How to deal with friends claiming to be 'key workers'

[McDougal]

Just as the title says, really. I know a lot of admin staff in the NHS. A lot support inpatient services and have a real impact on keeping things moving. Others are PAs to managers who will be making decisions impacting upon patient care, but could do this themselves without a PA forwarding this communication on their behalf.

How do you deal with this? One friend is continuing to take her child to nursery as she's a 'key worker' when her husband is temporarily at home as his job has come to a standstill and I'm struggling to be sympathetic.

PAs, secretaries and admin workers are necessary, as people still need cancer investigations, cancer and/or other diagnoses, appointment and reappointment letters, files need finding when patients are admitted, supplies and finance are required or else whole departments become non-functioning, wards still need cleaning, patients need feeding, laundry needs processing, bins need emptying and patients still need transporting around hospitals.

Royal Mail needs to get through

Food retailers need staff

Telecoms businesses still need to function

Deliveries still need to be made

Those workers are not the issue. It's those who have a partner or older teenage child (perhaps) living at home who could watch the younger children but instead are sending them in to a school.
And, CatherineofAragon, it is not the "lazy, shirking, whingeing teachers' decision to close schools even though they haven't been closed at all. It was the Government who followed what seems to be every other country in the world, and it was not done to give teachers a few months off on full pay, but to LIMIT SPREAD OF THIS FUCKING AWFUL VIRUS.
The more super-spreader children who are sent in unnecessarily, the more it will career through the population.
What part of that are you determined not to understand?

I think if we’re talking about pressure to close schools, it wasn’t teachers spamming MN with that petition signed by hundreds of thousands.

This is the message from our local authority.

CatherineofAragon why don't you ask your sister what she would rather do: do her job with a sensible number of patients and enough ventilators for them all, or do her job with an overwhelming number of critically ill patients and not enough ventilators for them all. When she gives you her answer, go and think about how we can best achieve that in the next few months and longer term, and who maybe has the best grasp of the statistics and is the best placed to offer sensible advice.

Having just phoned DM to wish her a happy Mothers Day ive found out that my 25 year old niece who lives with them is still working in this setting. As the school she works with hasnt closed. At the end of the day she then goes home to my 84 year old parents (her grandparents) who she lives with.

The govt wanted to keep schools open. Initially the govt had a thought out protocol.
That was that the most vulnerable should SI but everyone else with a good chance of recovering from the illness should carry on whilst taking sensible precautions. But teachers and unions had a melt down and so did panicking joe public and started baying for schools to close. Since there was no plan we have had wishy washy half in half out inconsistent policies which make zero sense and has sparked terrible panic buying which has placed more pressure on NHS staff and made people more vulnerable. Something the govt wanted to avoid.

Many children not at school are in the parks and the play grounds fraternising and enjoying the sunshine as we speak, a completely uncontrolled environment in terms of sanitisation and each child in coming in contact with new children.

And I saw plenty of teachers on those spamming threads.

After the next frantic nightshift, I'll ask my sister when she plans to take a break cause of the risk and whether she thinks being at risk for the good of the country is worth it and weather the nurses union will lobby the govt to close A&Es anytime soon.

Then I'll tell her after the next gruelling shift that she has no right to send her ds to school if her partner is at home despite her sacrifice and relay that message to all the admin and cleaning staff that support her too.

Initially the govt had a thought out protocol.

Which they admitted was based on a flawed assumption and because they now know that assumption was flawed, they have completely had to overhaul the plan and implement far more stringent measures to suppress rather than mitigate.

FFS do you really think that they closed schools because of public pressure? It’s because they realised that their original plan, if continued, was going to kill 250,000 people.

The closure of schools is fuck all to do with teachers.

she has no right to send her ds to school if her partner is at home despite her sacrifice

If the mental incapacity displayed by you isn’t a family trait, then she will tell you that sending your kids to school isn’t a reward for working in the NHS but a measure of last resort if there is really no one else to look after them. She will know that the safest place for her kids is at home with her partner.

Then I'll tell her after the next gruelling shift that she has no right to send her ds to school if her partner is at home

Why would she need to send her daughter to school if her partner was home?!

It’s not like it’s going to be proper school with proper lessons.

DH works for the NHS and we took the kids out of school before they closed because he’s terrified of this and wanted to minimise the chances of them catching it. It’s safer for them at home right now, and no, our DC are not going out to the park or playground to mingle with other kids.

It’s really not about having a “right” to send your child to school at the minute. It’s about having no option other than to send them to school.

Then I'll tell her after the next gruelling shift that she has no right to send her ds to school if her partner is at home

Good. That’s the official advise and she needs to follow it. It’s emergency childcare for key workers with no other option not a right to childcare for key workers.
My DC will be staying at home with DP, as advised.

If the mental incapacity displayed by you isn’t a family trait

Some people struggle to have a debate without insults then describe those who can as having a mental incapacity! Very well.

Since the gloves are off, I think complaining and begrudging someone else using care provision when that person is putting their life at risk to ensure others can be saved portrays a nasty, small minded, interfering, mendacious attitude.

Who cares if sending her DCs to school makes coming home from a harrowing a shift a bit easier for Sandra/Barry/Tom/Dick/Harry when they come home?

Oh sorry, you do.

The government didn't close schools due to pressure from teaching unions and parents. They were following the science and attempting to limit spread at the optimum time. That was Friday.
And then what the others said. If your sister has a partner at home, she doesn't need emergency childcare.

The DC need to stay home. That is the situation. You can argue the toss all you like but sending them to school when there is an adult at home who can care for them is a piss take. Whoever you are.

Jeez Catherine you really are hard of understanding aren’t you?

Why would your sister send her kids to a place where they are more likely to catch the virus if she didn’t have to?

I’m assuming as an NHS worker, she actually gets it.

Who cares if sending her DCs to school makes coming home from a harrowing a shift a bit easier for Sandra/Barry/Tom/Dick/Harry when they come home?

The extra 480,000 people that were projected to die by August, following the government's original "herd immunity" plan which you still haven't moved on from, that's who.

And that's it for me arguing with the hard of thinking tonight. It's time for you to up your game on where we're at. Look up "flattening the curve" and "UK ventilator capacity" on Google.

Your sister's child should be at home if there is an adult there, and she'll likely find this out very soon.

Nicola Sturgeon has just said schools were closed for health reasons. If you can look after your child at home then do so. Otherwise take extra precautions - we are not having an extended holiday.

If people are that desperate to overload schools and increase the risk of exposure then more fool them. You should pity them when they are smug about getting on over on a Head or nursery because they do not fully understand the risks. Our poor NHS workers are on the front line and guess what they are coming into contact with?

Are you OK noble?

I am a key worker but won't be using school and have baby to care for anyway, so will work shifts with DP. If my son is at home he will get an education, but he won't at school. A PA is quite important as they will be supporting the senior managers and directors, so aren't just typing letters all day.

I cannot believe people would demand to know the reasons why kids will be sent in.

It’s an awful predicament to be put in to begin with.

No one knows other than the friend and partner what is going on within their home.

Imagine if friend is reading this and he is in the at risk group? They will be facing some hard choices. Same with a lot of families across the country.

I no longer have a choice. My child who could go because he comes under the vulnerable, can no longer go. For his own mh it was something I was considering, even if just for one hour.

I see what was happening locally and beyond before CV. Families were already crippled. Support at the bare minimum. Support now haha, obviously it’s all dropped.

Judging families for sending their kids in still is wrong.

We should be aiming all the ire at those who put families in vulnerable situations in the first place.

Single parent. Hours now reduced. Now able to get free school meals. To work the child needs to go and now qualifies to go. It’s difficult enough. Even if it isn’t aimed at these groups, they are still going to feel like shit constantly reminded about the hard choice they made.

We should be supporting each other. No dobbing each other In, panic buying, demanding to know reasons which could be personal, reminding them that they have to put themselves and loved ones at serious fucking risk.

I’m fine thanks Rafa :)

There is a genuine concern among teachers that this emergency childcare provision will fall over before it even gets properly started due to idiots using it when they don’t need to.

The same sort of idiots in the pub on Friday, or at the beach on Saturday or climbing in Snowdonia today.

It appears, sadly, that there are a lot of idiots around and they will make things worse for the rest of us than they need to be.

I'm a single parent classed as a key worker, not working for the NHS. No chance of working from home due to the nature of the job. Half the department have been told to go home due to underlying health issues but given some admin work that will eventually dry up.
If I say I wont be in due to child care I won't get paid, and the department is already at breaking point due to this.
Some of your attitudes have made me feel dreadful for getting my daughter a place at school, but no doubt you'd all be up in arms if people weren't available to ensure our service.

@DancingintheSpoonlight you’re exactly the kind of person who should be using the emergency childcare provided at this time

I'm a single parent classed as a key worker

Then if you cannot find any other source of childcare you have to send your child to school. And that’s what it’s for.

It’s not you that’s the issue here. It’s the people with a partner at home who can’t be arsed to look after the kids, or the people who want a 15 year old at school so they’re not on FIFA all day. They’re the ones that need to feel dreadful if they send their kids in, not the people that it is being set up to help.

@ffswhatnext nice sentiment but actually, I think the people providing the emergency childcare have every right to question and remind people that it is emergency childcare only.