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?

1st June. Mark my words.

All those saying the lockdown will be catastrophic - do you realise how catastrophic a completely uncontrolled pandemic can be? We could easily lose a chunk of our population which would hardly be great for the economy.

I have the equipment to work from home but the reality is very different. I was straight with my manager and said I've got young children I may not be able to do set hours and will have to catch up in the evening etc. She said this is fine but now as a team we're slowly slipping into the bollockings and quotes like it's not a jolly are being thrown out. Managers claim they are understanding but I don't think they are. On the flip side if you have a full time job for example they expect you to work the hours. Working from home isn't sustainable forever. I am another who would like the schools open and some normality back.

Before schools return they will need to be cleaning and buildings that were mothballed sorted before students return. School will need to re-activate catering and cleaning contracts. Staff will probably need an inset day just to gather stuff up that they left dotted around the school on the Friday it closed. Parents will need to be informed of the re-opening plans which will probably be done in stages. The DfE will issue a set of rules that schools have to abide by. Plus schools still have to sort out the grades they give Year 11 and 13.

It is not a case of switching on a light and saying we are back!

Welsh schools are staying closed but Aberystwyth university has switched to online classes and is continuing

This might be a way forward online classes and more people working from home

1st June. Mark my words

Yes, because we're all going to believe a stranger on MN ffs.

Yeah, and honestly, a lot of people are going to die. Mostly the old but not all. And if I knew a lot of overweight mid fifties men I might be more personally concerned. But lockdown has lost purpose really as it's not going to make it go away. If you're vulnerable now, you will be vulnerable in winter as well (in the main). We aren't overwhelmed in the nhs because we just leave people to die at home. We do that now, we will do that later

As I said, I would have acted much much much sooner and harder, personally. This version is just a bit shit and pointless.

Random “ I don't think I will see my parents for a long time. But that will be the same schools open or not.”

Surely once schools are open, we’ll be allowed to see parents?

A lot of grandparents will be doing the school run!

We are a month into homeschooling. I'm an experienced TA and my daughter is supposedly very well behaved, I am struggling, I can only imagine what the parents of some of my more difficult students are going through, I can well imagine why they want schools to go back.

People are weak and in denial. Jump ship if you can, it's going to get even worse if this government stays in power.

Starlight “ do you realise how catastrophic a completely uncontrolled pandemic can be?”

As I said upthread, it doesn’t have to be uncontrolled. It’s not a choice between lockdown and or life as it was in February.

do you realise how catastrophic a completely uncontrolled pandemic can be? We could easily lose a chunk of our population which would hardly be great for the economy.

Absolutely.

But I don’t think people really understand what a 35% drop in GDP would mean. That’s vast chunks of the population starving, hundreds of thousands of homes repossessed, public services (including NHS) decimated.

It’s about twice as bad as the Great Depression.

As someone said upthread, a ‘horrific balancing act’ is what’s before us now. Scary.

Lilac the virus will not be gone.

I am happy for my kids to go to school as I don't mind if my immediate family catch it. We are pretty low risk.

My parents though are different and I would not want them to catch it.

We need to keep those most at risk safe.

Random, oh I see. For a minute there I thought it would be the government opening school but still banning family visits.

Why do we think it'll ok for it to spread unchecked in May/June?

I think the idea might have been that the NHS would be less stretched then so easier for them to cope with

@midgebabe are you talking about the Great Depression? You know that happened 10 years after the Spanish Flu? Immediately after the Flu, there was a short depression caused by a number of factors, including the need to reabsorb returning WWI troops into the workforce. Nothing to do with the Flu. And then we had the Roaring Twenties, a period of great prosperity.

Historically, working conditions etc sometimes improve after serious pandemics because lots of the workforce die, thus reducing unemployment.

Do people seriously think that if you lift the restrictions the economy will just tick along nicely? Meanwhile the virus runs rampant, making hundreds of thousands of people seriously ill, killing a significant proportion of them, and causing a level of collective fear and trauma that was unimaginable just a few months ago. No economy would thrive in those circumstances, that's the reality.

The virus is the cause of the economic meltdown we're dealing with, not the lockdown.

Before schools return they will need to be cleaning and buildings that were mothballed sorted before students return. School will need to re-activate catering and cleaning contracts. Staff will probably need an inset day just to gather stuff up that they left dotted around the school on the Friday it closed. Parents will need to be informed of the re-opening plans which will probably be done in stages

Most schools have remained open for key-worker children. It will take a couple of days to clean areas that have been closed off. A week max is required for catering staff to sort out food supply.

I don’t know what reactivating a cleaning contract means to you. At our school it would require a phone call to the furloughed cleaning team - grab your mops, you’re on!

Teachers gathering up their possessions? Ok, there’s an extra half-hour.

Honestly, are you a civil servant? This stuff does not require much time to sort out.

Clearly not a teacher Spoke!

I always thought lockdown was too tight.
Statistically that the risks of Covid were overblown but neeed to be managed to protect the NHS.

Shops open by 4 May
Manufacturing to recommence that week with social distancing
Offices recommence with sd w/c 11th May - over 55's facilitated to wfh if thwy wish
Primary schools and Y's 10 and 12 back 11 May
Other DC back 18 May
Restaurnts open Whit week along with bars but with sd in place
Clubs and gyms a little later
Large gatherings much delayed.

Yes let’s all go back to our normal lives and sod the people who die from this virus. As long as we’re making money and can shop til we drop to boost the coffers of the millionaires. Excellent plan. Ffs.

The virus is the cause of the economic meltdown we're dealing with, not the lockdown.

They both have a role.

But the lockdown, in forcibly shutting down the vast majority of economic activity, is a hugely significant reason for the meltdown. How could it not be?

No. I never wanted a lockdown.

Spoke, please have a look at my previous post.

U.K. has passed the peak Easter weekend. Of course it is perfect time to plan to lift lockdown. I estimate in 3weeks time.