To think that Boris May also regret...

[hippohector]

Reopening schools too early.
He ‘deeply regrets’ the loss of life in care homes. If things had been handled differently at the start, then care homes may not have suffered so badly.
I really hope that we don’t find ourselves in the same situation in a couple of months time if they decide to reopen schools from June 1st.
Children may only suffer mild symptoms, or even be asymptotic, but the potential to spread the virus to their parents, school staff, etc, is a huge unknown still.

In NI the Education Minister is suggesting September for our schools to reopen. www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-52572814

When this all started Arlene Foster stated that it was likely schools would close for 16 weeks. The 'say it often enough and it will come true' speculation about returning to school in June seems very optimistic.

*writing

I get so annoyed with people criticising the government all the time as if any other political party could have done better

Whether any other political party could do better is completely irrelevant. I’m angry because this government has performed so bloody abysmally. Late to lock down, abandoning testing, sending old people out of hospital into care homes without testing them first. It’s an absolute catalogue of disasters which will probably be the definitive case history for how not to handle a pandemic.

Do you expect him to keep the economy locked down, thereby condemning most of us to poverty for the next 10 years or so and causing untold numbers of premature deaths as a result? People really do need to get some perspective on the risk of the various options available, and have some sympathy that there are people elected to make these very difficult decisions on the basis of imperfect science.

We are GOING to have to live with this virus. The sooner some people realise this then perhaps we can get past the hysteria.

This a million times. Judging by many people on here, never will be a good time to lift this or send kids back to school, or it's the wait until there is a vaccine.

How many effective coronavirus vaccines currently exist?

I'm not clear what your AIBU actually is.

I'm not sure I understand what point you are making- are you saying that the death of thousands of elderly people in care homes will be replicated outside of care homes if schools reopen?

Care homes have indeed been treated abominably and the decisions taken around them have often been jaw dropping, but I don't think it's comparable. If the general population was as vulnerable as the care home population, sure, but it isn't.

Denmark has seen the R rate increase from 0.6 to 0.9 since they reopened schools, so it seems it may well have had an effect. I would love for my kids to go back to school ... but not when our new cases per day are still in their 1000s. We need to be in a position where tracking and tracing is viable - we aren't with those figures. We need new cases down in the 100s. Perhaps if we had locked down sooner and provided adequate PPE in care homes and hospitals we would be at the point now. The gov will be held accountable for this poor decisions ... but for now they need to focus on sorting this out.

We are GOING to have to live with this virus. The sooner some people realise this then perhaps we can get past the hysteria.

Yes I agree. But perhaps we should focus on the right things rather than merely deciding that a certain percentage is an 'acceptable' level of loss.

Apparently Boris is guilty of too much lockdown and not enough lockdown. Taking it too seriously and not taking it seriously enough. I expect he stopped listening a while back. I would have.

Btw opening schools does not mean it is safe. Not even close. It just means the alternative is worse.

What part of "Lockdown is NOT to prevent infections, it is to SLOW the spread so the NHS is not overwhelmed" do people not understand???
I share your exasperation.

Some voices of reason on here. People need to reassess their attitudes to risk I think.

on the news just now they said the rumours of the lifting is going to be about being able to go out when you like outdorrs.but i just dont trust britain.we have proved we dont adhire to the rule of lockdown(or lots have)and so given the excuse uo think people will; be sensible in going out?keeping it ditant and small?no they will all be out in huge gathering on top of eacohter just in parks.

You'd hope they would consider all the risks. I agree the concern is the odd child getting a serious cases. The parents being brought home a lovely dose. The teachers being put at risk.

I'd be interested to know if any teachers covering schools have had it yet since lockdown?

How many children have had it?

How likely is transmission from a child to an adult.

To be honest they need to be finding out more about how many have had a mild case or a case without symptoms? How can we make a safe decision until we know how it is really affecting people.

They are going to open schools up for certain ages I think for the last term?

To be honest I'm more worried about September! I'm worried about the winter months and how it's going to create alot of anxiety as the poorer months comes around. We all know viruses spread between October and march. It's one long slog of colds, coughs, fevers and sick bugs. I don't think my anxiety can cope with months of bit knowing if Corona is also in the school.

a certain percentage is an 'acceptable' level of loss.
There is no acceptable level of loss. There is an inevitable level of loss. The same number of people will get COVID over time, irrespective of lock down strategy, unless there is a vaccine. A vaccine will take a long time, so long that we will all be condemned to an early death through poverty instead if that's what we wait for. There is no alternative but to ease ourselves back to work as quickly as possible but at a rate that doesn't cause the NHS to be overwhelmed.

I can’t listen to anyone who says ‘they wanted a cull’ ffs.

There is no acceptable level of loss. There is an inevitable level of loss.

Except that people stating an inevitable level aren't trying to keep this level as low as possible because they have confused it with a definition of what they see as an acceptable level...

No-one is stating an inevitable level because it is not known, and it would be political suicide to state it even if it were known. I don't think people are confusing acceptable with inevitable. Inevitable is the same number over time irrespective what we do. Locking down is not really changing the inevitable number, it is only delaying. This focus on lock down strategies is really a red herring beyond its capacity to flatten Boris's sombrero.

There is no alternative but to ease ourselves back to work as quickly as possible but at a rate that doesn't cause the NHS to be overwhelmed.

That’s not exactly true. There is also the option of treatment. Doctors are getting better at treating this virus. Giving oxygen earlier seems to help for example. Doctors are just getting better at it.

Other treatments are also being investigated. My brother is working on whether there is a medicine that already exists that can be used to treat Covid. If there is and that can reduce the death rate then we want to delay until we know what that drug is. This drug will be much quicker than a vaccine (if it exists!!!!) as it will already have been treated and be on the market.

@LovelyLetitia I dont know why you’re blaming the NHS not the government?
The NHS didn’t stop anyone else from doing tests it was PHE.
PHE wouldn’t even let the NHS do any of their own tests until a couple of weeks ago.
Who ultimately holds responsibility over these organisations anyway? The government.

I really do wish people eould stop saying "underlying conditions" like they were about to pop their clogs anyway. Asthma, diabetes and hypertension do not stop you living and working in normal circumstances.

When I am back in school and teaching children who are unable to socially distance, let me very clear - my asthma will not have killed me or led me to be weak or feeble and do susceptible. I've had it my whole life and most years don't even have a day off. What will kill me is being thrown into a petri dish as some kind of national experiment.

And Denmark's R level has risen to just below 1 again. Danish schools are in fact considering scaling back. And they have fewer pupils, more space, and better behaviour levels than we do. Even with the 39 kids in we had yesterday across 10 classrooms it was nigh on impossible to keep them apart.

Mumoftwoyoungkids
Yes of course you are right, I was oversimplifying and there is real chance that treatment options will get better over time, or that the virus may mutate to be more easily, or less easily, treatable. There is an argument that in Sweden for example they have immunity now which will protect them against the more virulent strains which are developing in the more locked down countries. So many unknowns.

He might say 'he regrets' it but words are cheap. Look at his actions - placating Tory donors by pushing to come out of lockdown when the WHO says our trajectory hasn't changed enough to even consider it. Paying marketing companies to push an 'everyone wants out of lockdown and the hospitals are all quiet' line across all of social media.
He doesn't regret it. He doesn't care. And neither do the anonymous accounts pushing his lines all over social media. I guess, they might justify it as they need a job so getting paid to try to coerce the public into a nationwide health catastrophe is a small price to pay . . . but I do wonder how any of them sleep at night. And I sincerely hope the electorate remember exactly what Boris did and exactly how callous the Tories are.

@PixelatedLunchbox & @user1471448556
I live in Denmark and my 1 year old baby, as well my 5 and 9 year old step daughters went back to daycare and school nearly a month ago now.

It's true that the infection rate rose marginally but the death rate has stayed consistently low (though still tragic) and the number in hospital, in ITU, and on respirators have all fallen consistently throughout. That didn't mean much in the first week but in the second and third week you'd have started to see the effects. On Monday we expect shopping malls to reopen and secondary level kids to start to go back to school.

I will say the day care and school have been amazing. It's been hard for them of course but all three kids seem very happy.

That said I think the later lockdown in the UK means a longer wait to be at the same point of the spread's decline. Like.. locking down two weeks later means waiting another four weeks at the other end, if that makes sense? Also, because we locked down so early, we didn't have to lock down quite as hard. It was largely the same rules but we were never told to only go out once a day for exercise etc.

Denmark's population is roughly 10% that of the UK, I do think smaller populations are easier to administer, which could be a factor.

But at any rate, opening the schools, nurseries etc. hasn't been throwing the gates open to the apocalypse as some feared.

He is coming in for a lot of criticism from outside the Uk where people are astounded at his lack of action early enough

Why does everyone keep saying 'if you open schools social distancing is over and I may as well do what I like' - it's about allowing essential things to happen and accept that risk while minimising the risk by not doing non essential things. Children need to be educated. People need to work. You don't need days out or play dates or family round for a party - they're nice but not essential.

If schools don't open until September then there is unlikely to be any of the more enjoyable stuff over the summer either.