Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think we are heading for a full 2 week national half term lockdown

594 replies

Midlifelights · 04/10/2020 13:15

DS’s school ramping up the preparation to teach on MS teams & making sure they can all use it & have the tech in place.

Teachers indicating that it’s going to be half term plus another couple of weeks after.

Given the rising numbers, it’s seems more likely that’s what’s coming - and maybe even a full lockdown this time & not the half arsed one we had before.

Aibu? I am worried as my kids really hated it last time but with so many new cases, it just seems the likely path

OP posts:
SoUtterlyGroundDown · 04/10/2020 13:58

@Midlifelights

They did say the Army was on standby- maybe to enforce it. You needed permits etc to go anywhere in France, Italy etc & it was enforced on the streets by the army - maybe that’s the answer here (I don’t agree with it though as it’s borderline martial law)
They said the army was on stand by to help. If you read beyond the headlines this was later clarified to mean that they could assist with back office type stuff (delivering medicines etc) and not on the street law enforcement.
monkeytennis97 · 04/10/2020 13:58

Good idea. Secondary schools (in particular) are fueling this virus. I hope we go to tier 2 at least.

solidaritea · 04/10/2020 13:58

Schools are doing this because they have been told they have to have robust plans for immediate remote education. They know no more than anyone about government intentions, though the fact that government are demanding this is telling...

DumplingsAndStew · 04/10/2020 13:59

There will be no National half term lockdown as there is no such thing as a National half term!

backaftera2yearbreak · 04/10/2020 13:59

Halftime term has already started in Scotland in Angus for 2 weeks. Aberdeen a week later for 2 weeks, lothians a week later for a week. I wonder who’s half term they will want to coincide with 🤷‍♀️

WhentheDealGoesDown1 · 04/10/2020 13:59

[quote Midlifelights]@WhentheDealGoesDown1 huh? When have I said anything even remotely indicating I was looking forward to it? I am having an general discussion based on some stuff I have read/heard.

Jeez, the stuff people read into on these threads is amazing. My DS ended up in counselling after the last one as he got depressed so i can assure you I am not fucking looking forward to any kind of lockdown. 🙄[/quote]
You sound quite excited at the thought of the army stepping in and people locked in with no exercise, why would you think like that, you sound like it is what you want

Bouncycastle12 · 04/10/2020 13:59

Not nationally. Not fair to children in high infection areas, but absolutely no need for national lockdown.

Splodgetastic · 04/10/2020 13:59

I think whoever mentioned vitamin D as a benefit of outdoor exercise needs to know that from about now for the next six months your skin cannot really make enough vitamin D from the “sun” we get in the UK. Time to eat your oily fish!

PhilCornwall1 · 04/10/2020 14:01

There better bloody not be one!!

We have our bathroom being redone over those weeks. Was meant to be done in March. Johnson better not kipper it being done again!!

Original poster
Midlifelights · 04/10/2020 14:01

@SoUtterlyGroundDown well yes but I don’t believe anything the government said. They have been forcing through all kinds of stuff under the radar - nothing would surprise me (although it sounds like the army is currently more like Dads army than an effective military force 😂)

OP posts:
spottybitch · 04/10/2020 14:01

is far outweighed by the advantages of allowing people to do so (benefits of physical and mental health, Vitamin D, etc).

The out of touch politicians no doubt think we all have lovely gardens to sit outside in during the heatwave that we always get in late October.

Hmmph · 04/10/2020 14:01

@noblegiraffe

Our instructions from SLT are that we should be able to transfer seamlessly to online teaching for the following morning if we go into unexpected lockdown.

Not only that, the DfE have made it a legal requirement from 22nd October that schools can do this.

Which would imply last week Oct and first week Nov. Which would also include Halloween and stop anyone who still thinks trick or treating would be a good plan.
BrazenlyDefying · 04/10/2020 14:02

@Midlifelights

As in, the last one the rules were unclear, it probably wasn’t strict enough- my friends in Spain couldn’t leave their house at all apart from shopping & medicine - no daily exercise etc. I really don’t want another one but the last one was exceptionally blurry in so many ways
And Spain is doing SO well now, isn't it? Hmm

Why on earth are people desperate to be firmly locked in their houses, preferably with police or Army enforcement?

Hobnobswantshernameback · 04/10/2020 14:02

And when people say "National " what they actually mean is England
Forgetting that there are three devolved administrations setting their own Covid regulations

SoUtterlyGroundDown · 04/10/2020 14:02

Which would imply last week Oct and first week Nov. Which would also include Halloween and stop anyone who still thinks trick or treating would be a good plan

Our half term is next week. 12th-16th.

Original poster
Midlifelights · 04/10/2020 14:02

@WhentheDealGoesDown1 you are literally making shit up - I am having a conversation based on stuff I have read. I also have you a reason why lockdown was so awful the last time for my family.

OP posts:
WhentheDealGoesDown1 · 04/10/2020 14:05

It’s all in your posting OP, not making anything up, why don’t you read what you have posted.

funinthesun19 · 04/10/2020 14:05

Fuck sake. I hope not.

CheeryAlmond · 04/10/2020 14:06

I don't see the point. Yes, shut everything for 2 weeks and cases will go down.
Once things are open again cases will go back up, especially while the airports are open.

We can't carry on having full lockdowns every few months, the country is in a bad enough state as it is.
What do we do about the people who can't work from home? Will there be more support schemes? Where does the money come from? How long will it take to get those schemes in place? Or are those people supposed to just sit back while they starve and lose their livelihoods, homes..

I don't know what the answer is, but I do think another full lockdown isn't it.

Phineyj · 04/10/2020 14:07

When I read these types of discussions it makes me wonder if people are aware we have a much lower number of army and police officers per head than the European nations mentioned. We can only have lockdowns that are complied with voluntarily - there isn't the manpower to do the other sort!

I have also been wondering semi-seriously if ministers are possibly unaware that state schools generally have one week half terms. They have shown they don't know plenty of other everyday information, after all.

Original poster
Midlifelights · 04/10/2020 14:07

I have literally said to you that my son had counselling & got depressed & i didn’t want another lockdown.

And I have factual info about my friends experiences in Spain and France - at NO point in this thread have I said I was excited or wanted the police on the streets etc.

Seriously- stop making stuff up. It’s a conversation.

OP posts:
AdultHumanFemale · 04/10/2020 14:07

Schools are contingency planning (we're up to our eyeballs in it), but I can't see schools closing again. SD as a measure to prevent infection is not working in schools; both at my school and DC's school children are picking up both colds and headlice. I am prepared to be proven wrong, but I just can't see another school closure happening. The government are just sabre-rattling to ensure people remain compliant with SD measures, but at the end if the day, parents need to be able to go to work.

IcedPurple · 04/10/2020 14:08

@Midlifelights

As in, the last one the rules were unclear, it probably wasn’t strict enough- my friends in Spain couldn’t leave their house at all apart from shopping & medicine - no daily exercise etc. I really don’t want another one but the last one was exceptionally blurry in so many ways
And yet Spain - despite locking up their children for weeks on end - is now experiencing one of the worst resurgences in Europe, with Madrid, a metropolitan area of about 5 million people, under partial lockdown.

So seems that their 'strict' lockdown didn't avail them much.

Bromeliads · 04/10/2020 14:09

Aibu? I am worried as my kids really hated it last time but with so many new cases, it just seems the likely path

This is how the OP ended her first post. Not sure how you got she was looking forward to it Hmm

cologne4711 · 04/10/2020 14:10

Given the rising numbers, it’s seems more likely that’s what’s coming - and maybe even a full lockdown this time & not the half arsed one we had before

What do you define as "full" lockdown and what was half arsed about the last one? The fact that those nasty virus shedding joggers were allowed out for exercise? I wonder if there was one single case caused by a runner?

Also, those of you bleaching your food and quarantining your food can stop. There was an article in the Sunday Times today citing two different studies that show that the chances of catching covid from surfaces is vanishingly small and it's about breathing on people.