Government reportedly considering schools going back in 3 weeks

[FiveFootTwoEyesOfBlue]

On BBC News 24 now, article in tomorrow's Sunday Times says that ministers are considering schools going back in three weeks time. Plus allowing some shops and social gatherings, but not pubs and clubs.

@Hadenoughfornow

I’m saying that cinemas and theatres opening at the same time as schools for everyone would make sense because the social distancing in schools and cinemas and theatres is similar. So if it’s safe for cinemas it’s safe for schools. The point of them, education or entertainment, is totally irrelevant, it’s the volume of people at them which I am referring to.

@Pomegranatepompom Ah, thank you. It is all okay. I was diagnosed 2 and a half weeks after lockdown, so it was hardly brilliant timing!

@Hunnybears The amount of unemployment being predicted is the same as the peak in the 1980s.
But unlike the 1980s when unemployment was so high because the manufacturing jobs we lost were going abroad, there are no competitors abroad taking their place. These jobs will reappear. There will be a time of transition as successful businesses expand and new business set up, but I think the economy will recover relatively quickly.

@FrippEnos

Great points. Let me help you with those.
Nothing will change at all.

What is happening though is that the rich are losing money. A lot of money. That is why they want schools back and people back at work. It has nothing to do with what is best for ordinary people.

When schools re-open, it will most likely be at a point before any coherent management strategy for covid (as seems likely within the next 10 months or so!)
If it is on the sooner end of September, I cannot see that it would be compulsory, or at least enforced. There are too many variables - vulnerable children and self-isolating adults etc.

You do realise c1600 people die on average per day in the U.K. pre Covid 19 and no nukes were being set off.

Yes but not of one thing. If 900 died in a day of car accidents would you get in a car? Would you get in a car without seat belts?

I am just glad Dd is Year11. I very much doubt Dd will be back before September (maybe a couple of induction days). She had a viral brain infection at New Year and is still having seizures. For her, at least, this situation is good at the moment.

cauliflowersqueeze

If you look at the picture I posted cinemas etc would open 3 weeks after schools open on and apparently for the half term break.

Heading back to school in 3 weeks doesn't seem to fit with planning to provide laptops for all children without in Y10 or with a social worker. Or investing in a Gov approved 'online school'.

This virus is like the flu in that the medics are expecting the summer to be fairly easy going with less illness and the winter when people are full of cold and cough. It's quite possible there will be another lock down around November time which is what they may be preparing for in terms of laptop and online school systems. Even if a vaccine were to come along this summer I certainly don't see every single person being vaccinated by the end of the year and personally I would want to wait a few years to understand the long term impact of the vaccine in case of any side effects.

Re the Gavin Williamson statement upthread:

WHAT 'laptops and tablets' does he refer to?

My SEN child's school would not even give us an A5 rough jotter.
The Free School Meals tokens dont work.
We've had no contact from either of my SEN children's schools since they shut.

What IS Williamson on about, does anyone know?

The Govt reacted too late. We dont have PPE (the lot that was due to arrive today is delayed, I see), yet alone tests that work, plus we dont know if immunity is a given, yet alone herd immunity.

I think we are being softened up for 1st June.
My two wont be going back. They hardly learned anything anyway.
And it is totally impractical for staff too.

@cauliflowersqueeze

I really have to pick you up on something.

Not all retail workers get to be slightly safer behind a perspex screen. My DH and many others like him are on the shop floor whilst all the customers are coming in (and in hos ASDA branch and others the management/security are allowing far too many people in). They have customers coming up to them, a foot or so away, asking for things. They have people reaching across them for things. My DH has had abuse up in his face because they have certain items not available. He has been slapped on the back by someone who then laughed in his face and said "Happy Coronavirus Day". And then he has to come home to a vulnerable person. So please dont you dare say all retail staff are safe.

What IS Williamson on about, does anyone know?

Schools can apply for funds for laptops and tablets for disadvantaged Y10s from this week.

clear detail of which, thanks to cauliflowersqueeze s excellent post

Nicola Sturgeon and Michael Gove have said it’s not true

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-52344319

Like in other countries and WHO advice, they should be talking about the conditions that need to be in place in order to safely lift restrictions on a phased basis. Eg what is transmission rate of infection, how many tests can be done, what is the turnaround time for test results, how is contacting tracing going to work.

It just seems so arbitrary to float a few dates about what can happens when.

I think teachers need to prepare themselves for hearing exactly what all NHS staff have been told - social distancing isn't possible in your line of work.

Masks aren't going to be given as a precaution for teachers any more than they are for other staff working with general public such as NHS workers (who only get masks when working with contagious/sick people, not for sitting in the staff room or office or walking around the hospital) or supermarket staff.

I don't know why teachers are panicking more than people from any other profession about the prospect of going back to work. Social distancing isn't possible for all professions. Teachers, like lots of other professions, will have to accept that.

Obviously exceptions will have to be made for high risk staff and pupils such as exceptions are currently made for these staff in NHS. But for those of us not in these groups, we can't consider ourselves special. If we're told to go to work, we need to go or we need to hand in our notice so our employer can recruit someone else for the role.

noblegiraffe oh, thank you that's helpful.
They will cock-up the implementation of that though too (and blame it on teachers / parents) like they have cocked up the FSM (I had an email through warning me about parents potentially 'misusing the vouchers' 1 week before the link to the vouchers one. It still doesn't work...

@AuntyClockWise there are already a shortage of teachers so if people hand in their notices in droves we will have no one to teach the pupils already in.

@alloutoffucks What is happening though is that the rich are losing money. A lot of money. That is why they want schools back and people back at work. It has nothing to do with what is best for ordinary people.

What a load of rubbish. I'm self employed, my business was wiped out overnight, what is best for 'ordinary' people is getting the economy going for people's livelihoods (which is not just a monetary issue) starting with schools reopening in a managed way. The long term consequences of a prolonged lockdown will be devastating for millions of 'ordinary' people. As pps have said lockdown is not to stop you catching it, it's to stop you catching it now. The nhs is now more prepared to deal with this.

Because aunty as it has been explained elsewhere to you, no other profession meets as many people in one day as we do and then works in very close proximity to them. Very few other workplaces for professionals are as badly cleaned and maintained as most schools either.

I have been teaching at my current school for 20 years. For 20 years, students have complained about lack of soap in their toilets.

Gove denied it all in Sky News.

I mean he would even if it was true but nothing official yet.

AuntyClockWise

Nobody is "panicking"

We are pointing out what is possible and what is not.

And that decisions need to be made on them.

But as usual posters are putting their own spin on what is being said.

The nhs is now more prepared to deal with this.

I'd like a voice from the NHS on here to say whether they agree.

We haven't hit the peak yet, and when we do hit the peak they're expecting it to plateau for several weeks.
They're not going to be sending children back in 3 weeks time.