If you're calling for schools to go back, restrictions to be relaxed...

[GrumpiestOldWoman]

...were you also in the group shouting for a lockdown a month ago?

People seem to be as desperate to open things back up now as they were to lockdown a month ago, yet we're still not over the peak.

It's hard not to conclude that the novelty has worn off.

Why are the press giving more airtime to 'relax restrictions' messages rather than 'UK worst in Europe' which we clearly are when care home deaths are added to the hospital deaths numbers? When other countries were reporting the death numbers we have today the UK was screaming for lockdown, but now it doesn't seem to be newsworthy

I don't get it?

[OatcakeCravings]

We can’t be on lockdown until there is a vaccine, that will be 12 months away at best. So we have to go back to work and school etc otherwise there will be no economy left - no one will have a job. Covid 19 will have to become the new normal...

[Ilikefresias]

So far, children have been off school for an additional 10 days. That's nothing! As a parent I really do not want my children to be rushed back into an unsafe environment for the sake of the economy. Interestingly Michael Gove always said the schools had no need to support families – they were there purely to provide education. That's not what is being suggested now is it?! Once schools reopen, there can be no pretence at social distancing. It is just not possible in schools. Therefore when schools reopen we might as well reopen absolutely everything and forget the two meter distancing rules

[LaurieMarlow]

Not get the schools back first, then think about opening up some other stuff later once we see how that’s gone?

Anyone I know in the private sector wants to get back as soon as is possible and permitted by the government so they can keep themselves afloat.

[GrumpiestOldWoman]

I don't think we can stay in lockdown forever but I'd like to at least get past the peak before switching focus so rapidly.

I think the novelty has worn off. In the first week or two there was a different atmosphere, lots of stuff happening on social media, almost a holiday atmosphere etc, but we're through that now and everyone's fed up.

I thought the lockdown was needed because many people were obviously not going to voluntarily apply common sense, nor did food retailers or businesses in the main. I'm annoyed that businesses who could send staff to work from home generally didn't until they were effectively made to. But now we're here we need to be patient otherwise we'll still end up overwhelming the NHS and the job losses and hardship will be for nothing. It's a tough balance though, I think alot about kids for whom school represents their only safe and stable place

[ListeningQuietly]

noble
Your pupils mental health and future happiness are being damaged by lockdown.
They see their parents getting poorer
They cannot meet with their friends
They cannot do sport and explore nature
THeir parents are struggling financially and mentally
Domestic violence is rising exponentially
THe most vulnerable - who should be in school - are being neglected

Think about the mess that is being stored up by lockdown
and see that the sooner it ends
the better
for the children alone

[Mumshappy]

Im happy with schools closing for as long as necessary. Im resigned to lockdown continuing for as long as it takes. However, I was initially against both measures . Covid isnt going away and the government botched this from day one. We are now stuck as a country with no exit strategy. I think they are going to do a u turn in the near future.

[noblegiraffe]

I'm one of the non key workers who can't work from home.

As I understand it, people who can’t work from home are allowed to work. Even non keyworkers.

“The government is not saying only people doing “essential” work can go to work. Anyone who cannot work from home can still go to work.”

www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-outbreak-faqs-what-you-can-and-cant-do/coronavirus-outbreak-faqs-what-you-can-and-cant-do

[flowerycurtain]

"The low take-up of keyworker places at schools just demonstrates that schools really aren’t that necessary as childcare."

Not in our case. Our school specifically asked if you are key worker and could manager not to send them, don't. The only reason they said would be ok is if both parents were frontline NHS. Most parents respected that.

We're key workers, not frontline. I absolutely cannot do my job for long with the kids at home. Doesn't have to be school but I can only cope with this for a few months at most. Nanny, holiday clubs etc would be fine.

But I cannot work with kids.

Lota of my friends are professional lawyers, accountants etc. They are managing to work shifts at home at the moment so one parent has kids am whilst the other works, then swap in the afternoon and again in the evening. They're not sleeping more than 7 hours a night, not doing great parenting or doing great work. That is not sustainable from a family or a business perspective for long. 3 months of that and the family will crack or they'll be made redundant.

[noblegiraffe]

Listening

I know all that, and I’m also a parent. But I think those in the media who are calling for schools to be reopened aren’t being honest about their motives.

They don’t have those interests in mind. Just their own. Bear that in mind when you cheerlead for them.

[chickenyhead]

Children with underlying medical conditions which don't fall in to the shielded group are required to distance. They are at higher risk. I don't want them in school yet. One is year 6, one year 9.

There needs to be a carefully managed return strategy to account for these factors.

I have no faith in our government to deliver this.

[LaurieMarlow]

Bear that in mind when you cheerlead for them.

I’m not cheerleading for anyone. I’m trying to keep a roof over our heads.

I’m not sure why that’s so hard to grasp.

[Waxonwaxoff0]

@noblegiraffe but I can't go to work as I have a 6 year old and no childcare as schools are closed. Therefore I've had to volunteer for furlough.

[OuterMongolia]

I think it's time to start thinking about relaxing the lockdown, but I was never one of the people calling for one in the first place.

[Eastie77]

I think schools should re-open in May but sending children in should be optional. So parents worried about their child's health, or whatever other objection they have, can keep them at home. I really can't be doing with the constant complaining and judging from parents who insist their DC will not be going back before there is a vaccine, it's immoral to expose teachers to the virus etc. Fine. Stay at home for the next 12-18 months, home educate your child and let the rest of us crack on in peace.

[ListeningQuietly]

Noble
I am not cheerleading for anything
but Covid is here to stay
it will work its way around the whole population
so we'd beter plan ways to work WITH it as fast as possible
rather than deluding ourselves that we can wait till its gone.

Keeping the schools shut
and the businesses shut
helps nobody
except the super rich who resent paying proper taxes

[noblegiraffe]

but I can't go to work as I have a 6 year old

Yep, you would still have to stay at home. But how many people are having to stay out of work for that reason? How many actually have no children, or older children, or other childcare in place?

Schools as childcare is a shit argument for opening them. They are only open from 9-3:30 term time because they are not actually designed to be childcare.

[Taciturn]

I didn't want the country to lock down. Now it has I want it to be a short as possible. I think the new laws are a violation of civil liberties - we are all under house arrest right now. Curtain twitching Starsi and 8pm clapping is the new normal.

And to whomever wrote that the rich want us back at work - utter codswallop!! I'm sure the demographic suffering most under this are the young who have no savings and rent due, whether now or in three months. Their staying at home doesn't benefit them in the slightest either. Middle aged DH and I are completely unaffected by this financial, so far at any rate, and both working from home we save time and money on our commute, so we benefit to a degree.

It has also become apparent that this is a designer virus, designed to evade vaccination, so I fear one will be a very long way off. It is also increasingly evident that those who have recovered can relapse or be reinfected, with the second bout more deadly: so much for herd immunity.

So in short I think covid19 will be around for a while and we can get busy living or get busy dying.

[LaurieMarlow]

*They are only open from 9-3:30 term time because they are not actually designed to be childcare.

Mine has after school provision. As do many.

[LilacTree1]

“ We are now stuck as a country with no exit strategy. I think they are going to do a u turn in the near future.”

Apologies, London centric moan coming up. After police quizzed workers about why they were on the Tube, the use is now down by 95%. I seriously think in future we’ll get emails saying. “London is open, please use the Tube”. After the way it’s been handled, I’ll be getting a car. They can fuck off. (I don’t go to central).

[Clutterbugsmum]

I think we do need a very clear process for coming out of lockdown.

We can't just stay as we are until a vaccine in found. We need to move forward toward normality. Companies can not keep paying staff and then claiming back the furlough money from the government. If they have no income they can't pay their bills and wages and therefore the company closes and more people are made redundant.

And that's not to say that we won't have another period of lockdown again in the future.

[Russellbrandshair]

Saw something on twitter about how the wealthy are keen for folks to get back to work because that is how they (the wealthy people) earn their money.

Think about whose interests they have in mind when you read yet another Times or Telegraph story trying to make ‘schools go back in May’ a thing

Completely disagree with this. The only people I’ve seen screaming for extended lockdown are the wealthy. That’s because they have the luxury of not having to work in order to live. They can survive easily on their savings whilst relaxing at home. People who genuinely can’t pay their bills right now are praying for lockdown to end because they’re having to queue to get universal credits and it’s taking a long time to arrive. I know people who have no money for food right now. They are desperate for lockdown to end.

[MigginsMs]

I think we need the lockdown probably until the end of May but it’s inescapable that things have to open up and we need to get to some form of everything not being completely ground to a halt. Otherwise the economy will be fucked. The message needs to be out there that the aim of all this wasn’t to stop people getting it but to stop them getting it all at once so that people get back to work etc.

[LilacTree1]

Taciturn “ I think the new laws are a violation of civil liberties - we are all under house arrest right now. Curtain twitching Starsi and 8pm clapping is the new normal.”

This. I’m expecting a Two Minute Hate against the virus any minute.

[Waxonwaxoff0]

But most schools have after school clubs which are also closed at the moment. That's what a lot of full time workers use. Or childminders.

School isn't childcare but most people work while their children are at school.

[Russellbrandshair]

Sadly all of those have been the lived reality for parts of the population for decades

For some yes. But numbers on the poverty line have rocketed due to lockdown. To act as if lockdown has made zero difference to poverty and people who were on the borderline who have now been pushed into actual poverty is very naive.