it's difficult to make sensible conclusions. Much easier to hysterically parrot about protecting the NHS.

My DC's school have been great at being as non-dementory as possible. Staff always seem pretty chilled and we even got to see DD's nativity in person. They have had one covid case which was over half term, no close contacts identified so sounds like it was caught while school was closed. If they close on that basis it will be ludicrous.

@DominaShantotto well done for standing up for your DD2 and getting her a school place on mental health grounds. I will be fighting harder for my DC if I need to next time, not sucking it up and letting us all go under (I have a DH but chocolate teapot pretty much covers how supportive he was throughout the whole bloody nightmare).

Just read the education piece in the telegraph. Scientists want schools and universities lockdown until end of January. So the leaks have started

I saw something funny on a local facebook 'spotted' page. Someone had posted to say that they had just caught the 'new variant' covid, that it is much more severe and they were feeling very ill.
They have my sympathy if they feel unwell, but how on earth would they know what genetic strand of covid they have caught? (and indications and advice are that it is no more serious).
I have said it before, but I really do wish that the government would indicate WHERE the covid cases are, as well as how many. I still have the sneaking suspicion that the majority of cases are institutional. However, I suppose that sort of information does not fit the government's agenda.
Storm Bella blew itself out quite quickly thank goodness. Hope everyone is in one piece this morning.

Like so many of you, I fear that the 'cure' is worse than covid itself, my DC have had their childhoods restricted in so many ways for nearly a year now for a virus that is likely to be milder than many illnesses they catch as a matter of course. But what really is the alternative if the NHS is not to be overwhelmed? Not being dementory, just seeking to be better educated when I'm moaning about how crap all these bloody restrictions are.

Not read the replies, but transparency would be a good start. Provide figures for how many in hospital out of how many beds and also figures for who has been taken in because of covid, who caught covid within the hospital, who came in with something else but happened to have covid and that's not what they're being treated for etc.

Other question is was anything done through the summer to prepare the NHS, extra staff can't be magicked up, but may there have been some reasonable ways of ensuring it was better able to cope through winter. Th

It may have been happening. Of so make the public aware that there's been some proactivity, rather than just kneejerk reactions. Along with that, announce plans for funding it better in the future, so that people feel there's something there worth protecting.

Also separate out figures those cases that are in the wider community and those that are care home and hospital outbreaks that the public had no control over.
We've had a moving target since March and now don't even know what the target is.

Right, off to check out the schools thread.

I agree with absolutely everything being said about transparency around the numbers, well lack of transparency. If you want to know the number of positive cases and deaths it’s there for all to see plastered across every MSM headline. Want to know anything more in depth and you’re on your own. The scary thing is most people take the headlines at face value. If you want to know more you are an antivax covid denier. Oh and go against the hysteria and you need to provide your source, however if you concur there will be lots of sage nodding and agreement.

I was called a thick idiot on our local paper website for saying you’re probably more likely to catch covid in hospital than you are having a meal in a restaurant. But I’m pretty sure that’s what the figures indicate.