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WTF was that all about?

185 replies

Bearbehind · 10/05/2020 19:23

So if you can’t work from home you should go to work.

Does that apply to the beauty industry or hospitality industry or what?

OP posts:
Derbygerbil · 10/05/2020 23:38

So, as a teacher of one of the year groups that's going back I'm not sure how I'm going to do that as the nursery that my child goes to is closed... No keyworker place available as they're not bloody open.

Firstly, you won’t be going back until at least June so you’re hardly in the position of some people wondering if they need to go to work tomorrow. Secondly, did you really expect him to go into that level of detail tonight?

Flaxmeadow · 10/05/2020 23:41

Plus. Will I get PPE?

Retail workers don't automatically get PPE and they're more at risk than teachers. So probably not.

baroqueandblue · 10/05/2020 23:43

there's a heck of a lot more to the NHS than its staff

But without the staff - who have largely been thrown to the virus, to all intents and purposes - you wouldn't have a service that runs. Small detail to an apologist for this shitshow of a government, I realise, but worth making the point even so Hmm

Derbygerbil · 10/05/2020 23:44

How can cleaners go to work? To make their workplace safe, you’d need to clean it thoroughly before letting them in - which defeats the point. If you don’t clean it, they are massively at risk.

I don’t understand this point at all... If a workplace has been shut since we went into lockdown, it’s going to be safer than walking down the street!

The virus can only on surfaces for a week maximum, so any that may have been there at lockdown will have long since died.

R1R2 · 10/05/2020 23:45

Cleaners have been able to work all along, do keep up

ceeveebee · 10/05/2020 23:51

Car dealerships are not opening tomorrow (unless they want to break the law)
However there is apparently 50 pages of detailed guidance being published tomorrow that will give more details on what was said tonight. Some retailers are hopeful the list of exceptions to the general retail ban will be changed (eg garden centres, car retailers) but for that to happen, the existing regulation will need to be formally changed, not just on the basis of a 13 minute speech...

Derbygerbil · 10/05/2020 23:55

It seems from reading this that many people are just waking up to the fact that it’s not just doctors, nurses, carers and police officers who’ve been working outside their homes over this time!

FiveFootTwoEyesOfBlue · 11/05/2020 00:02

For people who weren't paying attention the first time:

And so no, this is not the time simply to end the lockdown this week.

Instead we are taking the first careful steps to modify our measures.

And the first step is a change of emphasis that we hope that people will act on this week.

We said that you should work from home if you can, and only go to work if you must.

We now need to stress that anyone who can’t work from home, for instance those in construction or manufacturing, should be actively encouraged to go to work.

And we want it to be safe for you to get to work. So you should avoid public transport if at all possible – because we must and will maintain social distancing, and capacity will therefore be limited.

So work from home if you can, but you should go to work if you can’t work from home.

And to ensure you are safe at work we have been working to establish new guidance for employers to make workplaces COVID-secure.

And when you do go to work, if possible do so by car or even better by walking or bicycle. But just as with workplaces, public transport operators will also be following COVID-secure standards.

And from this Wednesday, we want to encourage people to take more and even unlimited amounts of outdoor exercise.

You can sit in the sun in your local park, you can drive to other destinations, you can even play sports but only with members of your own household.

You must obey the rules on social distancing and to enforce those rules we will increase the fines for the small minority who break them.

And so every day, with ever increasing data, we will be monitoring the R and the number of new infections, and the progress we are making, and if we as a nation begin to fulfil the conditions I have set out, then in the next few weeks and months we may be able to go further.

In step two – at the earliest by June 1 – after half term – we believe we may be in a position to begin the phased reopening of shops and to get primary pupils back into schools, in stages, beginning with reception, Year 1 and Year 6.

Our ambition is that secondary pupils facing exams next year will get at least some time with their teachers before the holidays. And we will shortly be setting out detailed guidance on how to make it work in schools and shops and on transport.

And step three - at the earliest by July - and subject to all these conditions and further scientific advice; if and only if the numbers support it, we will hope to re-open at least some of the hospitality industry and other public places, provided they are safe and enforce social distancing.

Throughout this period of the next two months we will be driven not by mere hope or economic necessity. We are going to be driven by the science, the data and public health.

And I must stress again that all of this is conditional, it all depends on a series of big Ifs. It depends on all of us – the entire country – to follow the advice, to observe social distancing, and to keep that R down.

FiveFootTwoEyesOfBlue · 11/05/2020 00:05

I think some of the confusion about workplaces is because some workplaces shut down on March 23rd when they weren't obliged to, so they are now being encouraged to open up again.

wafflyversatile · 11/05/2020 00:10

Clear as mud. As per usual.

They want to stop paying for those lazy furloughed people who might have enjoyed their spare time that one day.

tigerbear · 11/05/2020 00:50

From reading this thread, I’ve only just become aware about people saying cleaners have always been allowed to work.
Really???
How come? Obviously I understand that they can’t work from home, but it’s not essential to have a cleaner round?
Surely it’s the best way if spreading virus? Most cleaners are likely to be going from house to house!

Can anyone explain why then, estate agents can’t work for instance?

My DP is a handy man and decorator, but he’s furloughed himself on the basis of not being allowed to go into people’s homes.
His accountant approved the application, but now wondering if he’s been allowed to work all along?

Flaxmeadow · 11/05/2020 01:22

I love how on MN a "cleaner" must automatically mean a house cleaner Grin

tigerbear · 11/05/2020 01:30

@Flaxmeadow my post was related to the fact that several people on this thread had asked if it’s now ok for their cleaner to come to their home, and others had replied to say ‘of course, it’s always been fine’.

Saladmakesmesad · 11/05/2020 01:36

Retail workers don't automatically get PPE and they're more at risk than teachers. So probably not.

How are retail workers more at risk than teachers? You don't spend 6+ hours a day in a room with numerous customers. None of your customers surprise hug you, stand really close to you and breathe all over you. They're far less likely to cough all over the place, sneeze all over the place, pick their noses, bite their nails, cough deliberately on other people, spit. They're not likely to be at the shops if they're feeling poorly because their mum still has to go to work. They don't pass objects back and forth between groups of them. They're unlikely to be snogging, wrestling etc. They're far far more likely to wash their hands, and wash them properly. They're not crammed in in large numbers in narrow corridoors of old, poorly maintained buildings. They don't use toilets every single day in your store, which aren't cleaned between customers even though we know the virus sheds through faeces. The risk and viral load to teachers is huge.

Flaxmeadow · 11/05/2020 02:23

I know tigerbear. Sorry. Not aimed at you. I meant the thread in general

Saladmakesmesad
How are retail workers more at risk than teachers? You don't spend 6+ hours a day in a room with numerous customers.

No we can spend 8 hours a day, sometimes 12, in a room with thousands of customers

None of your customers surprise hug you, stand really close to you and breathe all over you.

They do

They're far less likely to cough all over the place, sneeze all over the place, pick their noses, bite their nails, cough deliberately on other people, spit.

They do

They're not likely to be at the shops if they're feeling poorly because their mum still has to go to work.

They do come in shops poorly. People have to eat

They don't pass objects back and forth between groups of them. They're unlikely to be snogging, wrestling etc.

You'd be surprised

They're far far more likely to wash their hands, and wash them properly.

Nope

They're not crammed in in large numbers in narrow corridoors of old, poorly maintained buildings.

They're crammed in large numbers down narrow aisles, all the time

They don't use toilets every single day in your store, which aren't cleaned between customers even though we know the virus sheds through faeces. The risk and viral load to teachers is huge.

They use toilets all the time and no they're not cleaned between customers

You have 30 in a class. Supermarkets have thousands in and out all the time, close contact all the time, exchanging cash all the time, handing every item they've handled and that others have picked up and handled too, and more children from different households in a day than you see in a year.

Teachers see the same children all the time, you know them. Supermarkets see families they don't know all the time. Thousands of them and that's not to mention the shoplifters, oddballs, drunks and junkies, (not known for their personal hygiene), and people going through all sorts of other difficulties

No PPE is handed out for supermarket and shop staff. Why do you think you need it especially?

TheOnlyLivingBoyInNewCross · 11/05/2020 07:28

We now need to stress that anyone who can’t work from home, for instance those in construction or manufacturing, should be actively encouraged to go to work.

OK, FiveFootTwoEyesOfBlue, since you clearly think that the problem is that we are stupid, not that the briefing was acknowledged by many, not just the apparently hard of understanding on here, to be as clear as mud - can you explain, based on the above quote, which professions can go back to work?

Because hairdressers who work in a salon cannot work from home - are they now reopening? Cleaners cannot work from home. Retail workers who work in non-essential shops cannot work from home so based on the above quote should go back to work - yet elsewhere Boris says that shops will not be reopening until later. So which is it? Back at work or not back at work? What about all the grounded pilots and cabin crew?

It's hilarious the way you think that just re-posting the original statement will suddenly make us all go: oh, of COURSE! It's all become clear, thank you so much for your insightful cutting and pasting!

daisypond · 11/05/2020 07:30

My DP is a handy man and decorator, but he’s furloughed himself on the basis of not being allowed to go into people’s homes.
His accountant approved the application, but now wondering if he’s been allowed to work all along?

Yes, people have always been allowed to work, unless your place of work was of the sort closed down by the government. Individuals may not want to work or employ a decorator, though. It was never about only essential or key workers working.

TorysSuckRevokeArticle50 · 11/05/2020 08:18

Guidance if you work in peoples homes

www.gov.uk/guidance/social-distancing-in-the-workplace-during-coronavirus-covid-19-sector-guidance#working-in-peoples-homes-as-a-tradesperson-cleaner-or-nanny

Guidance detailing what businesses should be closed - these were closed by a change in law when lockdown was instituted. The briefing yesterday made no mention of changing the law. Hairdressers are detailed under 'retail' which is on the plan to reopen from 1st June if it is OK to do so.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/further-businesses-and-premises-to-close/further-businesses-and-premises-to-close-guidance#businesses-and-venues-that-must-remain-closed-to-members-of-the-public

userxx · 11/05/2020 08:54

It was never about only essential or key workers working.

Yet so many believed that. My friend screenshot an article from the sun saying it was only key workers who were allowed to go to work. Unbelievable.

tigerbear · 11/05/2020 10:44

Wow, just read that link!
So I guess many people will have been furloughed/furloughed themselves unnecessarily...

tigerbear · 11/05/2020 10:46

@userxx so many people thought that, though, DP and I included.
Those Gov guidelines make no sense.

If cleaners and tradespeople have been allowed to go into people’s homes all along, why not estate agents?

Thymelord · 11/05/2020 10:57

It seems that people are allowed to meet friends and family now. Outside and 2m away.

Thymelord · 11/05/2020 10:57

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-52612449

userxx · 11/05/2020 11:14

@tigerbear Was estate agents on the list to close?

I thought it was quite clear at the start until the media got involved and confused things with incorrect reporting.

The80sweregreat · 11/05/2020 11:20

The roads will be busier than ever.